Favorite horror movies
by Delander9 | created - 28 Oct 2013 | updated - 08 May 2014 | PublicAlong with Halloween I thought it would be appropriate to share a top 20 list of my all time favorite horror flicks. I must say, it wasn't easy. I rate by the rewatchability factor in this list, aswell as the love I feel for the movies.
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1. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,040
2. The Conjuring (2013)
R | 112 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor
Votes: 554,588 | Gross: $137.40M
James Wan's best film ever. As you can tell I'm a big fan of his and I just fell in love with the characters and the story of this movie. I will not go in depth with this movie, I really suggest you go check it out. It will affect you in one way or the other.
-Oliver
3. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,072 | Gross: $44.02M
Beautiful and brilliant cinematography. It's my number one pick because it's eminently rewatchable and I discover new things every time I watch it. It's so much more than just a movie, it's a work of art.
-Oliver
4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,534 | Gross: $30.86M
I love the gritty look of the film and you feel uncomfortable through the whole movie. It has the kind of realness to it that new movies don't have, it's very raw and not overly edited. The first appearance of Leatherface describes my previous statement the best, he's menacing without any jumpscare sound effects.
-Oliver
5. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,763 | Gross: $232.91M
6. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,449 | Gross: $61.28M
This movie gets under your skin, it's nerve racking and for me it's not easy to sit through this movie. Hands down to Kathy Bates performance in this movie, what a talent.
-Oliver
7. The House of the Devil (2009)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery
In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Director: Ti West | Stars: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig
Votes: 51,238 | Gross: $0.10M
8. Jaws (1975)
PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
Votes: 659,200 | Gross: $260.00M
Jaws shows us how to create a masterpiece without a huge budget. Classic movie and classic score.
-Oliver
9. Insidious (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye
Votes: 338,925 | Gross: $54.01M
A complete masterpiece. It's groundbreaking and it's in my opinion one of the best horror movies ever made. That's kind of a bold statement but I can't say that any movie scared me more than this one.
-Oliver
10. It (1990)
TV-14 | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown.
Stars: Richard Thomas, Tim Reid, Annette O'Toole, Harry Anderson
Votes: 140,837
This "movie" has always been so adventurous for me. The bond between the children who decided to fight this thing together. This mini-series deserves a top notch blu-ray release for sure, I hope to see that sometime in the future. (Fingers crossed).
-Oliver
11. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,547,605 | Gross: $130.74M
Hannibal Lecter is my favorite movie villain of all time. The most interesting character ever put on film. I enjoy the sequels but they're not as good as Silence of the lambs by any stretch of the imagination.
-Oliver
12. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,370 | Gross: $25.50M
Just a timeless classic. What ever you do, don't fall asleep watching this movie. (Why would anyone do that?). I love it to death.
13. The Others (2001)
PG-13 | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann
Votes: 393,108 | Gross: $96.52M
I love the atmosphear and the tension in this movie, it never fails to make me feel uneased. It captures the hazy autumn of the island so good that I almost feel claustrophobic in a way. This is in my opinion one of the best performances by Nicole Kidman, she looks very beautiful in this film.
-Oliver
14. Saw (2004)
R | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Two strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Ken Leung
Votes: 466,532 | Gross: $56.00M
Saw is definitely a movie of my time and is probably the most popular horror movie of people in my age(almost 20). I consider it a classic already. It was James Wan's breakthrough and out of that came some great horror titles, it's a shame that he doesn't want to continue making more horror movies anymore. He's one of the great director's of out time.
15. Evil Dead II (1987)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva
Votes: 181,858 | Gross: $5.92M
Sam Raimi goes over the top to say the least. It's a hell of a ride. I'm all for the cheesy one-liners and the dark humour.
I showed this movie to my buddies who had not seen it, a couple of beers later we found ourselves laughing incessantly.
-Oliver
16. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
PG-13 | 99 min | Horror
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
Votes: 217,425 | Gross: $42.10M
I have always had a soft-spot for old and wrinkly ladies (not in a good kind of way). Ever since I saw Disney's Snow White when I was a kid, I've been terrified by witches and old ladies. I seriously almost shat myself, next time I will most likely wear an adult diper just in case. Luckily no accident occurred thanks to some classic Sam Raimi's fun tension release.
If I have to complain about this movie it has to be the god awful CGI effects. I can still see pass that and enjoy the movie though.
-Oliver
17. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 949,996 | Gross: $78.90M
18. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,583 | Gross: $33.80M
19. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,691 | Gross: $47.00M
No horror list of any kind would be complete without the all time classic John Carpenter's Halloween. The build up and the suspense makes this movie stand out side by side with the other slasher movies. With an emotionless mask and a man of pure evil hiding behind it you can't go wrong. Michael Myers is one of my favorite movie villains of all time.
