In 2021, everyone came back out of their houses, blinking at the sunlight and unsure how to act around other people. The Horror-Thon went back too, to the movies that started everything. This year’s lineup is a list of firsts: the movie that invented the modern zombie, the one that wrote the slasher rulebook, and the silent German nightmare that set the look of every horror for a century. There’s also the ‘90s slasher with a fisherman’s slicker and a very good cast. Six movies, all of them the real thing.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
10/10
1968
THE CRAFT
10/10
1996
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
8.5/10
1997
POLTERGEIST
9/10
1982
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
8/10
1920
HALLOWEEN
10/10
1978
THEY’RE HERE AWARDS
Six movies walked in, and a few walked out with awards. Some earned theirs with a body count, some with costume, and one with a single scream into the night sky. These are the official They’re Here Awards, presented live from a farmhouse with the windows boarded up.
THE “THEY’RE HERE” AWARD
Poltergeist
It named the year, and it made every kid in America scared of TV static.
VILLAIN WE’RE ROOTING FOR
NANCY DOWNS, THE CRAFT
You don’t need to explain yourself.
MOST DEVASTATING ENDING
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Ben survives the night. That’s all I’ll say.
BEST SET DESIGN (NOT A RIGHT ANGLE)
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
Jagged windows, leaning streets, and shadows painted straight onto walls.
BEST SCREAM INTO THE VOID
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
10/10 performance for standing in the middle of the street at absolutely no one.
BEST OF THE YEAR
HALLOWEEN
Mandatory viewing every October.
FINAL RANKINGS
10
THE CRAFT (1996)
1
HALLOWEEN (1978)
2
10
POLTERGEIST (1982)
3
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997)
4
10
8.5
8
9
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
5
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)
6
Best to Worst
KEEP WATCHING
One year was never going to be enough. There is plenty more Horror-Thon to explore. Zombies, Michael Myers, demonic house cats, and more B-horror movies than you knew existed.