Horror films have been criticized for their graphic violence and are often dismissed as low budget B-movies and exploitation films. Nonetheless, some major studios and respected directors have made forays into the genre. This is a list of the ten greatest horror films of all time.
10. Ringu
After the death of her cousin Tomoko, reporter Reiko hears stories of a videotape that kills everyone who sees it exactly one week after viewing. At first she discounts the rumors, but when she learns that Tomoko’s friend (who watched the video with her) died at exactly the same time, she begins to investigate. After viewing the tape herself, strange things start happening, and so she teams up with her ex-husband to try to stop the death clock that has once again begun ticking.
9. Jaws
A Great White Shark decides to make the small beach resort town of Amity his private feeding grounds. This greatly frustrates the town police chief who wants to close the beaches to chase the shark away. He is thwarted in his efforts by the town’s mayor who finally relents when nothing else seems to work and the chief, a scientist, and an old fisherman with revenge on his mind take to the sea to kill the beast.
8. Poltergeist
While living an an average family house in a pleasant neighborhood, the youngest daughter of the Freeling family, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke), seems to be connecting with the supernatural through a dead channel on the televison. It is not for long when the mysterious beings enter the house’s walls. At first seeming like harmless ghosts, they play tricks and amuse the family, but they take a nasty turn- they horrify the family to death with angry trees and murderous dolls, and finally abduct Carol Anne into her bedroom closet, which seems like the entrance to the other side
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
En route to visit their grandfather’s grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home… where they’re plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills…
6. Carrie
Carrie White is a shy young girl who doesn’t make friends easily. After her class mates taunt her about her horrified reaction to her totally unexpected first period one of them takes pity on her and gets Tommy Ross, her boyfriend and class hunk to invite Carrie to the senior prom. Meanwhile another girl who has been banned from the prom for her continued aggressive behaviour is not as forgiving and plans a trick to embarrass Carrie in front of the whole school. What she doesn’t realise is that Carrie is … gifted, and you really don’t want to get her angry.
5. Les Diaboliques
The wife and mistress of a sadistic boarding school headmaster plot to kill him. They drown him in the bathtub and dump the body in the school’s filthy swimming pool… but when the pool is drained, the body has disappeared – and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his ‘killers’ (and the audience) up the wall with almost unbearable suspense…
4. Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. They discover that their neighbours are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the washroom dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.
3. Psycho
Marion Crane is a Phoenix, Arizona working girl fed up with having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her lover, Sam Loomis, who cannot get married because most of his money goes towards alimony. One Friday, Marion’s employer asks her to take $40,000 in cash to a local bank for deposit. Desperate to make a change in her life, she impulsively leaves town with the money, determined to start a new life with Sam in California. As night falls and a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her, Marion turns off the main highway. Exhausted from the long drive and the stress of her criminal act, she decides to spend the night at the desolate Bates Motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, a peculiar young man dominated by his invalid mother. After Norman fixes her a light dinner, Marion goes back to her room for a shower…
2. The Exorcist
Blatty’s novelization of a real case of possession that happened in a Washington Suburb (Mt. Ranier, MD) puts Regan, an adolescent girl, Living with her mother in Georgetown in Washington, into a more and more difficult situation. She exhibits strange symptoms, including levitation and great strength. When all medical possibilities are exhausted, her mother is sent to a priest who is also a psychiatrist. He becomes convinced that Regan is possessed and he and a second priest experienced in exorcism try to drive the spirit from Regan before she dies. Very graphic for its time.
1. The Shining
Jack Torrance becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Jack, being a family man, takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights. During their stay strange things occur when Jack’s son Danny sees gruesome images powered by a force called “The Shining” and Jack is heavily affected by this. Along with writer’s block and the demons of the hotel haunting him Jack has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worse.
Notable Others: Nosferatu, Dawn of the Dead, The Birds
Sorry. Not a big fan of The Shining. As much as I've always like Jack Nicholson, I don't think he was the best choice for the lead.
During the movie, we should see the character of Jack Torrence go from normal to insane and I don't think Nicholson EVER looks normal. Also, I think casting Shelly Duval as Wendy was a bad choice.
And what happened to Scatman Carruthers, does not bear thinking about.
Stephen King HATED this adaptation of his book and Stanley Kubrick, the director, even said he "didn't get" horror movies.
Yes, yes, and yes. You are absolutely right. Which means you agree with exactly my opinion of the movie. The one thing I would say, however, is that the two little girls are creepy as hell.
God I still remember watching Poltergeist as a kid. Scared me to death. And i definitely agree with your place for The Shining. One of my favorite movies ever, Jack Nicholson is awesome.
not a big fan of horror, but i only watched ‘Jaws’ (not too scary) and part of the ‘The Ring’ (scarred me for a week)..
as much as i’m apprehensive, i guess i’ll have to watch ‘The Shining’ now.
the shining made me pee myself
just thought id let you know
The Shining has to be the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t sleep alone for like two days.
