We’re really getting into the thick of it now! 20-11, some of my absolute favorite movies of all time here. Enjoy and again if you need a refresher on the criteria for making this list go here. Now on to the list!

20) Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns (2006)
Ok, so this isn’t a movie, it’s an episode of a TV series, but it’s totally a stand-alone, self-contained story, so I’m considering it here as an hour-long film. The story focuses on the hunt for a print of a rare film that is said to contain very strong and mysterious properties. It’s probably the best thing John Carpenter has done in almost 20 years, and it’s up there with some of his best work. Showtime’s Masters of Horror series set the bar so high with this episode, that almost everything before and after has been disappointing. This is such a great story, executed perfectly by a true Master of Horror.

19) Dog Soldiers (2002)
A British military squad on a field exercise in Scotland find themselves surrounded by a pack of hungry werewolves. Pretty simple premise, right? Right! This movie’s as basic as it gets. It’s just a great survival film, with great acting, action, and direction. (And the first 30 minutes really remind me of Predator!) Director Neil Marshall got acclaim last year with Descent, which was widely viewed as the best horror movie of the year. In my opinion, Dog Soldiers is far more superior.

18) From Beyond (1986)
Experiments by scientists to activate a sixth sense in the human brain go horribly wrong, freeing malignant creatures from the 4th dimension… with some horrific and sexy results! Stuart Gordon is one of horror’s most underrated directors. He’s best known for the cult favorite series Re-Animator and, but Gordon has directed many other great horror yarns. He always brings a fantastic sense of humor to all of his work, along with super gory effects, and erotic undercurrents.

17) Inferno (1980)
Any self-respecting fan of horror acknowledges Suspiria as a defining moment in horror cinema, and Dario Argento as one of horror’s all-time great directors. So it’s a shame that the sequel to Susperia is not as widely acknowledged. Granted, Argento isn’t reinventing the wheel here and he sticks very much to the same story and formula of Suspiria, but it’s still spooky as hell, with some of the most beautifully directed horror scenes ever! It’s a worthy and excellent companion to Suspiria. (One only hopes that La Terza Madre, the third installment in the series due out later this year, is just as worthy.)

16) The Tenant (1976)
With all of his character flaws, I think it’s pretty easy to forget that Roman Polanski was a great director with some excellent horror movies in his catalog. The Tenant is an excellent psychological thriller that was pretty thoroughly panned upon its release. When the story begins, housing has become so scarce in Berlin that even the apartment of a woman who has recently jumped to her death becomes a prized catch to a young man named Trelkovsky. He moves in, but soon the paranoia over what exactly caused her to jump sets in! Polanski casts himself in the lead, and what we get is a wonderful amalgam of Hitchcockian suspense, Argento’s use of mood, color, and lighting, and Polanski’s own sense wit and humor.

15) Slither (2006)
This movie features James L. Gunn, a former Lloyd Kaufman protégé, in his first credited directorial debut. (Gunn is also the man responsible for scripting the excellent Dawn of the Dead–no. 46–remake.) Slither is your basic tale of alien slugs who descend on a town’s population, turning them into zombies and obese larvae incubators! The effects are top notch, and so is the very heavy-handed humor (which is to be expected from this former Troma talent). This film received some glowing reviews when it came out, but then just kind of got forgotten. If you’re a fan of Eli Roth (Hostel) or the Evil Dead series, do yourself a favor and rent this.

14) Brain Damage (1988)
Drug addiction can be a real fucking bitch when your pusher is a one-foot parasitic slug with a taste for brains! This is a gross, and humorous tale about the perils of drug addiction. Frank Henenlotter, like Stuart Gordon (From Beyond–no. 18), is one of horror’s most under-acclaimed directors. The man is a genius, who, like Scorsese, has a real knack for capturing the grimy, gritty beauty that was New York City in the 80’s. While he definitely has a very strong following for his Basket Case trilogy and Frankenhooker, Henenlotter should be admired as much as Sam Raimi for his awesome vision in both slapstick and horror. Besides the above mentioned movies, Brain Damage is Henenlotter’s only other film. This is probably a good reason why he still toils as only a perennial cult favorite, but word has it that he is set to release a new movie with the help of fellow gore hound (and under-appreciated rapper) R.A. the Rugged Man.

13) Mod Fuck Explosion (1994)
Mod Fuck Explosion really isn’t a horror movie, but it’s just so fucking bizarre I can’t think of any other place to classify it (though it definitely fits the category of “cult”). The film is West Side Story meets Doom Generation meets a Guitar Wolf album meets Quadrophenia meets… you get the picture. This is like the best Troma film that Troma never made, and it’s a shame director Jon Moritsugu hasn’t done anything since 2002’s Scumrock. Thankfully, this was released on DVD last year, because believe you me, if it wasn’t, you’d have had a hell of a time tracking a copy down!

12) May (2002)
Imagine Carrie told via Heathers or Jawbreaker, and viola, you have Lucky McKee’s May. May is a very well-paced psychological thriller with all the warm fuzziness that romantic comedies give you in allowing you to root for the underdog. May is about a traumatized young woman’s desperate attempts to connect with anyone besides her dolls. It’s really quirky, endearing, and very twisted. Like Eli Roth, Neil Marshall & James L. Gunn, Lucky McKee is one of the preeminent modern horror directors and I can’t wait to see what his next film is! Though I’m pretty sure given his track record there will no doubt be a lesbian love story/scene of some sort in it, somewhere!

11) Nekromantik (1987)
As I’m sure you can guess by its title, this film is indeed about necrophilia, so I’m really not surprised why it hasn’t received wider recognition! I’m also pretty certain this film was not only out of print until just this past year, but banned in many countries. Add to the fact that it’s in German, and black and white, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why it’s number 11 on this list. A young couple enjoy making love with a corpse, but when Robert loses his job cleaning up crime and accident scenes, he loses the ability to bring in fresh bodies for their hellish orgies. His girlfriend Betty leaves him (taking the corpse, of course), leading him down a spiral of despair that leads to his eventual demise. Despite its horrific premise and very disturbing imagery, Nekromantik is shot and directed like an art film rather than a horror flick. This makes the subject matter more objective and easier to take in. Like Cemetery Man (no. 31), this movie is very existential, but it replaces the humor with despair. Also, keep an eye out for the terrific erotic/slasher mini-movie that Robert goes to see in a German grindhouse during his search for new meaning in his life.

Tomorrow in honor of Halloween we will conclude this list with my Top Ten and hopefully some other Top Tens from other Bloglin contributors!