The 100 Top Horror Movies of All Time from Best-Horror-Movies.com
Best-Horror-Movies.com presents the 100 Top Horror Movies of all time, updated for 2009!
Welcome to the Fourth Annual 100 Top Horror Movies list, now even better and more in line with the reality of Horror! The 100 Top Horror Movies List for 2009 has it all: U.S. Big Studio Horror, Independent Horror, Hammer Horror, Classic Horror, Foreign Horror, Creature Features - truly the Best Horror Movies for the Discerning Horror Freak.
How you use the most complete listing of the Top horror movies is, of course, up to you. Here are some suggestions for:
The Horror Novice:
This is a comprehensive list of the best horror available, so getting right to it from number 100 and watching all the way down to the number 1 is a reasonable plan... but if you are a true novice then we recommend the Horror Beginner's Shelf. This will expose you to all of the major horror sub-genres as well as creature features and foreign horror and create a solid horror foundation. Once you graduate from this indoctrination move on to the next phase of horror freakdom with:
Horror Aficionado:
There will be many films on the Top 100 Horror Movies list that you have seen already - possibly many times. Most of them deserve multiple viewings though, so you may just want to print the list and start at 100 working downward. With proper timing and focus you should be in the top 20 in time for the days leading to Halloween
Horror Addict:
The Top 100 Horror Movies are perfect for an extended Netflix queue, and you can be set for horror all year long. Populate your queue with the Top 100 Horror Movies and then visit the Confessions of a Horror Movie Addict to share your story.
Horror Expert:
There will certainly be questions (along with rants and raves) about this list of the Top 100 Horror Movies. Before you email me, be armed with the thought process behind the rankings... Read the Rating Methodology.
Browse the *Top 100 Horror Movies
* on Amazon if you like the hard part done for you! We have done the searches, assembled the reviews and found the prices. Take a look!
So, onward Horror Freaks to the 100 Greatest Horror Movies of all time, updated and expanded for 2009!
100. Final Destination (2000, Directed by James Wong)
99. Dead Ringers (1988, Directed by David Cronenberg)
98. The Ring (2002, Directed by Gore Verbinski)
97. Frankenstein (1931, Directed by James Whale)
Ghost Face, From Scream (1996) has become Iconic in horror
The list of 100 Top Horror Movies starts from the bottom with Final Destination that brought Death itself into the slasher arena, Cronenberg's disturbing Dead Ringers and the remake of J-Horror masterpiece Ringu, The Ring. Ringu is also on this list, but The Ring remains the scariest movie ever for a new generation of horror freaks so has it's own spot. Of course, no list of 100 Top Horror Movies would be complete without the Big Guy, Frankenstein.
96. Scream (1996, Directed by Wes Craven)
95. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992, Directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
94. Night of the Creeps (1986, Written and Directed by Fred Dekker)
The Floating Kid in Salem's Lot is a Nightmare Maker
Scream, while panned by the Horror Intelligentcia, is 100 Top Horror Movies material and helped bring horror back to the forefront. Add to that Bram Stoker's Dracula, alien brain slugs in Horror/Comedy Night of the Creeps and the film responsible for millions of nightmares Salem's Lot and you've got a great horror weekend...
93. Salem's Lot (1979, Directed by Tobe Hooper)
92. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, Directed by Philip Kaufman)
91. IT (1990, Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace)
90. The Lost Boys (1987, Directed by Joel Schumacher)
Dog Soldiers - Bark, Bite AND Blades.
89. Dog Soldiers (2002, Written and Directed by Neil Marshall)
88. Return of the Living Dead (1985, Written & Directed by Dan O'Bannon)
87. The Beyond (1981, Directed by Lucio Fulci)
86. Pet Semetary (1989, Directed by Mary Lambert)
85. Nosferatu (1922, Directed by F.W. Murnau)
This tragic Wolf Man, apparantly, climbs trees.
Lots of classic creatures showing up with Werewolves, Vampires, zombies and aliens making up this section of the 100 Top Horror Movies List. The technology behind the creatures has improved over time, but somehow there is nothing more scary or tragic than Lon Chaney from 1941.
