Coming up with a list of the best horror movies of all time is a good way to weed out the scary movie veterans from the scaredy cats. You can spot ’em every time a jump scare happens, or a devil-possessed girl crab walks upstairs, or an alien missiles out of some poor sucker’s chest.
Okay, so we were more scared than not when working on this list. Sue us! Using overall movie quality, impact on the genre, legacy potential, fright/creepy factor and that mysterious quality known as Editor’s Choice, we assembled a list of movies that guarantee you’ll want to sleep with the lights on.
Some of the movies here are more traditional horror fare, while others are just twisted and creepy in a “permanently scarred for life” sorta way (e.g. The Silence of the Lambs). But all of them will scare the living heck out of you. So enjoy, and fire off your own suggestions and faves in the comments!
25. Scream (1996)
Director: Wes CravenStars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David ArquetteRuntime: 111 mins
Both director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson have plenty of successes in their career, but Scream remains a big highlight for both men. Williamson’s script managed to deftly be so many things — it was a sly meta/self-parody about the horror genre that didn’t cross the line into goofiness, while also playing as a successful whodunit and, most importantly, an effective horror film in and of itself.
Finally a group of horror movie characters made it clear that yes, they’d seen all the same movies we had, and were aware of the rules and clichés that come with the genre. But no one was more knowledgeable than the killer (or is that killers?), who toyed with the victims by asking them horror movie trivia that plenty of us in the audience could have fun playing along with.
But when the killer actually showed himself, it was terrifying, with several extremely well-executed suspense scenes by Craven, which proved again just how good he was with this sort of material. A movie that set out to simultaneously make the audience laugh, cheer and yes, scream, Scream deserves a lot of credit for pulling off all these elements so well.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Scream’s opening scene is incredibly strong and scary, instantly grabbing the audience by the throat. Watching a high school girl (Drew Barrymore) get a series of increasingly ominous phone calls, we (and she) begin to realize just how vulnerable she is. And that’s when the guy with the ghost-faced mask shows up…
See Where to Watch Every Scream Movie
24. Nosferatu (1922)
Director: F.W. MartinStars: Max Shcreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von WangenheimRuntime: 94 mins
Count Orlok is moving to Germany, and he’s bringing pestilence and shadows with him. F.W. Murnau’s shameless rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula does away with the sensuality that many associate with the undead monster, revealing the vampire to be a sad and rat-like creature, tormented by isolation and completely wrong for the modern world.
Murnau seems to have a queasy fixation on Orlok and his eery appetites, and his movie paints them out with thick shadows and grotesque imagery. Max Schreck’s performance as the Count is so bizarre and hypnotic that, years later, he stills ranks as one of the most iconic horror monsters. Indeed, the horror genre is still using the language that Murnau helped invent with Nosferatu, and his film feels as deliriously creepy today as it ever did.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Count Orlok’s last hurrah as he approaches a beautiful, sleeping victim is an oft-imitated and, almost 100 years later, still very creepy moment.
See more of the best vampire movies of all time.
23. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo SánchezStars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua LeonardRuntime: 81 mins
The movie that gave birth to the widespread “horror movie as faux-documentary” trend and that inspired such films as Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project is quite an effective scare fest in retrospect.
Some of its then-inspired choices in the realm of “is it or isn’t real” seem dated and obvious now, given the fact that the Internet seemingly sets out to reveal spoilers that surround projects like this. (Also, we know it’s all fiction at this point.) But Blair Witch came out in 1999, when the Internet was in its infancy and could be used as a tool to successfully convince audiences that maybe the story of a three-person documentary crew going snipe hunting for what turns out to be pure evil is in fact real.
Blame the gift/curse of the shaky cam on this movie, but give it credit for delivering scares in such a way that changed the way we like to be scared… and that changed the way Hollywood goes about making the things that scare us.
Scene to watch with the lights on: A night in the woods full of tent shaking and lots of screaming leads to a morning where one character discovers a nice gift-wrap of anatomy no longer attached to its person.
22. Dracula (1931)
Directors: Tod Browning, Karl FreundStars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David MannersRuntime: 75 mins
All of today’s mega-popular vampire franchises owe a debt of gratitude to Count Dracula. And as much as Bram Stoker’s original novel helped popularize the vampire story, it was Universal’s 1931 adaptation that cemented the image of Dracula in the minds of most moviegoers.
