My 101 Favorite Horror Movies of All Time!

My 101 Favorite Horror Movies of All Time

By: Elijah Butler

Why I love the Horror genre: From my experience with cinema as of today, I’ve learned that it is not only a form of entertainment, but a form of art as well. I have viewed many flicks from various genres in cinema, but the genre I seem to find myself kicking back to the most is the Horror genre.

In my eyes, Horror is the most varied and unique genre in all of cinema. There are nearly countless subgenres that fall into Horror, such as “Monster movies”, “Slashers”, “Supernatural”, “Psychological”, “Zombies”, “Ghosts”, “Science Fiction Horror”, “Body Horror”, “Evil dolls” and the list practically goes on.

Horror movies have always held a special place in my heart, ever since I was at least 6 to 7-years-old. This is a book that I have compiled together on “My 101 Favorite Horror Movies of All Time”. From #101 all the way down to #1, I will be explaining my love and impact that each movie in this list has left me with.

#101 – The Hitcher (1986)

Director: Robert Harmon

The Hitcher may come off as a film with quite a bit of heavy cliche 80s movie tropes, and some infuriating and minor unrealistic characters surrounding the main protagonist, but, the film’s thrilling, action, suspenseful, creepy and terror elements are what makes the film stand out as a cult classic, and a satisfyingly solid flick that manages to balance action, suspense, thriller and horror all into one hell of a movie!#100 – The Last House on The Left (1972)

Director: Wes Craven

Raw, repulsive, dirty and highly realistic, The Last House on The Left is a portrait of how far crazy psychopathic individuals out there will go to do some of the most horrific things to someone else. As Wes Craven’s debut film, and to see how he has progressed as a director decades after, this film still remains as a reminder on why Wes Craven is definitely not a forgotten name in Horror.

#99 – Christine (1983)

Director: John Carpenter

Based off of Stephen King’s well known novel, Christine is a movie that if it was put in the wrong hands, it could’ve easily turned out to have been super cheesy and even bad, but since legendary Horror director, “John Carpenter” is behind the camera, he manages to create a lot of suspenseful and atmospheric shots in Christine, and a lot of them really did stay with me. I was also quite worried for some of the characters at times, which is really refreshing and nice to see in Stephen King film adaptations.

#98 – Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Director: Robert Hiltzik

An extremely campy and highly memorable 80s slasher, due to its infamous ending, Sleepaway Camp has been a personal favorite of mine for a while and seeing the pure passion and the concept of the quiet kid being bullied by her peers, only to literally back stab everyone who has done her wrong is very unique and intriguing here, even if many other films have followed this formula countless times. The things this film manages to deliver to audiences worldwide makes this one an instant cult favorite!

#97 – Gremlins (1984)

Director: Joe Dante

Gremlins is one of the most well known films in Joe Dante’s filmography. It tells the story of a young man who is given a special creature from his father and is told to take care of it while following 3 VERY important rules, or all hell breaks loose, which ends up happening as we get to see a lot of hilarious, creepy and mischievous mayhem in this holiday creature feature!

#96 – The Descent (2005)

Director: Neil Marshall

If there’s one Horror movie I would have a terrible time surviving if I was ever put in a horrific situation, it’s definitely The Descent. With the film taking place nearly entirely in the depths of underground, the film makes you feel extremely isolated, hopeless, claustrophobic and even nervous for our characters struggling to find a way out and even survive when they find out they’re not alone. This one is definitely a very scary chiller.

#95 – The Beyond (1981)

Director: Lucio Fulci

Quite literally one of the more influential Giallo Horrors, Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond is a very thoughtful, yet very grisly made movie due to its great directing, stylish and realistic practical effects, and clever script about disturbing monsters and a hotel that was constructed over one of the gateways to hell.

#94 – Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

Director: Alfred Sole

Alice, Sweet Alice has a lot going for it. It has great suspense, haunting atmosphere and cinematography, and all around great acting that makes this critically underrated Horror a really clever mystery and frame job type story. Definitely one of the most overlooked Horror movies of the 1970s.

#93 – They Live (1988)

Director: John Carpenter

John Carpenter’s They Live is a perfect blend of action, sci-fi, terror, disaster and even comedy. Thanks to Carpenter’s other action type movies, such as “Escape From New York”, his direction and style to the Action/Horror category stay heavily consistent while he’s crafting another thrilling classic behind the Hollywood camera.

#92 – The Fog (1980)

Director: John Carpenter

Regarded as another cult classic by Carpenter, The Fog is very eerie, creepy, mysterious and even unpredictable at times. With very impressive sets, great visuals, well crafted suspense and a good line of actors, including legendary Horror Scream Queen, “Jamie Lee Curtis”, it’s safe to say that every Horror fanatic should walk into The Fog at least once.

#91 – The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Director: Wes Craven

Uncomfortable, disturbing, gross, a bit repulsive and very well shot, The Hills Have Eyes may have been underappreciated during the time of its release, but has since then gained a promising cult following and is personally a film that’ll be engraved in my head, thanks to the sheer genius of Wes Craven and how he handles this tale about a family stuck in the middle of nowhere with a family of desperate cannibals waiting to strike.

#90 - Opera (1987)

Director: Dario Argento

Opera is one of the most unique and interesting slasher films of the 80s! The film’s plot is on a famous opera singer who is stalked by a mad fan who is after her and begins to murder her fellow people around her. Dario Argento does a really great job crafting the suspense and apprehension in the film, as it contains near heart-stopping moments with its violence, and keeps you invested with its directing, performances and story! Opera may not have been Argento’s first or even his best film, but it definitely sits as one of his most thrilling, creative and memorable ones!

#89 – The Return of The Living Dead (1985)

Director: Dan O’Bannon

Perhaps a lot more funny than it is frightening, at least most of the time, The Return of The Living Dead is one of the best spoof Horror movies to ever hit the silver screen, and one of the better Horror comedies that has ever been made, thanks to its ridiculously entertaining plot, convincing effects and even over the top acting at times

#88 – Pet Sematary (1989)

Director: Mary Lambert

Creepy, atmospheric, depressing and basically playing God with animals and so much more, Pet Sematary is a cult classic Stephen King adaptation that delivers all of the right feelings it wants the audience to feel. It may not be regarded as King’s best adaptation, but in my honest opinion, it is absolutely far from being his worst one.

