Best Modern Horror Movies
The best horror movies I've seen in the past forty or so years.
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- DirectorDan O'BannonStarsClu GulagerJames KarenDon CalfaWhen two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.The best zombie movie ever made. Ever. The film tells the story of how three men accompanied by a group of teenage punks deal with the accidental release of a horde of brain hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town. It's the PERFECT blend of comedy and horror, and the epidemic keeps escalating until its fantastic ending. Fans of the genre need to experience this film! It also features one of the scariest and most iconic zombies ever seen, Tarman!!!
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.You may have seen the recent 2013 remake or know about the funnier sequels, but the original is one of the scariest and gory movies ever made, especially for its time. This film was the first to introduce the classic "a group of friends travel to a cabin in the woods and get slaughtered" movie plot. Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods to have fun and party when they find a demonic book in the basement. After reading the book, the teenagers become possessed by demons one by one, forcing them to kill each other to survive. This movie is older and lacks a modern sized budget, so the special effects aren't as good as the newer horror films, but it is still an adrenaline rushing horrific ride that holds up even to today's standards. A must see!
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellSarah BerryDan HicksAsh Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.It may have a two in the name, but this is actually a remake of the original Evil Dead with the same director and lead actor of the original. It's the same premise as the original, but this time it's just Ash and his girlfriend (until others come). It is much less serious than the original, adding a lot of comedy and one-liners, but it's still very eerie and quite horror focused. Insanely fun and iconic, it's important that every horror fan sees this movie! And if you like this, check out the actual sequel to this movie called Army of Darkness!
- DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsManuela VelascoFerran TerrazaJorge-Yamam SerranoA television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.If you've seen the American remake of Rec, Quarantine, or are thinking of it, don't. The original is far better in every way. Rec is a Spanish horror film about a television reporter and her cameraman following the local fire department's night shift. When an emergency call sends them to an apartment building they are trapped in a quarantine to stop the spread of a disease that turns its victims into cannibals. This film is viewed through the lens of the cameraman's camera, but don't let that deter you from a heart-stopping thrill ride as those caught in the quarantine attempt to survive the deadly outbreak! The cinematography is excellent and the action is deadly fast!
- DirectorTom SaviniStarsTony ToddPatricia TallmanTom TowlesWhen the unburied dead return to life and seek human victims, seven refugees shelter in a house in the Pennsylvanian countryside.The remake to the movie that reinvented zombies forever. Directed by Tom Savini, George A. Romero's go-to sfx makeup artist and stuntman, it adds a more modern take on the classic original. The film begins with siblings Johnnie and Barbara visiting their mother's grave in a remote, rural cemetery when they are attacked by walking corpses that hunger for flesh. Running away from the cemetary, they come to a farmhouse where they attempt to survive a night against the hordes of undead. The movie's pacing is fantastic. While you start off scared of just one zombie, the scale and horror escalates until the survivors are completely outnumbered by the undead. Better than the original in my opinion, you can't go wrong with this one. Oh, and it has Tony Todd in it!
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDavid EmgeKen ForeeScott H. ReinigerDuring an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.Continuing the world of Night of the Living Dead, the zombie epidemic is spreading worldwide and society is having troubles dealing with it. Four people steal a news station's helicopter and attempt to find refuge from the growing problem. They seek refuge in a huge shopping mall and attempt to survive the coming apocalypse. The movie is held to be the greatest zombie movie ever made, and there are plenty of reasons to justify that claim.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsLori CardilleTerry AlexanderJoseph PilatoAs the world is overrun by zombies, a group of scientists and military personnel sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida must decide on how they should deal with the undead horde.Next in the Living Dead series is Day of the Dead, my personal favorite. Zombies now outnumber humans and the world seems to have come to an end. The remaining fragments of the U.S. government and military hide out in fortified enclaves, attempting to find both survivors and a solution to the zombie outbreak. But can they survive each other? This movie features an awesome original score, fantastic special effects by Tom Savini, and one of the most iconic zombies ever filmed, Bub.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsJohn LeguizamoAsia ArgentoSimon BakerThe living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.Land of the Dead is the last movie in the Living Dead series (to me at least, Romero made two more but meh). Now only pockets of humans remain in the world. One of the largest spans an Entire city, called Fiddler's Green, filled with everything from corrupt politicians to mercenaries and whores. The movie poses a very scary question, what if zombies could think? By the end of the movie you'll be questioning who the real monsters are, the living dead or the human race.
