Paste's 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time

Paste's 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time's icon

Created by Panunzio.

Favorited 11 times, disliked 0 times, added to 11 watchlists.

This list has been a long time coming for Paste. We are fortunate—some would say “cool enough”—to have quite a lot of genre expertise to call upon when it comes to horror in particular. Several Paste staff writers and editors are lifelong horror geeks, and there’s also a strong sentiment toward the macabre among several of our more prolific contributing writers. Case in point: We have so many writers focused on horror that we’ve produced huge lists of the 70 best horror films on Netflix, or the 100 best horror films on Shudder, both within the last year. We’ve kept you up to date with the 10 best horror movies of 2017 so far. We’ve even given you the likes of the 50 best zombie movies of all time, and the 100 best vampire movies of all time, if you can believe that.

And yet, somehow, despite all that expertise, we’ve never put together a definitive ranking of the best horror films of all time. That ends now, with the list below: a practical, must-see guide through the history of the horror genre.

There are classic films on this list, of course. There are also likely a handful of independent features that will be unknown to all but the most dedicated horror hounds. There are foreign films from around the globe, entries that range from 1922 to 2017. In some cases, you will likely be shocked by films that are missing. In others, you’ll find yourself surprised to see us going to bat for films that don’t deserve the derision they’ve received.

One thing is for certain: With all the films that were nominated, we could easily have made this list 200 entries long. Horror cinema speaks toward the dark side in all of us, allowing us to confront the most frightening, primal forces we struggle with every day—death, and human malevolence—in a way that is actually constructive in strengthening the psyche. In the oddest of ways, horror movies help us overcome our own fears.

Last updated October 2022

Remove ads

Pssst, want to check out the Paste's 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time list in our new look?

Filter

  1. 1 -

    The Exorcist

    1973, in 27 top lists Check
  2. 2 -

    The Shining

    1980, in 28 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    Alien

    1979, in 30 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    Psycho

    1960, in 39 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    The Thing

    1982, in 20 top lists Check
  6. 6 -

    Låt den rätte komma in

    2008 — a.k.a. Let the Right One In, in 14 top lists Check
  7. 7 -

    Jaws

    1975, in 28 top lists Check
  8. 8 -

    Dawn of the Dead

    1978, in 15 top lists Check
  9. 9 -

    The Innocents

    1961, in 12 top lists Check
  10. 10 -

    An American Werewolf in London

    1981, in 12 top lists Check
  11. 11 -

    The Silence of the Lambs

    1991, in 36 top lists Check
  12. 12 -

    The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

    1974, in 15 top lists Check
  13. 13 -

    Bride of Frankenstein

    1935, in 19 top lists Check
  14. 14 -

    Kaidan

    1964 — a.k.a. Kwaidan, in 13 top lists Check
  15. 15 -

    28 Days Later...

    2002, in 9 top lists Check
  16. 16 -

    Eraserhead

    1977, in 20 top lists Check
  17. 17 -

    The Return of the Living Dead

    1985, in 3 top lists Check
  18. 18 +1

    Poltergeist

    1982, in 9 top lists Check
  19. 19 +1

    Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

    1922 — a.k.a. Nosferatu, in 28 top lists Check
  20. 20 +1

    Re-Animator

    1985, in 7 top lists Check
  21. 21 +1

    Rosemary's Baby

    1968, in 21 top lists Check
  22. 22 +1

    Day of the Dead

    1985, in 4 top lists Check
  23. 23 +1

    Get Out

    2017, in 16 top lists Check
  24. 24 +1

    Peeping Tom

    1960, in 20 top lists Check
  25. 25 +1

    The Haunting

    1963, in 6 top lists Check
  26. 26 +1

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    1978, in 3 top lists Check
  27. 27 +1

    Suspiria

    1977, in 17 top lists Check
  28. 28 +1

    The Changeling

    1980, in 3 top lists Check
  29. 29 +1

    The Wicker Man

    1973, in 13 top lists Check
  30. 30 -12

    Hellraiser

    1987, in 3 top lists Check
  31. 31 -

    A Nightmare on Elm Street

    1984, in 8 top lists Check
  32. 32 -

    El espinazo del diablo

    2001 — a.k.a. The Devil's Backbone, in 5 top lists Check
  33. 33 -

    The Sixth Sense

    1999, in 20 top lists Check
  34. 34 +1

    Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

    1920 — a.k.a. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in 30 top lists Check
  35. 35 +1

    Night of the Living Dead

    1968, in 20 top lists Check
  36. 36 +1

    The VVitch: A New-England Folktale

    2015 — a.k.a. The Witch, in 4 top lists Check
  37. 37 +1

    Halloween

    1978, in 17 top lists Check
  38. 38 +1

    Dèmoni

    1985 — a.k.a. Demons, in 2 top lists Check
  39. 39 +1

    The Babadook

    2014, in 4 top lists Check
  40. 40 +1

    Evil Dead II

    1987, in 9 top lists Check
  41. 41 +1

    Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

    2006, in 1 top list Check
  42. 42 +1

    Carrie

    1976, in 11 top lists Check
  43. 43 +1

    The Fly

    1958, in 4 top lists Check
  44. 44 +1

    The Fly

    1986, in 11 top lists Check
  45. 45 +1

    Repulsion

    1965, in 17 top lists Check
  46. 46 +1

    Don't Look Now

    1973, in 17 top lists Check
  47. 47 -13

    La maschera del demonio

    1960 — a.k.a. Black Sunday, in 8 top lists Check
  48. 48 -

    Videodrome

    1983, in 18 top lists Check
  49. 49 -

    The Descent

    2005, in 4 top lists Check
  50. 50 -

    Les yeux sans visage

    1960 — a.k.a. Eyes Without a Face, in 14 top lists Check
Remove ads
Show all 101 movies

Last updated on Nov 22, 2022 by Panunzio; source