Special Report

The Best Horror Movies of All Time

Horror films have existed as long as motion pictures. The genre has evolved since the first horror short in 1896.

Early silent films invoked fear through a villain like a vampire or demon. Modern horror encompasses many subgenres, sometimes without a classic monster. Psychological horror uses suspense and mental disturbances to scare without a visible villain.

To identify the best horror movies, 24/7 Tempo reviewed over 17,000 films based on IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes audience and critic scores. Movies from the 1920s through today were included.

Click here to see the best horror movies of all time

The list includes silent films like “Nosferatu,” Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” cult classics like “The Evil Dead,” and recent Oscar-winner “Get Out” – with some horror comedies too.

Today there are more horror films than ever thanks to streaming services showcasing indie and niche subgenres. Fans now have many top-notch scary options at their fingertips, including horror TV series.. Here are the most popular horror shows on TV.

Courtesy of Live Film & Mediaworks Inc.

39. Pi (1998)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 88%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman
> Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

This disturbing neo-noir thriller follows a brilliant but troubled mathematician who is searching for an elusive 216-digit number that may bring order to the chaos in the world – or at least the chaos in his own mind.

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Courtesy of United Artists

38. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 81%
> Main cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum
> Directed by: Philip Kaufman

A remake of the 1956 classic, 1978’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” follows Donald Sutherland’s Matthew Bennell as he begins to notice changes in those around him after the appearance of organic pods around town. The movie is a nerve-racking horror film, steeped in paranoia, while also exploring ideas that were only briefly touched upon in the original.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

37. The Uninvited (1944)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 80%
> Main cast: Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp
> Directed by: Lewis Allen

Lewis Allen’s atmospheric “The Uninvited” finds a pair of London siblings who have bought a seaside house faced with the specters that already call it home.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

36. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 89%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr.
> Directed by: Charles Barton, Walter Lantz

From one of America’s favorite comedic duos, this film includes a cast of classic spooky characters including Count Dracula, who seeks to implant Costello’s brain into Frankenstein’s monster, and the Wolf Man, who tries to stop him.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

35. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 88%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher
> Directed by: John Landis

John Landis directed one of the most acclaimed horror comedies of all time with “An American Werewolf in London.” The movie – which tells the story of two American college students who face a horrific situation abroad – has grown in reputation since its release, due in part to makeup artist Rick Baker’s exceptional effects.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

34. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 91%
> RT audience score: 83%
> Main cast: Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce
> Directed by: Sidney Lanfield

Based on the Sherlock Holmes novel, this 1939 film is considered one of the best of over 20 film and television adaptations that have been made. It concerns Holmes and Watson as they investigate the suspicious death of one of the last heirs to a family fortune, and navigate rumors of a murderous phantom dog that prowls the family estate.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

33. The Invisible Man (2020)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 91%
> RT audience score: 88%
> Main cast: Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer
> Directed by: Leigh Whannell

A tale of the ultimate gaslighting, based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, this film is about a woman who escapes from an abusive relationship, only to find that her ex – who apparently committed suicide after she left – may still be alive and stalking her.

 

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

32. Dracula (1931)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 94%
> RT audience score: 81%
> Main cast: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners
> Directed by: Tod Browning, Karl Freund

Bela Lugosi made a career out of playing the blood-sucking vampire, Count Dracula. While it was not the first vampire movie, the 1931 version of Dracula may be the most influential.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

31. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.6 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 82%
> Main cast: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent
> Directed by: Jack Arnold

“The Incredible Shrinking Man” is among the most existential of science fiction films, praised for its meditation on notions about acceptance and the gradual loss of power and prestige, and for its special effects. In the film, a young man vacationing on a boat is enveloped by a mysterious dark cloud causing him to gradually shrink, ultimately to the size of an atom.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

30. The Exorcist (1973)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 8.0 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 83%
> RT audience score: 87%
> Main cast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair
> Directed by: William Friedkin

Author William Peter Blatty adapted his own novel when penning the script for this graphic horror film. Directed by William Friedkin, it presents the unrelenting demonic possession of a young girl (Linda Blair). Extreme viewer reactions such as vomiting and fainting arguably fueled word-of-mouth momentum, hence the film’s enduring blockbuster status.

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Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

29. The Fly (1986)
> Overall index score: 2.5
> IMDb rating: 7.6 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 93%
> RT audience score: 83%
> Main cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
> Directed by: David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg’s remake of the sometimes schlocky 1958 movie “The Fly” is frightening, funny, and, at times, grotesque. Jeff Goldblum plays scientist Seth Brundle who accidentally combines his DNA with that of a house fly, with horrifying results. The movie benefits from the slow and sometimes hard-to-watch transformation of Brundle into “Brundlefly.”

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

28. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 94%
> RT audience score: 84%
> Main cast: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund
> Directed by: Wes Craven

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” introduced one of horror’s most recognizable villains: Freddy Krueger, a burned killer who stalks his victims in their dreams. Krueuger appears in all nine of the franchise’s movies. The movie also features a young Johnny Depp in his first movie role.

Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

27. Mad Love (1935)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.3 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 81%
> Main cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive
> Directed by: Karl Freund

An adaptation of the novel “The Hands of Orlac,” this film follows an unhinged doctor who has an unhealthy obsession with a married woman, as he replaces her husband’s maimed hands with the hands of a serial killer.

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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

26. A Quiet Place (2018)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 96%
> RT audience score: 83%
> Main cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds
> Directed by: John Krasinski

In a post-apocalyptic world where blind aliens with ultra-sensitive hearing stalk the remaining humans, an isolated family must go about their daily lives in silence in order to survive.

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

25. The Evil Dead (1981)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 84%
> Main cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor
> Directed by: Sam Raimi

This early film from Sam Raimi put the director – who would go on to shoot three big budget Spider-man movies – on the map. Its use of inventive filmmaking techniques and dark humor was a huge hit with audiences, leading to the creation of two more films in the franchise and a 2013 remake.

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Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

24. The Wailing (2016)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 99%
> RT audience score: 81%
> Main cast: Jun Kunimura, Jung-min Hwang, Do-won Kwak
> Directed by: Hong-jin Na

“The Wailing” is a South Korean thriller with a supernatural twist. A policeman is trying to save his daughter who is suffering from a mysterious sickness, which has started spreading after a stranger moves into town.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

23. The Birds (1963)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 83%
> Main cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy
> Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

“The Birds,” based on the horror story by British writer Daphne du Maurier, is about our feathered friends who one day inexplicably attack people. New Yorker critic Richard Brody said, “Few films depict so eerily yet so meticulously the metaphysical and historical sense of a world out of joint.”

Courtesy of Microcinema International

22. The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.2 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Matt Foyer, John Bolen, Ralph Lucas
> Directed by: Andrew Leman

This indie silent film based on a story by H.P. Lovecraft has the look of a ’20s-era motion picture. The plot involves a young man who finds puzzling documents among his late great-uncle’s possessions that pertain to an unspeakable evil that lurks deep in the ocean.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

21. The Invisible Man (1933)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 94%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan
> Directed by: James Whale

Claude Rains, known for his roles as a debonair sophisticate, made his starring debut in this classic directed by horror maestro James Whale. Rains plays enigmatic scientist Jack Griffin, who experiments with a formula that renders him invisible. The formula’s side effects cause him to go insane, prompting him to go on a reign of terror.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

20. Curse of the Demon (1957)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis
> Directed by: Jacques Tourneur

“Curse of the Demon” received a Freshness score of 100% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, who hailed it for “unforgettably nightmarish sequences” and called it “one of the most intelligent and thoughtful horror movies ever made.” The film centers around an American professor’s investigation of a devil-worshiping cult in England.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

19. The Thing (1982)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 8.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 86%
> RT audience score: 92%
> Main cast: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
> Directed by: John Carpenter

Based on Howard Hawks’s “The Thing from Another World” (1951), John Carpenter’s “The Thing” was critically panned upon its release in 1982. The movie — with its apocalyptic tone and special effects by Rob Bottin — has since risen to the status of horror and sci-fi classic.

Courtesy of Allied Artists Pictures

18. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 98%
> RT audience score: 85%
> Main cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
> Directed by: Don Siegel

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is a thinly veiled commentary on the communist witch hunt in the 1950s by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the accompanying blacklist of artists said to have had communist leanings. The plot is about a small-town doctor who sees behavior changes among his friends and neighbors, and to his horror he discovers aliens are replacing humans.

Courtesy of Rosebud Releasing Corporation

17. Evil Dead II (1987)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 89%
> Main cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
> Directed by: Sam Raimi

Six years after the release of “Evil Dead,” Sam Raimi released this sequel, which according to Rotten Tomatoes, “is better, funnier, scarier and superior to the first indie gore-fest.” The movie’s much larger budget allowed Raimi more freedom to indulge in his creative style of filmmaking, resulting in a horror classic that is equal parts fun and frightening.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

16. Get Out (2017)
> Overall index score: 2.6
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 98%
> RT audience score: 86%
> Main cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford
> Directed by: Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele directed a modern classic with his 2017 feature debut, “Get Out.” The movie is both frightening and funny and is loaded with social commentary. The movie was a huge success at the domestic box office, grossing more than $176 million on a $4.5 million budget.

Courtesy of Aquarius Releasing

15. Halloween (1978)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.7 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 96%
> RT audience score: 89%
> Main cast: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
> Directed by: John Carpenter

John Carpenter’s “Halloween” is a slasher classic that inspired countless imitations. The film’s premise is relatively simple: a man who murdered his sister as a young boy returns to terrorize the town in which the crime took place after spending years in a mental asylum. The movie’s restraint works in its favor, however, as the masked, silent killer proved hugely popular.

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Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

14. Freaks (1932)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 95%
> RT audience score: 88%
> Main cast: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova
> Directed by: Tod Browning

Director Tod Browning followed up his directorial triumph “Dracula” with this macabre tale of vengeance set against a circus sideshow. The story revolves around a trapeze artist who schemes to marry a midget and kill him for his fortune. The plot is foiled by his fellow “freaks” who exact terrible revenge on the woman.

