The 25 Best Horror Films
by marloannshedlock | created - 15 Jul 2011 | updated - 15 Jul 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 312,818 | Gross: $232.91M
2. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, History, Horror
A lawyer takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest who performed an exorcism on a young girl.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Campbell Scott
Votes: 106,132 | Gross: $75.07M
3. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple moves in to an apartment only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 158,142
4. The Ring (2002)
PG-13 | 115 min | Horror, Mystery
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone in a week of viewing it.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman
Votes: 283,296 | Gross: $129.13M
5. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner
Votes: 91,460 | Gross: $4.27M
6. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 207,224 | Gross: $140.54M
7. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 200,371 | Gross: $107.92M
8. Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
R | 91 min | Horror
After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem.
Director: Tod Williams | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Molly Ephraim, David Bierend
Votes: 89,396 | Gross: $84.75M
9. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Not Rated | 83 min | Horror
Two siblings and three of their friends en route to visit their grandfather's grave in Texas end up falling victim to a family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 111,899 | Gross: $30.86M
10. The Grudge (2004)
PG-13 | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, William Mapother
Votes: 126,165 | Gross: $110.36M
11. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
R | 101 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
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: 211,332 | Gross: $59.02M
12. Quarantine (2008)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
A television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC, after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.
Director: John Erick Dowdle | Stars: Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Columbus Short, Jay Hernandez
Votes: 62,505 | Gross: $31.69M
13. 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: 236,058 | Gross: $54.01M
14. 28 Weeks Later (2007)
R | 100 min | Drama, 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 to plan.
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Robert Carlyle, Harold Perrineau
Votes: 231,620 | Gross: $28.64M
15. The Strangers (2008)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
Director: Bryan Bertino | Stars: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Alex Fisher
Votes: 103,268 | Gross: $52.60M
16. Them (2006)
R | 77 min | Horror, Thriller
Lucas and Clementine live peacefully in their isolated country house, but one night they wake up to strange noise... they're not alone... and a group of hooded assailants begin to terrorize them throughout the night.
Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud | Stars: Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Mocca, Maria Roman
Votes: 26,528
17. High Tension (2003)
R | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Cécile de France, Maïwenn, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun
Votes: 60,003 | Gross: $3.68M
18. Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)
R | 112 min | Horror
A couple of English tourists arrive on an island where all the children have gone crazy and are murdering the adults.
Director: Narciso Ibáñez Serrador | Stars: Lewis Fiander, Prunella Ransome, Antonio Iranzo, Miguel Narros
Votes: 5,183
19. [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: 145,551
20. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 715,816 | Gross: $44.02M
21. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror
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: 141,583 | Gross: $33.80M
22. Pet Sematary (1989)
R | 103 min | Horror, Thriller
Behind a young family's home in Maine is a terrible secret that holds the power of life after death. When tragedy strikes, the threat of that power soon becomes undeniable.
Director: Mary Lambert | Stars: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne, Brad Greenquist
Votes: 73,282 | Gross: $57.47M
23. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
R | 107 min | Crime, Horror
The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape a vengeful police force which is not afraid of being as ruthless as their target.
Director: Rob Zombie | Stars: Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, William Forsythe
Votes: 82,499 | Gross: $17.04M
24. Case 39 (2009)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A social worker fights to save a girl from her abusive parents, only to discover that the situation is more dangerous than she ever expected.
Director: Christian Alvart | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Ian McShane, Jodelle Ferland, Bradley Cooper
Votes: 67,229 | Gross: $13.25M
25. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp which, years before, was the site of a child's drowning.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 96,784 | Gross: $39.75M
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