#87– Creepshow (1982)

Director: George A. Romero

Creepshow is one of the finest examples on how to make a “good” Stephen King movie. With its collection of thrills, chills, different thriller tales and excellent spooky vibes with astonishing directing by George A. Romero, Creepshow definitely stands as its own in the genre for these reasons and more!

#86 - Frailty (2001)

Director: Bill Paxton

Frailty is an extremely intriguing and effective movie that centers around a family of a father and his 2 children seek messages from God to destroy demons that walk the earth. The suspense in the film increases dramatically when we see that one boy sees his father as a hero for what he’s doing, while the other views him as a delusional murderer. The film has excellent performances, with the stand outs being Matthew McConaughey and the late “Bill Paxton”, who also directed the film. Frailty also does an excellent job revealing a few of its twists, and the film still holds up as a trippy, clever, suspenseful and thrilling experience!

#85 – 28 Days Later… (2002)

Director: Danny Boyle

28 Days Later is an extremely effective zombie-like infected movie! The core light of the film revolves around our main heroes who struggle to survive bloody infected human beings. The cinematography, soundtrack, story, acting and Danny Boyle’s uncomfortable yet very effective directing makes you as an audience feel nearly hopeless. 28 Days Later is an intense ride and an insanely horrifying flick!

#84 – Audition (1999)

Director: Takashi Miike

With phenomenal directing by Takashi Miike and a really disturbing story about a man setting up auditions to find his perfect new wife, only to find out that things aren’t always as they seem to be on first glance, this Japanese Horror movie is quite literally one of the best Foreign films in the genre. With its well crafted slow burn pace, and psychological depths, Audition is extremely well made not just as a Horror movie, but as a film in general.

#83 – Last Night in Soho (2021)

Director: Edgar Wright

From the ground to the top, this movie did things that absolutely blew me away in a way that’s kind of hard to describe. It may be very recent, but Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho is one of the most original, effective and miraculously made Horror films I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in the last 10 years. This one will definitely continue to grow on me a lot more as time goes on.

#82 – Raw (2016)

Director: Julia Ducournau

Raw tells the story of a young French woman who is a vegetarian and gets in Vet School. After trying Rabbit liver, she quickly gains a taste for meat and eventually human flesh. THIS is how you make a psychological cannibal movie!!! The sheer realism and grossness of this film is through the roof! If you’re not a fan of body type horror, this film will definitely disturb you to the high heavens, otherwise, this is one to definitely add to your watch list if you’ve never seen it!

#81 – Videodrome (1983)

Director: David Cronenberg

Videodrome IS Horror. A movie that is way deeper and way more evil than it has any other right to be. Horror master, “David Cronenberg” delivers a haunting portrait of people being tortured and brutally murdered on live television, and how the social commentary is presented to the audience in this film is very petrifying! The elements of hallucinations of sex games, violence, bodily transformations and other deep conspiracies of the Videodrome makes this flick a truly terrifying experience.

#80 – The Brood (1979)

Director: David Cronenberg

The Brood is a movie that I had to stop and think about after I first saw it. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. No one in cinema directs sci-fi body horror like David Cronenberg, and I mean NO ONE. When a man bars his ex-wife from seeing his daughter after discovering she has bruises, methods from a psychologist are given to the mother, only for the husband to later unfold the disturbing connection following a serious a murders caused by deformed children. It’s an extremely overlooked 70s Horror film that’s scary and unsettling with great directing, acting, and writing

#79 – Dressed to Kill (1980)

Director: Brian De Palma

It’s ashamed that Brian De Palma doesn’t get enough recognition as some of the other filmmakers in the Horror genre, because he truly does have quite a bit of shining gems, such as this one. Dressed to Kill is a fantastic mystery thriller, with a great story and performances by “Michael Caine”, “Nancy Allen”, “Keith Gordon” and a variety of other actors!

#78 – Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Director: John McNaughton

Realistic, brutal and dirty to the point where you can almost smell the film, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a well made study on psychopathic murderers out there in the world and why they do the terrible things they do. From first viewing, this film has stayed engraved in my brain, and I don’t think it’ll ever leave. It really effected me!

#77 – Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1978)

Director: Philip Kaufman

Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers is one of the best Horror remakes of all time! The film has a line of talented actors, such as “Jeff Goldblum”, “Donald Sutherland”, “Brooke Adams”, “Veronica Cartwright” and “Leonard Nimoy”, and all actors put their heart and soul into this film! The film follows a group of people who discover pods that fell down to earth and begin to grow and invade a small town by replicating the bodies of people. It’s a classic that no Horror fanatic should miss!

#76 – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

A movie that quite a bit of audiences may have missed during the mid and late 2010s, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a gorgeous looking film. With its rich black and white cinematography and the art house suspense in the film, this film may be one of the lesser known Vampire movies to date, but it’s certainly appreciated from those who know about it.

#75 – The Haunting (1963)

Director: Robert Wise

The Haunting remains as one of the most influential Horror films of all time. It practically gave birth to the stylish Haunted House subgenre in Horror, and still manages to thrill and chill modern day audiences. If you’re able to appreciate the story, acting and most importantly, the impact the film brought to cinema, then The Haunting is definitely a film that’ll stick with you, whether you find it frightening or interesting.

#74 – Get Out (2017)

Director: Jordan Peele

Being Jordan Peele’s debut film, Get Out managed to make Peele nearly become a one hit wonder in the Horror genre when it was first released! The film contains heavy racial social commentary, while balancing supernatural elements with a few comedic ones here and there, but whenever the film takes itself serious, it’s SERIOUS! It’s unlike any type of Horror movie you’ve ever seen, and one that I will definitely keep revisiting as time goes on.

