40. to 37. Hellraiser to Snowtown
David Antrobus Posted on Friday, December 20, 2013 at 7:38PM 
37. Snowtown, or The Snowtown Murders
This one's completely rooted in our reality, as unpalatable as that can be, and tells the stark story of the 1990s series of based-on-truth killings in South Australia. For me, the horror lies in addressing your reaction to the main antagonist, John Bunting, and how you reconcile your gut level need for him to meet his just deserts, and what you envision those deserts to be. A true sociopath, at heart as mundane as any, yet more persuasively ugly than most attempts to capture such banal human evil. Brilliant performances all round here, especially Daniel Henshall as the mundanely creepy Bunting.
38. Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone
Cheating here, but these two gorgeous films by Guillermo Del Toro are so completely related that I can't untangle them. Both childhood fables in which adult horror is introduced, by way of the Spanish Civil War, their mood is consistently gorgeous and very compassionately human in spite of or, perhaps more pertinently, in opposition to, the undercurrent of fascism and terror. Sure, call them dark fantasy. Whatever. But be prepared for them to enter your nightmares for a lengthy stay nonetheless.
39. The Shining
Still controversial, probably because of the largely subconscious narrative King himself was never fully comfortable with: that of a man who might easily turn on his family—whom he avowedly loves—and completely annihilate them. Makes the whole thing terrifying on a level horror films, or novels, had rarely touched on until then. So many creepy yet poetic moments. Here's one:
40. Hellraiser
One of my favourites, despite being quite dated in some ways, although the Cenobites could never be truly dated given their extradimensional origins. I'm still a huge fan of Clive Barker's then-transgressive explorations of pain, pleasure and beyond, and revisit his early short stories in the peerless Books of Blood often. It's all about the Cenobites, though. There's a depth to their realm it's awful to even begin to contemplate. Tear your soul apart, indeed.
Reader Comments (3)
I’m glad to read you again. Thanks for this post. Best for you Buddy! and Merry Christmas
I thank Kubrick for making The Shining so visually and atmospherically terrifying, but King's book scared me more than I can verbalize. Forget about the King-sanctioned remake, which made me feel nothing but disappointed.
Hellraiser was amazing in its time and still gives me the creeps.
I think King's book scared us so much because it truly and genuinely scared King himself. It was authentically horrifying, and based on his genuine fears of familicide (if that were a word). Kubrick stylized it and made it creepy as fuck and made it artful and austere at times, but I'll always prefer the novel even though I adore the film!