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Definition: Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.

Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Cinematic techniques used in horror films have been shown to provoke psychological reactions in an audience.

Horror films have existed for more than a century. Early inspirations from before the development of film include folklore, religious beliefs and superstitions of different cultures, and the Gothic and horror literature of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. From origins in silent films and German Expressionism, horror only became a codified genre after the release of Dracula (1931). Many sub-genres emerged in subsequent decades, including body horror, comedy horror, slasher films, supernatural horror and psychological horror. The genre has been produced worldwide, varying in content and style between regions. Horror is particularly prominent in the cinema of Japan, Korea, Italy and Thailand, among other countries.

Despite being the subject of social and legal controversy due to their subject matter, some horror films and franchises have seen major commercial success, influenced society and spawned several popular culture icons.

Criteria: these horror movies are ranked according to their initial & lasting popularity, influence, initial & lasting acclaim, both within the horror genre and overall.

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1. Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
2. The Exorcist - William Friedkin (1973)
3. Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero (1968)
4. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)
5. Nosferatu - F. W. Murnau (1922)
6. Jaws - Steven Spielberg (1975)
7. Alien - Ridley Scott (1979)
8. Halloween - John Carpenter (1978)
9. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - Tobe Hooper (1974)
10. The Thing - John Carpenter (1982)
11. The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme (1991)
12. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Robert Wiene (1920)
13. Dawn of the Dead - George A. Romero (1978)
14. Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski (1968)
15. Frankenstein - James Whale (1931)
16. Dracula - Tod Browning (1931)
17. The Evil Dead - Sam Raimi (1981)
18. A Nightmare on Elm Street - Wes Craven (1984)
19. Bride of Frankenstein - James Whale (1935)
20. The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock (1963)
21. Carrie - Brian De Palma (1976)
22. The Blair Witch Project - Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez (1999)
23. Don't Look Now - Nicolas Roeg (1973)
24. Suspiria - Dario Argento (1977)
25. The Fly - David Cronenberg (1986)
26. Peeping Tom - Michael Powell (1960)
27. Aliens - James Cameron (1986)
28. The Sixth Sense - M. Night Shyamalan (1999)
29. Evil Dead II - Sam Raimi (1987)
30. 28 Days Later - Danny Boyle (2002)
31. Get Out - Jordan Peele (2017)
32. King Kong - Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933)
33. Vampyr - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1932)
34. Dracula - Terence Fisher (1958)
35. An American Werewolf in London - John Landis (1981)
36. Videodrome - David Cronenberg (1983)
37. Repulsion - Roman Polanski (1965)
38. Les diaboliques - Henri-Georges Clouzot (1955)
39. Cat People - Jacques Tourneur (1942)
40. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Don Siegel (1956)
41. The Omen - Richard Donner (1976)
42. Poltergeist - Tobe Hooper (1982)
43. Black Sunday - Mario Bava (1960)
44. Deep Red - Dario Argento (1975)
45. Let the Right One In - Tomas Alfredson (2008)
46. Eyes Without a Face - Georges Franju (1960)
47. The Haunting - Robert Wise (1963)
48. The Wolf Man - George Waggner (1941)
49. Freaks - Tod Browning (1932)
50. The Innocents - Jack Clayton (1961)
51. Black Christmas - Bob Clark (1974)
52. Ring - Hideo Nakata (1998)
53. Scream - Wes Craven (1996)
54. Eraserhead - David Lynch (1977)
55. The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy (1973)
56. Friday the 13th - Sean S. Cunningham (1980)
57. Braindead - Peter Jackson (1992)
58. Saw - James Wan (2004)
59. The Mummy - Karl Freund (1932)
60. Kwaidan - Masaki Kobayashi (1964)
61. Audition - Takashi Miike (1999)
62. Godzilla - Ishirô Honda (1954)
63. The Invisible Man - James Whale (1933)
64. Phantom of the Opera - Rupert Julian (1925)
65. House of Wax - André De Toth (1953)
