50 Unforgettable Horror Movies/Thrillers
by LadyAmina | created - 23 Jul 2015 | updated - 29 Jul 2015 | PublicHorror movies and thrillers that stay in your memory for a long time!
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1. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,850 | Gross: $32.00M
2. 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: 140,639 | Gross: $14.56M
3. Hammer House of Horror (1980)
TV-14 | 54 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
This British anthology series, which was produced by England's leading exporters of horror films, told tales of haunted houses, demons, ghosts, and other supernatural wonders.
Stars: Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Anna Calder-Marshall
Votes: 2,286
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: 262,726 | Gross: $25.50M
5. The Last House on the Left (1972)
R | 84 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
Two teenage girls heading to a rock concert for one's birthday try to score marijuana in the city, where they are kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychopathic convicts.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Sandra Peabody, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln
Votes: 40,310 | Gross: $3.10M
6. The Stepfather (1987)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
After murdering his entire family, a man marries a widow with a teenage daughter in another town and prepares to do it all over again.
Director: Joseph Ruben | Stars: Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack, Charles Lanyer
Votes: 18,210 | Gross: $2.49M
7. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,065 | Gross: $21.38M
8. Child's Play (1988)
R | 87 min | Horror, Thriller
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer's consciousness.
Director: Tom Holland | Stars: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Votes: 116,853 | Gross: $33.24M
9. Child's Play 2 (1990)
R | 84 min | Horror, Thriller
While Andy's mother is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, the young boy is placed in foster care, and Chucky, determined to claim Andy's soul, is not far behind.
Director: John Lafia | Stars: Alex Vincent, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham, Christine Elise
Votes: 57,706 | Gross: $28.50M
10. 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: 115,127 | Gross: $57.47M
11. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,543 | Gross: $2.40M
12. Evil Dead II (1987)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
Ash Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva
Votes: 182,044 | Gross: $5.92M
13. Tales from the Hood (1995)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A funeral director tells four strange tales of horror with an African American focus to three drug dealers he traps in his place of business.
Director: Rusty Cundieff | Stars: Clarence Williams III, Corbin Bernsen, Joe Torry, De'aundre Bonds
Votes: 9,618 | Gross: $11.80M
14. Masters of Horror (2005–2007)
TV-MA | 1,531 min | Horror
Anchor Bay's collection, which has amassed some of the best horror film anthologies.
Stars: Karen Elizabeth Austin, J. Winston Carroll, Miho Ninagawa, Anthony Harrison
Votes: 13,287
15. Magic (1978)
R | 107 min | Drama, Horror
A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith, Ed Lauter
Votes: 13,468 | Gross: $25.94M
16. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Director: John Landis | Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne
Votes: 120,627 | Gross: $30.57M
17. Puppet Master (1989 Video)
R | 90 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Psychics find themselves plotted against by a former colleague, who committed suicide after discovering animated, murderous puppets.
Director: David Schmoeller | Stars: Paul Le Mat, William Hickey, Irene Miracle, Jimmie F. Skaggs
Votes: 12,795
18. Armchair Thriller (1978–1981)
25 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Suspense and mystery-themed anthology series.
Stars: Frank Duncan, James Bolam, Maria Aitken, Zena Walker
Votes: 256
19. Twin Peaks (1990–1991)
TV-MA | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook
Votes: 215,624
20. Urban Legend (1998)
R | 99 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A college student suspects a series of bizarre deaths are connected to certain urban legends.
Director: Jamie Blanks | Stars: Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Michael Rosenbaum
Votes: 71,527 | Gross: $38.07M
21. Basic Instinct (1992)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 219,333 | Gross: $117.73M
22. Fatal Attraction (1987)
R | 119 min | Drama, Thriller
A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Latzen
Votes: 97,210 | Gross: $156.65M
23. Alligator (1980)
R | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger
Votes: 15,887
24. Jaws (1975)
PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
Votes: 660,019 | Gross: $260.00M
25. 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: 132,742 | Gross: $4.27M
26. The Reaping (2007)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
A former Christian missionary, who specializes in debunking religious phenomena, investigates a small town which seems to be suffering from the 10 biblical plagues.
Director: Stephen Hopkins | Stars: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, AnnaSophia Robb, Idris Elba
Votes: 44,651 | Gross: $25.12M
27. 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: 206,830 | Gross: $33.80M
28. Brain Damage (1988)
R | 84 min | Comedy, Horror
One morning, a young man wakes to find that a small, disgusting creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. The creature gives him a euphoric state of happiness but demands human victims in return.
