Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: AFI’s Top 10 Thrills
by Stacy Conradt - October 8, 2009 - 3:31 PM

q10

October is horror movie month at my house. We’ve been slacking a little bit this year, but so far we have managed to fit in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the animated one with Bing Crosby, not the live-action Johnny Depp one), The Exorcist, The Mist and The Ruins. The latter was kind of horrible, by the way, don’t waste your time if you haven’t already.

The American Film Institute has done a pretty bang-up job of releasing movie lists in the past few years – best lines, best laughs, best musicals, best film scores. They even recently released the 10 best movies in a bunch of different genres, including “Courtroom Drama” and “Gangsters.” But they have yet to release a “best horror movie” list, much to my chagrin (and the chagrin of many others… lots of horror nerd bloggers have made their own to make up for the AFI’s omission). But they have released the 100 “Best Thrills,” which I guess is as close as they are going to get. I’m listing their top 10.

psycho1. Psycho. We’re big Hitchcock fans, so I’m glad to see this on the list, but I’m not sure it should be number one.
2. Jaws. Not my favorite, but I can see why it has earned a spot on the top 10…
3. The Exorcist. Yeah, if you watch it today, parts of it are a little hokey. But parts of it are still absolutely terrifying. Like this part… (sorry, no embedding.)

4. North by Northwest. This is probably my personal favorite Hitchcock, and you can’t beat Cary Grant.

5. The Silence of the Lambs. An excellent somewhat-modern choice, I’d say. Anthony Hopkins is wonderfully chilling.

6. Alien. I can’t speak to this one because I’ve never seen the whole thing. I know! What kind of a horror movie aficionado am I?

birds7. The Birds. I’ve always wanted Tippi Hedren’s wardrobe from that movie.
8. The French Connection. See my explanation for #6. Do I need to add it to my Netflix?
9. Rosemary’s Baby. Starts out slow, but the payoff is pretty great. And if Mia Farrow seems genuinely stressed out during this movie, that’s because she is – Frank Sinatra served her divorce papers on the set.
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hmm. I guess I’ve always thought of this as more of an action movie than a thriller, but the part at the end when the Ark of the Covenant is opened could probably cause a nightmare or two.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? I have to wonder why The Shining is #30 on the list and Poltergeist is #84! Those would definitely have made my top 10.
Drop us a line and let us know what movies you think should be included on the list – and if you have any recommendations for my Halloween Netflix queue, leave that too, or send me a Tweet.

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Comments (32)

  1. I have to agree with you on Poltergeist. I still have nightmares when I watch it!

    posted by TellulaBlue on 10-8-2009 at 3:42 pm

  2. “W”. That a doofus like this could be running the country was terrifying!

    “The Sixth Sense”. I didn’t get it for a minute…then it hit me.

    “Wait Until Dark” Alan Arkin the killer!

    “Don’t Look Now”. Creepy.

    “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” – The original.

    posted by Jerry K on 10-8-2009 at 4:01 pm

  3. I definitely agree about The Shining and Poltergeist… what are they doing way down there?!

    And I assume that you’re just saving Johnny’s Sleepy Hollow for last… :)

    reCaptcha: banjoes sing
    so they do.

    posted by Allison on 10-8-2009 at 4:16 pm

  4. I believe Bravo has 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

    posted by Coop on 10-8-2009 at 4:22 pm

  5. The French Connection didn’t do it for me.

    The car chase is good, i guess, if you like that sort of thing, but I’ve also seen clips of that before, so it’s a bit anti-climactic, kinda like Psycho, cuz everyone knows about the shower scene before it happens.

    I’d definitely see Alien before TFC.

    I’m w/ you on Hitchcock (and Cary Grant for that matter). Rear Window and Vertigo should be up higher.

    posted by Jonny on 10-8-2009 at 4:25 pm

  6. The seance scene from “The Others” has to be one of the most thrilling I have seen in the theater for some time. In “Session 9″, when the bookish guy is listening to the psych sessions on the tapes he found, I am chilled to the bone, every time. I would highly recommend those two movies if you haven’t seen them.
    Being a horror lover you probably have already seen these, but here are more Halloween suggestions: “The Haunting” (1963) is creepy fun, “The Descent”, and “The Orphanage” are two recent horror masterpieces. Also check out “Ginger Snaps” for some grrl aggression.
    I first saw the French Connection about 5 years ago, and I must say I was very disappointed. 70′s movies often feel strangely paced to me, almost stream-of-conciousness at times, like certain important character discoveries and plot moments are simply left unfilmed. I guess maybe I expected an investigation type movie, when it’s actually more of a police action flick like Bullitt (which I liked better than French Connection).

