Top 10 Horror Movies of All Time

We’ve seen a decline of horror movies in recent years and it seems that superhero movies have been dominating the theaters. However, throughout the years, quite a lot of really good horror movies have come out and it’s really hard to pick the top 10 horror movies but here they are. Here’s the top 10 horror movies to come out of all time.

#10 – The Cabin in The Woods

This is one of those movies that’s suspenseful and it’s not for people who have an easily upset stomach. The Cabin in The Woods focuses on a group of teenagers who go to a remote cabin and there’s far more then they anticipated. There are a lot of horrors that lie within the cabin and underneath the cabin as well. They’re in a location where they have absolutely no communication with the outside world.

The fateful events of that night are started by a character named Dana who starts reading from a book and she awakens an evil force within the cabin. From there, things only get worse and it’s far more than they ever anticipated. This isn’t a movie that primarily relies on jump scares, it uses some gore and shock to keep audiences wriggling around in their seats and this is easily one of the grossest horror movies of all time for that reason.

#9 – Sinister

When you read the plot of this movie, it honestly doesn’t sound like much. It focuses on a typical family that you see in every other horror movie and it focuses on a writer that is currently researching murders that date back to the 1960s. This movie draws you in with utter suspense. The killer, the unknown and other elements of the movie keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It’s one of the most suspenseful horror movies ever made and it’s one of those movies that doesn’t have a feel good happy ending, because let’s be honest, there’s far too many of those movies around in the horror genre.

You’ll be on the edge of your seat the entire time through this movie. Also, Ethan Hawke is a phenomenal actor who gives a praising performance throughout the entire movie. As the main character discovers some long-forgotten films, they begin to discover that the house they’re living in isn’t quite what they thought it was. Events start to unfold that no one can explain and the children are put at great risk when they finally found out what’s going on. What starts out as a writer trying to complete a book ends up being a survival of the fittest as he fights to stay alive.

#8 – The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

No matter which version of this movie you watch, it’s as equally horrifying. This movie was made based on a real-life serial killer by the name of Ed Gein. A lot of the movie is fiction but it doesn’t stop a lot of audiences from guessing on how much truth there is to this movie. It focuses on a small Texas town where a man named Leatherface is horrendously disformed and his family is struggling to survive. This town doesn’t have a lot going for it, so the family needs to survive by any means necessary, even if that means chopping up innocent people.

It’s a true film that honors cannibal horror films. A family of cannibals prey on anyone that comes through their town and Leatherface puts them through some of the most gruesome torture methods available. While some of the events are true, a lot of it is fiction of course. The real-life Ed Gein didn’t reside in Texas, he was actually committed for murders that he did in Wisconsin and he was known as a body snatcher from Plainfield. The real-life Ed Gein died in 1984 due to complications of the liver and respiratory failure. It’s unknown how many people Ed Gein actually murdered but he had numerous skulls and body parts all throughout his house.

#7 – IT

Whether you watch the 1980s version of the 2017 version, both of them are terrifying because let’s face it, who likes clowns? Clowns are terrifying and now, try to imagine a clown that can go anywhere and can become anything imaginable. IT focuses on a clown in a small town by the name of Derry in Maine. The clown’s name is Pennywise the dancing clown and he focuses primarily on children. He comes back and disappears every 30 years.

When the children of Derry start disappearing one by one, seven kids unite together in a group to defeat this evil clown. The movie is full of surprises and surprisingly doesn’t use a lot of jump scares. It uses a lot of old shock and horror tactics to keep you on your toes. As if a clown in a sewer wasn’t scary enough to keep you terrified. The main problem with IT is how exactly do you kill IT? No matter what the kids do, this thing will come back every thirty years. The original 1980s version was a two-part sequel so what will the newest version bring from the 2017 hit if they make a sequel to that one? Both of them are really well done with a great casting choice.

