We Played a Game of Screen Drafts to Determine the 16 Best Horror Films

Screen Drafts is a game based on a popular podcast where players (in this case Scott, Nick, Vanessa and I) work towards making a hopefully collaborative film list based on a given topic. The game generally contains vetoes and veto overrides. The amount of those is determined by trivia (provided by our friend Rene) as well as the spots each player has on this list. A more detailed examination of the game can be found in previous write-ups on this blog. I am doing a short version of the set up  here because no vetoes or overrides were deployed just positive vibes.

This was Scott's turn to pick a topic, and he asked each of us to come up with a top 16 horror film list in no particular order. Once the lists were finished, we could not play our own and were sort of proxy for another player. It was nice seeing what everyone's favorites were.  Scott had my list. Vanessa had Nick's. I had Vanessa's and Nick had Scott's. We each had 4 picks to place on a list of 16.  In addition, each player picked the drink orders of the person they were representing.

I am going to do something different today, show first where we ended up then explain player by player how we got there with the lists we were given.

1. Dracula (1931) Tod Browning and Karl Freund

2. Paranormal Activity (2007) Oren Peli

3. Jennifer's Body (2009) Karyn Kusama

4. Poltergeist (1982) Tobe Hopper

5. Santa Sangre (1989) Alejandro Jodorowsky

6. Audition (1999) Takashi Miike

7. Hellraiser (1987) Clive Barker

8. Rec 3 (2012) Paco Plaza

9. Oculus (2013) Mike Flanagan

10. The Final Girls (2015) Todd Schulson

11. Funny Games (1997) Michael Haneke

12. The Unknown (1927) Tod Browning

13. Nope (2022) Jordan Peele

14. The Mist (2007) Frank Daranbont

15. Dead and Breakfast (2004) Matt Leutwyler

16. Giallo (2009) Dario Argento

I  will start with posiiton D. My wife Vanessa had Nick's list and picks 15, 10, 8 and 4. 

This is the list she worked with:  Poltergeist (1985), Abattoir (2016), Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), The Descent (2005), Annihilation (2018), The House on Haunted Hill (1999), Frozen (2010), Willard (2003), Rec 3: Genisis (2012), Deathproof (2007), Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), The Crazies (2010), Coraline (2009), The Final Girls (2015), Oculus (2013), Dead and Breakfast (2004)

15. Dead and Breakfast 

Vanessa had to drink Long Island iced teas. She had three of them and barely felt any effects! Weirdly, she had  not even started drinking when she picked Dead and Breakfast. We talked about zombie musicals; Anna and the Apocalypse was also an eligible title. We talked about David Carradine and Oswald Perkins. Scott was never going to veto a film featuring Osgood. And the consensus was this was a very guilty pleasure but a pleasure nevertheless. 

10. The Final Girls

The Final Girls made two lists so was likely to be played.  A trap late into the film was compared to a Rube Goldberg set up. We discussed the humor along with the touching aspects of the film and the way Kim Carnes is used. 

08. Rec 3: Genesis

Rec 3: Genesis, we were told by Nick, was the least celebrated of the Rec franchise. We all found it a fun zombie film (two zombie films being played here likely prevented me from playing a zombie film on the list I had), on par with something like Braindead. If this is the least popular I must see more.

04. Poltergeist (1982)

Vanessa played Poltergeist highest; and three of us agreed that it was the best work on Nick's list (TCM 2 aside). It certainly inspired the Insidious franchise. Zelda Rubinstein could have been on this list twice; it came close. And she is incredible. We talked about her. We talked about the effects holding up and how real the family comes across. The only holdout on the film was Scott who found it all a bit dull.

Nick had position C with Scott's list and picks 14, 9, 7 and 3.

This is the list he worked from: Silent Hill (2006), Oculus (2009), Alien Resurrection (1997), The Lighthouse (2019), The Mist (2007), I Saw the TV Glow (2024), Sssssss! (1973), Hellraiser (1987), The Final Girls (2015), Jennifer's Body (2009), Night of the Creeps (1986), The Puppet Master (1989), Chopping Mall (1988), Annihilation (2018), Infinity Pool (2023), Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

14. The Mist

Nick loaded up on 7 and 7's, Scott's (non beer) go to drink. I thought he was going to upset Scott with this pick. I knew Scott's love for The Mist because it won a Stephen King film ranking game he played long ago. Nick's objection to the film was the casting and the effects. Scott recommended the black and white version which strengthened the effects. Both agreed that the ending of the film was powerful.

