There's been some amazing quotes in horror movie history, and I couldn't begin to narrow down the greatest. However, I can give some of my favorites.
The only rule I'm giving myself is that it should stand fairly well on its own. In other words, the sick, twisted exclamation of "Heeere's Johnny!" in The Shining surely ranks among the greats. However, the line itself isn't exactly horrifying out of context. So, I wanted some reliance on context, but not to the extent that it just looks silly without it.
I'll also clarify that these are lines that I consider great. If you wanted just my favorites that would be a different story. For instance, this line from Silver Bullet is in my personal top ten, but by no means is it great.
"C'mon! You comin' or are just gonna stand there and make lemonade in ya pants?"
Hopefully, you get my drift. If not, it should be a fun set of quotes regardless. Enjoy my top twenty in no particular order... and PLEASE add some of your own in the comments.
"The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye." - Videodrome
"Bad luck isn't brought by broken mirrors, but by broken minds." - Suspiria
"They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for, if not for shedding?" - Candyman
"I tell you I saw blood on the bottom of her shoes; not exactly blood - it was gore, hanging there like a runny nose." - Serial Mom
"Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my accursed ugliness." - The Phantom of the Opera
"All that blood and violence. I thought you were supposed to be the love generation." - Last House on the Left
"One, two, Freddy's comin' for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab a crucifix. Seven, eight, gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again." - A Nightmare on Elm Street
"I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass . . . and I'm all out of bubble gum."- They Live
"He was king in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive, a show to gratify your curiosity, ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong." - King Kong
"Samhain isn't evil spirits. It isn't goblins, ghosts or witches. It's the unconscious mind. We're all afraid of the dark inside ourselves." - Halloween II
"To God there is no zero. I still exist!" - The Incredible Shrinking Man
"There's the stink of hell on this train - even the dog can smell it." - Horror Express
"Good and evil are so close, they are chained together in the soul." - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
"Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple, and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet." - A Company of Wolves
"Power, I said! Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the Holy of Holies; power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moon's frightened of me, frightened to death!" - The Invisible Man
"I'll be damned if I let some foreign, graffiti writing, soul sucking son of a bitch in an oversized cowboy hat and boots, take my friend's souls and shit 'em down the visitors toilet!" - Bubba Ho-Tep
"He dreamt he was a man and loved it, but now the dreams over and the insect is awake" - The Fly
"I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left, no conscience, no reason, no understanding, in even the most rudimentary sense, of life or death or right or wrong. I met this six-year-old boy with a blank, cold emotionless face and the blackest of eyes, the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and another seven trying to keep him locked away when I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply evil." - Halloween
"When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." - Dawn of the Dead
"To know life....you must first f**k death in the gal bladder!" - Andy Warhol's Frankenstein
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ReplyDeleteGreat words to live by during Halloweenietide. Thanks!
ReplyDelete"There's the stink of hell on this train" - sounds like any old-time train toilet.
ReplyDeleteHere's some of my own favorites:
ReplyDeleteYou mother has eated my dog! -from Peter Jackson's Braindead
Woe be unto him who opens one of the seven gateways to hell -from Lucio Fulci's The Beyond
We have such sights to show you -from Clive Barker's Hellraiser
That Dr. Loomis quote from Halloween (1978) is still the greatest horror movie quote of all time. Gives me chills thinking about it.
ReplyDelete"C'mon, I've been trick or treated to death tonight!"
ReplyDelete"You don't know what death is!" --Halloween II
Dog Soldiers (2002) (Sgt. Wells):
ReplyDelete"We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch."
I must add that classic from Dracula: [wolves holwing] "Listen to them: the children of the night. What sweet music they make."
ReplyDeleteWhat movie is the still used in the head taken from?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"We all go a little mad sometimes." - Norman Bates - PSYCHO
ReplyDelete"It's just like you said man...
