312 Must Watch Hollywood Horror Movies. List of Scariest Movies.

List Academy
October 4, 2021
December 1, 2023
Entertainment

10 Cloverfield Lane

10 Cloverfield Lane is a 2016 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Dan Trachtenberg in his directorial debut, produced by J. J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and written by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr. It is the second installment in the Cloverfield franchise. The story follows a young woman who, after a car crash, wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who insist that an event has left the surface of Earth uninhabitable.
The film was developed from a script titled The Cellar; but under production by Bad Robot, it was turned into a spiritual successor to the 2008 film Cloverfield. It is presented in a third-person narrative, in contrast to its predecessor’s found-footage style. Principal photography took place under the title Valencia in New Orleans, Louisiana, from October 20 to December 15, 2014.
10 Cloverfield Lane premiered in New York City on March 8, 2016, and was released in select countries on March 10. It was released in the United States on March 11, 2016, in both conventional and IMAX formats. The film grossed over $110 million worldwide and was praised for its performances, screenplay, and atmosphere. A successor, The Cloverfield Paradox, was released on February 4, 2018.

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1408

1408 is a 2007 American psychological horror film based on Stephen King’s 1999 short story of the same name. It is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. The film was released in the United States on June 22, 2007, although July 13 (which in 2007 fell on a Friday) is mentioned as the release date on the website.
The film follows Mike Enslin, an author who investigates allegedly haunted houses and rents the titular room 1408 at a New York City hotel. Although skeptical of the paranormal, he is soon trapped in the room where he experiences bizarre events. Reviews were mostly positive and the film performed positively at the box office.

28 Days Later

28 Days Later is a 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror drama film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Alex Garland, and starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns and Brendan Gleeson. The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental release of a highly contagious virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors (Murphy, Harris, Burns and Gleeson) to cope with the destruction of the life they once knew while evading those infected by the virus.
The film received critical acclaim. Many praised Boyle’s direction, the performances, Garland’s screenplay, atmosphere and soundtrack. Despite Boyle not considering it a zombie film, 28 Days Later is credited with reinvigorating the zombie genre of horror film, with its fast-running infected and character-driven drama. It was also a financial success, grossing more than $82.7 million worldwide on its modest budget of $8 million and becoming one of the most profitable horror films of 2002.
It was followed by a 2007 sequel, 28 Weeks Later, a graphic novel titled 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, which expands on the timeline of the outbreak, and a 2009 comic book series titled 28 Days Later. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 97th-best British film ever.

1922

1922 is a 2017 American horror drama film written and directed by Zak Hilditch, based on Stephen King’s 2010 novella of the same name. Starring Thomas Jane, Neal McDonough, and Molly Parker, the film was released on Netflix on October 20, 2017.

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a 2008 American monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. The film stars Michael Stahl-David, Odette Yustman, T.J. Miller, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, and Mike Vogel. The film uses a found footage motif to follow six young New York City residents fleeing from a massive monster and various other smaller creatures that attack the city while they are having a farewell party.
Development began when producer J. J. Abrams started conceptualizing a new monster and enlisted Neville Page to design the creature, referred to as Clover. In February 2007, the project was secretly greenlit by Paramount Pictures and produced by Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles that same year. During production, the project went under several working titles, including Slusho, Cheese and Greyshot. As part of a viral marketing campaign, a teaser trailer was released ahead of screenings of Transformers without a title attached. The film’s official title was revealed in a second teaser trailer attached to screenings of Beowulf. With limited details revealed about the film prior to release, it garnered online speculation, including forums and websites dedicated to uncovering any hidden information about the film. Several tie-ins, including a prequel manga series, were released as part of the film’s marketing campaign.
Cloverfield was released on January 18, 2008, and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Reeves’ direction and the film’s cinéma vérité style narrative. It earned $172 million worldwide at the box office against a $25 million budget. The film served as the first installment of the Cloverfield franchise, followed by 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016 and The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018. A direct sequel is currently in development.

A Tale of Two Sisters

A Tale of Two Sisters (Korean: 장화, 홍련; RR: Janghwa, Hongryeon; lit. “Rose Flower, Red Lotus”) is a 2003 South Korean psychological horror-drama film written and directed by Kim Jee-woon. The film is inspired by a Joseon Dynasty era folktale entitled Janghwa Hongryeon jeon, which has been adapted to film several times. The plot focuses on a recently released patient from a mental institution who returns home with her sister, only to face disturbing events between her stepmother and the ghosts haunting their house – all of which are connected to a dark past in the family’s history.
The film opened to very positive reviews from critics and won Best Picture at the 2004 Fantasporto Film Festival. It is the highest-grossing South Korean horror film and the first South Korean picture to be screened in American theatres. An English-language remake titled The Uninvited was released in 2009 to mixed reviews.

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Bram Stoker's Dracula

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a 1992 American Gothic horror film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. It stars Gary Oldman as Count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, and Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.
Dracula was theatrically released in the United States on November 13, 1992, to positive reviews, though Keanu Reeves’ performance and English accent received criticism. The film grossed $215 million against a production budget of $40 million. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won three for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Makeup while also being nominated for Best Art Direction. Its score was composed by Wojciech Kilar and its closing credits theme “Love Song for a Vampire”, written and performed by Annie Lennox, became an international success.

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A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is a 2018 American horror film directed by John Krasinski and written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski, from a story conceived by Woods and Beck. The plot revolves around a father (Krasinski) and a mother (Emily Blunt) who struggle to survive and raise their children (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind monsters with an acute sense of hearing.
Beck and Woods began developing the story while in college. In July 2016, Krasinski read their spec script and was hired to direct and rewrite the script in March the following year. The film drew inspiration from Alien, No Country for Old Men, and In the Bedroom. Krasinski and Blunt were cast in the lead roles in May 2017. Filming took place in upstate New York from May to November 2017.
A Quiet Place premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2018, and was released in the United States on April 6, 2018, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed more than $350 million worldwide and received critical acclaim. The film was described as a “smart, wickedly frightening good time” by Rotten Tomatoes, and chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018. The film was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score; an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing; a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay; and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Blunt, which she later won.
A sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, was released on May 28, 2021, with Krasinski returning to the director’s chair and the main cast also returning with the addition of Cillian Murphy.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Johnny Depp in his film debut. The plot concerns four teenagers living on one street in the fictitious town of Springwood, Ohio, who are invaded and killed in their dreams, and thus killed in reality, by a burnt killer with a bladed leather glove.
Craven filmed A Nightmare on Elm Street on an estimated budget of $1.1 million. The film was released on November 9, 1984, and grossed $57 million worldwide. A Nightmare on Elm Street was met with rave critical reviews and is considered to be one of the greatest horror films ever made, spawning a franchise consisting of six sequels, a television series, a crossover with Friday the 13th, and various other merchandise. A remake of the same name was released in 2010, and, aside from Stunts, Polyester, and Alone in the Dark, it was one of the first films produced by New Line Cinema, who by that point mostly distributed films, leading the company to become a successful film studio up till 2008 and was even nicknamed “The House that Freddy Built”.
The film is credited with using many of the tropes found in the low-budget horror films of the 1970s and 1980s that originated with John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and led this subgenre to be called the slasher film. The film includes a morality play where sexually promiscuous teenagers are killed. Critics and film historians state that the film’s premise is the struggle to define the distinction between dreams and reality, manifested by the lives and dreams of the teens in the film. Critics today praise the film’s ability to transgress “the boundaries between the imaginary and real”, toying with audience perceptions.The film was followed by A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

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Amer

Amer is a 2009 Belgian-French thriller horror film written and directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani and starring Cassandra Forêt, Bianca Maria D’Amato, Charlotte Eugène Guibeaud, and Marie Bos. The film is a giallo in three parts. The plot of the film follows the sexual development of Ana who lives on the French Riviera. The film focuses on her oppressive teenage years leading to her womanhood. The film premiered in Sweden in 2009. It has received generally favorable reviews and was nominated for the Magritte Award for Best Film.

Annabelle: Creation

Annabelle: Creation is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by David F. Sandberg, written by Gary Dauberman and produced by Peter Safran and James Wan. It is a prequel to 2014’s Annabelle and the fourth installment in the Conjuring Universe franchise. The film stars Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Miranda Otto, and depicts the haunted Annabelle doll’s origin.In October 2015, it was confirmed that an Annabelle sequel was in development; it was later revealed that the film would be a prequel rather than a sequel. Lights Out director David F. Sandberg replaced Leonetti as director, with Dauberman returning to write the script and Safran and Wan returning to produce. Principal photography began on June 27, 2016, in Los Angeles, California, and concluded on August 15, 2016.
Annabelle: Creation premiered at the LA Film Festival on June 19, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 11, 2017. The film grossed over $306 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an improvement over its predecessor. A sequel, Annabelle Comes Home, was released on June 26, 2019.

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Asylum

Asylum is a 2005 Anglo-Irish drama film directed by David Mackenzie and made by Mace Neufeld Productions, Samson Films, Seven Arts Productions, Zephyr Films Ltd and released by Paramount Classics. It is based on the 1996 novel Asylum by Patrick McGrath and was adapted for the screen by Patrick Marber and Chrysanthy Balis.
It stars Natasha Richardson, Marton Csokas, Ian McKellen and Hugh Bonneville with a cast also including Sean Harris, Joss Ackland, Wanda Ventham, Maria Aitken and Judy Parfitt.

Basket Case

Basket Case is a 1982 American horror film written and directed by Frank Henenlotter, and produced by Edgar Ievins. Kevin Van Hentenryck stars as a normal-looking person who seeks vengeance for the unwanted surgery that separated him from his deformed conjoined twin brother. The film gained an audience in the 1980s due to the advent of home video and has been considered a cult film. The film spawned two sequels, Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991), which were also directed by Henenlotter.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a 2006 American mockumentary black comedy slasher film directed by Scott Glosserman. It stars Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Scott Wilson, Zelda Rubenstein, and Robert Englund. A homage to the slasher genre, the film follows a journalist and her crew that are documenting an aspiring serial killer who models himself according to slasher film conventions. Principal photography took place in Oregon, although the story takes place in a small town in Maryland. The film premiered at the 2006 South by Southwest film festival and was shown at several other festivals. It received a limited release in the United States on March 16, 2007.

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Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath (Italian: I tre volti della paura, lit. ’The Three Faces of Fear’) is a 1963 horror anthology film directed by Mario Bava. The film consists of three separate tales that are introduced by Boris Karloff. The order in which the stories are presented varies among the different versions in which the film has been released. In the original, Italian print, the first story, titled “The Telephone”, involves Rosy (Michèle Mercier) who continually receives threatening telephone calls from an unseen stalker. The second is “The Wurdulak”, where a man named Gorca (Karloff) returns to his family after claiming to have slain a Wurdulak, an undead creature who attacks those that it had once loved. The third story, “The Drop of Water”, is centered on Helen Corey (Jacqueline Pierreux), a nurse who steals a ring from a corpse that is being prepared for burial and finds herself haunted by the ring’s original owner after arriving home. Being a low-budget horror film with multiple stories, an international cast and foreign financial backing, Black Sabbath follows numerous trends of 1960s Italian film productions. The film is credited to various writers, including Anton Chekov and Aleski Tolstoy, but is predominantly based on several uncredited sources, and changes were made to the script after filming commenced. American International Pictures and Titra Sound Corporation suggested changes to Bava during filming to make the film palatable for American audiences, and created their own English-language version of the film, which replaced Roberto Nicolosi’s score with music by Les Baxter, removed several depictions of graphic violence and made alterations to other scenes. This version greatly changed the plot of “The Telephone”, giving it a supernatural element and removing all references to lesbianism and prostitution. Black Sabbath was a commercial failure upon release in Italy, and performed below expectations in America. A spiritual sequel to the film, based on “The Dunwich Horror” and provisionally titled Scarlet Friday, was set to reunite Bava with Karloff and co-star Christopher Lee, but AIP distanced themselves from Bava following the failure of Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs and eventually produced the film without Bava, Karloff or Lee’s involvement. Plans for a remake were announced in 2004 with Jonathan Hensleigh attached to write the script. Since its original release, Black Sabbath has received positive reviews from critics, and was placed at number 73 on a Time Out poll of the best horror films.

Evil Dead 2

Evil Dead II (also known in publicity materials as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn) is a 1987 American supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi; it is a sequel to his 1981 horror film The Evil Dead. The film is written by Raimi and Scott Spiegel. Evil Dead II was produced by Robert Tapert and stars Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, who vacations with his girlfriend to a remote cabin in the woods. He discovers an audio tape of recitations from a book of ancient texts, and when the recording is played, it unleashes a number of demons which possess and torment him.
After the critical and commercial failure of Crimewave (1985), Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell began work on a sequel to The Evil Dead at the insistence of their publicist Irvin Shapiro. Having endorsed the original film, author Stephen King brought the project to the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis, with whom he had been making his directorial debut Maximum Overdrive (1986); De Laurentiis agreed to provide financial backing, and assigned the filmmakers a considerably larger budget than they had worked with on the original film. Although Raimi had devised a premise set in the Middle Ages and involving time travel, De Laurentiis requested that the film be similar to its predecessor.
Evil Dead II was shot in Wadesboro, North Carolina and Detroit, Michigan in 1986, and featured extensive stop-motion animation and prosthetic makeup effects created by a team of artists that included Mark Shostrom, Greg Nicotero, Robert Kurtzman and Tom Sullivan, the latter of whom returned from the original film. The finished film was released in the United States on March 13, 1987; due to its high level of violence, it was released through a pseudonymous distributor to curb an anticipated X rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Like The Evil Dead, it was widely acclaimed by critics, with praise being reserved for its humor, Raimi’s direction and Campbell’s performance. Despite being given a somewhat limited release, it was a minor box office success, grossing just under $6 million in the US alone.
As with the first film, Evil Dead II has accumulated a large, international cult following. A direct sequel utilizing Raimi’s original premise, Army of Darkness, followed in 1992. It was later followed by a soft reboot and continuation, Evil Dead, which was released in 2013, and a television series, Ash vs Evil Dead, which aired from 2015 to 2018.

Final Destination

Final Destination is a 2000 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wong, with a screenplay written by James Wong, Glen Morgan, and Jeffrey Reddick, based on a story by Reddick. It is the first installment in the Final Destination film series and stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, and Tony Todd. Sawa portrays a teenager who cheats death after having a premonition of a catastrophic plane explosion. He and several of his classmates leave the plane before the explosion occurs, but Death later takes the lives of those who were meant to die on the plane.
The film began as a spec script written by Reddick for an episode of The X-Files, in order for Reddick to get a TV agent. A colleague at New Line Cinema persuaded Reddick to write it as a feature-length film. Later, Wong and Morgan, The X-Files writing partners, became interested in the script and agreed to rewrite and direct the film, marking Wong’s film directing debut. Filming took place in New York City and Vancouver, with additional scenes filmed in Toronto and San Francisco. It was released on March 17, 2000, and became a financial success, making $10 million on its opening weekend. The DVD release of the film, released on September 26, 2000, in the United States and Canada, includes commentaries, deleted scenes, and documentaries.The film received mixed reviews from critics. Positive reviews praised the film for “generating a respectable amount of suspense”, “playful and energized enough to keep an audience guessing”, “an unexpectedly alert teen-scream disaster chiller”, and Sawa’s performance, while negative reviews described the film as “dramatically flat” and “aimed at the teen dating crowd”. It received the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Sawa’s performance. The film’s success spawned a media franchise, encompassing four additional installments, as well as a series of novels and comic books. The first sequel, Final Destination 2, was released on January 31, 2003.

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Alleluia

Alleluia is a 2014 Belgian-French horror-drama film directed by Fabrice Du Welz. It was screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It received eight nominations at the 6th Magritte Awards, including Best Director for Du Welz.

Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American independent horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. She relocates to a new city, where she finds herself unable to assimilate with the locals, and becomes drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival. Director Harvey also appears in the film as a ghoulish stranger who stalks her throughout.Filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, Carnival of Souls was shot on a budget of $33,000, and Harvey employed various guerrilla filmmaking techniques to finish the production. It was Harvey’s only feature film, and did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a double feature with The Devil’s Messenger in 1962.
Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, the film has been contemporarily noted by critics and film scholars for its cinematography and foreboding atmosphere. The film has a large cult following and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals, and has been cited as a wide-ranging influence on numerous filmmakers, including David Lynch, George A. Romero, and Lucrecia Martel.

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Cat People

Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader. It stars Nastassja Kinski and Malcolm McDowell; John Heard, Annette O’Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley Jr., Scott Paulin, and Frankie Faison play supporting roles. Wilbur Stark and Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producers. Alan Ormsby wrote the screenplay, basing it loosely on the story by DeWitt Bodeen, the screenwriter for the original Cat People (1942). Giorgio Moroder composed the film’s score, including the theme song, which features lyrics and vocals by David Bowie.

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film from Universal-International, produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva, and Whit Bissell. The Creature was played by Ben Chapman on land and by Ricou Browning underwater. The film premiered in Detroit on February 12 and was released on a regional basis, opening on various dates.
Creature from the Black Lagoon was filmed in three dimensions (3D) and originally projected by the polarized light method. The audience wore viewers with gray polarizing filters, similar to the viewers most commonly used today. Because the brief 1950s 3D film fad had peaked in mid-1953 and was fading fast in early 1954, many audiences actually saw the film “flat”, in two dimensions (2D). Typically, the film was shown in 3D in large downtown theaters and flat in smaller neighborhood theaters. In 1975, Creature from the Black Lagoon was released to theaters in the inferior red-and-blue-glasses anaglyph 3D format, which was also used for a 1980 home video release on Beta and VHS videocassettes.For marketing reasons, a comedic appearance with Abbott and Costello on an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour aired prior to the film’s release. The appearance is commonly known as Abbott and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ben Chapman reprised his role as the Creature for the program.Creature from the Black Lagoon generated two sequels: Revenge of the Creature (1955), which was also filmed and released in 3D in hopes of reviving the format, and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), filmed in 2D. The Creature, also known as the Gill-man, is usually counted among the classic Universal Monsters.

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Demon

Demon is a 2015 Polish horror film written and directed by Marcin Wrona. It was shown in the Vanguard section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was Wrona’s last feature film, as he committed suicide on 19 September 2015 while promoting the film at the Gdynia Film Festival.

Dog Soldiers

Dog Soldiers is a 2002 British action horror film written, directed and edited by Neil Marshall, in his directorial debut, and starring Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham.
The film received positive reviews and launched the career of director Neil Marshall. Sequels were planned but did not happen.

Fear Street

Fear Street Part One: 1994 is a 2021 American teen slasher film directed by Leigh Janiak, with a script co-written by Phil Graziadei and Janiak, from an original story by Kyle Killen, Graziadei, and Janiak. Based on the book series of the same name by R. L. Stine, it is the first installment in the Fear Street trilogy and stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson and Maya Hawke. The film follows a group of teenagers in Shadyside who are terrorized by an ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued the town for centuries.
Produced by Chernin Entertainment, a film adaptation of Fear Street began development at 20th Century Fox in 2015, with Janiak hired to direct and rewrite Killen’s script with Graziadei in 2017. Filming for the trilogy took place back-to-back from March to September 2019 in Georgia with the film set for a theatrical release in June 2020. However, the trilogy was pulled from the schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Chernin Entertainment ended their distribution deal with 20th Century Studios and gave distribution rights to Netflix in August 2020.
Fear Street Part One: 1994 premiered at the Los Angeles State Historic Park on June 28, 2021, and was released on Netflix on July 2, 2021, with the other entries, Part Two: 1978 and Part Three: 1666, released weekly. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the cast, the horror elements and faithfulness to the source material.

Harpoon

Harpoon is a 2019 Canadian horror comedy film written and directed by Rob Grant. The film stars Munro Chambers, Emily Tyra, and Christopher Gray, and is about three best friends who become stranded on a yacht in the middle of the ocean. It premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival on January 24, 2019, and played at several film festivals, including the Calgary Underground Film Festival, where it won the audience award. It was theatrically released on October 4, 2019.

Julia's Eyes

Julia’s Eyes (Spanish: Los ojos de Julia) is a 2010 Spanish horror thriller film directed by Guillem Morales and written by Morales and Oriol Paulo. It was produced by Guillermo del Toro, Joaquín Padró and Mar Targarona.

Night of the Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent horror film written, directed, photographed and edited by George A. Romero, co-written by John Russo, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea. The story follows seven people who are trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, which is under assault by an enlarging group of cannibalistic, undead ghouls.
Having gained experience through directing television commercials and industrial films for their Pittsburgh-based production company The Latent Image, Romero and his friends Russo and Russell Streiner decided to fulfill their ambitions to make a feature film. Electing to make a horror film that would capitalize on contemporary commercial interest in the genre, they formed a partnership with Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman of Hardman Associates called Image Ten. After evolving through multiple drafts, Russo and Romero’s final script primarily drew influence from Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend. Principal photography took place between June and December 1967, primarily on location in Evans City; aside from the Image Ten team themselves, the cast and crew consisted of their friends and relatives, local stage and amateur actors, and residents from the area. Although the film was his directorial debut, Romero utilized many of the guerrilla filmmaking techniques he had honed in his commercial and industrial work to complete the film on a budget of US$114,000.
Following its theatrical premiere in Pittsburgh on October 1, 1968, Night of the Living Dead eventually grossed US$12 million domestically and US$18 million internationally, earning more than 250 times its budget and making it one of the most profitable film productions ever made at the time. Released shortly prior to the adoption of the Motion Picture Association of America rating system, the film attracted widespread controversy and negative reviews upon its initial release for its explicit violence and gore, but it soon garnered a cult following and acclaim among critics, and has appeared on lists of the greatest films ever made by such outlets as Empire, The New York Times and Total Film. Frequently identified as the first modern zombie film and a touchstone in the development of the horror genre, retrospective scholarly analysis has focused on its reflection of the social and cultural changes in the United States during the 1960s, with particular attention being directed towards the casting of Jones, an African-American, in the leading role. In 1999, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.Night of the Living Dead spawned a franchise that includes five official sequels released between 1978 and 2009, also directed by Romero. As a result of its public domain status, it has inspired several remakes and sequels. George Romero eventually commissioned an official remake, written by Romero himself and directed by Tom Savini, released in 1990, which gained a small cult-following. The original film was used in many films after, due to its public domain status.

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Alien

Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon. Based on a story by O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, it follows the crew of the commercial space tug Nostromo, who encounter the eponymous Alien, an aggressive and deadly extraterrestrial set loose on the ship. The film stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto. It was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script; Shusett was executive producer. The Alien and its accompanying artifacts were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the more human settings.
Alien premiered May 25, 1979, as the opening night of the fourth Seattle International Film Festival, presented in 70mm at midnight. It received a wide release on June 22 and was released September 6 in the United Kingdom. It was met with critical acclaim and box-office success, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright), and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other nominations. It has been consistently praised in the years since its release, and is considered one of the greatest films of all time. In 2002, Alien was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2008, it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the seventh-best film in the science-fiction genre, and as the 33rd-greatest film of all time by Empire.
The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It also launched Weaver’s acting career, providing her with her first lead role. The story of her character’s encounters with the Alien creatures became the thematic and narrative core of the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997). A crossover with the Predator franchise produced the Alien vs. Predator films: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). A prequel series includes Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), both directed by Scott.

Attack the Block

Attack the Block is a 2011 British science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish and starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker and Nick Frost. It was the film debut of Cornish, Boyega and composer Steven Price. The film centers on a teenage street gang who have to defend themselves from predatory alien invaders on a council estate in South London on Guy Fawkes Night. Released on 11 May 2011, it underperformed at the box office but received a positive critical reception, with particular praise for Cornish’s direction and Boyega’s performance, and it also received several international accolades. A sequel is in development.

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Black Sheep

Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. It was produced by Philippa Campbell and stars Nathan Meister, Peter Feeney, Danielle Mason, Tammy Davis, Oliver Driver, Tandi Wright, Glenis Levestam, Nick Blake, Matthew Chamberlain, Nick Fenton, Eli Kent, and Sam Clarke. The special effects were done by Weta Workshop. The film premiered at the TIFF on 10 September 2006 as part of their Midnight Madness series. It was theatrically released in New Zealand on 29 March 2007 by the New Zealand Film Commission. Black Sheep received positive reviews from critics and grossed $5 million at the box office. It also received a Narcisse Award nomination for Best Feature Film.

The Devil Rides Out

The Devil Rides Out, known as The Devil’s Bride in the United States, is a 1968 British horror film, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley. It was written by Richard Matheson and directed by Terence Fisher. The film stars Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Niké Arrighi and Leon Greene.
It is considered one of Terence Fisher’s best films. It is the final film to be produced by Seven Arts Productions after the company was merged with Warner Bros. to become Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1967.

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Don't Breathe

Don’t Breathe is a 2016 American horror-thriller film produced and directed by Fede Álvarez, co-produced by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, and co-written by Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues. The film stars Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, and Stephen Lang, and focuses on three friends who get trapped inside a blind man’s house while breaking into it. The film was produced by Ghost House Pictures and Good Universe and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. In contrast to his previous work on Evil Dead, director Álvarez decided the project would have less blood, an original storyline, more suspense, and no dependence on supernatural elements—which he felt were overused. The project, originally titled A Man in the Dark, was later announced in early 2014, with Álvarez directing, Sayagues writing, Raimi and Tapert producing, and Levy starring. Principal photography began on June 29, 2015, and wrapped in July 2015 in Detroit. Don’t Breathe premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016, and was theatrically released on August 26, 2016, by Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. The film grossed over $157 million and received largely positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, direction, screenplay, and tense atmosphere. A sequel was released on August 13, 2021, with Lang reprising his role.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

A Dark Song

A Dark Song is a 2016 Irish-British independent horror film, written and directed by Liam Gavin and starring Steve Oram and Catherine Walker. It was released to select theatres and digital streaming platforms on 28 April 2017. It is Gavin’s directorial debut.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Persian: دختری در شب تنها به خانه می‌رود‎ Dokhtari dar šab tanhâ be xâne miravad) is a 2014 American horror Western film written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Promoted as “The first Iranian vampire Western”, it was chosen to show in the “Next” program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.The film is described as being set in “the Iranian ghost-town Bad City” and depicts the doings of “a lonesome vampire”.

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An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 horror comedy film written and directed by John Landis. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film stars David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne and John Woodvine. The film’s plot follows two American backpackers, David and Jack, who are attacked by a werewolf while traveling in England, causing David to question whether he will become a werewolf under the next full moon.Landis wrote the first draft of the screenplay for the film in 1969 and shelved it for over a decade. Prospective financiers believed that Landis’ script was too frightening to be a comedy film and too humorous to be a horror film. After achieving success in Hollywood with the comedies The Kentucky Fried Movie, National Lampoon’s Animal House and The Blues Brothers, Landis was able to secure financing from PolyGram Pictures to produce An American Werewolf in London.
An American Werewolf in London was released in the US by Universal Pictures on August 21, 1981. It was a critical and commercial success, winning the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and the first ever Academy Award for Best Makeup. Since its release, it has become a cult classic. A sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, was released by Hollywood Pictures in 1997.

