Last Updated on 26 September 2024
The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 300 best horror movies of all time.
I found 19 different ranked lists online of “best horror movies of all time” and pulled them all into Excel and merged them all to get this definitive compilation. See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including links to all 19 lists that were averaged. This list is also on IMDb. Below is a checklist you can print to track which ones you’ve seen, followed by the ranked list with links to IMDb.
- Psycho (1960)
- Alien (1979)
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
- Halloween (1978)
- The Shining (1980)
- Jaws (1975)
- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
- The Exorcist (1973)
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
- The Thing (1982)
- Nosferatu (1922)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
- Carrie (1976)
- Get Out (2017)
- The Innocents (1961)
- Don’t Look Now (1973)
- The Fly (1986)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- Repulsion (1965)
- The Birds (1963)
- Evil Dead II (1987)
- Let the Right One In (2008)
- Suspiria (1977)
- The Babadook (2014)
- The Wicker Man (1973)
- Eyes Without a Face (1960)
- It Follows (2014)
- 28 Days Later… (2002)
- The Witch (2015)
- The Evil Dead (1981)
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- Freaks (1932)
- Peeping Tom (1960)
- The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
- Poltergeist (1982)
- An American Werewolf in London (1981)
- Shaun of the Dead (2004)
- Audition (1999)
- Hereditary (2018)
- Scream (1996)
- A Quiet Place (2018)
- The Descent (2005)
- King Kong (1933)
- Aliens (1986)
- The Omen (1976)
- Eraserhead (1977)
- Deep Red (1975)
- The Haunting (1963)
- Dracula (1931)
- The Conjuring (2013)
- Cat People (1942)
- Vampyr (1932)
- Drag Me to Hell (2009)
- Re-Animator (1985)
- The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
- Diabolique (1955)
- Dead of Night (1945)
- The Invisible Man (1933)
- The Sixth Sense (1999)
- Us (2019)
- The Others (2001)
- Videodrome (1983)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
- The Host (2006)
- Carnival of Souls (1962)
- It (2017)
- REC (2007)
- Hellraiser (1987)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
- The Orphanage (2007)
- The Invisible Man (2020)
- Train to Busan (2016)
- Kairo (Pulse) (2001)
- Misery (1990)
- Black Christmas (1974)
- Possession (1981)
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
- The Lighthouse (2019)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
- Black Sunday (1960)
- Friday the 13th (1980)
- Ringu (1998)
- Godzilla (1954)
- Ready or Not (2019)
- Saw (2004)
- Near Dark (1987)
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
- House of Wax (1953)
- The Vanishing (1988)
- Martyrs (2008)
- The Fog (1980)
- I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
- Candyman (1992)
- The Love Witch (2016)
- Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
- Paranormal Activity (2007)
- Hour of the Wolf (1968)
- Kwaidan (1964)
- Harpoon (2019)
- Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
- The Mist (2007)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- Under the Skin (2013)
- Midsommar (2019)
- The Changeling (1980)
- Don’t Breathe (2016)
- Raw (2016)
- Zombieland (2009)
- Under the Shadow (2016)
- Host (2020)
- It (1990)
- The Addiction (1995)
- Mandy (2018)
- Day of the Dead (1985)
- The Beyond (1981)
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
- Se7en (1995)
- The Devils (1971)
- The Wolf Man (1941)
- The Tenant (1976)
- It Comes At Night (2017)
- Phantasm (1979)
- Insidious (2010)
- Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
- The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
- The Brood (1979)
- The Skin I Live In (2011)
- The Last House on the Left (1972)
- The Ring (2002)
- They Live (1988)
- Let Me In (2010)
- Black Sabbath (1963)
- Goodnight Mommy (2014)
- The Strangers (2008)
- The Wailing (2016)
- The Loved Ones (2009)
- Gremlins (1984)
- Horror of Dracula (1958)
- Gerald’s Game (2017)
- Wait Until Dark (1967)
- The Wolf House (2018)
- House on Haunted Hill (1959)
