Dream Horror
by cat-dentures | created - 22 Sep 2012 | updated - 14 Oct 2021 | PublicSome of my favorite horror films that I find to be stylish, surreal and/or dream-like. Mostly going by atmosphere and colors, though there are a few black and white films here as well.
Not too many recent films fit the specific mood/feel so a lot have been excluded.
There are a few non-horror films included as well, since they had horror elements or just an eerie atmosphere to them.
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1. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Votes: 70,074
2. Vampyr (1932)
Not Rated | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror
A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz
Votes: 20,524
3. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 427,065 | Gross: $3.20M
Classic. Lush, vivid colors. Dreamy atmosphere.
4. Mill of the Stone Women (1960)
Approved | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
In 19th century Holland, a professor of fine arts and an unlicensed surgeon run a secret lab where the professor's ill daughter receives blood-transfusions from kidnapped female victims who posthumously become macabre art.
Director: Giorgio Ferroni | Stars: Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel
Votes: 2,091
In wonderful eerie technicolor. The final scene still gives me the creeps.
5. The Innocents (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Horror
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 33,073 | Gross: $2.62M
A classic. and has probably one of the creepiest scenes set in full daylight.
6. Carnival of Souls (1962)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Mystery
After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
Director: Herk Harvey | Stars: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist, Sidney Berger, Art Ellison
Votes: 27,829
Because an abandoned carnival is the perfect setting for surreal horror.
7. 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: 235,282
One of Polanski's best. Eerie to the very end.
8. The House That Screamed (1969)
GP | 94 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A strict headmistress runs a secluded school for wayward girls in 19th century France, whose students are disappearing under mysterious circumstances.
Director: Narciso Ibáñez Serrador | Stars: Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Maribel Martín
Votes: 4,126
Has one of my favorite beautifully shot death scenes in a movie.
9. Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
GP | 89 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A recently institutionalized woman has bizarre experiences after moving into a supposedly haunted country farmhouse and fears she may be losing her sanity once again.
Director: John D. Hancock | Stars: Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Kevin O'Connor, Gretchen Corbett
Votes: 9,313
Atmospheric and creepy with a great unnerving score and that damn whispering that gives you the shivers.
10. Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery
An American journalist temporarily stationed in Central Europe searches for his new girlfriend, who has suddenly disappeared.
Director: Aldo Lado | Stars: Ingrid Thulin, Jean Sorel, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bach
Votes: 3,672
Intriguing Italian giallo with similarities to Eyes Wide Shut. The very final scene at the hospital was absolutely chilling.
11. Images (1972)
R | 104 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Whilst writing a children's book, a woman interrupted by images unsure if they may, or may not be real
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois, Marcel Bozzuffi, Hugh Millais
Votes: 7,757
Amazing dreamlike and surreal imagery and a most fantastic unsettling minimalistic score by John Williams.
12. Don't Look Now (1973)
R | 110 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania
Votes: 62,345 | Gross: $0.98M
Beautifully-shot film. So many memorable scenes.
13. The Iron Rose (1973)
TV-MA | 86 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A young couple out for a walk decide to take a stroll through a large cemetery. As darkness begins to fall they realize they can't find their way out, and soon their fears begin to overtake them.
Director: Jean Rollin | Stars: Françoise Pascal, Hugues Quester, Natalie Perrey, Mireille Dargent
Votes: 2,300
Gorgeous atmosphere, beautiful cemetery shots, fantastic soundtrack.
14. Dead of Night (1974)
PG | 88 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A young soldier killed in the Vietnam War inexplicably shows up at his family home on the night of his death.
Director: Bob Clark | Stars: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Henderson Forsythe
Votes: 6,002 | Gross: $0.03M
Quiet and a bit slow-moving, but still eerie.
15. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)
R | 95 min | Horror
A cop chases two hippies suspected of a series of Manson family-like murders; unbeknownst to him, the real culprits are the living dead, brought to life with a hunger for human flesh by ultrasonic radiation being used for pest control.
Director: Jorge Grau | Stars: Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy, Aldo Massasso
Votes: 9,321
16. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 41,054 | Gross: $0.23M
A well-known favorite of many. Very dreamy and unsettling.
17. Footprints on the Moon (1975)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After being tormented by dreams about astronauts on the moon, a translator visits a deserted seaside town whose inhabitants know her, although she does not know them.
Directors: Luigi Bazzoni, Mario Fanelli | Stars: Florinda Bolkan, Peter McEnery, Nicoletta Elmi, Caterina Boratto
Votes: 2,510
18. Burnt Offerings (1976)
PG | 116 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 13,614
One of the better haunted house films I've seen.
19. Suspiria (1977)
R | 92 min | Horror
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé
Votes: 105,477
Another cult favorite. Great use of color and a pretty shocking opening scene (at least it was unexpected for me).
20. House (1977)
Not Rated | 88 min | Comedy, Horror
A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted.
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Stars: Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Kumiko Ôba, Ai Matsubara
Votes: 33,743
Wasn't sure whether to classify this as comedy or horror. It's just one big surreal (but fun) mess.
21. Eraserhead (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 127,522 | Gross: $7.00M
Strange cult favorite with a superb ambient soundtrack mixed with industrial noise.
22. Fascination (1979)
Not Rated | 80 min | Horror
A runaway criminal breaks into an eerie chateau, taking its two frightened chambermaids hostage. As night falls, a group of mysterious aristocratic women arrive and the criminal begins to realize the women are hiding a sinister secret.
Director: Jean Rollin | Stars: Franca Maï, Brigitte Lahaie, Jean-Marie Lemaire, Fanny Magier
Votes: 3,553
Fantastic colors and soundtrack, and so many memorable scenes. A wonderful surreal horror dream.