66. The Thing from Another World - Christian Nyby & Howard Hawks (1951)
67. The Fly - Kurt Neumann (1958)
68. The Curse of Frankenstein - Terence Fisher (1957)
69. Nosferatu the Vampyre - Werner Herzog (1979)
70. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman (1978)
71. Misery - Rob Reiner (1990)
72. Dead of Night - Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti, Robert Hamer & Charles Crichton (1945)
73. Shaun of the Dead - Edgar Wright (2004)
74. Gremlins - Joe Dante (1984)
75. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - Dario Argento (1970)
76. Possession - Andrzej Zulawski (1981)
77. The Vanishing - George Sluizer (1988)
78. Village of the Damned - Wolf Rilla (1960)
79. The Conjuring - James Wan (2013)
80. The Black Cat - Edgar G. Ulmer (1934)
81. The Last House on the Left - Wes Craven (1972)
82. Pit and the Pendulum - Roger Corman (1961)
83. Onibaba - Kaneto Shindô (1964)
84. Hereditary - Ari Aster (2018)
85. Black Sabbath - Mario Bava (1963)
86. Carnival of Souls - Herk Harvey (1962)
87. Hellraiser - Clive Barker (1987)
88. The Return of the Living Dead - Dan O'Bannon (1985)
89. Re-Animator - Stuart Gordon (1985)
90. I Walked with a Zombie - Jacques Tourneur (1943)
91. House of Usher - Roger Corman (1960)
92. The Descent - Neil Marshall (2005)
93. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Rouben Mamoulian (1931)
94. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - John McNaughton (1986)
95. The Masque of the Red Death - Roger Corman (1964)
96. Blood and Black Lace - Mario Bava (1964)
97. It Follows - David Robert Mitchell (2014)
98. Creature from the Black Lagoon - Jack Arnold (1954)
99. The Witch - Robert Eggers (2015)
100. Island of Lost Souls - Erle C. Kenton (1932)
101. White Zombie - Victor Halperin (1932)
102. The Devil's Backbone - Guillermo del Toro (2001)
103. Night of the Demon - Jacques Tourneur (1957)
104. House on Haunted Hill - William Castle (1959)
105. Jacob's Ladder - Adrian Lyne (1990)
106. The Cabin in the Woods - Drew Goddard (2012)
107. Candyman - Bernard Rose (1992)
108. The Uninvited - Lewis Allen (1944)
109. The Others - Alejandro Amenábar (2001)
110. Near Dark - Kathryn Bigelow (1987)
111. [REC] - Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza (2007)
112. Cannibal Holocaust - Ruggero Deodato (1980)
113. Zombi 2 - Lucio Fulci (1979)
114. The Orphanage - Juan Antonio Bayona (2007)
115. The Ring - Gore Verbinski (2002)
116. Bram Stoker's Dracula - Francis Ford Coppola (1992)
117. Day of the Dead - George A. Romero (1985)
118. The Howling - Joe Dante (1981)
119. The Seventh Victim - Mark Robson (1943)
120. The Tenant - Roman Polanski (1976)
121. The Brood - David Cronenberg (1979)
122. Witchfinder General - Michael Reeves (1968)
123. The Phantom Carriage - Victor Sjöström (1921)
124. The Beyond - Lucio Fulci (1981)
125. The Amityville Horror - Stuart Rosenberg (1979)
126. Phantasm - Don Coscarelli (1979)
127. The Changeling - Peter Medak (1980)
128. The Fog - John Carpenter (1980)
129. The Babadook - Jennifer Kent (2014)
130. The Old Dark House - James Whale (1932)
131. Shivers - David Cronenberg (1975)
132. House - Nobuhiko Ôbayashi (1977)
133. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - Robert Aldrich (1962)
134. The Golem: How He Came into the World - Paul Wegener & Carl Boese (1920)
135. The Body Snatcher - Robert Wise (1945)
136. The Unknown - Tod Browning (1927)
137. In the Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter (1994)
138. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - Charles Barton (1948)
139. Paranormal Activity - Oren Peli (2007)
140. A Quiet Place - John Krasinski (2018)
141. Midsommar - Ari Aster (2019)
142. The Mist - Frank Darabont (2007)
143. Martyrs - Pascal Laugier (2008)
144. From Dusk Till Dawn - Robert Rodriguez (1996)
145. A Tale of Two Sisters - Kim Jee-woon (2003)
146. Dellamorte Dellamore - Michele Soavi (1994)
147. Hour of the Wolf - Ingmar Bergman (1968)
148. The Host - Bong Joon-ho (2006)
149. Faust - F. W. Murnau (1926)
150. Funny Games - Michael Haneke (1997)
151. High Tension - Alexandre Aja (2003)
152. The Student of Prague - Paul Wegener & Stellan Rye (1913)
153. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Wallace Worsley (1923)
154. The Fall of the House of Usher - Jean Epstein (1928)
155. Drag Me to Hell - Sam Raimi (2009)
156. Army of Darkness - Sam Raimi (1992)
