My Top Ten Masters of Horror

Although I tend to think of horror movie directors as little more than the hired helm of a short term business, there are a few whose names crop up so regularly that they must be doing something right. Of course, there are many "hacks" whose names crop up just as regularly, but I'm not even going to go there.

For the purpose of this list, I'm going to give credit where it's due for being the least annoying bosses in the history of bosses, and arrange these "Masters of Horror" by the quantity and quality of their products which have entertained me over the years. Very few could ever be classed as auteurs, but make of them what you will.

By necessity, and the fact that the word "Masters" is a masculine noun, I'm going to confine my top ten to men. If you have a problem with that, get back in the kitchen!


1. John Carpenter

Halloween (1978)
The Fog (1980)
The Thing (1982)
Christine (1983)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

2. Wes Craven

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

3. Terence Fisher

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)

4. George A. Romero

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Monkey Shines (1988)

5. Jacques Tourneur

Cat People (1942)
The Leopard Man (1943)
Curse of the Demon (1957)

6. Tobe Hooper

Salem's Lot (1979)

Poltergeist (1982)

Lifeforce (1985)

7. Roger Corman

Tales of Terror (1962)
The Haunted Palace (1963)
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

8. Lucky McKee

May (2002)

The Woods (2006)

The Woman (2011)

9. Rob Zombie

Halloween II (2009)

10. Clive Barker

Hellraiser (1987)

Agree? Disagree? I don't really care because these are my choices not yours.

Feel free to create your own "Top Ten Masters of Horror" on your own blog though.

Danny meets the twins!

It's "Terror Tuesday" again already so what better way to make you soil yourself today than with one of the most terrifying scenes from "The Shining"?

Kids are horrible enough anyway, but putting a couple of freaky-looking ones in even uglier dresses and sticking them at the end of a corridor was a master stroke by Stanley Kubrick.

As if there isn't enough creepiness seeing little Danny Torrence (Danny Lloyd) trundling round The Overlook hotel on his tricycle, suddenly the Grady daughters are just standing there inviting him to play with them "forever and ever"! As some of my horror blogging brethren would say, "Pants will be shat!"

Lisa and Louise Burns are even scary in a still image without the intercuts of their characters' dead bodies and all the blood.

In case you are wondering whatever happened to them since "The Shining" (1980) was their first and last movie, Lisa went on to get a degree in Literature while Louise became a microbiologist. They also grew into their looks and turned out to be rather pretty.

The terror of Salem's Lot - Ralphie Glick

Whether the scene was inspired by Cathy's ghost from Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" (1847) or the little girl in "Kill, Baby, Kill" (1966), Ralphie Glick (Ronnie Scribner) returning to his brother in "Salem's Lot" (1979) is still one of the most terrifying vampire attacks ever filmed.

To this day, I can't watch the scene without covering my eyes with my hands and peeking through my fingers at it. I'm not sure how exactly that is meant to protect me, but it's just something I do. I've also never been able to sleep in any bed that faces a window especially if the curtains are open.

Some might say that "Salem's Lot" traumatised me as a child, but I prefer to think of the experience as a valuable lesson about letting vampires in. Thanks to Stephen King and Tobe Hooper, I have yet to be bitten by a floating vampire child so the cautionary tale worked.

According to the Wikipedia article (which cites Cinefantastique magazine vol. 9 #2 as the source):

The vampire levitations were accomplished by placing the actors on a boom crane instead of traditional wires, "We didn't fly our vampires in on wires, because even in the best of films you can see them," producer Richard Korbitz explained. "We wanted to get a feeling of floating. And the effect is horrific, because you know there are no wires. It has a very spooky, eerie quality to it." The levitation sequences were also shot-in-reverse to make the scenes more eerie.

As much as I would like to embed the scene from YouTube, I really can't bear to look at it or the later one with Danny Glick (Brad Savage). I know it's on YouTube somewhere so you will just have to find it for yourself.

Instead, here's a video of Kate Bush singing "Wuthering Heights" in 1978. She's still ghostly but kind of hot too. Actually, I probably would let her in my window, but that's another story.



"Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I'm so cold, let me in your window."

Okay, Kate, just let me change my underwear, and I'll be right with you. Please be gentle with me.

The scariest part of Hellraiser!

The Engineer!

I don't know about you, but this monster (whatever it is) scares the piss out of me. It's like a newborn rat which has inherited some horrible physical deformities and yet still lives. Ugh!

Whoever thought this thing up must have some terrible nightmares. By deciding to have it chase people along corridors, they caused several nightmares for me too.

Kill it with fire!