#73 – Don’t Look Now (1973)

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Don’t Look Now is one of the best Horror films of the 70s era. It’s a psychic film and a study on grief that definitely takes its time to build up suspense and tension, but the film almost never manages to lose its power, thanks to Roeg’s excellent vision behind the camera. Don’t Look Now is in ways a little too good, that we can basically say it was almost ahead of its time.

#72 – The Dead Zone (1983)

Director: David Cronenberg

Another film dealing psychic powers, The Dead Zone Is a very intriguing story that follows a man who suffers a bad car accident and lays in a coma for 5 years. Once he awakes, he realizes that he has psychic abilities which start off helpful, but soon become worse for his own life. With an excellent performance by “Christopher Walken”, and astounding directing by Cronenberg, The Dead Zone definitely deserves to be in conversation a lot more on some of the best Stephen King adaptations.

#71 – Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1931)

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde remains as a landmark in the Horror genre. Being one of the earliest monster movies, and one of the most influential ones, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde contains marvelous performances that adds just the right amount of light to this classic tale of a doctor becoming something unhuman entirely.

#70 – Poltergeist (1982)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Poltergeist is and will continue to be one of the most influential Haunted House movies ever made. With the minds of both producer “Steven Spielberg” and director “Tobe Hooper”, Poltergeist is an unforgettable classic with thrills, great characters and performances, convincing effects and astounding directing and cinematography! Poltergeist may not quite be the scariest movie of all time, but, it’s an extremely fun family ghost story!

#69 – Orphan (2009)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Orphan is a very important movie to me. It was one of the first films that introduced me to the Horror genre as a kid. The film has incredible performances, a pretty suspenseful and psychological story, and a major plot twist that you will NOT see coming! Orphan is a surprisingly really great Horror movie that the 2000s honestly kind of really needed. Isabelle Fuhrman steals every second of the film’s runtime!

#68 – Wait Until Dark (1967)

Director: Terence Young

It may take its time to crank up its suspense and tension, but once it does, the film does not hold back! Wait Until Dark is an excellent film for not just Horror fanatics, but anyone who is familiar with the world of cinema. The film’s immaculate directing and tension filled script really keep you invested in Audrey Hepburn’s performance, when a trio of thugs terrorize her and search for a hidden doll that they believe is hidden in her apartment. To make matters worse, her character in this film is blind, which makes the situation she’s in all the more suspenseful, creepy and thrilling!

#67 – Black Christmas (1974)

Director: Bob Clark

Constantly suspenseful, atmospheric, and mysterious, Black Christmas is one of the godfathers of the slasher subgenre. With the genius technique of hiding the serial killer throughout the entire runtime of the film, while he continuously kills off a group of sorority girls one by one, Black Christmas is a frightening movie that’s more than just an average slasher. So much unknown of the film makes it psychological as well, which is what made it become a cult classic and one of the greatest slasher films of all time!

#66 – Nosferatu (1922)

Director: F.W. Murnau

One of the true pioneers of Vampire films and all Horror movies in general, Nosferatu is definitely a milestone in cinema and one of the movies from the silent film era that still holds up incredibly well a century later. It’s to date, the oldest Horror movie I’ve ever seen that apparently never actually gets old. It progressively gets better and better with every viewing.

#65 – Dracula (1931)

Director: Tod Browning

If there is one word to describe Dracula, it’s “iconic”. Dracula is one of the most revered Horror films of all time. Being one of the finest Universal monster movies, it continues to remain as a polished diamond for people who watch and love Horror movies ALL around. It’s also one of the most appropriate spooky films for Halloween traditions. Never skip this legendary staple!

#64 – Deep Red (1975)

Director: Dario Argento

With its highly compelling and complex story, suspense, and gore by master Giallo Horror director, “Dario Argento”, Deep Red is a phenomenal chiller and quite literally one of the biggest highlights of Argento’s filmography, aside from what is arguably his biggest movie, “Suspiria”, which was only released a few years after this masterpiece.

#63 – Evil Dead II (1987)

Director: Sam Raimi

Evil Dead II is an extremely fun time! It’s a perfect blend of Comedy and Horror wrapped in a satisfying gift basket, with a lot of “groovy” effects, a nice script, disturbing elements, alongside with quite a bit of over the top elements. Evil Dead II is quite literally one of the best sequels ever made, with Horror legend “Bruce Campbell” in his “true” icon character debut as Ash and a lot of other witty and horrific moments, Evil Dead II is in every single aspect a classic! Sam Raimi knows how to make movies!

#62 - The Witch (2015)

Director: Robert Eggers

Being the directorial debut for “Robert Eggers”, The Witch is an extremely unsettling slow burn Horror film that focuses on grief, drama and sin. The film is filled with marvelous performances from “Anya Taylor-Joy”, “Ralph Ineson”, “Harvey Scrimshaw” and “Kate Dickie”, and has a very deep and engaging story, involving a religious family in New England during the early 17th Century, they mourn the loss of their baby that mysteriously disappeared. Thinking that a wolf could’ve caused the incident, possessions and witchcraft activity soon begin to unfold amongst the family and tragically tear them apart. The Witch is a phenomenal movie that is terrifyingly rich in modern Horror!

#61 – Train to Busan (2016)

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Thrilling, terrifying, disastrous and very emotional, Train to Busan is one of the greatest zombie movies of all time! The characters are extremely well set up, the zombie Apocalypse situation everyone in the film is in makes you feel desperate and isolated with the characters, and the script is phenomenally written! Train to Busan will eventually become a film that everyone will continuously talk about and it’ll eventually be among some of the greatest Horror films in the next 3 to 4 decades from now.

#60 – The People Under The Stairs (1991)

Director: Wes Craven

Hilarious and frightening at the same time, The People Under The Stairs is one of Wes Craven’s finest films of his career! It’s an exciting and chilling home invasion flick gone horribly wrong, that takes you through many twists and many turns, and keeps surprising you until you’re out of the whole! The film has very promising performances, a fun story and very disturbing sibling antagonists that’ll keep you pinned to your seat! You may also wanna avoid eating while watching a few scenes in this movie. It’s not afraid to get dark-sided, especially with its subplot containing forced cannibalism!