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Audition

Audition (オーディション, Ōdishon) is a 1999 Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Miike, based on the 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami. It is about a widower, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), whose son suggests that he should find a new wife. Aoyama agrees, and with a friend, stages a phony audition to meet a potential new partner in life. After interviewing several women, Aoyama becomes interested in Asami (Eihi Shiina), who responds well to him, although as they date, her dark past affects their relationship. Audition was originally a project of the Japanese company Omega Project, who wanted to make a horror film after the great financial success of their previous production Ring. To create the film, the company purchased the rights to Murakami’s book and hired screenwriter Daisuke Tengan and director Miike to film an adaptation. The cast and crew consisted primarily of people Miike had worked with on previous projects, with the exception of Shiina, who had worked as a model prior to her career in film. The film was shot in about three weeks in Tokyo. The film premiered, with a few other Japanese horror films, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, but it received much more attention when it was shown at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2000, where it received the FIPRESCI Prize and the KNF Award. Following a theatrical release in Japan, the film continued to play at festivals and had theatrical releases in the United States and United Kingdom, followed by several home media releases. Audition was received positively by Western film critics on its release, with many noting the final torture sequence in the film and how it contrasts with the non-horrific scenes before. The film has appeared on several lists of the best horror films ever made, and has had an influence on other horror films and directors including Eli Roth and the Soska sisters.

Berberian Sound Studio

Berberian Sound Studio is a 2012 British psychological horror film. It is the second feature film by British director and screenwriter Peter Strickland. The film, which stars Toby Jones, is set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio.

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Better Watch Out

Better Watch Out is a 2016 psychological horror film directed by Chris Peckover, from a script he co-wrote with Zack Kahn. It stars Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller and Ed Oxenbould. The film had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2016, and was released in the United States on October 6, 2017, by Well Go USA and in Australia on November 23, 2017, by Rialto Distribution.

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Black Christmas

Black Christmas is a 2019 American slasher film directed by Sophia Takal, and written by Takal and April Wolfe. Part of the Black Christmas series, it is the loose second remake of the 1974 Canadian film Black Christmas, after the 2006 film, and follows a group of sorority sisters at Hawthorne College as they are preyed upon by an unknown stalker. The film stars Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, and Cary Elwes.Development of the project began in June 2019, when Jason Blum announced that he would produce the film through his studio Blumhouse Productions. On the same day, Sophia Takal was announced as director and co-writer, and principal photography began soon after, lasting for 27 days in New Zealand.
Black Christmas was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019 by Universal Pictures, coinciding with Friday the 13th. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized its writing, pulpy themes, PG-13 rating, overt political messages, and deviations from the original film, but some considered it a improvement over the 2006 remake and praised Poots’ performance. The film grossed $18 million worldwide on a $5 million budget.

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Black Sunday

Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name. It was produced by Robert Evans, and stars Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller. It was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1978. The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat. Ross had previously written the screenplay for The Day of the Jackal, a similar plot-driven political thriller. The inspiration of the story came from the Munich massacre, perpetrated by the Black September organization against Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics, giving the title for the novel and film.

Blood and Black Lace

Blood and Black Lace (Italian: 6 donne per l’assassino, lit. ’6 Women for the Murderer’) is a 1964 giallo film directed by Mario Bava and starring Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell. The story concerns the brutal murders of a Roman fashion house’s models, committed by a masked killer in a desperate attempt to obtain a scandal-revealing diary. The film began development shortly after Bava had ended his long-time association with Galatea Film, for whom he had made most of his earlier works as a cinematographer and director. Made with a budget that was lower than several of the director’s prior horror films, Blood and Black Lace was an Italian, French and West German international co-production between Emmepi Cinematografica, Les Productions Georges de Beauregard and Monachia Film. Different sources and ministerial papers provide varying degrees of information on the authorship of the film’s screenplay, with most sources crediting Marcello Fondato, Giuseppe Barillà and Bava as co-writers; co-star Mary Arden is credited with having adapted the script’s dialogue into English. Most of the technical staff and several cast members were veterans of Bava’s previous films. Principal photography began in Rome in late 1963 with an international, multilingual cast; some actors read their lines fluently, while others performed them phonetically. Film critics and historians such as Tim Lucas and Roberto Curti have identified Blood and Black Lace as representing an evolution in both Bava’s style and the thriller genre depicted in cinema. Having used thriller conventions in his earlier films The Girl Who Knew Too Much and “The Telephone”, a segment of Black Sabbath, Bava used this film to combine elements of contemporary West German murder mystery films (krimis) with the lurid juxtaposition of eroticism and violence present in popular fiction of the time, namely the long-running Giallo Mondadori series of pulp novels. Though it did not start a trend in the genre, the film has retrospectively been described as being among the first giallo films, as its exaggerated use of colour photography and eschewing of a traditional mystery in favour of a focus on set pieces of graphic murder would become staples of the form. The film premiered in Rome on March 14, 1964, where it was commercially unsuccessful. Contemporary and retrospective reviews primarily praised Bava’s direction and its visual style, although some found its plot to be weak and lacking in characterisation. After the successful release of Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1970, a wave of gialli were made in Italy, with many sharing stylistic traits from Blood and Black Lace. Works by such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese and Pedro Almodóvar have referenced the film, and it has appeared on several “best of” lists related to thriller, horror and slasher films.

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Bloodthirsty

Bloodthirsty is a Canadian horror film, directed by Amelia Moses and released in to festivals in 2020 and commercially in 2021. It stars Lauren Beatty as Grey, an indie singer-songwriter who begins to transform into a werewolf while working at a remote wilderness recording studio with producer Vaughn (Greg Bryk). The film premiered on October 1, 2020 at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and was released on video-on-demand on April 23, 2021.

Bone Tomahawk

Bone Tomahawk is a 2015 American horror Western cannibal film written and directed by S. Craig Zahler. It stars Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Lili Simmons, Evan Jonigkeit, David Arquette, and Sid Haig and was produced by Jack Heller and Dallas Sonnier. It had its world premiere at the Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2015 and was given a limited release on October 23, 2015, by RLJ Entertainment. The film is about a small-town sheriff (Russell) who leads a posse into a desolate region to rescue three people who were abducted by a cannibalistic indigenous clan.

Bride of Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures’ 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale and stars Boris Karloff as the Monster. The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the titular character at the end of the film. Colin Clive reprises his role as Henry Frankenstein, and Ernest Thesiger plays the role of Doctor Septimus Pretorius. Taking place immediately after the events of the earlier film, it is rooted in a subplot of the original Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Its plot follows a chastened Henry Frankenstein as he attempts to abandon his plans to create life, only to be tempted and finally coerced by his old mentor Dr. Pretorius, along with threats from the Monster, into constructing a mate for the Monster. The preparation to film the sequel began shortly after the premiere of the first film, but script problems delayed the project. Principal photography began in January 1935, with creative personnel from the original returning in front of and behind the camera. Bride of Frankenstein was released to critical and popular acclaim, although it encountered difficulties with some state and national censorship boards. Since its release the film’s reputation has grown, and it is now frequently considered one of the greatest sequels ever made; many fans and critics consider it to be an improvement on the original, and it has been hailed as Whale’s masterpiece. In 1998, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

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Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever is a 2016 American horror film directed by Travis Zariwny (under the pseudonym Travis Z) and written by Eli Roth. A remake of Roth’s 2002 film of the same name and the fourth installment in the Cabin Fever series. The film stars Samuel Davis, Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Nadine Crocker, and Dustin Ingram. The film was released on February 12, 2016 by IFC Midnight. Eli Roth, writer and director of the original film, acts as co-writer and executive producer.

Cadaver

Cadaver (Norwegian: Kadaver) is a 2020 Norwegian horror film directed and written by Jarand Herdal and starring Gitte Witt, Thomas Gullestad and Thorbjørn Harr.

Candyman

Candyman is a 2021 supernatural slasher film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta. The film is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name and the fourth film in the Candyman film series, based on the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, and Colman Domingo along with Vanessa Williams, Tony Todd, and Virginia Madsen who reprise their roles from the original film.
Plans for another Candyman film began in the early 2000s, with original director Bernard Rose wanting to make a prequel film about Candyman and Helen’s love. However, the studio turned it down and the project entered development hell. By 2018, Peele signed on as producer for a new film using his company, Monkeypaw Productions and later, in November that same year, it was confirmed that Peele would produce the film with Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and partnered with Rosenfeld to co-produce the film while DaCosta signed on as director. Principal photography for the film began in August 2019 and wrapped in September 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.
Candyman was theatrically released in the United States on August 27, 2021, by Universal Pictures. Its release date was delayed three times from an original June 2020 date due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised DaCosta’s direction and the blend of social commentary with horror, and has grossed $50 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.

Cannibal Holocaust

Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian cannibal film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist from New York University who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers. Played by Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, and Luca Barbareschi, the crew had gone missing while filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes. When the rescue team is only able to recover the crew’s lost cans of film, an American television station wishes to broadcast the footage as a sensationalized television special. Upon viewing the reels, Monroe is appalled by the team’s actions and objects to the station’s intent to air the documentary.
Produced as part of the contemporary cannibal trend of Italian exploitation cinema, Cannibal Holocaust was inspired by Italian media coverage of Red Brigades terrorism. The coverage included news reports that Deodato believed to be staged, an idea which became an integral aspect of the film’s story. Additional story elements were influenced by the documentaries of Mondo director Gualtiero Jacopetti, including the presentation of the documentary crew’s lost footage, which constitutes approximately half of the film. The treatment of this footage, which is noted for its visual realism, innovated the found footage style of filmmaking that was later popularized in American cinema by The Blair Witch Project. Cannibal Holocaust was filmed primarily on location in the Amazon rainforest of Colombia with a cast of indigenous tribes interacting with mostly inexperienced American and Italian actors recruited in New York City.Cannibal Holocaust achieved notoriety as its graphic violence aroused a great deal of controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was ordered to be seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was later charged with multiple counts of murder due to rumors that claimed several actors were killed on camera. Although Deodato was cleared of these charges, the film was banned in Italy, Australia, and several other countries due to its graphic content, including sexual assault and genuine violence toward animals. Although some nations have since revoked the ban, it is still upheld in several countries. Critical reception of the film is mixed, although it has received a cult following. The film’s plot and violence have been noted as subtextual commentary on ethics in journalism, exploitation of developing countries, and as a comparison of modern and uncivilized societies, yet these interpretations have also been met with criticism, with any perceived subtext deemed hypocritical or insincere due to the film’s presentation.

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Cargo

Cargo is a 2017 Australian post-apocalyptic horror drama film directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke with a screenplay by Ramke based on their 2013 short film of the same name. The film stars Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter, and Caren Pistorius. It premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 6 October 2017 and was released in cinemas in Australia on 17 May 2018, worldwide except for Australia on 18 May 2018 by Netflix and on Netflix in Australia on 16 November 2018.

CARRIE

Carrie is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by Kimberly Peirce. It is the third film adaptation and a remake to the 1976 adaptation of Stephen King’s 1974 novel of the same name and the fourth film in the Carrie franchise. The film was produced by Kevin Misher, with a screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The film stars Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular character Carrie White, alongside Julianne Moore as Margaret White. The cast also features Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort and Alex Russell. The film is a modern re-imagining of King’s novel about a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother, who uses her telekinetic powers with devastating effect after falling victim to a cruel prank at her senior prom.
The film held its world premiere at the Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles on October 7, 2013 and was released in the United States by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Screen Gems on October 18, 2013. The film received mixed reviews, with critics calling it “unnecessary” and criticizing the lack of originality and scares, though they praised the modern updates and cast. It grossed $84 million worldwide at the box office.

Climax

Climax is a 2018 psychological horror film directed, written and co-edited by Gaspar Noé. An international co-production between France and Belgium, the film takes place in 1996 during winter, within a single building, and features a large ensemble cast of twenty-four (led by Sofia Boutella) portraying a French dance troupe throwing an after-party after a rehearsal. The celebrations take a darker turn when everyone becomes increasingly agitated and confused after consuming sangria laced with LSD.
The film is notable for its unusual style and production, having been conceived and pre-produced in only four weeks and shot in chronological order in only 15 days: although Noé conceived the premise, the large majority of the film was unrehearsed on-the-spot improvisation by the cast, who were given no lines of dialogue beforehand and had almost complete liberty as to where to take the story and characters. Climax features unusual editing and cinematography choices, and includes several long takes, including one lasting over 42 minutes. The cast of the film consists almost exclusively of dancers who, aside from Boutella and Souheila Yacoub, had no previous acting experience.
Climax premiered on 10 May 2018 in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Art Cinema Award. It was theatrically released in France on 19 September 2018 by Wild Bunch and in Belgium on 21 November 2018 by O’Brother Distribution. The film received positive reviews, with many critics praising its direction, cinematography, soundtrack, choreography, and performances, although some criticized its violence and perceived lack of story.

Color Out of Space

Color Out of Space is a 2019 American science fiction Lovecraftian horror film directed and co-written by Richard Stanley, based on the short story “The Colour Out of Space” by H. P. Lovecraft. It stars Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Q’orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong. This is Stanley’s only feature film since his firing from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). According to Stanley, it is the first film in a trilogy of Lovecraft adaptations, which he hopes to continue with an adaptation of “The Dunwich Horror”.

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Come to Daddy

Come to Daddy is a 2019 black comedy thriller film directed by Ant Timpson and written by Toby Harvard.

Crawl

Crawl is a 2019 American natural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja from a screenplay written by brothers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen. Produced by Sam Raimi, the plot follows Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper as a daughter and father who, along with their dog, are hunted by alligators after being trapped in their home during a Category 5 hurricane in Florida.
Aja received the original spec script for the project in 2017, which he rewrote after finding its one-location style, length, and story disappointing for a feature film. Crawl was later officially announced in May 2018, and production started in Serbia with cinematographer Maxime Alexandre. Mostly shot within a warehouse facility located in the Port of Belgrade, principal photography concluded after 41 days. During post-production, the film score was composed by frequent collaborators Max Aruj and Steffen Thum, and the alligators were created using CGI through the visual effects company Rodeo FX.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures, Crawl opted out of conventional film screenings for critics and premiered in the United States on July 12, 2019. With an “R” rating from the Motion Picture Association, the film grossed $91.5 million against a $13–15 million production budget. Upon release, it was met with generally positive reviews, with praise for its directing, brisk pacing, and visual presentation of its main antagonists. As a result, the film earned a nomination for Best Wide Release at the 2020 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. After growing speculation, Aja confirmed in April 2021 that a sequel was in development.

Creep

Creep is a 2014 American psychological horror film directed by Patrick Brice, his directorial debut, from a story by Brice and Mark Duplass, who also star in the film. Filmed as found footage, Brice portrays a videographer assigned to record an eccentric client, played by Duplass. Creep was inspired by Brice’s experiences with Craigslist and the movies My Dinner with Andre, Misery, and Fatal Attraction. Brice and Duplass refined the film’s story during filming, which resulted in multiple versions of each scene and several alternate end scenarios.
The film premiered on March 8, 2014, at South by Southwest, and was released on video on demand on June 23, 2015, by The Orchard prior to an international release via Netflix on July 14, 2015. It received positive reviews from critics and has a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 89%. A sequel was released in 2017, also directed by Brice and starring Duplass, with a third film planned for a future release.

Creepshow

Creepshow is a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, making this film his screenwriting debut. The film’s ensemble cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, and Viveca Lindfors as well as King himself (King’s acting debut actually came a year prior in the Romero film Knightriders). The film was primarily shot on location in Pittsburgh and its suburbs, including Monroeville, where Romero leased an old boys academy (Penn Hall) to build extensive sets for the film.
The film consists of five short stories: “Father’s Day”, “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” (based on the King short story “Weeds”), “Something to Tide You Over”, “The Crate” and “They’re Creeping Up on You!” Two of these stories were adapted from King’s short stories, with the film bookended by prologue and epilogue scenes featuring a young boy named Billy (played by King’s son, Joe), who is punished by his abusive father for reading horror comics.
The film is an homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s, such as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. In order for the film to give viewers a comic book feel, Romero hired long-time effects specialist Tom Savini to replicate comic-like effects.
The film earned $21,028,755 in the United States.

Creepy

Creepy (クリーピー偽りの隣人, Kurīpī: Itsuwari no Rinjin) is a 2016 Japanese thriller film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Yūko Takeuchi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Haruna Kawaguchi, and Masahiro Higashide. It is based on the 2012 novel by Yutaka Maekawa. The film had its world premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2016. It was released in Japan on 18 June 2016.

Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak is a 2015 gothic romance film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver. The story, set in Victorian era England, follows an aspiring author who travels to a remote Gothic mansion in the English hills with her new husband and his sister. There, she must decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home.
In 2006, a spec script written by Del Toro and Robbins was sold to Universal Pictures, with Del Toro set to direct. Development was delayed due to scheduling conflicts. The film was described as a “ghost story and gothic romance” heavily inspired by other horror films, such as The Haunting, The Innocents and The Shining. Principal photography began at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Ontario on February 10, 2014, with additional filming in Hamilton, and ended on May 16 that year. The film was produced by Legendary Pictures and Del Toro’s production company, DDY Productions.
Crimson Peak premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2015, and was released in the United States on October 16, 2015 in standard and IMAX formats. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the production values, performances and direction, but criticized the plot and characters. It grossed $74 million worldwide against its $55 million budget. The film received three nominations at the 21st Empire Awards, including Best Horror. It received nine nominations at the 42nd Saturn Awards, winning three, including Best Horror Film, Best Supporting Actress for Chastain and Best Production Design for Thomas E. Sanders.

Dark Water

Dark Water is a 2005 American supernatural horror drama film directed by Walter Salles, starring Jennifer Connelly and Tim Roth. The film is a remake of the 2002 Japanese film of the same name, which is in turn based on the short story “Floating Water” by Koji Suzuki, who also wrote the Ring trilogy. The film also stars John C. Reilly, Pete Postlethwaite, Perla Haney-Jardine, Dougray Scott and Ariel Gade. The film was released on July 8, 2005, to mixed reviews and grossed almost $60 million worldwide.

Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Zack Snyder and written by James Gunn. A remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead, it stars an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Ty Burrell, and Mekhi Phifer. Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree from the original film also make cameo appearances. It was Snyder’s first feature film, having previously worked as a television commercial director. Set in Milwaukee, Dawn of the Dead follows a group of lone survivors who take refuge in an upscale suburban shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse.
Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham developed the film rather as a “re-envisioning” of the original Dawn of the Dead, aiming to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences. Newman and Abraham were handed the rights to the original courtesy of its producer and rights holder Richard P. Rubinstein; and then Gunn was brought in to write the script, which adopted the original’s basic premise but is oriented around the action genre. Snyder came on board to direct with a goal of keeping every aspect of the production as grounded in reality as possible. Filming took place from June 9 to September 6 of 2003, on location in Toronto, Canada where a now-defunct shopping mall that was slated for demolition was used. The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson.
Released on March 19, 2004, the film topped the box office on its United States opening weekend, and went on to gross $102.3 million worldwide against a budget of $26 million. Upon release it received favorable reviews from film critics, some of whom considered it an improvement over its predecessor in terms of acting, production values, and scares; though others found it lacking in character development, excessively gory, and indifferent to the sociopolitical subtext of the original. Retrospective reviews have cited Dawn of the Dead as Snyder’s finest work, and it was ranked as one of the best films in the horror and zombie genres.

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Day Of The Dead

Day of the Dead is a 1985 American post-apocalyptic zombie horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein. The third film in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series, it stars Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato and Richard Liberty as members of a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida, where they must determine the outcome of humanity’s conflict with the undead horde. Romero described the film as a “tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society.”Work on Day of the Dead began shortly after the release of the previous film in the series, Dawn of the Dead (1978). It was developed as part of a three-film deal with that film’s distributor, United Film Distribution Company (UFDC); Romero elected to make the two other projects outlined in the deal, Knightriders (1981) and Creepshow (1982), first. Although the filmmaker was given final cut privilege, the screenplay was rewritten multiple times due to UFDC’s concerns that Romero’s ambitious original vision ― which he described as “the Gone with the Wind of zombie films” ― would need to be shot with the intention of receiving an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America to ensure its commercial viability; Romero elected to make the film on a lower budget and release it without a rating. Day of the Dead was filmed in fall 1984, with above-ground scenes in the cities of Fort Myers and Sanibel and underground scenes near Wampum, Pennsylvania. Tom Savini returned to provide the film’s special make-up effects; he was assisted by a team of artists that included Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, who later became known for their work on the television series The Walking Dead.Day of the Dead premiered at Hicksville, New York on June 30, 1985, and grossed $34 million worldwide against a budget of approximately $4 million. Although the makeup effects were praised, the film initially did not match the critical and commercial success of its predecessors; the series did not see another installment until the 2005 release of Land of the Dead. Reception of the film has improved with time, and Romero deemed it to be his personal favorite film in the original Dead trilogy. Like its predecessors, Day of the Dead has garnered a cult following and inspired numerous parodies and homages.
The film was remade twice: the first is the 2008 film of the same name, and the second is Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018). A television series based on the film is set to air on Syfy in 2021, while a stand-alone sequel, Night of the Living Dead II, is in active development.

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Dead & Buried

Dead & Buried is a 1981 American horror film directed by Gary Sherman, starring Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, and James Farentino. It is Albertson’s final live-action film role before his death six months after the film’s release. The film focuses on a small town wherein a few tourists are murdered, but their corpses begin to reanimate. With a screenplay written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the film was initially banned as a “video nasty” in the U.K. in the early 1980s, but was later acquitted of obscenity charges and removed from the Director of Public Prosecutions’ list.
The film made little money at the box office, but has received praise from critics regarding Stan Winston’s special effects and Albertson’s performance. In addition to the film being subsequently novelized by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, the film has obtained a cult following in the years since its release.

Dead of Night

Dead of Night is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist’s malevolent dummy.
Dead of Night is a rare British horror film of the 1940s; horror films were banned from production in Britain during the war. It had an influence on subsequent British films in the genre. Both of John Baines’ stories were reused for later films and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted into the pilot episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape.
While primarily in the horror genre, there are shades of the comedy that would make the studio’s name.

Dead Ringers

Dead Ringers is a 1988 psychological thriller film starring Jeremy Irons in a dual role as identical twin gynecologists. David Cronenberg directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Norman Snider. Their script was based on the lives of Stewart and Cyril Marcus and on the novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a “highly fictionalized” version of the Marcuses’ story.The film won numerous honors, including for Irons’ performance, and 10 Genie Awards, notably Best Motion Picture. Toronto International Film Festival critics have ranked it among the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.

Deep Red

Deep Red (Italian: Profondo rosso), also known as The Hatchet Murders, is a 1975 Italian giallo horror film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi. It stars David Hemmings as a musician who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wearing black leather gloves. The cast also stars Daria Nicolodi (Argento’s then-wife), Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, and Clara Calamai. The film’s score was composed and performed by Goblin, the first in a long-running collaboration with Argento.The film was released during the height of the “giallo craze” of Italian popular cinema, and was a critical and commercial success. Retrospective reviews have been equally positive, and the film is considered one of the genre’s definitive entries, as well as one of Argento’s best works.

Deliverance

Deliverance is a 1972 American survival film distributed by Warner Bros., produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapted by James Dickey from his 1970 novel of the same name. The film was a critical and box office success, earning three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations.
Widely acclaimed as a landmark picture, the film is noted for a music scene near the beginning, with one of the city men playing “Dueling Banjos” on guitar with a banjo-picking country boy, and for its notorious rape scene. In 2008, Deliverance was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Demons

Demons (Italian: Dèmoni) is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento, starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. The screenplay was written by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Sacchetti. Filming took place in Berlin and Rome.
Hovey stars as Cheryl, a university student who, along with a number of random people, is given complimentary tickets to a mysterious movie screening. When she and her friend Kathy (Paola Cozzo) attend the screening, they meet the preppy George (Barberini) and Ken (Karl Zinny), and soon find themselves trapped in the theater with a horde of ravenous demons. The film features an instrumental score composed by Claudio Simonetti, as well as a soundtrack that includes songs by such artists as Mötley Crüe and Billy Idol.
Demons was distributed by Titanus, receiving a theatrical release in Italy on 4 October 1985. It was followed by a 1986 sequel, Demons 2, also directed by Bava and produced by Argento. A third Demons film was conceived, but was completely rewritten and released as The Church (1989), directed by Michele Soavi.

Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Mike Flanagan. It is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Stephen King which is a sequel to King’s 1977 novel The Shining. It is the second film in The Shining franchise. The film, which also serves as a sequel to the 1980 film adaptation of The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is set several decades after the events of the original and combines elements of the 1977 novel as well. Ewan McGregor plays the lead role as Danny Torrance, a man with psychic abilities who struggles with childhood trauma. Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis, and Carl Lumbly have supporting roles.
In the film, Dan Torrance, now an adult, must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as the True Knot, whose members prey on children who possess the shining to extend their own lives.
Warner Bros. Pictures began developing a film adaptation shortly after Doctor Sleep was published in 2013. Writer-producer Akiva Goldsman wrote a script, but the studio did not secure a budget for the film until the box office success of its 2017 horror film It, also based on a novel by King. Flanagan was hired to rewrite Goldsman’s script and direct the film. Flanagan said the film would try to reconcile the differences between The Shining novel and film. Filming began in September 2018 in Georgia, including Atlanta and the surrounding area, and concluded in December 2018.
Doctor Sleep held its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on October 21, 2019, and was theatrically released worldwide from October 31, 2019, and in the United States on November 8, 2019. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its performances but criticism for its length. Grossing just $72.3 million worldwide, its performance at the box office was considered to be disappointing, compared to the other King adaptations released in 2019, It Chapter Two and Pet Sematary. However, despite the box office performance, the film enjoyed a resurgence of interest and popularity when it premiered on streaming services in 2020.

Don't Look Now

Don’t Look Now (Italian: A Venezia… un Dicembre rosso shocking, lit. “In Venice… a shocking red December”) is a 1973 English-language film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is a thriller adapted from the 1971 short story by Daphne du Maurier. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland portray a married couple who travel to Venice following the recent accidental death of their daughter, after the husband accepts a commission to restore a church. They encounter two sisters, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their daughter is trying to contact them and warn them of danger. The husband at first dismisses their claims, but starts to experience mysterious sightings himself. Don’t Look Now focuses on the psychology of grief and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. The film is renowned for its innovative editing style, recurring motifs and themes, and for a controversial sex scene that was explicit by the standards of contemporary mainstream cinema. It also employs flashbacks and flashforwards in keeping with the depiction of precognition, but some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer’s perception of what is really happening. It adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, often presaging events with familiar objects, patterns and colours using associative editing techniques. The film’s reputation has grown in the years since its release and it is now considered a classic and an influential work in horror and British film.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 American horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. The production also features Donald Crisp, Ian Hunter, Barton MacLane, C. Aubrey Smith, and Sara Allgood. Its storyline is based on the 1886 Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. There have been many filmed adaptations of the novella. This movie was a remake of the Oscar-winning 1931 version starring Fredric March.

