Essential Horror Movies: Part One (101-150)
The first in a three-part list of essential horror movies, including links to trailers. Five new movies are revealed each day on Twitter via @Dave_Ferraro if you want to follow along, otherwise another fifty movies will drop here in ten days! Enjoy!
Jen is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend which is suddenly disrupted when his friends arrive for a hunting trip. Tension mounts in the house until brutal events leave Jen for dead.
101 - The Babadook (2014)
A widowed mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
Directed by Jennifer Kent
Written by Jennifer Kent
Starring Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman and Daniel Henshall
Genre: Psychological Horror
102 - I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
An aspiring writer is repeatedly gang-raped, humiliated, and left for dead by four men whom she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.
Directed by Meir Zarchi
Written by Meir Zarchi
Starring Camille Keaton, Eron Tabor and Richard Pace
Genre: Revenge, Home Invasion
103 - The Fly (1986)
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by Charles Edward Pogue and David Cronenberg (from the story by George Langelaan)
Starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz
Genre: Body Horror, Remake
104 - The Witch (2015)
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Directed by Robert Eggers
Written by Robert Eggers
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie
Genre: Witchcraft, Woods
105 - Evil Dead (2013)
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Directed by Fede Alvarez
Written by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues (from the movie by Sam Raimi)
Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez and Jessica Lucas
Genre: Remake, Hauntings, Possession, Demons, Gore
106 - The Unnamable (1988)
High school students check out a haunted house where in the 1800's an ugly monster called "The Unnamable" was trapped in a vault.
Directed by Jean-Paul Ouellette
Written by Jean-Paul Ouellette (from the story by H.P. Lovecraft)
Starring Charles Klausmeyer, Mark Kinsey Stephenson and Alexandra Durrell
Genre: Creatures
107 - The Innocents (1961)
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Directed by Jack Clayton
Written by William Archibald and Truman Capote (from the story by Henry James)
Starring Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and Megs Jenkins
Genre: Ghosts, Psychological Horror
108 - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Mrs. Voorhees is dead, and Camp Crystal Lake is shut down, but a camp next to the infamous place is stalked by an unknown assailant.
Directed by Steve Miner
Written by Ron Kurz and Victor Miller
Starring Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel and John Furey
Genre: Slasher, Sequel
109 - Cloverfield (2008)
A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
Directed by Matt Reeves
Written by Drew Goddard
Starring Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas and Lizzy Caplan
Genre: Handheld, Kaiju, Aliens
110 - 28 Days Later (2002)
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Alex Garland
Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris and Christopher Eccleston
Genre: Zombies, Plague
111 - Son of Frankenstein (1939)
One of the sons of Frankenstein finds his father's monster in a coma and revives him, only to find out he is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Written by Wyllis Cooper (from the novel by Mary Shelley)
Starring Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi
Genre: Frankenstein, Sequel
112 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.
Directed by Robert Wiene
Written by Carl Meyer and Hans Janowitz
Starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt and Friedrich Feher
Genre: Madmen, Hypnotism, Silent Film
113 - Green Room (2015)
A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier
Written by Jeremy Saulnier
Starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat and Patrick Stewart
Genre: Thriller, Gore
114 - Halloween (2007)
After being committed for 17 years, Michael Myers, now a grown man and still very dangerous, escapes from the mental institution and immediately returns to Haddonfield to find his baby sister, Laurie.
Directed by Rob Zombie
Written by Rob Zombie, John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell and Tyler Mane
Genre: Slasher, Remake
115 - Subspecies (1991)
The evil vampire villain Radu returns to his hometown Prejnar, after spending years in exile. Meanwhile two American schoolgirls team up with a local girl for work on Romanian culture. Radu becomes attracted to them but runs into trouble when his brother Stephan helps the girls.
Directed by Ted Nicolaou
Written by Jackson Barr, David Pabian and Charles Band
Starring Angus Scrimm, Anders Hove and Irina Movila
Genre: Vampires
116 - Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenage population. Except this time, they're out to get each other, too.
Directed by Ronny Yu
Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
Starring Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger and Kelly Rowland
Genre: Slasher, Nightmares, Demons, Horror Comedy, Sequel
117 - Baron Blood (1972)
A young man, visiting the castle of a murderous ancestor in Austria, accidentally brings his dead relative back to life - searching for new victims.
Directed by Mario Bava
Written by Willibald Eser and Mario Bava
Starring Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer and Massimo Girotti
Genre: Gothic, Witchcraft
118 - Freaks (1932)
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Willis Goldbeck and Leon Gordon (from the story by Clarence Aaron "Tod" Robbins)
Starring Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams and Olga Baclanova
Genre: Circus Freaks, Revenge
119 - Annhilation (2018)
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.
Directed by Alex Garland
Written by Alex Garland (from the novel by Jeff VanderMeer)
Starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Oscar Isaac
Genre: Creatures, Science Fiction
120 - Videodrome (1983)
When he acquires a different kind of show for his station, a sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a terrifying new reality.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg
Starring James Woods, Debbie Harry and Sonja Smits
Genre: Conspiracy Theories, Body Horror, Psychological Horror
121 - Crimson Peak (2015)
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins
Starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Hunnam
Genre: Ghosts, Hauntings, Gothic, Conspiracy Theories
122 - The Mummy (1932)
A living mummy stalks the beautiful woman he believes is the reincarnation of his lover.