#59 – Trick ’r Treat (2007)

Director: Michael Dougherty

A splendid treat for people looking for a great Halloween themed Horror film, Trick ’r Treat is basically an R rated Goosebumps marathon of 5 Halloween Horror stories that are extremely interesting, spooky, chilling and fun! The film gives out an excellent vibe and atmosphere that’ll make you want to come back and revisit it every now and then, especially for traditions during the infamous spooky season.

#58 – Day of The Dead (1985)

Director: George A. Romero

Day of The Dead is among one of the gorier Horror movies of the 1980s and in George A. Romero’s filmography, thanks to its groundbreaking practical effects! It’s an exciting film filled with captivating performances and deals with a group of scientists and military personnel who take coverage in an underground bunker, and struggle to decide if they should eradicate, educate or try to escape the zombies. It’s one of the most influential zombie movies, and reminds us why Romero was declared as the godfather of the zombie subgenre when Night of The Living Dead was released.

#57 – Doctor Sleep (2019)

Director: Mike Flanagan

Doctor Sleep is an excellent movie and a very worthy follow up to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining! Mike Flanagan really utilizes his shots extremely well in the film. The film also has a complex story and compelling characters and monstrous yet quite understandable villains known as “The True Knot”, due to their motivations. Doctor Sleep does an excellent job at not only satisfying people who love and adore The Shining, but just being a great supernatural Horror film in general!

#56 – Eyes Without A Face (1960)

Director: Georges Franju

Highly mesmerizing, disturbing and original, Eyes Without A Face is a chilling tale on a woman who becomes a recluse after a terrible car accident which left her without a face, but the real Horror lies in how far her family will go to find her a new face. Eyes Without A Face is a miraculous experience, and one of the most influential Horrors from the 1960s.

#55 – The Bad Seed (1956)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

There is nothing more terrifying than a parent having to deal with a troubled child, specifically, an evil one. The Bad Seed is a tremendous movie with believable characters and great acting, with the standout being young “Patty McCormack” who puts her all into a role of a snotty nosed bratty child named “Rhoda”, who we later begin to suspect that she may be way more evil and selfish, due to the film’s great use of psychological build up and tension, along with its intriguing plot, directing and cinematography.

#54 – Hellraiser (1987)

Director: Clive Barker

It may be over the top at times with its gore, due to its torture Horror elements, but, Hellraiser still manages to be such a surprising Horror movie. The film’s story is on a woman who starts killing to help revitalize the body of her brother in law, who is apparently trapped and pursued by demonic beings known as “The Cenobites”. With its really cavernous script and great directing both done by Clive Barker, this cult classic grotesque film is really good and really creepy, it may just “tear your soul apart”….

#53 – The Wicker Man (1973)

Director: Robin Hardy

Quite a but of suspense and mystery that continues to run with the plot, The Wicker Man is one of the greatest cult Horror movies of the 1970s and still holds its massive impact decades later! A very chilling film that gives out a sense of dread as the runtime keeps progressing, and an ending that will shock you in ways that you couldn’t imagine, The Wicker Man is so great that even English actor “Christopher Lee” considered it his best work, and it even won a spot on “Empire’s 500 Greatest Movies of All Time” list!

#52 – Fright Night (1985)

Director: Tom Holland

A vampire movie that’s just out to thrill you and give you an exciting experience, Fright Night is among the most fun and exceptionally entertaining ones! When a young man finds out his neighbor is a vampire, he tries to warn his local community. With no one believing him of course, he takes matters in his own hands, and eventually reaches out to a famous actor who portrays a vampire killer to potentially help him, but then things take a turn for the worst. Tom Holland definitely shot this film extremely well, and barely held back on a single element of thrill and terror!

#51 – Candyman (1992)

Director: Bernard Rose

Haunting atmosphere, unreal levels of suspense, very brutal with its gore, and a story about an urban legend killer that’ll keep you captivated, Candyman doesn’t often get the recognition it truly deserves for how extremely well made it is! The legend of the Candyman is very interesting, thanks to how the film dives deep into the core of Candyman’s congregation and the fear he brings to the people of a town called “Cabrini Green”. The film also manages to grab your attention even more with its very twisty psychological aspects that’ll leave you forming your own interpretations on this cult hit!

#50 – The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Director(s): Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

The most influential found footage Horror movie to date, The Blair Witch Project is very well edited, shot, acted and thought out! The film takes place almost entirely in the woods, where 3 college students shoot a documentary on the Blair Witch and end up disappearing. The greatest and most risky savior the film has is that it never actually shows the witch itself. It mainly centers around the idea that something is lurking in the woods with these students and even though you can’t see it, you can almost feel it’s presence. It was very risky, yet very effective, and gave the film a lot more of a sense of dread and isolation!

#49 – The Changeling (1980)

Director: Peter Medak

The Changeling is a marvelous haunted house movie! Its haunting settings, unsettling atmosphere, great directing, twisty story and all around enthralling performances, with the standout actor being the late “George C. Scott”, make The Changeling an extremely effective and highly relevant ghost story that’s quite ahead of its time for how well made it is!

#48 – House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Director: William Castle

Creepy, fun, twisty and in its name, haunting, House on Haunted Hill is a spook-tacular experience! With an unforgettable performance by the master of terror “Vincent Price”, and an entertaining classic story with chilling vibes written all over it, the film has definitely been received extremely well by both critics and audiences when it first came out in the late 50s, and still holds its reputation to this very day!

#47 – The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970)

Director: Dario Argento

Being the debut film of Dario Argento’s career, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage is a film that’ll constantly have you on the edge of your seat! It’s an extremely stylish film and a mystery thriller that has you as an audience trying hard to analyze the slightest sense of danger the characters in the film could potentially be in! This is where real Horror lies, and Dario Argento did a phenomenal job plastering his first hint of his vision in the Giallo Horror genre!

