Last updated March 2024
Want to watch sensationally awesome Best Horror Movies? We assembled 30 marvelous Best Horror Movies with universal acclaim from revered IMDB critics and our own legion of discerning users. Available for instant viewing, these world-class titles are as jaw-droppingly good as entertainment gets. Help fellow fans uncover buried treasures by voting for the titles you feel are keepers. We appreciate members who take the time to pay it forward with great recommendations!
The Ornate Lock (1993)
Plot Summary:
A young couple, Ganga and Nakulan, arrives at the ancestral home called Madampalli of the latter. Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Nakulan's uncle Thampi objects to the couple's idea of moving into the allegedly haunted mansion, which Nakulan ignores. The couple moves in anyway following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen
Duration: 169 min
IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: India
Plot tags: room, murder, ghost, investigation, psychiatrist, dancer, murder mystery, who done it, vengeful ghost, locked room, myth, palace, village, exorcism, cat, castle, jealousy, mansion, mental illness, fear, anger, vengeance, haunted house, husband wife relationship, decapitation
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Plot Summary:
In postwar Japan, a new terror rises. Will the devastated people be able to survive... let alone fight back?
Duration: 124 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Plot tags: godzilla, kaiju, monster, giant monster, airplane, post war japan, world war two, ocean, giant, island, escape, water, death, running, hospital, orphan, mine, post war, boat, baby, photograph, city, kamikaze, disappearance, little girl
Alien (1979)
Plot Summary:
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed
Duration: 117 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 931000
Genere: Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: alien, monster, space travel, outer space, space and aliens, evil alien, heroine, female protagonist, spaceship, alien monster, survival horror, creature, deadly creature, alien encounter, fear, alien invasion, strong female lead, spacecraft, survival, space, sole survivor, gory, trapped, creature feature, human versus alien
The Shining (1980)
Plot Summary:
Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within
Duration: 146 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: isolation, hotel, insanity, psychopath, supernatural, ghost, stephen king, snow, winter, macabre, imaginary friend, evil, danger, caretaker, trapped, haunting, telepathy, possession, father son relationship, haunted hotel, nightmare, haunted house, dysfunctional family, child abuse, identical twins
Attack on Titan: Chronicle (2020)
Plot Summary:
In the fourth recap movie, episodes 1-59 of the anime are retold, compiling the first three seasons of the anime into one two hour event
Duration: 122 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Plot tags: monster, extinction, catastrophe, fight, violence, friendship, macabre, murder, alternate reality, destiny, brutality, mutation, vengeance, danger, life philosophy, fictional war, violent, survival, military, post-apocalyptic future, lone hero, blood, titan, giant, post apocalypse
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Plot Summary:
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche, in this new feature film version of Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film trilogy
Duration: 62 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: surrealism, illness, mental health, mental illness, dark humor, nightmare, hospital, divorced parents, narration, death, loneliness, depression, destiny, life & death, existentialism, introspection, obsession, art, imagination, self discovery, direction and purpose, hopes, trippy, conversation, love
Tumbbad (2018)
Plot Summary:
India, 1918. On the outskirts of Tumbbad, a cursed village where it always rains, Vinayak, along with his mother and his brother, care of a mysterious old woman who keeps the secret of an ancestral treasure which Vinayak gets obsessed with
Duration: 104 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Country: India, Sweden
Plot tags: greed, treasure, father son relationship, evil, supernatural, mythology, folk horror, curse, british empire, village, treasure hunt, curses spells and rituals, tomb, escapades, rivalry, danger, ancient, chase, couples, redemption, hindu mythology, past, paranormal, nightmare, filmmaking
The Thing (1982)
Plot Summary:
Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people it kills
Duration: 109 min
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
IMDB Votes: 456000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada
Plot tags: monster, alien, isolation, survival, fear, creature, paranoia, snow, supernatural, suspicion, ufo, body horror, scientist, alien life-form, mutation, trapped, space and aliens, alien encounter, survival horror, characters in danger, transformation, evil, gory, danger, research
The Exorcist (1973)
Plot Summary:
12-year-old Regan MacNeil begins to adapt an explicit new personality as strange events befall the local area of Georgetown. Her mother becomes torn between science and superstition in a desperate bid to save her daughter, and ultimately turns to her last hope: Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest who is struggling with his own faith
Duration: 122 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 446000
Genere: Horror
Country: USA
Plot tags: demon, religion, supernatural, exorcism, devil, priest, exorcist, demonic possession, macabre, possession, occult, satan, supernatural horror, supernatural ability, evil force, holy water, crisis of faith, evil, mind game, christian, clergy, transformation, good versus evil, paranormal activity, mother daughter relationship
Love Exposure (2008)
Plot Summary:
After Yu's mother dies his father, a priest, only seems to take solace in the confessions of his sons sins causing Yu to partake in various 'sinful' activities to appease him. This is a teen love story as only the Japanese could bring us, complete with up-skirt photography, cross dressing, and bloody gore