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Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Sam Raimi. The plot, written with his older brother Ivan, focuses on a loan officer, who, because she has to prove to her boss that she can make the “hard decisions”, chooses not to extend an elderly woman’s mortgage. In retaliation, the woman places a curse on the loan officer that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.
Raimi wrote Drag Me to Hell with his brother, Ivan, before working on the Spider-Man trilogy. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released to critical acclaim. It was also a box office success, grossing over $90 million worldwide. Drag Me to Hell won the award for Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards.

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Duel

Duel is a 1971 American action thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Richard Matheson, which is based on his own 1971 short story, also titled Duel. The film marks the feature-length directorial debut of Steven Spielberg, was produced by Universal Television and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Dennis Weaver portrays David Mann, a business commuter from California driving a Plymouth Valiant while on his way to meet a client. He soon finds himself chased by the mostly unseen driver of a rusted Peterbilt 281 who chases and terrorizes Mann after Mann overtakes him.
Originally aired as a television film as part of the ABC Movie of the Week series on November 13, 1971, Duel later received an international theatrical release in an extended version featuring scenes shot after the film’s original broadcast. The film received generally positive reviews from critics which praised Spielberg’s direction. It has since been recognized as an influential cult classic.

Dumplings

Dumplings (Chinese: 餃子; pinyin: Jiǎozi; Jyutping: Gaau2zi2) is a 2004 Hong Kong horror film, directed by Fruit Chan. It was expanded from a short segment in the horror compilation, Three… Extremes. The film is rated as Category III in Hong Kong. It premiered in Germany during the Berlin International Film Festival, on 4 August 2004, as part of the Panorama section.

Eden Lake

Eden Lake is a 2008 British slasher film written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O’Connell.The film was nominated for the Empire Award for Best British Film. It is among a group of roughly contemporaneous films that deal with concerns over “Broken Britain” and a fear of “hoodies”. Some of the close up scenes were filmed at Frensham Small Pond.

Eraserhead

Eraserhead is a 1977 American experimental body horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of other musicians. Shot in black and white, it was Lynch’s first feature-length effort following several short films. Starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, Judith Anna Roberts, Laurel Near, and Jack Fisk, it tells the story of a man who is left to care for his grossly deformed child in a desolate industrial landscape.
Eraserhead was produced with the assistance of the American Film Institute (AFI) during Lynch’s time studying there. It nonetheless spent several years in principal photography because of funding difficulties; donations from Fisk and his wife Sissy Spacek kept production afloat. It was shot on several locations owned by the AFI in California, including Greystone Mansion and a set of disused stables in which Lynch lived. Lynch and sound designer Alan Splet spent a year working on the film’s audio after their studio was soundproofed. The soundtrack features organ music by Fats Waller and includes the song “In Heaven”, written and performed for the film by Peter Ivers, with lyrics by Lynch.
Initially opening to small audiences and little interest, Eraserhead gained popularity over several long runs as a midnight movie. Since its release, it has earned positive reviews and is considered a cult film. Its surrealist imagery and sexual undercurrents have been seen as key thematic elements, and its intricate sound design as its technical highlight. In 2004 it was preserved in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Escape Room

Escape Room is a 2019 American psychological horror film directed by Adam Robitel and written by Bragi F. Schut and Maria Melnik. The film stars Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Tyler Labine, Nik Dodani, Jay Ellis, and Yorick van Wageningen, and follows a group of people who are sent to navigate a series of deadly escape rooms.
Development of the film began in August 2017, then under the title The Maze, and the casting process commenced. Filming took place in South Africa in late 2017 through January 2018.
Escape Room was released in the United States on January 4, 2019, by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and grossed over $155 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the atmosphere and cast, but criticized the familiar plot and its failure to take full advantage of its premise. A sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, was released on July 16, 2021.

Eyes Without a Face

Eyes Without a Face (French: Les Yeux sans visage) is a 1960 French-language horror film co-written and directed by Georges Franju. The film, a French-Italian co-production, stars Pierre Brasseur and Alida Valli. Based on the novel of the same name by Jean Redon, it revolves around a plastic surgeon who is determined to perform a face transplant on his daughter, who was disfigured in an automobile accident. During the film’s production, consideration was given to the standards of European censors by setting the right tone, minimizing gore and eliminating the mad scientist character. Although the film passed through the European censors, the film’s release in Europe caused controversy nevertheless. Critical reaction ranged from praise to disgust.
The film received an American debut in an edited and dubbed form in 1962 under the title of The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. In the United States, Faustus was released as a double feature with The Manster. The film’s initial critical reception was not overtly positive, but subsequent theatrical and home video re-releases improved its reputation. Modern critics praise the film for its poetic nature as well as being a notable influence on other filmmakers.

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False Positive

False Positive is a 2021 American horror film, directed by John Lee, from a screenplay by Lee and Ilana Glazer. It stars Glazer, Justin Theroux, Pierce Brosnan, and Sophia Bush.
It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 18, 2021. It was released on June 25, 2021 by Hulu.

Firestarter

Firestarter is a 1984 American science fiction horror film based on Stephen King’s 1980 novel of the same name. The plot concerns a young girl who develops pyrokinesis and the secret government agency known as the Shop which seeks to control her. The film was directed by Mark L. Lester, and stars David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Martin Sheen and George C. Scott. Firestarter was shot in and around Wilmington, Chimney Rock, and Lake Lure, North Carolina.
A miniseries follow-up to the film, Firestarter: Rekindled, was released in 2002 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and a remake from Blumhouse Productions was announced at the end of 2019.

Frailty

Frailty is a 2001 American psychological horror film directed by and starring Bill Paxton, and co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Powers Boothe. It marks Paxton’s directorial debut. The plot focuses on the strange relationship between two young boys and their fanatically religious father, who believes that he has been commanded by God to kill demons disguised as people.

Freaks

Freaks is a 2018 American-Canadian science fiction thriller film written and directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein. Starring Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Amanda Crew, and Lexy Kolker, the film follows a seven-year-old girl (Kolker) who leaves her home for the first time after being kept inside by her father (Hirsch).The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was released commercially in North America on September 13, 2019, by Well Go USA Entertainment. It received positive reviews, with praise for Kolker’s performance.

Freddy vs. Jason

Freddy vs. Jason is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Ronny Yu and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a crossover between the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series, being the eighth installment in the former and the eleventh in the latter. The film retroactively establishes the two series in a shared universe and pits their respective antagonists, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, against each other after the former manipulates Jason into coming back to life and attacking the residents of Springwood to facilitate his own return. It is chronologically set after Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), and is the last film in each franchise before their respective reboots.
Freddy vs. Jason was released in the United States on August 15, 2003. It grossed over $116 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the Friday the 13th and the second highest grossing film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. The film marks Robert Englund’s final cinematic appearance as Freddy Krueger. A sequel and crossover with the Evil Dead franchise was planned, but it was ultimately scrapped and turned into a comic book limited series, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.

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Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift from a screen story by Shannon, Swift and Mark Wheaton. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise, which began in 1980, and is the twelfth installment. Nispel also directed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for the 2003 crossover Freddy vs. Jason. The film was produced by Platinum Dunes and Crystal Lake Entertainment and distributed by New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures. It stars Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, and Derek Mears and follows Clay Miller (Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Righetti), who is captured by Jason Voorhees (Mears) while camping in woodland at Crystal Lake.
The film was originally conceived as an origin story, but the project evolved into a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. The character Jason Voorhees was redesigned as a lean, quick killer with a backstory that allows the viewer to feel sympathy for him, but not enough that he would lose his menace. In keeping with the tone of the film, Jason’s mask was recreated from a mold of the original mask used for Part III; though there were subtle changes. Friday the 13th includes some of Harry Manfredini’s musical score from the previous Friday the 13th films because the producers recognized its iconic status.Friday the 13th was theatrically released in the United States on February 13, 2009, by New Line Cinema in North American territories and by Paramount Pictures internationally. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, who felt that it did not add anything new to the franchise. The film would go on to gross $92.7 million at the box office on a budget of $19 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise after Freddy vs. Jason.

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Fright Night

Fright Night is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Tom Holland (in his directorial debut) and produced by Herb Jaffe. It stars Chris Sarandon, William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowall, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark, Dorothy Fielding, Stephen Geoffreys, and Art Evans. The film follows young Charley Brewster, who discovers that his next-door neighbor Jerry Dandrige is a vampire. When no one believes him, Charley decides to get Peter Vincent, a TV show host who acted in films as a vampire hunter, to stop Jerry’s killing spree.
The film was released on August 2, 1985 and grossed $24.9 million at the box office. Since its release, it has received positive reviews from critics and has become a cult classic. Fright Night was followed by a sequel, Fright Night Part 2, in 1988, and a remake in 2011, which was in turn followed by Fright Night 2: New Blood in 2013. In October 2020, Tom Holland confirmed that he was writing a direct sequel to the original film titled Fright Night: Resurrection that would bring back characters from the original film and would ignore the 1988 sequel.

Funny Games

Funny Games (alternatively titled Funny Games U.S.) is a 2007 internationally co-produced psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke, an Austrian, and a remake of his own 1997 film of the same name. Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, and Brady Corbet star in the main roles. The film is a shot-for-shot remake of the 1997 film, albeit in English and set in the United States with different actors. Like the original, the film follows a middle class family as they encounter two young men on their vacation. The family is subsequently captured and tortured by them, giving them until the next day to survive. Exterior scenes were filmed on Long Island. The film is an international co-production of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy. Haneke has stated that the film is a reflection and criticism of violence used in media.

Gerald's Game

Gerald’s Game is a 2017 American psychological horror thriller film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan, and screenplay written by Flanagan with Jeff Howard. It is based on Stephen King’s 1992 novel of the same title, long thought to be unfilmable. The film stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as a married couple who arrive at an isolated house for a holiday. When the husband dies of a sudden heart attack, his wife, left handcuffed to the bed without the key and with little hope of rescue, must find a way to survive, all while battling her inner demons.
Gerald’s Game had its world premiere at BFI Southbank on September 19, 2017, and was released on September 29, 2017, by Netflix. It received very positive reviews from critics, who lauded Gugino’s performance; Flanagan’s direction, and the film’s themes and their treatment, were also singled out.

Get Out

Get Out is a 2017 American horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, and Catherine Keener. Get Out follows Chris Washington (Kaluuya), a young black man who uncovers shocking secrets when he meets the family of his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Williams).
Principal photography began in February 2016 in Fairhope, Alabama, then moved to Barton Academy and the Ashland Place Historic District in Mobile, Alabama. The entire film was shot in 23 days.
Get Out premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 24, 2017, by Universal Pictures. It received widespread acclaim from critics, with praise for its writing, direction, and social critiques. It was also a massive commercial success, grossing $255 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget, with a net profit of $124.8 million, making it the tenth-most profitable film of 2017.It was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time magazine as one of the top ten films of the year. Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 90th Academy Awards, with additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Kaluuya). It also earned five nominations at the 23rd Critics’ Choice Awards, two at the 75th Golden Globe Awards, and two at the 71st British Academy Film Awards. It has been featured in multiple listings of the best films of the 2010s.

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps is a 2000 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by John Fawcett, who also co-wrote the film with Karen Walton. It stars Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle as two teenage sisters who have a fascination with death. The film’s supporting cast includes Kris Lemche, Jesse Moss, Danielle Hampton, John Bourgeois, Peter Keleghan and Mimi Rogers. After premiering at the Munich Fantasy Filmfest and screening at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was released in theatres to commercial and critical success. It has amassed a cult following since its release. It was followed by a sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, and a prequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, which were filmed back-to-back and both released in 2004.

God Told Me To

God Told Me To (released in some theatrical markets as Demon) is a 1976 science fiction/horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen. Like many of Cohen’s films, it is shot on location in New York City and incorporates aspects of the police procedural.

Godzilla

Godzilla is a 2014 American monster film directed by Gareth Edwards. It is a reboot of Toho’s Godzilla franchise and is the 30th film in the Godzilla franchise, the first film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse, and the second Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston. In the film, a soldier attempts to return to his family while caught in the crossfire of an ancient rivalry between Godzilla and two parasitic monsters known as MUTOs. The project began as an IMAX short film in 2004 but was transferred to Legendary in 2009 to be redeveloped as a feature film. The film was officially announced in March 2010 and Edwards was announced as the director in January 2011. Principal photography began in March 2013 in the United States and Canada and ended in July 2013. Godzilla was theatrically released on May 16, 2014, to generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the direction, visual effects, music, cinematography, respect to the source material, and Cranston’s performance, but the characters and Godzilla’s screen-time were criticized. The film was a box office success, grossing $529 million worldwide against a production budget of $160 million, print and advertisement costs of $100 million, and a break-even point of $380 million. The film’s success prompted Toho to produce a reboot of their own and Legendary to proceed with sequels, with Godzilla: King of the Monsters released on May 31, 2019, and Godzilla vs. Kong released on March 24, 2021.

Goodnight Mommy

Goodnight Mommy (German: Ich seh, Ich seh, lit. ’I see, I see’; UK: Goodnight Mummy) is a 2014 Austrian psychological horror film. The film is written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. It was selected as the Austrian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

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Green Room

Green Room is a 2015 American horror-thriller film written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, and produced by Neil Kopp, Victor Moyers and Anish Savjani. Starring Anton Yelchin, Joe Cole, Imogen Poots and Patrick Stewart, the film focuses on a punk band who find themselves attacked by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at a remote club in the Pacific Northwest. The film came from Saulnier’s desire to direct a thriller set in a green room. Principal photography took place during October 2014 in Portland, Oregon. The film was financed and produced by Broad Green Pictures. Green Room was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film finished third in the balloting for the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The film began a limited release on April 15, 2016, before being widely released on May 13 through A24. It appeared on many critics’ lists as one of the best films of 2016 and received a 2017 Empire Award nomination for Best Horror, but grossed just $3 million against a budget of $5 million.

Halloween

Halloween is a 2018 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Jeff Fradley, and Danny McBride. It is the eleventh installment in the Halloween film series and a direct sequel to the 1978 film of the same name while effecting a retcon of all previous sequels. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle who reprise their respective roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, with stuntman James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. The film also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Virginia Gardner. Its plot follows a post-traumatic Laurie Strode who prepares to face Michael Myers in a final showdown on Halloween night, forty years after she survived his killing spree. After the release of Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, the 2009 sequel to the 2007 remake of the original, two consecutive follow-ups went into development from former rights holder Dimension Films, respectively, but neither achieved fruition. As a result, the studio lost the rights to the intellectual property, which were later obtained by Blumhouse Productions with John Carpenter’s involvement. Carpenter, who disagreed with the remake’s portrayal of lead killer Michael Myers, planned on helping the studio to make the next Halloween film into what he believed to be more terrifying than the preceding sequels. Filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride, who were already fans, proposed their vision to Blumhouse and Carpenter. It was accepted and developed into a sequel to the original, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprising their roles as Strode and Myers, respectively. Halloween was filmed from January to February of 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina before reshoots took place that June. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 19, 2018, by Universal Pictures, the distributor’s first involvement with the series since Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with many considering it to be both the best Halloween sequel and a return to form for the series, while also receiving particular praise for Curtis’ performance. It grossed over $255 million worldwide and is the highest-grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars, breaking a record that Scream had previously set in 1996 as well as setting several other box-office records. Two sequels, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, are scheduled to be released on October 15, 2021 and October 14, 2022 respectively.

Halloween Kills

Halloween Kills is a 2021 American slasher film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Green, Danny McBride and Scott Teems. The film is a sequel to 2018’s Halloween and the twelfth installment in the Halloween franchise. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle, who reprise their roles as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, with James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers again. Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, and Will Patton also reprise their roles from the previous film, with Anthony Michael Hall and Thomas Mann joining the cast. The film, which begins precisely where the previous film ended, sees Strode and her family continuing to fend off Myers, this time, with the help of the Haddonfield community. Jason Blum serves as a producer on the film through his Blumhouse Productions banner, alongside Malek Akkad and Bill Block. Before the release of the 2018 film, McBride in June 2018 confirmed that he and Green had originally intended to pitch two films that would be shot back-to-back, and then decided against it, waiting to see the reaction to the first film. Following the critical and commercial success of the 2018 film, development on the sequel promptly began as early as October 2018. By February 2019, Teems was hired to co-write the script. The film’s title was officially announced in July 2019, along with its sequel. Principal photography commenced in September 2019 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Halloween Kills had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2021 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on October 15, 2021, by Universal Pictures, after having been delayed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A direct sequel, Halloween Ends, is scheduled to be released on October 14, 2022.

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Hellraiser

Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker’s 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart. The film marked Barker’s directorial debut. Its plot involves a mystical puzzle box which summons the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure. The leader of the Cenobites is portrayed by Doug Bradley, and identified in the sequels as “Pinhead”. Hellraiser was filmed in late 1986. Barker originally wanted the electronic music group Coil to perform the music for the film, but on insistence from producers, the film was re-scored by Christopher Young. Some of Coil’s themes were reworked by Young into the final score. Hellraiser had its first public showing at the Prince Charles Cinema on 10 September 1987. Since its release, the film has divided critics but generally received praise; initial reviews ranged from Melody Maker calling it the greatest horror film made in Britain, to Roger Ebert decrying its “bankruptcy of imagination”. It was followed by nine sequels, the first seven of which featured Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a 1986 American psychological horror crime film directed and co-written by John McNaughton, about the random crime spree of a serial killer who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is living, and Tracy Arnold as Becky, Otis’s sister. The characters of Henry and Otis are loosely based on convicted real life serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole. Henry was filmed in 1985 but had difficulty finding a film distributor. It premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1986 and played at other festivals throughout the late 1980s. Following successful showings during which it attracted both controversy and positive critical attention, the film was rated “X” by the MPAA, further increasing its reputation for controversy. It was subsequently picked up for a limited release in 1990 in an unrated version. It was shot on 16mm in less than a month with a budget of $110,000. The original poster artwork was a painting by Joe Coleman. It was considered too extreme and after being withdrawn, was replaced by the current official poster.

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Heriditary

Hereditary is a 2018 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Ari Aster, in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, and Gabriel Byrne as a family haunted by a mysterious presence after the death of their secretive grandmother. Hereditary premiered on January 21, 2018, in the Midnight section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 8, 2018. The film received acclaim from critics, with praise for Aster’s direction and screenplay, as well as Colin Stetson’s musical score, claustral themes, and Collette’s performance, with many considering it one of the best films of 2018. It was a commercial success, making over $80 million on a $10 million budget to become A24’s highest-grossing film worldwide.

His House

His House is a 2020 horror thriller film written and directed by Remi Weekes from a story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables. It stars Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu and Matt Smith. The film tells the story of a refugee couple from South Sudan, struggling to adjust to their new life in an English town that has an evil lurking beneath the surface. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. It was released on October 30, 2020, by Netflix and received widespread acclaim from critics.

Host

Host is a 2020 British computer screen supernatural horror film directed by Rob Savage and based on a script written by Savage, Gemma Hurley, and Jed Shepherd. Host takes place on a screencast of a video call on Zoom, and is presented as a computer screen film. Starring Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb and Radina Drandova, and Caroline Ward, it features a group of friends who attempt to escape a supernatural force inadvertently spawned during a séance. After a short prank skit by Savage which featured a handful of the Host cast went viral across social media, he developed the concept into a feature-length film, which was shot over 12 weeks directly on the Zoom software during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cast and crew set up their own cameras, lighting, and stunts. An independent film, Host was released exclusively through Shudder on July 30, 2020. It was well received by critics, who praised its themes of social anxiety, its jump scares, and the chemistry of its acting ensemble. It has a notable 100% rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and was included on Time magazine’s list of the “17 Great Movies You May Have Missed This Summer”.

Hounds of Love

Hounds of Love is a 2016 Australian crime thriller film written and directed by Ben Young. The plot concerns a couple who kidnap and terrorise a young woman in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, and was loosely based upon the crimes of David and Catherine Birnie. The film is Young’s directorial debut. It was selected in the Venice Days competition at the 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival, in which Ashleigh Cummings was awarded a Fedeora Award for best actress.

House

House is a 1986 American comedy horror film directed by Steve Miner, produced by Sean S. Cunningham, and starring William Katt, George Wendt, Richard Moll, and Kay Lenz. Co-written by Fred Dekker, the film tells the story of a troubled author who lives in his deceased aunt’s house and soon falls victim to the house being haunted. It collected $22.1 million worldwide and was followed by three sequels: House II: The Second Story, House III: The Horror Show, and House IV: The Repossession.

House of Usher

House of Usher (also known as The Fall of the House of Usher and The Mysterious House of Usher) is a 1960 American horror film directed by Roger Corman and written by Richard Matheson from the 1839 short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was the first of eight Corman/Poe feature films and stars Vincent Price, Myrna Fahey, Mark Damon and Harry Ellerbe. In 2005, the film was listed with the United States National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Versions exist on DVD with running times between 76 and 80 minutes.

House of Wax

House of Wax is a 2005 slasher film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Charles Belden, Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes, based on a story by Belden. The film stars Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt in a dual role, Paris Hilton, Jared Padalecki, Jon Abrahams and Robert Ri’chard. It is a loose remake of the 1953 film of the same name, itself a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum.House of Wax premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in United States theaters on May 6, 2005, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film grossed over $70 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized its lack of originality, screenplay and characters, but praised the performances and atmosphere.

House on Haunted Hill

House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan. The plot follows a group of strangers who are invited to a party at an abandoned insane asylum, where they are offered $1 million each by an amusement park mogul if they are able to survive the night. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it is a remake of the 1959 film of the same title directed by William Castle, and features special effects by famed make-up artists Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith. House on Haunted Hill marked the producing debut of Dark Castle Entertainment, a production company that went on to produce numerous other horror films, including additional remakes. House on Haunted Hill premiered on Halloween weekend in 1999. In the tradition of William Castle’s theater gimmicks, Warner Bros. supplied promotional scratchcards to cinemas showing the film, offering ticket buyers a chance to win a money prize, similar to the movie’s characters. The film received middling reviews from major critics, but was a commercial success, opening number one at the box office and grossing over $40 million domestically. In 2007, the film was followed by a direct-to-DVD sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill, which was released in both rated and unrated editions.

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Housebound

Housebound is a 2014 New Zealand horror comedy film written, edited, and directed by Gerard Johnstone. It is his feature film directorial debut. The film had its world premiere on 10 March 2014, at South by Southwest and stars Morgana O’Reilly as a woman sentenced to house arrest in a potentially haunted house.

I Saw the Devil

I Saw the Devil (Korean: 악마를 보았다; Hanja: 惡魔를 보았다; RR: Angmareul boatda) is a 2010 South Korean action thriller film directed by Kim Jee-woon and written by Park Hoon-jung. Starring Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik, the film follows NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee), who embarks on a quest of revenge when his fiancée is brutally murdered by the psychopathic serial killer Jang Kyung-chul (Choi). I Saw the Devil made its premiere in the United States at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited U.S theatrical release.I Saw the Devil was Choi Min-sik’s first major role since the changes to the Korean screen quota system.

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I Walked with a Zombie

I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. It stars James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, and follows a nurse who travels to care for the ailing wife of a sugar plantation owner in the Caribbean, where she witnesses voodoo rituals and possibly encounters the walking dead. The film’s screenplay, written by Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray, is based on an article of the same title by Inez Wallace, and also partly reinterprets the narrative of the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.I Walked with a Zombie premiered in New York City on April 21, 1943, before receiving a wider theatrical release later that month. The film has been analyzed for its themes of slavery and racism, and for its depiction of beliefs associated with African diaspora religions, particularly Haitian Vodou. Though it received mixed reviews upon release, retrospective assessments have been more positive.

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I'm Thinking of Ending Things

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a 2020 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. It is an adaptation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Iain Reid. The plot follows a young woman (Jessie Buckley) who goes on a trip with her boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis). Throughout the film, the main narrative is intercut with footage of a janitor (Guy Boyd) going to work, with both stories intersecting by its third act. I’m Thinking of Ending Things was released in select theaters on August 28, 2020, and on Netflix on September 4, 2020. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the two lead performances and the cinematography.

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In Fabric

In Fabric is a 2018 British horror comedy film, written and directed by Peter Strickland. The film follows a haunted red dress as it torments various owners. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, and Gwendoline Christie. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on 28 June 2019 by Curzon Artificial Eye and was released in the United States on 6 December 2019 by A24.

Inside

Inside (French: À l’intérieur) is a 2007 French horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo and starring Alysson Paradis and Béatrice Dalle. It was written by co-director Bustillo, and is the first feature film from either director. It concerns the attack and home invasion of a young pregnant woman (Paradis) by a mysterious stranger (Dalle) who seeks to take her unborn baby. The film received generally positive reviews from mainstream critics upon its release and was particularly well received among horror film critics, noting it for being a genuinely scary and brutally violent example of the new wave of French horror.

Insidious

Insidious is a 2010 American-Canadian supernatural horror film directed by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Barbara Hershey. It is the first installment in the Insidious franchise, and the third in terms of the series’ in-story chronology. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for a variety of malevolent entities in an astral dimension. Insidious had its world premiere on September 14, 2010, at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and received a wide theatrical release on April 1, 2011, by FilmDistrict. The film is followed by a sequel, Chapter 2 (2013), and two prequels, Chapter 3 (2015) and The Last Key (2018).

Island of Lost Souls

Island of Lost Souls is a 1932 American pre-Code science-fiction horror film, and the first sound film adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. Produced by Paramount Pictures, the film was directed by Erle C. Kenton, from a script co-written by science fiction author Philip Wylie. It stars Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Bela Lugosi, and Kathleen Burke. The plot centers on a remote South Pacific island where mad scientist, Dr. Moreau, secretly conducts experiments to accelerate evolution in plants and animals, with horrific consequences. Featuring depictions of cruelty, animal-human hybrids, and irreligious ideas, the release of Island of Lost Souls was embroiled in controversy. Banned in some countries for decades, Island of Lost Souls has become an influential film and has acquired cult film status.

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It Comes at Night

It Comes at Night is a 2017 American psychological horror film written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. It stars Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Riley Keough. The film focuses on a family hiding in a forest as the Earth is taken over by a highly contagious disease. The film had its premiere at the Overlook Film Festival at Timberline Lodge in Oregon on April 29, 2017, and was theatrically released on June 9, 2017 in the United States, by A24. It was positively received by critics but less well received by the general public, and grossed over $20 million worldwide.

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It Follows

It Follows is a 2014 American supernatural horror film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell and stars Maika Monroe as Jaime “Jay” Height, a 19-year-old college student who is pursued by a supernatural entity after a sexual encounter, as well as Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi and Lili Sepe.It Follows debuted at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was later purchased by RADiUS TWC for distribution. After a successful limited release beginning on March 13, 2015, the film had a wide release on March 27, 2015. It received acclaim from critics; the Rotten Tomatoes consensus calls it “smart, original and, above all, terrifying”. It grossed $23.3 million worldwide against a $1.3 million budget.