#46 – Sisters (1972)

Director: Brian De Palma

Nearly masterful filmmaking and storytelling, Sisters is one of Brian De Palma’s more critically underrated films of his career. The film took heavy inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, but still manages to stand on its own and deliver some extremely terrifying psychological moments. It’s ashamed this film isn’t talked amongst some of the best Horror films of the 70s, because with its twisted plot, great performances, especially by the late “Margot Kidder” and “Jennifer Salt”, Sisters is an extremely mesmerizing Horror film, and one not to be missed!

#45 – Re-Animator (1985)

Director: Stuart Gordon

A film that knows how to balance its comedy and scares, Re-Animator is a masterclass in the practical effects department of Horror, and also has a very fun story with witty and interesting characters. It’s also one of the more creative and passion filled zombie movies in the genre, which clearly makes it one of the best ones! “Stuart Gordon’s” direction and “Richard Band’s” score also played a big part on Re-Animator’s success, which would make the film become a big cult classic decades later! Re-Animator is a thrilling, hilarious, creepy and all around a fun time foe Horror fans!

#44 – Repulsion (1965)

Director: Roman Polanski

Extremely uncomfortable and dreaded with paranoia, Repulsion is one of Roman Polanski’s finest films, and his first English one in his career. Its highly disturbing elements of possible sexual repression, the presentation of where the real-life elements of the film come to a halt, and where the hallucination elements begin make Repulsion a truly horrifying film! The film can be talked amongst other inspirational Horror films of the 60s, such as “Psycho”, so, it definitely has its reputation to be declared as one of the greatest Horror movies of all time!

#43 – Dead Alive/Braindead (1992)

Director: Peter Jackson

Declared by many as the goriest movie of all time, Dead Alive (also known as Braindead) is an extremely cheesy, yet extremely fun and graphic movie with stunning practical effects! It’s one of the Horror comedies that’s so self-aware of itself on what it is, that it ends up being an extremely fun movie, with a very wild and jaw dropping 3rd act that you may want to view on an empty stomach! “Peter Jackson’s” early stage of his career was exceptionally different and more out there compared to his newer films, and Dead Alive definitely helped Jackson make a name for his own during the 90s!

#42 – The Lost Boys (1987)

Director: Joel Schumacher

My personal favorite vampire movie of all time, The Lost Boys is a stellar Horror comedy filled with so much pop culture moments, great characters and villains, and an excellent vibe and atmosphere for a late 80s Vampire flick! With a line of so many stand out performances, and unique directing by the late well known “Joel Schumacher”, The Lost Boys has been receiving a higher cult status in recent years, which earns it as a fan favorite for modern vampire movies and in the Horror genre in general!

#41 – Hereditary (2018)

Director: Ari Aster

A hardcore study on grief and corruption of a family life, Hereditary is an insanely psychologically scary film that does an excellent job increasing its suspense and the feeling of dread as the film keeps progressing. Ari Aster does a terrific job behind the camera, and the way he shot his characters in their desperate and realistic moments constantly had me on the edge of my seat! From a technical standpoint, Hereditary is flawless, and definitely one of the scarier Horror movies we’ve received in recent years!

#40 – Suspiria (1977)

Director: Dario Argento

Quite literally Dario Argento’s greatest and most popular film, Suspiria is a phenomenal art house Horror movie that is terrifying in basically every aspect! The film takes place entirely in a ballet school, where strange supernatural events begin to slowly sprout, and of course, a series of murders begin to occur in the school, which actually later turns out to be a witches’ coven. With its excellent directing and writing, as well as great acting, suspense and phenomenal cinematography, Suspiria has won many hearts of Horror fanatics!

#39 – The Omen (1976)

Director: Richard Donner

The Omen is one of the more suspenseful supernatural films of the 1970s! It could also be classified as one of the scariest films from that area, due to the fact that many cursed and tragic events also surrounded the film’s production. The film revolves around a married couple who have a baby named “Damien” and later suspect that he could be the offspring of the Antichrist, once mysterious and brutal deaths begin to unfold around the child. The excellent direction by the late “Richard Donner” makes The Omen even more unsettling as you constantly feel that danger could be around any corner!

#38 – Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Director: Robert Aldrich

Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte is an excellent study on grief and descending into madness! It’s a slow burn psychological thriller that never really loses its power due to its phenomenal directing by “Robert Aldrich”, excellent performances by “Bette Davis” and “Olivia de Havilland”, and its very complex and sinister story! It’s a film that perfectly captures where Horror secretly lies, and it never fails the audience with its great use of psychological depths that makes the film even more dreadful!

#37 – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Director: Tobe Hooper

Scary, gross, disturbing and realistic in every way, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre became a big staple name in the respected classics of the Horror genre, and still remains terrifying to this day! With its raw cinematography, repulsive and uncomfortable directing by the late “Tobe Hooper”, very real performances, clever script, its twisty and messed up cannibalistic family and of course, the iconic chainsaw madman Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre easily became one of the most influential Horror movies of all time!

#36 – The Evil Dead (1981)

Director: Sam Raimi

Extremely graphic, horrifying, suspenseful and grotesque, The Evil Dead is a masterpiece of over the top on screen practical gore effects! The film that boosted Sam Raimi into Hollywood, this film being originally a college film turned out to be an above and beyond experience during its outcome! The film tells the story of a group of college students who head down to a cabin in a forest and accidentally summon demonic forces by reading a book called “The Necronomicon”, and they begin to pick them off one by one. The Evil Dead is a pure Horror classic filled with so much passion and dedication!

#35 – Child’s Play (1988)

Director: Tom Holland

This film may be one of the more unexpected ones to be on my list, but let me explain. Child’s Play is a movie that I’ve loved since childhood, and one of the reasons why I’m a Horror fan to begin with! I’ve always loved the concept of a killer doll terrorizing a family and there’s a lot to take from the film! It has good use of suspense, really great performances, amazing animatronics and stellar directing by Tom Holland! It can be cheesy at times, but I honestly think that’s what makes the film great and so fun to watch! Child’s Play is a cult classic, and it’s time for it to be regarded as such these days!