09. Oculus

This is another title that had a great chance at being played as it was on two lists. Scott and Nick are both Mike Flanagan stans. 

07. Hellraiser 

Kristy Cotton, Nick declared is an ultimate final girl. He talked about Ashley Laurence's great work as Kristy. He talked about the great henchmen like Butterball. But mostly, Nick heaped praise on Doug Bradley; nobody did it better. This could have been higher but instead Nick used his final pick for...

03. Jennifer's Body

And this might have been the right pick because it got Scott the most animated I had seen him all night, outside of later confessions about political rallies and GPAs. Scott talked about the sexualization of Ms Fox and how the film started as a PG 13 film but the studio wanted something hotter. He talked about the scene above and how paparazzi caught her filming this scene. The characters and dialog got high marks from all of us and the gore effects were also on point. 

I had position B for Vanessa's list. I had spots 15, 11, 6 and 2

This is the list I worked with: Gremlins (1984), The Sadness (2021), Terrifier 2 (2022), Train to Busan (2016), Behind the Mask: The Rise of Lesile Vernon (2006), Audition (2009), Alleluia! The Devil's Carnival  (2015), Anna and the Apocalypse (2017), Funny Games (1999), 28 Days Later (2002), Sinister (2012), Nope (2022), Paranormal Activity (2007), Happy Death Day (2017), The Strangers Prey at Night (2018) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

15. Nope

Everyone thought I might have played this too low. Half of our group found it to be the best Peele film. The other half is big on Us. I came into this game with my wife Vanessa's list, and I wanted to represent her as well as I could. But I never had a  real plan.  After I toasted our trivia master Rene with an Orange Blossom (a screwdriver with vermouth added, very tasty),  I decided on putting an epic of horror on the bottom of the list so I could do something opposite towards the top.

11. Funny Games

Seeing Funny Games on the big screen a few years ago led to my wife and I watching every Haneke film. She said it was one of our best decisions and that is why it is on this list.

 
06. Audition

This pick led to a conversation about how much men misread women. Arthur Miller 's screenplay for The Misfits was quoted; large points were made. 

02. Paranormal Activity

I picked Paranormal Activity as high as I did because I remember seeing it at midnight in a theater and my wife being so shaken when she got home. It was the most scared I have ever seen here. So it made sense to play it high on her list. Nick was a little uneasy with the pick as he is not big on jump scares,  but he admitted the film was a landmark of its time. Scott did not hold it in high regard necessarily but also remembered seeing it in a theater.

Scott had position A and my list. His picks were 16, 12, 5 and 1

This is the list he had to chose from: 

The Mask of Medusa (2009), Extraordinary Tales (2015), The Raven (1963), Begotten (1989), The Unknown (1989), The Hands of Orlac (1924), Giallo (2009), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Micheal Meyers (1989), Santa Sangre (1989), The Ripper (1985), Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (1992), Nekromantik 2 (1990), Lost Highway (1997), Dracula (1931), The Terror (1963)

16. Giallo

I don't know if Scott had the hardest list. But he had the hardest drink order. I would have ordered a Mr Furley for myself, Scotch and root beer and since he was playing my list, he had a couple of those and said they were pretty decent. He picked this oddball Argento pick as his bottom of list because of the torture porn elements. We discussed that genre at length, deciding we were all at least mid-level fans of it.

12. The Unknown (1927)

Scott was quite taken with Lon Chaney who was an early choice for Dracula incidentally. He also expressed that he should play a silent because I had a few on my list and 1920's horror is slightly becoming a jam for him. We all talked about the tense scene involving the suitor of a young and beautiful Joan Crawford (!!) being pulled by horses.

05. Santa Sangre

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a cinema hero of mine which is why I was thrilled to see this film in the top 5.  Scott admitted that this film's surrealism fit better on this list over Lynch's surrealism, which Scott did not quite identify as horror. We all talked about the elephant funeral scene, the amputation scenes, second film on the list to revolve around amputation and the homages to Psycho.

01. Dracula 

No one has an easy time picking number one. If a spot will be vetoed, it is often the number one pick. But Scott picked a true horror classic that would be hard to refute. We talked about the sexiness of the film,  about Bela and Helen Chandler and Dwight Frye and how iconic all of it is. The next topic is school horror as picked by my wife. We will all come in loaded with vetoes and overrides. I think that one may be a bloodbath.