#6 – The Babadook

We know that it’s a silly name and it doesn’t sound very terrifying but this movie relies a lot more on actual horror than jump scares and cheap tactics to get a fright out of the audience. This is one of those few movies that actually questions reality and pulls you in as the movie comes closer and closer to the end. You never know what’s going to happen. This is one of those horror movies that psychologically challenges you and presents a challenge to how parenting can be difficult, especially in times of despair.

The thing is, the monster that’s constantly knocking at the door only has as much power as you give it power. The monster fuels off of the power that the cast in this movie presents but that doesn’t stop the ever-looming threat of the monster. There’s a lot of dark humor in this movie as well, along with issues that a lot of parents face in typical parental roles. This is a well-done movie and while the title might sound like a joke, the movie is most certainly not.

#5 – Get Out

One of the more recent movies, Get Out focuses on some of the struggles that people face every day. Get Out is a complete nightmare scenario and something that isn’t covered a lot. Get Out focuses on people who are forced into a scenario they don’t want to be in and there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s also one of the few horror movies to ever mix funny and horror at the same time and to be successful. This is something Get Out did successfully and it’s still equally as terrifying if you examine the horrible truths to this film.

The movie focuses on a man named Chris who thinks he has met the love of his life. After he meets their family however, he learns that things aren’t quite what they seem and things aren’t as perfect as he’d like them to be. The people who work for the house seem rather strange, almost as if they’re trapped inside of their own bodies and can’t escape. He soon learns some horrifying truths that run far deeper than he had ever imagined. Get Out is a bold new movie that focuses on frontiers that we’ve never explored before and it’s a completely original horror film.

#4 – 10 Cloverfield Lane

This is on of those movies that focuses on yet another horror subject that hasn’t been covered a lot. A lot of the mystery and a lot of the intrigue is left until the very end. You don’t really get any kind of sense of what’s going and from the beginning, you think the man (Johnathan Goodman) is just some creepy pervert who’s locking people up in his basement. However, it soon becomes clear that this isn’t the case but there’s a lot of wild rides in-between the initial preview and the discovery of what’s actually happening.

There’s tension throughout the entire movie that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. It’s one of the top horror movies because unlike some horror movies that just use jump scares and scary images of ghosts, this movie keeps the element of the unknown alive.

#3 – The Blair Witch Project

One of the first found films in the horror movie genre is the Blair Witch Project and this scared audiences to their core. This was one of those movies that didn’t give too much away but you certainly knew something was wrong through the entire movie. What we really appreciate about this movie isn’t so much the horror of the film but it was the ever present danger of the horror. You never get to see the actual witch.

If you pay attention from the beginning, you can see why the ending of this movie is so terrifying and every moment leading up to the end truly is bizarre. It’s a truly scary movie in the sense that it was done on a cheap budget, without jump scares and with genuine acting in a moment of fright. This was a great movie.

#2 – A Nightmare on Elm Street

When you go to sleep, this is supposed to be a time of rest and a time of peace. However, what if nightmares could come true? That’s exactly what this movie focused on and it was the most original concept of the time. It was based around the concept of nightmares coming true and your dreams actually killing you.

Believe it or not, this was based on a somewhat true story. In 1975, several Asian refugees in the United States started mysteriously dying in their sleep and to this day, no one has any clue as to why this happened or what could have possibly gone wrong. This is where Wes Craven got the original idea for the film.

#1 – The Exorcist

One of the most terrifying films of all time has to go to the Exorcist. This film actually caused people to physically walk out of the theater when it was playing. It was one of the most grotesque and one of the most haunting films of the time. No one had ever dared go to the lengths that this movie went to, especially during some of the scenes when the possessed woman was stabbing herself in the crotch with a crucifix.

It was a highly condemned movie among a lot of communities and it was hard to watch for the time it was presented. It raised a lot of fears about possession from the devil and some people had even feared that they would become possessed. This movie impacted so many people in so many different ways. For this reason, we have to place it as number one on our list because it wasn’t just a horror movie, it was a movie that impacted millions of people and shaped the way we make horror movies today.

Conclusion:

What do you think the greatest horror movie of all time is? Do you base your horror movies on jump scare or genuine shock like some of the films we’ve picked on this list? Let us know what you think.