The Horror Planet 50
The 50 best horror movies of all time
The best horror movie of all time is The Exorcist. It topped a Rotten Tomatoes reader poll as the scariest film ever with 19% of all votes (Rotten Tomatoes), and fifty years on nothing has matched its mix of craft and terror. Here is our full top 50.
By the Horror Planet editors · Updated November 9, 2026
The Exorcist (1973)
The scariest film ever made, by popular vote.
Alien (1979)
A haunted house in space, and a template still copied.
The Shining (1980)
Kubrick makes a hotel feel infinite.
Halloween (1978)
The slasher, perfected on the first try.
Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock kills his star halfway through and rewrites the rules.
The Thing (1982)
Paranoia, practical effects and the best ending in horror.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Feels like found footage from hell.
Jaws (1975)
The first summer blockbuster is a horror film.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Satanic panic in a Manhattan apartment.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Romero invents the modern zombie.
Get Out (2017)
Social horror at its sharpest.
Hereditary (2018)
The most upsetting family dinner ever filmed.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The only horror film to win Best Picture.
Sinners (2025)
Already a classic. Record 16 Oscar nominations.
Ringu (1998)
One videotape changed horror worldwide.
The Wailing (2016)
The best possession film since The Exorcist.
Let the Right One In (2008)
A vampire love story in Swedish snow.
The Babadook (2014)
Grief with a top hat.
Don't Look Now (1973)
A red coat in Venice, and that ending.
Suspiria (1977)
Argento's nightmare in primary colors.
Nosferatu (1922)
Still the creepiest vampire on film.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Universal at its wittiest and saddest.
The Innocents (1961)
The gold standard ghost story.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Freddy makes sleep the enemy.
Scream (1996)
The slasher that knew the rules. Every Scream ranked.
The Witch (2015)
Folk horror, revived.
It Follows (2014)
The slowest, scariest walk in horror.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Zombies at the mall, and a satire that never aged.
The Fly (1986)
Cronenberg's tragic body-horror love story.
Evil Dead II (1987)
Horror and slapstick fused for good.
The Descent (2005)
Claustrophobia, then monsters.
His House (2020)
A 100% score, earned.
Audition (1999)
Kiri kiri kiri.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Found footage's big bang.
Carrie (1976)
Prom night, and the first great Stephen King film.
Train to Busan (2016)
Zombies on rails.
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
Poetic, cruel and beautiful.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Folk horror's founding text.
Poltergeist (1982)
They're here, in the suburbs.
Cure (1997)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's quietly devastating serial-killer film.
Weapons (2025)
2:17 a.m. will never be the same.
Talk to Me (2023)
Possession as a party game.
The Haunting (1963)
No ghost on screen, and you still see it.
Under the Shadow (2016)
A djinn in wartime Tehran.
The Orphanage (2007)
Spain's great ghost story.
Pearl (2022)
A star is born, and then kills.
Martyrs (2008)
The hardest watch on this list.
The Substance (2024)
Body horror at the Oscars.
Obsession (2026)
The phenomenon of 2026.
Black Christmas (1974)
The slasher before the slasher.
How we picked
We ranked for craft, fear and influence across every era Horror Planet covers, from the silent years to 2026. Scores from Rotten Tomatoes' 200 best horror movies and the Rotten Tomatoes fan poll informed the list. The Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture (Wikipedia) and Sinners earned a record 16 nominations (Wikipedia).
Want the scariest instead of the best? See the scariest movies of all time. Want them by money? The highest-grossing horror movies.