Dracula condenses and combines many of the main characters from the novel, opening with the poor Mr. Renfield’s arrival in Transylvania. After falling victim to Dracula’s influence, the pair head to London so Dracula can feast on the city’s inhabitants. Only the courageous Dr. Seward, his ally Professor Van Helsing, and their friends can prevent Dracula from slaughtering innocents and making the fair Mina his newest bride.
Dracula isn’t the scariest film by modern standards (though the alternate Spanish cut is superior in that regard). What it does have is plenty of atmosphere and a very memorable take on the lead villain. This adaptation diverged from the source by making Dracula a handsome, charismatic figure, and Bela Lugosi captured the imaginations of millions with his performance as Dracula. For better or worse, it was a role that would follow him for the rest of his life. And it remains the definitive portrayal of this classic villain for many.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Renfield’s midnight ride is full of dramatic tension as he meets the world’s creepiest carriage driver. By the time he finally arrives at the castle and is introduced to its master, he and the viewer are much worse for wear.
21. 28 Days Later (2002)
Director: Danny BoyleStars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher EcclestonRuntime: 113 mins
The zombie genre is bigger than ever now, and you have 28 Days Later to thank for it. The genre was practically dead by the time Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland gave zombies a much needed shot of adrenaline with this film. Seriously, this movie is pumped up on adrenaline. The zombies — er, sorry, “infected” — sprint through the movie, spawning endless debates about whether “fast zombies” are scarier than “slow zombies.” As if that’s the important thing.
What mattered most is that 28 Days Later was more than a visceral horror experience. A great cast and a smart script treated the concept with sincerity and severity, and Boyle’s digital cinematography gave the film an immediacy that hadn’t been matched at that time. If zombies — sigh, “infected” — did take over the Earth, this is surely what it would look and feel like. And it would be terrifying.
Scene to watch with the lights on: When Cillian Murphy finds his way into a church and starts to realize what’s really been going on since he woke up.
20. The Fly (1986)
Director: David CronenbergStars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John GetzRuntime: 96 mins
David Cronenberg’s very R-rated, very intense and very excellent remake of The Fly puts Jeff Goldblum in the role of Seth Brundle, a scientist who invents telepods meant to change the world. Instead, they change him into a man-fly monster when a fly accidentally gets trapped in one of the machines as Seth teleports from one pod to the other.
The script, performances and Howard Shore’s tremendous score work together to create a horror opera, one full of dark twists and practical creature effects scares. Once all the gore and vomiting-on-food-to-eat-it settles, we realize we’ve just watched a tragedy about a scientist who accounted for everything save nature finding a way to remind man not to play God. (Kind of fitting that Goldblum learned this lesson here and again in Jurassic Park, no?)
Scene to watch with the lights on: Brundlefly inspecting a medicine cabinet-turned-museum of pieces of the man-fly that his new insect body doesn’t need anymore. (Give yourself a gold star if you can spot his mason-jarred junk or if you don’t wince at the moment before this scene, where Seth peels off his fingernails.)
19. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Director: John LandisStars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe BelcherRuntime: 97 mins
It rarely hurts to merge horror with a tinge of comedy, and John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London is one of the finer examples of that combination. It’s also one of several iconic werewolf movies that hit theaters in 1981. Of the trio, American Werewolf remains the most popular and well-loved.
The film begins with two backpackers traveling the English countryside. When only one survives an attack by a vicious wolf, he becomes convinced he’s been infected by the werewolf’s curse. And it wouldn’t be much of a werewolf movie if he turned out to be wrong.
An American Werewolf in London stood out at the time thanks to its amazing makeup and special effects work; never had the werewolf transformation seemed so convincing. The humor didn’t hurt either. And then there’s the brilliantly demented nightmare sequences. But American Werewolf was ultimately a tragic horror film, and one certainly deserving of remembrance today.
Scene to watch with the lights on: American Werewolf’s iconic transformation scene is a showcase for just how grotesque and painful the werewolf curse can be. When David wolfs out, what ensues is a graphic transformation of man into werewolf. This all-too convincing display of special effects and makeup work from 1981 still holds up today.
18. Let the Right One In (2008)
Director: Tomas AlfredsonStars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per RagnarRuntime: 114 mins
Can you believe that there’s a movie on our list that got its title from a Morrissey song? This most unusual of love stories is a Swedish film which hit it big internationally with its tale of a 12-year-old boy and his centuries-old vampire… who looks like a 12-year-old girl (but most certainly isn’t).
