There are a lot of horror movies out there, and some might say too many. Well, people who don’t like horror movies might say there are too many. And there are people who aren’t fond of horror, as a genre. These are films that aim to unsettle, frighten, and sometimes provoke, and if experiencing those kinds of things isn’t what you’re after when you watch a movie, then sure… horror’s probably not for you.
You’d need more than a handful of paragraphs to unpack the psychology behind that, and even then, answers might not be easy to find. What is easier – and arguably more fun – to do is celebrate the great horror films that do exist; the ones that people who do like scary movies ought to check out, if they haven’t already. Picking the very best from the last 75 years isn’t easy, but that’s what the following ranking was an attempt to do. As such, leaving out certain classics was scary, funnily enough.
10
‘Psycho’ (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
To his credit, Alfred Hitchcock was a pretty versatile filmmaker, as he even made some great romantic movies alongside thrillers, dramas, dark comedies, adventure movies, and crime films. But his work in the horror genre is often particularly well-regarded, and no film makes a more persuasive case for him being an all-time great horror director than Psycho.
This is a movie that famously begins one way, and then pivots rather dramatically to something else at the halfway point in a fashion that rewrote the book as far as screenwriting conventions went. It’s not as scary if you know what’s coming, but the risks it takes are still easy to admire more than six and a half decades on from when Psycho first came out. It’s easily achieved classic status, and then some.
Psycho
- Release Date
-
September 8, 1960
- Runtime
-
109 minutes
9
‘Alien’ (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Similar to Psycho, Alien is a legendary horror movie that’s more than just a horror movie. Alien also works as great science fiction, and is as simple as its title, on a narrative front. There are people on board a spacecraft, and there’s also an alien on board, and those people aren’t nearly well-equipped enough for the physical capabilities this alien has.
It’s a slow-burn film, being about an unstoppable and difficult-to-comprehend organism hunting down some ordinary people through an intensely claustrophobic space. If you know how it ends, it loses some of its impact, and the fact it has sequels also undermines its final act… but, like with Psycho, you can still respect how relentless and nerve-wracking this would’ve been upon release, and, as far as its technical aspects go, Alien is honestly hard to fault.
Alien
- Release Date
-
June 22, 1979
- Runtime
-
117 Minutes
8
‘Hereditary’ (2018)
Directed by Ari Aster
Though Hereditary might be controversial and not loved by everyone, it’s still being included here, partly because it is one of the most harrowing horror movies in recent memory, and partly because it feels right to shout out at least one relatively recent horror film alongside all the classics. It’s got an unusual feel to it, and maybe that’s off-putting to some.
Hereditary is a tough sit, and a difficult movie to imagine watching more than once, but that’s also a testament to how impactful and traumatic it is.
Also, Hereditary might well be more upsetting than it is scary, and those after more straightforward scares could well find the intense exploration of grief here unsettling in ways they might not have wanted. Indeed, it’s a tough sit, and a difficult movie to imagine watching more than once, but that’s also a testament to how impactful and traumatic Hereditary is, not to mention how unpredictable and provocative it often feels.
Hereditary
- Release Date
-
June 8, 2018
- Runtime
-
2h 7m
7
‘The Thing’ (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
For a few years, Alien was the scariest movie about an alien lifeform preying on out-of-their-depth humans, though it was arguably dethroned in 1982 by The Thing. This one takes place on Earth, but has a similarly unstoppable central antagonist, here being an alien who can take the form of any living organism it comes into contact with.
This makes The Thing remarkably intense, since all the characters here have to contend with the fact that anyone at any time could actually be the alien effectively in disguise and among them. As it turns out, that’s all you need premise-wise to make one of the best and most suspenseful horror movies of all time (well, okay, John Carpenter’s direction, Ennio Morricone’s score, and a number of great performances are all contributing factors, too).
The Thing
- Release Date
-
June 25, 1982
- Runtime
-
109 minutes
6
‘Godzilla’ (1954)
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Though the series evolved into something less concerned with horror as it went along (generally speaking), the original Godzilla, from 1954, is undoubtedly focused on being a horror film. There’s nothing campy or particularly endearing found here, because instead, the titular monster is a metaphor for atomic weapons and proves similarly devastating when he emerges and causes havoc in Japan not long after the end of the Second World War.