-Oliver
20. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,719 | Gross: $2.12M
I haven't seen this movie since it came out but I remember almost all of it and that has to be a good sign. I remember our teacher in school showing us this movie without mentioning the fact that it was a vampire flick. I have to say that the effect was very cool when it dawned on me. This movie feels so real in the sense of that it actually could happen. It gets very dark and I like that, most movies nowdays don't dare to go that gritty path anylonger.
"Let the right one in" is by far one (if not) of the best vampire movies out there.
-Oliver
21. Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Horror
Affable hillbillies Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin when they are mistaken for murderers by a group of preppy college students.
Director: Eli Craig | Stars: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss
Votes: 193,464 | Gross: $0.22M
I can't say enough good things about this movie, it surprised me alot.
I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this movie but darn I was wrong. The chemistry between the main characters was just hilarious and the movie makes fun of all the typical horror clichés in such a fun and cool way. Just to point out, I rarely "laugh out loud" when I watch movies all by myself but this had me cracking up a couple of times. I highly recommend "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil".
-Oliver
22. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,324 | Gross: $2.40M
I know... I've got every Evil Dead title in this list but they deserve it. This movie introduced me to the horror genre. I was 12 with my head down in the overfull DVD bin of cheap B-horror titles in the local movie store, I grabbed the one that had an image with an undead girl locked in a cellar on the back of the DVD. It must have been faith.
My friend and I watched it the same night and we giggled through the entire movie, not out of amusement but with fear. Disturbing.
-Oliver
23. Evil Dead (2013)
R | 91 min | Horror
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Director: Fede Alvarez | Stars: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci
Votes: 197,186 | Gross: $54.24M
This movie succeded in what it was supposed to do. It gave me what I wanted and even a little more. It's not an easy quest to do a different take on the beloved classic from 1981, but I can't see that it could have been any better as a remake. When they said it was going to be an almost non CGI movie I farted by happiness and the practical effects turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I feel that the movie will hold up over time because of that fact. I'm glad that they kept some of the quintessential elements of the original but also that they added some new that I really dug.
I'm a fan to the originals but I'm not one of the anal kind, I appreciate some refreshness to the franchise.
-Oliver
24. Dracula (1931)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
Directors: Tod Browning, Karl Freund | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye
Votes: 58,608
25. Horror of Dracula (1958)
Not Rated | 82 min | Drama, Horror
When Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling
Votes: 27,962
The music is so powerfull and effective in this film, it gives me shivers down my spine til this day, given the age of the film. I think Christopher Lee makes the best "Count Dracula" look-wise. His majestic waving cape and his dreadful piercing eyes. The only minor complaint I have would be that I want my Dracula with a romanian accent.
26. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Unrated | 90 min | Horror
Ten years after his demise, Count Dracula is resurrected by his servant and preys on four unsuspecting English tourists who have taken shelter in his castle.
Director: Terence Fisher | Stars: Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Andrew Keir, Francis Matthews
Votes: 10,867 | Gross: $0.80M
27. REC (2007)
R | 78 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza | Stars: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Pablo Rosso
Votes: 196,501
28. Fright Night (1985)
R | 106 min | Horror
"Fright Night" sees a teenager believing that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire. He turns to an actor in a television hosted horror movie show for help to deal with the undead.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Roddy McDowall
Votes: 78,613 | Gross: $24.92M
29. Army of Darkness (1992)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
When Ash Williams is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead in order to return home.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie
Votes: 194,301 | Gross: $11.50M
This endlessly quoteable sequel is the one film from the "Evil Dead franchise" that I rewatch the most. I've always been a sucker for time traveling in movies and this one does it in such a fun and bizarre way.
Hail to the king baby!
-Oliver
30. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
R | 101 min | Action, Horror
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Jake Weber
Votes: 272,354 | Gross: $59.02M
31. Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
PG-13 | 106 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
The Lamberts believe that they have defeated the spirits that have haunted their family, but they soon discover that evil is not beaten so easily.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Lin Shaye
Votes: 188,741 | Gross: $83.59M
32. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Five college friends head out to a remote cabin for a getaway, but things don't go as planned when they start getting killed. They soon discover that there is more to the cabin than it seems.
Director: Drew Goddard | Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz
Votes: 450,518 | Gross: $42.07M
33. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Horror
The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis
Votes: 593,731 | Gross: $13.54M
34. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.
Director: Dan O'Bannon | Stars: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews
Votes: 68,873 | Gross: $14.24M
35. 28 Days Later (2002)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
Votes: 445,406 | Gross: $45.06M
36. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
R | 100 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Robert Carlyle, Harold Perrineau
Votes: 293,672 | Gross: $28.64M
37. The Descent (2005)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
Director: Neil Marshall | Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Votes: 246,827 | Gross: $26.02M
38. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,809 | Gross: $40.46M
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