84. The Wolfman (1941, Directed by George Waggner)
83. The Mummy (1932, Directed by Karl Freund)
82. Darkness Falls (2003, Directed by Jonathan Liebesman)
Rose McGowan has got a Killer Right Kick
Grindhouse created a 1970s B-movie experience complete with previews of films to come and cheesy pleas to hit the concessions stand. Unfortunately the experience is not duplicated in the DVD release which separated the two features. Oh, and before you complain about Darkness Falls is on the 100 Top Horror Movies list for 2009, check out how it ranked compared to your favorite in the Rating Methodology.
81. Grindhouse (2007, Directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez)
80. Seven (1995, Directed by David Fincher)
79. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981, Directed by Steve Miner)
78. Don't Look Now (1973, Directed by Nocolas Roeg)
77. Videodrome (1983, Written and Directed by David Cronenberg)
This Tube from Event Horizon Looks Like a Commercial Haunted House
76. Event Horizon (1997, Directed by Paul Anderson)
75. The Stepford Wives (1975, Directed by Bryan Forbes)
74. Puppet Master (1989, Directed by David Schmoeller)
73. The Birds (1963, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
72. Hostel (2005, Directed by Eli Roth)
Bruce Campbell is VERY happy to have made the list.
2009 is the first year that Army of Darkness has been included in the 100 Top Horror Movies list from Best-Horror-Movies.com - not by design but merely through unfortunate omission. That is now rectified.
71. Army of Darkness (1992, Directed by Sam Raimi)
70. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006, Directed by Scott Glosserman)
69. From Beyond (1986, Directed by Stuart Gordon)
68. Poltergeist (1982, Directed by Tobe Hooper)
The Quartermass Experiment Began the Hammer Horror Rein
67. The Quartermass Xperiment (1955, Directed by Val Guest)
66. Re-Animator (1985, Directed by Stuart Gordon)
65. Amityville Horror (1979, Directed by Stuart Rosenberg)
64. Horror of Dracula (1958, Directed by Terrence Fisher)
This Chick from Jacob's Ladder is a Freak...
There are a couple of Hammer Horror entries to the 100 Top Horror Movies list here, The Quartermass Xperiment and Horror of Dracula, both of which helped to revitalize horror after Universal started to fade from memory. We are also seeing the original Amityville Horror, the one with Margot Kidder, please.
63. Jacobs' Ladder (1990, Directed by Adrian Lyne)
62. Tenebrae (1982, Written and Directed by Dario Argento)
61. Altered States (1980, Directed by Ken Russell)
60. The invisible Man (1933, Directed by James Whale)
59. Dawn of the Dead 2004 (2004, Directed by Zack Snyder)
The Host Creature will Ruin Your Picnic
58. The Host (2006, Directed by Joon-ho Bong)
57. The Omen (1976, Directed by Richard Donner)
56. The Legend of Hell House (1973, Directed by John Hough)
55. Phantasm (1979, Directed by Don Coscarelli)
This latest batch includes Classic, remake, mass-market studio, Korean and low-budget horror. This list of ther 100 Top Horror Movies crosses boundaries from slimy monsters running across the town square to technology meant to whipe the haunting from a house.
In The Wicker Man, Chicks Rule
54. The Wicker Man (1973, Directed by Robin Hardy)
53. Rosemary's Baby (1968, Directed by Roman Polanski)
52. Saw (2004, Written and Directed by James Wan)
51. Feast (2005, Directed by John Gulager)
The 50 Top Horror Movies for 2009:
50. Halloween 2 (1981, Directed by Rick Rosenthal)
49. Misery (1990, Directed by Rob Reiner)
48. The Mist (2007, Directed by Frank Darabont)
47. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, Written and Directed by Ji-woon Kim)
We love you John Carpenter, but the 1960 VOTD is the one to watch.
46. Village of the Damned (1960, Directed by Wolf Rilla)
45. Day of the Dead (1985, Written and Directed by George A. Romero)
44. Cemetary Man (1994, Directed by Michele Soavil)
43. High Tension (2005, Directed by Alexandre Aja)
The Top 50 Horror Movies is in full force with Misery (complete with hobbling), one of the newest Stephen King adaptations The Mist and J-Horror's A Tale of Two Sisters (English-language remake coming). Village of the Damned and Cemetary Man are more on the quirky side, High Tension is a psycho-ride and the classic Bride of Frankenstein sends Movie-Goers screaming in her day.
The Bride HATES Blind Dates. I see why...