ReplyDeleteRock's chosen warriors will rule the Apocalypse." - Trick or Treat
"Quasi-man? You mean, a sort of a zombie?"
"What else would you call a man with a synthetic, electrically-driven heart, a stainless steel-mesh stomach, a plastic pancreas, cellulose liver — just to mention a few things for a starter?"
"Incredible."
"Not for a minute. And Dr. DeMarco is working on a silicon treatment of the skin that would make it impervious to micro-meteorites!" - Astro Zombies
"I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do 'must' and 'cannot' meet? Yet I must - but I cannot." - Ro-Man, Robot Monster
"Children of the night, shut up!" (Love at first bite)
ReplyDelete"Werewolf"
ReplyDelete"There Wolf,there castle"-Young Frankenstein
"Have you tried talking to a corpse? It's boring"-An American Werewolf in London
ReplyDelete"11:55, almost midnight. Enough time for one more story. One more story before 12:00, just to keep us warm"-The Fog
ReplyDelete" I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."John Carpenter's The Thing
ReplyDelete"I never dlink....vine"
ReplyDelete- Dracula
I wonder how many younger readers have the slightest idea where the line "Here's Johnny!" originated?
ReplyDeleteD.A., I was gonna say the same thing!
ReplyDeleteDarkness falls across the land...
ReplyDeleteThe midnight hour is close at hand!
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighborhood.
The foulest stench is in the air:
The funk of forty thousand years!
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom.
And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller!
And another Vincent Price classic:
DeleteAnother lovely day begins with ghosts and gouls with greenish skin. So close your eyes and you will find that you've arrived at Castle Frightenstein. Perhaps the Count will find a way to make his monster work today. For if he solves this monstermania he can return to Transylvania. So welcome where the sun won't shine to the castle of Count Frightenstein.
-The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
Oh, yes! The mainstay of my Saturday mornings in the early '70s. Billy Van was amazingly talented.
DeleteGreat quotes! I agree that the Loomis line from Halloween is truly classic. Sums up Michael Myers and all you need to be afraid of him more in that one paragraph than Rob Zombie did in 2 films.
ReplyDeleteI also like Sheriff Brackett's line from Halloween: "It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare."
Scrabble tiles on floor:
ReplyDelete"STEVEN MARCATO"
to
"ROMAN CASTEVET"
-Rosemary's Baby, 1968
(Not a word spoken, I get the chills just typing this out.)
Even a man who is pure of heart
ReplyDeleteand says his prayers at night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the moon is full and bright...
When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake
ReplyDeletespooks come out for a swingin' wake
Happy haunts materialize, and begin to vocalize:
Grim, grinnin' ghosts come out to socialize!
Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide
or a silly spook may sit by your side
Shrouded in a daft disguise,
they pretend to terrorize:
Grim, grinnin' ghosts come out to socialize!
As the moon climbs high o'er the dead oak tree
spooks come out for the midnight spree
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes,
start to shriek and harmonize:
Grim, grinnin' ghosts come out to socialize!
When you hear the knell of a requiem bell
weird glows gleam where spirits dwell!
Restless bones eptherialize,
Grim, grinnin' ghosts come out to socialize!
If you would like to join our jamboree
there's a simple rule thats compulsory:
Mortals pay a token fee,
rest in peace, the hauntings free!
So hurry back, we would like your company!
"You see that? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!"
ReplyDeleteEros - Plan 9 from Outer Space
In your Vintage Scares, I saw you included Pet Semetary. I finally saw this a few days ago, and have to say it edges just above most King adaptations (excepting a couple, I'm always disappointed). BUT - when Doc is after his boy in the hallway and stabs him with anesthetic and the evil-dead-boy hauls himself around the corner: "No fair! No fair! No fair". Funny.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe someone overlooked the quintessential bit of dialogue from Return of The Living dead, "You mean the movie lied ?"
ReplyDelete"Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man." - The Wicker Man (1973)
ReplyDelete