The Best Horror Movies of All Time

Today, we’re going to take a look at the best horror movies of all time. Spoiler alert: we’re not going to include 28 Days Later with a young Cillian Murphy, even though it’s one of my favourites. Instead of sharing personal opinions, we’re going to base our must-watch list of top horror movies on everything from atmosphere and direction to concept and cultural impact.

Timeless Horror Classics

The Shining: 1980 Psychological Horror

No list of the best horror movies of all time would be complete without a mention of The Shining. Directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining follows what happens after Jack Torrance and his family move into The Overlook Hotel to take care of it during the winter. 

Jack Nicholson delivers one of the finest performances in classic horror with his take on Jack Torrance, making us truly believe that he’s losing his mind. The isolation takes its toll on him, leading to his eventual mental breakdown in a psychological horror masterclass that feels more 2020 than 1980. Grossing $50 million from a $19 million budget and earning an 8.4/10 on IMDb, The Shining is so much more than a horror movie. It’s a cultural behemoth and the yardstick that other horror movies are compared against.

The Silence of the Lambs: Introducing Hannibal Lecter

The Silence of the Lambs is another of the best rated horror movies that’s shown its ability to withstand the test of time. Directed by Jonathan Demme and based upon the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, this is the movie that introduced the iconic serial killerHannibal Lecter. As if being a serial killer wasn’t horrifying enough, he’s also a cannibal. In fact, he’s arguably the most well-known cannibal in popular culture.

As well as being one of those horror movies that sticks with you long after you watch it, it’s memorable for the performances from Anthony Hopkins in the titular role and Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling. The thriller still sits at 8.6/10 on IMDb and took the Oscar ceremony by storm when it became only the third ever film to win all of the “Big Five” awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.

Supernatural Horrors

Insidious: A 2010 Haunted House Story

Let’s move on to one of the more recent entrants on the list of best horror movies. Directed by James Wan, Insidious is so much more than just a haunted house story, although that’s where the heart of the movie lies. It’s hard to say too much more without spoiling the plot, but think astral projection, otherworldly entities and the kinds of scares you’d expect from the makers of Paranormal Activity.

Insidious is such a well-made movie that much of its success came about from word of mouth, allowing it to gross $97 million at the box office versus a relatively low production budget of $1.5 million. Wan was able to make a film that punches way above its weight and which was effectively a license to print money.

The Conjuring: Based on a True Story

Fresh off his work with the Saw and Insidious movies, James Wan turned his attention to The Conjuring. Since the first movie was released in 2013, it’s gone on to become the highest-grossing horror franchise at over $2 billion, with the first movie bringing in $320 million at the box office against a $20 million budget. 

A lot of horror movies best of lists discount The Conjuring because it’s based on a true story, but that’s been a vital trope in the genre since The Amityville Horror. In this case, it’s based on the haunting of the Perron family, who experienced supernatural goings-on and perhaps even a demon in their Rhode Island farmhouse. The Warren family, ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine, investigate, and the rest is history.

Hereditary: Elevated Horror from 2018

This title has earned its place on our list of the best horror movies of all time because it helped popularise the idea of elevated horror, which is typically defined as a subgenre that focuses on narrative themes, psychological tension and emotional trauma, rather than relying on gore and jump scares.

Directed by Ari Aster in his feature debut, Hereditary has themes of family trauma, grief, cults and the occult, with actress Toni Collette delivering a phenomenal performance that took a good film and made it great. It’s no surprise that it sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, although it’s a little lower at 7.3/10 on IMDb.

Hereditary is particularly interesting because of its symbolism, such as the use of the colour red to symbolise danger and the oncoming doom. Meanwhile, decapitation is a recurring theme throughout, symbolising the separation of mind and body. 

