1940s Horror Movies
by omoo22 | created - 16 Jun 2011 | updated - 16 Jun 2011 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Ape (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Horror
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon, Gene O'Donnell, Dorothy Vaughan
Votes: 2,059
2. Before I Hang (1940)
Passed | 62 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
A physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&-Hyde.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan
Votes: 1,416
3. Black Friday (1940)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Dr. Sovac transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend's body to save his life, but there is a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel
Votes: 2,875
4. The Devil Bat (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A mad scientist develops an aftershave lotion that causes his gigantic bats to kill anyone who wears it.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Guy Usher
Votes: 3,442
5. Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Passed | 77 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A mad scientist working in the South American jungle miniaturizes his colleagues when he feels his megalomania is threatened.
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton
Votes: 2,882
6. The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, John Sutton
Votes: 5,282
7. The Invisible Woman (1940)
Approved | 72 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
An attractive model with an ulterior motive volunteers as guinea pig for an invisibility machine.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 3,348
8. The Man with Nine Lives (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A medical researcher visits the deserted home of a pioneer in cryogenic science who disappeared 10 years earlier and finds him frozen in ice but still alive.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Boris Karloff, Roger Pryor, Jo Ann Sayers, Stanley Brown
Votes: 1,105
9. The Mummy's Hand (1940)
Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
Archaeologists defile the tomb of mummified Kharis, who was buried alive for falling in love with an Egyptian princess.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 4,696
10. You'll Find Out (1940)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
The manager of Kay Kyser's band books them for a birthday party bash for an heiress at a spooky mansion, where sinister forces try to kill her.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 1,449
11. The Black Cat (1941)
Passed | 70 min | Comedy, Mystery
Elderly Henrietta Winslow lives in an isolated mansion with her housekeeper and beloved cats. As her health fails, her greedy relatives gather in anticipation of her death.
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 2,076
12. The Devil Commands (1941)
Approved | 65 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientist becomes obsessed with the idea of communicating with his dead wife.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Amanda Duff, Richard Fiske
Votes: 1,428
13. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Passed | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr. Jekyll allows his dark side to run wild when he drinks a potion that turns him into the evil Mr. Hyde.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Donald Crisp
Votes: 9,858 | Gross: $3.92M
14. Horror Island (1941)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
A down-on-his-luck businessman organizes an excursion to Sir Henry Morgan's Island for a treasure hunt only to encounter a mysterious phantom and murder.
Director: George Waggner | Stars: Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo, Peggy Moran, Fuzzy Knight
Votes: 986
15. Invisible Ghost (1941)
Passed | 64 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The town's leading citizen becomes a homicidal maniac after his wife deserts him.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Polly Ann Young, John McGuire, Clarence Muse
Votes: 2,585
16. King of the Zombies (1941)
Passed | 67 min | Adventure, Comedy, Horror
On a spooky island, three stranded travelers find an evil doctor working with foreign spies and in control of zombies.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor
Votes: 2,499
17. Man Made Monster (1941)
Passed | 59 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A mad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.
Director: George Waggner | Stars: Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Nagel, Frank Albertson
Votes: 1,876
18. Spooks Run Wild (1941)
Approved | 65 min | Horror, Comedy
The boys are stranded in a small rural town, they hear about a "monster killer" roaming the countryside. At night, they sneak out. Peewee is shot by a grave-digger, and they are forced to seek aid at an old mansion.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall
Votes: 1,825
19. The Wolf Man (1941)
Passed | 70 min | Horror, Mystery, Romance
Larry Talbot returns to his father's castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman. One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where they meet a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.
Director: George Waggner | Stars: Claude Rains, Warren William, Lon Chaney Jr., Ralph Bellamy
Votes: 30,623
20. Black Dragons (1942)
Approved | 64 min | Thriller, War
A cabal of American industrialists, all fifth-columnists intent on sabotaging the war effort, are methodically murdered by the malevolent Monsieur Colomb. It is only until detective Dick ... See full summary »
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, George Pembroke, Clayton Moore
Votes: 1,263
21. The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Horror
A young divorcee tries to convert a historic house into a hotel despite its oddball inhabitants and dead bodies in the cellar.
Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Maxie Rosenbloom, Larry Parks
Votes: 1,262
22. Bowery at Midnight (1942)
Approved | 61 min | Crime, Thriller
Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.
Director: Wallace Fox | Stars: Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay, Tom Neal
Votes: 1,231
23. Cat People (1942)
Not Rated | 73 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph
Votes: 25,955 | Gross: $4.00M
24. The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
Passed | 64 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist, aided by an old hag and her two sons, kills virginal brides, steals their bodies, and extracts gland fluid to keep his ancient wife alive and young.
