Best horror ever!
by malin_n_w | created - 09 May 2011 | updated - 13 May 2017 | PublicThe best, the creepiest, the most beautiful, frightening, well-made, sometimes most underrated, unknown or forgotten, interesting horror movies that I've seen. No crap. Leave a comment if you agree or disagree with me, or if you have recommendations! /M
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1. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
PG | 107 min | Drama, Horror
Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor
Votes: 40,484
So artistic, gothic and beautiful it makes my heart break.
2. Nosferatu (1922)
Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Votes: 105,384
A true classic! The director's own version of Bram Stoker's "Dracula". This will always be one of the best horror movies ever made.
3. Suspiria (1977)
R | 92 min | Horror
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé
Votes: 105,360
Cheesy, but with a great soundtrack, and everything a horror movie should have! So bad and so good at the same time!
4. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,731 | Gross: $232.91M
I had to sleep with the lights on for 3 weeks after watching this for the first time. Probably the scariest movie ever made.
5. Poltergeist (1982)
PG | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight
Votes: 179,481 | Gross: $76.61M
Great, fantastic horror movie! A true classic!
6. REC (2007)
R | 78 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Stars: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Pablo Rosso
Votes: 196,484
Spanish low budget zombies, but genuinely creepy. I generally don't expect anything from zombie movies, but this is something special.
7. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,339
Not a regular horror movie. Fast-paced, clever and shocking. Whatever you expect, it won't be this.
8. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,105,971 | Gross: $44.02M
Jack Nicholson has never been as creepy as in this movie. Beautifully made, interesting, scary and entertaining.
9. Pet Sematary (1989)
R | 103 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
Director: Mary Lambert | Stars: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne, Brad Greenquist
Votes: 114,974 | Gross: $57.47M
This is a pure horror movie. The terrifying, claustrophobic feeling is set already in the beginning, and it just gets creepier all the way through.
10. The Descent (2005)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
Director: Neil Marshall | Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Votes: 246,803 | Gross: $26.02M
Different and well-made. Don't watch this if you have a heart condition. Don't watch it if you're afraid of the dark, or suffer from claustrophobia.
11. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 717,961 | Gross: $32.00M
Hitchcock's classic. Not scary by today's measures, but a great story, and this movie has inspired pretty much every psychotic-killer movie made since the 60's.
12. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 204,418 | Gross: $11.40M
It's pretty cheesy, but i love the story and some scenes are really creepy.
13. Vampyr (1932)
Not Rated | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror
A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz
Votes: 20,507
Another breathtakingly beautiful movie. Really interesting, about vampires, ghosts and the occult.
14. Noroi (2005)
Not Rated | 115 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon called the "kagutaba."
Director: Kôji Shiraishi | Stars: Jin Muraki, Rio Kanno, Tomono Kuga, Marika Matsumoto
Votes: 15,306
Forget "The Ring" (Ringu), forget "The Grudge" (Ju-On). This movie actually scared me.
15. Three... Extremes (2004)
R | 125 min | Horror
An Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors.
Directors: Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike | Stars: Bai Ling, Lee Byung-hun, Kyoko Hasegawa, Pauline Lau
Votes: 20,861 | Gross: $0.08M
Three separate asian horror stories in one. This is the greatest asian horror I have seen, and it is extreme. I think people who are not generally into asian horror will like this.
16. The Fourth Kind (2009)
PG-13 | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi | Stars: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Votes: 81,821 | Gross: $25.46M
Yes, I know it's not real but it's still scary as hell. Guaranteed to deprive you of your sleep.
17. To Let (2006 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 68 min | Horror, Thriller
Mario and his pregnant girlfriend Clara are trying to find in a short period a new apartment to live since they have sold their apartment and they need to move in fifteen days. When Mario ... See full summary »
Director: Jaume Balagueró | Stars: Macarena Gómez, Nuria González, Adrià Collado, Ruth Díaz
Votes: 2,995
Spanish tv movie, not viewed by many, but i found it different, interesting and creepy.
18. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,504 | Gross: $30.86M
A very underrated classic. Some scenes are so bizarre and uncomfortable that they're hard to sit through even for a true horror fan!
19. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
R | 100 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Robert Carlyle, Harold Perrineau
Votes: 293,631 | Gross: $28.64M
So much anxiety. You're gonna want to watch something sweet and fluffy after this one.
20. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,568 | Gross: $33.80M
Stephen King's true masterpiece. An intelligent, shocking horror story taking place at a high school, so, so great!
21. The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
Not Rated | 47 min | Horror, Mystery
While sorting the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of dark secrets connected to an ancient horror waiting to be freed.
Director: Andrew Leman | Stars: Matt Foyer, John Bolen, Ralph Lucas, Chad Fifer
Votes: 8,889
Must be watched! Great, captivating and well made version of Lovecraft's classic awesome story!
22. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 702,754 | Gross: $37.63M
Spanish wonderful horror-fairy tale, by the master Guillermo del Toro. Not a true horror movie, but scary, brutal, fantastic and breathtakingly beautiful! One of my favourite movies of all time!
23. The Orphanage (2007)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera
Votes: 163,565 | Gross: $7.16M
Another spanish film, very beautiful and very scary.
24. Häxan (1922)
Not Rated | 91 min | Documentary, Fantasy, Horror
Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
Director: Benjamin Christensen | Stars: Benjamin Christensen, Elisabeth Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan
Votes: 16,711
Not so much a horror film as a documentary exploring the concept of witches, lore, history, mental illness and the hybris surrounding it. Containing lots of Scandinavian folklore, this film makes me proud of being Swedish!
25. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 256,096 | Gross: $107.92M
I watched this with very low expectations. I was positively surprised, it made me very uncomfortable! Can't say the same about the sequels though.
26. Home Movie (II) (2008)
R | 77 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
In the remote woods of Upstate New York, David and Clare Poe are attempting to live an idyllic life. However, their twin children's bizarre behavior might just tear the family apart.
Director: Christopher Denham | Stars: Lucian Maisel, Cady McClain, Adrian Pasdar, Amber Joy Williams
Votes: 4,840
Made in a hand-camera, "blair witch project" fashion, with the homely touch of "Paranormal Activity", but a he1l lot more creepy.
27. La casa muda (2010)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A young woman becomes trapped inside a house and is unable to contact the outside world as mysterious forces haunt it.
Director: Gustavo Hernández | Stars: Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, Gustavo Alonso, María Salazar
Votes: 8,027
It was almost hard to watch, every minute is extreme tension. Very good, very minimalistic. If you look at the reviews, this type of film is not for everyone but I loved it. The "real fear in real time" is fake though.
28. Inside (2007)
R | 82 min | Horror
Four months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.
Directors: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury | Stars: Alysson Paradis, Jean-Baptiste Tabourin, Claude Lulé, Dominique Frot
Votes: 44,674
Interesting, different French horror with lots of tension, lots of blood. Will definitely make you uncomfortable.
29. The Woman in Black (2012)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
Director: James Watkins | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds, Emma Shorey
Votes: 192,588 | Gross: $54.33M
Just watched it and it was way worse than I thought. To h'll with the PG rating, it has enough bizarre elements to scare most people and the shock-scares are actually scary. It's also refreshing to watch a classical gothic horror story that works.
30. Eden Lake (2008)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Refusing to let anything spoil their romantic weekend break, a young couple confront a gang of loutish youths with terrifyingly brutal consequences.
Director: James Watkins | Stars: Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender, Tara Ellis, Jack O'Connell
Votes: 94,792 | Gross: $0.01M
Not exactly horror, but d@mn shocking and terrifying. One of the most psychologically uncomfortable films I've seen. Perfect acting, and very enjoyable (if such a word can be used about this movie) despite the feel of a small budget.
31. Sauna (2008)
Unrated | 83 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
As a 25-year war between Russia and Sweden concludes, two brothers who are part of an effort to outline new border accords become undone by their actions, and their mistreatment of a young woman during their journey.
Director: Antti-Jussi Annila | Stars: Ville Virtanen, Tommi Eronen, Viktor Klimenko, Rain Tolk
Votes: 7,475
A very dark, gloomy, different and surprisingly good piece from Finland. Full of suspense and interesting scenery, it needs to be watched!
32. Troll Hunter (2010)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.
Director: André Øvredal | Stars: Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Glenn Erland Tosterud
Votes: 79,520 | Gross: $0.25M
This movie is just awesome! Incredibly witty, with a humorous yet realistic plot (although some of the special effects are less believable). If you're scandinavian, you'll definitely recognise some elements from your childhood fairytales.
33. Thale (2012)
Not Rated | 76 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Estranged friends Leo (a crime-scene cleaner) and hired-hand Elvis are cleaning up a particularly messy casualty deep in the Norwegian woods. When Elvis accidentally finds a secret passage ... See full summary »
Director: Aleksander Nordaas | Stars: Silje Reinåmo, Erlend Nervold, Jon Sigve Skard, Morten Andresen
Votes: 6,172
This flick dares to go where no one else went. A wonderful mixture of horror, drama and scandinavian lore, it tells a story about belonging. Not really scary, but different and worth watching!
34. Evil Dead (2013)
R | 91 min | Horror
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Director: Fede Alvarez | Stars: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci
Votes: 197,176 | Gross: $54.24M
As far as "cabin-in-the-woods"- horrors go, this one is among the best. The concept of the classic "Evil dead" is reinvented, with many references to the original film, and they changed and added just enough to make this film worthy of its title.
35. Deliver Us from Evil (I) (2014)
R | 118 min | Crime, Fantasy, Horror
New York police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rites of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Eric Bana, Edgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Chris Coy
Votes: 85,680 | Gross: $30.58M
36. Crimson Peak (2015)
R | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam
Votes: 158,241 | Gross: $31.09M
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