4. The Shining
From a certain perspective, all of Stanley Kubrick’s movies are horror films: 2001’s terrifying cosmic loneliness, Dr. Strangelove’s cheery annihilation, the death duels from Barry Lyndon. Which is all a way of saying that when the director finally got around to making a proper thriller, he paradoxically produced the ultimate comic satire on the American family. With blood in elevators.
5. Get Out
A zeitgeisty sensation, an Oscar winner and (most importantly) a timely culture changer that brought us all to the “sunken place,” Jordan Peele’s enormously confident directorial debut did more for the reputation of horror—as a vessel for sociopolitical commentary—than any movie since Night of the Living Dead.
6. The Omen
Every expectant mother, deep down, worries about the relationship they’ll have with their child, but none expects to raise the literal son of Satan – at least, they didn’t, until the release of Richard Donner’s blockbuster, which forever has parents checking their new babies for the mark of the beast. It’s not as artful as Rosemary’s Baby, but it’s much easier to watch, and still chills to the bone.
7.Trick ‘r Treat
Michael Dougherty’s franchise non-starter had a inglorious rollout, but has since accrued a cult following thanks to its status as a Halloween movie that actually ties into the sugar-powered holiday. LIke most anthology films, Trick ‘r Treat moves in fits and starts, but when it hits – especially in a segment featuring the great Dylan Baker as a school principal moonlighting as an inept serial killer – it’s a bloody great time. Meanwhile, the film’s mascot, a burlap sack-masked moppet named Sam (as in ‘Samhain’), is an all-time great Halloween ghoul who does incredibly nasty things with lollipops, making for a deliriously offbeat horror confection