Director: Wallace Fox | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Luana Walters, Tristram Coffin, Elizabeth Russell
Votes: 3,509
25. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Passed | 67 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr. Frankenstein's plans to replace the brain of his monster are hijacked by his scheming and malevolent assistant Ygor.
Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr., Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill
Votes: 7,086
26. Invisible Agent (1942)
Passed | 81 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Ilona Massey, Jon Hall, Peter Lorre, Cedric Hardwicke
Votes: 2,649
27. The Mad Monster (1942)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
A mad scientist changes his simple-minded handyman into a werewolf in order to prove his supposedly crazy scientific theories - and exact revenge.
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Johnny Downs, George Zucco, Anne Nagel, Glenn Strange
Votes: 1,935
28. The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
Passed | 61 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The ancient Egypt Mummy, Kharis, is transported from his homeland with the high priest Mehemet to wreak vengeance on the family who has defiled the sacred tomb of his beloved Princess Ananka.
Director: Harold Young | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Dick Foran, John Hubbard, Elyse Knox
Votes: 3,839
29. Night Monster (1942)
Passed | 73 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Kurt Ingston, a rich recluse, invites the doctors who left him a hopeless cripple to his desolate mansion in the swamps as one by one they meet horrible deaths.
Director: Ford Beebe | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Irene Hervey
Votes: 1,851
30. The Undying Monster (1942)
Not Rated | 63 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Surviving members of an aristocratic English family are threatened by a legendary monster when they venture out on chilly, foggy nights.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: James Ellison, Heather Angel, John Howard, Bramwell Fletcher
Votes: 1,529
31. The Ape Man (1943)
Passed | 64 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A crazed scientist accidentally turns himself into a half ape, half human creature, and scrambles to find a cure.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Louise Currie, Wallace Ford, Henry Hall
Votes: 1,501
32. Captive Wild Woman (1943)
Passed | 61 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
An insane scientist doing experimentation in glandular research becomes obsessed with transforming a female gorilla into a human...even though it costs human life.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: John Carradine, Evelyn Ankers, Milburn Stone, Lloyd Corrigan
Votes: 1,037
33. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Passed | 74 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The resurrected Wolf Man, seeking a cure for his malady, enlists the aid of a mad scientist, who claims he will not only rid the Wolf Man of his nocturnal metamorphosis, but also revive the frozen body of Frankenstein's inhuman creation.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Ilona Massey, Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill
Votes: 9,946
34. The Ghost Ship (1943)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Third Officer Tom Merriam accuses Captain Will Stone of being a homicidal maniac, but no one believes him.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Ben Bard
Votes: 3,782
35. Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
Approved | 67 min | Comedy
The East Side Kids try to fix up a house for newlyweds, but find the place next door "haunted" by mysterious men.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 1,531
36. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison, Edith Barrett
Votes: 13,652
37. The Leopard Man (1943)
Approved | 66 min | Film-Noir, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly-tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 5,951
38. Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, Horror, Music
An acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy's career.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier
Votes: 8,294 | Gross: $3.49M
39. The Seventh Victim (1943)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 7,563
40. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
Passed | 68 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
During WWII, several murders occur at a convalescent home where Dr. Watson has volunteered his services. He summons Holmes for help and the master detective proceeds to solve the crime from... See full summary »
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, Arthur Margetson
Votes: 5,150
41. Son of Dracula (1943)
Unrated | 80 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When Katherine, a beautiful Southern girl obsessed with thoughts of eternal life, invites Count Alucard to come to her mansion in the U.S., she unleashes a Pandora's box of horror on unsuspecting relatives and neighbors.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Evelyn Ankers
Votes: 6,184
42. The Climax (1944)
Passed | 86 min | Horror, Music, Thriller
A demented physician becomes obsessed with a young singer whose voice sounds similar to his late mistress.
Director: George Waggner | Stars: Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 1,035
43. The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.
Directors: Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise | Stars: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter
Votes: 7,167
44. House of Frankenstein (1944)
Passed | 71 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
A deranged scientist escapes from prison and recruits Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man to get revenge on his behalf.
Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, John Carradine
Votes: 7,709
45. The Lodger (1944)
Passed | 84 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A landlady suspects that her new lodger is Jack the Ripper.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Laird Cregar, Merle Oberon, George Sanders, Cedric Hardwicke
Votes: 4,096
46. The Monster Maker (1944)
Approved | 62 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A mad scientist injects his enemies with an acromegaly virus, causing them to become hideously deformed.
Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: J. Carrol Naish, Ralph Morgan, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay
Votes: 1,257
47. The Mummy's Curse (1944)
Approved | 60 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
Shipped to Louisiana, the mummy Kharis from Egypt roams the bayou, tormented by his forbidden love for Princess Ananka.
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Peter Coe, Virginia Christine, Kay Harding
Votes: 3,364
48. The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
Passed | 61 min | Fantasy, Horror
Kharis the mummy is given a sacred potion that grants him eternal life to search for his lost love, Princess Ananka, despite the unending curse that haunts them.
Director: Reginald Le Borg | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Robert Lowery, Ramsay Ames
Votes: 3,421
49. One Body Too Many (1944)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
An insurance salesman arrives at a creepy mansion to discover his potential eccentric millionaire client already dead. Instead he gets embroiled in a house full of greedy, murderous relatives competing for the inheritance.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Jack Haley, Jean Parker, Bela Lugosi, Blanche Yurka
Votes: 1,562
50. Return of the Ape Man (1944)
Approved | 60 min | Horror
A scientist seeks to transplant a brain into the body of a thawed caveman in order to get it to do his bidding.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, George Zucco, Frank Moran
Votes: 428
51. The Return of the Vampire (1943)
Not Rated | 69 min | Drama, Horror
When an errant bomb unearths the coffin of a vampire during the London Blitz, a gravedigger unknowingly reanimates the monster by removing the stake from his heart
Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Roland Varno
Votes: 2,738 | Gross: $1.09M
52. The Scarlet Claw (1944)
Approved | 74 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanagh
Votes: 5,829
53. The Spider Woman (1943)
Passed | 63 min | Mystery, Thriller
Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Dennis Hoey
Votes: 5,122
54. Voodoo Man (1944)
Approved | 62 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Dr. Richard Marlowe uses a combination of voodoo and hypnosis in an attempt to revive his dead wife by transferring the life essences of several hapless young girls he has kidnapped and imprisoned in the dungeon beneath his mansion.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, George Zucco, Wanda McKay
Votes: 1,182
55. The Body Snatcher (1945)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Thriller
A ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater
Votes: 10,176
56. Dead of Night (1945)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Horror
Guests invited to a weekend in the country share their supernatural stories, beginning with Walter Craig, who senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality.
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall
Votes: 14,190
57. Hangover Square (1945)
Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Glenn Langan
Votes: 4,128
58. House of Dracula (1945)
Approved | 67 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
The Wolf Man and Count Dracula beg Dr. Edelman to cure them of their killing instincts but Dracula schemes to seduce the doctor's nurse.
Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Onslow Stevens, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Martha O'Driscoll
Votes: 6,148
59. Isle of the Dead (1945)
Not Rated | 71 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects ... See full summary »
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer, Katherine Emery
Votes: 5,257
60. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
Director: Albert Lewin | Stars: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 14,430
61. Zombies on Broadway (1945)
Approved | 69 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Two bumbling press agents must search for a zombie to fulfill a commitment to their ex-gangster boss's new nightclub or face the consequences.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Bela Lugosi, Anne Jeffreys
Votes: 874
62. Bedlam (1946)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Nell Bowen, the protégé of Lord Mortimer, wants to help change the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). Though she tries to reform Bedlam, the cruel Master Sims ... See full summary »
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House, Richard Fraser
Votes: 4,372
63. House of Horrors (1946)
Passed | 65 min | Adventure, Crime, Horror
An unsuccessful sculptor saves a madman named "The Creeper" from drowning. Seeing an opportunity for revenge, he tricks the psycho into murdering his critics.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Robert Lowery, Virginia Grey, Bill Goodwin, Martin Kosleck
Votes: 1,286
64. She-Wolf of London (1946)
Passed | 61 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A young heiress finds evidence suggesting that at night she acts under the influence of a family curse and has begun committing ghastly murders in a nearby park.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Don Porter, June Lockhart, Sara Haden, Jan Wiley
Votes: 3,020
65. Scared to Death (1946)
Approved | 65 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Molly Lamont, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 1,768
66. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Not Rated | 83 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.
Directors: Charles Barton, Walter Lantz | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi
Votes: 19,540 | Gross: $4.80M
67. Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff (1949)
Passed | 84 min | Comedy, Crime, Horror
Two employees of a secluded hotel investigate a murder on the premises in which the goofy bellboy is the prime suspect.
Director: Charles Barton | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff, Lenore Aubert
Votes: 4,222
68. Genius at Work (1946)
Approved | 61 min | Comedy, Crime
Two actors who star in a radio detective show find themselves pitted against a villain calling himself the Cobra, who has an affinity for torture chambers.
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Anne Jeffreys, Lionel Atwill
Votes: 336
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