Top 300 Horror Films
An often-changing list of great horror films that have deeply affected me and/or inspired me to create my own horror pictures. Some of them I've seen repeatedly over the years, others I've only seen once or twice but nevertheless have left a strong, enduring impression.
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- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsGösta EkmanEmil JanningsCamilla HornThe demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.
- DirectorJean EpsteinStarsJean DebucourtMarguerite GanceCharles LamyAllan visits the sinister Usher family mansion, where his friend Roderick is painting a portrait of his sickly wife Madeline. The portrait seems to be draining the life out of Madeline, slowly leading to her death.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
- DirectorKarl FreundStarsBoris KarloffZita JohannDavid MannersA resurrected Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes to be his long-lost princess.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJulian WestMaurice SchutzRena MandelA drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBela LugosiMadge BellamyJoseph CawthornA young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiancé, but instead turns her into a zombie slave.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiDavid MannersAmerican honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorKarl FreundStarsPeter LorreFrances DrakeColin CliveIn Paris, a demented surgeon's obsession with a British actress leads him to secretly replace her concert-pianist husband's mangled hands with those of a guillotined murderer with a gift for knife-throwing.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsOtto KrugerGloria HoldenMarguerite ChurchillWhen Countess Marya Zaleska appears in London, mysterious events occur that lead Dr. Von Helsing to believe that the Countess must be a vampire.
- DirectorWeibang Ma-XuStarsMenghe GuPing HuShan JinChina's first horror film, this is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera. A disfigured musical genius roams a traditional Chinese opera house, punishing those who offend him.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsSimone SimonTom ConwayKent SmithAn American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsFrances DeeTom ConwayJames EllisonA nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsNelson EddySusanna FosterClaude RainsAn acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy's career.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsKim HunterTom ConwayJean BrooksA woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
- DirectorGunther von FritschRobert WiseStarsSimone SimonKent SmithJane RandolphThe young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsBoris KarloffSusanna FosterTurhan BeyA demented physician becomes obsessed with a young singer whose voice sounds similar to his late mistress.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard DenningA strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsSimone SignoretVéra ClouzotPaul MeurisseThe wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard LongA millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingMartita HuntYvonne MonlaurVampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on a beautiful young schoolteacher.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsMel FerrerElsa MartinelliAnnette StroybergA young heiress - jealous of her cousin's engagement to another woman - becomes obsessed with the legend of a vampire ancestor, who supposedly murdered the young brides of the man she loved.
- DirectorGiorgio FerroniStarsPierre BriceScilla GabelWolfgang PreissIn 19th century Holland, a professor of fine arts and an unlicensed surgeon run a secret lab where the professor's ill daughter receives blood-transfusions from kidnapped female victims who posthumously become macabre art.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiUtako MitsuyaYôichi NumataA group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsBarbara SteeleJohn RichardsonAndrea ChecchiA vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsPierre BrasseurAlida ValliJuliette MaynielA surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA 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.
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsDeborah KerrPeter WyngardeMegs JenkinsA young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
- DirectorCurtis HarringtonStarsDennis HopperLinda LawsonGavin MuirA young sailor is attracted to a mysterious mermaid performing at a carnival, but soon suspects that the girl is actually a siren who draws men to their watery deaths during the full moon.
- DirectorHerk HarveyStarsCandace HilligossFrances FeistSidney BergerAfter a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsHerbert LomHeather SearsEdward de SouzaAn acid-scarred composer has his dwarf helper bring an opera singer to his London sewer hide-out.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisJoan CrawfordVictor BuonoA former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRod TaylorTippi HedrenJessica TandyA 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.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJulie HarrisClaire BloomRichard JohnsonHill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsMichèle MercierLidia AlfonsiBoris KarloffBoris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories concerning a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsDaliah LaviChristopher LeeTony KendallThe ghost of a sadistic nobleman attempts to rekindle his romance with his terrorized, masochistic former lover, who is unwillingly betrothed to his brother.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsJohn SaxonLetícia RománValentina CorteseA mystery novel-loving American tourist witnesses a murder in Rome, and soon finds herself and her suitor caught up in a series of killings.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsCameron MitchellEva BartokThomas ReinerA masked, shadowy killer brutally murders the models of a scandalous fashion house in Rome.
- DirectorAntonio MargheritiSergio CorbucciStarsBarbara SteeleGeorges RivièreMargrete RobsahmA journalist takes a bet that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. During his stay, he bears witness to the castle's gruesome past coming to life before him, and falls in love with a beautiful female ghost.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisOlivia de HavillandJoseph CottenAn aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsRentarô MikuniMichiyo AratamaMisako WatanabeA collection of four Japanese folk tales with supernatural themes.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceHazel CourtJane AsherA European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsVincent PriceElizabeth ShepherdJohn WestbrookA man's obsession with his dead wife drives a wedge between him and his new bride.