Folk Horror: A New Generation of Dread

The Witch: Robert Eggers Joins the Fray

The list of the best recent horror movies is dominated by folk horror, a subgenre that uses elements of folklore and paganism to invoke a sense of fear in the viewer. You could argue that it was first introduced to us back in 1973 through The Wicker Man, but recent film-makers have taken that theme and ran with it.

The Witch is perhaps one of the most notable works from this new batch of film-makers, introducing director Robert Eggers to moviegoers throughout the world. Set in Puritan New England during the 17th century, it’s as notable for its historical accuracy as it is for its atmospheric horror and claustrophobic feel. It’s currently sitting at a respectable 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s left countless viewers thanking their lucky stars that they weren’t born as Puritans.

Midsommar: Horror in Broad Daylight

Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar puts an interesting twist on our best new horror movies list because it bucks the trend of the genre taking place in the dark. Instead, it started a new trend of daylight horror in which film makers are able to create fear and anxiety in the light. It’s difficult to do, but when film makers get it right, it can be even scarier because of how alien it is.

Set in Sweden during the height of summer (hence the light), Midsommar sees a grieving young American woman travelling to Sweden with her boyfriend and his friends, only for things to quickly go wrong as they discover a series of disturbing pagan rituals. Fans and critics alike praised Midsommar for its ability to terrify people without resorting to the usual folk horror tropes, with the movie picking up 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.1/10 on IMDb.

Modern Horror 

It Follows: Relentless Dread and Fear

The 2014 release is perhaps the highest-rated film when it comes to the best horror movies (95% on Rotten Tomatoes), and there are a lot of good reasons for that. It brings psychological horror into the modern era through its clever blend of suburban normalcy and supernatural horror, almost in the vein of internet favourite The Backrooms. 

Directed by David Robert Mitchell (who’s a different David Mitchell to the British comedian, who’s also a different David Mitchell to the British novelist), It Follows is a visual metaphor for trauma and dread. The soundtrack alone is one of the most atmospheric in indie horror, and it’ll end up floating around inside your head for weeks afterwards, like the earworm from hell. 

The Possession: Religious Horror from the 2010s

There’s some dispute amongst movie fans about when The Possession actually came out, but we can safely say that it was first released back in 2012. Directed by Ole Bornedal, it’s a pretty standard take on religious horror, exploring the conflict between faith and science in the same way that The Exorcist did 40 years earlier. 

Filmed partly at a former mental institution and based on an article from the LA Times about a haunted dybbuk box, Bornedal’s film investigates how far people will go to protect the ones they love from a demon, culminating in an exorcism that’s one of the creepiest we’ve come across. The Possession doesn’t have the greatest reviews and so is often missed from horror movies best of lists, but it performed well commercially and grossed $82.9 million against a budget of “just” $14 million.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose: Another True Story

This is another outlier on our list of the best rated horror movies, because while it has a relatively low IMDb score of 6.7/10, it’s one of those that had everyone talking about it when it first came out. It’s also notable because of its unusual format, blending courtroom drama with supernatural horror like a cross between To Kill a Mockingbird and Paranormal Activity. There’s nothing else quite like it.

Directed by Scott Derrickson, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based upon the true story of Anneliese Michel, revolving around the trial of a priest who’s charged with negligent homicide after a young girl died during an exorcism. It’s a deeply unsettling story that will stick with you long after you watch it, and don’t be surprised if you find yourself Googling it to read up on what actually happened.

Comparison of Horror Films

Let’s take a look at a comparison list of the best horror movies of all time, ranking them by year, scare level and more.

Overall Conclusion

Ultimately, there are a ton of places to start, from classic horror like 1922’s Nosferatu through to horror comedies like the Scary Movies series or Fright Night with Colin Farrell. Still, you came here for horror recommendations and that’s exactly what we’re going to give you.

For beginners, the best horror movies to watch are Insidious and The Conjuring, whereas seasoned viewers won’t want to miss must-see films like Hereditary and the Witch. We can’t tell you what to watch, though, because your horror list will depend upon what genres and subject matters take your fancy.