House of Madness is an Ottawa-based blog for horror enthusiasts that offers recommendations, critiques and reviews of horror-related content, including movies, books, TV shows, and even some video games. In no particular order, here are their top 10 recommendations for those looking for a thrill.
Expert Reviewer: Nelson Miller, HouseofMadness.ca
- “Sinister” (2012) When this movie dropped, I thought it looked promising, but would most likely fall short, because although it had a modest budget of $3,000,000, it also had a big name star (Ethan Hawke), and a lot of the time in horror, this just doesn’t gel. However, I was delightfully wrong in this instance. “Sinister’s” combination of creepy found footage along with the disturbing overall atmosphere of the house make it an uncomfortable joy to watch.
- “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) The hype of whether this film was ‘real’ or not when it first released is what intrigued people to flock to the theatres initially, but it was no fluke that it was a global success story. With a mere $60,000 budget, it grossed nearly $250,000,000 worldwide, and earned every single penny.
- “The Changeling” (1980) Shout out to one mister George C. Scott who took his acting chops normally reserved for higher brow projects, and gave us what I believe to be his finest performance (sorry Mr. Scrooge). This is what a haunted house movie should look like.
- “Paranormal Activity” Yeah, yeah, that’s two found footage flicks already. I don’t care where the footage on my screen is found, as long as it delivers the scares, which this does in spades.
- “Event Horizon” (1997) I don’t care if some would rather classify this as more of a sci-fi than a horror, but when the two are combined, it makes for claustrophobic chaos. Laurence Fishburne has never been better than he was in this film, and it’s an absolutely horrifying galactic classic.
- “The Thing” (1982) Another sci-fi horror classic that’s light on the science, and high on the tension. It doesn’t take long for the feelings of paranoia to sink in, and once they do, we’re in for a full throttle ride to Terror Town. I hold this movie in such high regard not only because it has Kurt Russell and Keith David in it, but also for the reason that after 40 years, it still holds up and can scare with the best of them.
- “Ring” (1998) Although I thought they did a fantastic job, and I really enjoyed the American remake, on this list I’m talking about the Hideo Nakata version from Japan. This movie brings a level of terror you’re not going to experience without the help of a 3-D movie starring your angry spouse, so definitely keep your baseball bat reserved for vengeful ghosts close by.
- “The Shining” (1980) Even though Stephen King himself didn’t care much for this adaptation of his #1 best selling book, I’ve experienced both versions and love them each individually. The Overlook Hotel is still the scariest place I’ve ever seen but never been.
- “Host” (2020) Going back and remembering all the great horrors of old, it’s easy to overlook and not give new horror a chance. This movie isn’t even an hour long (57 minutes to be exact), but after tricking you into thinking it’s going to be about annoying teenagers for the duration, it pulls the rug out and shows its real tentacles, and teenagers (annoying or not) meet different fates which would leave a mortician covering his or her eyes.
- “IT” (2017) Like many, I’ve read the book and seen the 1990 made for TV version, but I was none too ready for what I witnessed on the big screen this time. Tim Curry’s performance in the original was magnificent and hats off to him, but Bill Skarsgard accepted the role, embraced it, covered it with evil sauce, and cooked it to perfection. Pennywise has, and will continue to scar many’s perception of clowns, which is bad news for birthday parties, but great news for horror fans.
