Horror Movies of the 1930s
List activity
16K views
• 20 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
71 titles
- DirectorRoland WestStarsChester MorrisUna MerkelWilliam BakewellA master criminal terrorizes the occupants of an isolated country mansion.
- DirectorRupert JulianJohn WillardStarsHelen TwelvetreesRaymond HackettNeil HamiltonDisappearances and strange goings-on in a spooky old mansion.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsFredric MarchMiriam HopkinsRose HobartDr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorAlan JamesStarsGuinn 'Big Boy' WilliamsAllene RayNiles WelchA group of people are stalked by a masked killer in an old mansion.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorWidgey R. NewmanStarsHaddon MasonEric AdeneyWally PatchA crazed scientist attempts to transplant a young girl's brain into the body of an ape.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsLionel AtwillFay WrayLee TracyA wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsCharles LaughtonBela LugosiRichard ArlenA mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
- DirectorWilliam J. CowenStarsWalter HustonLupe VelezConrad NagelThis remake of West of Zanzibar (1928) made four years later tries to outdo the Lon Chaney original in morbidity. From a wheelchair a handicapped white man rules an area of Africa as a living god. He rules the local natives through superstition and stage magic and he rules the few white people through sadism, keeping them virtual prisoners. He lives for the day he can avenge himself horribly on the man who stole his wife and crushed his spine. Strong and macabre stuff in a nearly forgotten horror film.
- DirectorCharles BrabinCharles VidorStarsBoris KarloffLewis StoneKaren MorleyEnglishmen race to find the tomb of Genghis Khan before the sinister Fu Manchu does.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsMischa AuerMartha MattoxRex LeasePeople in an old dark house on a stormy night are menaced by a killer ape.
- DirectorIrving PichelErnest B. SchoedsackStarsJoel McCreaFay WrayLeslie BanksA psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
- DirectorKarl FreundStarsBoris KarloffZita JohannDavid MannersA resurrected Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes to be his long-lost princess.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsBela LugosiSidney FoxLeon AmesA mad scientist seeks to mingle human blood with that of an ape, and resorts to kidnapping women for his experiments.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffMelvyn DouglasCharles LaughtonSeeking shelter from a storm, five travelers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when they stumble upon the Femm family estate.
- DirectorRichard OswaldStarsPaul WegenerMaria KoppenhöferBlandine EbingerA crazed scientist murders his wife, walls her up, then flees. A reporter sets out to track him down.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsJulian WestMaurice SchutzRena MandelA drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBela LugosiMadge BellamyJoseph CawthornA young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiancé, but instead turns her into a zombie slave.
- DirectorRamón PeónStarsRamón PeredaVirginia ZuríCarlos OrellanaIn modern day Mexico, a man on the street is supernaturally killed after hearing the eerie sound of a wailing woman. We then arrive at the manor of an upper class family, who are celebrating their young son's birthday. A mysterious cloaked figure is eavesdropping on them, taking advantage of secret rooms and passages. Eventually, the intruder (who appears to be possesessed) kidnaps and attempts to murder the boy at a pagan altar using a sacrificial knife and stone. While this story unfolds, two flashbacks to the Elizabethan and Inquisition era are related, explaining the origins of the "wailing woman". In one, a woman with an illegitimate child has been abandoned by her lover. His formerly faithful friend forces him to a duel over this betrayal. The woman kills her baby and herself, and upon her death a wraith ascends skyward from her corpse. In the other story, an Indian woman has her baby taken from her by the authorities, and she descends into madness and suicide, with her spirit also leaving her body upon death. An ancient ring worn by the principals, as well as the knife and stone, are the bonds between the stories.
- DirectorT. Hayes HunterStarsBoris KarloffCedric HardwickeErnest ThesigerAn Egyptologist returns from the dead to take revenge on those who have violated his tomb.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsClaude RainsGloria StuartWilliam HarriganA scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.
- DirectorWesley RugglesErnest B. SchoedsackStarsIvan F. SimpsonLouise CarterC. Aubrey SmithA mother wishes for the return of her dead son--a wish that is granted by the severed paw of a dead monkey.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsCharles RugglesLionel AtwillGail PatrickA monomaniacal zoologist is pathologically jealous of his beautiful but unfaithful wife Evelyn and will not stop short of murder to keep her.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsLionel AtwillFay WrayGlenda FarrellThe disappearance of people and corpses leads a reporter to a wax museum and a sinister sculptor.