23. 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: 1,107,131 | Gross: $44.02M
One of my all-time favorites (not even in horror, just in movies in general). Just perfect horror that gets under your skin and stays with you.
24. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,032 | Gross: $21.38M
25. Dead & Buried (1981)
R | 94 min | Horror, Mystery
Sheriff Dan Gillis investigates eerie deaths in a sleepy coastal town.
Director: Gary Sherman | Stars: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield
Votes: 14,925 | Gross: $0.22M
26. One Dark Night (1982)
PG | 89 min | Horror
As part of an initiation into a club called the Sisters, a young girl must spend the night in a mausoleum.
Directors: Tom McLoughlin, Michael Schroeder | Stars: Meg Tilly, Melissa Newman, Robin Evans, Leslie Speights
Votes: 3,755
Rather cheesy in some parts, but the scenes in the mausoleum are fantastic.
27. The Hunger (1983)
R | 97 min | Drama, Horror
A love triangle develops between a beautiful yet dangerous vampire (Catherine Deneuve), her cellist companion (David Bowie), and a gerontologist (Susan Sarandon).
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young
Votes: 29,056 | Gross: $5.98M
Stylish 80's vampire flick.
28. Revenge of the Dead (1983)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery
Stefano, a young journalist, buys a used typewriter and accidentally sees that some text is still readable on the ribbon. He manages to reconstruct the story of a scientist, Paolo Zeder, ... See full summary »
Director: Pupi Avati | Stars: Gabriele Lavia, Anne Canovas, Paola Tanziani, Cesare Barbetti
Votes: 2,480
Neat little twist on the undead genre.
29. Poslední lup (1987)
Not Rated | 21 min | Animation, Short, Crime
A sarcastic story about a thief who becomes the victim of his own victims. His victims come from the other world and take his most precious possession - his blood. The phantasmal atmosphere... See full summary »
Director: Jirí Barta | Stars: Frantisek Husák, Zdenek Martínek, Ivan Vojtek, Martin Safr
Votes: 476
Wonderful atmosphere, colors and music. Not full-on horror, but with elements of horror anyway.
30. Paperhouse (1988)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy
A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Charlotte Burke, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill, Glenne Headly
Votes: 6,283 | Gross: $0.24M
Cult favorite. Beautiful and eerie scenes of a child's dream.
31. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
R | 159 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Todd Field, Sydney Pollack
Votes: 375,277 | Gross: $55.69M
Still gives me the creeps many years later. but such wonderful use of colors and surreal scenes that have been burned into my memory.
32. 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: 393,343 | Gross: $96.52M
Very well-done modern horror with a great atmosphere reminiscent of older films.
33. Inland Empire (2006)
R | 180 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
As an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Karolina Gruszka, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Grace Zabriskie, Laura Dern
Votes: 62,117 | Gross: $0.75M
A bit difficult to get through. I ended up falling asleep halfway through (not through boredom but more like hypnosis) and had such strange and vivid fever dreams. It was wonderful.
34. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
Not Rated | 77 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Surreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.
Director: Jaromil Jires | Stars: Jaroslava Schallerová, Helena Anýzová, Petr Kopriva, Jirí Prýmek
Votes: 11,235
35. Viy (1967)
Not Rated | 77 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
Directors: Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov, Aleksandr Ptushko | Stars: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, Nikolay Kutuzov
Votes: 9,353
36. Lost Things (2003)
R | 83 min | Horror, Thriller
Four teenagers escape to a deserted beach for a weekend of discovery, only to find that their dreams turn into nightmares
Director: Martin Murphy | Stars: Leon Ford, Lenka, Steve Le Marquand, Charlie Garber
Votes: 1,016
37. The Changeling (1980)
R | 107 min | Horror, Mystery
After the death of his wife and daughter in a car crash, a music professor staying at a long-vacant Seattle mansion is dragged into a decades-old mystery by an inexplicable presence in the mansion's attic.
Director: Peter Medak | Stars: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, Jean Marsh
Votes: 40,033
38. Anguish (1987)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
A controlling mother uses telepathic powers to send her middle-aged son on a killing spree.
Director: Bigas Luna | Stars: Zelda Rubinstein, Michael Lerner, Talia Paul, Àngel Jové
Votes: 4,307 | Gross: $0.23M
39. Possession (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Horror
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Director: Andrzej Zulawski | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent
Votes: 42,890 | Gross: $1.11M
40. The Keep (1983)
R | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Scott Glenn, Ian McKellen, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow
Votes: 14,312 | Gross: $3.76M
41. Under the Skin (I) (2013)
R | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell
Votes: 158,283 | Gross: $2.61M
42. Braid (2018)
R | 82 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
Two wanted women decide to rob their wealthy psychotic friend who lives in the fantasy world they created as children; to take the money they have to take part in a deadly perverse game of make believe.
Director: Mitzi Peirone | Stars: Madeline Brewer, Kurt Affair, Imogen Waterhouse, Sarah Hay
Votes: 4,014
43. Annihilation (I) (2018)
R | 115 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Benedict Wong
Votes: 361,719 | Gross: $32.73M
44. Mandy (I) (2018)
Not Rated | 121 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
The enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.
Director: Panos Cosmatos | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy
Votes: 89,542 | Gross: $1.21M
45. Color Out of Space (2019)
Unrated | 111 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A secluded farm is struck by a strange meteorite which has apocalyptic consequences for the family living there and possibly the world.
Director: Richard Stanley | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Elliot Knight
Votes: 56,268
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