Courtesy of Continental Distributing

13. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 96%
> RT audience score: 87%
> Main cast: Kyra Schon, Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea
> Directed by: George A. Romero

George A. Romero’s debut film “Night of the Living Dead” created the prototype for the modern zombie film genre. The movie, which was independently produced with only a small budget, has grown to be considered one of the best horror movies ever because of its raw violence, bleak vision, and political subtext.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

12. The Shining (1980)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 8.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 84%
> RT audience score: 93%
> Main cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
> Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

A Stephen King adaptation that famously deviates from its source material, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” is endlessly intriguing, despite its relatively simple premise. Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer who has agreed to oversee the Overlook Hotel through a long, snowy winter accompanied by his wife and young, psychic son.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

11. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.8 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 98%
> RT audience score: 87%
> Main cast: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive
> Directed by: James Whale

Considered to be one of the best sequels ever made, James Whale’s 1935 masterpiece “Bride of Frankenstein” picks up right where the original “Frankenstein” leaves off, with Dr. Frankenstein renouncing his Monster but believing that he’s still destined to unlock the secrets to immortality. He creates the Bride as a companion for the Monster, who’s played to perfection by Boris Karloff.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

10. Hold That Ghost (1941)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 90%
> Main cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Richard Carlson
> Directed by: Arthur Lubin

This horror comedy features Abbott and Costello as two gas station attendants with big aspirations who inherit a potential fortune from a gangster only to end up trapped in a haunted house while they search for the hidden loot.

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Courtesy of United Film Distribution Company

9. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 94%
> RT audience score: 90%
> Main cast: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger
> Directed by: George A. Romero

Ten years after the release of his groundbreaking “Night of the Living Dead,” director George A. Romero returned to the subject of zombies with another classic, “Dawn of the Dead.” This time, the zombies return to that which they were most familiar with during their lives. For many, one such place is the shopping mall in which most of the film takes place.

Courtesy of RKO Radio Pictures

8. King Kong (1933)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 98%
> RT audience score: 86%
> Main cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
> Directed by: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack

“King Kong” pairs blonde beauty (Fay Wray) with a 50-foot ape in a frightening twist of the Beauty and the Beast tale. The movie’s special effects were revolutionary at the time and continue to deliver a certain creepiness to this day.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

7. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 8.0 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 96%
> RT audience score: 87%
> Main cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
> Directed by: Roman Polanski

“Rosemary’s Baby” takes an unfantastic approach to its premise of a woman who believes her unborn child may have had demonic origins. The result is one of the decade’s most frightening films, which spawned countless occult films.

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Courtesy of Focus Features

6. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.9 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 93%
> Main cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
> Directed by: Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright’s 2004 film “Shaun of the Dead” is undoubtedly a comedy, yet it doesn’t neglect its zombie movie basis by including scares, violence, and a fair amount of gore. Critics and audiences weren’t the only ones to enjoy the movie. George Romero, who directed the original “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), called the movie “an absolute blast.”

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

5. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 8.1 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 92%
> RT audience score: 91%
> Main cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
> Directed by: Robert Aldrich

The thriller “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” relaunched the storied careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and prompted similar melodramas in the mid-1960s such as “Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte.” Davis plays an aging child vaudeville star living in a decrepit Hollywood mansion with her crippled sister, played by Crawford, herself a former star actress, whom Davis torments out of jealousy.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

4. Frankenstein (1931)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.8 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 87%
> Main cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff
> Directed by: James Whale

“Frankenstein” is among the greatest of the classic monster movies. It was among English director James Whale’s earliest films and was heavily influenced by German Expressionist movies such as “Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari” (1919) and “Der Golem” (1915). The movie was added to the United States National Film Registry in 1991 — 60 years after its release.

Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

3. The Unknown (1927)
> Overall index score: 2.7
> IMDb rating: 7.8 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 100%
> RT audience score: 88%
> Main cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford
> Directed by: Tod Browning

A shockingly macabre silent classic, “The Unknown” follows a wanted fugitive who hides undercover as an armless knife thrower in a traveling circus. When he falls in love with the circus owner’s daughter, he goes to great and horrible lengths to win her over.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

2. Alien (1979)
> Overall index score: 2.8
> IMDb rating: 8.4 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 98%
> RT audience score: 94%
> Main cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
> Directed by: Ridley Scott

“Alien” tells the story of the crew of a commercial space tug named Nostromo, who are awoken from stasis on their way back to earth in order to investigate a transmission coming from a nearby alien moon. All hell breaks loose after they land, and before long there’s a horrifying rogue alien — brilliantly designed by H.R. Giger — terrorizing them (and bursting forth from poor John Hurt’s chest).

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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

1. Psycho (1960)
> Overall index score: 2.8
> IMDb rating: 8.5 out of 10
> Tomatometer score: 96%
> RT audience score: 95%
> Main cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
> Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

A quintessential horror film whose shower scene is one of the most infamous moments in cinematic history, “Psycho” depicts the unfortunate fate of a woman on the run with stolen cash as she stops at a small motel and meets its polite but eerie proprietor.

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