Did you grow up hearing people warn, wide-eyed, “Don’t play with a Ouija Board, it’s dangerous!”? Well, this is why. An entire generation (and the one after it) was informed by one Captain Howdy, the malevolent entity who charmed a 12-yr-old innocent and then took vicious possession (even 40 years later, it still doesn’t seem bad advice…).
Directed by intensity-master extraordinaire William Friedkin (The French Connection, Killer Joe) and starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, and Jason Miller, this horror classic among classics derives its bone-chilling terror to its bright, everyday, clinical ramp-up: a gentle child falls mysteriously ill, and we follow her through all manner of tests, scans, and workups. Finally sent home holding her child in a bundle, without answers and without hope, it begins to dawn on the mother (and us).
Of course, the demon Pazuzu has playful plans of his own, transforming our sweet Regan into something so plainly unnatural that images of it torment the sensitive days, weeks, years after the viewing. The Exorcist’s magnitude, profanity, and violation of the laws of nature are the stuff of nightmare, and while many stories of possession have hit the big screen since this multiple-award-winning sensation swept the collective American consciousness, none have reached its level. This is the best entry in the exorcism genre and is undoubtedly a horror classic.
[h2]6) The Thing[/h2]
John Carpenter has made a number of films that influenced both the action and horror genres, but The Thing still stands as his crowning achievement. There’s so much going on from the desolate arctic setting, to Kurt Russell’s driving performance, all capped off with brilliant practical monster effects from Stan Winston and Rob Bottin.
Down to every last detail, The Thing is horrifically gorgeous. I could watch this film on repeat all day and every day, and it happens to be my favorite horror film of all time. If you’ve somehow missed this work of art, stop reading right now and don’t finish our list until you’ve watched The Thing from start to finish. Trust me, there’s a reason this film is one of the only horror recommendations I dole out as a “Must See.”
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