    posted by dagnabbit on 10-8-2009 at 4:29 pm

  7. I really enjoyed Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin. I doubt it is on the list, though.

    posted by Jenny on 10-8-2009 at 4:52 pm

  8. Seriously, what about Pet Semetary (scariest movie ever), The Mothman Prophecies, The Descent, Seven, Funny Games (now there’s a scary one, the foriegn version is much better than the English rerelease)… and I think that if you are allowed to classify Raiders of the Lost Ark as a “thriller”, then The Wizard of Oz should definately be on the list… no?

    posted by audrey on 10-8-2009 at 5:01 pm

  9. Ahh, thanks Coop! Bravo does have scary movies! A lot of overlap – Jaws, Alien, the Exorcist, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs. Link in my name to see the rest.

    posted by stacy on 10-8-2009 at 5:27 pm

  10. Bravo’s list is MUCH more appropriate.. and they do have a tendency to rerun it every year in October.

    posted by Mindy on 10-8-2009 at 5:43 pm

  11. I just wanted to recommend “The Burrowers” for some creepy movie watching. I saw it at Fantastic Fest last year and really enjoyed it. It’s not even close a top ten best by any stretch of the imagination, but I was I liked it.

    posted by nikki on 10-8-2009 at 5:54 pm

  12. I agree – Wait Until Dark is a great thriller. Alan Arkin’s villain is so amazingly horrible!

    posted by vegebrarian on 10-8-2009 at 6:15 pm

  13. I’ll also throw my vote to Wait Until Dark. Arkin’s leap across the room with the knife never fails to startle me, no matter how many times I watch the movie. If I’m not mistaken, that scene is pretty high up on Bravo’s list.

    posted by Matt Soniak on 10-8-2009 at 7:48 pm

  14. Oh, god… Alan Arkin is so HOT scary. In fact, I just received a pair of sunglasses for my birthday that sort of remind me of the ones he wears in his first scene (love all of the delivery of his dialogue in that one, btw)

    posted by Anon Emous on 10-8-2009 at 7:54 pm

  15. Check the definition for “chagrin.”

    posted by Scott on 10-8-2009 at 8:59 pm

  16. I must say I hate horror movies (someone mentioned “The Descent”…my friend sat me through it and I WILL NEVER WATCH IT AGAIN!”) but I do love the creepy psychological stuff, like the Shining. If you loved the movie, read the book! The last 100 pages are horrifying, and it ends way differently than the movie!

    I don’t see Raiders of the Lost Ark being on there…I found Temple of Doom much creepier. Seriously…crazy cult leader ripping out someone’s heart totally beats everyone dying via the lost ark.

    posted by Megan on 10-8-2009 at 10:03 pm

  17. I have a hard time thinking of movies before someone else mentions them. Throw in another vote for Wait Until Dark. Saw it in the theater as a kid and had nightmares afterward.

    Definitely see Alien. I read the book first and was pleasantly surprised at how well the movie compares. Unlike The Exorcist, where the book scared the daylights out of me and then the movie came out and was cartoonish in comparison.

    posted by Miss Cellania on 10-9-2009 at 6:33 am

  18. How about Carrie, both the remake or the original. Stay away from Carrie II though, it blows, thought watching people get decapitated by CDs was interesting.

    posted by Andy on 10-9-2009 at 8:08 am

  19. Poltergeist is the scariest movie ever. I still watch it whenever I see it somewhere on TV. The special effects are, of course, dated, but it’s still scary! I hear they are remaking it. I hope it does the original justice.

    I agree with Pet Semetary too. There are a lot of Stephen King adaptations that I would add to the list. Two lesser known movies that I found scary were “It’, which was a made for TV movie, and “Needful Things”. The books for both of these scared the bejeezus out of me, but I really enjoyed the movie versions too.

    posted by bzzyb on 10-9-2009 at 8:46 am

  20. The book The Shining was way better than the movie. I rarely enjoy a Stephen King movie the way I enjoy his books.

    But Wait Until Dark is now officially on my list of movies to see, maybe this weekend if I can find it on On Demand!

    posted by Hyacinth on 10-9-2009 at 9:01 am

  21. “Rollercoaster” from 1977

    (But)It might be considered a kiddie ride. The American release has less gore than the European version because they wanted it to get a PG rating here.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076636/

    posted by Tdave on 10-9-2009 at 10:09 am

  22. “It”, “Pet Cemetary”, and “Poltergeist” still creep me out to no end even today.