Oh, and I’ve never heard of Les Diaboliques! It sounds really, really good though. Must check it out!
What about Halloween 1?That was easily better than anything in the top ten.Great storyline and it didn’t have to rely on cheap bloodletting.
The omen is not in here!
Rob: that is amazing about what Kubrick said – because he sure managed to make one hell of a horrifying film despite it!
Jeff: I considered Halloween but it just didn’t rate high enough when compared with the ones here.
Null: The same goes for the Omen – I do love the film though (the original).
The Shining is an great film. I don’t really think of Jaws as a horror though. How about Suspiria? That’s one of the best horror films in my opinion. Also, The original Wickerman from the ’70′s.
fs: I was going to include the original wickerman – it is a great film. In the end one of the others won out.
I think Jaws is more scary than Carrie. I could easily watch Carrie home alone at night and not be the least bit scared. But maybe that’s just me
anesb: I think the difference is jumping out of your seat or not – Carrie has an underlying horror – jaws throws it in your face.
The Wicker Man… do you mean that film that starred Edward… whatever his last name is, who was on The Equalizer?
I caught that one night, without really knowing what it was about and just about flipped out! That is one suspensefull flick.
Rob: that is the one – Edward Woodward. I was extremely surprised with the ending – it was the first time I had a seen a film in which the good guy is killed.
Ah, now you gave it away for anyone who’s not seen it! ;^)
Don’t pay attention to what he said! The hero’s not dead! He’s just… mostly dead.
RobS: hehe that is true, but then again the film is so old that hopefully everyone has seen it!
Funny that Stephen King hated Kubrik’s Shining, when the one that was on TV – “Stephen King’s The Shining” was dog doo.
Like the list, but I’m an absolute sucker for the 70′s Dracula movies – Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I know they’re not that scary, but I love em anyway.
When I snuck into the first Halloween (I was underage for an R movie) I couldn’t sleep without a baseball bat by my side.
Also – I thought 1403 was pretty good.
bucslim: it seems that every Stephen King TV movie is rubbish compared to the movie. How could he hate anything by Kubrik?!
Maybe because even though The Shining was cinematically an excellent movie, it wandered so far away from the original story, that King was p.o.’d?
I think that in one of his non-fiction books, King goes off on a rant about The Shining. I just remember reading an interview with him some years ago where he said that he had said all that he wanted to on the subject and if anyone was interested, they could read it in…
And that’s all I remember. :^(
On the other hand, King LOVED what Rob Reiner did with Stand By Me, and I agree. That’s one of the best translations of a Stephen King book to the screen.
RobS: Stand by Me is an outstanding film.
Jfrater: Kubrick’s the master, until Eyes Wide Shut with that nutball Tom Cruise.
bucslim: I have mixed emotions about that film as well. I think it contains some great music (by Gyorgi Ligeti I think) and some good acting, but Tom Cruise just manages to spoil everything he touches. He is like the reverse of King Midas!
Steven King loved The Shining, thought it was a great movie. It just had nothing to do with his book. Thats why he made the mini series. He says so on the Commentary track on the mini series DVD.
sorry I meant Stephen King….
From what I gathered from the commentaries, Stephen King hated the fact that Kubrick chose to make the story more of Jack’s insanity over supernatural forces within the hotel itself. I got the feeling that he (King) hated Kubrick’s vision in that respect. Personally, I LOVE Kubrick’s version of the Shining and agree with the list. And while I would kind of like to see Argento mentioned (Susperia, Deep Red), I, by the way, wholeheatedly agree with the inclusion of Rosemary’s Baby, which I feel is Polanski’s masterwork. Nice list, once again.
rp: Thanks
I agree with most of the films you chose. There may
be one or two I would remove, but it’s a fine list.
As far as Dario Argento is concerned, perhaps you can do a top ten list on the Italian film genre known as “Giallo”. “Giallo”, or “yellow”, in Italy, refers to mystery books, mystery movies, or tv shows, as the spine of mystery novels are colored yellow.
NightProwler: I really know nothing about that to be honest – maybe you could put a list together for me?
Anyone see “The Descent”? I don’t scare easily and I had to sleep with the light on for a week.
avnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
J3anJean: I haven’t – but that sounds like a challenge to me!
I believe that Stephen King was dissapointed with Kubrick’s adaptation failing to explore some of the thematic aspects of his story. In King’s story, Jack is redeemed at the end. In the film, there is no redemption of Jack whatsoever. King once said he believed Kubrick was trying to hurt people by making the movie the way he did.
Perhaps you should do a Top 10 Classic Horror Movies list and a Top 10 Modern one.
the original amittyville horror is a good one as well, oh and the original hills have eyes
Les Diaboliques was remade as Diabolique in 1996, sadly I haven’t had the chance to see the original but the remake was ok.