Duration: 237 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: sin, religion, brainwashing, coming of age, group of friends, japanese schoolgirl, family values, teenage love, youth, parents and children, teenage life, society, rebelliousness, prank, religions or cults, family relations, rebellion, porn, women, loneliness, surrealism, voyeurism, priest, lesbian relationship, virginity
The Blue Elephant (2014)
Plot Summary:
Psychiatrist Dr. Yehia returns to El-Abbaseya Hospital five years after the death of his family. His return coincide with the arrival of a new patient, Sherif, a friend from college, who is accused of murder
Duration: 170 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Egypt
Plot tags: mental institution, twists and turns, confined, doctors and patients, losing-it hero, psychiatrist, uncover truth, arab, danger, friends, mysticism, power relations, violent content, demon, exorcism, schizophrenia, graphic violence, mystery, crimes
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Plot Summary:
A young couple moves into an infamous New York apartment building to start a family. Things become frightening as Rosemary begins to suspect her unborn baby isn't safe around their strange neighbors
Duration: 137 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 231000
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: USA
Plot tags: satanic cult, devil, paranoia, satanism, murder, pregnancy, supernatural, witchcraft, coven, secret society, demonic possession, supernatural horror, suicide, dream, deal with the devil, witch, rape, evil wins, satan, housewife, spell, satanic ritual, obsession, conspiracy, losing-it hero
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Plot Summary:
Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge
Duration: 134 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: mental illness, female protagonist, sister sister relationship, jealousy, sibling rivalry, child star, filmmaking, aging, dysfunctional family, actress, violence, fame, sisters, macabre, alcoholism, pianist, rat, mama's boy, mentally unstable woman, price of fame, murder, beach, hagsploitation, plot twist, female villain
The Blue Elephant 2 (2019)
Plot Summary:
A meeting with a new inmate in the psychiatric hospital flips Dr. Yehia's life upside down. She prophecies that the death of his entire family is only three days away
Duration: 130 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Egypt
Plot tags: witchcraft, demon, devil, exorcism, supernatural, paranormal phenomena, supernatural power, peril, paranormal investigation, ghost, revenge, heroes, violence, death, murder, paranormal, rescue, chase, supernatural ability, evil, fear, escapades, vengeance, society, creature
The Cremator (1969)
Plot Summary:
Kopfrkingl enjoys his job at a crematorium in Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s. He likes reading the Tibetan book of the dead, and espouses the view that cremation relieves earthly suffering
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Czechoslovakia
Plot tags: crematorium, world war two, insanity, murder, surrealism, anti semitism, father murders son, brothel, death, mental disorder, serial killer, female nudity, funeral, arthouse horror, success, macabre, parallel universe, election, infidelity, renaissance, nightmare, entertainment, terror, visceral, european
Devil Woman (1964)
Plot Summary:
In medieval times, on a remote plain, a widow and her mother-in-law kill wandering samurai, put their bodies in a hole in the ground and sell their armour and valuables, until the daughter-in-law falls in love with one of their intended victims
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: samurai, folk horror, murder, swamp, macabre, witch, sexuality, sex, survival, vengeance, danger, medieval, supernatural, mental disorder, pagan, japanese history, terror, tokugawa shogunate, arthouse horror, women, civil war, female nudity, knight, post apocalypse, demon
The Face of Another (1966)
Plot Summary:
A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality
Duration: 122 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Plot tags: disfigured face, incest, existentialism, face, philosophy, new identity, plastic surgery, surgery, disfigured, surrealism, brother sister incest, sex, time travel, train, mental disorder, depression, divorce, darkness, infidelity, manipulation, asian, big city, alienation, body horror, conversation
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Plot Summary:
Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners
Duration: 99 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 585000
Genere: Comedy, Horror
Country: UK, France, USA
Plot tags: zombie, dark humor, zombie apocalypse, zombie attack, pub, supernatural, zombie violence, zombie outbreak, siege, misfit, zombie survival, buddy, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, friends, gore, living dead, flesh eating zombie, chases and races, race against time, chase, survival, end of the world, epidemic, undead, infected
Kwaidan (1964)
Plot Summary:
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup
Duration: 183 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Plot tags: samurai, ghost, supernatural, macabre, snow, spirit, naval battle, japanese mythology, surrealism, folk horror, betrayal, visceral, tragedy, brutality, life & death, greed, supernatural horror, monk, buddhist, heroes, escapades, secret identity, materialism, marriage, winter
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Plot Summary:
A group of people try to survive an attack of bloodthirsty zombies while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse. Although not the first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead is the progenitor of the contemporary "zombie apocalypse" horror film, and it greatly influenced the modern pop-culture zombie archetype
Duration: 96 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: zombie, cemetery, zombie apocalypse, apocalypse, basement, living dead, survival, monster, supernatural, gory, cannibalism, zombie attack, macabre, post apocalypse, isolation, end of the world, infection, farmhouse, undead, violence, gore, infected, rescue, great ending, chaos
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Plot Summary:
