The best horror movie of all time… 50 years later, this monument to the genre is as effective as ever!

With Halloween approaching, with Swiss Cuckoo regularity, English-language sites (but not only that, of course…) are pouring out lists of horror-themed movies into the arena. This year the Bible Variety publishes a list of the 100 best horror movies of all time. only that.

From Peter Jackson’s “Braindead” to David Cronenberg’s False Claims, The Shining (which by the way is Parker Finn’s all-time favorite film from the director of Smile 2) or Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later”, the list is endless, very wide.

And, as usual, some disgruntled people regret the position of certain works in the ranking, such as the absolute masterpiece that is John Carpenter’s stuff, which is only at number 46. or the presence of 120 days of sulphurous Salo or Sodom in the 9th place.

Beautiful bronze and silver medals

What about the podium? The bronze medal belongs to Alfred Hitchcock’s Indestructible Psycho. One of the most perverse, terrifying, and utterly fascinating horror films of all time, the master’s only horror film shot in black and white, Psycho was actually the best film of the genre according to your ratings.

The silver medal goes to another sacred masterpiece of the genre that isn’t ready to be equaled: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. 50 years after its release in our region, this film remains, as ever, a monument of raw terror.

With this story of ownership, which is the question of the millennium in the end On the eternal battle between the forces of good and evil, the filmmaker conveyed a visceral experience that was truly traumatic for the public who discovered it in theaters at the time. And even more widely today.

And number 1 is…

What about the number 1 movie? Another classic and absolute masterpiece: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Tobe Hooper. For 50 years now, the Hewitt family has been terrorizing and dismembering those who cross their path. Fifty years after their degenerate son, Terface, lovingly pampered his chainsaw, making sure to generously supply the family with fresh meat. Human, of course.

The epitome of experimental horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre caused a real shock in the industry, with filmmakers such as William Friedkin, Stanley Kubrick (who also owned a 35mm copy of the film) and Steven Spielberg.

An important work that remains the absolute matrix of the genre. A film about all the experiments and excesses that condemns the traditional American family, the excesses of cannibalistic capitalism and the repeated lies of the American government against the backdrop of the debacle of the Vietnam War. If the film remains rooted in the concerns and anxieties of its time, it remains more relevant than ever.