Essential Horror Movies

By Ridley Scott, 1979.

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt

Sigourney Weaver shines as the most stalwart crewmember of a space freighter that inadvertently takes on an unwanted visitor. As the bloodthirsty beast stalks the crew (including Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Yaphet Kotto), they begin to realize they're pitted against a malevolent monster that's...

By Edgar Wright, 2004.

Starring Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost

Thirty-something slacker Shaun (Simon Pegg) has no clue what to do with his life or with his relationship with girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). But when the unthinkable happens and zombies begin to roam the streets of London terrorizing residents, including his beloved and his mother, Shaun realizes...

By Stanley Kubrick, 1980.

Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

On the wagon and out of lucrative work thanks to his alcoholism and family troubles, aspiring novelist Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) accepts a position as the off-season custodian at an elegant but eerie hotel so he can write undisturbed. But shortly after Jack, his wife (Shelley Duvall) and his...

By Danny Boyle, 2002.

Starring Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris

A killer virus (it turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs) is accidentally released from a British research facility. Carried by animals and humans, the virus is impossible to contain and spreads across Britain. Twenty-eight days later, a small group of London survivors are caught in a...

By Mary Harron, 2000.

Starring Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto

With a chiseled chin and an iron physique, Patrick Bateman's looks make him the ideal yuppie -- and the ideal serial killer. That's the joke behind American Psycho, which follows a killer at large during the 1980s junk-bond boom. Bateman (Christian Bale) takes pathological pride in everything from...

By Ruben Fleischer, 2009.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin

In this outrageously over-the-top comedy, chronically frightened Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) hooks up with wisecracking, skull-busting Tallahasee (Woody Harrelson) to fight for survival in a world swarming with flesh-hungry zombies. As the pair slays scores of the undead, they join two other...

By Zack Snyder, 2004.

Starring Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber

Based on the George Romero 1979 gore classic, this remake takes place as the United States is overrun (after a plague) by millions of corpses who walk the earth as cannibalistic zombies. A small group of survivors, including a nurse (Sarah Polley) and a police officer (Ving Rhames), try to find...

By Gore Verbinski, 2002.

Starring Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox

It sounded like just another urban legend: a videotape filled with nightmarish images, leading to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly 7 days. Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) was naturally skeptical of the story -- until four teens died mysteriously one week after...

By Alfred Hitchcock, 1960.

Starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller.

By Tim Burton, 1999.

Starring Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken, Christina Ricci

Washington Irving's timeless tale of murder and intrigue is told through the eyes of director Tim Burton in this 1999 screen adaptation. Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a New York detective sent to the town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths.

By William Friedkin, 1973.

Starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb

If this horror classic doesn't terrify you, maybe you need a shrink. Movie actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) realizes an evil spirit may possess her daughter (Linda Blair). Against formidable odds, two priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) try to exorcise the demon.

By Wes Craven, 1984.

Starring Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, Heather Langenkamp

Years after being burned alive by a mob of angry parents, child murderer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) returns to haunt the dreams -- and reality -- of local teenagers in Wes Craven's spine-chilling slasher classic. As the town's teens begin dropping like flies, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her...

By Rob Reiner, 1990.

Starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Lauren Bacall

Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) rescues her idol, romance novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan), after he crashes his car during a fierce blizzard. But when she finds out he plans to kill off the heroine in his next volume, Annie morphs from nurturing caregiver to sadistic jailer.

By Tobe Hooper, 1982.

Starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight

A high-voltage spectacle boasting impressive (for the time) special effects, Poltergeist is a must-see horror classic. Life is very pleasant for the close-knit Freeling family until a host of otherworldy forces invades their peaceful suburban home. Before long, their house is transformed into a...

By James Wan, 2004.

Starring Leigh Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover

Would you die to live? That's what two men, Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Gordon (Cary Elwes), have to ask themselves when they're paired up in a deadly situation. Abducted by a serial killer, they're both holed up in a prison constructed with such ingenuity that they may not be able to escape before...

By Wes Craven, 1996.

Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette

Not your average slasher flick, Scream distinguishes itself with a cast of attractive up-and-comers and a self-parodying sense of humor. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campell) is terrorized by a murderer intent on paying homage to the teen horror classics (Halloween, Prom Night) by offing everyone Sidney...

By John Carpenter, 1978.

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Nancy Kyes

The first flick in the trilogy from director John Carpenter, Halloween almost single-handedly invented the 1980s slasher genre. Escaped lunatic Michael Myers (no, not the Austin Powers actor) goes on a murderous baby-sitter-slaying rampage on Halloween.

By Alejandro Amenábar, 2001.

Starring Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston

Writer-director Alejandro Amenabar manipulates viewers' psyches in this bone-chilling thriller. Staunchly religious Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), have a rare sensitivity to light -- but the...

By Sean S. Cunningham, 1980.

Starring Kevin Bacon, Betsy Palmer, Laurie Bartham

Twenty years after a drowning and a pair of murders shut it down, Camp Crystal Lake is reopening -- against the better judgment of skeptical locals. The new owner (Peter Brouwer) scoffs at the camp's "death curse," but when the teenage counselors start to drop, he begins to reconsider.

By Tobe Hooper, 1974.

