Favourite Horror Films
by LeSamourai86 | created - 01 Feb 2016 | updated - 06 Feb 2021 | PublicNot in any particular order. Will add more titles.
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1. 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: 183,592 | Gross: $30.86M
One of the most effective and visceral horror films ever made. Once we meet the source of the threat, this film does not let up until the closing credits. All this is done with no more than a pint of blood and no gore.
2. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,204
3. The Void (I) (2016)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Shortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures.
Directors: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski | Stars: Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Ellen Wong, Kathleen Munroe
Votes: 41,651 | Gross: $0.15M
4. The Conspiracy (2012)
Not Rated | 84 min | Horror, Thriller
A documentary about conspiracy theories takes a horrific turn after the filmmakers uncover an ancient and dangerous secret society.
Director: Christopher MacBride | Stars: Aaron Poole, James Gilbert, Ian Anderson, Peter Apostolopoulos
Votes: 13,101
This is not your conventional horror film. Maybe it's not really eligible to be classified as horror. However, it genuinely terrified me; in fact, it scared me more than a lot of the horror masterpieces on this list, which is why I was compelled to add it to this list.
Watch this film!!
5. The Wicker Man (1973)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A puritan police sergeant arrives in a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl, who the pagan locals claim never existed.
Director: Robin Hardy | Stars: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland
Votes: 92,261 | Gross: $0.06M
Unlike many horror films, visually, this film is not dark; in fact, it looks quite bright and sunny and almost cheerful. Yet is still manages to incorporate an underlying sense of dread (especially on subsequent viewings), which mostly comes from the (outwardly) cheerful demeanour of the islanders and their decadence.
6. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,858 | Gross: $26.12M
A very disturbing film with highly unsettling imagery. I remember first watching this when I was in my late teens or very early twenties, a time when I was not yet desensitised to horror. This film really terrified me, especially the vibrating faceless-faces.
7. Kill List (2011)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.
Director: Ben Wheatley | Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson, Michael Smiley
Votes: 45,330 | Gross: $0.03M
Graphic, unglamorous and genuinely disturbing violence is not the only thing that unsettles in this film. Even more scary are the results after the plot eventually unfolds. This is another example of a film that terrified me more than films traditionally considered horror.
8. Angel Heart (1987)
X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 95,799 | Gross: $17.19M
Amongst the most atmospheric horror films I've seen, thanks to great cinematography and haunting saxophone solos by Courtney Pine.
The film has a great sense of location, and does an excellent job of transporting one to humid 1950s New Orleans (not to mention NYC); you can almost feel the humidity and heat.
To top it all off, this is quite a disturbing film. You'll see what I mean.
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,090 | Gross: $0.09M
A bleak horror film with an overwhelming sense of despair. This film also highlights how people find it hard to suppress egos and cooperate in dire situations. The same may be said for the sequels, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.
10. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Unrated | 127 min | Horror, Thriller
During an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross
Votes: 128,563 | Gross: $5.10M
Also incorporates satire on consumerism.
11. Day of the Dead (1985)
Not Rated | 101 min | Horror, Thriller
As the world is overrun by zombies, a group of scientists and military personnel sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida must decide on how they should deal with the undead horde.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy
Votes: 74,362 | Gross: $5.80M
A gloomy film, where the gloom is heightened by the knowledge that the dead outnumber humans by 400,000 to 1. There is very, very, very little promise of hope present in this film (but not absent).
Also the goriest film in the original trilogy.
12. The House of the Devil (2009)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery
In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Director: Ti West | Stars: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig
Votes: 51,255 | Gross: $0.10M
If I was not aware of the fact that this was made in 2009, I certainly would mistake this for having been made in the late 70s/early 80s.
The director, Ti West, used 16mm film and instead of utilising dolly movements, has the camera zoom in on characters when required, which was an oft-used technique in horror films in the 70s and 80s. Of course, it helps that the filming locations/sets and props look retro down to the very last detail.
A monumental achievement.
13. It Follows (2014)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
Director: David Robert Mitchell | Stars: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe
Votes: 268,918 | Gross: $14.67M
A truly terrifying film. Imagine spending your life in a constant state of fear and alertness.
14. The Babadook (2014)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.
Director: Jennifer Kent | Stars: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney
Votes: 247,212 | Gross: $0.92M
A genuinely scary film. One of the few that had me sleeping with lights on.
