The best horror movies of all time
The top 3 according to 175 votes from people: The Exorcist · Rosemary's Baby · The Shining. (Updated Oct 10, 2020.)
The horror films that appear again and again at the top of the big all-time rankings (Time Out's 100, Rotten Tomatoes' guide), from silent expressionism to modern 'elevated' horror.
Top 25
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1
The Exorcist
William Friedkin, 1973. The possession of 12-year-old Regan; the first horror film nominated for Best Picture.
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2
Rosemary's Baby
Roman Polanski, 1968. Mia Farrow suspects her neighbours have plans for her unborn child.
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3
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick, 1980. Jack Nicholson loses his mind in the snowbound Overlook Hotel; based on Stephen King.
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4
Halloween
John Carpenter, 1978. Michael Myers stalks Haddonfield; the film that defined the slasher.
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5
Night of the Living Dead
George A. Romero, 1968. The independent film that created the modern zombie.
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6
Jaws
Steven Spielberg, 1975. The shark that emptied beaches and invented the summer blockbuster.
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7
Nosferatu
F. W. Murnau, 1922. The unauthorized silent Dracula, with Max Schreck as Count Orlok.
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8
Get Out
Jordan Peele, 2017. A weekend with the girlfriend's parents turns into a satire of racism; Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
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9
Hereditary
Ari Aster, 2018. A family's grief turns into something much worse; Toni Collette's performance is legendary.
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10
Alien
Ridley Scott, 1979. The crew of the Nostromo against H. R. Giger's xenomorph.
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11
Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, 1960. Norman Bates, the Bates Motel and the most famous shower scene in cinema.
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12
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven, 1984. Freddy Krueger kills teenagers in their dreams.
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13
Suspiria
Dario Argento, 1977. A ballet academy, witches and saturated Technicolor with a score by Goblin.
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14
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Tobe Hooper, 1974. Low-budget, sweaty and relentless, it introduced Leatherface.
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15
Let the Right One In
Tomas Alfredson, 2008. A bullied boy befriends a child vampire in snowy Swedish suburbs.
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16
The Fly
David Cronenberg, 1986. Jeff Goldblum's scientist slowly mutating after a teleportation accident.
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17
The Thing
John Carpenter, 1982. A shape-shifting alien in an Antarctic base, with Rob Bottin's practical effects.
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18
Don't Look Now
Nicolas Roeg, 1973. A grieving couple in wintry Venice; famous for its ending in red.
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19
Dawn of the Dead
George A. Romero, 1978. Survivors hole up in a shopping mall during the zombie apocalypse.
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20
Ringu
Hideo Nakata, 1998. A cursed videotape that kills in seven days; it launched the J-horror wave.
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21
The Witch
Robert Eggers, 2015. A Puritan family in 1630s New England and Black Phillip the goat.
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22
It Follows
David Robert Mitchell, 2014. A curse passed on through sex that walks slowly but never stops.
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23
The Innocents
Jack Clayton, 1961. Deborah Kerr in the best adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.
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24
The Babadook
Jennifer Kent, 2014. A widowed mother and a sinister pop-up book; grief as a monster.
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25
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Robert Wiene, 1920. The landmark of German Expressionism, with painted sets of impossible angles.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 25… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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26
Scream
Wes Craven, 1996. The meta-slasher that revived the genre with Ghostface.
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27
The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme, 1991. Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter; the only horror film to win Best Picture.
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28
Bride of Frankenstein
James Whale, 1935. The Universal sequel often considered better than the original, with Elsa Lanchester.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (4)
October = horror month. Using this list as my watchlist this year 🎃
Hereditary in the top 20, deserved. That scene with the car...
The Exorcist at #1 is the safe pick, but The Thing is the best horror movie ever made.
Scream at the bottom? It literally saved the genre in the 90s