The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

From George A Romero's Dawn of the Dead to Tobe Hooper's gory classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Halloween season calls for a trip down cinematic memory lane.

While it can be argued that the horror genre is undergoing a bit of a renaissance tight now, nothing quite compares to the classics of yesteryear and with Halloween just around the corner, you won’t go too amiss in diving into some of the most influential, scariest and downright terrorising horror films of all time…boo!

No, we’re joking – relax.    

Poltergeist (1982)

Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is probably one of the most popular and influential haunted-house movies of the genre. Co-scripted and co-produced by Steven Spielberg – although there have been many controversies surrounding his involvement and whether he was actually due a director credit – the film is centred on the Freelings; a family of five who, shortly after moving into their new home, begin experiencing supernatural happenings around the house. The world that Poltergeist creates is initially warm and inviting, however, once the furniture starts moving, kids go missing and the unnervingly eerie Clown-Doll in the corner begins lurking, the creep show truly begins. Spooky and unnerving, forget Paranormal Activity; Poltergeist is the Godfather of the haunted-house subgenre and an absolute must-see. 

Dawn of the Dead (1974)

It’s difficult to trust any ‘Best Horror’ list that don’t mention George A. Romero’s zombie-infested epic, Dawn of the Dead. The second film in the director’s Living Dead film series and a sequel to his 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, the story talks about a mysterious plague that has been sweeping the nation, causing the dead to rise from their graves and roam the streets in search for a nibble of the living flesh. Cleverly written and filled with a heavy dose of dark humor, subjects like consumerism are brought into the harshness of light and as far as the walking dead themselves go, we don’t know who they are and why they are the way they are. There are no questions asked. No explanations given. But that’s okay. Disgusting, violent and brutally exciting, Dawn of the Dead is a classic and has served as a true inspiration to many other zombie productions. Be warned though; you will never look at the shopping mall the same way again.

Halloween (1978)

The subtle intensity of John Carpenter's babysitter-slasher-hit, Halloween, is possibly the biggest reason for its unprecedented triumph.  Inspiring many sequels and rip-offs, Halloween is the story of a psychotic killer who, after fifteen years of being institutionalised for the murder of his older sister when he was only six-years-old, has managed to escape and soon begins to stalk a nerdish teenager (played by a very young Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends on ‘the scariest night of the year’. Establishing Michael Myers and his expressionless masked face as the iconic kitchen-knife killer, Halloween – with its sullen and gloomy musical score – is filled with tension and uncertainty, making it a fitting choice of a horror film for your Halloween movie night collection.

The Omen (1976)

How creepy is little Damien Thorne? Answer: very. Richard Donner's silently menacing, The Omen – standing totally unaffected by its poor 2006 remake – is another horror-classic that has managed to withstand the test of time. The story is centred on a married couple, Robert and Katherine Thorne (played by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick respectively), and their six-year-old son, Damien (portrayed by the marvellous Harvey Stephens) whose strangely sullen behaviour is beginning to show signs of something unholy. Boasting a quietly unsettling atmosphere of dread and a severely committed performance from the young actor – who manages to embody the essence of evil and the seriousness of an adult in a child's body all at once – The Omen offers a chilling and an unsettling viewing experience which definitely won't be so easy to shake off.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven's undeniably terrorising classic, where a terribly burned man called Freddie Krueger – dressed in striped pyjamas and equipped with sharp knives for fingers – is terroriaing teenagers by entering into their dreams.  A true slasher hit that had a brilliant no-way-out kind of setup for its protagonists who, unfortunately, had to learn the hard way on how to fight a killer who is free to enter their worlds as he pleases.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a definite classic which gave us one of the most memorable and iconic horror villains. And a young Johnny Depp, of course.

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski's intelligent and disturbingly ambiguous adaptation of Ira Levin's Satanist thriller of the same name has topped many ‘Best of Horror’ lists over the years. The story is about a woman (Mia Farrow in one of the best performances of her career) who is beginning to believe that she has been impregnated by the Devil himself, but whose claims fall on deaf ears. The entire story is played out in a way where you don't know what the truth really is and whether she has indeed lost her mind. There’s very little violence or gore in Rosemary's Baby, however Farrow's physical transformation – from a beautiful and a healthy-looking young woman to a frail and a hollow shell – is frightening enough to keep you up at night.

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is engrained in film history and stands as one of the most technically impressive horrors of its time – after all, we’re talking about the great Hitchcock. Apart from being the first American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen – no joke – Psycho is also an intensely-bound thriller whose famous shower scene – portraying the late Janet Leigh as the sexy blonde and a criminal out on the run after stealing money from her employer – still holds the power to shock you to your very core. Embellished with Bernard Hermann's ground-breaking musical score, it will be a long time before Psycho is booted off the list.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Graphic violence and sickening imagery are the two main ingredients in Tobe Hooper's genre-bending horror piece, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Shot on an eighty-thousand-dollar budget, the movie is centred on five youngsters, who head out to visit their grandfather's abandoned house in the countryside for the day; little do they know, however, that a day of sheer terror, involving chainsaws, meat hooks and a bunch of psychopathic cannibal-loving neighbours, await them. Relentless terror and shockingly unrestrained death scenes resulted in people walking out of the theatre when it was first shown over forty years ago. Marking the birth of the iconic horror man, 'Leatherface', the sequels and remakes that followed are underwhelming when weighted against the original, whose frantic energy and disturbingly high levels of torture have the ability to linger with you long after the massacre is over.

The Shining (1980)

Watching your husband descend into complete madness is no joking matter, especially when your husband is as intimidating and as daunting as Jack Nicholson is in Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece, The Shining. Taking his family for a five-month stay during the winter to the deserted Overlook Hotel, caretaker and struggling writer, Jack Torrance, finds himself influenced by a supernatural presence and is quickly propelled into a violent state madness and aggression against himself and his family. Ominous and atmospheric, Kubrick’s exquisitely executed tour de force has spawned a number of theories about the film’s real meaning since and even though Stephen King himself – whose book the movie is based upon – was disappointed with the final cut of the film, we, on the other hand, have nothing but praise.

The Exorcist (1973)

It should come as no surprise that William Friedkin’s The Exorcist has made it to the list as one of the best horror films of all time.  Standing as the first-ever horror film to earn an Oscar nomination – ten to be exact – the story about the possession of an innocent twelve-year-old girl is still proving to be just as captivating and horrifying as it was back in 1973 when it was first released.  There are no masked killers here. No Freddie Krueger's either. This is a story of faith – and in some cases lack thereof – which explores a string of crazy religious concepts and a malevolent presence that has taken a hold of an innocent soul and has infested her with a sinful spirit and a foul mouth.  Revolving heads, projectile vomiting and that infamous spider-walk-up-the-stairs scene is just some of the movie’s  iconic imagery that still, over forty years later, are difficult to erase from memory.