15. Candyman (1992)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd, Kasi Lemmons
Votes: 100,147 | Gross: $25.79M
Philip Glass's haunting score, in which an organ and a piano are prominent, serves to create a highly atmospheric gothic horror. The graffiti-ridden housing project locations are suitably rundown and grimy; in fact, they add another layer to the atmosphere of fear.
A classic.
16. 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: 1,106,459 | Gross: $44.02M
Out of all the films on this list, the film with the best camera-work, cinematography and all-round quality film-making. Of course it would be. It was directed by Stanley Kubrick.
As a child, the twins terrified me. I once saw the twins in a clip of The Shining in another film (it was being shown at a drive-in theatre in the film Twister (1996), if I'm not mistaken), and it did not fail to terrify me even then.
17. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,522 | Gross: $13.78M
A tense and manly horror film, if there is such a thing, with truly disgusting special-effects by Rob Bottin (and Stan Winston). The spider and chest-teeth never fail to repulse me. Especially the spider.
18. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,840 | Gross: $24.95M
An unsettling atmosphere of paranoia is present thoughout this bleak film. Not just a great sci-fi horror film but also an excellent paranoid thriller, a genre that was a staple of the 70s.
19. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A 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.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,123
A disturbing, slow-burning horror with subtle scares.
20. Dead End (I) (2003)
R | 85 min | Adventure, Horror, Mystery
Christmas Eve. On his way to his in-laws with his family, Frank Harrington decides to try a shortcut, for the first time in 20 years. It turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.
Directors: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa | Stars: Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, Mick Cain, Alexandra Holden
Votes: 32,277
An unsettling film that exudes dread and despair. Imagine driving at night on a dark road that winds through the woods, with the journey never ending.
21. 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: 105,400
One of Dario Argento's best (rivalled only by Tenebre and possibly Deep Red). Creepy and scary, and made scarier by Goblin's excellent score.
22. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,863 | Gross: $40.46M
The strong emotional core of the film adds to the overall impact of the film. Tragic, human and brilliant.
23. 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: 718,175 | Gross: $32.00M
Can it be classified as a horror film? If so, then it is one of my favourites.
24. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,753 | Gross: $47.00M
This film has never scared me, however, upon multiple viewings, I've really come to appreciate the film-making and the atmospheric score and feel of the film.
25. Halloween II (1981)
R | 92 min | Horror
While Dr. Loomis hunts for Michael Myers, a traumatized Laurie is rushed to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, and The Shape is not far behind her.
Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Charles Cyphers, Jeffrey Kramer
Votes: 101,692 | Gross: $25.53M
Don't believe the critics! This is an excellent film. Great suspense in the second half!
Watch this film! The last 40 minutes are a masterpiece of sustained, edge of your seat terror!
26. Re-Animator (1985)
Unrated | 84 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale
Votes: 71,496 | Gross: $2.02M
Gory and funny, with a convincing and captivating performance by Jeffrey Combs.
27. Calvaire (2004)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Marc, a traveling entertainer, is on his way home for Christmas when his van breaks down in the middle of a jerkwater town with some strange inhabitants.
Director: Fabrice du Welz | Stars: Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Lahaie, Gigi Coursigny, Jean-Luc Couchard
Votes: 13,790 | Gross: $0.00M
A highly underrated film. Disturbing and atmospheric. Reminded me quite a bit of the game, Resident Evil 4.
28. Tenebrae (1982)
R | 101 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An American novelist visiting Rome to promote his latest book is stalked and harassed by an obsessed fan who is committing a string of murders that appear to be tributes to his work.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Anthony Franciosa, Giuliano Gemma, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi
Votes: 27,416
By the master of Giallo, Dario Argento, with a great score by Goblin. One of the outstanding set-pieces is a 2-3 minute extended take where the camera starts off at a window and tracks around the house while stopping at windows on different storeys. Excellent stuff!
29. The Sixth Sense (1999)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
Votes: 1,051,165 | Gross: $293.51M
The tent scene scared the faeces out of me.
30. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Unrated | 101 min | Comedy, Horror
A radio host is victimized by the cannibal family as a former Texas marshal hunts them.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley
Votes: 37,964 | Gross: $8.03M
31. 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: 454,876 | Gross: $232.91M
32. The Collector (I) (2009)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.
Director: Marcus Dunstan | Stars: Josh Stewart, Andrea Roth, Juan Fernández, William Prael
Votes: 72,198 | Gross: $7.71M
33. The Night Eats the World (2018)
TV-14 | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
The morning after a party, a young man wakes up to find Paris invaded by zombies.
Director: Dominique Rocher | Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant, Sigrid Bouaziz
Votes: 15,897
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