In a previous post, I covered Shudder’s The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time. Now that the Halloween-season-spanning, eight-episode series is complete, let’s compare its rankings to those in the similar countdown specials that preceded it on the Bravo channel.
Abbreviations:
B100= Bravo’s The 100 Scariest Movie Moments [2004]
B30= Bravo’s 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments [2006]
B13= Bravo’s 13 Scarier Movie Moments [2009]
The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time
Episode 1
101. It Follows (2014)
100. The Orphanage (2007)
99. ‘Salem’s Lot (1979)
98. Horror of Dracula (1958)
97. Black Sabbath (1963)
96. Pulse (2001)
95. The Strangers (2008) [B13: #13]
94. The Wolf-Man (1941) [B100: #62]
93. Cat People (1942) [B100: #97]
92. The Birds (1963) [B100: #96]
91. Mulholland Drive (2001)
90. Child’s Play (1988) [B100: #93]
89. An American Werewolf in London (1981) [B100: #42]
Episode 2
88. Us (2019)
87. The Witch (2015)
86. Zombi 2 (1979) [B100: #98]
85. The Changeling (1980) [B100: #54]
84. The Phantom of the Opera (1925) [B100: #52]
83. The Brood (1979) [B100: #78]
82. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
81. Demons (1985) [B100: #53]
80. Doctor Sleep (2019)
79. Candyman (1992) [B100: #75]
78. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
77. The Evil Dead (1981) [B100: #76]
76. Dawn of the Dead (2004) [B30: #13]
Episode 3
75. Annihilation (2018)
74. Cujo (1983) [B100: #58]
73. The Fly (1986) [B100: #33]
72. The Wicker Man (1973) [B100: #45]
71. Nosferatu (1922) [B100: #47]
70. The Night House (2020)
69. Aliens (1986) [B100: #35]
68. The Babadook (2014)
67. The Last House on the Left (1972) [B100: #50]
66. Terrified [Aterrados] (2017)
65. Friday the 13th (1980) [B100: #31]
64. Dawn of the Dead (1978) [B100: #39]
63. Peeping Tom (1960) [B100: #38]
Episode 4
62. A Quiet Place (2018)
61.The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
60. Phantasm (1979) [B100: #25]
59. Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
58. When a Stranger Calls (1979) [B100: #28]
57. Black Christmas (1974) [B100: #87]
56. Jacob’s Ladder (1990) [B100: #21]
55. Threads (1984)
54. The Howling (1981) [B100: #81]
53. Gerald’s Game (2017)
52. Misery (1990) [B100: #12]
51. Frankenstein (1931) [B100: #27]
50. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) [B100: #17]
Episode 5
49. A Bay of Blood (1971)
48. The Conjuring (2013)
47. Get Out (2017)
46. Twin Peaks: Part 8 (2017)
45. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
44. Rosemary’s Babysitter (1968) [B100: #23]
43. Inside (2007)
42. Se7en (1995) [B100: #26]
41. Zodiac (2007) [B13: #4]
40. 28 Days Later (2002) [B100: #100]
39. 30 Days of Night (2007)
38. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) [B100: #7]
37. Suspiria (1977) [B100: #24]
Episode 6
36. The Blair Witch Project (1999) [B100: #30]
35. Paranormal Activity (2007)
34. The Sixth Sense (1999) [B100: #71]
33. Let the Right One In (2008)
32. The Invisible Man (2020)
31. Wait Until Dark (1967) [B100: #10]
30. Don’t Breathe (2016)
29. Hostel (2005) [B30: #1]
28. Lake Mungo (2008)
27. The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
26. It: Chapter One (2017)
25. I Saw the Devil (2010)
24. Hellraiser (1987) [B100: #19]
Episode 7
23. The Descent (2005) [B13: #1]
22. Saw (2004) [B30: #3]
21. Scanners (1981) [B30: #14]
20. [REC] (2007)
19. Carrie (1976) [B100: #8]
18. The Omen (1976) [B100: #16]
17. Night of the Living Dead (1968) [B100: #9]
16. The Exorcist III (1990)
15. Final Destination (2000)
14. Jaws (1975) [B100: #1]
13. Scream (1996) [B100: #13]
12. Halloween (1978) [B100: #14]
11. Alien (1979) [B100: #2]
Episode 8
10. Ringu (1995)
9. Train to Busan (2016)
8. Sinister (2012)
7. The Exorcist (1973) [B100: #3]
6. The Shining (1980) [B100: #6]
5. Psycho (1960) [B100: #4]
4. Audition (1999) [B100: #11]
3. Hereditary (2018)
2. The Thing (1982) [B100: #48]
1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) [B100: #5]
Some Thoughts:
*This 2022 list makes a conscious effort to be more culturally inclusive; a quarter of the list is comprised of non-North-American films.
*Freaks is the highest-ranked film from the B100 list (#15) to not make the Shudder list. The Haunting (B100: #19) is perhaps the most surprising omission, though (here, the film is supplanted by the Netflix series).
*The Thing [B100: #48] makes the largest jump from the original Bravo list–a testament to how the film’s reputation has continued to grow over the years.
*The Silence of the Lambs is the Top 10 film from the original Bravo list (#7) to have the biggest drop here. It’s somewhat surprising, too, that the #1 film from the original Bravo list, Jaws, falls all the way to #14 here.
*Dawn of the Dead is the only film listed twice here–the 1978 original and the 2004 remake.
*Frankenstein and The Wolf-Man make this list but their Universal Monster cohort Dracula doesn’t. The top-ranked Universal Monster film on the list: the 2020 remake of The Invisible Man.
*The Shining is the top-ranked Stephen King film adaptation on both this list and the original Bravo list. Despite King’s vocal denunciations of the film, Stanley Kubrick clearly struck a horrifying chord with audiences.
*Twenty-two of the entries here were released after 2009, and so were not even available for consideration for any of the Bravo lists. The top-ranked film here that was eligible but didn’t make the Bravo lists was Ringu (but B100 did rank the American remake of the film at #20).
The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time was a wonderful treat this Halloween season. The series brimmed with stunning clips and astute commentary. Mike Flanagan’s closing remarks are so good, I have to quote them in full here:
One of the neat things about the genre is that, yes, we love to be startled, and yes, we love to be frightened, and sometimes we love to root for the killers. We can pour all of our kind of base instincts into sympathizing with the slasher. It lets us do so many different things. It’s cathartic in so many different ways. But it also, in all of its expressions, is just an invitation. For us to be a little bit braver in processing what we go through as people, whether that’s dealing with loss, trauma, violent fantasies, universal fears, fear of the unknown, fear of death itself, or just fear of what we are capable of doing to each other. All of those expressions of the genre all invite us to try to be honest about that, and to try to be a little bit courageous. Just brave enough to make it through the scene, just brave enough to make it through the movie, just brave enough to make it through the episode. And we collectively get that little bit braver.
Tim Burton, The Addams Family, Jenna Ortega, and Edgar Allan Poe? Count me in(vested wholeheartedly).