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall
Duration: 127 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 127000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA, Italy
Plot tags: zombie, zombie apocalypse, infection, apocalypse, epidemic, end of the world, survival, living dead, siege, gore, shopping mall, undead, chaos, gory, violence, monster, virus, isolation, motorcycle, zombie attack, biker, rescue, danger, martial law, pandemic
Predator (1987)
Plot Summary:
Dutch and his group of commandos are hired by the CIA to rescue downed airmen from guerillas in a Central American jungle. The mission goes well but as they return they find that something is hunting them. Nearly invisible, it blends in with the forest, taking trophies from the bodies of its victims as it goes along. Occasionally seeing through its eyes, the audience sees it is an intelligent alien hunter, hunting them for sport, killing them off one at a time
Duration: 107 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 446000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Mexico
Plot tags: monster, alien, survival, jungle, military, creature, hunting, deadly creature, gory, mission, chase, alien invasion, commando, special forces, creature feature, trap, predator, tough guy, first contact, alien monster, gunfight, space and aliens, survival horror, danger, human versus alien
Get Out (2017)
Plot Summary:
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined
Duration: 104 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 673000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Plot tags: racism, hypnosis, kidnapping, survival, interracial romance, brainwashing, paranoia, missing person, african american, female villain, revenge, body swapping, african american protagonist, manipulation, neurosurgeon, psycho, secret society, twists and turns, interracial relations, racist, abduction, satire, psychopath, terror, disappearance
Let the Right One In (2008)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building
Duration: 114 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 225000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Country: Sweden
Plot tags: vampire, supernatural, bullying, loneliness, coming of age, goth, snow, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, friendship, murder, boy, child, new neighbor, gore, child vampire, youth, creepy child, bully, hidden identity, deadly creature, vampire human love, fall in love, school, gory, macabre
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent (2013)
Plot Summary:
A year has passed since Guts parted ways with the Band of the Hawks. Meanwhile, his former mercenary group is plotting a rescue mission to save an imprisoned Griffith
Duration: 110 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Plot tags: imaginary kingdom, medieval, battles, good versus evil, demon, strength, dark hero, heroes, supernatural, supernatural ability, imaginary, master warrior, escapades, vengeance, rivalry, curses spells and rituals, witchcraft, fight, supernatural power, gore, monster, friendship, macabre, brutality, evil
The Innocents (1961)
Plot Summary:
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted
Duration: 100 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Horror
Country: UK
Plot tags: supernatural, haunted house, haunting, macabre, children, haunted, old mansion, ghost story, hide and seek, schizophrenia, insanity, evil child, paranoid, great ending, mental disorder, creepy child, supernatural horror, nanny, haunted by the past, occult, atmosphere, obsession, corruption, mental illness, imagination
Evil Dead II (1987)
Plot Summary:
Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda find a log cabin in the woods with a voice recording from an archeologist who had recorded himself reciting ancient chants from “The Book of the Dead.” As they play the recording an evil power is unleashed taking over Linda’s body
Duration: 84 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 179000
Genere: Comedy, Horror
Country: USA
Plot tags: gory, supernatural, evil dead, gore, monster, blood, macabre, dark humor, zombie, blood splatter, curses spells and rituals, demon, undead, haunted house, time travel, american horror, apocalypse, halloween, cosmic horror, survival, guts, creature, exploitation, creature feature, living dead
Halloween (1978)
Plot Summary:
In John Carpenter's horror classic, a psychotic murderer, institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets
Duration: 91 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 302000
Genere: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: halloween, serial killer, psychopath, murder, masked killer, holiday horror, small town, psychiatrist, babysitter, violence, violent, psycho killer, babysitting, high school, female nudity, strangulation, stalking, escaped killer, night, gory, death, serial murder, boogeyman, evil man, falling from height
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Band of the Hawk participates in the Midland war campaign. On the bloody battlefield, they conquer decisive victories that lead them to Doldrey, an old fortress that will decide the outcome of the war
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Japan
Plot tags: battles, danger, one against many, vengeance, good versus evil, rivalry, imaginary, female warrior, heroes, escapades, demon, military, supernatural, master warrior, uninhibited rivalry, curses spells and rituals, fight, king, violence, female nudity, torture, warrior, memory, duel, desperation
Saw (2004)
Plot Summary:
Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life, a deranged, sadistic serial killer abducts the morally wayward. Once captured, they must face impossible choices in a horrific game of survival. The victims must fight to win their lives back, or die trying
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 459000
Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: torture, macabre, gory, serial killer, mind game, plot twist, survival horror, trap, violent, psychopath, fear, trapped, locked in a room, extreme violence, twists and turns, survival, insanity, game of death, deathtrap, characters killed one by one, sadism, captivity, violence, isolation, confined