It's Alive

It’s Alive is a 1974 American horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen. It stars John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell as a couple whose infant child turns out to be a vicious mutant. The film’s cast also includes James Dixon, William Wellman Jr., Shamus Locke, Andrew Duggan, Guy Stockwell, and Michael Ansara. The baby was designed and created by special effects make-up artist Rick Baker, and the film’s score was composed by Bernard Herrmann. It’s Alive was distributed by Warner Bros. and received mixed reviews upon release. It spawned two sequels, It Lives Again (1978) and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive (1987), as well as a 2009 remake.

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob’s Ladder is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, produced by Alan Marshall, written by Bruce Joel Rubin, and starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, and Danny Aiello. In the film, Jacob Singer’s experiences before and during his service in Vietnam result in strange, fragmentary visions and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him. As his ordeal worsens, Jacob desperately attempts to figure out the truth. Jacob’s Ladder was made by Carolco Pictures ten years after being written by Rubin. Though only moderately successful upon release, the film garnered a cult following and its plot and special effects became a source of influence for various other works such as the Silent Hill video game series. A remake, also titled Jacob’s Ladder, was released in 2019.

Jaws

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. In the film, a man-eating great white shark attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town, prompting police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw). Murray Hamilton plays the mayor, and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody’s wife. The screenplay is credited to Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.
Shot mostly on location on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, Jaws was the first major motion picture to be shot on the ocean, and resultingly had a troubled production, going over budget and past schedule. As the art department’s mechanical sharks often malfunctioned, Spielberg decided mostly to suggest the shark’s presence, employing an ominous and minimalist theme created by composer John Williams to indicate its impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures gave the film what was then an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture, on over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on television spots and tie-in merchandise.
Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, and it won several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film until the release of Star Wars in 1977. Both films were pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which pursues high box-office returns from action and adventure films with simple high-concept premises, released during the summer in thousands of theaters and advertised heavily. Jaws was followed by three sequels (without the involvement of Spielberg or Benchley) and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Ju-On

Ju-On: The Grudge is a 2002 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. It is the third installment in the Ju-On series and the first to be released theatrically (the first two being direct-to-video productions). It stars Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Takashi Matsuyama, and Yui Ichikawa. Ju-On: The Grudge premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival on 18 October 2002, by Lions Gate Films. The film received favourable reviews from critics, but was unfavourably compared to another Japanese horror film, Ring. It spawned a franchise, an American remake, 2006 and 2009 sequels and a 2020 sidequel to the remake, and a prequel television series entitled JU-ON: Origins which premiered on Netflix in 2020.

Kill List

Kill List is a 2011 British psychological horror crime film directed by Ben Wheatley, co-written and co-edited with Amy Jump, and starring Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Michael Smiley. When a British soldier returns home from Kyiv, he joins an old friend in working as contract killers. His disturbed past surfaces as he spins out of control during jobs and ominous employers raise the stakes. It was filmed in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in England.

Kwaidan

Kwaidan (Japanese: 怪談, Hepburn: Kaidan, lit. ’Ghost Stories’) is a 1965 Japanese anthology horror film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folk tales, mainly Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904), for which it is named. The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories. Kwaidan is an archaic transliteration of the term kaidan, meaning “ghost story”. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

La Llorona

La Llorona [la ʝoˈɾona], also known as The Weeping Woman, is a 2019 Guatemalan horror film directed by Jayro Bustamante.

Lake Mungo

Lake Mungo is a 2008 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Joel Anderson and starring Talia Zucker and Martin Sharpe. It employs mockumentary-style storytelling with found footage and docufiction elements, using actor “interviewees” to present the narrative of a family trying to come to terms with the drowning death of their daughter, and the potentially supernatural events they experience after it. Lake Mungo premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on 18 June 2008 and screened at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, US, in March 2009.

Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead) is a 2005 post-apocalyptic horror film written and directed by George A. Romero; the fourth of Romero’s six Living Dead movies, it is preceded by Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, and succeeded by Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead. It was released in 2005, with a budget of $15–19 million, the highest in Romero’s Dead series, and has grossed $46 million.The story of Land of the Dead deals with a zombie assault on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a feudal-like government exists. The survivors in the film have fled to the Golden Triangle area of downtown Pittsburgh. The region is protected on two sides by rivers and on the third by an electric barricade that survivors term “the Throat”. Released in North America on June 24, 2005, Land of the Dead received mostly positive reviews from film critics.

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Last Night in Soho

Last Night in Soho is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright, with a screenplay by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, from a story by Wright. The film stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham and Terence Stamp. The film marks the final film appearances of Rigg and Margaret Nolan, who died in September and October 2020, respectively. Last Night in Soho had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on 4 September 2021, and is scheduled to be released theatrically in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States on 29 October 2021 by Focus Features and Universal Pictures.

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Les Diaboliques

Les Diaboliques (French: [le djabɔlik], released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends) is a 1955 French psychological horror thriller film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel. It is based on the novel She Who Was No More (Celle qui n’était plus) by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.
The story blends elements of thriller and horror, with the plot focusing on a woman and her husband’s mistress who conspire to murder the man; after the crime is committed, however, his body disappears, and a number of strange occurrences ensue. The film was the 10th-highest grossing film of the year in France, with a total of 3,674,380 admissions. The film also received the 1954 Louis Delluc Prize.
Clouzot, after finishing The Wages of Fear, optioned the screenplay rights, preventing Alfred Hitchcock from making the film. This movie helped inspire Hitchcock’s Psycho. Robert Bloch, the author of the novel Psycho, stated in an interview that his all-time favorite horror film was Les Diaboliques.

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Let Me In

Let Me In is a 2010 American-British romantic horror film written and directed by Matt Reeves and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Elias Koteas, and Richard Jenkins. It is a remake of the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In. The film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who befriends and develops a romantic relationship with a female child vampire in Los Alamos, New Mexico, during the early 1980s. Interest in producing an English-language version of Let the Right One In began in 2007 shortly before it was released to audiences. In 2008, Hammer Films acquired the rights for the English adaptation and initially offered Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish film, the opportunity to direct, which he declined. Reeves was then signed to direct and write the screenplay. Reeves made several changes for the English version such as altering the setting from Stockholm to New Mexico and renaming the lead characters. The film’s producers stated that their intent was to keep the plot similar to the original, yet make it more accessible to a wider audience. Principal photography began in early November 2009, and concluded in January 2010. The film’s budget was estimated to be $20 million. Let Me In premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2010, and was released in North America on October 1, 2010. The film was placed on several critics’ top ten list. Many critics noted it as a rare Hollywood remake which stayed true to the original, while others criticized it for being too derivative of the Swedish film. The film earned $24 million in box office revenue worldwide, of which $12 million was earned in the United States and Canada. Moretz won several awards for her performance with critics praising the on-screen chemistry with her co-star, Smit-McPhee. Let Me In was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on February 1, 2011, and in the UK on March 14, 2011. An official comic book miniseries prequel titled Let Me In: Crossroads was released after the film which establishes the back-story of Abby and ends where the theatrical film begins.

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) is a 2008 Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson, based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay. The film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a strange child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. A film adaptation of Lindqvist’s novel began development in 2004 when John Nordling acquired the rights to produce the project. Alfredson, unconcerned with the horror and vampire conventions, decided to tone down many elements of the novel and focus primarily on the relationship between the two main characters and explore the darker side of humanity. Selecting the lead actors involved a year-long process with open castings held all over Sweden. In the end, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson were chosen for the leading roles. Leandersson’s role in the film was dubbed by Elif Caylan. Principal photography took place in 2007 in Luleå, with additional filming in Blackeberg. The film was produced by EFTI, Sveriges Television and Filmpool Nord, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, WAG and Canal+. Let the Right One In premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival on 26 January 2008, where it received the Nordic Film Prize. It was released in Sweden on 24 October 2008 by Sandrew Metronome. The film received critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of the two leads, the cinematography, screenplay, and direction. It won several awards, including the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as four Guldbagge Awards, including Best Director for Alfredson, Best Cinematography for Van Hoytema, and Best Screenplay for Lindqvist. It also won the Saturn Award for Best International Film and the Empire Award for Best Horror Film. At the 63rd British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language. An American remake, titled Let Me In and directed by Matt Reeves, was released in 2010.

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Lights Out

Lights Out is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed by David F. Sandberg in his directorial debut, produced by Lawrence Grey, James Wan, and Eric Heisserer and written by Heisserer. It stars Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Billy Burke, and Maria Bello. It is based on Sandberg’s 2013 short film of the same name and features Lotta Losten, who starred in the short.In the film, a young woman must confront her childhood fears to protect her brother from a vengeful supernatural entity holding a mysterious attachment to their mother. After the short film’s success, Sandberg announced a film adaptation based on his short film. Principal photography for the film began in June 2015 in Los Angeles. Filming wrapped on August 5, 2015. The film had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 8, 2016, and was released in the United States and Canada on July 22, 2016, by Warner Bros. The film received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the direction, screenplay, acting, photography and musical score, and grossed $148 million against a budget of $4.9 million. A sequel is in development.

M

M (German: M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder, lit. M – A City Searches for a Murderer) is a 1931 German thriller film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre in his breakthrough role as Hans Beckert, a serial killer of children. An early example of a procedural drama, the film centers on the manhunt for Lorre’s character, conducted by both the police and the criminal underworld.The film’s screenplay was written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou and was the director’s first sound film. It features many cinematic innovations, including the use of long, fluid tracking shots, and a musical leitmotif in the form of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” whistled by Lorre’s character. Now considered a timeless classic, the film was deemed by Lang to be his magnum opus. It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time, and an indispensable influence on modern crime and thriller fiction.

Mandy

Mandy is a 2018 psychedelic horror film directed by Panos Cosmatos, produced by Elijah Wood and co-written by Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn based on a story Cosmatos conceived. A co-production of the United States and Belgium, the film stars Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Richard Brake, and Bill Duke. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, and was theatrically released on September 14, 2018 by RLJE Films. Mandy was praised for its style and originality, Cage’s performance, Cosmatos’ direction, and the action sequences. It is one of the last films scored by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who died in February 2018. The film is dedicated to him.

Maniac

Maniac is a 2012 psychological slasher film directed by Franck Khalfoun, written by Alexandre Aja and Grégory Levasseur, and starring Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder. It is a remake of the 1980 film of the same name, and follows the violent exploits of a brutal serial killer. The film is an international co-production produced by the French film companies La Petite Reine and Studio 37. Unlike the original 1980 film, which is set in New York City, writers Aja and Levasseur chose to set the film in Los Angeles.

Martin

Martin (also known internationally as Wampyr) is a 1978 American psychological horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and starring John Amplas. Its plot follows a troubled young man who believes himself to be a vampire. Shot in 1976, Martin was Romero’s fifth feature film and followed The Crazies (1973). Romero claimed that Martin was the favorite of all his films. The film is also notable as the first collaboration between George Romero and special effects artist Tom Savini. While a prosecution for obscenity did not result, the film was seized and confiscated in the UK under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 during the video nasty panic.

May

May is a 2002 American psychological horror film written and directed by Lucky McKee in his directorial debut. Starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, and James Duval, the film follows a lonely young woman (Bettis) traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her. Although May was unsuccessful at the box office, it received favorable reviews from critics, and is now considered a cult film.

Midsommar

Midsommar is a 2019 folk horror film written and directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, and Will Poulter. It follows a group of friends who travel to Sweden for a festival that occurs once every 90 years, only to find themselves in the clutches of a Scandinavian pagan cult. A co-production between the United States and Sweden, the film was initially pitched to Aster as a straightforward slasher film set among Swedish cultists. Aster devised a screenplay using elements of the concept, but made a deteriorating relationship the central conflict after he experienced a difficult breakup. The music was composed by British electronic musician Bobby Krlic. The film was shot on location in Budapest in the summer and autumn of 2018. Midsommar was released in cinemas in the United States on July 3, 2019, by A24 and in Sweden on July 10, 2019, by Nordisk Film. The film grossed $47.9 million and received positive reviews from critics, with many praising Aster’s direction and Pugh’s performance.

Misery

Misery is a 1990 American psychological thriller film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King’s 1987 novel of the same name, starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Lauren Bacall, Richard Farnsworth, and Frances Sternhagen about an obsessive fan who holds an author captive and forces him to write a story. The film was released in the United States on November 30, 1990, by Columbia Pictures. It received highly positive reviews and was a box office success. Bates’ performance drew widespread praise from critics and won her the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 63rd Academy Awards, making Misery the only film based on a Stephen King novel to win an Oscar. King himself has stated that Misery is one of his top ten favorite film adaptations.

Mute Witness

Mute Witness is a 1995 Russian-British-German horror-thriller film written, directed, and produced by Anthony Waller. The film was shot in Moscow, Russia, while Alec Guinness’s scenes were filmed in Germany.

Near Dark

Near Dark is a 1987 American neo-Western horror film co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (in her solo directorial debut), and starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein. The plot follows a young man in a small midwestern town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires. Despite performing poorly at the box office, critic reviews were very positive. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following.

Night of the Comet

Night of the Comet is a 1984 American science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Thom Eberhardt. It stars Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, and Kelli Maroney as survivors of a comet that has turned most people into either dust or zombies. Night of the Comet grossed $14.4 million in the US on a $700,000 budget. It has a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 79% and has since become a cult film, influencing the creation of Buffy Summers.

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Nina Forever

Nina Forever is a 2015 British horror comedy film written and directed by brothers Ben and Chris Blaine. It stars Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Abigail Hardingham, and Cian Barry. It premiered at the 2015 SXSW film festival. Fiona O’Shaughnessy plays Nina, a revenant who comes back to life to torment her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend whenever they have sex.

Nosferatu

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (German: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire with an interest in both a new residence and the wife (Greta Schröder) of his estate agent (Gustav von Wangenheim).
The film was produced by Prana Film and is an unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Various names and other details were changed from the novel, including Count Dracula being renamed Count Orlok. It is believed by some that these changes were implemented in an attempt to avoid accusations of copyright infringement. However, this seems unlikely as the original German intertitles explicitly state that the film is based on the Bram Stoker novel. Film historian David Karat states in his commentary track for the film that “No source has ever documented” this claim and that since the film was “a low-budget film made by Germans for German audiences… setting it in Germany with German named characters makes the story more tangible and immediate for German speaking viewers”.
Even with several details altered, Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaptation, and a court ruling ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed. However, a few prints of Nosferatu survived, and the film came to be regarded as an influential masterpiece of cinema.

Oculus

Oculus is a 2013 American supernatural psychological horror film co-written, edited, and directed by Mike Flanagan. It is based on his short film Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, and stars Karen Gillan as a young woman who is convinced that an antique mirror is responsible for the death and misfortune that her family suffered. The film had its world premiere on September 5, 2013, at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and received a wide theatrical release on April 11, 2014. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and was a box office success.

Old

Old is a 2021 American thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. It is based on the French-language Swiss graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, and Emun Elliott. The plot follows a group of people who find themselves aging rapidly on a secluded beach. Shyamalan decided to adapt Sandcastle into a film after receiving it as a Father’s Day gift. The then-untitled project was announced in September 2019, with the filmmaker revealing a partnership with Universal Pictures. The following year, filming took place in the Dominican Republic for three months, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with cinematographer Michael Gioulakis. Old premiered at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City on July 19, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 23. It has grossed $88.5 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the cinematography and concept, but criticism towards the screenplay and acting. The film’s themes and twist ending received a polarized response.

Onibaba

Onibaba (鬼婆, “Demon Hag”) is a 1964 Japanese historical drama horror film written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. The film is set during a civil war in the fourteenth century. Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura play two women who kill soldiers to steal their possessions, and Kei Satō plays the man who ultimately comes between them.

Open water

Open Water is a 2003 American survival horror thriller film. The story concerns an American couple who go scuba diving while on vacation, only to find themselves stranded miles from shore in shark-filled waters when the crew of their boat accidentally leaves them behind. The film is loosely based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went out with a scuba diving group, Outer Edge Dive Company, on the Great Barrier Reef, and were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an accurate headcount.The film was financed by the husband and wife team of writer/director Chris Kentis and producer Laura Lau, both avid scuba divers. It cost $120,000 to make and was bought by Lions Gate Entertainment for $2.5 million after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Lions Gate spent a further $8 million on distribution and marketing. The film ultimately grossed $55.5 million worldwide (including $30 million from the North American box office alone).Before filming began, the Lonergans’ experience was re-created for an episode of ABC’s 20/20, and the segment was repeated after the release of Open Water. Clips from the film were also featured on NBC in “Troubled Waters”, a Dateline episode (July 7,2008) with Matt Lauer interviewing two professional divers, Richard Neely and Ally Dalton, who were left adrift at the Great Barrier Reef by a dive boat on May 21, 2008.

Opera

Opera (also known and released as Terror at the Opera) is a 1987 Italian giallo horror film directed and co-written by Dario Argento and starring Cristina Marsillach, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi, and Ian Charleson. The film’s plot focuses on a young soprano (Marsillach) who becomes involved in a series of murders being committed inside an opera house by a masked assailant. The film features music composed and performed by Brian Eno, Claudio Simonetti, and Bill Wyman. Opera was one of Argento’s most commercially successful films, seeing 1,363,912 ticket sales in his native country of Italy. It is the second Dario Argento horror film to have THX audio certified and picture quality.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan and written by Flanagan and Jeff Howard. The film is a prequel to the 2014 film Ouija and stars Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, and Henry Thomas. A widow and her family introduce a Ouija board into their phony seance business, thereby inviting a spirit that possesses the youngest daughter. Ouija: Origin of Evil was released in the United States on October 21, 2016, by Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $81 million worldwide and received positive reviews, with many praising it as a significant improvement over its predecessor.

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Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth (Spanish: El laberinto del fauno, lit. ’The Labyrinth of the Faun’) is a 2006 Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. The film stars Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, and Ariadna Gil. The story takes place in Spain during the summer of 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, during the early Francoist period. The narrative intertwines this real world with a mythical world centered on an overgrown, abandoned labyrinth and a mysterious faun creature, with whom the main character, Ofelia, interacts. Ofelia’s stepfather, the Falangist Captain Vidal, hunts the Spanish Maquis who fight against the Francoist regime in the region, while Ofelia’s pregnant mother Carmen grows increasingly ill. Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures who become central to her story, leading her through the trials of the old labyrinth garden. The film employs make-up, animatronics, and CGI effects to bring life to its creatures. Del Toro stated that he considers the story to be a parable, influenced by fairy tales, and that it addresses and continues themes related to his earlier film The Devil’s Backbone (2001), to which Pan’s Labyrinth is a spiritual successor, according to del Toro in his director’s DVD commentary. The original Spanish title refers to the fauns of Roman mythology, while the English, German and French titles refer specifically to the faun-like Greek deity Pan. However, del Toro has stated that the faun in the film is not Pan.Pan’s Labyrinth premiered on 27 May 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in Spain on 11 October and in Mexico on 20 October. Pan’s Labyrinth opened to widespread critical acclaim, with many praising the visual effects, direction, cinematography and performances. It grossed $83 million at the worldwide box office and won numerous international awards, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards including Best Film Not in the English Language, the Ariel Award for Best Picture, the Saturn Awards for Best International Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Ivana Baquero and the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. A novelization by del Toro and Cornelia Funke was published in 2019.

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Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film utilizes found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series. Originally developed as an independent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was shot for $15,000. It was then acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified, particularly with a new ending that cost an additional $200,000. It was given a limited U.S. release on September 25, 2009, and then a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and a further $85 million internationally for a worldwide total of $193 million. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000. It is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.The film is the first (chronologically, the third) entry in the Paranormal Activity film series. A parallel sequel and prequel, Paranormal Activity 2, was released in 2010. The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: the prequel Paranormal Activity 3 in 2011, and Paranormal Activity 4 (the sequel to the second installment) in 2012. The fifth installment, The Marked Ones, was released in 2014, and the sixth installment, The Ghost Dimension, was released in 2015.

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Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom is a 1960 colour British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Anna Massey, and Moira Shearer. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror. Its title derives from the slang expression ‘Peeping Tom’, which describes a voyeur. The film’s controversial subject matter and its extremely harsh reception by critics had a severely negative impact on Powell’s career as a director in the United Kingdom. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now widely considered a masterpiece, and a progenitor of the contemporary slasher film. The British Film Institute named it the 78th greatest British film of all time, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the 27th best British film ever.The music score was written by Brian Easdale and performed by Australian virtuoso Gordon Watson.

Phantasm

Phantasm is a 1979 American science fantasy horror film that was directed, written, photographed, and edited by Don Coscarelli. The first film in the Phantasm franchise, it introduces the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), a supernatural and malevolent undertaker who turns the dead of Earth into dwarf zombies to be sent to his planet and used as slaves. He is opposed by a young boy, Mike (Michael Baldwin), who tries to convince his older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) and family friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) of the threat. Phantasm was a locally financed independent film; the cast and crew were mostly amateurs and aspiring professionals. Though initial reviews were mixed in regard to the dreamlike, surreal narrative and imagery, later reception was more positive and the film became a cult classic. It has appeared on several critics’ lists of best horror films, and it has been cited as an influence on later horror series. It was followed by four sequels: Phantasm II (1988), Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994), Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) and Phantasm: Ravager (2016).

Piranha 3D

Piranha 3D is a 2010 American comedy-horror film that serves as a loose remake of the comedy horror film Piranha (1978) and an entry in the Piranha film series. During spring break on Lake Victoria, a popular waterside resort, an underground tremor releases hundreds of prehistoric, carnivorous piranhas into the lake. Local cop Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) must join forces with a band of unlikely strangers—though they are badly outnumbered—to destroy the ravenous creatures before everyone becomes fish food. It was directed by Alexandre Aja and has an ensemble cast featuring Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O’Connell, Ving Rhames, Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Dina Meyer, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Ricardo Chavira, Paul Scheer, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss. A sequel, Piranha 3DD, was released in 2012. Piranha 3D received generally positive reviews, with film critics praising it as a fun and entertaining B-movie.

Poltergeist

Poltergeist is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor from a story by Spielberg. It stars JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke and Beatrice Straight, and was produced by Spielberg and Frank Marshall. The film focuses on a suburban family whose home is invaded by malevolent ghosts that abduct their daughter. As Spielberg was contractually unable to direct another film while he made E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hooper was selected based on his work on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Funhouse. Spielberg conceived Poltergeist as a horror sequel to his 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind titled Night Skies; however, Hooper was less interested in the sci-fi elements and suggested they collaborate on a ghost story. Accounts differ as to the level of Spielberg’s involvement, but it is clear that he was frequently on set during filming and exerted significant creative control. For that reason, some have expressed the view that Spielberg should be considered the film’s co-director or even main director, though both Spielberg and Hooper have disputed this. Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on June 4, 1982, Poltergeist was a major critical and commercial success, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 1982. Years since its release, the film has been recognized as a horror classic. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, named by the Chicago Film Critics Association as the 20th-scariest film ever made, and the scene of the clown doll attack was ranked as No. 80 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film also appeared at No. 84 on American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Thrills, a list of America’s most heart-pounding movies. It was followed by Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), Poltergeist III (1988), and a 2015 remake.

Pontypool

Pontypool is a 2008 Canadian horror film directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Tony Burgess, based on his novel Pontypool Changes Everything. A spin-off, Dreamland, was released in 2020, while a direct sequel, Pontypool Changes, is currently in active development.

Possession

Possession is a 1981 psychological horror drama film directed by Andrzej Żuławski, written by Żuławski and Frederic Tuten, and starring Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill. The plot obliquely follows the relationship between an international spy and his wife, who begins exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking him for a divorce. Possession, an international co-production between France and West Germany, was filmed in West Berlin in 1980. Żuławski’s only English-language film, it premiered at the 34th Cannes Film Festival, where Adjani won the Best Actress award for her performance. The screenplay was written during the painful divorce of Żuławski with actress Malgorzata Braunek. The film was not a commercial success either in Europe or in the United States, where it was released with an edited version, but eventually acquired cult status.

Prevenge

Prevenge is a 2016 British comedy slasher film written by, directed by and starring Alice Lowe in her directorial debut. The film also stars Kate Dickie, Kayvan Novak, Jo Hartley, Mike Wozniak, Gemma Whelan and Tom Davis. The plot follows a pregnant widow who is convinced her foetus is compelling her to embark on a killing spree as revenge for the death of her husband. Principal photography mainly took place in Cardiff in under two weeks, whilst Lowe was herself pregnant. The film was released in cinemas in February 2017. Before the film was released, Lowe gave birth to a baby girl, Della, who was able to portray Ruth’s newborn in the film, at 10 days old.

Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion’s lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate the cause of her disappearance.Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock’s previous film North by Northwest, as it was filmed on a lower budget in black-and-white by the crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The film was initially considered controversial and received mixed reviews, but audience interest and outstanding box-office returns prompted a major critical re-evaluation. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh and Best Director for Hitchcock. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock’s best films, and is arguably his most famous work. It has been praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars due to its slick direction, tense atmosphere, impressive camerawork, a memorable score and iconic performances. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre. After Hitchcock’s death in 1980, Universal Pictures produced follow-ups: three sequels, a remake, a made-for-television spin-off, and a prequel television series set in the 2010s. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Pulse

Pulse is a 2006 American horror film written by Wes Craven and Ray Wright, and directed by Jim Sonzero. It is a remake of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 2001 Japanese horror film Kairo. The film stars Kristen Bell, Ian Somerhalder and Christina Milian. The film spawned two straight-to-DVD sequels: Pulse 2: Afterlife and Pulse 3, both released in 2008.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a 2010 Finnish fantasy film written and directed by Jalmari Helander about people living near Korvatunturi who discover the secret behind Santa Claus. The film is based on the 2003 short film Rare Exports Inc. and its 2005 sequel Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions by Jalmari Helander and Juuso Helander, both of which involve a company that traps wild Santa Clauses and trains and exports them to locations around the world.

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Ravenous

Ravenous is a 1999 horror Western cannibal film directed by Antonia Bird and starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones and David Arquette. The film revolves around cannibalism in 1840s California and some elements bear similarities to the story of the Donner Party and that of Alfred Packer. Screenwriter Ted Griffin lists Packer’s story, as recounted in a couple of paragraphs of Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man, as one of his inspirations for Carlyle’s character.
The film’s darkly humorous and ironic take on its gruesome subject matter have led some to label it simply as a black comedy or a satire. The film’s unique score by Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn generated a significant amount of attention. The film’s production did not get off to a good start, with the original director Milcho Manchevski leaving the production three weeks after shooting started. He was replaced by Bird at the suggestion of Carlyle.

Raw

Raw (French: Grave) is a 2016 coming of age horror drama film written and directed by Julia Ducournau, and starring Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, and Rabah Nait Oufella. The plot follows a young vegetarian’s first year at veterinary school when she tastes meat for the first time and develops a craving for flesh. The film premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2016 and was theatrically released in the United States on 10 March 2017 by Focus World, and in France on 15 March 2017 by Wild Bunch. The film received critical acclaim, with praise for Ducournau’s direction and screenplay, though was met with some controversy for its graphic content.