Directed by Karl Freund
Written by John L. Balderston (from the story by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer)
Starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann and David Manners
Genre: Mummies
123 - The Orphanage (2007)
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Directed by J.A. Bayona
Written by Sergio G. Sanchez
Starring Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo and Roger Princep
Genre: Hauntings, Ghosts
124 - Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
The secret of Jason's evil is revealed. It is up to the last remaining descendant of the Voorhees family to stop Jason before he becomes immortal and unstoppable.
Directed by Adam Marcus
Written by Jay Huguely, Dean Lorey and Adam Marcus
Starring John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan and Kane Hodder
Genre: Slasher, Paranormal, Possession
125 - The Sixth Sense (1999)
A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette
Genre: Ghosts, Psychic, Paranormal
126 - Scanners (1981)
A scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg
Starring Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack and Patrick McGoohan
Genre: Gore, Psychics, Mad Scientist
127 - Night of the Hunter (1955)
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Directed by Charles Laughton
Written by James Agee (from the novel by Davis Grubb)
Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish
Genre: Madmen
128 - Splice (2009)
Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use.
Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Written by Vincenzo Natali, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor
Starring Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley and Delphine Chaneac
Genre: Creatures, Science Fiction
129 - A Quiet Place (2018)
In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.
Directed by John Krasinski
Written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and John Krasinski
Starring Emily Blunt, John Krasinki and Millicent Simmonds
Genre: Aliens, Post-Apocalyptic
130 - Don't Look Now (1973)
A married couple grieving the recent death of their young daughter are in Venice when they encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom is psychic and brings a warning from beyond.
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Written by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant (from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier)
Starring Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland and Hilary Mason
Genre: Serial Killers, Mystery, Psychics
131 - The Uninvited (1944)
A composer and his sister discover that the reason they are able to purchase a beautiful gothic seacoast mansion very cheaply is the house's unsavory past.
Directed by Lewis Allen
Written by Dobie Smith and Frank Partos (from the novel by Dorothy Macardle)
Starring Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey and Donald Crisp
Genre: Ghosts, Hauntings
132 - Cabin Fever (2002)
A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.
Directed by Eli Roth
Written by Eli Roth and Randy Pearlstein
Starring Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong and James DeBello
Genre: Body Horror, Gore, Plague
133 - The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Vampire hunter Van Helsing returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on beautiful young schoolteacher Marianne.
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Jimmy Sangster, Peter Bryan and Edward Percy
Starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Monlaur, Martita Hunt and David Peel
Genre: Vampires
134 - Re-Animator (1985)
A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue when an odd new student arrives on campus.
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Written by Dennis Paoli, William Norris and Stuart Gordon (from the story by H.P. Lovecraft)
Starring Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton
Genre: Horror Comedy, Mad Scientist, Gore, Zombies
135 - Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) (1922)
Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in modern Europe.
Directed by Benjamin Christensen
Written by Benjamin Christensen
Starring Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen and Clara Pontoppidan
Genre: Silent Film, Witchcraft, Witches
136 - The Others (2001)
A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.
Directed by Alejandro Amenabar
Written by Alejandro Amenabar
Starring Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston and Fionnula Flanagan
Genre: Ghosts, Hauntings
137 - Split (2016)
Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, James McAvoy, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula
Genre: Madmen, Abduction
138 - Revenge (2017)
Directed by Coralie Fargeat
Written by Coralie Fargeat
Starring Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Kevin Jansenns and Vincent Colombe
Genre: Revenge, Gore
139 - Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Written by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil and Sergi Lopez
Genre: Fairy Tales, Creatures
140 - Slither (2006)
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
Directed by James Gunn
Written by James Gunn
Starring Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks and Michael Rooker
Genre: Horror Comedy, Gore, Aliens, Plague, Zombies
141 - A Bay of Blood (1971)
The murder of a wealthy heiress by her husband triggers a series of brutal killings in the surrounding bay area.
Directed by Mario Bava
Written by Mario Bava, Guiseppe Zaccariello, Filippo Ottoni, Dardano Sacchetti and Franco Barberi
Starring Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli and Claudio Camaso
Genre: Slasher, Gore
142 - Zombi 2 (Zombie) (1979)
Strangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Elisa Briganti
Starring Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch and Richard Johnson
Genre: Zombies, Gore
143 - Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Angela Baker, a traumatized and very shy young girl, is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions gets their comeuppance.
Directed by Robert Hiltzik
Written by Robert Hiltzik
Starring Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten and Karen Fields
Genre: Slasher
144 - What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav are vampires who are finding that modern life has them struggling with the mundane - like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts.
Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Written by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Starring Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi and Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Genre: Horror Comedy, Vampires, Handheld
145 - The Night Walker (1964)
A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who supposedly was killed in a fire.
Directed by William Castle
Written by Robert Bloch
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor and Judi Meredith
Genre: Psychological Horror, Nightmares, Mystery
146 - Cat People (1942)
An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Written by DeWitt Bodeen
Starring: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith and Jane Randolph
Genre: Shape-shifters, Curses
147 - The Brood (1979)
A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, amidst a series of brutal murders.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Written by David Cronenberg
Starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar and Art Hindle
Genre: Creatures, Mystery, Body Horror
148 - Curse of Chucky (2013)
After her mother's mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to recent bloodshed and chaos.
Directed by Don Mancini
Written by Don Mancini
Starring Chantal Quesnelle, Fiona Dourif and Jordan Gavaris
Genre: Evil Dolls, Slasher, Sequel
149 - Shaun of the Dead (2004)
A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.
Directed by Edgar Wright
Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kate Ashfield
Genre: Horror Comedy, Zombies
150 - Drag Me to Hell (2009)
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi
Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long and Ruth Livier
Genre: Curses, Witchcraft, Horror Comedy, Paranormal
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