Best Horror Movies of All time
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Horror films have thrilled audiences for decades by playing on our primal fears. Masters of suspense use creepy settings, jump scares, and imaginative monsters to get our hearts racing. Let’s countdown the top 40 greatest horror movies of all time, from classics released decades ago to recent additions that terrified new generations.
You may also like my other post titled Top Grossing Movies of All time. (Right click and open in a new window)
“Fear is a universal language. In the dark, we all speak it fluently.”
Guillermo del Toro
40. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
A young girl escapes into a dark fantasy world to cope with her difficult real life.
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi LĂłpez, Maribel VerdĂş
39. Hellraiser (1987)
Director: Clive Barker
A puzzle box opens a gateway to vicious supernatural beings who torment the living.
Starring: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence
38. The Lighthouse (2019)
Director: Robert Eggers
Two lighthouse keepers stationed on a remote island start to lose their sanity.
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe
37. REC (2007)
Directors: Paco Plaza & Jaume Balaguero
A news crew gets trapped inside an apartment building quarantined due to a dangerous infection outbreak.
Starring: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano
36. Martyrs (2008)
Director: Pascal Laugier
Two women suffer extreme physical and psychological torture at the hands of a sinister cult.
Starring: Mylène Jampanoï, Morjana Alaoui, Catherine Bégin
35. IT (2017)
Director: Andrés Muschietti
A group of kids are terrorized by an ancient, sewer-dwelling, shape-shifting clown named Pennywise.
Starring: Bill SkarsgĂĄrd, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard
34. Event Horizon (1997)
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared and came back haunted.
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan
33. The Ring (2002)
Director: Gore Verbinski
A reporter investigates a cursed videotape that causes viewers to die in 7 days.
Starring: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman
32. Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele
A young Black man uncovers disturbing secrets when he meets his white girlfriend’s family.
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford
31. Train to Busan (2016)
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Passengers struggle to survive on a train ride across South Korea as a zombie virus spreads.
Starring: Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jung
30. Let The Right One In (2008)
Director: Tomas Alfredson
A bullied young boy befriends his unusual new neighbor, who turns out to be a vampire.
Starring: KĂĄre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
29. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Director: George A. Romero
Survivors take refuge in a mall from bloodthirsty zombies in this classic zombie apocalypse film.
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger
28. Carrie (1976)
Director: Brian De Palma
A bullied teen unleashes her newly discovered telekinetic powers against her cruel classmates.
Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, John Travolta
27. Candyman (1992)
Director: Bernard Rose
The legend of an urban legend come to life haunts a graduate student exploring the macabre myth.
Starring: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley
26. The Fly (1986)
Director: David Cronenberg
A scientist transforms into a grotesque man-fly hybrid after a failed experiment.
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
25. Saw (2004)
Director: James Wan
Two men wake up chained in a bathroom and must complete twisted tasks set by the Jigsaw killer.
Starring: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover
24. It Follows (2014)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
After a sexual encounter, a young woman is stalked by a supernatural, relentless force.
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto
23. Insidious (2010)
Director: James Wan
A family faces increasingly frightening supernatural events when their son mysteriously falls into a coma.
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins
22. Evil Dead II (1987)
Director: Sam Raimi
This gory, comedic sequel has Ash battling more horrifying demons at a remote cabin.
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
21. 28 Days Later (2002)
Director: Danny Boyle
A man wakes from a coma to find London deserted and overrun by vicious infected people.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston
20. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Director: Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
Found footage chronicles three student filmmakers getting lost in the woods and experiencing supernatural horrors.
Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard
19. The Evil Dead (1981)
Director: Sam Raimi
Demons possess college students vacationing in a remote cabin in the woods.
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor
18. Sinister (2012)
Director: Scott Derrickson
A true-crime writer moves his family into a home where grisly murders took place.
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone
17. The Descent (2005)
Director: Neil Marshall
Female adventurers are trapped in a cave with flesh-eating subterranean creatures.
Starring: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Alex Reid
16. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Director: Wes Craven
Teens are stalked and killed in their dreams by Freddy Krueger, a disfigured killer with a bladed glove.
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
15. Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
A giant great white shark terrorizes a beach community in this classic summer blockbuster.
Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
14. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Director: Jonathan Demme
An FBI trainee seeks advice from an incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer to catch another killer.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
13. Halloween (1978)
Director: John Carpenter
A masked killer stalks a group of babysitters on Halloween night.
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
12. A Dark Song (2016)
Director: Liam Gavin
A woman hires an occultist to perform a dangerous ritual spell and summon her guardian angel.
Starring: Catherine Walker, Steve Oram, Mark Huberman
11. Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Director: Lee Cronin
In this reboot, evil is unleashed again, this time in urban Los Angeles.
Starring: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies
10. Midsommar (2019)
Director: Ari Aster
A couple travels to a rural Swedish festival that turns into a bizarre and violent competition.
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter
9. The Witch (2015)
Director: Robert Eggers
In 1630s New England, a family is tormented by sinister forces in the woods beyond their farm.
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie
8. The Shining (1980)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
A writer descends into madness while acting as the winter caretaker of an isolated hotel.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
7. Scream (1996)
Director: Wes Craven
A masked killer targets teenagers in this meta-slasher that revived the horror genre.
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
6. The Conjuring (2013)
Director: James Wan
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren confront a powerful demonic entity haunting a family.
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor
5. Hereditary (2018)
Director: Ari Aster
After her mother’s death, a woman and her family are haunted by a sinister presence.
Starring: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Alex Wolff
4. Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley Scott
On a deep space mission, the crew of a ship is stalked by a deadly extraterrestrial creature.
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm
3. Terrifier 2 (2022)
Director: Damien Leone
The murderous Art the Clown returns to gruesomely kill a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween.
Starring: Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt
2. The Thing (1982)
Director: John Carpenter
Researchers in Antarctica encounter a deadly shape-shifting alien that can take on the appearance of its victims.
Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
“Horror is the removal of masks.”
John Carpenter
1. The Exorcist (1973)
Director: William Friedkin
Two priests attempt to exorcise a demonic entity that has possessed a young girl.
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
From psychological thrillers to slasher flicks, paranormal hauntings to sci-fi alien terrors, these 40 movies represent the best that the horror genre has offered across many eras. Their ability to tap into our nightmares ensures these films will continue scaring audiences old and new.
Let me know in the comment section which is your favorite horror movie from this list!
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