As a movie fan, horror is my favorite genre by far. This doesn’t mean that I like blood and gore or that my favorite movies are scary. Not at all. But horror was always the most flexible film genre. It can be funny, sad, scary, deep, or full of blood and gore. Rarely do comedies or action movies have such a wide range of films.
Best Slasher: Scream (1996)
Slasher movies are scary movies in which one bad guy follows and kills a group of people, usually teenagers, with a bladed weapon. I think that when people don’t know much about horror, they think of slasher movies or movies about ghosts as typical. In these movies, sexy teens make stupid choices that lead to bloody deaths.
After movies like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Horror show on Elm Street ruled the slasher genre in the late 1970s, The Scream turned it on its head. In a meta way, the movie adds twists and turns that you don’t expect while setting up typical rules of horror movies.
Best Comedy Horror: The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Comedy horror is a great choice for people who don’t like to be TOO scared. Some people think a movie that is a comedy horror must be a Disney movie, but that’s not true. Many scary, bloody, and gory horror movies also try to make you laugh in between your screams.
The Cabin in the Woods is my favorite scary-funny movie. This movie puts a group of young adults who act like stereotypes in the middle of a big-time plot, which was new and interesting to me the first time I saw it. When this movie first came out, many people didn’t like it because it’s so distinct and hard to understand if you’re a purist.
Best Halloween Horror: Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
The best time of year for horror films is when the leaves start to change, the weather gets cooler, scary decorations start to show up in people’s yards, and Halloween is just around the corner. Still, there aren’t many horror movies about Halloween, and most of those that do aren’t as scary as they should be.
Yes, we can watch someone’s organs get ripped out with a butcher knife or a demon take over a young girl, but that’s not usually what we want to see on All Hallows Eve. If it is, please get help right away.
In some movies, Halloween is the most important part of the story. Children go trick-or-treating, legends about October 31 are told, and people in monster costumes celebrate the harvest nights. People might think I’ll pick the movie with the same name as the holiday, but that’s not my favorite Halloween-themed movie.
Best Animal Horror: Jaws (1975)
Not every scary movie has to have ghosts, monsters, or demons follow the main characters around. Some animals that live on earth can be scary enough to make a scary story. Some people think that scary stories about animals are the scariest because they could happen to us. There have been horror movies with animals that had supernatural things happen, like Pet Sematary, but we won’t talk about those here. This topic will only concern man against a dangerous part of nature.
Best Supernatural Horror: It Follows (2014)
The term “supernatural” covers many things, such as ghosts, demons, magic, and rituals. These things are often linked to religious beliefs and spiritual connections. I find this the scariest kind of horror, and I don’t like watching it. Something about forces I can’t see has always scared me. Of course, that’s also why it’s a strong horror subgenre.
I couldn’t decide if the best supernatural movie was the one that scared me the most or the one that made me the most interesting movie. Do I want people to read this article and have a great movie experience, or do I want them to be scared out of their minds and have to sleep with the light on? I chose the first option and a supernatural movie that doesn’t scare me as much but has some great themes and memorable music.
Best Foreign Horror: The Orphanage (2008)
Even though American movies have always been the best, there are also a lot of great movies from other countries. Even though they might not be for people who don’t want to read subtitles, more than just people from their own country should watch them.
Train to Busan, a movie about zombies, and Parasite, a movie that isn’t scary but won Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, are two great movies that came out recently from South Korea. Giallo films from Italy, on the other hand, are some of the scariest and most mysterious movies ever made. Giallo means yellow, and it got its name from the bright yellow posters that went with the movies.
Best Psychological Horror: The Thing (1982)
Psychological horror can scare people without the use of blood, guts, or scary monsters. All it needs is the mind of the person who sees it. It usually uses music, suspense, and small details to make people uncomfortable while watching. Psychological horror is great because it is more about getting ready to be scared than being scared. It covers a wide range of subjects that, like supernatural horror, it’s very hard to pick just one as the best. I do have a favorite.
Best Science Fiction Horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
I could easily choose The Item for this category, but I won’t because I want to give you all the new movies. Science fiction is one of the oldest types of horror in America. It started in the 1950s with shows like The Twilight Zone. Sci-fi usually involves aliens, space, the end of our technological progress, or any other scientific disaster humans could find or cause. Sci-fi is great because it can be changed, just like horror.
Best Creature Feature Horror: The Descent (2005)
Since Nosferatu was in the silent film era, monster movies have been a part of cinema. We’ve seen aliens, werewolves, vampires, mummies, monsters, and creatures from the deep. There are now cryptid animals, legendary beings that look like people, and monsters from our minds.
The animals’ details come from stories drawn on cave walls for thousands of years. To be clear, when I say creature, I don’t mean animals like in the above subgenre. Most creatures in movies are not things we would see in real life. Let’s hope not!
Best Horror Movie For Kids: Hocus Pocus (1993)
Last, we go into the category with the fewest things. Some might say that these movies aren’t horror but are just comedies with monsters or cheap, pointless copies of horror movies. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree. Every horror fan has to begin somewhere, and I do not think it’s smart or healthy to show kids real horror at a young age.
There is, of course, a way to get kids interested in scary things for the first time. Most of the time, these movies have monsters, mysticism, or even other horror tropes, but they don’t have a lot of blood and violence. They are also more likely to be funny. You might be able to see these movies on ABC’s 31 Days of Halloween or another program that shows G- to PG-rated movies for a whole month.