Re-Animator

Re-Animator (also known as H. P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator) is a 1985 American comedy horror film loosely based on the 1922 H. P. Lovecraft serial novelette “Herbert West–Reanimator”. Directed by Stuart Gordon and produced by Brian Yuzna, the film stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, a medical student who has invented a reagent which can re-animate deceased bodies. He and his classmate Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) begin to test the serum on dead human bodies, and conflict with Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), who is infatuated with Cain’s fiancée (Barbara Crampton) and wants to claim the invention as his own. Originally devised by Gordon as a theatrical stage production and later a half-hour television pilot, the television script was revised to become a feature film. Filmed in Hollywood, the film originally received an X rating, and was later edited to obtain an R rating for video rental stores. Re-Animator is the first film collaboration between Gordon and Combs, the second being From Beyond, released in 1986. It is the first film in the Re-Animator film series, followed by Bride of Re-Animator in 1990 and Beyond Re-Animator in 2003. Released to mostly positive reviews, Re-Animator has since been considered a cult film.

Ready or Not

Ready or Not is a 2019 American comedy horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. The film stars Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien, Henry Czerny, and Andie MacDowell. Ready or Not follows Grace (Weaving), a newlywed who is hunted by her spouse’s family as part of a wedding night ritual. Preparations for the film began in November 2017, when Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, members of the Radio Silence filmmaking collective, were hired as co-directors. After setting an initial release date, casting took place between August and October 2018. Principal photography began later that month and concluded in November, filming in locations in or around Toronto and the surrounding Ontario area. Ready or Not premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 27, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 21, 2019, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and grossed over $57 million worldwide on a $6 million budget.

Rec

Rec (stylized as [•REC]; short for “record”) is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film follows a reporter and her cameraman as they accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building. The situation quickly escalates after an infection begins spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine. The film was a commercial and critical success. It is now recognized as one of the early successes, and one of the best films in the found footage genre. Rec placed at number 60 on Time Out’s list of the top 100 best horror films.The film spawned the Rec film series, and was followed by three sequels: Rec 2 directed by Balagueró and Plaza in 2009, Rec 3: Genesis directed by Plaza in 2012, and Rec 4: Apocalypse directed by Balagueró in 2014 as the final installment in the franchise. The film was remade in the United States under the name Quarantine in 2008.

Repulsion

Repulsion is a 1965 British psychological horror film directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Catherine Deneuve. Based on a story written by Polanski and Gérard Brach, the plot follows Carol, a withdrawn, disturbed young woman who, when left alone in the apartment she shares with her sister, is subject to a number of nightmarish experiences. The film focuses on the point of view of Carol and her vivid hallucinations and nightmares as she comes into contact with men and their desires for her. Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Patrick Wymark, and Yvonne Furneaux appear in supporting roles. Shot in London, it is Polanski’s first English-language film and second feature-length production, following Knife in the Water (1962). The film debuted at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival before receiving theatrical releases internationally. Upon its release, Repulsion received considerable critical acclaim and currently is considered one of Polanski’s greatest works. The film was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Gilbert Taylor’s cinematography.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is an upcoming survival horror film written and directed by Johannes Roberts. Based on the first and second games by Capcom, it serves as a reboot of the Resident Evil film series, which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name. The film stars Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, Donal Logue, and Neal McDonough. Development took place in early 2017, after Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was released, with producer James Wan expressing interest in the project. Later, Constantin Film chairman Martin Moszkowicz said that a reboot of the film series was in development. In the same month, it was announced that Wan would produce the reboot with a script by Greg Russo. In December 2018, Roberts was hired as writer and director and Wan left the project. Filming began on October 17, 2020, in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The film underwent reshoots in May 2021. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 24, 2021, by Sony Pictures Releasing.

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Return of the Living Dead

The Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a warehouse owner, accompanied by his two employees, mortician friend, and a group of teenage punks, deal with the accidental release of a horde of unkillable, brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town over the Fourth of July weekend.The film, described as a “mordant punk comedy”, is known for introducing the popular concept of zombies eating brains, as opposed to eating human flesh, like previous zombie iterations. It is also known as the first film to ever show zombies running, as well as zombies being able to speak. The film is also quite different from virtually all other cinematic depictions of the living dead, in that the zombies portrayed in the film cannot be killed by a standard “head shot”.The film is also notable for its soundtrack, which features several Los Angeles based deathrock and punk rock bands of the era. The film was a critical success and performed moderately well at the box office. Its enduring popularity has spawned four sequels and turned it into a cult classic.

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Revenge

Revenge is a 2017 French rape and revenge action thriller film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and starring Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe and Guillaume Bouchède. The plot follows a young woman who is assaulted and left for dead in the desert by three men, where she recovers and seeks vengeance upon her attackers. Revenge had its world premiere on 11 September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival, as part of the Midnight Madness section. The film was theatrically released in France on 7 February 2018 by Rezo Films, and received critical acclaim, with praise for the screenplay, direction, cinematography, and Lutz’s performance.

Ring

Ring (リング, Ringu) is a 1998 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, based on the 1991 novel by Koji Suzuki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Miki Nakatani and Hiroyuki Sanada, and follows a reporter who is racing to investigate the mystery behind a cursed videotape that kills the viewer seven days after watching it. It is titled The Ring (stylized as the Ring) in English in Japan and released as Ringu in North America. Production took approximately nine months. Ring and its sequel Spiral were released in Japan at the same time. After its release, Ring was a huge box office success in Japan and was acclaimed by critics. It inspired numerous follow-ups in the Ring franchise, popularized J-horror internationally, and triggered a trend of Western remakes, of which the 2002 American film The Ring has been the only critically successful one.

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary’s Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Clay Tanner, and, in his feature film debut, Charles Grodin. The film follows a young, pregnant wife in Manhattan who comes to suspect that her elderly neighbors are members of a Satanic cult, and are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. It is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin.
Rosemary’s Baby deals with themes related to paranoia, women’s liberation, Christianity (Catholicism), and the occult. The film earned almost universal acclaim from film critics and won numerous nominations and awards. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

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Saint Maud

Saint Maud is a 2019 British psychological horror film written and directed by Rose Glass in her feature directorial debut. The story follows hospice nurse Maud (portrayed by Morfydd Clark), a recent convert to Roman Catholicism, who becomes obsessed with a former dancer in her care (Jennifer Ehle), believing she must save her soul. Saint Maud had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2019, and was released in the United Kingdom on 9 October 2020 by StudioCanal UK. The film received acclaim from critics, who praised the direction, atmosphere, performances, and score.

Salò

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Italian: Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma), titled Pasolini’s 120 Days of Sodom on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply Salò (Italian: [saˈlɔ]), is a 1975 art film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1785 book (first published in 1904) The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade, set during World War II, and was Pasolini’s final film, being released three weeks after his murder.
The film focuses on four wealthy, corrupt Italian libertines in the time of the fascist Republic of Salò (1943–1945). The libertines kidnap 18 teenagers and subject them to four months of extreme violence, sadism, and sexual and psychological torture. The film explores themes of political corruption, consumerism, authoritarianism, nihilism, morality, capitalism, totalitarianism, sadism, sexuality, and fascism. The story is in four segments, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy: the Anteinferno, the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Excrement, and the Circle of Blood. The film also contains frequent references to and several discussions of Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1887 book On the Genealogy of Morality, Ezra Pound’s poem The Cantos, and Marcel Proust’s novel sequence In Search of Lost Time.
Premiering at the Paris Film Festival on 23 November 1975, the film had a brief theatrical run in Italy before being banned in January 1976, and was released in the United States the following year on 3 October 1977. Because it depicts youths subjected to graphic violence, torture, sexual abuse, and murder, the film was controversial upon its release and has remained banned in several countries.
The confluence of thematic content in the film—ranging from the political and socio-historical, to psychological and sexual—has led to much critical discussion. It has been both praised and decried by various film historians and critics and was named the 65th-scariest film ever made by the Chicago Film Critics Association in 2006. It is also the subject of an entry in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural (1986).

Saw

Saw is a 2004 American splatter film directed by James Wan, in his feature directorial debut, and written by Leigh Whannell from a story by Wan and Whannell. It is the first installment in the Saw film series, and stars Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, and Tobin Bell. The film tells a nonlinear narrative, revolving around the mystery of the Jigsaw Killer, who tests his victims’ will to live by putting them through deadly “games” where they must inflict great physical pain upon themselves to survive. The frame story follows Jigsaw’s latest victims (Whannell and Elwes), who awaken in a large dilapidated bathroom, with one being ordered to kill the other to save his own family. The screenplay was written by Whannell, who co-created the story with Wan in their respective screenwriting debuts. It was originally written in 2001, but after failed attempts to get the script produced in Wan and Whannell’s home country of Australia, they were urged to travel to Los Angeles. In order to help attract producers they shot a low-budget short film of the same name from a scene out of the script. This proved successful in 2003 as producers from Evolution Entertainment were immediately attached and also formed a horror genre production label, Twisted Pictures. The film was given a small budget of $1.2 million and was shot in 18 days. Saw was first screened on January 19, 2004, before being released in North America on October 29, 2004, by Lions Gate Films. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics but performed very well at the box office compared to its low budget, grossing more than $100 million worldwide and becoming, at the time, one of the most profitable horror films since Scream (1996). The film was theatrically re-released, to select theaters, on October 31, 2014 to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The first sequel, titled Saw II, was released in 2005.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a 2019 horror film directed by André Øvredal, based on the children’s book series of the same name by Alvin Schwartz. The screenplay was adapted by Dan and Kevin Hageman, from a screen story by producer Guillermo del Toro, as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The film, an international co-production of the United States and Canada, stars Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, Austin Zajur, Natalie Ganzhorn, Austin Abrams, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, and Lorraine Toussaint.In 2013, CBS Films acquired the rights to the book series from 1212 Entertainment with the intent of producing it as a feature film. By January 2016 it was announced that del Toro would develop and potentially direct the project for CBS Films. Øvredal was later set to direct the film, with del Toro, Daniel, Brown, and Grave being among the producers. Principal photography commenced on August 27, 2018, and ended on November 1, 2018, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was theatrically released on August 7, 2019 in the United States by Lionsgate. The film received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for its depictions of the horror features from its source material. The film went on to gross a worldwide total of $106 million against a budget of around $28 million.

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Scream

Scream is a 1996 American satirical slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. The film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Released on December 20, it follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer in a Halloween costume known as Ghostface. The film combines black comedy and “whodunit” mystery with the violence of the slasher genre to satirize the clichés of the horror movie genre popularized in films such as Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and Craven’s own A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Scream was considered unique at the time of its release for featuring characters who were aware of real-world horror films and openly discussed the clichés that the film attempted to subvert. Inspired by the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper, Scream was influenced by Williamson’s passion for horror films, especially Halloween (1978). The script, originally titled Scary Movie, was bought by Dimension Films and was retitled by the Weinstein Brothers just before filming was complete. The production faced censorship issues with the Motion Picture Association of America and obstacles from locals while filming on location. The film received positive reviews and was a financial success, earning $173 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing slasher film until the release of Halloween (2018). It still remains the highest-grossing slasher film in adjusted dollars. It received several awards and award nominations. The soundtrack by Marco Beltrami was also acclaimed, and wascited as “[one] of the most intriguing horror scores composed in years”. The score has since earned “cult status”. Scream marked a change in the genre as it cast already-established and successful actors, which was considered to have helped it find a wider audience, including a significant female viewership. Scream was credited with revitalizing the horror genre in the 1990s, which was considered to be almost dead following an influx of direct-to-video titles and numerous sequels to established horror franchises of the 1970s and 1980s. These sequels drew decreasing financial and critical success, as they exploited clichés upon which films in the genre had become reliant. Scream’s success spawned a series of sequels, though only Scream 2, released the following year, achieved an equal level of commercial and critical success. In the years following the release of Scream and its sequels, they were accused of inspiring and even inducing violent crimes and murders.

Seven

Seven (stylized as SE7EN) is a 1995 American neo-noir psychological crime thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey and John C. McGinley. The film tells the story of David Mills (Pitt), a detective who partners with the retiring William Somerset (Freeman) to track down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as a motif in his murders. The screenplay was influenced by the time Walker spent in New York City trying to make it as a writer. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles, with the last scene filmed near Lancaster, California. The film’s budget was $33 million. Released on September 22, 1995 by New Line Cinema, Seven was the seventh-highest-grossing film of the year, grossing over $327 million worldwide. It was well received by critics and was nominated for Best Film Editing at the 68th Academy Awards, losing to Apollo 13.

Session 9

Session 9 is a 2001 American psychological horror film directed by Brad Anderson and written by Anderson and Stephen Gevedon. The film stars David Caruso, Peter Mullan, Brendan Sexton III, Josh Lucas, and Gevedon as an asbestos abatement crew who take a clean-up job at an abandoned mental asylum amid an intense work schedule, growing tensions, and mysterious events occurring around them. Its title refers to a series of audio-taped sessions with an asylum patient that run parallel to the crew’s experiences. The film marked a tonal departure for Anderson, who previously only directed romantic comedies. Production took place on location at the Danvers State Mental Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts. While not a financial success, Session 9 developed a reputation as a cult film.

Shadow of the Vampire

Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 metafiction horror film directed by E. Elias Merhige, written by Steven Katz, and starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. The film is a fictionalized documentary account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W. Murnau, during which the film crew began to have disturbing suspicions about their lead actor. The film borrows the techniques of silent films, including the use of intertitles to explain elided action, and iris lenses. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup, losing to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. For his performance, Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

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Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 horror comedy film directed by Edgar Wright. The film was written by Wright and Simon Pegg, who stars in it as Shaun. Along with friend Ed, played by Nick Frost, Shaun is caught unaware by the zombie apocalypse; they attempt to take refuge in a local pub with their loved ones. The film co-stars Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton. It is the first instalment in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World’s End (2013). The film developed from ideas Pegg and Wright used for their television series Spaced, particularly an episode where Pegg’s slacker character hallucinates a zombie invasion. The title and plot also refer to the Dead films directed by George A. Romero. Principal photography took place across London and at Ealing Studios between May and June 2003. It premiered in London on 29 March 2004 and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2004 and in the United States on 24 September of that same year. It was met with universal acclaim and commercial success, grossing $30 million worldwide against a budget of $6.1 million and receiving two nominations at the British Academy Film Awards. It was ranked third on the Channel 4 list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films and quickly acquired a cult following. In film studies, the film is seen as a product of post-9/11 anxiety, as well as a model for transnational comedy. The spread of zombiism in the film has been used as a modelling example for disease control.

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She Dies Tomorrow

She Dies Tomorrow is a 2020 American psychological thriller film written, directed, and produced by Amy Seimetz. It stars Kate Lyn Sheil, Jane Adams, Kentucker Audley, Katie Aselton, Chris Messina, Tunde Adebimpe, Jennifer Kim, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michelle Rodriguez, Josh Lucas and Adam Wingard. The film was released in the United States on July 31, 2020, by Neon.

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Shivers

Shivers (also known as The Parasite Murders and They Came from Within, and, for the French-Canadian distribution, Frissons) is a 1975 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowry, and Barbara Steele. The original shooting title was Orgy of the Blood Parasites.

Sinister

Sinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson, and Vincent D’Onofrio. The plot revolves around true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) whose discovery of Super 8 home movies depicting grisly murders found in the attic of his new house puts his family in danger. Sinister was inspired by a nightmare co-writer C. Robert Cargill had after watching the 2002 film The Ring. Principal photography on Sinister began in Autumn of 2011 with a production budget of $3 million. To add the authenticity of old home movies and snuff films, the Super 8 segments were shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock. The film was a co-production between the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The film premiered at the SXSW festival. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2012, and in the UK on October 5, 2012. Sinister received positive reviews, praising the acting, direction, music, cinematography, and atmosphere, but received some criticism for its use of jump scares (most notably the lawnmower scene) and horror cliches. The film was a box office success, grossing $87.7 million against its budget of $3 million. The film’s financial success spawned a sequel, Sinister 2, released in the United States on August 21, 2015.

Sisters

Sisters is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Jason Moore, written by Paula Pell and is the second collaboration between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler following the film Baby Mama (2008). The rest of the cast consists of Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, James Brolin, John Cena, John Leguizamo, and Dianne Wiest. The film centers on adult sisters Kate, an irresponsible single mother, and Maura, a kindhearted nurse and recent divorcee, who are summoned back to their childhood home by their parents to clean out their bedroom before the house gets sold. Upset and angry that all their childhood memories are going to be gone, Kate convinces Maura to have one last wild party at the house, but things soon get out of control. The film was released on December 18, 2015 by Universal Pictures, received mixed reviews, though most critics praised the chemistry of the lead actresses, and grossed $105 million on a production budget of $33 million.

Slither

Slither is a 2006 American science-fiction black comedy horror film written and directed by James Gunn in his directorial debut. Produced by Paul Brooks and Eric Newman, the film stars Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Tania Saulnier, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker. The film is set in a small town in South Carolina that becomes invaded by a malevolent alien parasite. Slither was a box office failure, but received generally positive reviews from critics and has since become a cult film.

Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 American action film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006, in North America. The film was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan, and Sebastian Gutierrez and follows the events of hundreds of snakes being released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness. The film gained a considerable amount of attention before its release, forming large fanbases online and becoming an Internet phenomenon, due to the film’s title, casting, and premise. In response to the Internet fan base, New Line Cinema incorporated feedback from online users into its production, and added five days of reshooting. Before and after the film was released, it was parodied and alluded to on television shows and films, fan-made videos, video games, and various forms of literature. Released in the United States and United Kingdom on August 18, 2006, the film received mixed reviews. Despite the immense Internet buzz, the film’s gross revenue did not live up to expectations, earning US$15.25 million in its opening weekend. The film grossed US$62 million worldwide before its release on home video on January 2, 2007.

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Society

Society is a 1989 American body horror film directed by Brian Yuzna, and starring Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, and Ben Meyerson. Its plot follows a Beverly Hills teenager who finds his wealthy parents are part of a gruesome cult for the social elite. Though the film was completed in 1989, it was not released until 1992. It was Yuzna’s directorial debut and was written by Rick Fry and Woody Keith. Screaming Mad George was responsible for the special effects. A sequel, Society 2: Body Modification, was in development, with a script written by Stephan Biro.

Son of Frankenstein

Son of Frankenstein is a 1939 American horror film that was directed by Rowland V. Lee. The film is the third in Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein series and is the follow-up to Bride of Frankenstein. Son of Frankenstein stars Basil Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein who, with his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and son Peter (Donnie Dunagan), return to his late father’s estate. Near the castle lives Ygor (Bela Lugosi), a crazed shepherd whose neck was broken in an unsuccessful hanging attempt. Among the castle’s remains, Frankenstein discovers the remains of the monster (Boris Karloff) and decides to try save his family name by resurrecting the creature to prove his father was correct. He finds, however, the monster only responds to Ygor’s commands. The film was originally announced in August 1938 after a successful theatrical reissue of Dracula and Frankenstein. Son of Frankenstein was initially announced under the title After Frankenstein. The screenplay written by Willis Cooper was initially rejected and early script drafts included only the characters that would be used in the final film. The original budget was set at $250,000 but Lee increased it to $300,000 and had a 27-day shooting schedule. Difficulties in production arose when Lee was unsatisfied with the script. Production was delayed until November 9 due to inclement weather and other problems, and filming was completed on January 5, 1939, with a final cost of $420,000. The film was released on January 13, 1939, and received positive reviews from The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Variety and the Monthly Film Bulletin. A sequel, The Ghost of Frankenstein, was released in 1942.

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Southbound

Southbound is a 2015 American anthology horror film directed by Radio Silence, Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, and Patrick Horvath. Produced by Brad Miska, the film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2015, and was released theatrically on February 5, 2016 in a limited release. The film was included on numerous Best Horror Films of 2016 lists including those by Rolling Stone, Buzzfeed and the Thrillist.

Starry Eyes

Starry Eyes is a 2014 American horror film directed and written by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer. The film had its world premiere on March 8, 2014 at South by Southwest and features Alexandra Essoe as a hopeful young starlet who finds that fame’s price is not always easily paid. Funding for the movie was partially raised through a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Stranger in the House

Stranger in the House is a 1967 crime film directed and written by Pierre Rouve (from the novel by Georges Simenon), produced by Anatole de Grunwald and starring James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin and Bobby Darin. The movie was released as Cop-Out in the USA and is a remake of the French film Strangers in the House (Les inconnus dans la maison, 1942). The film was remade in 1997. Eric Burdon & the Animals recorded the song “Ain’t That So” for the film. The song was co-written by band member Vic Briggs and the composer of the film score, John Scott. It was produced and arranged by Briggs.

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Suspiria

Suspiria is a 2018 Italian-American supernatural horror film directed by Luca Guadagnino with a screenplay by David Kajganich, inspired by the 1977 Italian film directed by Dario Argento. It stars Dakota Johnson as an American woman who enrolls at a prestigious dance academy in Berlin run by a coven of witches. Tilda Swinton co-stars in two roles, as the company’s lead choreographer and as a male psychotherapist involved in the academy. Mia Goth, Elena Fokina, and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in supporting roles as students, while Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven, Sylvie Testud, Renée Soutendijk, and Christine LeBoutte portray some of the academy’s matrons. The star of the original film, Jessica Harper, has a cameo appearance.
A remake of Suspiria was first announced in 2008 after Guadagnino had acquired the rights from the original film’s writers, Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi. Guadagnino offered the film to David Gordon Green, but that project was eventually canceled due to financing conflicts. In September 2015, Guadagnino confirmed his plans to direct, describing his version as an “homage” to the original rather than a straightforward remake. A new screenplay was drafted by Kajganich, who had written Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash the year before. Kajganich set the film during the so-called “German Autumn” of 1977 in order to explore themes of generational guilt in that country during the Cold War. The film’s other themes include motherhood, evil, and the dynamics of matriarchies.
Unlike the original film, which used exaggerated colors, Guadagnino conceived the visuals in Suspiria as “winterish” and bleak, absent of primary colors. The film incorporates stylized dance sequences choreographed by Damien Jalet, which form part of its representation of witchcraft. Principal photography took place in late 2016 and early 2017 in Varese, Italy, and in Berlin. The musical score was composed by Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, who took inspiration from krautrock. The film is dedicated to the memories of Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, film director Jonathan Demme and Deborah Falzone.
Suspiria premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2018. It was given a limited release by Amazon Studios in Los Angeles and New York on October 26, 2018, where it grossed over $180,000 in its opening weekend, marking the highest screen-average box-office launch of the year. It was screened on October 31 in some U.S. cities before opening in wide release on November 2, 2018. It was released in Italy on January 1, 2019 by Videa. The film was a box-office failure. Critical response was polarized; some praised it for its visual elements and acting, others criticized its historical-political setting for being unnecessary or arbitrary in relation to its other themes.

Swallow

Swallow is a 2019 psychological thriller film written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis and starring Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Elizabeth Marvel, David Rasche, and Denis O’Hare. Its plot follows a young woman who, emotionally stifled in her marriage and domestic life, develops an impulse to consume inedible objects. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 28, 2019. It was released in France on January 15, 2020, by UFO Distribution, and in the United States on March 6, 2020, by IFC Films.

Terrifier 2

Terrifier 2 is an upcoming American slasher film written and directed by Damien Leone. It is a direct sequel to Terrifier (2016) and is the second feature-length film in the franchise of the same name. It stars Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt, Kailey Hyman, and Casey Hartnett. It features the return of David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown and Samantha Scaffidi as Victoria Heyes.Following the cult success of Terrifier, Leone began developing a more character-focused and narrative-driven screenplay. The story follows siblings Sienna (LaVera) and Jonathon Shaw (Fullam) as they find themselves the targets of the sinister Art the Clown on Halloween night. Having already secured funding from private investors before filming, Leone launched an Indiegogo campaign with a $50k goal to film a practical effects-driven scene. The campaign was a massive success, reaching over 430% of the initial goal with a total of $250k donations.Terrifier 2 is one of numerous films impacted by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic with principal photography coming to a halt due to the pandemic lockdowns. While a majority of the film was completed at the beginning of 2020, filming resumed in September of that year. Terrifier 2 is slated for a 2022 release.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an American horror franchise consisting of eight slasher films, comics, and a video game adaptation of the original film. The franchise focuses on the cannibalistic serial killer Leatherface and his family, who terrorize unsuspecting visitors to their territories in the desolate Texas countryside, typically killing and subsequently cooking them. The original film was released in 1974, directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Hooper and Kim Henkel. Hooper and Henkel were involved in three of the later films. The film series has grossed over $252 million at the worldwide box office.

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The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 British dark comedy horror film, produced by Ronald S. Dunas and Louis M. Heyward, directed by Robert Fuest, written by William Goldstein and James Whiton, and starring Vincent Price and Joseph Cotten. Its art deco sets, dark humour, and performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics. The film also features Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith, with an uncredited Caroline Munro appearing in still photographs as Phibes’ wife. The film follows the title character, Dr. Anton Phibes, who blames the medical team that attended to his wife’s surgery four years prior for her death and sets out to exact vengeance on each one. Phibes is inspired in his murderous spree by the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament.

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The Amityville Horror

The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American supernatural horror film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring James Brolin and Margot Kidder as a young couple who purchase a home haunted by combative supernatural forces. The film is based on Jay Anson’s 1977 book of the same name. The story is based on the alleged experiences of the Lutz family who bought a new home in Amityville, New York, where a mass murder had been committed the year before. It is the first film based on the Amityville horror. Upon its release in the summer of 1979, The Amityville Horror was a major commercial success for American International Pictures, grossing over $80 million in the United States and going on to become one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, though some film scholars have considered it a classic of the horror genre.The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score by composer Lalo Schifrin and Kidder also earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress. A remake was produced in 2005.

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The Babadook

The Babadook is a 2014 Australian psychological horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her directorial debut, and produced by Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere. The film stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear. It is based on Kent’s 2005 short film Monster. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on 17 January, and generated attention and critical acclaim in the United States and Europe, grossing $10.3 million against a $2 million budget. The Babadook was initially not a commercial success in Australia and was given a limited release in art house cinemas, beginning on 22 May 2014.

The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed is a 1956 American psychological thriller film , directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones, and Eileen Heckart. The film is based upon the 1954 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March’s 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film.