- DirectorJavier SetóStarsEmilio Gutiérrez CabaCarlos LemosPaco MoránA young man is visited by his late girlfriend's ghost. Initially pleased by her return, he soon realizes she's trying to lure him to his death.
- DirectorMario CaianoStarsBarbara SteelePaul MullerHelga LinéA woman and her lover are tortured and killed by her sadistic husband. The pair return from the grave to seek vengeance.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsChristopher LeeBarbara ShelleyAndrew KeirTen years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.
- DirectorKonstantin ErshovGeorgiy KropachyovAleksandr PtushkoStarsLeonid KuravlyovNatalya VarleyAleksey GlazyrinA young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack MacGowranRoman PolanskiAlfie BassA noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.
- DirectorFreddie FrancisStarsChristopher LeeRupert DaviesVeronica CarlsonAfter a Monsignor accidentally brings Count Dracula back from the dead while exorcising his castle, the vampire preys on the holy man's beautiful niece and her friends.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsSolange PradelBernard LetrouCatherine DevilleAfter a psychoanalyst unsuccessfully tries to convince four sisters that they are not 200-year-old vampires, the Queen of the Vampires promulgates the cause of the Undead.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsJanine ReynaudJack TaylorAdrian HovenA performer at an S&M nightclub begins to lose her grip on reality, and is plunged into a nightmarish mental landscape.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsMia FarrowJohn CassavetesRuth GordonA young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowLiv UllmannGertrud FridhWhile vacationing on a remote German island with his younger pregnant wife, an artist has an emotional breakdown while confronting his repressed desires.
- DirectorMichael ReevesStarsVincent PriceIan OgilvyRupert DaviesA young soldier seeks to put an end to the evils caused by a vicious witch-hunter when the latter terrorizes his fiancée and kills her uncle.
- DirectorFederico FelliniLouis MalleRoger VadimStarsJane FondaBrigitte BardotAlain DelonA trio of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a cruel countess haunted by her cousin's stallion, a sadistic soldier haunted by his doppelgänger, and an alcoholic actor haunted by the Devil.
- DirectorElio PetriStarsFranco NeroVanessa RedgraveGeorges GéretAfter moving into a dilapidated rural villa to reinvigorate his creative energies, a neurotic artist becomes obsessed with a beautiful countess who died there many years prior.
- DirectorYasuzô MasumuraStarsEiji FunakoshiMako MidoriNoriko SengokuA blind sculpter and his mother kidnap a young model.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlasta ChramostováJana StehnováSet in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsJames DarrenBarbara McNairMaria RohmA jazz trumpeter becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman whose corpse he discovers on a beach, after which she seemingly returns to life to take revenge on those responsible for her death.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsWilliam BergerIra von FürstenbergEdwige FenechAn industrialist invites his colleagues to his private island so they can exploit a resin formula invented by one of the guests, but a killer within the group disrupts the proceedings.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsJaroslava SchallerováHelena AnýzováPetr KoprivaSurreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.
- DirectorHans W. GeissendörferStarsJürgen JungHans-Dieter JendreykoPaul Albert KrummIn a apocalyptic 19th century landscape where wealthy vampires have taken over the world, a group of humans prepare an uprising, and select an adventurous young man to track down the leader of the undead and destroy him.
- DirectorNarciso Ibáñez SerradorStarsLilli PalmerCristina GalbóJohn Moulder-BrownA strict headmistress runs a secluded school for wayward girls in 19th century France, whose students are disappearing under mysterious circumstances.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsIngrid PittPippa SteelMadeline SmithSeductive vampire Carmilla Karnstein and her family target the beautiful and the rich in a remote area of late eighteenth-century Gemany.
- DirectorClaude MulotStarsPhilippe LemaireAnny DupereyOlivia RobinA Famous artist becomes obsessed with restoring the beautiful face of his badly burned fiancée, resorting to blackmailing a plastic surgeon into shady operations involving the skin from young girls.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsTony MusanteSuzy KendallEnrico Maria SalernoAn American expatriate in Rome attempts to unmask a serial killer he witnessed in the act of an attempted murder - and is now hunting him and his girlfriend.
- DirectorTonino CerviStarsHaydée PolitoffSilvia MontiIda GalliA young motorcyclist helps a man with a flat tyre, who ends up dead after crashing his car. The young man takes a detour into the forest, and stumbles on a lakeside house, occupied by three sisters, but they're not who they pretend to be.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsStephen ForsythDagmar LassanderLaura BettiA cleaver-wielding bridal designer murders various young brides-to-be in an attempt to unlock a repressed childhood trauma.
- DirectorPiers HaggardStarsPatrick WymarkLinda HaydenBarry AndrewsIn early 18th century England, the children of a village slowly convert into a coven of devil worshipers.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsClaudine AugerLuigi PistilliClaudio CamasoThe murder of a wealthy countess triggers a chain reaction of brutal killings in the surrounding bay area, as several unscrupulous characters try to seize her large estate.