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBela LugosiWallace FordSally BlaneThe heirs to a family fortune are required to attend a seance at the spooky old family mansion. However, throughout the night members of the family are being killed off one by one.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsCarole LombardRandolph ScottAlan DinehartA serial black widow murderess returns to life in the body of a young woman to exact revenge on a former lover, a phony spiritualist who betrayed her.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeOtto WernickeThomy BourdelleA criminal mastermind uses hypnosis to rule the rackets after death.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsLionel AtwillFay WrayMelvyn DouglasWhen corpses drained of blood begin to show up in a European village, vampirism is suspected to be responsible.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiDavid MannersAmerican honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsJack HoltFay WrayDorothy BurgessA young girl who lives on a tropical island loses her parents to a voodoo sacrifice, but although she manages to escape the island, a curse is put on her. Years later, as an adult, she feels a strong compulsion to return to the island to confront her past. Her husband, her daughter, and her nanny go with her, but once back on the island, the woman finds herself elevated by the locals to the stature of a voodoo goddess, and she begins her inevitable descent into madness, with disastrous results for her family.
- DirectorMarshall NeilanStarsOlive BordenReed HowesMolly O'DayA black voodoo priestess comes out of the Louisians swamps to take revenge on the white plantation owner she believes killed her husband.
- DirectorWilliam NighStarsEd LowryVerna HillieJohn SheehanAn ancient curse and a killer ape are contained inside an old dark mansion.
- DirectorDwain EsperStarsBill WoodsHorace B. CarpenterTed EdwardsA former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself.
- DirectorFernando de FuentesStarsMarta RoelEnrique del CampoCarlos VillatoroAlfonso (Del Campo), Eduardo (Villatoro) and Eduardo's wife Cristina (Ruel) get lost when visiting a forest. A strange monk finds them and takes them to an ancient convent. There, the three amigos suffer personality changes, specially Cristina who tries to seduce Alfonso in a strange coincidence to a story told by an old monk. After some efforts to escape, Alfonso is trapped inside a jail and more strange and macabre situations happen.
- DirectorBrian Desmond HurstStarsNorman DrydenJohn KeltYolande TerrellA young man is driven mad by his obsession with the repulsive diseased eye of the old man who cares for him.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsBoris KarloffMarian MarshRobert AllenIgnoring an ancient prophecy, evil brother Gregor seeks to maintain his feudal power on his his Tyrolean estate by murdering and impersonating his benevolent younger twin.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsRalph MorganPedro de CordobaMaxine DoyleAfter a series of unsolved murders, a man finds out that his mother was bitten by a vampire bat during her pregnancy, and he believes that he may be the vampire committing the murders.
- DirectorJohn H. AuerStarsErich von StroheimHarriet RussellDwight FryeA crazed scientist invents a serum that induces a catatonic state in whoever it is injected into. He uses the serum to paralyze his enemies, so that he can bury them alive.
- DirectorKarl FreundStarsPeter LorreFrances DrakeColin CliveIn Paris, a demented surgeon's obsession with a British actress leads him to secretly replace her concert-pianist husband's mangled hands with those of a guillotined murderer with a gift for knife-throwing.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLionel BarrymoreElizabeth AllanBela LugosiWhen a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.
- DirectorGeorge TerwilligerStarsFredi WashingtonPhilip BrandonMarie PaxtonIn Haiti, a black female plantation owner enacts a voodoo curse, and revives zombies for revenge on a white male neighbor, who has chosen a white woman over her for marriage.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiLester MatthewsA brilliant surgeon with a morbid obsession for instruments of torture grows dangerously obsessed with a young socialite whose life he's saved.
- DirectorArthur RobisonStarsAnton WalbrookTheodor LoosDorothea WieckPrague in the 1860s: Balduin is a popular, handsome student, the best fencer in town, in amicable rivalry with his friend Dahl for the affections of Lydia, the innkeeper's niece. While the students are celebrating Lydia's birthday, the opera singer Julia Stella arrives at the inn - and Balduin's life begins to unravel. He is immediately infatuated with the glamorous singer - but she is already kept by an admirer, the wealthy and foppish Baron Waldis. How can a poor student hope to compete? The mysterious Dr. Carpis, who also has ties to Julia and is jealous of the Baron, intervenes. But the price will be higher than Balduin can ever imagine. He risks his sanity and his life - perhaps his very soul - haunted by his own reflection.