Starring Gunnar Hansen, Jim Siedow, Marilyn Burns

Director Tobe Hooper's horror classic is a gruesome reminder that a movie need not be complicated to scare the daylights out of viewers. Sally (Marilyn Burns), her wheelchair-bound brother (Paul A. Partain) and their friends travel to a vandalized graveyard to see if their grandfather's remains are...

By Richard Donner, 1976.

Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner

Staid American ambassador Robert Thorne (Gregory Peck) and his wife (Lee Remick) adopt a newborn baby boy in place of their stillborn infant … and live to regret it. All's well till the boy's nanny commits hara-kiri -- in front of the guests at the child's fifth birthday bash.

By George A. Romero, 1968.

Starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman

Director George Romero's low-budget horror classic continues to inspire heebie-jeebies, in part because of the randomness of the zombies' targets. As dead bodies return to life and feast on human flesh, young Barbara (Judith O'Dea) joins a group of survivors in a farmhouse hoping to protect...

By Roman Polanski, 1968.

Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon

In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world.

By Sam Raimi, 1987.

Starring Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks

Stranded in a cabin in the woods, Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend accidentally invoke a spell that causes the Evil Dead to rise and kill! As a lone man pitted against hordes of walking corpses, can Ash survive until the safety of sunrise? Director Sam Raimi's whip-crack direction and...

By Sam Raimi, 2009.

Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver

After denying a woman the extension she needs to keep her home, loan officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) sees her once-promising life take a startling turn for the worse. Christine is convinced she's been cursed by a Gypsy, but her boyfriend (Justin Long) is skeptical.

By Neil Marshall, 2006.

Starring Shauna MacDonald, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder

A pleasure caving trip turns frightful in this horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. Six girlfriends, led by thrill seeker Juno (Natalie Mendoza), go spelunking a year after a tragic incident. But when they get trapped under the earth, all rationale escapes them as they start to suffer...

By Takashi Shimizu, 2003.

Starring Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara

A house with a terrifying secret is the setting for this Japanese horror film. A young nurse arrives at the house to find that two brutal murders have taken place there, and now the house is cursed, set to exact revenge on any and all who set foot inside it.

By Eli Roth, 2006.

Starring Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson

Seeking out the quintessential college experience by backpacking through Europe, two American students (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) befriend an eccentric Icelander (Eythor Gudjonsson) and head to a hostel that's said to be brimming with women.

By Rob Zombie, 2005.

Starring Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon

Texas sheriff John Wydell (William Forsythe) seeks vengeance against his brother's creepy murderers in this Western-flavored sequel to Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses. Wydell enlists the aid of two vigilante brothers, and the posse heads out to the Firefly homestead to take down Otis, Baby...

By James Whale, 1931.

Starring Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, Mae Clarke

Still regarded as the definitive film version of Mary Shelley 's classic tale of tragedy and horror, Frankenstein made unknown character actor Boris Karloff a star and created a new icon of terror.

By Michael Dougherty, 2008.

Starring Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb

The usually boisterous traditions of Halloween turn baleful, and everyone in a small town tries to survive one night in pure hell in writer-director Michael Dougherty's fright fest. Several stories weave together, such as a loner fending off a demented trick-or-treater's attacks, kids uncovering a...

By Bill Paxton, 2002.

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Matthew O'Leary

Director Bill Paxton's gripping thriller has evil at its core -- and a family in the crossfire. FBI agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) is trying to track down "God's Hand," a notorious murderer who's resurfaced years after terrorizing a Texas town. The Meeks family -- Fenton, Adam and their dad ...

By Peter Jackson, 1992.

Starring Diana Penalver, Ian Watkin, Elizabeth Moody

Although it's easy to admire the maniacal glee of director Peter Jackson's bloodfest, Dead Alive is nonetheless intense and profoundly disturbing (edit - or simply ridiculous, over the top and downright hilarious, depending on your perspective). When a Sumatran rat-monkey bites Lionel Cosgrove's...

By Joon-ho Bong, 2006.

Starring Hie-bong Byeon, Kang-ho Song, Hae-il Park

In Seoul's River Han, a giant mutant creature has developed as a result of toxic chemical dumping. When the squidlike monster scoops up the teenage granddaughter of humble snack-bar owner Hie-bong (Hie-bong Byeon), he races to track down the murderous beast.

By Don Coscarelli, 2003.

Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Reggie Bannister

Elvis Presley is an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home; seems he switched identities with an impersonator years before his "death" and then missed his chance to switch back. The King teams up with Jack, a fellow nursing home resident who thinks he's John F. Kennedy, and the two old codgers...

By John Fawcett, 2000.

Starring Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche

The teenage years prove especially difficult for sisters Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), who have an unexplained fascination with Goth and death. On the night of Ginger's first period, she's bitten by a werewolf and quickly develops several new traits -- including an...

By Ubaldo Ragona, 2007.

Starring Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli

Vincent Price gives an atypically restrained performance as the sole survivor of a worldwide plague that revives its victims as bloodthirsty vampires. During the day, he canvasses his abandoned hometown, tracking down and stalking his former friends and neighbors, always making sure to return...

By Dario Argento, 1977.

Starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci

This horror gem follows Susan (Jessica Harper), a naïve young American girl whose talents have brought her to an illustrious European ballet school. But once she gets there, she realizes there's something strange going on as she's faced with a cluster of freaky happenings, from a shower of maggots...