A woman running from a masked killer in the woods, the sound of a chainsaw, fog rolling in on an almost too quiet lake, the creak of floorboards with no one around, ominous blood messages on the walls, someone saying “who’s there” right before they find out who’s there… and with it find an unplanned departure from this world. These are some of the moments that make horror films so great. With a unique genre filled with so many different terrifying tales, how does one even begin to rank the best of the best? Well Rotten Tomatoes has done the work for us and come up with their (almost) all-encompassing “200 Best Horror Films of All Time”.
Audiences everywhere love cinema because it transports them to another world. And the horror genre is the perfect vessel to whisk the viewer away to the land of “elsewhere”. Exploring the familiar and the unknown through the lens of suspense and fear is something only the Horror genre can deliver with such eloquence and grace it could make even the most gruesome ghoul cry. Thanks to Rotten Tomatoes, this hauntingly thorough list covers over 100 years of horror movie history. Including some of the earliest films from the early days of German expressionism (Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) and OF COURSE the ever essential Universal monsters (Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy). The biggest names in creature features (King Kong, The Fly) listed alongside Best Picture nominees (The Exorcist, Get Out). Slashers (Scream, Halloween), zombies (Dawn of the Dead, Zombieland), vampires (Fright Night, Lost Boys) exist happily alongside each other united by a joy of terrorizing the masses. This is a list for the ages! I’m a particular fan of #3, #23, #175, and #193.
Want to see the list for yourself? Click here!
I mentioned earlier that this list was “almost all-encompassing”. How could that be you ask? With 200 films mentioned how could anything essential be left out? The list includes does include several great cinematic works representing the horror genre. But some of the films that have been left out should never be forgotten when naming iconic/important/great films in horror movie history. In honor of those left behind I have ceremoniously dug them up up from their unmarked graves and lay them to rest with a well-deserved mention here. May I present “The movies that didn’t make the list but should have”:
Friday the 13th: The reason camping is now horrifying.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: This movie is gold and I will defend it until I die.
Gremlins: You can’t mention creatures without those adorable little monsters.
Leprechaun: So bad it’s somehow good.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?: A classic horror film rooted in psychological terror that builds all the way until the end
The Vanishing (1988): Don’t like unhappy endings? Don’t watch this move.
The Haunting (1963): A classic film based on a classic novel…how classic!
Ok, NOW we have a completed list of the greatest horror movies of all time. So are you ready to settle in for an evening of terrors and frights? Grab your security blanket, emergency flashlight, and popcorn for sustenance and let’s begin the countdown movie marathon!