Godzilla (1954) is serious, somber, and a highlight of the long-running series it kicked off, even if it’s pretty unusual compared to its many sequels/follow-ups. It’s one of the oldest horror movies that still feels unnerving when watched today, and that’s largely thanks to the social commentary it contains; the way the destruction caused by the titular monster here really isn’t too far removed from what the most devastating weapons in real life are capable of doing.
Godzilla
- Release Date
-
November 3, 1954
- Runtime
-
96 minutes
-
Akira Takarada
Hideto Ogata
-
Momoko Kôchi
Emiko Yamane
5
‘The Fly’ (1986)
Directed by David Cronenberg
The Fly is so simple, when you think about it and try to break it down. It follows a scientist who takes one risk too many while developing innovative teleportation technology, as one experiment results in him and a housefly becoming one… but not right away. It wouldn’t be nearly as horrifying if the transformation didn’t take so long.
It’s body horror at its most effective, with every scene of The Fly having its human protagonist look a little less human and a little more fly. It all builds to a conclusion that’s inevitable, sure, but still hugely impactful. It might sound like a hokey B-movie on paper, and some of it is entertaining for sure, but The Fly impressively transcends its premise in many ways, and proves genuinely horrifying and effectively upsetting as a result.
The Fly
- Release Date
-
August 15, 1986
- Runtime
-
96 minutes
4
‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1978)
Directed by George A. Romero
While Dawn of the Dead wasn’t the only great zombie movie George A. Romero directed, it was ultimately the best, and so it’s also fair to call it the greatest zombie film of all time. No one did the genre quite like Romero, and he basically codified the modern-day zombie movie, so these claims don’t feel too dramatic. Dawn of the Dead really is that good.
And, like some of the aforementioned movies, Dawn of the Dead is also pretty simple as far as its narrative is concerned, being about several people trying to survive a zombie outbreak by taking shelter in a shopping mall. There’s a ton of variety offered here by such a setting, and Dawn of the Dead ends up being both effortlessly and endlessly entertaining, on top of having a dark sense of humor, an impressive escalation in terms of shocks and thrills, and some rather intense sequences, too.
3
‘Jaws’ (1975)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Jaws is the shark movie to end all shark movies, which makes it somewhat surprising to find how many shark movies have been released in the 50 years since it first came out. Perhaps they understand that they won’t – or can’t – be as good as Jaws, and maybe those who find enjoyment in these movies have also come to terms with that. Jaws is Jaws, and that’s that.
You know the story, and even if you don’t, does it even matter all that much? Jaws is a ride, with the characters, suspense, and spectacle being what matters above the simple plot, which boils down to: “Hey, there’s a big, dangerous shark, and we should kill it before it eats someone else.” Jaws does so much with seemingly so little, and it’s kind of perfect. Words don’t do it justice, it just rocks.
Jaws
- Release Date
-
June 20, 1975
- Runtime
-
124 minutes
2
‘The Shining’ (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
In 1977, Stephen King’s The Shining was published, and it remains one of the very best things he’s ever written. In 1980, that novel got a movie adaptation, and though it deviated from the source material (rather infamously, some might say), it was also phenomenal. It scared and unsettled in some ways that were similar to the book, but then it also did its own thing in other regards.
What you have with The Shining, in both its forms, is the same basic story explored in different ways, with the two equally worthy of devoting your time to if you’re a fan of horror. Stanley Kubrick seemed capable of mastering just about any genre, horror included, and the performances found in this 1980 movie (there aren’t many, given the isolated setting) are also incredible.
The Shining
- Release Date
-
June 13, 1980
- Runtime
-
146 minutes
1
‘The Exorcist’ (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin
If you want the definitive shark movie, you’ve got Jaws. If you want the definitive alien movie… well, you’ve got Alien and The Thing (flip a coin). If you want the definitive… fly(?) movie? Um, The Fly (1986), obviously. And then, as far as the definitive demonic possession movie goes? It has to be The Exorcist, without a doubt, owing to how confidently and masterfully it explores a simple yet frightening premise: there’s a young girl exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior, and things escalate to a point where her mother believes an exorcism might be the only thing that can help.
While it wasn’t the only great movie William Friedkin ever directed, it was probably his best, and easily his scariest. The Exorcist has been referenced, discussed, and parodied to death, but it remains brutal, uncomfortable, surprising, and provocative to this day. It’s everything a great and traumatic horror movie should be, and it pushed the genre forward so much that it’s lost very little of its power since it was first released more than half a century ago.
The Exorcist
- Release Date
-
December 26, 1973
- Runtime
-
122 minutes