Edgar Wright once named his 100 favourite horror movies of all time
Britain has a strong history of horror filmmaking, with the Hammer period of the 1950s helping to define the modern genre. After the likes of Robin Hardy, Ken Russell, and Freddie Francis pioneered British horror with such classics as The Wicker Man, The Devils and Tales From the Crypt, contemporary influencers started to follow, with Ben Wheatley, Neil Marshall and Edgar Wright taking on the slimy, gruesome baton.
Of the modern trio, it is Wright who has excelled the most, arriving on the scene in 2004 with his seminal horror comedy flick Shaun of the Dead, starring who would later become the iconic duo Nick Frost and Simon Pegg. A homage to the films of George Romeo, Shaun of the Dead reimagined what a zombie apocalypse might look like if it took place in central London and to a nerdy office worker and his slacker best friend.
Quickly hailed as a classic by critics and audiences alike, Wright later abandoned the horror genre with follow-ups Hot Fuzz, The World’s End and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, yet maintained a playful filmmaking style that toyed with terror.
Throughout the aforementioned movies, there are several gory moments, and one can’t forget the horror short film Wright made for Quentin Tarantino and his 2007 Grindhouse double bill.
A lover of the genre, Wright once took the time to sit down and list out his 100 favourite horror movies, listing countless classics from throughout history, from the joys of F.W. Murnau to the modern thrills of Guillermo Del Toro.
Before making the list, Wright explained: “Here, for Halloween, is a chronological list of my favourite horror movies. It’s not in any way an official best of list and merely represents my tastes at the moment…To be honest it was very tough to whittle down to 100 and thus a lot of ‘thrillers’ that I love did not make it – Se7en, The Vanishing, Manhunter, Silence Of The Lambs, as well as some science fiction films and allegorical movies (the fantastic Spirit Of The Beehive.) But rest assured you can find them all on my 1000 (!) fav movies list. Either way, there’s lots to enjoy on this list of 100 bloody great horrors from all over the world. Enjoy”.
Take a look at the director’s full list of favourites below.
Edgar Wright’s 100 favourite horror movies:
- Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922)
- Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)
- Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)
- Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932)
- The Mummy (Karl Freund, 1932)
- The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932)
- The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)
- Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
- Dead of Night (Various, 1945)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
- Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)
- Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958)
- A Bucket of Blood (Roger Corman, 19590
- Black Sunday (Mario Bava, 1960)
- Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960)
- Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
- Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960)
- The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
- Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962)
- The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)
- Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964)
- Onibaba (Kaneto Shindô, 1964)
- Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
- Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
- Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
- Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
- The Devil Rides Out (Terence Fisher, 1968)
- The House That Screamed (Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, 1969)
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970)
- A Bay of Blood (Mario Bava, 1971)
- Daughters of Darkness (Harry Kümel, 1971)
- Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Dario Argento, 1971)
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Robert Fuest, 1971)
- Asylum (Roy Ward Baker, 1972)
- Frenzy (Alfred Hitchcock, 1972)
- Raw Meat (Gary Sherman, 1972)
- Tales From The Crypt (Freddie Francis, 1972)
- Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
- Sisters (Brian De Palma, 1972)
- The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
- The Legend Of Hell House (John Hough, 1973)
- The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)
- Theatre Of Blood (Douglas Hickox, 1973)
- The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (Jorge Grau, 1974)
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974)
- Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975)
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
- Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976)
- The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)
- Who Can Kill A Child? (Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, 1976)
- Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
- Dawn Of The Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
- Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
- Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
- Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978)
- Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)
- Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
- The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
- Dressed To Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)
- The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980)
- The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980)
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
- An American Werewolf In London (John Landis, 1981)
- The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981)
- The Howling (Joe Dante, 1981)
- Creepshow (George A. Romero, 1982)
- Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)
- The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
- Twilight Zone: The Movie (Various, 1983)
- A Nightmare On Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
- Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984)
- Day Of The Dead (George A. Romero, 1985)
- Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon, 1985)
- Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)
- The Fly (David Cronenberg 1986)
- Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, 1987)
- Hellraiser (Clive Barker, 1987)
- Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow, 1987)
- Santa Sangre (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989)
- The People Under The Stairs (Wes Craven, 1991)
- Dead Alive (Peter Jackson, 1992)
- Cronos (Guillermo Del Toro, 1993)
- Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)
- Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998)
- Audition (Takashi Miike, 1999)
- The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
- Frailty (Bill Paxton, 2001)
- Jeepers Creepers (Victor Salva, 2001)
- The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo Del Toro, 2001)
- [REC] (Paco Plaza, Jaume Balagueró, 2007)
- Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)
- The Ruins (Carter Smith, 2008)
- The Cabin In The Woods (Drew Goddard, 2011)
- The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar, 2011)
- It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014)
- The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
- Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016)
- Train To Busan (Yeon Sang-Ho, 2016)