    Some more really good ones:
    “The People Under the Stairs”
    “Children of the Corn”
    “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
    “House of a Thousand Corpses” was good, but really bizarre

    posted by tinkerschnizel on 10-9-2009 at 10:28 am

  23. @bzzyb – it’s funny that you call “It” a lesser known movie. I didn’t actually see it until recently (I cracked up the whole time and managed to say lines in time with the characters even though I’d never seen it, it was that predictable) but I’ve always grown up knowing about that movie. Many of my friends were forever terrified by clowns after watching it when it first aired. Only recently when I told people that I finally saw it and they looked at me like “what movie are you TALKING about?” did I realize it wasn’t as well known as I thought.

    posted by Hastings on 10-9-2009 at 10:41 am

  24. Good votes for “wait until dark”! I haven’t seen it since I was in 8th grade (we did an ‘edgar allan poe’ and ‘suspense’ unit, so the movie obvi tied in), but will definitely put it on my queue for Scary October Halloween Movies:)

    Didn’t the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ scene toward the end with Clarice make it into the ‘most terrifying moment’ or ‘suspensful’ list or something from the AFI masterminds? I could’ve sworn I remembered seeing that.

    Pet Semetary the book is terrifying, but I didn’t care for the movie. I think I was frustrated with how many character changes there were, although it was written my Stephen King, so it’s not as bad as it could’ve been.

    My only complaint with “The Shinging” is that Jack looks crazy from the get go, so I have a difficult time believe he’s desending into madness… However, the woman from the bathtub still gives me nightmares!

    posted by OkieMelissa on 10-9-2009 at 10:49 am

  25. I have to suggest “Drag Me To Hell”. I know it’s new, I know that it’s a little campy, but it is absolutely perfect either way. It made me jump, laugh, shutter, gasp–it was truly an awesome flick.

    posted by Ophelia on 10-9-2009 at 11:01 am

  26. I don’t care what anyone says but “The Strangers” scared the heck out of me. I think what bothered me was that these people are being terrorized for no reason at all. It’s very real and there are people out there who will kill for no reason whatsoever.

    Yeah I’m apparently a huge scaredy cat.

    posted by Colene on 10-9-2009 at 12:13 pm

  27. Plenty of good comments\suggestions…

    A couple that have been overlooked
    THE THING (1982) – the alien-dog in the kennel? Nobody knows who is the alien? The spider-head thing? That creepy bass chord playing throught the movie?
    SAW (2004) – the sequels made a mockery of the first one, which is truly classic. What lengths would you go to save your life? Jigsaw reveals his identity in the last 60 seconds of the movie, when you’ve spent the previous 2 hours thinking it was Benjamin Linus :)… GAME OVER!!! [slams the door]

    posted by Goliath The Pickle on 10-9-2009 at 12:22 pm

  28. @OkieMelissa:

    I read trivia that said that Stephen King did not like the casting of Jack Nicholson for the same reason–he felt that he already had a sort of mad look, so the descent into madness would not be as extreme.

    I personally liked him in the role. He did seem a bit loopy in the beginning anyway, but knowing that it was a horror film going into it, it was kind of fun to watch the other characters react like he was normal when the viewer clearly knows he will go insane…

    posted by Jenny on 10-9-2009 at 12:41 pm

  29. One of the scariest movies ever – “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. Like many other movies, the sequels descended into mere hack/slash shows, but the original was terrifying. Mr. Kruger was so evil … so relentless … OMG.

    posted by Jon on 10-9-2009 at 2:37 pm

  30. @ Hyacinth –

    No need for ‘On Demand’- apparently all you need to do is go to YouTube.

    posted by Amy on 10-9-2009 at 4:29 pm

  31. @Hyacinth -
    Oops! I think that clip I sent is the ’3rd’ chunk…

    THIS one should lead to the *beginning* of the movie.

    posted by Amy on 10-9-2009 at 4:32 pm

  32. I just thought of “John Carpenters Vampires”(1998)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120877/

    It was the last time I’ve been to a movie theater. It was an unusually warm night in November of 1998.

    posted by Tdave on 10-11-2009 at 10:48 am

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