Whether or not Oskar and Eli’s relationship is an equal partnership, or Oskar is doomed to become the vampire’s next Hakan (the old and ill-fated human who takes care of Eli early in the film) isn’t clear. But it’s an engrossing story from start to finish.
Though chock-full of bloody good horror moments, director Tomas Alfredson’s film works so well because it is acutely interested in its two lead characters: Oskar, the boy who is bullied at school and finds a protector in his new, nocturnal neighbor; and Eli, a beautiful little cherub who’s actually not even a girl and certainly not a cherub. Weird, right? But so good.
Scene to watch with the lights on: This may be a controversial pick (and a spoilery one), but we’d have to go with the closing moments of the film, as Oskar and Eli head off for a new life together as friends and/or love interests. Or as master and slave? You decide, but it is creepy either way.
17. Suspiria (1977)
Director: Dario ArgentoStars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio BucciRuntime: 92 mins
Of course we’re including a giallo film on this list, though the question did come up as to which of the Italian horror masters was most deserving to represent this distinctive genre. In the end, we had to give it to Dario Argento and his Suspiria — a supernatural shocker that is an experience in style as well as terror.
The film is about an American ballerina who travels to Germany to attend a dance academy, but instead gets a tutu full of trouble when she comes to realize that the place is home to a coven of witches who are brewing up all kinds of deadly mischief.
The picture might seem over the top in some ways, but Argento proves masterful at creating an environment and a world that is uniquely its own thing. The gruesome, convoluted killings, the garish color design, the freaked-out sound (including a haunting score by Goblin)… this is the stuff that nightmares are made of and one of the best witch movies ever made.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Don’t even bother turning the lights off, since the film gets right to it with a double murder early on that sees one young lady staring out a window into the dark, only to suddenly realize that a pair of eyes are staring back. This leads to stabbings, a hanging and, finally, impalement by stained glass for her and her friend.
16. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Director: George RomeroStars: David Emge, Tom Savini, Gaylen RossRuntime: 126 mins
George Romero practically created the zombie movie genre single-handedly in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. Ten years later he refined the formula with Dawn of the Dead. Far bigger, gorier, and funnier than its predecessor, Dawn of the Dead remains Romero’s definitive work.
Whereas Night featured a small cast of survivors holed up in a remote farmhouse, Dawn opens with a glimpse of a major metropolitan area falling to chaos during the zombie outbreak. It isn’t long before our four heroes are forced to leave town and barricade themselves inside a shopping mall. But as it turns out, the undead hordes still retain enough of their old selves to feel the need to shop and consume.
The true brilliance of Dawn is how it combined straight-up zombie carnage with a healthy dose of satire and social commentary. At the end of the day, are modern Americans really so different from the shambling undead? They crave warm flesh; we crave iPhones.
Scene to watch with the lights on: When Roger finally succumbs to his bite wounds, it’s a tragic moment that really drives home what our characters have lost in this world.
15. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Director: Wes CravenStars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robery EnglundRuntime: 91 mins
By 1984, the slasher movies had been done to death (excuse the pun). Just how many masked killers could you see before fatigue set in? But Wes Craven had a brilliant twist on these types of films. First, he created a killer, Freddy Krueger, who instantly stood out from the rest of the pack. His face was burned beyond recognition, but Freddy wore no mask and didn’t stay silent.
In fact, he had plenty of cruel taunts for his victims. More importantly, his domain was the dream world, where he could stalk and terrorize without any rules to bind him — if you ran away from him, he could just as easily be waiting for you as you approached. There was nowhere to hide from Freddy because we all have to sleep sometime, right?
Featuring a more down to Earth and relatable group of young characters than most slasher films, A Nightmare on Elm Street made a huge impact upon its release, thanks to its excellent conceit and amazing villain, and Craven’s talent at building tension and delivering the goods in his murder scenes. And with Freddy, Craven gave us one of the most popular, durable and recognizable horror movie villains of all time.
Scene to watch with the lights on: When Freddy gets a hold of Tina in her dream, we suddenly realize just how big the stakes are, as her sleeping body is pulled up into the air, and four fatal cuts rip into her. The fact that she’s dragged along the ceiling, screaming, before she dies, as her boyfriend looks on in horror, only adds to the shock of the scene.