- DirectorZack SnyderStarsSarah PolleyVing RhamesMekhi PhiferA nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.This remake is one of the greatest zombie movies ever made. It takes the mall's setting from the original but changes the time to 2004 and makes a tiny little itty bitty change to Romero's zombies. They can run. Fast. Filled with epic slow-motion effects, amazing cinematography and scale, and interesting characters and a great plot. Pretty much a perfect zombie movie!
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsMilla JovovichMichelle RodriguezRyan McCluskeyA special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.Ok before you laugh, let's all pretend that all those crappy sequels to this movie didn't exist. With that in mind, Resident Evil is an AWESOME zombie film. It is loosely based off the video game series, which means you don't need to be a fan to enjoy this film. It follows Alice, a woman who wakes up with amnesia and is quickly confronted by commandos that claim she is a guard to the entrance to The Hive, a huge underground laboratory dedicated to developing experimental medicine. A virus gets loose, people become zombies and mutating creatures, awesomeness ensues. The score by Marilyn Manson is fantastic, the zombies are creepy, the tension is always on, and the action scenes are superb! Don't let any bias against Resident Evil deter you from this gem of a movie!
- DirectorYannick DahanBenjamin RocherStarsClaude PerronJean-Pierre MartinsEriq EbouaneyAn end of the world battle between gangsters, cops and zombies.Here's another hidden goodie from France. The plot revolves around a group of Parisian policemen, who embark on a mission of vengeance after one of their colleagues dies at the hands of a notorious drug dealer holed up inside a condemned apartment complex. They storm the social housing complex with the intent of taking him down only to have a zombie outbreak force them to work together to survive. These zombies are hardcore, as they move very fast and are damn near impossible to kill. While most zombie movies focus on gunplay, this movie shines when the survivors are forced to use their hands. The action scenes are genuinely awesome, and one scene in particular near the end is one of the most iconic action setpieces I've ever seen in a zombie movie. It is worth watching for any zombie movie fan!!
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.This is by far one of the scariest films ever made. Directed by John Carpenter, The Thing takes place in an American Antarctic Research Station. The staff is forced to face an awakened alien that can impersonate anyone. You never know who's the thing, adding to suspense and trust issues galore. The special effects and creature design are jaw-dropping, the acting is top-notch and the movie never skips a beat. Just a fantastic horror movie that NEEDS to be watched!!!!
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsTimothy BalmeDiana PeñalverElizabeth MoodyA young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsHeather LangenkampJohnny DeppRobert EnglundTeenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
- DirectorRob HeddenStarsJensen DaggettKane HodderTodd CaldecottJason Voorhees is accidentally awakened from his watery grave and ends up stalking a ship full of graduating high-school students headed to Manhattan, New York.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsLaurence FishburneSam NeillKathleen QuinlanA rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
- DirectorTom HollandStarsCatherine HicksChris SarandonAlex VincentA struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsSean PertweeKevin McKiddEmma CleasbyA routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scottish wilderness.
- DirectorFrancis LawrenceStarsWill SmithAlice BragaCharlie TahanYears after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.
- DirectorDavid TwohyStarsRadha MitchellCole HauserVin DieselA transport ship crashes and leaves its crew stranded on a desert planet inhabited by bloodthirsty creatures that come out during an eclipse.
- DirectorCarter SmithStarsShawn AshmoreJena MaloneJonathan TuckerA leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when a group of friends and a fellow tourist embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsCillian MurphyNaomie HarrisChristopher EcclestonFour weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.