You forgot Hellraiser, Pinhead and his posse of demons still give me nightmares.
these arent horrorfilms but thrillers
films like braindead, hostel, jason, … are horrorfilms
roxxe: How can you say that of Texas Chainsaw Massacre?!
The original version of The Hills Have Eyes should at least get an honorable mention. I’m also a big fan of Hellraiser because, despite the presence demons that take people to hell and torture them to death, the bad guy is actually a human.
Punjar: I really enjoyed the first Hills have Eyes too – it does deserve a mention.
I saw the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was in high school. I took a sweet, mild-mannered girl on a date. I didn’t think I would make it through the movie, and kept asking the girl if she wanted to leave. She was glued to the screen and wouldn’t leave. I was terrified. I like this movie because there’s actually very little blood and gore…the film relies on your mind (the scariest place ever) to complete the vision of horror.
Yeah I agree, Halloween should’ve been mentioned. Haven’t seen the original Hills Have Eyes but I liked the remake a lot, no a fan of the second one though.
Aw, you don’t have The Grudge ( Not
Nice list
I am a huge horror fan, and this kind of list is about impossible to do. Some personnal favorites are not there (mainly B horror like Evil Dead 2), but your picks are great as well
The Exorcist did it for me.Im 43 and still can’t watch that movie alone.Carrie and Jaws and the Shinning were scarry in the 70s & 80s.But not now.
Peggy: The exorcist is a brilliant film – its place on this list is totally deserved. I own a copy of it and it is one I can just watch over and over.
Uhhhhhh. You left out Susperia. Too bad.
The Devil’s Rejects by Rob Zombie scared the mother-loving crap out of me. Also, after watching High Tension I had to sleep with the lights on.
I just checked right now, and the Shining was 6th.
Their top ten:
10. Wait Until Dark
9. Night of the Living Dead
8. Carrie
7. Silence of the Lambs
6. Shining
5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
4. Psycho
3. Exorcist
2. Alien
1. Jaws
Be warned, Audition is gruesome but very interesting.
This list is also missing three horrifying alien movies:
1. The Thing
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (70s version)
3. Aliens
The Changeling. Scariest movie ever made hands down.
LordCalvert: I must confess – I have not seen it. I guess now is as good a time as any to catch up on some of the ones in the comments that I haven’t seen – what with it being Halloween in a couple of days
I just watched a list of 100 scariest movies on Bravo, and their opinions are quite different from yours.
For example, Jaws was listed as the scariest with Alien as the second most scariest. The Shining was listed as number seven, the exorcist in third, and TCM was 5th. The Ring was 20th (lol) and Rosemary’s Baby 23rd. Les Diabolique was 49 (ouch) and Poltergeist 60th (yikes!).
You should give it a watch. I also recommend watching a terrifying Japanese movie I’m glad they mentioned in the list, Audition. I know know, you don’t like it when people suggest random foreign movies- but still.
Brian Moo – I don’t mind people suggesting films – foreign or otherwise (despite my top 10 reasons not to write a film list) – the complaint was the manner in which people present it
Thanks for mentioning Audition – I haven’t seen it and I absolutely love Japanese horror films. Oh – and how the hell could they put the shining at 7?!
Brian: Thanks for looking that up – the list is reasonable but I don’t agree with the top placements.
i just watched that bravo list too. i haven’t seen Audition, but the clips they showed alone freaked me out. i HATE needles.
the scaryness of movies depends a lot on what scares you. like the really psychological things like the Shining don’t really freak me out, and i don’t really mind gorefests like the Saw movies, but things that just jump out at you fast and make you pee, like the Grudge, i simply cannot watch. (wow that was a long sentence)
like the only things from the Saw movies that left a lasting impression that made it hard to sleep was the thought of someone in a pig mask jumping out of my closet or something. the torture-y stuff, not so much.
great list, btw. i’ve seen 4 out of the 10, and i really liked them all. i really really wanna watch Carrie now.
The Ring From Japan Was A Lot Scarier The American Ring Girl Just Looked Like A Run In The Mill Retard That Fell In A Hole =D
I love Carrie, but I wouldn't really call it scary. Actually, it's sad. Carrie makes me cry. De Palma does a great job with it, although the TV movie/remake wasn't bad (note: Stephen King was NOT involved with the TV movie).
Yes, I also do agree, I it very sad,than horror…
After i watched The Ring (english version) I had to sleep with my lights on, The Shining definitely deserves number 1 though
theDEFENESTRATOR: You will love Carrie – it is brilliant.
Parahnus: I agree – the Japanese just manage to make great horror.
Reea: Have you seen the Japanese version? If not, I recommend it.
I watched Carrie last night. How odd.