The Sweet 16 of Horror Movies (Cast Your Votes Now!)
The Shining poster by Justin Reed
By Greg McCabe
It’s that time of year again… the most wonderful time of year… All Hallows’ Eve!
There are many ways to celebrate Halloween, but my favorite by far, is watching scary movies. There’s nothing like curling up with a good horror flick as the weather gets colder and the nights get longer.
The month of October is also synonymous with sports, seeing as football season is in full swing and it’s playoff time for baseball. Well, I combined my passion for sports and scary movies and came up with “The Sweet 16 of Horror Movies.”
Obviously, this is all completely subjective and meant for entertainment purposes. This is intended to promote discussion regarding the greatest horror movies of all time. I want to hear feedback on who should advance and who was snubbed by being left out of the tourney, so be sure to leave your comments below!
Now, let’s take a closer look at the matchups. In the “Psychological” region, we have Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, The Shining, taking on the pioneer of occult movies, Rosemary’s Baby, as well as The Exorcist going against the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Psycho.
In the “Killers” region, we’ll see an interesting bout between John Carpenter’s pioneering film, Halloween and David Fincher’s, Se7en. The “Killers” region also gives us a first round battle between two horror film juggernauts: The Silence of the Lambs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Over in the “Monsters” region, we have two icons going at each other with Frankenstein taking on Jaws. The other “Monsters” matchup gives us vampires versus zombies with Night of the Living Dead going up against The Lost Boys.
Lastly, in the “Paranormal/Sci-Fi” region, we have a few sleepers and Cinderella stories that are poised to go deep in the tournament. First, there’s the Sci-Fi horror blockbuster, Aliens, against the ghostly sensation, The Sixth Sense, as well as the disturbing deep space flick, Event Horizon, versus the youngest film to make the tourney, It Follows.
Be sure to tune into www.AddictedToHorrorMovies.com as well as my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/writegregmccabe) over the next week to see who gets eliminated and who advances to the Elite 8. The Final Four/Championship will be revealed Halloween weekend.
The bracket was designed and created by graphic artist, Peng Fan. Learn more about his work at PandaMcFan.com.
Click the image to enlarge, if need be!
Addicted to Horror Movies 
Okay, beginning with the left side of the bracket:
The Shining > Rosemary’s Baby
Psycho > The Exorcist
Halloween > Seven
Texas Chainsaw Massacre > The Silence of tge Lambs
Now, right side of the bracket:
Frankenstein > Jaws
Night of the Living Dead >》The Lost Boys
Aliens > The Sixth Sense
Event Horizon > It Follows
Not all of those picks are my personal favorite of each match, but i do think they’re more culturally relevant and carry a superior position in the grand scheme of things.
Some excellent and surprising matchuos, I might add!
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Shining, the exorcist, Halloween, Texas chain saw massacre, jaws, the lost boys, aliens, event horizon…..
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Bard, who do you have for your remaining rounds?
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If looking for best of all time, you HAVE to pick the old school ones…the ones who influenced the genre.
First round:
Shining, psycho, Halloween, Texas chainsaw massacre, Frankenstein, night of the living dead, aliens, event horizon.
Second round:
Psycho, Halloween, night of the living dead, aliens
Third round gets tricky:
Halloween and night of the living dead going to the finals
Then it’s kind of a coin flip, but I say night of the living dead taking the cup!
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Ok, I’ll update with final brackets, since I’m a space and didn’t do so initially lmao
second round:
The Shining > Psycho (very tough for me, but ultimately, I enjoy watching The Shining more often then Psycho)
Halloween > Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Frankenstein > Night of the Living Dead
Aliens > Event Horizon
Third round
Halloween > The Shining
Frankenstein > Aliens
Final
Frankenstein> Halloween
As much as I want to put Halloween in that top spot, because it effected me so much, and because of the time period it was made, which was just a handful of years before I saw it. But if I’m being honest, I have to say I think Frankenstein has influenced the genre in a number of different ways. Realistically, we may not have movies like Night of the Living Dead if not for Frankenstein.
I love Halloween, but damned if I don’t love Frankenstein and even Night of the Living Dead, which in a different bracket could have easily ended up one of the final two.
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1st:
The Shining > Rosemary’s Baby
Psycho > The Exorcist
Halloween > Se7en
Silence of the Lambs > The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Frankenstein > Jaws
Night of the Living Dead > The Lost Boys
Aliens > The Sixth Sense
It Follows > Event Horizon
2nd:
The Shining > Psycho
The Silence of the Lambs > Halloween
Frankenstein > Night of the Living Dead
Aliens > It Follows
3rd:
The Shining > The Silence of the Lambs
Frankenstein > Aliens
Final:
Frankenstein > The Shining
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