Top 10 Horror Movie Anthologies!

It’s gut spilling time y’all. Straight up, who’s set to witness SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK when it rocks theaters this weekend? Del Toro can’t let us down, can he?!

Then again, anthological horror flicks always seem to be a bit uneven. It’s rare when every vignette in a horrific omnibus maintains the same level of quality across the board. Many moons ago, we blasted y’all with our Top 10 Favorite Horror Anthologies, which expectedly included the likes of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, CREEPSHOW, VAULT OF HORROR, FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, ASYLUM, TRILOGY OF TERRORS, FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM, CAT’S EYE, and TRICK ‘R TREAT.

Now it’s time for round two. From the imported to the indigenous, from the high-brow art-house to the unabashed B-grade, here is a double-fisted addendum to our Top 10 Horror Anthologies.

#10. TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE (1990)

Yo, don’t lie, who else scat their trou when copping a goddamn peek at that gargoyle from TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE as a kid? Hershey squirts, son! Adapted from the TV series of the same name, the triptych omnibus features freakishly entertaining tales that include “Lot 249,” a mummy tale based on writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; “Cat From Hell,” about a feline that leaves a bloody wake in its inability to die; and the most memorably macabre – “Lover’s Vow,” about a man who witnesses a monstrous murder he must keep a secret in order to protect the one he loves. Of course, the one he loves is in fact the ghastly gargoyle he told him to keep quiet to begin with. Mortifying! GET HERE

#9. TALES FROM THE HOOD (1995) 

The killer-cool urban diversity of TALES FROM THE HOOD was a refreshing novelty of sorts when it was released in the mid 90s, but the movie holds up pretty damn well by today’s anthological standard. First, the wraparound narrative of an eccentric funeral director (Clarence Williams III) trapping and tormenting a trio of dope-pushers with a quartet of hair-raising morality tales is pure genius. And while said stories are a bit uneven, they drolly fuse humor and horror like very few have been able to prior or since. I’ve loved this flick since seeing with friends as a teenager, and have come to appreciate it as one of the most originally entertaining horror omnibuses to date! GET HERE

#8. BODY BAGS (1993) 

The lethal levity of the uproarious BODY BAGS – directed by John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper and starring a who’s who of famous genre stalwarts – may not take itself all that seriously as a genuine fright flick, but damn if it’s wildly entertaining just the same. With an overtly comedic bent, the trio of tales includes one about a 1950s style serial slasher on the loose; another about a ghastly hair transplant gone horrifically awry; and the last and best one about a veteran baseball player (Mark Hammill) who suffers a gorily gouged-out eyeball during a car accident, only to suffer horrifying hallucinations. Hooper directs the final frame, which utterly upends the mordant humor of the first two in favor of vintage hardcore Hooper horror! GET HERE

#7. NIGHT GALLERY (1969) – After hosting the legendary Twilight Zone TV show, Rod Serling went on to do the same for NIGHT GALLERY in 1970; another televisual horror anthology show. However, one year prior to that, a made-for-TV movie of the same name was released, built around the conceit that each eerie painting in an art gallery has a twisted historical tale behind it. The three entries of the film include “The Cemetery,” in which Roddy McDowall is stalked by his vengeful uncle after attempting to murder him for his fortune; “Eyes,” which sees Joan Crawford as a lifelong blind woman desperate to restore her vision for a day; and “The Escape Route,” about a criminal Nazi confronted by his past sins. An extremely taut three-part horror yarn starring some all time genre vets! GET HERE

#6. TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983) 

The unspeakable Vic Morrow tragedy notwithstanding, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE is actually a pretty damn successful fright flick, thanks in large part to George Miller and John Lithgow’s stunning work in the final chapter, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” No joke, between this masterful finale and the droning Twilight Zone theme song, this movie irreparably f*cked me up as a child. I’m still recovering! The other three solid if uneven segments come from genre mainstays John Landis (prologue and “Time Out”), Joe Dante (“It’s a Good Life”) and Steven Spielberg (“Kick the Can”), yet come with middling results. The great scribe Richard Matheson wrote the final three stories, cementing his status as a short-horror hall-of-famer! GET HERE

