THE 20 BEST HORROR MOVIES OF ALL TIME
by jasonmichaelparker | created - 23 Jun 2011 | updated - 23 Jun 2011 | PublicMY PICKS FOR THE BEST HORROR MOVIES!
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1. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,018 | Gross: $232.91M
Still makes it hard for me to sleep after watching this one!
2. The Amityville Horror (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror
Newlyweds and their three children move into a large house where a mass murder was committed. They start to experience strange, inexplicable manifestations which have strong effects on everyone living in or visiting the house.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud
Votes: 44,603 | Gross: $86.43M
By some standards not a great movie. I found it genuinely creepy and it scared the hell out of me as a kid.
3. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,830 | Gross: $47.00M
Michael Myers, need i say more? Still gives me nightmares.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,557 | Gross: $25.50M
Love this movie. Wes Craven's best and scariest film to date. Stay away from the remake, it was awful!
5. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,877 | Gross: $44.02M
An American classic that still holds up today. The two dead girls almost caused me to go into therapy.
6. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,223
Not so much a horror movie than a psychological thriller but still scary as hell!
7. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 157,471 | Gross: $39.75M
Some may disagree but i still consider the original one of my faves.
8. The Ring (2002)
PG-13 | 115 min | Horror, Mystery
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman
Votes: 375,079 | Gross: $129.13M
One of the few recent horror movies that i think actually give you chills.
9. The Sixth Sense (1999)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
Votes: 1,051,528 | Gross: $293.51M
In my opinion M. Night Shyamalan's only good movie. I definitely didn't see that ending coming.
10. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 950,967 | Gross: $78.90M
I still think the Ridley Scott original was better than Cameron's follow up.
11. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
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: 132,580 | Gross: $4.27M
Just saw this recently for the firt time and loved it!
12. The House of the Devil (2009)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery
In 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.
Director: Ti West | Stars: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig
Votes: 51,276 | Gross: $0.10M
One of the best in recent years. Never made it to theaters but definitely worth checking out!
13. Pet Sematary (1989)
R | 103 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
After tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.
Director: Mary Lambert | Stars: Dale Midkiff, Denise Crosby, Fred Gwynne, Brad Greenquist
Votes: 115,049 | Gross: $57.47M
Still love this one. Waiting until they tarnish it with an awful remake.
14. The Entity (1982)
R | 125 min | Drama, Horror
A woman is tormented by an invisible being.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa, George Coe
Votes: 18,272 | Gross: $13.28M
Good flick other than the far fetched ending.
15. Hellraiser (1987)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law and lover. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body and escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their underworld.
Director: Clive Barker | Stars: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Sean Chapman
Votes: 140,551 | Gross: $14.56M
One of my faves growing up.
16. Phantasm (1979)
R | 89 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester
Votes: 41,277 | Gross: $11.99M
What can i say, the tall man scares me.
17. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
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: 206,697 | Gross: $33.80M
Not really scary, just a damn good movie.
18. 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: 143,624 | Gross: $52.60M
Most of my friends hated this but i thought it was worthy considering all the crap they put out there these days.
19. The Last Exorcism (2010)
PG-13 | 87 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A troubled evangelical minister agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew.
Director: Daniel Stamm | Stars: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum
Votes: 52,109 | Gross: $41.03M
Thought this was well done.
20. Creepshow (1982)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
"Creepshow" is a 1982 movie that tells five grisly tales from a children's comic book: a murdered father rising from his grave, a bizarre meteor, a vengeful husband, a mysterious crate's occupant, and a plague of cockroaches.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall
Votes: 53,251 | Gross: $21.03M
Funny and creepy!
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