#34 – May (2002)

Director: Lucky McKee

May is a tremendous black comedy Horror! It starts off well with its comedic moments, but then transcends into madness and sadness. We follow a woman who comes across a young man and begins to develop a mad obsession over his hands. “Angela Bettis’” performance is very twisty and deranged! She really puts her all in this role and makes the entire film feel like a horrific portrait of a woman slowly becoming more and more mad. It’s a phenomenal film that’s a study of crazy obsessions, and an enraged individual!

#33 - Mulholland Drive (2001)

Director: David Lynch

A masterfully crafted neo-noir thriller by director “David Lynch”, Mulholland Drive is a very mysterious and intriguing film that has the ability to toy with the minds of audiences on reality and dream elements in the underlying illusion world of Hollywood. The film has excellent performances by “Naomi Watts” and “Laura Harring”. and a story that leaves you off with the impression of not knowing exactly what you’re witnessing at times, but you constantly feel disturbed and uneasy to the point where you as the audience feel like you’re going psychologically insane due to how meticulous and uncomfortable the story is crafted! Mulholland Drive is easily one of Lynch’s masterpieces!

#32 – It (2017)

Director: Andrés Muschietti

Based off of Stephen King’s iconic novel, “It” is a really great coming of age Horror film surrounding a group of kids who deem themselves as “The Losers Club” and find themselves facing against a monster who feeds on children and takes the form of a clown known as “Pennywise”. The film is filled with excellent scares and the performances in the film are astounding, with all of the kids going above and beyond and “Bill Skarsgård” being exceptionally scary as Pennywise! “It” is a fantastic Stephen King adaptation that will become an even bigger classic as time goes on!

#31 – The Others (2001)

Director: Alejandro Amenábar

Suspense presented in some of its finest forms in modern Horror, The Others is perhaps one of the best suspense movies ever made! Extremely well written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar and a groundbreaking performance by “Nicole Kidman” who portrays a mother of 2, The Others is a phenomenal modern haunted house film that keeps you invested in its story and characters, as well as delivering well crafted tension and an ending that’s extremely unpredictable and effective, this is one that doesn’t get talked about often in conversation on great Horror films!

#30 – Scream (1996)

Director: Wes Craven

What is there to say that hasn’t been said already about Scream? Wes Craven reinvented the modern Horror genre with this slasher masterpiece! Scream is an excellent movie that’s very meta, clever, engaging towards Horror fanatics, has fantastic characters, and yes, is scary as hell! Wes Craven brings so much to the film with his excellent vision, making Scream one of his top tier films of his career! Without Scream, quite a bit of our Horror films from the late 90s and even 2000s would not exist, and that’s not an opinion, that’s a stoned cold fact!

#29 – Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Director: Mario Bava

In my opinion, the greatest Giallo Horror film of all time, “Mario Bava’s” Blood and Black Lace is an artistic portrait of murder! The film revolves around models who are in a fashion home in Rome, and are stalked and murdered by a shadowy masked killer. The film does an excellent job with increasing its suspense as you constantly feel that danger is most likely lurking nearby anytime someone is alone. The colors of the film, its serious suspense, the performances, Mario Bava’s incredible directing and the phenomenal soundtrack by “Carlo Rustichelli” are all what make Blood and Black Lace truly a masterpiece!

#28 – Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956)

Director: Don Siegel

Invasion of The Body Snatchers is one of the greatest Horror movies of all time! Adapted from the novel “The Body Snatchers” by “Jack Finney”, it tells the story on a doctor who realizes that bodies of people in his community are being replaced and duplicated by aliens that have their own pods. It’s a very creepy and disturbing movie, and with the fact that the spread of the body snatchers begins to increase in the film, it gives out the sense of doom that truly no one is safe!

#27 – What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Director: Robert Aldrich

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is one of the greatest psychological Horror movies ever made! A few years before he did “Hush…hush, Sweet Charlotte”, “Robert Aldrich” made this suspenseful masterpiece that almost feels Hitchcockian! The film has a superb atmosphere, phenomenal storytelling, very haunting subtext, and top-notch performances, specifically by “Bette Davis” and “Joan Crawford”! What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is an absolute treasure in suspense and psychological terror!

#26 – The Birds (1963)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

One of the finest examples of nature striking on humanity, The Birds is an immensely effective movie! Master of suspense, “Alfred Hitchcock” took such a harmless part of nature and made it humanities’ worst nightmare in this film! The genius use of slow build-up and the lack of music in scenes that contain terror is what makes the film even the more terrifying! The Birds will continue to thrive as one of Hitchcock’s best and influential films, and it’s not hard to see why! He REALLY was the master of the suspense genre!

#25 – Frankenstein (1931)

Director: James Whale

In every single aspect of its iconic title, Frankenstein is absolutely one of the greats of Golden Age Horror cinema! Being one of, if not the most successful Universal Monster Movie, James Whale’s Frankenstein is easily the best adaptation of “Mary Shelley’s” classic Horror story! Frankenstein became a powerhouse for any other monster flicks that came after it, and will continue to do remain as such, as it holds a crown jewel for being one of the best classic story monster movies in Horror!

#24 – The Invisible Man (1933)

Director: James Whale

In my eyes, it just slightly surpasses the already greatness of Frankenstein! The Invisible Man is a gigantic landmark of the genre, with an excellent concept, a rich and elegant story, impressive special effects, amazing tension, and a great film debut for actor “Claude Rains”! Being another masterpiece by James Whale, The Invisible Man impacted a wide variety of audiences who were already being exposed to Universal monster films back in the 1930s, and still chills people from our modern generation who end up cherishing the film for its power and influence!

#23 – House of Wax (1953)

Director: André de Toth

My favorite Horror movie based from the 1950s, and my personal favorite “Vincent Price” film role, House of Wax is a miraculously made classic Horror movie! It’s very eerie and chilling with its astonishing atmosphere of the museum and film in general, and of course, the iconic Vincent Price, who doesn’t waste a single scene in this movie! Being a remake of the 1933 film, “The Mystery of The Wax Museum”, and spawned another remake in 2005, the 1953 adaptation of House of Wax is one of the greatest Horror remakes and movies of all time!

