All-Time Best Horror Films

Horror movies have the ability to make even the bravest of us peer under the bed and in the closet before shutting off the lights and curling up in bed for the evening. Here are, in chronological order, the best horror films that might just make you plug in that nightlight again.

Psycho (1960): Directed by master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, this film made taking a shower a little less of a blissful experience. The scene in which Bates Motel guest Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is met by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) while she's enjoying a shower has become one of the most horrifying and famous in cinematic history. The film was a defining moment in both Hitchcock's illustrious career and the horror genre.

• Tagline: No One...BUT NO ONE...Will Be Admitted To The Theatre After The Start Of Each Performance Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

The Exorcist (1973): When a 12-year-old girl (Linda Blair) starts to exhibit dramatic changes in her behavior and physical make-up, her mother calls on an elderly priest to attempt to cure this strange and deadly transformation. The weathered priest battles the demonic presence in a showdown of epic and terrifying proportions. The Exorcist has become a mainstay in any horror collection and although Blair's career never profited, the film became one of the most financially successful horror movies of all time.

• Tagline: Nobody expected it, nobody believed it, and nobody could stop it. The one hope, the only hope: The Exorcist

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Tobe Hooper's independent film is much more scary than any of its sequels or remakes as it featured a group of unknown actors and was filmed in a very realistic fashion free of flashy camera tricks and special effects. The killing scenes were so offensive that some audience members who first viewed the film reportedly left the theatre, unable to bear any more. The film was also banned in a number of countries. Hooper went on to direct another horror classic in 1982, Steven Spielberg's Poltergeist.

• Tagline: Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Jaws (1975): While Psycho caused panic in showers worldwide, Steven Spielberg's Jaws gave swimmers nightmares about going into the water. The production of the monumental film that essentially gave birth to the "summer blockbuster" concept was plagued by difficulties with the mechanical great white sharks. Spielberg acted fast and decided to film scenes that only hinted at the presence of the shark and substitute the camera for the great white's eyes as it swam through the water. Many believe these decisions helped to ultimately create more suspense in the film.

• Tagline: Don't go in the water

The Shining (1980): Jack Nicholson starred wonderfully in Stanley Kubrick's classic film as Jack Torrance, a man who takes his family to the isolated Overlook Hotel where he'll act as the caretaker for the winter. When they become snowbound in the hotel, Jack begins to suffer from cabin fever and becomes divided from his wife and telepathic son who experiences horrifying visions. Jack's wife and son spend much of the latter part of the film on the run from him as he becomes more insane and dangerous. At one point, as he chops through the door of the bathroom his family is hiding in, he screams one of the most iconic pieces of dialogue in cinematic history: "Heeeeere's Johnny!!!"

• Tagline: A Masterpiece Of Modern Horror

No list of great horror films would be complete without including the following films, and no Halloween would be complete without watching at least one of them:

• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• The Omen (1976)
• Halloween (1978)
• Alien (1979)
• The Changeling (1980)
• Friday the 13th (1980)
• The Thing (1982)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Misery (1990)
• Scream (1996)
• The Blair Witch Project (1999)
• Saw (2004)

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds