31 Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked (2025)

31.A Quiet Place (2018)

In 2018, nobody could have predicted that Jim from The Office would give us one of the more iconic franchises in horror history. When a monster alien race invades Earth, the human race faces the threat of extinction by these seemingly unbeatable creatures. The monsters are blind, but they have superpowered hearing, so the remaining survivors must live out the rest of their days in complete silence, lest they fall victim to a brutal end at the hands of these invaders.

30.Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Technically not the first movie to feature “zombies,” George A. Romero's breakthrough classic established the mainstream zombie genre where dead bodies rise from the grave in a pursuit to devour human flesh. A group of survivors is trapped in a house with nowhere to go while a horde of the undead surrounds the party, giving the ragtag group nowhere to go. Not only must the group deal with the zombies outside, but they also start to turn on each other, making this masterfully told tale a compelling blend of scares and insightful social commentary.

29.28 Days Later (2002)

28 Days Later took the genre established by George Romero and went in a different direction, achieving extremely terrifying results. A "Rage Virus" is unleashed on the world at large, which causes its victims to be ravenous, blood thirsty savages. Jim, a bike courier in a coma at the beginning of the outbreak, must navigate this hostile world that he no longer recognizes and must adapt to if he hopes to survive.

28.Hellraiser (1987)

An iconic film in the realm of brutally twisted body horror, Hellraiser set the bar for the time in gore and what would eventual become the torture genre. Whenever the cursed puzzle box, The Lament Configuration, is opened the demonic Cenobites led by Pinhead are unleashed from Hell. Whoever opens the puzzle box is torn apart by the Cenobites and their souls are dragged down to Hell to suffer for all eternity. On such victim, Frank, hopes to escape the bounds of Hell willing to sacrifice anyone he comes across.

27.An American Werewolf In London (1981)

While not the first Werewolf movie, this film raised the bar in terms of horror, incorporating a touch of dark comedy and featuring incredible practical effects, resulting in one of, if not the best, werewolf transformations in cinematic history. When a large wolf attacks two American backpackers in the English countryside, their fates are changed forever, as one of them is cursed to live out the rest of his days turning into a bloodthirsty wolf every full moon.

26.Audition (1999)

A widowed film producer is searching for a new soulmate. He concocts a plan to host fake auditions for a role in a film that doesn't really exist in hopes of finding his perfect match. He becomes captivated by a quiet, seemingly harmless woman who isn't what she seems. What results is some of the more grotesque and wince-inducing horror as the film producer struggles to survive the insanity of his new acquaintance.
Let's just say you will never look at piano wire the same again.

25.The Phantom of The Opera (1925)

One of the most important horror films of all time revolutionized the genre all the way back in the 1920s, during the silent era.

Lon Cheney masterfully plays the titular Phantom, a deformed terror who lives in the catacombs of an Opera theater and obsesses over a beautiful singer. Incredible makeup, gorgeous settings, and engaging physical performances make it clear why this film set the tone for horror films for years to come.

24.Scream (1996)

From the mind of the brilliant Wes Craven, the same man who brought us Nightmare on Elm Street, comes one of the most important entries in the slasher film genre. A semi-parody of flasher films themselves, a group a teens is stalked by a disguised killer who seems to have an obsession with horror movies. Utilizing familiar horror tropes, the killer could be anyone, and it's up to a group of teens to figure out who is picking them off one by one.

23.Get Out (2017)

Jordan Peele, regardless of whether Get Out was made or not, was going to go down in history as one of the best comedic minds of our generation. Peele kept alive the ongoing tradition of comedians and people working in comedy having a pretty good understanding of how horror films work. Hell, a lot of horror movies have comedic aspects to them and star people usually known for telling jokes instead of running from serial killers.

Peele's first foray into horror was a home run with Get Out. When a black photographer travels to meet his white girlfriend's family at their homestead, all seems well, but as with most horror movies, nothing is as it seems. Scary as well as satirical, Get Out accomplishes its goals of making us laugh, scream, and ultimately, we learn something about society as well as ourselves.

22.The Thing (1982)

One of those times where the remake is not only as good as the original but excels far beyond it. The legendary John Carpenter brings this gripping thriller, in which a group of U.S. researchers in Antarctica is hunted by a shapeshifting alien capable of assuming the identity of anyone or anything it encounters. This movie is one of the more tense and horrifying movies in the genre, plus it boasts some incredible practical effects. Throw in an excellent performance by Kurt Russell, and you have a classic on your hands.

21.Suspiria (1977)

Dario Argento gave us one of the most unsettling horror films in cinema history. When a young woman enters a prestigious dance academy in Germany, she immediately realizes that this school is not what it initially seemed. Plagued by deaths, horrible visions, sudden illnesses, the young dancer soon discovers the eerie truth about the academy and wonders if she will make it out alive. The surreal, nightmare like visuals of this film and the incredible acting by the cast really drive home the true horror of this film which has cemented its place as a classic in the genre.

20.Carrie (1976)

In this gripping adaptation of Stephen King's novel, we find Carrie, an innocent young woman in high school who lives under the control of her overbearing, hyper-religious mother, and faces the daily struggles of bullying by her fellow students. Carrie doesn’t mean any harm to anyone and is constantly abused mentally and physically by the only people she knows.

After going through puberty, Carrie soon discovers that she has telekinetic powers (trust me, this isn’t anything like an MCU movie). One night of seeming reprieve, Carrie is asked by a popular boy to the prom. But unfortunately, without giving too much away, children can be so cruel, and what ensues is a woman pushed too far, and Carrie becomes determined to provide the school and the town itself its just desserts.

19.It Follows (2014)

One of the more uniquely groundbreaking horror movies in recent history, It Follows wastes no time. Within the first few minutes of the film, it shows that this movie will pull no punches and spare no detail as it tells its horrifying story. After a young girl goes on a date with a new boyfriend, they do what a lot of kids do.

After the couple makes love, it is revealed by the boyfriend that the young woman has a death curse now, which was passed on to him by their sexual activity. As far as spooky STDs go, this curse means that she will be forever pursued by a creature that can take the form of anyone or anything until it eventually catches up with her and kills her.

What makes this creature so horrifying is not just its anonymity, but the fact that it takes its time; it doesn't run, it just walks, with the dreadful notion that one day it will catch up to you.

18.The Witch (2015)

Robert Eggers came out of the gate swinging with his first feature-length film, which he directed, and gave us one of the best entries in the "folk horror" genre. A Puritan family starts to witness strange happenings on the farm, as strange noises, weird apparitions, and disappearances plague the exiled family, leading to the belief that a malevolent presence is haunting them. All tying these odd occurrences together is a seemingly possessed goat named Black Phillip, whom the children of the family claim can communicate with them. As the true nature of the cursed farm and the apparently evil goat emerge, the family wonders if they themselves are safe from the evil that has laid claim to their souls.

17.The Sixth Sense (1999)

The movie that put M. Night Shyamalan on the map, with one of the best twist endings of all time, The Sixth Sense is not only a great horror movie but a great film overall, featuring outstanding performances by Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment.

A boy starts to receive psychiatric help from a psychologist due to his claims that he can see and speak with the dead. The doctor tells the boy that he should start listening to the dead instead of fearing them, and maybe offer the help they need to pass on to the other side.

It's hard to find someone who hasn't heard of the twist ending already, but just in case you haven't seen the film, we won't spoil the incredible finale here.

16.Alien (1979)

A commercial spaceship called the Nostromo is en route to Earth when the crew receives a distress signal emanating from a remote planet. Upon arrival, the crew encounters mysterious eggs, and after that, let's just say things don't go as well as they'd have hoped. An extraterrestrial killer begins to hunt down the crew and all they can do is hope to outsmart the creature if they have any hope to stay alive.