The Beyond

The Beyond (Italian: …E tu vivrai nel terrore! L’aldilà, lit. “… And you will live in terror! The afterlife”) is a 1981 Italian Southern Gothic supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci, and starring Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck. Its plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981).Filmed on location in and around New Orleans in late 1980 with assistance from the Louisiana Film Commission, additional photography took place at De Paolis Studios in Rome. Released theatrically in Italy in the spring of 1981, The Beyond did not see a North American release until late 1983 through Aquarius Releasing, who released an alternate version of the film titled 7 Doors of Death; this version featured an entirely different musical score and ran several minutes shorter than Fulci’s original cut, which was branded a “video nasty” upon its release in the United Kingdom. The original version of the film saw its first United States release in September 1998 through a distribution partnership between Rolling Thunder Pictures, Grindhouse Releasing and Cowboy Booking International.
Following its release, reception of The Beyond was polarized. Contemporary and retrospective critics have praised the film for its surrealistic qualities, special effects, musical score and cinematography, but note its narrative inconsistencies; horror filmmakers and surrealists have interpreted these inconsistencies as intentionally disorienting, supplementing the atmospheric tone and direction. The Beyond is ranked among Fulci’s most celebrated films, and has gained an international cult following over the ensuing decades.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italian: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo) is a 1970 giallo film directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film has been credited with popularizing the Italian giallo genre. It is the first installment in the Animal Trilogy, and was followed by The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). Written by Argento, the film borrowed liberally from Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi, which had previously been made into a Hollywood film, Screaming Mimi (1958), directed by Gerd Oswald.The film was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for best motion picture in 1971. The film was originally cut by 20 seconds for its US release and received a ‘GP’ rating, though it was later re-classified as ‘PG’. It has since been released in the US uncut. Upon its release the film was a huge box office hit, grossing 1,650,000,000 Italian lira (roughly about $1 million US), twice the production cost of $500,000. The film was also a success outside of Italy, gaining €1,366,884 admissions in Spain.

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The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard—who hike into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly “recovered footage” is the film the viewer sees.
Myrick and Sánchez conceived of a fictional legend of the Blair Witch in 1993. They developed a 35-page screenplay with the dialogue to be improvised. A casting call advertisement in Backstage magazine was prepared by the directors; Donahue, Williams and Leonard were cast.

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The Blob

The Blob is a 1988 American science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Chuck Russell. A remake of the 1958 film of the same name, it stars Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Paul McCrane, Art LaFleur, Robert Axelrod, Joe Seneca, Del Close and Candy Clark. The plot follows an acidic, amoeba-like organism that crashes down to Earth in a military satellite, which devours and dissolves anything in its path as it grows. Filmed in Abbeville, Louisiana, The Blob was theatrically released in August 1988 by Tri-Star Pictures and was a box office bomb, grossing $8.2 million against its budget of approximately $10 million. Though it received a mixed response from critics, the film has accrued a cult following in the years since its release.

The Boy Behind the Door

The Boy Behind the Door is a 2020 American horror-thriller film written and directed by David Charbonier and Justin Powell. The film stars Lonnie Chavis, Ezra Dewey, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Scott Michael Foster, and Micah Hauptman, and focuses on two boys attempting to escape their kidnapper’s house. It premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 27, 2020, and was released on the streaming service Shudder on July 29, 2021.

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The Brood

The Brood is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. Its plot follows a man and his mentally-ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a psychologist known for his controversial therapy techniques. A series of brutal unsolved murders serves as the backdrop for the central narrative. Conceived by Cronenberg after his own acrimonious divorce, he intended the screenplay as a meditation on a fractured relationship between a husband and wife who share a child, and cast Eggar and Hindle as loose facsimiles of himself and his ex-wife. He would later state that, despite its incorporation of science fiction elements, he considered it his sole feature that most embodied a “classic horror film”. Principal photography of The Brood took place in late 1978 in Toronto on a budget of $1.5 million. The film’s score was composed by Howard Shore, in his film composing debut. Released in the spring of 1979 by New World Pictures, The Brood proved profitable for the studio, grossing over $5 million. Though it initially received mixed reviews from critics, it would establish itself as a cult film in the following decades. It has attracted scholarly interest from academics in the areas of film theory for its themes regarding mental illness and parenthood. In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 88th scariest film of all time. In 2013, it was selected for restoration by the Criterion Collection, which subsequently released it on Blu-ray.

The Burning

The Burning is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Tony Maylam, and starring Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, and Lou David. Its plot follows a summer camp caretaker who is horribly burnt from a prank gone wrong, where he seeks vengeance at a nearby summer camp years later. Based on the New York urban legend of the Cropsey maniac, the screenplay was written by Bob Weinstein and Peter Lawrence, from a story conceived by producer Harvey Weinstein, Tony Maylam, and Brad Grey. The film marks the debut of Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. Rick Wakeman, of the progressive rock band Yes, composed the score. The Burning was theatrically released on May 8, 1981 by Filmways. While the film did not generate the interest nor revenue achieved by other slasher films at the time, it has since become a cult classic and received positive reappraisal from film critics.

The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods is a 2011 American horror comedy film directed by Drew Goddard in his directorial debut, produced by Joss Whedon, and written by Whedon and Goddard. The film stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford. The plot follows a group of college students who retreat to a remote forest cabin where they fall victim to backwoods zombies while technicians manipulate events from an underground facility.
Goddard and Whedon, having worked together previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, wrote the screenplay in three days, describing it as an attempt to “revitalize” the slasher film genre and as a critical satire on torture porn. The special effects, monster costumes, special makeup, and prosthetic makeup for the film were done by veteran horror film actress Heather Langenkamp, her husband David LeRoy Anderson, and their company AFX Studio. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia from March to May 2009 on an estimated budget of $30 million.
The film was originally slated for release on February 5, 2010, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists, but was indefinitely shelved due to financial difficulties. In 2011, Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights. The film premiered in December 2011 at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival in Austin, Texas and was released in the United States on April 13, 2012, grossing over $66 million worldwide. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, tone, and performances.

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (German: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari) is a 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the quintessential work of German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. The film features a dark and twisted visual style, with sharp-pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in unusual angles, and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets.
The script was inspired by various experiences from the lives of Janowitz and Mayer, both pacifists who were left distrustful of authority after their experiences with the military during World War I. The film makes use of a frame story, with a prologue and epilogue which, in a twist ending, reveals the main narrative is actually the delusion of a madman. Janowitz has said this device was forced upon the writers against their will. The film’s design was handled by Hermann Warm, Walter Reimann and Walter Röhrig, who recommended a fantastic, graphic style over a naturalistic one.
The film thematizes brutal and irrational authority. Writers and scholars have argued the film reflects a subconscious need in German society for a tyrant, and is an example of Germany’s obedience to authority and unwillingness to rebel against deranged authority. Some critics have interpreted Caligari as representing the German war government, with Cesare symbolic of the common man conditioned, like soldiers, to kill. Other themes of the film include the destabilized contrast between insanity and sanity, the subjective perception of reality, and the duality of human nature.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released just as foreign film industries were easing restrictions on the import of German films following World War I, so it was screened internationally. Accounts differ as to its financial and critical success upon release, but modern film critics and historians have largely praised it as a revolutionary film. Critic Roger Ebert called it arguably “the first true horror film”, and film reviewer Danny Peary called it cinema’s first cult film and a precursor for arthouse films. Considered a classic, it helped draw worldwide attention to the artistic merit of German cinema and had a major influence on American films, particularly in the genres of horror and film noir.

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The Cat o' Nine Tails

The Cat o’ Nine Tails (Italian: Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 giallo film written and directed by Dario Argento, adapted from a story by Dardano Sacchetti, Luigi Cozzi, and an uncredited Bryan Edgar Wallace. It stars Karl Malden, James Franciscus, and Catherine Spaak.Although it is the middle entry in Argento’s so-called “Animal Trilogy” (along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet), the “cat o’ nine tails” does not directly refer to a literal cat, nor to a literal multi-tailed whip; rather, it refers to the number of leads that the protagonists follow in the attempt to solve a murder.
Though unsuccessful in Europe, it was acclaimed in the United States. Argento admitted in the book Broken Mirrors, Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento that he was less than pleased with the film, and has repeatedly cited it as his least favorite of all of his films.

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The Changeling

For other definitions of Changeling, see Changeling (Disambuguation)The Changeling is a 1980 Canadian supernatural psychological horror film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, and Melvyn Douglas. Its plot follows an esteemed New York City composer who relocates to Seattle, where he moves into a mansion he comes to believe is haunted. The screenplay is based upon events that writer Russell Hunter claimed he experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers mansion in the Cheesman Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, in the late 1960s; Hunter served as a co-writer of the film.The film premiered at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas on March 26, 1980, and was released simultaneously in Canada and the United States two days later. It received positive critical reviews, and was an early Canadian-produced film to have major success internationally. The film won eight inaugural Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and was nominated for two Saturn Awards. It is considered a cult film one of the best horror films of all time, and one of the most influential Canadian films of all time.

The Conjuring

The Conjuring is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the inaugural film in the Conjuring Universe franchise. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of haunting. Their purportedly real-life reports inspired The Amityville Horror story and film franchise. The Warrens come to the assistance of the Perron family, who experienced increasingly disturbing events in their farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971.Development of the film began in January 2012, and reports confirmed Wan as the director of a film entitled The Warren Files, later retitled The Conjuring, centering on the alleged real-life exploits of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple who investigated paranormal events. In his second collaboration with Wan, Patrick Wilson starred alongside Vera Farmiga in the main roles of Ed and Lorraine. Production commenced in Wilmington, North Carolina, in February 2012, and scenes were shot in chronological order.
The Conjuring was released in the United States and Canada on July 19, 2013, by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances, direction, screenplay, atmosphere, and musical score. It grossed over $319 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, was released on June 10, 2016.

The Crow

The Crow is a 1994 American superhero film directed by Alex Proyas and written by David J. Schow and John Shirley. It stars Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, a murdered musician who is resurrected to avenge the deaths of himself and his fiancee. The film is based on James O’Barr’s comic of the same name.
Production on The Crow was struck by tragedy when Lee was fatally wounded during filming. As Lee had finished most of his scenes before his death, the film was completed through script rewrites, a stunt double, and digital effects. The Crow is dedicated to Lee and his fiancee, Eliza Hutton.
After Lee’s death caused Paramount Pictures to opt out of distributing the film, the rights were picked up by Miramax, who oversaw The Crow’s completion. The Crow was released to positive reviews, with the Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus praising its tone, visuals, and Lee’s performance. It also grossed $94 million on a $23 million budget and attained a strong cult following. The film’s success led to a media franchise that includes three sequels and a television series. The sequels, which featured different protagonists and none of the original cast members, would be unable to match the success of the first film, however.

The Curse of Frankenstein

The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer’s first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series. Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and it was also followed by new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959), establishing “Hammer Horror” as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.The film was directed by Terence Fisher and stars Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as the Creature, with Hazel Court and Robert Urquhart. Professor Patricia MacCormack called it the “first really gory horror film, showing blood and guts in colour”.

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The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone is a 1983 American science fiction thriller film directed by David Cronenberg. The screenplay, by Jeffrey Boam, is based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The film stars Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom, Martin Sheen, Anthony Zerbe and Colleen Dewhurst. Walken plays a schoolteacher, Johnny Smith, who awakens from a coma to find he has psychic powers. The film received positive reviews. The novel also inspired a television series of the same name in the early 2000s, starring Anthony Michael Hall, the 2-hour pilot episode of which borrowed some ideas and changes used in the 1983 film.
In the novel, the phrase “dead zone” refers to the part of Johnny Smith’s brain that is irreparably damaged, resulting in his dormant psychic potential awakening. When some information in Johnny’s visions is beyond his perception, he considers that information as existing “in the dead zone.” In the film adaptation, the phrase “dead zone” is that part of his psychic vision that is missing, a blank area that he cannot see. This “dead zone” refers to an outcome that is not yet determined, meaning Johnny can change the future.

The Descent

The Descent is a 2005 British adventure horror film written and directed by Neil Marshall. The film follows six women who, having entered a cave system, struggle to survive against the humanoid creatures inside. Filming took place in the United Kingdom. Exterior scenes were filmed at Ashridge Park, Hertfordshire, and in Scotland. Because the filmmakers considered it too dangerous and time-consuming to shoot in an actual cave, interior scenes were filmed on sets built at Pinewood Studios near London designed by Simon Bowles. The Descent opened in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 8 July 2005. It premiered in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and released on 4 August 2006 in the United States. The film received positive reviews and was a box-office success, grossing $57.1 million against a £3.5 million budget. A sequel, titled The Descent Part 2, directed by the first film’s editor Jon Harris, was released in 2009.

The Devil's Backbone

The Devil’s Backbone (Spanish: El espinazo del diablo) is a 2001 gothic horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro, and written by del Toro, David Muñoz, and Antonio Trashorras. The film is set in Spain, 1939, during the final year of the Spanish Civil War. The film was released to very positive reviews from critics and audiences.

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The Empty Man

The Empty Man is a 2020 American supernatural horror thriller film written, directed, and edited by David Prior, based on Cullen Bunn and Vanesa R. Del Rey’s graphic novel of same name published by Boom! Studios. The film stars James Badge Dale, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root, Ron Canada, Robert Aramayo, Joel Courtney, and Sasha Frolova. It follows an ex-cop who, upon an investigation into a missing girl, discovers a secret cult. Originally filmed in August 2017, the film received poor scores at test screenings and distributor 20th Century Studios lost faith in its commercial prospects. The final product, theatrically released in the United States on October 23, 2020, was still considered a rough edit by Prior. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics and audiences at the time of its release, although reception improved after it came out on home media and has since gained a cult following.

The Endless

The Endless is a 2017 American science fiction horror drama film directed, produced by and starring Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Benson also wrote the film, while Moorhead was the cinematographer; both also acted as editors. It premiered on April 21, 2017 at the Tribeca Film Festival, before being released nationwide on April 6, 2018.
Co-starring Callie Hernandez, Tate Ellington, Lew Temple, and James Jordan, the film tells the story of two brothers (Benson and Moorhead) who visit an alleged cult they formerly belonged to. The Endless may be interpreted as a partial sequel to Benson and Moorhead’s 2012 film Resolution, as it shares the same universe and some of the same characters.It received favorable reviews from critics.

The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManicor, Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly. The film focuses on five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a remote wooded area. After they find an audio tape that, when played, releases a legion of demons and spirits, four members of the group suffer from demonic possession, forcing the fifth member, Ash Williams (Campbell), to survive an onslaught of increasingly gory mayhem.
Raimi, Tapert, Campbell and their friends produced the short film Within the Woods as a proof of concept to build the interest of potential investors, which secured US$90,000 to begin work on The Evil Dead. Principal photography took place on location in a remote cabin located in Morristown, Tennessee, in a difficult filming process that proved extremely uncomfortable for the cast and crew; the film’s extensive prosthetic makeup effects and stop-motion animations were created by artist Tom Sullivan. The completed film attracted the interest of producer Irvin Shapiro, who helped screen the film at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Horror author Stephen King gave a rave review of the film, which resulted in New Line Cinema acquiring its distribution rights.
The Evil Dead grossed $2.4 million in the US and between $2.7 and $29.4 million worldwide. Both early and later critical reception were universally positive; in the years since its release, the film has developed a reputation as one of the most significant cult films, cited among the greatest horror films of all time and one of the most successful independent films. It launched the careers of Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell, who have continued to collaborate on several films together, such as Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.
The Evil Dead spawned a media franchise, beginning with two direct sequels written and directed by Raimi, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), a fourth film, Evil Dead (2013), which serves as a soft reboot and continuation, and a follow-up TV series, Ash vs Evil Dead, which aired from 2015 to 2018; the franchise also includes video games and comic books. The character of Ash Williams is also considered to be a cultural icon.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and produced and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Blatty. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran (in his final film role), Jason Miller and Linda Blair. It is the first installment in The Exorcist film series, and follows the demonic possession of twelve year-old Regan and her mother’s attempt to rescue her through an exorcism conducted by two Catholic priests.
Despite the book’s bestseller status, Blatty, who produced, and Friedkin, his choice for director, had difficulty casting the film. After turning down, or being turned down by, major stars of the era, they cast Burstyn, a relative unknown, as well as unknowns Blair and Miller (author of a hit play with no film acting experience); the casting choices were vigorously opposed by studio executives at Warner Bros. Pictures. Principal photography was also difficult. A fire destroyed the majority of the set, and Blair and Burstyn suffered long-term injuries in on-set accidents. Ultimately production took twice as long as scheduled and cost more than twice the initial budget.
The Exorcist was released in 24 theaters in the United States and Canada in late December. Despite initial mixed critical reviews, audiences flocked to it, waiting in long lines during winter weather and many doing so more than once. Some viewers suffered adverse physical reactions, fainting or vomiting to scenes in which the protagonist undergoes a realistic cerebral angiography and later violently masturbates with a crucifix. Heart attacks and miscarriages were reported; a psychiatric journal published a paper on “cinematic neurosis” triggered by the film. Many children were allowed to see the film, leading to charges that the MPAA ratings board had accommodated Warner Brothers by giving the film an R-rating instead of the X-rating they thought it deserved, in order to ensure its commercial success. Several cities attempted to ban it outright or prevent children from attending.
The cultural conversation around the film, which also encompassed its treatment of Catholicism, helped it become the first horror film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, one of ten Academy Awards it was nominated for, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. It was the highest-grossing R-rated horror film (unadjusted for inflation) until the 2017 release of It. The Exorcist has had a significant influence on popular culture and has received critical acclaim, with several publications regarding it as one of the greatest horror films ever made. English film critic Mark Kermode named it his “favorite film of all time”. In 2010, the Library of Congress selected the film to be preserved in its National Film Registry, citing it as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

The Fly

The Fly is a 1986 science-fiction psychological body horror film directed and co-written by David Cronenberg. Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz. Loosely based on George Langelaan’s 1957 short story of the same name and the 1958 film of the same name, The Fly tells of an eccentric scientist who, after one of his experiments goes wrong, slowly turns into a fly-hybrid creature. The score was composed by Howard Shore and the make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, along with makeup artist Stephan Dupuis.
The Fly was released on August 15, 1986, to massive acclaim by critics and audiences, with praise mainly regarding the special effects and Goldblum’s performance. It grossed $60.6 million at the box office against its nine-million-dollar budget, becoming the largest commercial success of Cronenberg’s career. Walas and Dupuis’ work on the film resulted in their winning an Academy Award for Best Makeup, the only Oscar won by a film directed by Cronenberg. A sequel, directed by Walas, was released in 1989.

The Devil's Candy

The Devil’s Candy is a 2015 American horror film written and directed by Sean Byrne. The film stars Ethan Embry, Shiri Appleby, Kiara Glasco, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Craig Nigh and Marco Perella. The film was released by IFC Midnight on March 17, 2017.

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The Devil's Rejects

The Devil’s Rejects is a 2005 American black comedy horror film written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, and it is the second film in the Firefly film series, a sequel to his 2003 film House of 1000 Corpses. The film is centered on the run of three members of the psychopathic antagonist family from the previous film, now seen as villainous protagonists, with Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and Zombie’s wife Sheri Moon Zombie reprising their roles, and Leslie Easterbrook replacing Karen Black as the matriarch.
The film was released on July 22, 2005, to minor commercial success and mixed but more positive reviews over its predecessor. At the time of release and in the years since, the film has garnered a cult following. This was the final film to feature actor Matthew McGrory before his death the same year (although McGrory did have an uncredited posthumous cameo in 2017’s The Evil Within, which was filmed in 2002). The film’s DVD release is dedicated to his “loving memory.”

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The Fog

The Fog is a 1980 American supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and created the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook. It tells the story of a strange, glowing fog that sweeps over a small coastal town in California, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of mariners who were killed in a shipwreck there 100 years before.
The Fog was not well received by critics upon release but was a hit at the box office, making over $21 million domestically on a $1.1 million budget. Since release, it has received more positive retrospective reviews and has become a cult classic. A remake of the film was made in 2005, which was universally panned by critics.

The Forever Purge

The Forever Purge is a 2021 American dystopian western action horror film directed by Everardo Gout and written by series creator James DeMonaco, who also produced along with Jason Blum and Michael Bay. Originally intended as the final installment, it serves as the fifth film in the Purge franchise and a direct sequel to 2016’s The Purge: Election Year. The film stars Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda, and Will Patton, and follows a group of people who attempt to escape from the United States after an insurrectionist movement continues committing crimes and murders nationwide after the Purge’s ending.
Delayed from an original July 2020 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Forever Purge was theatrically released on July 2, 2021 by Universal Pictures. The film has grossed $77 million worldwide against its $18 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its performances and action sequences but criticism for its writing and perceived preachiness on social issues. A sixth film is currently in development.

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The Girl with All the Gifts

The Girl with All the Gifts is a 2016 British post-apocalyptic science fiction horror film directed by Colm McCarthy and written by Mike Carey. Starring Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, and Sennia Nanua, the film depicts a dystopian future following a breakdown of society after most of humanity is wiped out by a fungal infection. The plot focuses on the struggle of a scientist, a teacher, and two soldiers who embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie.

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The Haunting

The Haunting is a 1999 American horror film directed by Jan de Bont, and starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, and Lili Taylor, with Marian Seldes, Bruce Dern, Todd Field, and Virginia Madsen appearing in supporting roles. Its plot follows a group of people who gather at a sprawling estate in western Massachusetts for an apparent volunteer study on insomnia, only to find themselves plagued by paranormal events connected to the home’s grim history. Based on the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, it is the second feature film adaptation of the source material after Robert Wise’s 1963 film adaptation of the same name.
Development for The Haunting originally began as a collaboration between filmmaker Steven Spielberg and writer Stephen King, who together began writing a new adaptation of Jackson’s novel, largely inspired by Wise’s 1963 film version. After creative differences, the project was aborted, with King retooling his screenplay to form the 2002 miniseries Rose Red. Spielberg meanwhile commissioned a new screenplay for the project, written by David Self, to be produced under Spielberg’s own studio, DreamWorks Pictures. Filming of The Haunting began in the fall of 1998, with some location shoots occurring in England at Harlaxton Manor and Belvoir Castle, though the majority of the film was shot in specially-crafted sets in Los Angeles by esteemed Argentine production designer Eugenio Zanetti.
The Haunting premiered theatrically in North America in July 1999. Though met by largely negative reviews from film critics, it was a financial success, grossing $180 million worldwide.

The Hitcher

The Hitcher is a 1986 American road thriller film directed by Robert Harmon and written by Eric Red. It stars Rutger Hauer as the title character, a murderous hitchhiker who stalks a young motorist (C. Thomas Howell) across the highways of West Texas. Jeffrey DeMunn and Jennifer Jason Leigh appear in supporting roles.
Released in the United States on February 21, 1986, the film was initially met with tepid critical and commercial response, grossing $5.8 million on a $7.9 million budget. Reception towards The Hitcher would improve in later years, however, with Hauer’s performance receiving praise. It would be followed by a 2003 sequel, which featured Howell reprising his role, and a 2007 remake.

The House of the Devil

The House of the Devil is a 2009 American horror film written, directed, and edited by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, A. J. Bowen, and Dee Wallace. The plot concerns a young college student who is hired as a babysitter at an isolated house and is soon caught up in bizarre and dangerous events as she fights for her life. The film combines elements of both the slasher film and haunted house subgenres while using the “satanic panic” of the 1980s as a central plot element. The film pays homage to horror films of the 1970s and 1980s, recreating the style of films of that era using filming techniques and similar technology to what was used then. The film’s opening text claims that it is based upon true events, a technique used in some horror films, such as The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

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The Human Centipede

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch body horror film written, directed and co-produced by Tom Six. The film tells the story of a deranged German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists and joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a “human centipede”. It stars Dieter Laser as Josef Heiter, the creator of the centipede; and Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura as his victims.
According to Six, the concept arose from a joke he had made with friends about punishing a child molester by stitching his mouth to the anus of a “fat truck driver”. Another source of inspiration was Nazi medical experiments performed during World War II, such as those performed by Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp. When approaching investors to fund the project, Six did not mention the premise of the film for fear of putting off potential backers; financiers did not discover the full nature of the film until completion.
The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 30 April 2010. Despite a mixed critical reception, the film won several accolades at international film festivals. Two sequels that were also written and directed by Six—Full Sequence and Final Sequence—were released in 2011 and 2015, respectively. The entire trilogy was combined into a single film in 2016, titled Complete Sequence, which Six described as a “movie centipede” due to each Sequence leading into its successor while simultaneously working as a separate standalone film.

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The Innocents

The Innocents is a 1961 psychological horror film directed and produced by Jack Clayton, and starring Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, and Megs Jenkins. Based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by the American novelist Henry James, the screenplay was adapted by William Archibald and Truman Capote, who used Archibald’s own 1950 stage play—also titled The Innocents—as a primary source text. Its plot follows a governess who watches over two children and comes to fear that their large estate is haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
Archibald’s original screenplay for The Innocents was based on the premise that the paranormal events depicted were legitimate. Displeased with Archibald’s take on the material, director Jack Clayton appointed American writer Truman Capote to rework the script. Capote’s rewrites incorporated psychological themes, resulting in a final work that suggests other alternatives to the plot. Filming took place partly on location at the Gothic mansion of Sheffield Park in Sussex, with additional shoots occurring at Shepperton Studios in Surrey. Shot in CinemaScope, The Innocents incorporated bold minimal lighting as well as deep focus, employed by cinematographer Freddie Francis to achieve a distinctive—and sometimes claustrophobic—atmosphere. The film also pioneered the use of synthesised electronic sound created by Daphne Oram. Clayton was dissatisfied with the original score of the movie by French composer Georges Auric and requested some alteration. But because Auric was not available due to health problems, Clayton turned to W. Lambert Williamson.
The Innocents received international distribution from the American film studio 20th Century Fox, and received its London premiere on 24 November 1961. It was released in the United States the following month on 15 December in Los Angeles and Christmas Day in New York City. The psychological underpinnings of the film’s screenplay have resulted in it being the subject of numerous critical and scholarly essays, particularly in the area of film theory. Of the various film adaptations of James’s work, The Innocents has received the most critical debate. It was selected by The Guardian as one of the 25 best horror films ever made.

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man is a 2020 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Leigh Whannell, loosely based on the novel of the same name by H. G. Wells. It follows a woman who believes she is being stalked and gaslit by her abusive and wealthy ex-boyfriend—even after his apparent suicide—and ultimately deduces that he has acquired the ability to become invisible. The film stars Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
The development of a new film based on Wells’s 1897 novel began as early as 2006. The project was revived as part of Universal’s attempted Dark Universe in 2016, intended to consist of their classic monsters, with Johnny Depp attached to star in the title role. After The Mummy was released in 2017 to critical and financial failure, development was halted on all projects. In early 2019, the studio changed their plans from a serialized universe to films based on individualized story-telling and the project reentered development. Principal photography lasted from July to September 2019 in Sydney, Australia.
The Invisible Man was released in the United States on February 28, 2020, by Universal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Moss’ performance and, as described by TheWrap, the combination of scares with “a smart narrative about how people can be manipulated and abused in harmful relationships”. The film grossed $142 million worldwide against a $7 million budget. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing theaters across the world, Universal announced the film would be made available for digital rental just three weeks after it was released theatrically.

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The Invitation

The Invitation is a 2015 American horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. The film stars Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Michiel Huisman, and Emayatzy Corinealdi. The Invitation premiered March 13, 2015, at the SXSW film festival, and began a limited release on April 8, 2016, and through video on demand, by Drafthouse Films.