See our guide to the Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order.
14. Poltergeist (1982)
Director: Tobe HooperStars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O’Rourke, Craig T. NelsonRuntime: 114 mins
After Poltergeist, all of a sudden quaint cookie-cutter houses everywhere became haunted death-traps, ravaged by violent Native American ghosts who weren’t too pleased about their current state of “unrest.”
Director Tobe Hooper and producer Steven Spielberg created a veritable masterwork that took the ghost story out of ancient castles and haunted mansions and shoved it, without apology, into the happy suburban track home.
Almost every single part of this movie is so full of devastating win — from Carol Ann’s warbled white-noise voice to freakin’ angry trees that bust through your window to grab you — that one is almost able to forgive the less-than-warranted sequels. This house may now be “clean,” but your pants are going to need changing.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Man. Just pick anything. How about the guy who tears his own face apart or the malicious clown doll that loves to strangle or the vengeful zombies coming out of the swimming pool? This movie will hit you from every direction and leave you cowering in the corner.
13. The Thing (1982)
Director: John CarpenterStars: Kurt Russel, Wilford Brimley, Keith DavidRuntime: 109 mins
An alien with the ability to take the form of any life that it absorbs infiltrates an Antarctic research base, and soon the 12-man team is up to their eyeballs in slaughter, suspicion and paranoia. John Carpenter’s film has itself planted on either side of the horror and sci-fi movie lines.
The Thing plays fair within both genres, but leans more toward horror. The movie takes its time setting up the rules of the creature living amongst our heroes, while more importantly establishing each character — from Windows to MacReady to MacReady’s beard — as people we actually worry about.
The practical special effects hold up better than you’d think, and Kurt Russell gives one of his best performances as team leader MacReady. But really, the entire ensemble is excellent as each character comes to realize that all is not what it seems in their camp. And that ending! We’re still arguing about what it really means all these years later.
Scene to watch with the lights on: The scariest bit involves the Thing assimilating dogs and revealing a mouth (best described as a flower made out of tongue petals) moments before it slime-claws its way out of sight.
12. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Director: Tobe HooperStars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen DanzigerRuntime: 83 mins
Like your films bleak, bloody and full of brutality? Tobe Hooper’s gruesome 1974 indie flick took the nefarious inbred mountain folk that we all cringed at in 1972’s Deliverance and turned them into an aggressively insane backwoods clan of cannibals. Take a van full of “young adults” on their way to, let’s say, smoke weed and hang out at a cemetery, and let them run out of gas in the wrong part of Texas. Then throw in the skin-suited Leatherface and some meat-hooks and you’ve got yourself a film that barely found a distributor because of its extreme levels of graphic violence.
Psycho might have been the first “slasher” film per se, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre simultaneously elevated and de-elevated the genre with its disturbing levels of sadism.
Scene to watch with the lights on: It might not be the moment you immediately think of, but the two-minute-long scene where poor Sally is forced to “dine” with Leatherface’s family where she’s tied to a chair made out of human parts and they all just laugh at her screaming is pretty disturbing!
11. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Director: Roman PolanskiStars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth GordonRuntime: 137 mins
Get over Mia Farrow’s bad haircut and watch this movie. You’ll be surprised how much this unsettling creepshow from 1968 gets away with for, you know, being in 1968. Roman Polanski’s most “conventional” film outside of Chinatown is one of his best, telling the slow-burn story of a young New York couple who move into an apartment building… which happens to be home to several Satan worshipers who want to use Rosemary’s spawn as a means for Mr. Devil McBrimstone to enter our mortal realm.
Farrow is perfect in the role of Rosemary, as she slowly unravels the more she discovers what shady cult dealings are happening all around her. The entire world seems to be conspiring against the most innocent of people here, as the devil watches from the wings and Rosemary breaks down.
Polanski’s lean approach to delivering chills further supports the storytelling rule that the more kept off screen, the more the audience has to imagine, and hence, the scarier.
Scene to watch with the lights on: When Rosemary finally gets to meet her baby.
10. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Director: George A. RomeroStars: Duane JonesRuntime: 96 mins
In 1968, director George Romero took the frightening idea of “zombification,” which up until that point had been relegated to creepy voodoo tales and extra-dimensional Lovecraft-ian lore, and created a terrifying new genre of horror: the zombie apocalypse film. “They’re coming to get you Barbara” became the first official “I’ll be back” of horror, as poor Judith O’Dea has to flee a cemetery because the dead have inexplicably come back to life and started walking the Earth in search of human flesh.