There have been a few Alien films and TV series, but the original is hands down the most terrifying.

15.A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Everyone hates nightmares, yet we don't all live in fear of our nightmares because we know that once we wake up, the dream is over. But what if your dreams had real-world effects? What if you could die from your dreams?

That notion is what Wes Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street is all about, when a group of teenagers start dreaming of a horribly disfigured man who wears a glove with knives for fingers, named Freddy Krueger. The burned terror starts offing the teens of Elm Street one by one in their dreams, and in turn, they die in real life.

Krueger is one of the most iconic villains in horror, and this initial entry left a lasting impact on the culture as we know it.

14.Sinister (2012)

Scientists recently conducted a study on viewers' heart rates while watching various horror movies. When they were shown Sinister, the test subjects' heart rates rose the highest, and thus the scientists classified this as the scariest movie ever.

While this is, of course, very subjective, it's easy to see why this movie gives ppl an extreme sense of dread. A true crime writer relocates to a new home with his family, where a murder had previously occurred. The writer discovers a series of Super 8 films all depicting families being murdered in various gruesome ways.

As time goes on, the connection between all these murders becomes apparent, and the writer's own family becomes in danger.

13.Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Satan is always a surefire bet when looking for a horror movie antagonist, and this is undoubtedly the case in Rosemary's Baby. A young couple moves into an old apartment building, and off the rip, things are definitely not everyday when it comes to the building and the tenants that inhabit it. The neighbors are overtly friendly and perhaps a bit too invested in the young couple's activities. When the couple becomes pregnant, the woman starts to experience strange dreams and excruciating pain. As the movie goes on, the horrifying truth about the pregnancy is unveiled, and you will never look at motherhood the same again after this film.

12.The Orphanage (2007)

One of the more underappreciated entries in horror, The Orphanage is not only terrifying but absolutely gorgeous to look at, supplemented with incredible performances throughout. Laura, a woman who grew up in an orphanage that has since shut down, returns to the orphanage with her family in hopes of reopening the facility as a home for disabled children. One day, Laura's son disappears, and as she grows more desperate to find her son, she becomes convinced that the orphanage is haunted. Laura learns more about the dark history of the orphanage and the story of a boy named Tomas who died under mysterious circumstances in the home. Chilling, tense, and filled with a semi-enchanting aura, The Orphanage will leave a lasting impact once you finish viewing.

11.Nosferatu (1922)

While the 2024 remake was an incredible retelling of the story of Count Orlok, the original earns this spot on the countdown due to the impact it had not only in horror but in cinema as a whole. One of the original cinematic adaptations of the Dracula novel, F.W. Murnau was unable to obtain the rights to the book, so he renamed the character Count Orlok, thus giving us one of the most iconic monsters ever to grace the screen. This was the silent era, so the performances in this film were very physical, and the aesthetic of the buildings and the environments is stellar, still holding up to this day. One of the Godfathers of horror, this is required viewing for any cinephile.

10.The Wolf Man (1941)

Being the son of the legendary “Man of A Thousand Faces" Lon Chaney gives you quite the large shoes to fill, but thankfully, Lon Chaney Jr. provides us with the performance of a lifetime in The Wolfman. Chaney Jr. portrays Larry Talbot, who is bitten by a wolf, who turns out to be an actual werewolf, who in turn transmits the curse onto Talbot himself. An epic story, revolutionary for its time, makeup effects, and stellar performances make this a tried and true Universal Monster classic, plus you get a Bela Lugosi cameo, and what's not to love about that?

9.Dracula (1931)

Dracula may not have been the first vampire movie, but it set the archetype for how vampires were portrayed going forward. Bela Lugosi steals every scene he is in as Count Dracula; the smooth, charming, and enchanting aura he exudes throughout the film made him what could be the most famous vampire of all time.

When Dracula makes the journey to England, he falls in love with a young woman, and she quickly becomes the object of his every desire. Will her fiancé and friends be able to stop the undead Count, or will she join him for all eternity?