The Last House on the Left

The Last House on the Left is a 2009 revenge horror-thriller film directed by Dennis Iliadis and written by Carl Ellsworth and Adam Alleca. It is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Garret Dillahunt, Spencer Treat Clark, Martha MacIsaac, and Sara Paxton. The film follows the parents (Goldwyn and Potter) of Mari Collingwood (Paxton), who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers, led by a man named Krug (Dillahunt), that have taken shelter at their home during a thunderstorm.
The film rights were picked up by Rogue Pictures in 2006, with the remake being the first film produced by Wes Craven’s new production studio Midnight Pictures. Craven, who wrote and directed the 1972 original, was interested to see what kind of film could be produced on a large budget, as the limited funds in 1972 forced him to eliminate scenes he had wanted to film to tell a complete story. Alleca’s original script included elements of the supernatural, which prompted the studio to reject it and bring in Ellsworth to perform a rewrite. One of the elements director Iliadis wanted to avoid with this film, given its graphic nature, was turning it into torture porn — a subgenre of horror popularized by the Saw franchise. For Craven and Iliadis, The Last House on the Left primarily illustrates how even the most normal of families can be driven to evil acts if pushed too far.
Released on March 13, 2009, The Last House on the Left was met with mixed reviews from critics. Audience opinion ranked the film at a “B” level, from a scale of “A to F”; the film would ultimately gross $45,286,228 worldwide.

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The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is a 2019 film directed and produced by Robert Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Max Eggers. It was an international co-production of the United States and Canada, with the film being shot in black-and-white with a nearly square 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as two lighthouse keepers who begin to descend into madness when a storm strands them on the remote island where they are stationed.
According to the director, although the final story bears little resemblance to Edgar Allan Poe’s fragment “The Light-House”, the film began as an attempt by his brother Max Eggers to create a contemporary take on the Poe story. When the project stalled, Robert offered to work with his brother, and the project evolved into a period thriller with the Poe elements largely removed. Dafoe and Pattinson were cast as the lead characters in February 2018. Principal photography began in April around the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and lasted a total of 34 days in Leif Erikson Park in Cape Forchu, and inside a hangar at Yarmouth Airport.
The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2019, and was theatrically released on October 18, by A24 in the United States. The film was praised for its technical aspects (notably the cinematography and production design), Eggers’ screenplay and direction, and the performances of the leads. It was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 92nd Academy Awards and 73rd British Academy Film Awards.

The Lords of Salem

The Lords of Salem is a 2012 supernatural horror film written, produced, and directed by Rob Zombie. It stars Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, María Conchita Alonso, Judy Geeson, and Meg Foster. The plot focuses on a troubled female disc jockey in Salem, Massachusetts, whose life becomes entangled with a coven of ancient Satan-worshipping women. The film started shooting on October 17, 2011, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2012. Rob Zombie’s novelization of The Lords of Salem was released on March 12, 2013, and the film was given a limited release on April 19, 2013. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

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The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys is a 1987 American supernatural horror vampire film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Harvey Bernhard with a screenplay written by Jeffrey Boam. Janice Fischer and James Jeremias wrote the film’s story. The film’s ensemble cast includes Corey Haim, Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Billy Wirth, Brooke McCarter, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes.
The title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie’s stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, who, like the vampires, never grow up. Most of the film was shot in Santa Cruz, California.
The Lost Boys was released and produced by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 31, 1987 and was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $32 million against a production budget of $8.5 million. The success of the film has spawned a franchise with two sequels (Lost Boys: The Tribe and Lost Boys: The Thirst), and two comic book series. A reboot is currently in development with Noah Jupe and Jaeden Martell attached to star.

The Love Witch

The Love Witch is a 2016 American comedy horror/tragedy film written, edited, directed, produced, and scored by Anna Biller. The film stars Samantha Robinson as Elaine Parks, a modern-day witch who uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her with disastrous results. Shot in Los Angeles and Arcata, California, it premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In May 2016, it was acquired for distribution at the Cannes Marché du Film by Oscilloscope Laboratories.The film received a limited release in the United States on November 11, 2016. The Love Witch was shot on 35mm film, and printed from an original cut negative. The film was acclaimed by critics for its playful tribute to 1960s horror and Technicolor films, combined with its serious inquiry into contemporary gender roles.

The Loved Ones

The Loved Ones is a 2009 Australian horror film written and directed by Sean Byrne and starring Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, and John Brumpton. It follows a teenager (Samuel) who finds himself at the center of a female classmate’s (McLeavy) demented party after he declines her offer to attend a school dance.

The Mist

The Mist (also known as Stephen King’s The Mist) is a 2007 American science-fiction horror film based on the 1980 novella “The Mist” by Stephen King. The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont. Darabont had been interested in adapting “The Mist” for the big screen since the 1980s. The film features an ensemble cast, including Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Nathan Gamble, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, Frances Sternhagen, Buck Taylor, William Sadler, David Jensen, Sam Witwer, Alexa Davalos, Robert Treveiler, Chris Owen, Andy Stahl, and future The Walking Dead actors Jeffrey DeMunn, Laurie Holden, Melissa McBride, and Juan Gabriel Pareja.
The director revised the ending of the film to be darker than the novella’s ending, a change to which King was amenable. Darabont also sought unique creature designs to differentiate them from his creatures in past films. Although a monster movie, the central theme explores what ordinary people are driven to do under extraordinary circumstances. The plot revolves around members of the small town of Bridgton, Maine, who after a severe thunderstorm causes the power to go out the night before, meet in a supermarket to pick up supplies. While they struggle to survive, an unnatural mist envelops the town and conceals vicious, Lovecraftian monsters as extreme tensions rise among the survivors.
Filming for The Mist began in Shreveport, Louisiana, in February 2007. The film was commercially released in the United States and Canada on November 21, 2007; it performed well at the box office and received generally positive reviews. Darabont has since revealed that he had “always had it in mind to shoot The Mist in black and white”, a decision inspired by such films as Night of the Living Dead (1968) and the “pre-color” work of Ray Harryhausen. While the film’s cinematic release was in color, the director has described the black-and-white print (released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2008) as his “preferred version.”

The Mummy

The Mummy is a 1999 American film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name with stars Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Kevin J. O’Connor, and Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film follows adventurer Rick O’Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with a librarian and her older brother, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest with supernatural powers.
Development of the film took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. In 1997, Stephen Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material. Principal photography took place in Morocco and the United Kingdom; the crew endured dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes shooting on location in the Sahara desert. Industrial Light & Magic provided many of the visual effects, blending live-action footage and computer-generated imagery to create the titular monster. Jerry Goldsmith provided the orchestral score.
The Mummy was theatrically released on May 7, 1999. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success and grossed over $416.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million. The film’s success spawned two direct sequels, The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). It also led to spinoffs such an animated series and the prequel The Scorpion King (2002), which generated its own sequels. Attempts to reboot the property and kickstart a new media franchise led to a 2017 film.

The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish. The screenplay by James Agee was based on the 1953 novel of the same title by Davis Grubb. The plot focuses on a corrupt minister-turned-serial killer who attempts to charm an unsuspecting widow and steal $10,000 hidden by her executed husband.
The novel and film draw on the true story of Harry Powers, who was hanged in 1932 for the murder of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The film’s lyrical and expressionistic style with its leaning on the silent era sets it apart from other Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s, and it has influenced later directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Robert Altman.Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1992, it is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. The influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma selected The Night of the Hunter in 2008 as the second-best film of all time, behind Citizen Kane.

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The Nightmare

The Nightmare is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher. The film had its world premiere on January 26, 2015 at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and focuses on the topic of sleep paralysis. Ascher chose his subject because it had happened to him in the past.The film’s crew initially began approaching participants via “message groups, YouTube videos, and a half dozen books that had been written”, but found that participants began approaching them after the documentary’s premise was announced.

The Omen

The Omen is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Spencer Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern. The film’s plot follows Damien Thorn, a young child replaced at birth by his father, unbeknownst to his wife, after their biological child dies shortly after birth. As a series of mysterious events and violent deaths occur around the family and Damien enters childhood, they come to learn he is in fact the prophesied Antichrist.
Released theatrically by 20th Century Fox in June 1976, The Omen received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing over $60 million at the U.S. box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1976. The film earned two Oscar nominations, winning Best Original Score for Jerry Goldsmith, his only Oscar win. A scene from the film appeared at number 16 on Bravo’s The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film spawned a franchise, starting with Damien: Omen II, released two years later, followed by a third installment, Omen III: The Final Conflict, in 1981, and in 1991 with Omen IV: The Awakening. A remake was released in 2006.

The Orphanage

The Orphanage (Spanish: El orfanato) is a 2007 Spanish gothic supernatural horror film and the debut feature of Spanish filmmaker J. A. Bayona. The film stars Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an orphanage. Laura plans to turn the house into a home for disabled children, but after an argument with Laura, Simón goes missing.
The film’s script was written by Sergio G. Sánchez in 1996 and brought to the attention of Bayona in 2004. Bayona asked his long-time friend, director Guillermo del Toro, to help produce the film and to double its budget and filming time. Bayona wanted the film to capture the feel of 1970s Spanish cinema; he cast Geraldine Chaplin and Belén Rueda, who were later praised for their roles in the film.
The film opened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2007, where it received a standing ovation lasting more than 10 minutes. It received critical acclaim from audiences in its native Spain, winning seven Goya awards. On its North American release, The Orphanage was praised by English-speaking critics, who described the film as well directed and well acted, and noted the film’s lack of “cheap scares”; subsequently, New Line Cinema bought the rights to the film for an American remake.

The Others

The Others (Spanish: Los otros) is a 2001 English-language Spanish gothic supernatural psychological horror film written, directed, and scored by Alejandro Amenábar. It stars Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Elaine Cassidy, Eric Sykes, Alakina Mann and James Bentley.
The Others was theatrically released in the United States on August 2, 2001, by Dimension Films and in Spain on September 7, 2001, by Warner Sogefilms. The film was a box-office success, grossing over $209.9 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, with many praising Amenábar’s direction and screenplay, as well as the musical score, atmosphere and Kidman’s performance.
The film won seven Goya Awards, including awards for Best Film and Best Director. This was the first English-language film ever to receive the Best Film Award at the Goyas (Spain’s national film awards), without a single word of Spanish spoken in it. The Others was nominated for six Saturn Awards including Best Director and Best Writing for Amenábar and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Alakina Mann, and won three: Best Horror Film, Best Actress for Kidman and Best Supporting Actress for Fionnula Flanagan. Kidman was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Drama and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, with Amenábar being nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, a rare occurrence for a horror film.

The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Anarchy is a 2014 American dystopian action horror film written and directed by James DeMonaco. A sequel to 2013’s The Purge and the second installment in The Purge franchise, the film stars Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, and Michael K. Williams. Edwin Hodge reprised his role from the first film. It was released worldwide on July 18, 2014.
The film grossed over $111 million and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised it as an improvement over its predecessor, but criticized its clichéd formula and screenplay. While the first film was set entirely in one house, Anarchy takes place around the Greater Los Angeles area and shows more of what happens to the surroundings during the event. A third film in the series, The Purge: Election Year, was released on July 1, 2016.

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The Ring

The Ring is a 2002 American supernatural horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, and Daveigh Chase. It is a remake of Hideo Nakata’s 1998 Japanese horror film Ring, based on Koji Suzuki’s 1991 novel of the same name. Watts portrays a journalist who investigates a cursed videotape that seemingly kills the viewer seven days after watching it.
The Ring was released theatrically on October 18, 2002, and received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the atmosphere, visuals, and Watts’s performance. The film grossed over $249 million worldwide on a $48 million production budget, making it one of the highest-grossing horror remakes. It is the first installment of the English-language Ring series, and is followed by The Ring Two and Rings, which were released in 2005 and 2017, respectively.
The Ring paved the way for English-language remakes of Asian horror films, such as The Grudge, Dark Water, Shutter, and The Eye, all of which were poorly received.

The Shallows

The Shallows is a 2016 American survival horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, written by Anthony Jaswinski and starring Blake Lively. In the film, a surfer gets stranded 200 yards (180 m) from shore and must use her wits and determination to survive a great white shark attack. Principal photography began in October 2015 in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.
The film was released in the United States on June 24, 2016, by Columbia Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews and grossed over $119 million against a production budget in the range of $17–25 million, becoming a box office success.

The Shining

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd.
The film’s central character is Jack Torrance (Nicholson), an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the isolated historic Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies, with his wife, Wendy Torrance (Duvall), and young son, Danny Torrance (Lloyd). Danny is gifted with “the shining”, psychic abilities that enable him to see into the hotel’s horrific past. After a winter storm leaves the Torrances snowbound, Jack’s sanity deteriorates due to the influence of the supernatural forces that inhabit the hotel.
Production took place almost exclusively at EMI Elstree Studios, with sets based on real locations. Kubrick often worked with a small crew, which allowed him to do many takes, sometimes to the exhaustion of the actors and staff. The new Steadicam mount was used to shoot several scenes, giving the film an innovative and immersive look and feel. There has been much speculation about the meanings and actions in the film because of inconsistencies, ambiguities, symbolism, and differences from the book.
The film was released in the United States on May 23, 1980, and in the United Kingdom on October 2, 1980, by Warner Bros. There were several versions for theatrical releases, each of which was cut shorter than the one preceding it; about 27 minutes were cut in total. Reactions to the film at the time of its release were mixed; Stephen King criticized the film due to its deviations from the novel. Critical opinion has become more favorable, with the film now widely considered one of the greatest and most influential horror films ever made and a staple of pop culture. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Thirty-nine years later, a sequel, Doctor Sleep, was released on November 8, 2019.

The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer, “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald and Kasi Lemmons.The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991, and grossed $272.7 million worldwide on a $19 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1991 worldwide. It premiered at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear, while Demme received the Silver Bear for Best Director. It became the third and last film (the other two being 1934’s It Happened One Night and 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) to win Academy Awards in all the major five categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is also the only Best Picture winner widely considered a horror film, and one of only six horror films to have been nominated in the category with The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017).The Silence of the Lambs is regularly cited by critics, film directors and audiences as one of the greatest and most influential films. In 2018, Empire ranked it 48th on their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it the fifth-greatest and most influential thriller film while Starling and Lecter were ranked among the greatest film heroines and villains. The film is considered “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2011. A sequel, Hannibal, was released in 2001, followed by the prequels Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007).

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The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) can talk to the dead. The film established Shyamalan and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for surprise endings.Released by Buena Vista Pictures (through its Hollywood Pictures label) on August 6, 1999, critics praised its performances (particularly those of Willis, Osment, and Toni Collette), atmosphere and plot twist. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Collette. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, taking about $293 million in the US and $379 million in other markets.

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The Strangers

The Strangers is a 2008 American psychological horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The plot follows Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked criminals who infiltrate the home. The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino’s neighborhood as a child. Some journalists noted similarities between the film and the Keddie cabin murders that occurred in Keddie, California in 1981, though Bertino did not cite this as a reference.
Made on a budget of $9 million, the film was shot on location in rural South Carolina in the fall of 2006. Originally slated for a theatrical release in November 2007, it was postponed before a theatrical release on May 30, 2008. The film became a sleeper hit, grossing $82 million at the box office worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising its atmosphere and tension, and others criticizing its script and characters.
Contemporary film scholars have interpreted it as a criticism of the perceived safety of pastoral life, as well as an exploration of stranger-on-stranger violence. In the years since its release, it has become a cult film. A sequel, titled The Strangers: Prey at Night, was released on March 9, 2018.

The Stuff

The Stuff (also known as Larry Cohen’s The Stuff) is a 1985 American satirical science fiction horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, and Paul Sorvino. It was also the last film of noted actor Alexander Scourby. In the film, a sweet and addictive alien substance becomes a popular dessert in the United States, but soon begins attacking people and turning them into zombies. This film is a satire on the American lifestyle and consumer society.

The Tenant

The Tenant (French: Le locataire) is a 1976 French psychological horror film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, and Shelley Winters. It is based upon the 1964 novel Le locataire chimérique by Roland Topor and is the last film in Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy”, following Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby. It was entered into the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The film had a total of 534,637 admissions in France.

The Thing

The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter and written by Bill Lancaster. Based on the 1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the eponymous “Thing”, a parasitic extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates, then imitates other organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn that they can no longer trust each other and that any one of them could be the Thing. The film stars Kurt Russell as the team’s helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady, and features A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites in supporting roles.
Production began in the mid-1970s as a faithful adaptation of the novella, following 1951’s The Thing from Another World. The Thing went through several directors and writers, each with different ideas on how to approach the story. Filming lasted roughly 12 weeks, beginning in August 1981, and took place on refrigerated sets in Los Angeles as well as in Juneau, Alaska, and Stewart, British Columbia. Of the film’s $15 million budget, $1.5 million was spent on Rob Bottin’s creature effects, a mixture of chemicals, food products, rubber, and mechanical parts turned by his large team into an alien capable of taking on any form.
The Thing was released in 1982 to very negative reviews. It was described as “instant junk”, “a wretched excess”, and proposed as the most-hated film of all time by film magazine Cinefantastique. Reviews both praised the special effects achievements and criticized their visual repulsiveness, while others found the characterization poorly realised. The film earned $19.6 million during its theatrical run. Many reasons have been cited for its failure to impress audiences: competition from films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which offered an optimistic take on alien visitation; a summer that had been filled with successful science fiction and fantasy films; and an audience living through a recession, diametrically opposed to The Thing’s nihilistic tone.
The film found an audience when released on home video and television. In the subsequent years, it has been reappraised as one of the best science fiction and horror films ever made and has gained a cult following. Filmmakers have noted its influence on their work, and it has been referred to in other media such as television and video games. The Thing has spawned a variety of merchandise—including a 1982 novelization, haunted house attractions, board games—and sequels in comic books, a video game of the same name, and a 2011 prequel film of the same name. A remake was announced in 2020.

The Vanishing

The Vanishing, previously titled Keepers, is a 2018 British psychological thriller drama film directed by Kristoffer Nyholm and written by Celyn Jones and Joe Bone and set in the Flannan Isles, which are best known for the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900. The film stars Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan. It was released in the UK in March 2019, after an earlier US release.

The Vigil

The Vigil is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Keith Thomas in his feature directorial debut. It stars Dave Davis, Menashe Lustig, Malky Goldman, Fred Melamed, Nati Rabinowitz and Lynn Cohen, and follows a young man who is tasked with keeping vigil over a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community, only to be targeted by a malevolent spirit known as a Mazzik (Hebrew found in the Talmud: מזיקין). The film is executive produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner.
The Vigil premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019. The film received a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand in July 2020, before being released internationally on August 5, 2020. It was released in the United States on February 26, 2021, by IFC Midnight.

The Wailing

The Wailing (Korean: 곡성; Hanja: 哭聲; RR: Gokseong) is a 2016 South Korean horror film directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee. The film centers on a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illnesses in a remote Korean village called Gokseong in order to save his daughter. The film was both a commercial and critical success.

The Wicker Man

The Wicker Man is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual, centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of Summerisle in search of a missing girl. Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the inhabitants of the island have abandoned Christianity and now practice a form of Celtic paganism. Paul Giovanni composed the film score.The Wicker Man is well-regarded by critics. Film magazine Cinefantastique described it as “The Citizen Kane of horror movies”, and in 2004, Total Film magazine named The Wicker Man the sixth greatest British film of all time. It also won the 1978 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, the burning Wicker Man scene was No. 45 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments, and during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony the film was included as part of a sequence that celebrated British cinema. In 2013, a copy of the original U.S. theatrical version was digitally restored and released.
In 1989, Shaffer wrote a script treatment for The Loathsome Lambton Worm, a direct sequel with fantasy elements. Hardy had no interest in the project, and it was never produced. In 2006, an ill-received American remake was released, from which Hardy and others involved with the original have dissociated themselves. In 2011, a spiritual sequel directed by Hardy entitled The Wicker Tree, was released and featured Lee in a cameo appearance.

The Witch

The Witch (stylized as The VVitch, and subtitled A New England Folktale) is a 2015 period supernatural horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy (in her first film appearance), Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, and Lucas Dawson. Set in the 1630s, The Witch follows a Puritan family who encounter forces of evil in the woods beyond their New England farm.An international co-production of the United States and Canada, The Witch premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2015, and was widely released by A24 on February 19, 2016. The film received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $40 million against a budget of $4 million.

The Witches

Roald Dahl’s The Witches, or simply The Witches, is a 2020 fantasy-comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris, and Guillermo del Toro. It is based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl and is the second feature-length adaptation of the novel, after the 1990 film of the same name directed by Nicolas Roeg. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, and Stanley Tucci, and is narrated by Chris Rock.
The Witches was released on HBO Max in the United States on October 22, 2020, also having a traditional theatrical release in some markets a week later. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized its writing and tone, and deemed it inferior to Roeg’s film.

The Witches of Eastwick

The Witches of Eastwick is a 1987 American dark fantasy-comedy film directed by George Miller and starring Jack Nicholson as Daryl Van Horne, alongside Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon as the titular witches. The film is based on John Updike’s 1984 novel of the same name.

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The Wolfman

The Wolfman is a 2010 American horror film directed by Joe Johnston. A remake of the 1941 film of the same name, it stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. In the film, an American actor is bitten and cursed by a werewolf after returning to his ancestral homeland in search of his missing brother.
Mark Romanek was originally attached to direct the film but left weeks before filming due to creative differences and budgetary issues. Johnston was hired four weeks before principal photography, under the impression he could shoot the film in 80 days as Universal intended. However, re-shoots extended production, inflated the budget, and delayed the film’s release several times. The film underwent numerous alternative versions during post-production. Danny Elfman was briefly replaced by Paul Haslinger as the film’s composer, however, the studio reverted to Elfman’s previously completed score a month before the film’s release after finding Haslinger’s electronic-based score unsuitable.
The Wolfman was theatrically released on February 12, 2010 to negative reviews. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $142.6 million against a production budget of $150 million. Despite the film’s failure, Rick Baker and make-up effects supervisor Dave Elsey won the Academy Award for Best Makeup at the 83rd Academy Awards for their work.

Theatre of Blood

Theatre of Blood (known in the U.S. as Theater of Blood) is a 1973 British horror comedy film directed by Douglas Hickox, and starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina. The cast also includes Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Diana Dors, Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Joan Hickson, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, Milo O’Shea, Dennis Price and Eric Sykes.

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Things Heard & Seen

Things Heard & Seen is a 2021 American Suburban Gothic Horror film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, based on the novel All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage. It stars Amanda Seyfried and James Norton. It was released on April 29, 2021, by Netflix, and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
A number of landscape paintings from the Hudson River School feature prominently throughout the film.

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Thirst

Thirst (Korean: 박쥐; Bakjwi; literally “bat”) is a 2009 South Korean horror film produced, written and directed by Park Chan-wook. It is loosely based on the 1867 novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. The film tells the story of a Catholic priest—who is in love with his friend’s wife—turning into a vampire through a failed medical experiment. Park has stated, “This film was originally called ‘The Bat’ to convey a sense of horror. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Three... Extremes

Three… Extremes (Chinese: 三更2; pinyin: Sāngēng 2; Korean: 쓰리, 몬스터; RR: Sseuli, Monseuteo; Japanese: 美しい夜、残酷な朝; Utsukushī Yoru, Zankokuna Asa) is a 2004 anthology horror film consisting of three individual segments from different East Asian countries, following the concept of its predecessor, Three (2002).
Its three segments, Dumplings, Cut, and Box, were directed by Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, South Korean director Park Chan-wook, and Japanese director Takashi Miike, respectively. Dumplings was released as a theatrical feature film the same year, and was cut down to a shorter length for its inclusion in Three… Extremes.

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Tigers Are Not Afraid

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Spanish: Vuelven, lit. ’They Return’) is a 2017 Mexican crime-fantasy horror film, with elements of magical realism, written and directed by Issa López. The film is produced by Marco Polo Constandse, under the banner of Filmadora Nacional, and Peligrosa. The film stars Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Ianis Guerrero, Rodrigo Cortes, Hanssel Casillas, Nery Arredondo, and Tenoch Huerta.

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Till Death

Till Death is a 2021 American horror thriller action film directed by S.K. Dale in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Jason Carvey. It stars Megan Fox, Callan Mulvey, Eoin Macken, Aml Ameen, and Jack Roth.
Till Death was released in the United States by Screen Media Films in a limited amount of theaters on July 2, 2021, and was simultaneously released on video on demand. The film received generally favorable reviews, with highlights to Megan Fox’s performance and S.K. Dale’s direction.

Train to Busan

Train to Busan (Korean: 부산행; Hanja: 釜山行; RR: Busanhaeng; lit. To Busan) is a 2016 South Korean action horror film directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee and Kim Eui-sung. The film mostly takes place on a high-speed train from Seoul to Busan as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and threatens the safety of the passengers.
The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May. On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record of over 10 million theatergoers. The film serves as a reunion for Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, who both starred in the 2011 film The Crucible. A standalone sequel, Peninsula, was released in South Korea on July 15, 2020.

Tremors

Tremors is a 1990 American western-themed monster horror comedy film directed by Ron Underwood, produced by Brent Maddock, and S. S. Wilson, and written by Maddock, Wilson, and Underwood. Tremors was released by Universal Pictures and stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire.
In the film, tired of their dull lives in the small desert town of Perfection, Nevada, repairmen Val McKee (Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Ward) try to skip town. However, they happen upon a series of mysterious deaths and a concerned seismologist Rhonda (Carter) studying unnatural readings below the ground. With the help of eccentric survivalist couple Burt and Heather Gummer (Gross and McEntire), the group fights for survival against giant, wormlike monsters hungry for human flesh.
The film is the first installment of the Tremors franchise and was followed by five direct-to-video sequels and one prequel: Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004), Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015), Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018), and Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020). A television series titled Tremors: The Series aired from March through August 2003. A second television series was set to air in 2018 after a pilot had been shot with Bacon reprising his role for the first time since the original film, but multiple networks including Syfy passed on the series.

Trick 'r Treat

Trick ‘r Treat is a 2007 American anthology horror comedy film written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer. The film stars Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. It relates four Halloween horror stories with a common element in them, Sam; a mysterious child trick-or-treater wearing shabby orange footie pajamas with a burlap sack over his head. The character makes an appearance in each of the stories whenever one of the other characters breaks a Halloween tradition.
Despite being delayed for two years and having only a limited amount of screenings at film festivals, the film received much critical acclaim and has since garnered a strong cult following. In October 2013, the filmmakers announced that a sequel, Trick ‘r Treat 2, is in the works. In 2016, Michael Dougherty and Legendary Pictures teamed up with AtmosFX to create a series of digital Halloween decorations that feature Sam. In 2017, a Trick ‘r Treat themed “scare zone” was added to Halloween Horror Nights, an annual event held at the Universal Orlando Resort, followed by a haunted house in 2018.