Hitchcock discovered, with 1963’s The Birds, that the sheer terror of “not knowing” the reasons behind the sweeping global outbreak of evil can be the most horrifying part of the entire story. The “Zombocalypse” genre is so enduring that it’s still going strong today (hello, Walking Dead fans…). Sure, some films have made their zombies run fast and tried to explain the whole dead-alive deal with a virus, and that’s all fine. But nothing will ever beat the basics.
With this one film, Romero was able to tap into so many things we’re afraid of: death, desecration of the flesh, cannibalism, brainwashing, disease and hopelessness. There’s also a stinging underlying social message about racism, media and paranoia where viewers got to learn that they could be just as dangerous and cruel as the mindless hordes of undead they were hiding from.
Scene to watch with the lights on: The end, when our hero Ben finally makes it out of the farmhouse.
9. Evil Dead II (1987)
Director: Sam RaimiStars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan HicksRuntime: 84 mins
Though more of a “remix” than a sequel, Evil Dead II improves on its predecessor in almost every way. More gore, more comedy, more, more, more…
Director Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (and Ash!) returned to the woods after six years for Evil Dead II, which leans into the gruesome excess of the first but ups the ante to a ridiculous degree (this was the one where an eyeball flies into a person’s open mouth). Though Evil Dead II didn’t invent splat-stick, it sure did perfect it, and went on to influence countless other comedy gross-outs. (Also see 16 Things You May Not Know About Evil Dead).
And yet, for all the fun grotesqueries on display, Raimi still manages to chill and scare his audience plenty with stylish and over-the-top antics. Check out Henrietta peeping in on things from the basement, or Ash’s brief turn as a Deadite himself (before he’s saved by a fortuitously timed rising sun). Groovy.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Ash’s farewell to his girlfriend Linda will have you in pieces. Or her, anyway.
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Director: Jonathan DemmeStars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. BonneyRuntime: 118 mins
Using a serial-killer cannibal with a doctorate to help catch another serial killer is as bare bones as you can get with this Best Picture Oscar winner. But the movie is much more than that. It’s the scariest movie ever made built around psychology and deduction, with both used as crime-solving tools and murder weapons. Yes, blame this movie all you want for your friend’s bad Hannibal Lecter impersonation that never seems to get better, but it gave us one of the screen’s all-time iconic villains and Anthony Hopkins the role of his career.
Jodie Foster is also exceptional as FBI Agent Clarice Starling, on the trail of Buffalo “It Puts the Lotion in the Basket” Bill. Director Jonathan Demme is effortless and relentless with his tension here, succeeding where Ridley Scott failed in his 2001 sequel, Hannibal, by keeping Lecter more of a believable monster and less of a monstrous caricature.
We suggest watching The Silence of the Lambs with some fava beans and a nice chianti. Check out our list of the best 90s horror movies for more like this.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Lecter’s first encounter with Clarice — his crazy and her virtue are separated only by safety glass.
7. Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven SpielbergStars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard DreyfussRuntime: 124 mins
The first blockbuster ever and the scariest movie (maybe even the best one?) Spielberg’s ever made, Jaws is equal parts shark movie and character piece, centered on an island called Amity that’s preyed upon by something that leaves teeth the size of shot glasses in the hulls of boats and turns their owners into decapitated flotsam. The late Roy Scheider gives a career-defining performance as Chief Brody, the local sheriff with a fear of water who is put in charge of taking down the murder fish.
Joining him on the Orca for the hunt are Richard Dreyfuss’ Hooper and Robert “Find ‘im for three, catch ‘im and kill ‘im for 10” Shaw as Quint, the number one cause of death for just about any marine life.
But you already know that. You should have seen this movie at least 10 times by now, thanks to cable and VHS and DVD and Blu-ray and streaming. You’ve probably contemplated making John Williams’ theme your ring tone. It’s made out of the type of movie magic that warrants repeat viewings.
Scene to watch with the lights on: It’s a tie! When the shark turns Alex Kintner into a human chew toy… or when Bad Hat Harry stands before Brody, wearing a bathing suit and shaking his saggy gym-sock moobs.
6. Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley ScottStars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John HurtRuntime: 117 mins
Alien movies are generally thought of as being planted in the science fiction realm. However, with the original at least, Alien was as much a horror film as a sci-fi one. With a small cast being hunted by a lone, terrifying creature, Alien was a long way removed from the Star Wars and Star Treks of Hollywood.
The film is set several centuries in the future when humanity has ventured into the stars. The crew of the mining vessel Nostromo become unwitting hosts to a bloodthirsty alien lifeform, and one by one they fall to an enemy that hides in the shadows and springs from above. Only Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is savvy enough to survive the alien’s onslaught. Too bad for her it was only the first round.
Alien doesn’t resemble many sci-fi movies of the time. Artist H.R. Giger designed a world full of twisted tubes, cold hallways, and pervasive darkness. Before Alien, pop culture never warned us how dark, dirty and scary the cold depths of space were. Director Ridley Scott adopted a “less is more” approach that later sequels sadly abandoned; modern directors can cram all the Aliens and Predators (and Michael Fassbender androids) they want into their films, but none can match the sheer claustrophobic terror generated in the original film.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Dinner with Kane and the crew of the Nostromo, fresh after Kane wakes up from his facehugger coma, ends with Kane disagreeing with something that ate its way out of his chest. They don’t get much better than this, movie fans.
See our guide on how to watch the Alien movies in order.
5. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director: James WhaleStars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin CliveRuntime: 75 mins
Certainly there were those of us on the IGN staff who argued that this James Whale classic should’ve been higher on our list — perhaps even number one. But compromise being what it is, director James Whale, Colin Clive, Boris Karloff and the rest have had to settle for fifth place.
The film is the apex of the Universal cycle of classic monster pictures in terms of quality. Rather than simply regurgitating a cheap variation on the first Frankenstein (which is basically what many of the Universal sequels would go on to do), Whale opted to, ahem, flesh out the story and characters of the original (which he also directed). Karloff, in his second turn as the Monster, granted his most famous creation the gift of speech here, and of friendship, and even love. Also, of humor — Bride of Frankenstein is a comedy as much as it is a horror film.
Brimming with wonderful side characters (oh, Doctor Pretorius, how we miss you) and often unsettling imagery (Jesus H. Christ, did they just crucify the Monster?), the film is over 80 years old and we’re still talking about it — and loving it. To paraphrase Doctor Pretorius, “It is our only weakness”
Scene to watch with the lights on: The finale, when the Bride is finally created only to spurn the Monster, which is a very bad thing to do for anyone who values not getting blown up in an exploding mountainside laboratory.
4. Halloween (1978)
Director: John CarpenterStars: Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony MoranRuntime: 91 mins
Psycho can be seen as the film that birthed the slasher genre, and Texas Chain Saw Massacre was an integral step in its progress, making things more visceral. But it was Halloween that truly defined this subgenre in horror, inspiring a million sequels, rip-offs, imitations and homages. Take an instantly identifiable holiday, add in a chillingly silent, unstoppable masked killer and a feisty, resourceful heroine and you have Halloween… and of course all the films that came after it.
But John Carpenter brought a sense of tension and suspense few others could match in a slasher film, as we watched Michael Myers stalk Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from afar, before going on his inevitable killing spree.
Michael himself is an excellent villain, wearing a blank, emotionless mask that perfectly captured the black soul of someone who simply killed and killed, and seemingly couldn’t be stopped, no matter what you did to him. It’s no wonder Michael became a horror icon and that fans rebelled when he didn’t appear in Halloween III. After all, Michael Myers and Halloween — both the film and the actual holiday — are now forever intertwined.
Scene to watch with the lights on: Laurie Strode is trying to hide from Michael Myers, and crouches down inside a closet. She manages to tie the door shut, but that’s not going to stop Michael, who begins smashing the door in, causing light to shine in and for Michael’s spooky mask to come into plain view of the understandably terrified Laurie.
See our guide to the Halloween movies in order.
3. Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred HitchcockStars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera MilesRuntime: 109 mins
Psycho is both one of the greatest thrillers of all time and one of the greatest entries in Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary resume. A true master of suspense and tension, Hitchcock crafted a memorable horror experience with a limited cast and even more limited budget. Like so many great horror movies, Psycho’s scares far exceed its limited scale.
The film tells the story of crazy old Norman Bates and his even crazier mother. When a young woman on the run from the law arrives at the remote Bates Motel, she falls victim to a knife-wielding killer. Several more victims are claimed before the true secret of the Bates family stands revealed.
