What’s The Most Important Horror Flick By Decade?

[Doomsday]

How do you define shock then? Because Hitchcock himself has said he wanted to shock audiences with psycho. Craven said the same with last house on the left.

So yeah define shock for me cause we may be on two different wavelengths

Psycho has one of the greatest twists in movie history, but beyond the wittiness it doesn't really have that shock factor. The main advertised character dying early and the Norman Bates being the killer aside, it's a thriller at heart.

"Shock" horror would be like Freddy first appearing with creepy outstretched hands. That old horror movie where the guy looks down at his hand and theirs an eyeball in the center of his palm. The Japanese horror films with torture, the saw series, ect. Movies where the shock/creep value is equal to the scares. You can have a shocking or surprised twist or revelation in a film, but that's separate from shock-horror.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Psycho has one of the greatest twists in movie history, but beyond the wittiness it doesn't really have that shock factor. The main advertised character dying early and the Norman Bates being the killer aside, it's a thriller at heart.

"Shock" horror would be like Freddy first appearing with creepy outstretched hands. That old horror movie where the guy looks down at his hand and theirs an eyeball in the center of his palm. The Japanese horror films with torture, the saw series, ect. Movies where the shock/creep value is equal to the scares. You can have a shocking or surprised twist or revelation in a film, but that's separate from shock-horror.

Well going by your definition, wouldn’t evil dead or evil dead 2 be more that than nightmare?

 

[Poetical Poltergeist]

70's I would say Jaws. It actually terrified people so bad they wouldn't even go to the beach.

Exorcist close 2nd since its one of the most copied and revered movies ever in any genre.

Halloween is way up there too, so influential but not the first to do what it did. TCM I might rank higher since it seemed like a real life snuff film in a way. Inspiring tons of back woods, crazy deranged cannibals/psycho mutants. ( Deliverance was the real pioneer but Its not quite horror). Or is it?

Then you have ALIEN. 70s is hard.

Dawn of the Dead too. fukk.

 

[Doomsday]

Well going by your definition, wouldn’t evil dead or evil dead 2 be more that than nightmare?

Technically yes, and technically they were influential, just not as much as Nightmare. The thing that holds Evil Dead back is by the sequel it had become an unapologetic parody. Nightmare was more influential and executed better. Nightmare is the most important of that era by far.

 

[MartyMcFly]

Technically yes, and technically they were influential, just not as much as Nightmare. The thing that holds Evil Dead back is by the sequel it had become an unapologetic parody. Nightmare was more influential and executed better. Nightmare is the most important of that era by far.

Word. Feel that. Don’t agree entirely but feel you

 

[Jello Biafra]

60s: Night of the Living Dead
Can be credited for starting the love affair horror fans have with zombies and is directly responsible for everything from The Return of the living Dead to 28 Days Later to The Walking Dead.

70s: Halloween
Gave us the blueprint for the slasher movie boom and the idea that the slasher was the star of the film more so than the victims or even the Final Girl.

80s: An American Werewolf in London
While there had been horror movies with comedic elements for decades before and even actual horror-comedy/comedy-horror movies, none of them were as well done or had as much of an impact as American Werewolf as evidenced by the amount of horror-comedy/comedy-horror that followed throughout the 1980s.

90s: Scream
It not only caused a revival in studios making horror for more than the direct-to-dvd market but it also started two waves during the decade: the trend of "ironic horror" where the tropes of horror movies were known by the characters in these films and the teenage horror movie.

00s: The Blair Witch Project
Though it came out in 1999 (July 16 to be exact) the influence that it wielded on horror was felt all through the 2000s as Blair which kicked off the found footage horror boom that is still going strong today.

10s: Insidious
Insidious begat the wave of demonic/ghost/possession movies that included the mega-hit The Conjuring universe of films and everything else from Sinister to Lights Out.

