Here we’ve done the seemingly impossible and picked the films we think have done it best: from the golden age of Seventies horror, to surreal Eighties classics and Nineties slashers, these are the ten best horror movies of all time.
Jeff Goldblum stars in this classic 1986 horror from David Cronenberg, which proved to be one of the most definitive films of the decade. Based on an unsettling short story by George Langelaan, the film sees a scientist create a teleportation machine before unwittingly entering the device with a fly trapped inside. The scientist’s subsequent transformation into a human/fly hybrid is a gruelling watch and one of the best examples of body horror you could ever wish to see.
9. The Blair Witch Project
Not only did The Blair Witch Project make a massive $248m off the back of a $600,000 budget, it also launched a whole generation of ‘found footage’ films. The chilling film tells the story of a group of friends who go to a wood to make a documentary about a witch, and end up being caught in a chilling supernatural web. Full of paranoia, stomach-churning psychological attacks and jump-scares, the Blair Witch Project’s influence on contemporary horror cannot be understated.
8. Rosemary’s Baby
Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror Rosemary’s Baby stars Mia Farrow as a New York housewife who is convinced by a group of shady outsiders that her newborn child is the son of the devil himself. Once the insidious story and memorably distressing scenes are inside your head they are there forever: is there anything scarier than seeing a mother slowly losing her mind, turning on her baby?
7. Halloween
Iconic horror director John Carpenter changed the game forever with his 1978 slasher movie Halloween which introduced the mask-wearing, kitchen knife-wielding killer Michael Myers for the first time. The film sees Myers break out from a mental hospital to terrorise the residents of Haddonfield, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Carpenter’s use of POV footage put the audience in the shoes of the killer, augmenting the movie’s sinister feel. The moment Michael Myers sits up after Jamie Lee Curtis’ character thinks she’s safe, also has to be one of the creepiest moments in horror cinema.
6. Bride of Frankenstein
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been adapted for the screen and stage countless times since its publication in 1818, but 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein is our favourite from the bunch: the sequel to 1931 film Frankenstein expands the novel’s storyline with flourish and Boris Karloff’s unforgettable depiction of the monster is widely regarded as one of the great horror performances of all time.
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1974’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre remains one of the most gruesome horror movies ever made and Leatherface has to go down one of the most terrifying villains in cinema history. As well as influencing slasher horror films for years to come, the film also spawned a whole series of sequels, including 1994’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, which starred the then-unknown actors Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger.
4. The Shining
At the heart of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaption of The Shining is a masterful performance from Jack Nicholson, who transforms from serene (if slightly odd) family man to axe-wielding murderer throughout the course of the film. Some of the most genuinely unsettling moments in cinema history can be found in the film, including creepy twins, hallways full of blood and a disturbing old woman in the infamous Room 237. This is a must-watch for horror fans everywhere.
3. Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock’s Sixties masterpiece Psycho boasts an unforgettable and spine-tingling score, a breathtakingly violent shower sequence and a malevolent performance from Anthony Perkins as the motel owner Norman Bates. Sure, it’s not a classic horror, but few thrillers have been able to linger in the psyche in the same way: Bates’ confliction and obsession as hard to brush off.
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street was not only the finest horror movie to emerge in the Eighties, but it also featured arguably the finest-ever performance in a horror film from Robert Englund as the serial killer Freddy Krueger.
The sequences where Freddy’s arms stretch to five times their length is horror cinema at its most surreal and frightening, and the moment Freddy’s tongue emerges through the phone to lick Heather Langenkamp’s character Nancy is one of the eeriest, too.
1. The Exorcist
You guessed it, the number one horror movie of all time is… The Exorcist. William Friedkin’s film scared a whole generation of horror fans witless when it was released in 1973 and five decades later, it’s still packs a punch.
The film, with its ground-breaking special effects and controversial subject matter – it tells the story of a young girl, Regan, who is possessed by the devil – makes for an unpleasant watch as she writhes and screams. But it also plays in the mind, touching on themes including religion, purity, fear of strangers and motherhood and faith.