42. Bride of Frankenstein (1935, Directed by James Whale)
41. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957, Directed by Terence Fisher)
40. Ginger Snaps (2000, Directed by John Fawcett)
39. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971, Directed by Robert Fuest)
Hellraiser guy shouldn't have opened the box...
38. Hell Raiser (1987, Directed by Clive Barker)
37. The Sixth Sense (1999, Directed by M. Night Shyamalan)
36. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988, Directed by Wes Craven)
35. The Orphanage (2007, Directed by J.A. Bayona)
34. The Blair Witch Project (1999, Written and Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez)
Note to Self: Save Discussions for After Zombie Headshots
The 100 Top Horror Movie list is getting closer to the best of the best, and there are some awesome flicks like Hell Raiser and The Sixth Sense ("I see dead people") as well as the Voo Doo screamer The Serpent and the Rainbow and the lush and beautiful ghost story The Orphanage. What a contrast The Blair Witch Project is, then, with a budget of only $30,000.
33. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Directed by Edgar Wright)
32. 28 Days Later (2002, Directed by Danny Boyle)
31. Black Christmas (1974, Directed by Bob Clark)
30. Audition (1999, Directed by Takashi Miike)
Who Can Forget Hannibal Lector and His Mask?
29. Silence of the Lambs (1991, Directed by Jonathan Demme)
28. The Thing (1982, Directed by John Carpenter)
27. Aliens (1986, Directed by James Cameron)
26. Suspiria (1977, Directed by Dario Argento)
The 25 Top Horror Movies
25. Jaws (1975, Directed by Steven Spielberg)
24. Zombi 2 (1980, Directed by Lucio Fulci)
23. Interview with the Vampire (1994, Directed by Neil Jordan)
22. The Eye (2002, Directed by The Pang Brothers)
21. Frailty (2001, Directed by Bill Paxton)
The top 25 of the 100 Top Horror Movies List starts out with some heavy-hitters of the horror genre. The shark in Jaws is as focused on killing as any slasher, Fulci's Zombi 2 gives us the eye-jab, Anne Rice came to the big screen with Interview with the Vampire, evil visions reign in The Eye and a God-fearing man becomes a demon hunter in Frailty. Number 20 below, Dead Alive, is known as the goriest movie ever made based on gallons of blood used.
20. Dead Alive (1992, Directed by Peter Jackson)
19. The Howling (1981, Directed by Joe Dante)
18. The Descent (2005, Directed by Neil Marshall)
17. Ju-On (2000, Written and Directed by Takashi Shimizu)
16. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Directed by Tobe Hooper)
May takes 'social skills' to a new level
15. May (2002, Written and Directed by Lucky McKee)
14. White Zombie (1932, Directed by Victor Halperin)
13. Carrie (1976, Directed by Brian De Palma)
12. Ringu (1998, Directed by Hideo Nakata)
11. An American Werewolf in London (1981, Written and Directed by John Landis)
And now, the moment you have all been waiting for...
The 10 Top Horror Movies for 2009
10. Evil Dead (1981, Directed by Sam Raimi)
9. Friday the 13th (1980, Directed by Sean S. Cunningham)
8. Psycho (1960, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
7. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Directed by Wes Craven)
6. The Shining (1980, Directed by Stanley Kubrick)
5. Night of the living Dead (1968, Directed by Dean Lachiusa & George Romero)
4. Halloween (1978, Directed by John Carpenter)
3. Dawn of the Dead (1978, Written and Directed by George A. Romero)
2. Alien (1979, Directed by Ridley Scott)
1. The Exorcist (1973, Directed by William Friedkin)
And there you have it Horror Freaks, the 100 Top Horror Movies list for 2009. As usual, it is anticipated that the aficianados in our midst already have most of these films either in a Netflix Que or in the coveted collection. For those of you who are newer to the genre it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the many sub-genres with The Beginner's Shelf, a primer for the emerging Horror Freak. If you fall somewhere between expert and novice you can REST ASSURED that this list of the 100 Top Horror Movies of all time will be just what you need to cement your appreciation. Not only is this list the PERFECT Netflix queue, but...
Browse the *Top 100 Horror Movies
* on Amazon if you like the hard part done for you! We have done the searches, assembled the reviews and found the prices. Take a look!
Also check out the Honorable Mention List for those great horror movies that either just missed making the list or deserve mention for some other reason... you know those films. Not great, maybe not even good, but still notable.
Comments or Questions about the 100 Greatest Horror Movies list, Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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