 

[Sunalmighty]

if you don't have any of the George Romero zombie flicks you buggin. there were other zombie flicks before his but he changed the game

 

[Sunalmighty]

Also, The Purge for 2010s.

you classify Purge as horror? more like an action series

 

[Sunalmighty]

60s: Night of the Living Dead
Can be credited for starting the love affair horror fans have with zombies and is directly responsible for everything from The Return of the living Dead to 28 Days Later to The Walking Dead.

70s: Halloween
Gave us the blueprint for the slasher movie boom and the idea that the slasher was the star of the film more so than the victims or even the Final Girl.

80s: An American Werewolf in London
While there had been horror movies with comedic elements for decades before and even actual horror-comedy/comedy-horror movies, none of them were as well done or had as much of an impact as American Werewolf as evidenced by the amount of horror-comedy/comedy-horror that followed throughout the 1980s.

90s: Scream
It not only caused a revival in studios making horror for more than the direct-to-dvd market but it also started two waves during the decade: the trend of "ironic horror" where the tropes of horror movies were known by the characters in these films and the teenage horror movie.

00s: The Blair Witch Project
Though it came out in 1999 (July 16 to be exact) the influence that it wielded on horror was felt all through the 2000s as Blair which kicked off the found footage horror boom that is still going strong today.

10s: Insidious
Insidious begat the wave of demonic/ghost/possession movies that included the mega-hit The Conjuring universe of films and everything else from Sinister to Lights Out.

EXORCIST breh set it off for that demonic stuff and that was back in the 70s

 

[Jello Biafra]

EXORCIST breh set it off for that demonic stuff and that was back in the 70s

True but that stuff sort of began and ended with The Exorcist/The Omen/Amityville Horror...and then nada.
To me Halloween, Jaws, Texas Chainsaw and Dawn of the Dead were more lasting in their influence if you had to pick something from the 70s.

 

[MartyMcFly]

True but that stuff sort of began and ended with The Exorcist/The Omen/Amityville Horror...and then nada.
To me Halloween, Jaws, Texas Chainsaw and Dawn of the Dead were more lasting in their influence if you had to pick something from the 70s.

Thank you. That’s why I can’t go with the exorcist. And there were demonic movies before the exorcist. Rosemarys baby was years before the exorcist and you could argue without that there would be no exorcist

 

[Poetical Poltergeist]

60s: Night of the Living Dead
Can be credited for starting the love affair horror fans have with zombies and is directly responsible for everything from The Return of the living Dead to 28 Days Later to The Walking Dead.

70s: Halloween
Gave us the blueprint for the slasher movie boom and the idea that the slasher was the star of the film more so than the victims or even the Final Girl.

80s: An American Werewolf in London
While there had been horror movies with comedic elements for decades before and even actual horror-comedy/comedy-horror movies, none of them were as well done or had as much of an impact as American Werewolf as evidenced by the amount of horror-comedy/comedy-horror that followed throughout the 1980s.

90s: Scream
It not only caused a revival in studios making horror for more than the direct-to-dvd market but it also started two waves during the decade: the trend of "ironic horror" where the tropes of horror movies were known by the characters in these films and the teenage horror movie.

00s: The Blair Witch Project
Though it came out in 1999 (July 16 to be exact) the influence that it wielded on horror was felt all through the 2000s as Blair which kicked off the found footage horror boom that is still going strong today.

10s: Insidious
Insidious begat the wave of demonic/ghost/possession movies that included the mega-hit The Conjuring universe of films and everything else from Sinister to Lights Out.

Werewolf in London is my favorite 80s horror film. Nightmare probably still be my number 1 for the 80s tho, influential and originality wise.

 

[MartyMcFly]

you classify Purge as horror? more like an action series

Jason Blum calls it horror and I think it’s horror so I’m going with horror

 

[BlackMafia]

Forgot The Sixth Sense. That ties with Silence of The Lambs for 90s.
Does The Film Room consider those horror movies?

 

[MartyMcFly]

Forgot The Sixth Sense. That ties with Silence of The Lambs for 90s.
Does The Film Room consider those horror movies?

I do