Ridley Scott names his favourite horror movies: “A brilliant notion and idea”

Posted On January 5, 2025January 5, 2025

Some filmmakers really do seem unstoppable. For Ridley Scott, nothing will get in his way of making epic movies, which has led him to become one of the most successful filmmakers of all time. The director is responsible for various epic blockbusters and influential movies, helping to transform the landscape of science-fiction from the very beginning of his career.

His second film, Alien, proved to be a major success. Bridging the gap between sci-fi and horror, the movie featured a group on board a spacecraft who are faced with a terrifying extraterrestrial monster that wipes them out one by one. Giving the slasher sub genre a sci-fi twist by borrowing a few tropes, such as the final girl and a singular killer attacking each member of the crew, the movie was highly praised. It has endured ever since, inspiring many other horror and sci-fi filmmakers in its wake.

Alien spawned a franchise, although Scott only directed Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Meanwhile, he created another incredibly influential sci-fi movie, Blade Runner, which further cemented him as a vital filmmaker. He has also made movies like Thelma and Louise, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, The Martian, and Napoleon, consistently delivering movies that audiences flock to see.

When it comes to horror, his Alien movies and Hannibal are the only ones that technically classify as part of the genre, but they prove that he knows what he’s doing regarding scary movies. The filmmaker once shared his favourite horror films in an interview with Emanuel Levy, unsurprisingly mentioning The Silence of the Lambs, which was the basis for Hannibal. 

Directed by Jonathan Demme, the film follows Clarice Starling, a trainee FBI agent, as she studies Hannibal Lecter, a skilled killer, so that she can solve a case. Lecter, played by Hopkins, reprised his role in Scott’s Hannibal. Scott was interested in making the movie since he liked the original movie so much, explaining: “I think Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs was a good, classy film about a serial killer and once it was frightening, it’s more interesting and scary than deeply disturbing.”

The filmmaker also loves two classic 1970s horror movies, both of which were pivotal entries to the genre. The first is The Exorcist, which was directed by William Friedkin and followed the possession of a young girl. It was the first horror movie to be nominated for a ‘Best Picture’ Oscar (The Silence of the Lambs was the first to win the award), and interestingly, Friedkin didn’t even intend for the movie to be a horror film. It just turned out to be really scary, what with the demonic acts that the seemingly innocent Regan begins partaking in.

Scott explained, “The Exorcist is one, which is a brilliant notion and idea and any of those things that come from feasibility was more frightening. I think that was really good.” 

He also expressed his love of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, one of the earliest slasher movies. Made on a low budget, you can feel the grime and sweat imbuing every frame, with the crazed Leatherface making for one of the most unforgettable horror villains of all time. Scott said: “I think the one that is impossibly, crazily violent, it’s so violent it just kind of works, is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre“.

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