Guillermo del Toro reveals his favourite horror films
The director of Frankenstein says choosing just a few of his favourite horror films is an impossible task, but he's happy to have a go…
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- James Mottram
8 items
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What are your favourite horror films?
It’s difficult. It’s like, what are your favourite dishes? You want a burger and a pizza? I can show you great burgers and pizzas. Or if you want a five-star deconstructive molecular cuisine, I’ll give you another list.
If I was looking for scary horrors, then I would say the original Ring, Jaws, Alien, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And I would say Weapons too. Those are very scary to me.
If you wanted to think "moving", I would say Creature From The Black Lagoon, Charles Laughton’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, and [the 1931 film] Frankenstein.
Showing 1 to 8 of 8 results
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1997
Horror
Mystery
15
Horror starring Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani and Hiroyuki Sanada. A television journalist and her ex-husband investigate the origins of a video cassette that fatally curses anyone who watches it to be dead after one week.
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1975
Adventure
Horror
PG
Steven Spielberg's classic adventure thriller, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. The Atlantic resort of Amity Island is preparing for its lucrative summer season when death strikes in the form of a Great White shark. Rather than turn away business, Mayor Vaughn orders police chief Brody to keep the beaches open.
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1979
Horror
Sci-fi
X
Sci-fi horror thriller starring Sigourney Weaver. On its way back to Earth at the end of a routine voyage, the spacecraft Nostromo picks up signals from a nearby planet. When three of the crew go to investigate, one of them is attacked by a mysterious creature that emerges from a repository of eggs.
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1974
Horror
18
Tobe Hooper's notorious horror classic, starring Marilyn Burns. Sally, her brother and three teenage friends visit rural Texas to pay their respects to her grandfather's grave. After an encounter with a crazed hitch-hiker, they stop off to explore the old family home and come into contact with the next-door neighbours from hell.
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2025
Horror
Mystery
18
Mystery horror starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, with Amy Madigan. A small town is rocked when 17 children from the same school class disappear overnight. Their teacher, Justine, becomes the unofficial prime suspect, with devastated father Archer among those leading the charge against her. But this mass vanishing is only the start of the strange and violent happenings that come to plague the community.
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Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954
Horror
Sci-fi
PG
Anthropologists in South America capture a hideous scaly humanoid, seemingly the last of a prehistoric species. The creature soon escapes and carries off the expedition's sole female member into the depths of the jungle, with her fellow scientists in hot pursuit. Horror, starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning and Ricou Browning
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1939
Horror
Romance
PG
Classic Gothic drama starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. In Paris during the Middle Ages, Quasimodo, the lonely hunchbacked bell-ringer of Notre Dame cathedral, falls in love with Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy girl. However, Esmeralda also arouses intense feelings among the ruling authorities, and is soon on trial for her life.
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1931
Horror
Drama
PG
Classic horror starring Colin Clive and Boris Karloff. Mad scientist Dr Frankenstein dreams of creating a living being from the human bodies of the deceased. All he needs to complete his creation is a suitable brain. But he accidentally gives the creature a criminal's brain and creates a monster.
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Authors
James Mottram
James Mottram is a London-based film critic, journalist, and author.
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