Trouble Every Day

Trouble Every Day is a 2001 French erotic horror film directed by Claire Denis and written by Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau. It stars Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle, Alex Descas and Marilu Marini. The film’s soundtrack is provided by Tindersticks.
Alice Houri, who starred in Denis’ previous film Nénette et Boni, has a small cameo as a girl on a metro who watches Shane.

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Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is a 2010 comedy horror film directed by Eli Craig, written by Craig and Morgan Jurgenson, and starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, and Chelan Simmons. Labine and Tudyk play a pair of well-meaning hillbillies who are mistaken for killers by a group of clueless college students.
The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited release in the United States.

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Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by David Lynch and written by Lynch and Robert Engels. It serves as a prequel to the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991), created by Mark Frost and Lynch, who were also executive producers. The film revolves around the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) and the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a popular high school student in the fictional Washington town of Twin Peaks. It has a much darker and less humorous tone than the series.Most of the television cast reprised their roles for the film, though the majority of their scenes were cut and restored in Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces. A few notable cast members including Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, and Richard Beymer did not reprise their roles for various reasons. Boyle’s character Donna Hayward was instead recast with Moira Kelly. Kyle MacLachlan, who starred as Special Agent Dale Cooper in the series, was reluctant to return out of fear of being typecast, which resulted in a smaller presence in the film than originally planned.
Fire Walk with Me polarized critics in the United States upon its release but has received more positive appreciation in subsequent years, with some critics viewing it as one of Lynch’s major works. Although it has long been reported that Fire Walk with Me was greeted with booing and jeers from the audience at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d’Or, co-writer Robert Engels denies that this event ever happened. The film was a box office failure in the United States, although it fared much better in Japan. The film’s two planned sequels were cancelled, but several hours worth of deleted scenes were released in 2014 through the compilation Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces and the story’s narrative continued through the 2017 miniseries Twin Peaks: The Return.

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Under the Shadow

Under the Shadow (Persian: زیر سایه‎‎, romanized: Zeer-e sāye) is a 2016 Persian-language psychological horror film written and directed by Iranian-born Babak Anvari as his directorial debut. A mother and daughter are haunted by a mysterious evil in 1980s Tehran, during the War of the Cities. The film stars Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, and Arash Marandi.
Produced by British film company Wigwam Films, the film is an international co-production between Qatar, Jordan, and the United Kingdom. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and has been acquired by US streaming service Netflix. The film received critical acclaim. It was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

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They Look Like People

They Look Like People is a 2015 independent psychological horror film shot, edited, written, produced and directed by Perry Blackshear. It was his feature film directorial debut. It premiered on January 25, 2015 at the Slamdance Film Festival, where it won a special jury award. It stars MacLeod Andrews as a man who believes humanity is being secretly taken over by evil creatures.

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Under the Skin

Under the Skin is a 2013 science fiction film directed by Jonathan Glazer and written by Glazer and Walter Campbell, loosely based on the 2000 novel by Michel Faber. It stars Scarlett Johansson as an otherworldly woman who preys on men in Scotland. The film premiered at Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2013. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 2014, North America on 4 April 2014, Switzerland on 23 July 2014, and worldwide on 10 August 2014.
Glazer developed Under the Skin for over a decade; he and co-screenwriter Walter Campbell pared it back from an elaborate, special effects-heavy concept to a sparse story focusing on an alien perspective of the human world. Most of the cast was chosen from applicants without previous acting experience, and many scenes were filmed with hidden cameras.
Under the Skin received acclaim for Johansson’s performance, Glazer’s direction, and Mica Levi’s score. It received numerous accolades and awards; it was named the best film of the year by various critics and publications, was included in many best-of-the-decade lists, and was ranked 61st on the BBC’s 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century list. Nevertheless, it was a box-office failure, grossing around $7 million on a budget of $13.3 million.

Us

Us is a 2019 American horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele, starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. The film follows Adelaide Wilson (Nyong’o) and her family, who are attacked by a group of menacing doppelgängers.
The project was announced in February 2018, and much of the cast joined in the following months. Peele produced the film alongside Jason Blum and Sean McKittrick (the trio previously having collaborated on Get Out and BlacKkKlansman), as well as Ian Cooper. Filming took place from July to October 2018 in California, mostly in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Santa Cruz.
Us had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 8, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 22, 2019, by Universal Pictures. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $255 million worldwide against a budget of $20 million, and received praise for Peele’s screenplay and direction, as well as the musical score and Nyong’o’s performance.

Vampyr

Vampyr (German: Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Gray, lit. ’Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray’) is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 collection of supernatural stories In a Glass Darkly. Vampyr was funded by Nicolas de Gunzburg who starred in the film under the name of Julian West among a mostly non-professional cast. Gunzburg plays the role of Allan Gray, a student of the occult who enters the village of Courtempierre, which is under the curse of a vampire.
Vampyr was challenging for Dreyer to make as it was his first sound film and was required to be recorded in three languages. To overcome this, very little dialogue was used in the film and much of the story is told with title cards like a silent film. The film was shot entirely on location and to enhance the atmospheric content, Dreyer opted for a washed out, soft focus photographic technique. The soundtrack was created in Berlin where the characters’ voices, sound effects, and score were recorded.
Vampyr had a delayed release in Germany and opened to a generally negative reception from audiences and critics. Dreyer edited the film after its German premiere and it opened to more mixed opinions at its French debut. The film was long considered a low point in Dreyer’s career, but modern critical reception to the film has become much more favorable with critics praising the film’s disorienting visual effects and atmosphere.

VFW

VFW is a 2019 American action thriller film directed by Joe Begos and starring Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove and Fred Williamson. The film premiered at the 2019 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and released to theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on February 14, 2020.

Videodrome

Videodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF television station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal featuring violence and torture. The layers of deception and mind-control conspiracy unfold as he uncovers the signal’s source, and loses touch with reality in a series of increasingly bizarre hallucinations.
Distributed by Universal Pictures, Videodrome was the first film by Cronenberg to gain backing from any major Hollywood studio. With the highest budget of any of his films to date, the film was a box-office bomb, recouping only $2.1 million from a $5.9 million budget. The film received praise for the special makeup effects, Cronenberg’s direction, Woods and Harry’s performances, its “techno-surrealist” aesthetic, and its cryptic, psychosexual themes. Cronenberg won the Best Direction award and was nominated for seven other awards at the 5th Genie Awards.Now considered a cult classic, the film has been cited as one of Cronenberg’s best, and a key example of the body horror and science fiction horror genres.

Village of the Damned

Village of the Damned is a 1995 American science fiction-horror film directed by John Carpenter and starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré, Mark Hamill, and Meredith Salenger. It is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name which in turn was based on the 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. The 1995 remake is set in Northern California, whereas the book and original film are both set in the United Kingdom. The 1995 film was marketed with the tagline, “Beware the Children”.
This was the last publicly released film starring Reeve before he was paralyzed in an equestrian accident in May 1995, as well as his last theatrically released film.

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Wait Until Dark

Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer, from a screenplay by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play of the same name by Frederick Knott. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1967, and Zimbalist was nominated for a Golden Globe in the supporting category. The film is ranked #55 on AFI’s 2001 100 Years…100 Thrills list, and its climax is ranked tenth on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

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We Are Still Here

We Are Still Here is a 2015 American horror film written and directed by Ted Geoghegan and starring Andrew Sensenig and Barbara Crampton as grieving parents who find themselves the focus of an attack by vengeful spirits. The film had its world premiere on 15 March 2015 at South by Southwest.

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We Are What We Are

We Are What We Are is a 2013 American horror film directed by Jim Mickle and starring Bill Sage, Julia Garner, Ambyr Childers, and Kelly McGillis. It was screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It is a remake of the 2010 Mexican film of the same name. Both a sequel and prequel have been announced.

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We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a 2011 psychological horror drama film directed by Lynne Ramsay. The screenplay, written by Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear, was based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver. A long process of development and financing began in 2005, with filming commencing in April 2010.
Tilda Swinton stars as the mother of Kevin, struggling to come to terms with her son and the horrors he has committed. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was released in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2011.
Swinton was nominated for the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

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Werckmeister Harmonies

Werckmeister Harmonies (pronounced [verkˈmaɪ̯stɐ]; Hungarian: Werckmeister harmóniák) is a 2000 Hungarian drama mystery film directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, based on the 1989 novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai. Shot in black-and-white and composed of thirty-nine languidly paced shots, the film shows János and his uncle György during the communist Hungarian era. It also shows their journey among helpless citizens as a dark circus comes to town casting an eclipse over their lives.
The title refers to the baroque musical theorist Andreas Werckmeister. György Eszter, a major character in the film, gives a monologue propounding a theory that Werckmeister’s harmonic principles are responsible for aesthetic and philosophical problems in all music since, and need to be undone by a new theory of tuning and harmony.
Werckmeister Harmonies opened to wide acclaim from film critics, and is often listed among the major cinematic works of the 21st century.

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Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (also known as A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: New Nightmare or simply New Nightmare) is a 1994 American meta slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, the creator of 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. A standalone film and the seventh installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, it is not part of the same continuity as previous films, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world, and haunts the cast and crew involved in the making of the films about him. In the film, Freddy is depicted as closer to what Craven originally intended, being much more menacing and much less comical, with an updated attire and appearance.
The film features various people involved in the motion picture industry playing themselves, including actress Heather Langenkamp, who is compelled by events in the narrative to reprise her role as Nancy Thompson. New Nightmare features several homages to the original film such as quotes and recreations of the most famous scenes. The film won an International Fantasy Film Award from Fantasporto for Best Screenplay by Craven.
New Nightmare was released on October 14, 1994, grossing $19.8 million at the box office on a budget of $8 million, making it the poorest-performing film in the Nightmare series. However, it received positive reviews from film critics, which led to a continuation of the franchise in 2003, Freddy vs. Jason, which was a crossover with the Friday the 13th franchise, and is set in the same continuity as the other Nightmare films.

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What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the What We Do in the Shadows franchise. The film also stars Clement and Waititi, along with Jonathan Brugh, Ben Fransham, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, and Jackie van Beek. The film’s plot concerns several vampires who live together in a flat in Wellington. What We Do in the Shadows premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. It was released theatrically on 18 August 2014 by Madman Entertainment, and received critical acclaim. The film earned $6.9 million on a $1.6 million budget.

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When a stranger calls

When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Simon West and written by Jake Wade Wall. The film stars Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy, and Clark Gregg. Belle plays a babysitter who starts to receive threatening phone calls from an unidentified stranger, played by both Tommy Flanagan and Lance Henriksen. The film is a remake of Fred Walton’s 1979 horror film of the same name, which became a cult classic for its opening 20 minutes, which this remake extends to a feature-length film.
The film was theatrically released on February 3, 2006. It was universally panned by critics but was a moderate box office success, grossing $67 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.

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Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek is a 2005 Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean and starring John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi. Its plot concerns three backpackers who find themselves taken captive and subsequently hunted by Mick Taylor, a sadistic, psychopathic, xenophobic serial killer, in the Australian outback. The film was ambiguously marketed as being “based on true events”, while its plot bore elements reminiscent of the real-life murders of backpackers by Ivan Milat in the 1990s and Bradley Murdoch in 2001, both of which McLean used as inspiration for the screenplay.
Produced on a $1.1 million budget, filming of Wolf Creek took place in South Australia; the film was shot almost exclusively on high-definition video. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. It was given a theatrical release in Ireland and the United Kingdom in September 2005, followed by a general Australian release in November, apart from the Northern Territory, out of respect for the pending trial surrounding the murder of Peter Falconio. In the United States and Canada, it was released on Christmas Day 2005, distributed by Dimension Films.
Wolf Creek received mixed reviews from film critics, with several, such as Roger Ebert and Manohla Dargis, criticising it for its realistic and unrelenting depictions of violence. Other publications, such as Variety and Time Out, praised the film’s grindhouse aesthetics, with the latter calling its straightforward depiction of crime and violence “taboo-breaking”. The film was nominated for seven Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Director (for McLean). In 2010, it was included in Slant Magazine’s list of the 100 best films of the decade.

Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn is an American horror film series created by Alan B. McElroy. The series consists of seven films, six sharing the same continuity and one reboot. The first six films focus on various families of deformed cannibals who hunt and kill people in West Virginia in horrific ways by using a mixture of traps and weaponry. The reboot features a centuries-old cult in Virginia who respond violently to outsiders who intrude on their self-sufficient civilization.

You're Next

You’re Next is a 2011 American slasher film directed and edited by Adam Wingard, written by Simon Barrett and starring Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, A. J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton and Rob Moran. The plot concerns an estranged family under attack by a group of masked assailants during a family reunion.
The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness program and was theatrically released on August 23, 2013, in the United States. The film grossed over $26 million from a $1 million production budget and has since gained a cult following.

Zombi 2

Zombi 2 is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), which was released in Italy with the title Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. Frizzi’s score has been released independently of the film, and he has performed it live on tour.
The film tells the story of a Caribbean island cursed by voodoo whose dead residents rise as zombies to attack the living. A scientist’s daughter journeys to the island after her father’s boat turns up abandoned in New York City. Intended by its writer as a return to “classic zombie tales”, Zombi 2 was filmed in Italy, with further location shooting in New York and Santo Domingo.
Produced on a small budget of 410 million Italian lira, the film earned several times its production costs back in international gross. It attracted controversy upon its release in the United Kingdom, where it became listed as a “video nasty”. However, in the subsequent years the film received a greater appreciation from critics, and has gained a cult following.

Zombieland

Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer in his theatrical debut and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film follows a geeky college student (Jesse Eisenberg) making his way through a post-apocalyptic zombie apocalypse, meeting three strangers (Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) along the way and together taking an extended road trip across the Southwestern United States in an attempt to find a sanctuary free from zombies.
The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2009, and was theatrically released on October 2, 2009, in the United States by Columbia Pictures. Zombieland was a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $60.8 million in 17 days and surpassing the 2004 film Dawn of the Dead as the top-grossing zombie film in the U.S. until World War Z in 2013. A sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, was released in 2019.

Braindead

Braindead (also known as Dead Alive in North America) is a 1992 New Zealand zombie comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, produced by Jim Booth, and written by Jackson, along with Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair. It stars Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody and Ian Watkin. The plot follows Lionel, a young man living in Wellington with his strict mother Vera. After Lionel becomes romantically involved with a girl named Paquita, Vera is bitten by a hybrid rat-monkey creature and begins to transform into a zombie, while also infecting the other townsfolk.
Made on a budget of $3 million, Braindead was Jackson’s most expensive film up to that point. Although it received positive reviews from critics, it was a box office bomb. It has since received a cult following, and is now widely regarded as one of the goriest films of all time.

Hour of the Wolf

Hour of the Wolf (Swedish: Vargtimmen, lit. ’The Wolf Hour’) is a 1968 Swedish psychological horror film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The story explores the disappearance of fictional painter Johan Borg (von Sydow), who lived on an island with his wife Alma (Ullmann) while plagued with frightening visions and insomnia.
Bergman originally conceived much of the story as part of an unproduced screenplay, The Cannibals, which he abandoned to make the 1966 film Persona. He took inspiration from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1791 opera The Magic Flute and E. T. A. Hoffmann’s 1814 novella The Golden Pot, as well as some of his own nightmares. Principal photography took place at Hovs Hallar, Stockholm and Fårö.
Themes include insanity, particularly as experienced by an artist, sexuality, and relationships, conveyed in a surreal style and with elements of folklore. Analysts have found allusions to vampire and werewolf legend. Authors have also connected the work to Bergman’s life and his relationship with Ullmann; Bergman said he was experiencing his own “hour of the wolf” when he conceived the story.
The film was initially met with negative reviews in Sweden. In later years Hour of the Wolf received generally positive reviews and was ranked one of the 50 greatest films ever made in a 2012 directors’ poll by the British Film Institute. The film was followed by Bergman’s thematically related films Shame (1968) and The Passion of Anna (1969). Ullmann won awards in 1968 for her performances in both Hour of the Wolf and Shame.

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Kill, Baby, Kill

Kill, Baby, Kill (Italian: Operazione paura, lit. ’Operation Fear’) is a 1966 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava and starring Giacomo Rossi Stuart and Erika Blanc. Written by Bava, Romano Migliorini, and Roberto Natale, the film focuses on a small village in the early 1900s that is being terrorized by the ghost of a murderous young girl.
Overseen by one-time producers Nando Pisani and Luciano Catenacci of F.U.L. Films, Kill, Baby, Kill was considered to be a small-scale project compared to Bava’s earlier films, as its was made without internationally-recognized stars or the support of a major distributor. Although a complete script was written by Migliorini and Natale prior to the start of production, Bava claimed that much of the film was improvised. Shot partially on location in Calcata, Faleria and at the Villa Lancellotti in 1965, the film underwent a troubled production due to F.U.L. Films running out of money during principal photography, prompting the cast and crew to finish the film in the knowledge that they would not be paid for their work. In post-production, the score had to be compiled from stock music created for earlier film productions.
Although the film’s commercial performance during its initial Italian theatrical release was limited, its domestic run outgrossed those of Bava’s previous horror films; abroad, it garnered positive notices from Variety and the Monthly Film Bulletin. With the re-evaluation of Bava’s filmography, Kill, Baby, Kill has been acclaimed by filmmakers and critics as one of the director’s finest achievements; it was placed at number 56 on a Time Out poll of the best horror films.

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Night of the Demon

Night of the Demon (a.k.a. Curse of the Demon) is a 1957 British horror film, produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis, directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis. It is adapted from the M. R. James story “Casting the Runes” (1911).
The film’s storyline concerns an American psychologist who travels to England to investigate a satanic cult suspected in more than one death.
The production was turbulent due to artistic differences that arose between producer Hal E. Chester on one side and director Tourneur and writer Charles Bennett on the other. The original plan was not to show the demon on screen, but Chester inserted a special effects creature over the objections of the writer, the director and lead actor Dana Andrews. To accelerate the pace, the 95-minute British feature was trimmed down to 83 minutes and retitled Curse of the Demon for the US market, playing there in June 1958 as the second half of a double feature with either The True Story of Lynn Stuart or The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), depending on the local film market.

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Switchblade Romance

High Tension (French: Haute Tension, French pronunciation: [ot tɑ̃sjɔ̃]; released in the United Kingdom as Switchblade Romance) is a 2003 French slasher film directed by Alexandre Aja, co-written with Grégory Levasseur, and starring Cécile de France, Maïwenn, and Philippe Nahon. Its plot follows two female students who arrive at a secluded farmhouse to study, where they are shortly invaded by a serial killer.
Associated with the New French Extremity movement, High Tension was picked up by Lions Gate Entertainment following a successful screening at the Midnight Madness section of the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was re-dubbed in English and re-edited to secure an R rating. Lions Gate then spent $14 million to open the film in wide release in the United States, where it eventually only grossed $3.6 million; Lions Gate later released the original cut on Blu-ray and DVD.
All of the effects were created by Italian horror make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi, a favorite of late director Lucio Fulci.

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The Devils

The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama film written and directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. The film is a dramatised historical account of the fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft after the possessions in Loudun, France; it also focuses on Sister Jeanne des Anges, a sexually repressed nun who incites the accusations.
A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, The Devils was partly adapted from the 1952 non-fiction book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, and the 1960 play The Devils by John Whiting, also based on Huxley’s book. United Artists originally pitched the idea to Russell but abandoned the project after reading his finished screenplay, as they felt it was too controversial in nature. Warner Bros. subsequently agreed to produce and distribute the film. The filming mostly took place at Pinewood Studios in late 1970.
The film graphically portrayed violence, sexuality and religion. This caused it to face harsh reaction from censors, and it originally received an X rating in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It was banned in several countries, and heavily edited for release in others. In most countries the film has never been released in its original, uncut form. Critics also dismissed the film for its explicit content, though it won the awards for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, as well as from the U.S. National Board of Review.
Film scholarship on The Devils has largely focused on its themes of sexual repression and abuse of power. It has been recognized as one of the most controversial films of all time by numerous publications and film critics. The film remained banned in Finland until 2001.

The Old Dark House

The Old Dark House is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy horror film directed by James Whale. Based on the 1927 novel Benighted by J.B. Priestley, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Stuart, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Raymond Massey and Eva Moore. Set in interwar Wales, the film follows five travellers who seek shelter from a violent storm in the decaying country house home of the eccentric Femm family.
The adaptation rights to Priestley’s novel, a social commentary on contemporary British class structures, were acquired by Universal Pictures at Whale’s insistence following the completion of Frankenstein (1931) and during development on The Invisible Man (1933). The screenplay was written by Benn W. Levy, who had previously scripted Waterloo Bridge (1931) for Whale and Universal, with uncredited contributions by The Invisible Man’s R. C. Sheriff, and serves as a largely faithful adaptation of the story. Whale was entrusted with selecting the film’s largely British cast, several of whose members were theatre colleagues of his with minimal film experience, and would appear in several of his later films.The Old Dark House failed to match the contemporary critical and commercial success of Whale’s other films, and was withdrawn from circulation after Universal lost the rights to Priestley’s novel, which was adapted for film again in 1963 by William Castle for Columbia Pictures and Hammer Film Productions. Initially deemed a lost film, Whale’s colleague Curtis Harrington eventually succeeded in recovering most of its original elements, which were restored by the George Eastman House. With the re-evaluation of Whale’s filmography, The Old Dark House has garnered widespread critical acclaim, and is recognized as both a cult classic and one of the director’s most significant works. It was placed at number 71 on a Time Out poll of the best horror films.

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The Unknown

Unknown is a 2011 action-thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. The film, produced by Joel Silver, Leonard Goldberg and Andrew Rona, is based on the 2003 French novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert published in English as Out of My Head which was adapted as the film’s screenplay by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell. The narrative centers around a professor who wakes up from a four-day long coma and sets out to prove his identity after no one recognizes him, including his own wife, and another man claims to be him.
Released on February 18, 2011, the film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $136 million against its $30 million budget.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk is a 2017 war film written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II through the perspectives of the land, sea, and air. Its ensemble cast includes Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy.

Haute Tension

Haute Tension (High Tension, also known as Switchblade Romance in the UK) is a 2003 French horror film directed by Alexandre Aja and staring Cécile.

Horror of dracula

Dracula is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel of the same title. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, the film also features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing, along with Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, and John Van Eyssen. In the United States, the film was retitled Horror of Dracula to avoid confusion with the U.S. original by Universal Pictures, 1931’s Dracula.
Production began at Bray Studios on 17 November 1957 with an investment of £81,000. As Count Dracula, Lee fixed the image of the fanged vampire in popular culture. Christopher Frayling writes, “Dracula introduced fangs, red contact lenses, décolletage, ready-prepared wooden stakes and – in the celebrated credits sequence – blood being spattered from off-screen over the Count’s coffin.” Lee also introduced a dark, brooding sexuality to the character, with Tim Stanley stating, “Lee’s sensuality was subversive in that it hinted that women might quite like having their neck chewed on by a stud”.In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw Dracula ranked the 65th best British film ever. Empire magazine ranked Lee’s portrayal as Count Dracula the 7th Greatest Horror Movie Character of All Time.

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 American science-fiction horror film directed by Philip Kaufman and starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy. Released on December 22, 1978, it is a remake of the 1956 film of the same name, which is based on the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. The plot involves a San Francisco health inspector and his colleague who over the course of a few days discover that humans are being replaced by alien duplicates; each is a perfect copy of the person replaced, but devoid of human emotion.
Released in the United States over the Christmas weekend of 1978, Invasion of the Body Snatchers grossed nearly $25 million at the American box office. It initially received varied reviews from critics, though its critical reception has significantly improved in subsequent years, receiving a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and also being hailed as one of the greatest remakes ever, as well as one of the best science-fiction horror films of all time.

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It: Chapter Two

It: Chapter Two is a 2019 American supernatural horror film and a sequel/second half to the 2017 film It, both based on the 1986 novel by Stephen King. The film is directed by Andy Muschietti, returning from the first film, with a screenplay by Gary Dauberman. Set in 2016, 27 years after the events of the first film, it stars Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, and Bill Skarsgård, who returns as Pennywise. It is the second installment of the It film series and centers on the Losers Club reuniting from their various lives apart from each other to destroy It once and for all, though being apart means they have mostly forgotten the terror they endured together 27 years ago.
Talks for an It sequel began in February 2016. By September 2017, New Line Cinema announced that it would be released in September 2019, with Dauberman writing the script and Muschietti to direct. Principal photography began on June 19, 2018, at Pinewood Toronto Studios and on locations in and around Port Hope, Oshawa and Toronto, Ontario and wrapped on October 31, 2018. The film is produced by New Line Cinema, Double Dream, Vertigo Entertainment and Rideback, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
It Chapter Two premiered in Los Angeles on August 26, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 6, 2019, in 2D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $473 million worldwide.

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It: Chapter One

It, titled on-screen as It: Chapter One, is a 2017 American coming-of-age supernatural horror film based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel of the same name. The film was produced by New Line Cinema, KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures, and Vertigo Entertainment. It is the first film in the It film series as well as being the second adaptation following Tommy Lee Wallace’s 1990 miniseries. It tells the story of seven children in Derry, Maine who are terrorized by the eponymous being, only to face their own personal demons in the process. The film is also known as It: Part 1 – The Losers’ Club.Directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman, the film stars Jaeden Lieberher as Bill Denbrough, with Bill Skarsgård starring as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, respectively. Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, and Jackson Robert Scott are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography began in Toronto on June 27, 2016, and ended on September 21, 2016. The locations for It were in the Greater Toronto Area, including Port Hope, Oshawa, and Riverdale.
It premiered in Los Angeles on September 5, 2017, and was released in the United States on September 8, 2017, in 2D and IMAX. The film set numerous box office records and grossed over $701 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Unadjusted for inflation, it became the highest-grossing horror film of all time. It received positive reviews, with critics praising the performances, direction, cinematography and musical score, and many calling it one of the best Stephen King adaptations. It has received numerous awards and nominations, earning two Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association nominations, including Best Acting Ensemble. It was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie. The film won three Bogey Awards, for pulling in more than two million German admissions in 11 days. In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2017 by various critics, appearing on several critics’ end-of-year lists. The sequel, It Chapter Two, was released on September 6, 2019.

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The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 musical romantic drama film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1910 French novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux. Produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber and directed by Joel Schumacher, it stars Gerard Butler in the title role, with Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson, Miranda Richardson, Minnie Driver, and Jennifer Ellison in supporting roles.
The film was announced in 1989, although production did not start until 2002 due to Lloyd Webber’s divorce and Schumacher’s busy career. It was shot entirely at Pinewood Studios, with scenery created with miniatures and computer graphics. Rossum, Wilson and Driver had singing experience, but Butler had none and was provided with music lessons prior to filming. The Phantom of the Opera grossed $154.6 million worldwide, and received neutral reviews from critics, but was well-received by audiences. Critics praised the visuals and acting, particularly the performances of Butler and Rossum, but criticized the writing, directing and unnecessary deviations from the stage version.

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Dracula

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Best Hollywood Horror Movies Top Scary Movies of Hollywood Famous Hollywood Horror Films Most Horror Movies of Hollywood