#22 – The Lighthouse (2019)

Director: Robert Eggers

Containing unreal suspense, an immense sense of isolation, a story filled with so much power, incredible lead performances by “Willem Dafoe” and “Robert Pattinson”, and beautifully shot by filmmaker “Robert Eggers”, The Lighthouse is one of the best recent American suspenseful drama movies, and A24’s best distributed Horror film! A story on 2 lighthouse keepers who struggle to stay sane on a remote island, it’s a psychological study of madness and bonding! It’s a film that should be viewed more than once, and one I would have to revisit sometime in the future!

#21 – Village of The Damned (1960)

Director: Wolf Rilla

A timeless classic with many chilling sequences, captivating performances, and a great choice of directing by “Wolf Rilla”, Village of The Damned is a marvelous British Horror film that has aged incredibly well, yet never seems to age! Being a living nightmare for adults, it centers on a group of children who have hellish eyes and supernatural powers, which they use to cause havoc and destruction. Village of The Damned is more than just a classic Horror film, it’s a force not to ignore!

#20 – The Innocents (1961)

Director: Jack Clayton

One of the most suspenseful and frightening haunted house movies of all time, The Innocents made its way through the 60s decade as a phenomenal ghost story! With a story filled with so much underlying psychological aspects, incredible performances by “Deborah Kerr”, “Megs Jenkins”, “Martin Stephens” and “Pamela Franklin”, and extremely effective atmospheric settings of the film, The Innocents is a rich and terrifying ghost movie that has inspired a chunk of other ghost films that came after it, with a heavy inspiration being “The Others” in 2001.

#19 – Peeping Tom (1960)

Director: Michael Powell

One of the greatest portraits of voyeurism cinema, Peeping Tom is a very disturbing study on the mind of a killer! It’s a film that is way more deeper than it has any given right to be and takes us through the life of a man who is working on a supposed documentary, only to eventually find out that he films his victims dying! Michael Powell’s use of deep psychological processing as we see our main character connected with areas of intercourse, filmmaking, Horror and pain is unbelievably chilling, efficacious and WAY ahead of its time!

#18 – Dawn of The Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

Dawn of The Dead is an awesome zombie movie, and truly one of the bests!!! Serving as a sequel to Night of The Living Dead, Dawn of The Dead has excellent elements of action, thrills, disaster and horror, thanks to the genius craftsmanship of George A. Romero! It tells the story of people who try to survive and take coverage in a mall from living dead zombies. Literally having everything you could ever want in a zombie flick, Dawn of The Dead is a masterpiece, and one of the core reasons why many were heavily influenced by Romero!

#17 – Carrie (1976)

Director: Brian De Palma

Carrie is a prime example on why you should NEVER target the quiet and or lesser individual. It’s a very disturbing and creepy film filled with realistic performances and many despicable characters that surround Carrie. When you add in the telekinetic abilities, it makes the film all the more interesting and satisfying seeing Carrie getting back on all of her peers and highly religious mother who brought her down, but it’s also very uncomfortable to watch at times! With Brian De Palma behind the camera, Carrie was destined to become a big classic!

#16 – Night of The Living Dead (1968)

Director: George A. Romero

Being the godfather of the zombie/flesh eater subgenre, Night of The Living Dead is George A. Romero’s greatest achievement in Horror, and without question, his most influential one! The story is on a group of people in Pennsylvania who barricade themselves in an abandoned farmhouse from living dead flesh eating people that are quickly spreading across the East Coast of America. Night of The Living Dead is a living masterpiece with an insane amount of suspense and terror, and excellent performances by “Duane Jones”, “Judith O’Dea”, “Karl Hardman”, “Marilyn Eastman” and “Judith Ridley”!

#15 – An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Director: John Landis

An American Werewolf in London is my all time favorite Werewolf movie! It has an incredibly engaging story, a horrific atmosphere, great comedy, amazing practical effects by “Rick Baker”, and the best on screen Werewolf transformation in a movie! The film centers on a man who is taken to a hospital in London after he and his best friend are attacked by a werewolf. Unfortunately, his friend gets killed, but later comes back as a spirit to remind him that he will eventually become a werewolf. It’s a classic that’s both equally frightening and funny!

#14 – The Fly (1986)

Director: David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg at the height of his career, The Fly is an extremely gross, unsettling, horrific and clever movie! In the events of a man who has a fly accidentally board on one of his experiments, he then slowly begins to transcend into a large, disgusting fly-like monster! “Jeff Goldblum’s” performance is the highlight of the film, and “Geena Davis” does an excellent job in the film as well! The Fly has so many great qualities! It’s a masterpiece in grotesque and Body-Horror, and a movie that will disturb, and disturb and just keep disturbing you….

#13 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Director: Wes Craven

A Nightmare on Elm Street is Horror master “Wes Craven’s” most successful and original movie! Being the birth of the slasher icon “Freddy Krueger”, it has incredible visual effects, an amazing soundtrack and performances, very creative kills and quite a bit of psychological elements to the idea of being forced to stay awake from a threat that can cost you your life! A Nightmare on Elm Street was Wes Craven’s game changer of the genre, and his most eerie, terrifying and revered Horror movie!

#12 – The Sixth Sense (1999)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

The Sixth Sense isn’t just one of the greatest Horror movies, it’s one of the greatest movies of all time in general! On paper, the film could be viewed as a Thriller, but I’ve always viewed it as a cross between both Horror and Thriller. It’s an astounding drama about death and so much more! Being one of the most powerful ghost stories, with one of the greatest plot twist endings in a movie, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense is way more than just a Horror movie, it’s cinema!