157. The House of the Devil - Georges Méliès (1896)
158. Frankenstein - J. Searle Dawley (1910)
159. The Hills Have Eyes - Wes Craven (1977)
160. Dawn of the Dead - Zack Snyder (2004)
161. A Bay of Blood - Mario Bava (1971)
162. The Devil Rides Out - Terence Fisher (1968)
163. The Abominable Dr. Phibes - Robert Fuest (1971)
164. It - Andy Muschietti (2017)
165. Predator - John McTiernan (1987)
166. Häxan - Benjamin Christensen (1922)
167. The Girl Who Knew Too Much - Mario Bava (1963)
168. Martin - George A. Romero (1976)
169. Mad Love - Karl Freund (1935)
170. Pet Sematary - Mary Lambert (1989)
171. Ju-on: The Grudge - Takashi Shimizu (2002)
172. The Plague of the Zombies - John Gilling (1966)
173. Son of Frankenstein - Rowland V. Lee (1939)
174. Them! - Gordon Douglas (1954)
175. Child's Play - Tom Holland (1988)
176. The Bad Seed - Mervyn LeRoy (1956)
177. The Blob - Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (1958)
178. L'inferno - Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan & Giuseppe de Liguoro (1911)
179. Santa Sangre - Alejandro Jodorowsky (1989)
180. Us - Jordan Peele (2019)
181. Train to Busan - Yeon Sang-ho (2016)
182. Event Horizon - Paul W. S. Anderson (1997)
183. Ginger Snaps - John Fawcett (2000)
184. Creepshow - George A. Romero (1982)
185. Tenebre - Dario Argento (1982)
186. Tremors - Ron Underwood (1990)
187. The Incredible Shrinking Man - Jack Arnold (1957)
188. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie - Jorge Grau (1974)
189. The Lost Boys - Joel Schumacher (1987)
190. The House of the Devil - Ti West (2009)
191. May - Lucky McKee (2002)
192. Who Can Kill a Child? - Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (1976)
193. Under the Skin - Jonathan Glazer (2013)
194. Pulse - Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2001)
195. The Exorcist III - William Peter Blatty (1990)
196. Hostel - Eli Roth (2005)
197. The Cat and the Canary - Paul Leni (1927)
198. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Albert Lewin (1945)
199. Cronos - Guillermo del Toro (1993)
200. Kill, Baby, Kill - Mario Bava (1966)
201. Insidious - James Wan (2010)
202. American Psycho - Mary Harron (2003)
203. Blood Feast - Herschell Gordon Lewis (1963)
204. The Most Dangerous Game - Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1932)
205. Frailty - Bill Paxton (2001)
206. Basket Case - Frank Henenlotter (1982)
207. Dead Ringers - David Cronenberg (1988)
208. Cure - Kiyoshi Kurosawa (1997)
209. The Dead Zone - David Cronenberg (1983)
210. Session 9 - Brad Anderson (2001)
211. Dressed to Kill - Brian De Palma (1980)
212. Fright Night - Tom Holland (1985)
213. Final Destination - James Wong (2000)
214. The Golem - Paul Wegener & Henrik Galeen (1915)
215. Spider Baby - Jack Hill (1967)
216. Tetsuo: The Iron Man - Shinya Tsukamoto (1989)
217. Let's Scare Jessica to Death - John D. Hancock (1971)
218. The Tingler - William Castle (1959)
219. Interview with the Vampire - Neil Jordan (1994)
220. Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky (2010)
221. Werewolf of London - Stuart Walker (1935)
222. Mystery of the Wax Museum - Michael Curtiz (1933)
223. The Legend of Hell House - John Hough (1973)
224. The Man Who Laughs - Paul Leni (1928)
225. The Hitcher - Robert Harmon (1986)
226. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - Chuck Russell (1987)
227. The Curse of the Werewolf - Terence Fisher (1961)
228. Trick 'r Treat - Michael Dougherty (2007)
229. Dog Soldiers - Neil Marshall (2002)
230. Wolf Creek - Greg Mclean (2005)
231. Demons - Lamberto Bava (1985)
232. The Lodger - John Brahm (1944)
233. Prince of Darkness - John Carpenter (1987)
234. Quatermass and the Pit - Roy Ward Baker (1967)
235. The Hands of Orlac - Robert Wiene (1924)
236. Cloverfield - Matt Reeves (2008)
237. Inferno - Dario Argento (1980)
238. Sisters - Brian De Palma (1972)
239. The Devil's Rejects - Rob Zombie (2005)
240. Maniac - William Lustig (1980)
241. New Nightmare - Wes Craven (1994)
242. The Spiral Staircase - Robert Siodmak (1945)
243. Song at Midnight - Ma-Xu Weibang (1937)
244. Cube - Vincenzo Natali (1997)
245. The Blood on Satan's Claw - Piers Haggard (1971)
246. Opera - Dario Argento (1987)
247. Alice, Sweet Alice - Alfred Sole (1976)
248. Tombs of the Blind Dead - Amando de Ossorio (1972)
249. Night of the Creeps - Fred Dekker (1986)
250. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me - David Lynch (1992)