Director: Frank Henenlotter | Stars: Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes
Votes: 13,182
29. Monkey Shines (1988)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A quadriplegic man has a trained monkey help him with his paralysis, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten
Votes: 13,042 | Gross: $5.34M
30. Final Destination (2000)
R | 98 min | Horror, Thriller
After getting a premonition about a plane crash on his school trip, Alex, a student saves a few of his classmates. However, their situation gets complicated when death starts chasing them.
Director: James Wong | Stars: Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Kristen Cloke
Votes: 279,757 | Gross: $53.33M
31. Final Destination 2 (2003)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Death is stalking Kimberly Corman and multiple survivors of a deadly highway accident.
Director: David R. Ellis | Stars: A.J. Cook, Ali Larter, Tony Todd, Michael Landes
Votes: 182,114 | Gross: $46.96M
32. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,810 | Gross: $61.28M
33. A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A ruthless college student resorts to murder in an attempt to marry an heiress.
Director: Gerd Oswald | Stars: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith, Joanne Woodward
Votes: 4,325
34. The Good Son (1993)
R | 87 min | Drama, Thriller
A young boy stays with his aunt and uncle and becomes friends with his cousin, a boy of the same age who shows increasing signs of violent and psychopathic behavior.
Director: Joseph Ruben | Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, Wendy Crewson, David Morse
Votes: 45,785 | Gross: $44.59M
35. 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: 157,567 | Gross: $39.75M
36. 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: 306,992 | Gross: $47.00M
37. 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: 1,107,676 | Gross: $44.02M
38. The Hitcher (1986)
R | 97 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A young man who escapes the clutches of a murderous hitchhiker is subsequently stalked by the hitcher and framed for his crimes.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 52,593 | Gross: $5.84M
39. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
R | 83 min | Horror
Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain
Votes: 183,837 | Gross: $30.86M
40. Tales of the Unexpected (1979–1988)
TV-14 | 25 min | Comedy, Drama, Horror
Short dramas each with a twist of some kind; across the first four seasons most of these are from short stories by Roald Dahl.
Stars: Roald Dahl, Andrew Ray, Forbes Collins, Richard Johnson
Votes: 2,502
41. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
R | 110 min | Drama, Thriller
After her sex offender husband gets caught in the act and kills himself, an embittered pregnant widow loses her child, and embarks on a mission of vengeance against one of her husband's victims and the woman's family.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson
Votes: 48,968 | Gross: $88.04M
42. The Paperboy (1994)
R | 94 min | Horror, Thriller
A homicidal twelve-year-old paperboy becomes obsessed with a woman and her daughter next-door, and he'll do anything to make his fantasy of the "perfect family" come alive.
Director: Douglas Jackson | Stars: Alexandra Paul, Marc Marut, Brigid Tierney, William Katt
Votes: 1,462
43. 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: 44,622 | Gross: $86.43M
44. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
PG-13 | 99 min | Horror
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
Votes: 217,609 | Gross: $42.10M
45. Scream (1996)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich
Votes: 388,770 | Gross: $103.05M
46. Scream 2 (1997)
R | 120 min | Horror, Mystery
Two years after the first series of murders, as Sidney acclimates to college life, someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jada Pinkett Smith
Votes: 209,894 | Gross: $101.36M
47. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
R | 101 min | Horror, Mystery
Four young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.
Director: Jim Gillespie | Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche, Ryan Phillippe
Votes: 158,213 | Gross: $72.59M
48. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
The murderous fisherman with a hook is back to once again stalk the two surviving teens, Julie and Ray, who had left him for dead, as well as cause even more murder and mayhem, this time at a posh island resort.
Director: Danny Cannon | Stars: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Brandy Norwood, Mekhi Phifer
Votes: 78,694 | Gross: $40.00M
49. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
R | 101 min | Horror, Thriller
An aspiring writer is repeatedly assaulted, humiliated, and left for dead by four men she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.
Director: Meir Zarchi | Stars: Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor, Richard Pace, Anthony Nichols
Votes: 31,227
50. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
On the way to California, a family has the misfortune to have their car break down in an area closed to the public, and inhabited by violent savages ready to attack.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Susan Lanier, Robert Houston, John Steadman, Janus Blythe
Votes: 39,256 | Gross: $25.00M
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