In honor of Friday the 13th, it is time to pay tribute to the movies that have defined fear for our generation. After an informal poll of Northwestern students, here is a list of 13 horror movies spanning from slasher movies to psychologically mind-bending movies to films based on true events. Something on this list will be sure to serve your freakout needs.
1) Paranormal Activity – When a young couple moves into a new house, they become increasingly disturbed by an unexplainable presence in the building that becomes especially active at night. This movie is especially disturbing because it is filmed like a home video.
2) The Haunting in Connecticut – Based on a true story, this film follows a family’s terrifying, real-life encounter with dark supernatural forces.
3) The Exorcist – The original 1973 blockbuster film about the unexplainable, demonic possession of a teenage girl whose only hope of deliverance lies with one man.
4) Strangers – A young couple staying in a remote vacation home becomes violently terrorized by three unknown attackers with strange masks.
5) The Omen – After a strange suicide at a child’s birthday party, a family soon realizes through various terrifying events that their adopted son Damien, is in fact, the son of the devil himself.
6) The Orphanage – A woman returns to the orphanage she grew up in with plans to restore it as a home for disabled children, but when her son starts talking to invisible friends she becomes increasingly aware of something terrifying lurking within its walls.
7) Exorcism of Emily Rose – Based on the true story of the trial of the death of Emily Rose, as told by the priest who watched over her during her demonic possession.
8) Nightmare on Elm Street – The original killing rampage of Freddy Kreugger and his razor fingered glove as he brutally murders his victims in their sleep through violent nightmares.
9) Amityville Horror – When a new family tries to cover up the horrific past of their new home, they become terrorized for 28 days by unexplainable forces.
10) Friday the 13th – The 1980 original massacre of several happy campers by a mysterious, bloodthirsty something lurking in the woods at Camp Crystal Lake.
11) Texas Chainsaw Massacre – The 1974 original, spine-chilling story of five friends hunted down by a chainsaw-wielding killer and his family of cannibals.
12) The Grudge – A vengeful, supernatural spirit possesses several victims with a dark curse which leads to a series of mysterious and horrifying deaths.
13) The Brave Little Toaster – The so-called heartwarming story of a group of household items in search of their long lost master rapidly comes to an end and turns to sheer terror when the air conditioner all of the sudden turns psycho and starts screaming like a maniac with intensifying rage until he bursts into flames and basically commits suicide. How are kids supposed to recover from that?