8.Hereditary (2018)

One of, if not arguably the best, horror movies to emerge in recent times, Hereditary doesn't rely on cheap tricks and excessive gore to elicit scares from its audience; instead, it instills a deep sense of dread and foreboding throughout the film. When the grandmother of the Graham family passes away, this starts a chain of events that leads to the family being haunted by a demon, and to say the least, all hell breaks loose (pun intended). Phenomenal directing and cinematography, combined with excellent performances by the cast, especially Toni Collette, make this a must-see for any horror fan.

7.Psycho (1960)

Based on the life of killer Ed Gein, Psycho is one of, if not the best, Alfred Hitchcock movies ever made.

When a young, beautiful woman steals money from her boss, she packs her bags and makes a run for it. On the road, she pulls up to what looks like an innocent motel run by the seemingly meek and nervous Norman Bates.

As the old formula goes for horror movies, nothing is as it seems in this motel, and soon a series of deadly events unfolds, portraying the fragility of sanity and familial relationships.

6.The Blair Witch Project (1999)

If you want to witness a piece of horror history, then look no further than The Blair Witch Project. This movie revolutionized and popularized the "found footage" subgenre. Not only was the acting great and the story extremely unnerving, but the marketing for the film was second to none, as it convinced A LOT of people that the movie's events were real. Three aspiring filmmakers head into the haunted woods of Burkitsville, Maryland, to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch. Soon, the trio becomes lost, and they must fend for themselves in a world that grows increasingly unfamiliar and all the more terrifying.

5.Halloween (1978)

John Carpenter's first feature film gave us what is still considered by many to be the greatest slasher film of all time. Carpenter showed us that with a lot of successful horror movies, less is more, as this film succeeded with a very low budget and at the time a mostly unknown cast. One Halloween night, a young boy murders his older sister and is locked away in an insane asylum for years until one day, after he's grown up, he decides it's time to come home and continue his reign of terror.

4.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Another film based on the real life killer Ed Gein, this film is another prime example on a film that may fictional but exudes the perception of an almost documentary/found footage movie. A lot of people credit this film as the reason they got into filmmaking and it’s easy to see why. Tobe Hooper created one of the most visceral, uncomfortably horrifying films ever made with no budget and a cast of nobodies. A group of road trippers come upon a house in the middle of nowhere which, unfortunately for them, houses a clan of sadistic cannibal butchers featuring the disfigured Leatherface.

3.Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The best film in the Universal Monsters series, The Bride of Frankenstein, took what the original film did so well and upped the ante in every way. The production was bigger, the performances were astounding, plus a bit of humor was thrown in for good measure.

While Frankenstein set the mold, The Bride perfected it. After surviving his supposed death at the end of the first film, Frankenstein's monster continues his wretched existence, but this time searches out his creator in hopes that he can create a mate for him.

2.The Shining (1980)

Based on the hit Stephen King novel, The Shining was Kubrick at his best, crafting a film that stands the test of time to this day. Despite taking some liberties with the source material, The Shining is still considered to be one of the best novel adaptations ever made. What makes this movie so special is that nothing is clear and cut; there are a lot of scenes that are open to the audience's interpretation, and something new is noticed upon every repeated viewing.

Kubrick was the master of mind-bending cinema, and this film takes you on a terrifying ride through the pains of mental health, substance abuse, and even superstitious practices. When a recently sober writer takes his family to oversee the off-season of a mountain hotel, the dark nature of the hotel becomes apparent, which affects the father's mind and the well-being of the rest of the family.

1.The Exorcist (1973)

For many, The Exorcist is considered the scariest movie of all time. While this may or may not be true these days, it is undeniable that this movie had a significant impact on the movie business and culture at large. Linda Blair performs a lifetime role as a child possessed by a demon, and it's up to a pair of priests to rescue her soul before she is doomed for all eternity. Not only is the acting superb in this film, but the practical effects also create a terrifying experience that will keep your lights on at night for days to come.