- DirectorHarry KümelStarsDelphine SeyrigJohn KarlenDanielle OuimetWhile passing through a vacation resort, a newlywed couple encounters a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.
- DirectorHarry KümelStarsOrson WellesSusan HampshireMichel BouquetA young sailor finds himself trapped in the labyrinthine mansion of his occultist uncle, along with a number of eccentric and mysterious relatives who all seem to be harboring a dark secret.
- DirectorRobert FuestStarsVincent PriceJoseph CottenVirginia NorthDoctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.
- DirectorPeter SasdyStarsEric PorterAngharad ReesJane MerrowAs a young child Jack the Ripper's daughter witnesses him kill her mother. As a young woman she carries on the murderous reign of her father. A psychiatrist tries to cure her with tragic consequences.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsMarie-Pierre CastelMireille DargentPhilippe GastéTwo girls on the run get lost in the French countryside, and wind up in a haunted chateau occupied by an ailing vampire and his servants.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsSandra JulienJean-Marie DurandJacques RobiollesA young honeymooning couple stop for the night at an ancient castle. Unbeknownst to them, the castle is home to a horde of vampires, who have their own plans for the couple.
- DirectorJohn D. HancockStarsZohra LampertBarton HeymanKevin O'ConnorA recently institutionalized woman has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may be losing her sanity once again.
- DirectorAldo LadoStarsIngrid ThulinJean SorelMario AdorfAn American journalist temporarily stationed in Central Europe searches for his new girlfriend, who has suddenly disappeared.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsSoledad MirandaDennis PricePaul MullerAn erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
- DirectorSergio MartinoStarsGeorge HiltonEdwige FenechConchita AiroldiAn ambassador's wife discovers that one of the men in her life - either her husband, an ex-lover or her current lover - may be a vicious serial killer.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsMalgorzata BraunekLeszek TeleszynskiJan NowickiSet during the occupation of Poland during World War II. Some German soldiers slaughter a woman, her son, and mother-in-law. The husband and his father escape by being in the forest. The husband decides to join the resistance but at the first meeting the Gestapo kills his go-between and chases him. During his escape he gets into the apartment of a pregnant woman in labor and helps her with the childbirth. He works in the typhus center where he is a guinea pig for lice after being immunized to make more vaccine. He goes to the hospital to end the misery of a man mistaken as him and tortured. He seems to see his own body and is finally reconciled with himself.
- DirectorCorrado FarinaStarsAdolfo CeliGeraldine HooperGiuliano EsperatiIn this allegory on capitalism, director of a known car corporation invites one of his employees to his country villa to give him the good news. He just got promoted. However, the old man is not what he seems and promotion has a price.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsVanessa RedgraveOliver ReedDudley SuttonIn 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
- DirectorJoël SériaStarsJeanne GoupilCatherine WagenerBernard DhéranTwo bored Catholic schoolgirls spending summer in the countryside decide to become Satanists, and begin committing a series of morbid and increasingly dangerous crimes.
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsUta HagenDiana MuldaurChris UdvarnokyA series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.
- DirectorPeter SykesStarsRobert HardyShane BriantGillian HillsA physician discovers that two children are being kept virtually imprisoned in their house by their father. He investigates, and discovers a web of sex, incest, and Satanic possession.
- DirectorVicente ArandaStarsSimón AndreuMaribel MartínAlexandra BastedoNewlywed Susan is haunted by visions of Mircalla Karnstein, a centuries-old bride who murdered her husband on their wedding night.
- DirectorRobert YoungStarsAdrienne CorriThorley WaltersAnthony HigginsAs the plague sweeps the countryside, a quarantined village is visited by a mysterious traveling circus. Soon, young children begin to disappear, and the locals suspect the circus troupe might be hiding a horrifying secret.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsIva JanzurováJosef AbrhámNina DivískováKlara and Viktoria are sisters. Their father dies, leaving most of his property to Klara. When Klara becomes involved with a man that her sister loves, Viktoria begins to plot her murder.
- DirectorSauro ScavoliniStarsErika BlancPeter Lee LawrenceEzio MaranoAn old professor rents a mysterious old villa, and finds a tape recorded by a previous occupant, detailing her debauched lifestyle and the events leading to her murder.
- DirectorSergio MartinoStarsGeorge HiltonEdwige FenechIvan RassimovA woman recovering from a car accident in which she lost her unborn child finds herself pursued by a coven of devil worshipers.
- DirectorTheodore GershunyStarsPatrick O'NealJames PattersonMary WoronovA man inherits a mansion which once was a mental home. He visits the place and begins to investigate some crimes that happened in old times, scaring the people living in the region.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsScott GlennIan McKellenAlberta WatsonNazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.