- DirectorStuart WalkerStarsHenry HullWarner OlandValerie HobsonAfter botanist Wilfred Glendon travels to Tibet in search of a rare flower, the Mariphasa, he returns to a London haunted by murders that can only be the work of bloodthirsty werewolves.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLionel BarrymoreMaureen O'SullivanFrank LawtonAn escaped convict uses miniaturized humans to wreak vengeance on those who framed him.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsOtto KrugerGloria HoldenMarguerite ChurchillWhen Countess Marya Zaleska appears in London, mysterious events occur that lead Dr. Von Helsing to believe that the Countess must be a vampire.
- DirectorFrank WisbarStarsSybille SchmitzAribert MogCarl de VogtA beautiful young drifter comes to a small village and battles Death itself to save the man she loves.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRoger KarlCharles DoratThe Golem, a giant creature created out of clay by a rabbi, comes to life in a time of trouble to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiFrances DrakeA scientist becomes murderous after discovering, and being exposed to the radiation of, a powerful new element called Radium X.
- DirectorMiguel ZacaríasStarsRamón PeredaRené CardonaManuel NoriegaA crazed scientist tries to keep his terminally ill wife alive by transfusing into her the blood of young women he murders.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsBoris KarloffAnna LeeJohn LoderDr. Laurience, a brilliant but unstable scientist experimenting with transferring minds, becomes vengeful when his magnate patron withdraws his support.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsDorothy StoneDean JaggerRoy D'ArcyAn international expedition is sent into Cambodia to destroy an ancient formula that turns men into zombies.
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsTod SlaughterStella RhoJohn SingerA Fleet Street barber recounts the story of Sweeney Todd, a notorious barber who in the last century murdered many customers for their money.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBoris KarloffRicardo CortezEdmund GwennAfter hapless pianist and ex-con John Elman is framed for murder, he is resurrected by a scientist after his execution.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBeverly RobertsRobert WilcoxPaul McVeyA prison trustee rescues a despondent executioner from a bar-room brawl, and is blamed for the fight by a tabloid reporter who actually started it, and loses parole, becomes embittered, and gets blamed for murder of guard.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopePaulette GoddardJohn BealWhen an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.
- DirectorWalter SummersStarsBela LugosiHugh WilliamsGreta GyntInsurance agent-physician collects on policies of men murdered by a disfigured resident of the home for the blind where he acts as doctor-on-call.
- DirectorArthur H. LeonardStarsNina Mae McKinneyJack CarterIda JamesSylvia Walton returns from Harlem to take over a Jamaican plantation from her vindictive half-sister, amid the growing sound of drums.
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsTod SlaughterJohn WarwickAubrey MallalieuSet in France in 1880. A series of murders is attributed to a Wolf Man.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsThe Ritz BrothersJimmy RitzHarry RitzWhen a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.
- DirectorJosé BohrStarsMiguel ArenasConsuelo FrankRamón Armengod
- DirectorNick GrindeStarsBoris KarloffLorna GrayRobert WilcoxWhen Dr. Savaard's experiment in cryonics is interrupted by the short-sighted authorities, his volunteer dies, and he is condemned to death. He vows vengeance if he can survive his own hanging.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBela LugosiRobert KentDorothy ArnoldA military intelligence officer and a pretty reporter try to find a scientist whose inventions can destroy the world.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsHumphrey BogartRosemary LaneWayne MorrisA hotshot reporter and a young doctor team up to investigate a series of grisly murders and a mysterious sample of synthetic blood.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsBoris KarloffBasil RathboneBela LugosiReturning to the ancestral castle long after the death of the monster, the son of Dr. Frankenstein meets a mad shepherd who is hiding the comatose creature. To clear the family name, he revives the creature and tries to rehabilitate him.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsLyle TalbotIrving PichelJulie BishopA mad scientist performs experiments on "the criminal mind" on captured criminals on board his private ship.