Movies like The Exorcist and Hereditary have established themselves as some of the scariest of the scary, inspiring nightmares for even the bravest with their intense and effective scares, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to horror films. In the long history of the genre, multiple films have had audiences squirming and on the edge of their seats, watching the action unfold.
Ranging from creature features, to paranormal hauntings, to good-old slashers, these horror films have become classics in their own right due to their chilling storylines and frightening effects. With plenty from incredible directors featuring amazing performances from dedicated actors, these incredible films are sure to have viewers shaking in their seats.
10 ‘The Thing’ (1982)
Based on the John W. Campbell Jr. novella “Who Goes There?”, The Thing is a science fiction film set in an isolated research facility in Antarctica where a group of scientists encounters an extraterrestrial life form that can seamlessly assimilate into other lifeforms, imitating them perfectly. Not knowing who they can trust, the group escalates into aggression and paranoia as they try to eliminate the alien thing.
This chilling tale of distrust and violence, led by Kurt Russel as R.J. MacReady, was met with some harsh criticism upon its release for its cold nihilistic tone, but that is only what makes it all the more terrifying. The idea of someone close being a deadly monster is a classic fear, and it is only enhanced in the film by the stunningly disgusting special effects that bring the creature to life.
9 ‘Ringu’ (1998)
Ringu, based on the novel by Koji Suzuki, follows journalist Reiko Asakawa as she investigates the sudden death of her niece. In her search she uncovers a mysterious videotape that curses whoever watches it to die in seven days at the hands of Sadako, a terrifying ghoul in the form of a young girl that crawls from a screen to real life to take its victims.
It is also considered one of the best horror films of all time, inspiring the US remake The Ring starring Naomi Watts and creating a horror icon with monster girl Sadako. This timeless Japanese movie combines traditional supernatural elements with the technology of its time to create an anxiety inducing narrative with haunting imagery that has been the source of plenty of nightmares.
8 ‘The Fly’ (1986)
The Fly is a science-fiction horror film that follows scientist Seth Brundle’s (Jeff Goldblum) newest invention: two pods that can teleport objects between them. As he develops the machine alongside reporter Veronica (Geena Davis), one of the experiments goes wrong and transforms him into a human-fly hybrid.
With this film David Cronenberg took a 1958 creature-feature and ramped up the grotesque factor of the plot to its full potential in his remake, resulting in a tragic and gory fable of the dangers of playing god. The transformation Brundle goes through is nothing short of horrifying as his body becomes less and less human and crosses over to a disgusting and unrecognizable monster.
7 ‘Psycho’ (1960)
Classic psychological horror thriller Psycho follows on-the-run secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) as she stays in the remote Bates Motel manned by shy and polite Norman Bates who seems to take an interest in Marion. With her disappearance her lover and her sister look for her, landing in the Motel where they soon realize there is something sinister going on.
Director Alfred Hitchcock crafted a masterful movie filled with suspense that keeps the viewer engaged and afraid through incredible camera work and editing. Although it’s not as gory or violent as other horror films it doesn’t need to be as this groundbreaking thriller continues to terrify audiences more than 60 years later
6 ‘Hellraiser’ (1987)
This brutalist supernatural horror film revolves around a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, a group of extra dimensional beings who do not differentiate between pain and pleasure. When Frank Cotton’s (Sean Chapman) search for gratification leads him to this box, him and others around him find themselves subjected to violent sadomasochistic games.
Hellraiser was based on director’s Clive Barker own novella The Hellbound Heart, and he brought his vision to life in an atmospheric and intelligent film that pulls no punches with its gore. With the intensity only ramping up as the film goes, this psychosexual movie is a shocking and hair-raising classic that was re-imagined recently in a 2022 reboot, proving the Cenobites are just as scary as ever.
5 ‘An American Werewolf In London’ (1981)
An American Werewolf In London is about college students from the US David and Jack (David Naughton & Griffin Dunne) as they are backpacking through England when one night they are attacked. The two of them are left completely changed as one of them becomes undead, and the other is now a werewolf.
This horror film is actually a comedy too with plenty of humor mixed in with the gore, but it doesn’t make it any less scary as its stunning practical effects make the body horror intensely unnerving and the inevitable transformation all the more tragic. This werewolf movie changed the genre, establishing itself as a crucial staple of the bone-tingling myth of Lycantropy.
4 ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street follows Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), who along with her friends starts having nightmares of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a murdered child-killer with burnt skin and a razor-fingered glove. As her friends start dying in their sleep, Nancy realizes she will have to stay awake to stay alive.
With a twist on the normal killer stalker following the characters inside their dreams instead of real life the stakes are raised as it makes it impossible to just run away, instead having to fight one’s own body in order to escape alive. With a creeping sense of dread running throughout the film, it’s not hard to see why this movie has permeated itself into nightmares all around the world.
3 ‘Halloween’ (1978)
From John Carpenter, Halloween follows teenage babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) as she is stalked by a masked killer who has escaped from a sanitarium. As his psychiatrist tries to find him before It’s too late, Laurie will have to fight for her life in order to survive the night.
Launching Curtis’s career, this October classic revolutionized the horror genre by popularizing the masked stalking killer in Michael Myers, the stuff of nightmares. Considered one of the best slasher movies of all time, this grippingly tense tale of a hunter and its prey is able to terrify all throughout the film.
2 ‘The Shining’ (1980)
Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining follows the Torrance family, comprised by Jack (Jack Nicholson), Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) as they stay in the isolated Overlook Hotel during their winter off-season. When a winter storm leaves them alone and snowbound, paranormal events start to occur, but Jack’s deteriorating sanity may be the biggest danger of them all.
Based on the Stephen King novel and filmed in the allegedly haunted Stanley Hotel that inspired the book, this psychological horror is crafted to instill a permeating sense of dread from the moment the family arrives at their hotel. With terrific performances from Nicholson and Duvall this film showing the disintegration of a family unit makes for a spine-chilling watch.
1 ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1974)
As gruesome as the title suggests, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre starts with a group of teens on a road trip whose car breaks down, forcing them to look for help in a nearby farmhouse. What they find instead is a family of cannibals led by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface who are keen to make them their next meal.
With an intense suffocating atmosphere, this slasher is considered one of the scariest movies of all time due to its terrifying villains, blood soaked action and gritty setting seeped in realism. With a strongly intelligent script, this searing hot horror is one of the most horrifying nightmares ever put to film.