The content of Psycho isn’t as shocking as it was way back in 1960. After all, girls get stabbed in the shower all the time in modern horror cinema. However, it’s a testament to Hitchcock’s skill as a director that Psycho remains a tense and nerve-wracking experience. The killing of Janet Leigh’s character and the accompanying musical key by Bernard Herrmann is one of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history.
Psycho is such a classic of the genre that it inspired a shot-for-shot remake in 1998. It’s also had sequels and a TV show based on the tale.
Scene to watch with the lights on: What scene could we pick but the quintessential shower slaying? Coupled with that amazing music cue, it remains a horror classic almost 60 years later.
2. The Exorcist (1973)
Director: William FriedkinStars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda BlairRuntime: 122 mins
“Tubular Bells” is the scariest music arrangement ever made. We hear it and we’re the shaking-in-our-boots equivalent of Pavlov’s Dog.
The movie’s premise — a little girl possessed by a demon — is scary enough as words on paper. But what director William Friedkin does with it, aside from prove that he has a seriously strong (or frightfully off) constitution for this sort of stuff, is treat the extraordinary of it all as if it were really happening next door to us.
The scares come from a place based in faith, where Heaven and hell are as real as your beliefs in them care to be. Faith, for all the documentation on the subject, is tethered to the intangible; it’s not something science can define or strategize. The demon that comes from The Exorcist’s interpretation of that idea is something more powerful than a Freddy or a Jason. Something that can’t be shot or stabbed or detonated.
Before it can be attacked, let alone defeated, it has to first be believed in — as terrible and soul-threatening as this may be to the young priest and old priest charged with delivering the climatic exorcism. Fathers Karras and Merrin spend the third act of the movie fighting back the devil for control of young Regan’s soul. And in doing so, Karras, a man of wavering faith throughout most of the movie, finally believes in the only true good he knows by sacrificing himself to save that little girl.
Film-school analyze this movie more if you want. Bottom line: It is the best horror movie about the consequences of belief ever made.
Scene to watch with the lights on: All of it. No no no, trust us. Watch it at mid-day, with the blinds open and the lights on. And then get used to the fact that you may never, ever sleep again.
1. The Shining (1980)
Director: Stanley KubrickStars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny LloydRuntime: 146 mins
The Shining might just be Stephen King’s most popular horror novel. Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation is almost certainly the most popular Stephen King movie. The project was an unusually commercially-focused one for Kubrick, but the same stylistic elements that defined his earlier films were on full display, and the film remains a haunting and unsettling chronicle of a family man’s psychological breakdown.
Jack Nicholson is iconic as Jack Torrance, the struggling writer who accepts a job as winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Mountains. The knowledge that the previous caretaker had gone insane and murdered his family fails to scare Jack away. But when both Jack and his psychically attuned son begin communing with the many spirits haunting the Overlook, things quickly take a turn for the worse. Deadly hedge mazes, elevators full of blood and the terrifying Room 237 are only some of the horrors that await viewers.
Aside from being a genuinely scary film, The Shining has left its mark on modern pop culture. Who doesn’t recognize the image of Nicholson poking his head through a doorway and shouting “Here’s Johnny!”? The Shining also served as fodder for one of the best “Treehouse of Horror” segments in the history of The Simpsons.
The film is required viewing for any horror aficionado — just don’t expect to sleep easily that night — and our pick for the best horror movie ever made.
Scene to watch with the lights on: “The blood usually gets off on the third floor.” May we also suggest the Room 237 scene. Beware of women in bathtubs that are really Overlook corpses!
New and Upcoming Horror Movies in 2024
Horror movies are in a great place right now. There have already been a ton of great horror films to arrive in 2024, but even if that’s not enough to quench your taste for the macabre, there are plenty of horror films that either just came out or are coming in the next few months that are sure to get your blood pumping.
Salem’s Lot – October 3, 2024Smile 2 – October 18, 2024Terrifier 3 – October 25, 2024Heretic – November 8, 2024Nosferatu – December 25, 2024
MORE SPOOKY LISTS TO READ NEXT:
Best Horror Shows on Netflix and Best Netflix Horror MoviesBest Horror Movies on Prime VideoBest Horror to Watch on HBO MaxTop Movies on ShudderBest Thriller Movies
Note: This list was updated on 10/30/2024 to add more information about upcoming horror movies.
