Throughout the years there has been many memorable horror films that have given the audience thrills and chills. For this Halloween I've composed a list of my top 10 horror movie stills of all time. Enjoy the list and on Halloween night any of these films will do the Trick ... or Treat.
Happy Halloween - RJ
10 - FRIDAY THE 13th (1980)
The film Friday the 13th spawned tons of sequels/prequels and crossovers but nothing made the audience jump more than our actual first view of Jason. The deformed boy who jumps out of the lake to scare the shit out of us right at the end. A technique used in nearly every horror film after it was made.
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| filmmakers have said that the Jason character was an afterthought and that Mrs. Voorhies was the only killer. but the success of the film and the death of Mrs. Voorhies lead to them creating the iconic Jason mask and character for the sequel. |
9 - THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
I have always fully enjoyed the crazy look on Ash's face after he's been put through hell by the evil lurking in the wood's and the cabin in Sam Raimi's classic film The Evil Dead. The role played by Bruce Campbell is done masterfully balancing comedy and terror. As a kid the movie scared me to death as a grown up it's pure comedy gold.
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| Ash please stop going into the Cabin it's not gonna be ok! |
8 - POLTERGEIST (1982)
The premise of this movie was the genius part, put us in suburbia and put the monster inside the television. Producer Steven Spielberg and director Tobe Hooper took those two things that most people would identify with as being comforts and turned them into scares. I myself remember when Coach or Craig T. Nelson pushed their tv out at the end of the movie and I had instantly felt like destroying mine as well. With that said the photo I feel is most iconic is from when the creepy little girl (another horror movie staple) makes contact with the poltergeist through her tv.
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| Mind you this is before home 3dTv technology. |
Stephen King and terror go hand in hand and for my money no horror film had a better finale than Carrie and her crazy self losing it at the end of the Brian De Palma classic. For that matter De Palma's film Scarface ends with that same balls out no holds barred style finish.The remake could be decent but nothing will be as iconic as Sissy Spacek's look in the original Carrie.
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| They're all gonna laugh at you..all gonna laugh at you. She got the last laugh. |
6 - THE LOST BOYS (1987)
When I was a kid I loved The Lost Boys and the first time I watched it the movie scared the crap out of me. Even with that fact I kept coming back for more night after night. The scene that always turned my stomach is where David finally shows Michael what he is becoming by then devouring the surfer dudes to the jam "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith.. like Sam says later in the film "Death by Stereo!"
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| "Now you know what we are, Now you know what you are" the movie takes a hard left turn into terrorville after this scene. The Lost Boy's still holds up great today. |
5 - SCREAM (1996)
It was a film basically based on or influenced by every horror film made up until the time that Scream was created. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson somehow managed to make all the threads work. Combining mystery and terror with comedy and pop culture refrences. Most people may of course think of the Ghostface image of the mask as the iconic picture. Although to me it was always when the mask finally came off. I couldn't believe they somehow fooled me into thinking it was anyone but Billy the first time I saw Scream,. With Stu by his side Billy lets Sydney in on their secret stating the classic line by Norman Bates " We all go a little mad sometimes."
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| "Corn syrup. Same stuff they used for pig's blood in Carrie." Billy was one fan who took his love for horror films too far. |
Stanley Kubrick's horror/thriller the Shining based on a Stephen King novel brought us one of the most iconic pictures in not just horror film culture but in pop culture as well. Jack Nicholson's isolated character of Jack Torrance was a man trapped in a lot of ways and due to all work and no play he became a dull boy. Very unfortunately to his wife and kid (who also is creepy as shit) this wasn't a good thing. Filmed beautifully by Kubrick as he once again showed why he is the master of any genre he attempted. I myself knew of the photo well before I had actually seen the film from start to finish. Now its a film that once I start I always finish.
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| YouTube Jack Nicholson getting into character before doing this scene. He has to psych himself up into a frenzy to get inside the mind of Jack Torrance. Many who worked on the film said that Kubrick created the real sense of isolation on the set.. Also this is one of the few horror films with many still long shots instead of the much used quick cuts. |
Even people who don't watch horror films cringe at just the mention of the title The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In a film made for next to nothing in 1974 by independent filmmaker Tobe Hooper he made us all cringe with a realistic view of horror and a template for many films thereafter. Ever wondered where the kids on a road trip run into some real messed up muther fucks comes from ... this is it. Never again has it been done so well. Once the tension begins it simply doesn't end until the scene i've chosen for my third best still. A scene that should be scary instead years later turned out kind of beautiful. As the demented Leatherface swings his chainsaw in the rising sun.
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| Gunnar Hansen who played Leatherface said while filming this scene he purposely came close to director Tobe Hooper with the chainsaw to send a little message for putting them through the hellish conditions of the shoot. |
Imagine it's 1960 and to this point you've been watching old Universal monster classics or even just Leave it to Beaver or Ozzie and Harriet. Then Alfred Hitchcock says you know what these kids have it too easy, monsters aren't scary or real. So what he did was put the evil in the everyman. Your friend or neighbor or how bout your hotel manager. To me this film holds up as the template for the psychological horror/thriller. The picture that always stuck with me wasn't the shower scene or the mom's skeleton ... it was the very end when the man we think is just a sad guy tormented by his mom and who went mad like we all do sometimes, shows a crooked smile as if to say "I am the evil and I enjoy it."
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| Whatever is going on his head we know one thing ... it's "PSYCHO!" |
John Carpenter's small little film as he calls it. Carpenter and producer Debra Hill released Halloween in 1978 which turned out to be anything but small. Halloween has become the most iconic horror series of all time in my opinion. With Rob Zombie and Dimension taking it to new height's at the box office most recently. Though throughout all the sequels and reboots there was no more iconic picture in this series to me than in the original. I have found myself just like Randy in Scream saying " Jamie look behind you, behind you jamie! " as Jamie Lee Curtis' character Laurie Strode is stalked by the shape/Michael Myers.
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| Did you know that the mask used for the original Halloween was a Star Trek William Shatner/Captain Kirk mask that the special effects team customized. I always knew that Shatner was a scary guy. |
5 films that just missed making the list -
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The Sixth Sense
Candyman
Trick R' Treat
Fright Night (1985)
tags| top 10 horror pictures, iconic horror film stills, rj's movie blog articles, articles on horror films, scream, carrie, poltergeist, friday the 13th, the lost boys, the evil dead
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