- I Saw the Devil (2010)
- The Fly (1958)
- The Funhouse (1981)
- Ginger Snaps (2000)
- One Cut of the Dead (2017)
- What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
- Creepshow (1982)
- High Tension (2003)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
- Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)
- Funny Games (1997)
- Les Vampires (1915)
- Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
- Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992)
- We Are Still Here (2015)
- The Lost Boys (1987)
- Halloween (2018)
- [REC] 2 (2009)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
- Inside (2007)
- Onibaba (1964)
- Dead Ringers (1988)
- Revenge (2017)
- The Seventh Victim (1943)
- Häxan (1922)
- Pet Sematary (1989)
- The Howling (1981)
- Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
- Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
- The Amityville Horror (1979)
- The Leopard Man (1943)
- The Old Dark House (1932)
- Wolf Creek (2005)
- May (2002)
- Army of Darkness (1992)
- Cronos (1993)
- Trouble Every Day (2001)
- The Dead Zone (1983)
- Sinister (2012)
- Stree (2018)
- Village of the Damned (1960)
- Crawl (2019)
- 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
- Children of the Corn (1984)
- Dressed to Kill (1980)
- Taxidermia (2006)
- You’re Next (2011)
- The Devil’s Rejects (2005)
- Evil Dead (2013)
- Jeepers Creepers (2001)
- Starfish (2018)
- Session 9 (2001)
- The Endless (2017)
- Tremors (1990)
- In Fabric (2018)
- Opera (1987)
- The Conjuring 2 (2016)
- Antichrist (2009)
- Kill, Baby… Kill! (1966)
- Bone Tomahawk (2015)
- The Hitcher (1986)
- Curse of the Demon (1957)
- Fright Night (1985)
- The Phantom Carriage (1921)
- Child’s Play (1988)
- Halloween II (1981)
- House (1977)
- God Told Me To (1976)
- Demons (1985)
- The Legend of Hell House (1973)
- Frailty (2001)
- Final Destination (2000)
- Society (1989)
- The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
- The Devil’s Candy (2015)
- The House of the Devil (2009)
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
- Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
- A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
- Hush (2016)
- Sisters (1972)
- Dawn of the Dead (2004)
- The Mummy (1932)
- Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)
- Better Watch Out (2016)
- Slither (2006)
- Asylum (1972)
- Martin (1977)
- Grindhouse (2007)
- The Unknown (1927)
- Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002)
- Frankenweenie (2012)
- Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)
- Mulholland Dr. (2001)
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
- Salem’s Lot (1979)
- A Bay of Blood (1971)
- The Blob (1958)
- The Amityville Horror (2005)
- The Lodger (1944)
- From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)
- Cam (2018)
- The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
- A Page of Madness (1926)
- Ravenous (1999)
- Silent Hill (2006)
- Upgrade (2018)
- The Witches (1990)
- Suspiria (2018)
- The Spiral Staircase (1946)
- Creep 2 (2017)
- We Are What We Are (2013)
- The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
- The Invitation (2015)
- La Llorona (2019)
- Blackfoot Trail (2014)
- 30 Days of Night (2007)
- Starry Eyes (2014)
- American Psycho (2000)
- 1408 (2007)
- Hangover Square (1945)
- Inland Empire (2006)
- We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
- Lake Mungo (2008)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- Beetlejuice (1988)
- Blood and Black Lace (1964)
- Ganja & Hess (1973)
- The Grudge (2004)
- Green Room (2015)
- Cujo (1983)
- Bug (2006)
- Son of Frankenstein (1939)
- The Thing from Another World (1951)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors (1987)
- Island of Lost Souls (1932)
- What Lies Beneath (2000)
- Dead & Buried (1981)
- Oculus (2013)
- 13 Ghosts (1960)
- In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
- Predator (1987)
- Zombie (1979)
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
- Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- Basket Case (1982)
- Frenzy (1972)
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)