Greatest Horror Film Directors
1. Mario Bava (Black Sunday)
2. George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead)
3. John Carpenter (Halloween)
4. David Cronenberg (The Fly)
5. Dario Argento (Suspiria)
6. James Whale (Frankenstein)
7. Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
8. Terence Fisher (Dracula)
9. Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho)
10. Roger Corman (Pit and the Pendulum)
11. Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre)
12. Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby)
13. Tod Browning (Dracula)
14. Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead)
15. William Castle (House on Haunted Hill)
16. Lucio Fulci (Zombie 2)
17. Jacques Tourneur (Cat People)
18. James Wan (Saw)
19. Brian De Palma (Carrie)
20. David Lynch (Eraserhead)
21. F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu)
22. Ishirô Honda (Godzilla)
23. Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast)
24. Jordan Peele (Get Out)
25. Joe Dante (Gremlins)
26. Takashi Miike (Audition)
27. Robert Wise (The Haunting)
28. Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon)
29. Peter Jackson (Braindead)
30. Guillermo del Toro (The Devil's Backbone)

I think "The Substance" + "Nope" would be very reasonable additions to the list. Also maybe "Godzilla Minus One" + the new remake of Nosferatu.

Thanks for making this thread Tim, and as I said, I think this is a good list. I don't see any glaring omissions, but 3 films that could be added are The Devils (1971), Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), and Antichrist (2009). I'm basing that primarily on the acclaim these 3 have received. The first is part horror and part historical drama, and the second is part horror and part political, but there are films on the list that mix horror with other genres, so I think these films have enough of a horror component to qualify.

If anything is added and something would therefore need to be removed, Tombs of the Blind Dead and Night of the Creeps would probably be the first 2 that I'd recommend removing.

Scanners seems like a pretty glaring omission in retrospect considering it's influence on the body horror genre.

Good calls by both Brian and Man.

Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf should also be here. Lost Highway would probably also be suitable for the list. And I think we could exclude Golem (1915) because today it is a lost film and it is impossible to watch it.

DmitryXenon wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 7:34 am Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf should also be here. Lost Highway would probably also be suitable for the list. And I think we could exclude Golem (1915) because today it is a lost film and it is impossible to watch it.

I'm against excluding lost films since DDD film lists are not meant to be viewing recommendations.

pauldrach wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 9:54 am

DmitryXenon wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 7:34 am Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf should also be here. Lost Highway would probably also be suitable for the list. And I think we could exclude Golem (1915) because today it is a lost film and it is impossible to watch it.

I'm against excluding lost films since DDD film lists are not meant to be viewing recommendations.

But how can this film meet the criteria if it is likely that no one has seen it in its entirety for over 100 years?

pauldrach wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 9:54 am

DmitryXenon wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 7:34 am Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf should also be here. Lost Highway would probably also be suitable for the list. And I think we could exclude Golem (1915) because today it is a lost film and it is impossible to watch it.

I'm against excluding lost films since DDD film lists are not meant to be viewing recommendations.

Well, they are still used as such, and understandably so. Maybe an honorable mention would be better imo.

I can understand the hesitation in including a lost film, since it can't really be evaluated firsthand anymore. But given its documented influence and historical significance, it still seems fair to keep it on the list. One option could be to mark it with an asterisk to note its lost status -- or, as Fido mentioned, relegate it to a sidebar or honorable mentions list at the least.

I think an asterisk would be fair.

DmitryXenon wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 7:34 am Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf should also be here. Lost Highway would probably also be suitable for the list. And I think we could exclude Golem (1915) because today it is a lost film and it is impossible to watch it.

Hour of the Wolf is currently #147 on the list. I'm not sure if Lost Highway exactly fits the criteria (I personally was very much against Eraserhead on this list) - because I also think that should mean something like Inland Empire should be added as well. Personally, I think "Twin Peaks: FWWM" is Lynch's only pure "horror" movie.

I am against excluding Golem (1915) myself.

ManPerson wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 6:14 pm I think an asterisk would be fair.

I'm ok with that. But I'm not going to go through our other lists to check which lost films are included. Especially since it's not always easy to tell, which films even count as lost. If less than 50% of its theatrical release survive?