#5. KWAIDAN (1964)

Likely the most recondite title on the list, the three-hour, four-part Japanese horror anthology has no shortage of balefully breathtaking material for you to indulge in. Masaki Kobyashi directs the epic, which we urge those who haven’t seen it to do so ASAP. The first tale, “Black Hair,” finds a poor samurai leave his wife and marry for money, only to return to his true love and discover an eerie secret about her. “The Woman in the Snow” finds a lumberman visited by a snowy spirit, who saves his life on the condition he keep her a secret, which he ultimately fails to do. “Hoichi the Earless” sees a blind musician create songs for the dead, while “In a Cup of Tea” features a man haunted by a face that continuously appears in his teacup. A must-see for true horror heads! GET HERE

#4. THREE…EXTREMES (2004)

To see THREE…EXTREMES is to be forever psychologically scarred! Indeed, Takashi Miike and Chan-wook Park cut their sharpened fangs in the horror realm with this early international collaboration, with Chinese director Fruit Chan joining the Korean and Japanese masters. This is a must-see for every horror fan. The first segment, “Dumplings,” finds a desperate actor who resorts to consuming a special-ingredient dumpling that miraculously allows her to retain her youthful appearance. See what’s in the dumplings! “Cut” is the next segment, from Park, and is probably the most brutal and satisfying of the three. Miike closes the shit down wih “Box,” a gorgeously constructed psychosexual joust to the nerves as only Takashi can do. See this movie! GET HERE

#3. SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (1968) 

High-brow horror at its halcyon heights! Seriously, how many of you knew that Fellini, Louie Malle and Roger Vadim helmed a joint three-part horror omnibus in the late 60s based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe? Honestly, up until just a few years ago, I hadn’t either! The A-list cast includes Jane and Peter Fonda, Terrence Stamp, Bridget Bardot and many other cinematic luminaries, with Fellini helming “Toby Dammit” about an inebriated English actor tormented by the Devil; Malle overseeing “William Wilson,” about a sadistic Austrian student driven mad by his body double; and finally Vadim’s “Metzengerstein,” which finds a medieval countess haunted by a ghostly black stallion. Together, this is the Euro-antidote to Corman’s Poe retellings! GET HERE

#2. TALES OF TERROR (1962) 

Speaking of Corman, his 1962 Poe-centric anthology starring the peerless Vinny Price in triple roles is among the most essential short-horror collections ever assembled. Truly, TALES OF TERROR is not only of the first horror omnibuses, but it has influenced damn near every other flick on this list. The first tale deals with a bereaved father and daughter who reunite after the death of their wife and mother, the unresolved anxiety of which rattles their nerves. The second features sot who accepts a wine swilling challenge, only to find his wife become the object of his challenger’s affections. Finally, Corman concludes the flick with a story about a man who become hypnotized moments before his own demise, which ends with unforeseen results. For its OG status alone, TALES OF TERROR earns the sliver! GET HERE

#1. BLACK SABBATH (1963)

Bava. Bravura. Bravo. Indeed, the big bad Italian horror maestro deserves to be enshrined in gold for his work on the extremely durable BLACK SABBATH, a movie so undeniably badass that it inspired an even more legendary rock band led by Ozzy “Iron Maiden” Osbourne. But even on its own merits, the troika of terrifying tales, based loosely on the towering works of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Maupassant, hold up incredibly well today. The man, myth and monster himself, Boris Karloff, hosts a threesome of wicked tales which include a hooker who is tormented by a skein of harassing phone calls; a Russian count is confronted by a vampiric onslaught amid the countryside; and a naïve nurse who steals a ring from a psychic victim, only to suffer unintended consequences. Bava at his absolute best! GET HERE