#11 – Halloween (1978)

Director: John Carpenter

Do I really have to say this? You already know where this is all going at this point! John Carpenter’s Halloween is by far the most influential slasher film ever made! With a breathtaking performance by the late “Donald Pleasence”, the debut of Horror Scream Queen “Jamie Lee Curtis” and the introduction to one of cinema’s most revolutionary villains, “Michael Myers”, Halloween is a terrifying film with an immense atmosphere, legendary directing by Carpenter and much more than just a slasher! It’s a portrait of evil!

#10 – Misery (1990)

Director: Rob Reiner

Possibly my favorite film from Rob Reiner, Misery is a highly engaging and disturbing psychological kidnap Horror movie about a woman who is a fan of an author’s work and takes him in after he suffers a serious car accident, only for her to reveal herself as a psychopath later on. Being one of the best Stephen King adaptations, with phenomenal performances by “Kathy Bates” and “James Caan”, Misery is basically a movie that studies on the idea of fan obsession gone horribly, horribly wrong.

#9 – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Director: Roman Polanski

Rosemary’s Baby is truly a frightening film that deals with the Horrors of a mother’s new baby possibly connecting to Satanism. The deep psychological subtext in the film is a lot more sinister and evil than it basically sounds, giving the movie so many lawyers of suspense, drama and mystery. “Mia Farrow’s” performance in the film is really great to the point where the story in the film almost feels even more like a glorifying portrait of Satan and hell, especially when she finds out the horrible truth about her baby in the film’s extremely effective 3rd act!

#8 – American Psycho (2000)

Director: Mary Harron

American Psycho is among the best black comedies ever! It manages to have a perfect balance of Being both incredibly funny and disturbing! We are put into the mind of a business madman played by the terrific “Christian Bale”, and the film is extremely well edited, acted, written and directed all throughout its runtime. It’s also not really a slasher, but more of a study in the mind of a psychopath that has a difficult time controlling his intentions and frustrations towards his fellow businessmen and others. American Psycho is an excellent cult movie, and one of my personal all time favorites!

#7 – The Thing (1982)

Director: John Carpenter

The Thing is basically as great as Horror movies could ever get! It has a phenomenal use of build-up, top tier practical effects, an eerie atmosphere, a sense of dread, isolation, and not knowing who to trust! John Carpenter’s stellar vision adds more stress to the audience, as you constantly struggle to figure out exactly who is who in the film! The performances are through the roof, the soundtrack by the late “Ennio Morricone” is immaculate, and the gore effects and the sheer grotesque of the film is unsettling! The Thing is what everything Horror is!

#6 – The Silence of The Lambs (1991)

Director: Jonathan Demme

Psychological Horror and true crime in possibly its most accurate and realistic form to date, The Silence of The Lambs is in many ways extremely intriguing, thrilling, gripping, disturbing and even frightening at times! An FBI cadet seeks out the help from a genius cannibalistic criminal, in order to track down a serial killer well known as “Buffalo Bill”, who skins his victims and murders women to make a feminine suit for himself. With the film never losing a single moment of apprehension, thanks to its all-star performances, The Silence of The Lambs is a phenomenal piece of crime and psychological Horror and cinema as a whole!

#5 – Jaws (1975)

Director: Steven Spielberg

The mother of all shark movies, and the film that spiked Steven Spielberg’s career back in 1975, Jaws is a masterpiece on every single level! The film has amazing characters and performances done by “Roy Scheider”, “Robert Shaw” and “Richard Dreyfuss”, and an iconic soundtrack by the one and only “John Williams’” who basically contributed to half of Jaws’ success! The film also has excellent suspense with a very convincing man-eating Great White Shark! From the opening of the film to the very end, Jaws keeps surprising modern audiences worldwide to this very day!

#4 – Alien (1979)

Director: Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott’s Alien is the greatest sci-fi Horror movie of all time! It’s a highly revolutionary film that still holds up extremely well! The suspense in the film always hits in the right spots and never lets you out, even when the Xenomorph is not on screen, you can sense it’s nearby somewhere in the Nostromo. “Sigourney Weaver” is the queen of the entire movie and annihilated every moment of screen time she has, but honestly, all of the actors are phenomenal! Alien is a flawless masterpiece that is incredibly scary and masterful, especially with its surprising plot twist!

#3 – Psycho (1960)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

The most influential Horror movie of all time by a landslide, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is nothing short of a masterful mystery, psychological suspense movie! Being quite literally “the” movie that changed the Horror genre forever with Hitchcock’s style of art, it never lost an inch of its power and still impresses Horror fans and cinephiles today on how immensely well made it is! “Anthony Perkins’” performance in the film is very charming, alarming, charismatic and disturbing combined in one terrifying package! Alfred Hitchcock completely revamped Horror with Psycho! Horror at its greatness!

#2 – The Exorcist (1973)

Director: William Friedkin

The scariest movie of all time without question! The Exorcist is everything all great Horror movies should be! The scares and increasing suspense and hardcore dread in the film are pushed to the very max until you’re driven to the very ending of the film! The performances, story, visuals and effects will make you legitimately floored and have you biting on your fingernails. Every single corner in this movie screams Horror, and William Friedkin directed the living hell out of this extremely terrifying masterpiece that will NEVER fade away in history!

#1 – The Shining (1980)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

There could really be no other Horror film to sit at the #1 spot at this point! Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is the ultimate psychological Horror experience that has become one of the biggest Horror movies ever! With a lifetime performance by “Jack Nicholson” and other great ones from “Shelley Duvall”, “Danny Lloyd” and “Scatman Crothers”, The Shining is the greatest movie about a haunted hotel, and leaves many audiences with their own interpretations each time they revisit it! The Shining is my #1 favorite Horror movie of all time!

Conclusion: I hoped you all enjoyed reading through my list of my 101 Top Tier Favorite Horror Movies of All Time! This was the best opportunity I’ve had to share this with the community and world if possible! These are films that mean a lot to me and have inspired and effected me throughout my years of living. I really hope to write more similar things like these in the future. This was an absolute treasure to make!

Thank you so much for reading!

𝓔𝓵𝓲𝓳𝓪𝓱 𝓑𝓾𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓻.