Are you guys ready for darkening the lights and terrifying yourselves with amazing horror movies? Predicting the ranking of best scariest movies of all time would be a fun and freaky project. After an initial effort that put 20 movies, we bumped the number up to 10. Maybe someday there will be even more.
What is the scariest movie of all time?
2012’s Sinister with a spike of 131 beats per minute is rated as the scariest of all time.
Who is the Best Horror Director of the 21st Century?
James Wan. “Saw,” “Insidious,” “The Conjuring” are all the creation of James Wan.
Which production company makes the best horror movies?
Many production companies make horror movies. But some best horror movie production firms are:
- Platinum Dunes
- Blumhouse
- Lionsgate Films
- Vertigo Entertainment
- Twisted Pictures
Please don’t reside too much on these ratings,” though it’s forever fun to argue out the top ten on such a record like this. As always, the recommendation box is open if you think we suggested wrong or horrifically right.
Want even more films? Read our rating of the best horror movies till now.
10. IT (2017)
Release Date: | September 08, 2017 |
Director: | Andy Muschietti |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $327.5M |
Production Co: | Vertigo Entertainment, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Lin Pictures |
Rating: | R (Language|Bloody Images|Violence/Horror) |
The terror of clowns, even though it is too normal to declare that sounds so deceptive. If you need more evidence, we will take you to 2017 IT, based on Stephen King’s novel that took the Exorcist 44-year record as the best horror film ever. And naturally, on this ranking of 10th-place. This big-budget adaptation by Andy Muschietti was sentimental for the story of trauma-ridden children. In contrast, Bill Skarsgard took the sinister forming Clown from Pennywise that was also horrifying in all aspects.
9. INSIDIOUS (2010)
Release Date: | April 01, 2011 |
Director: | James Wan |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $54M |
Production Co: | Alliance, IM Global |
Rating: | PG-13 (Frightening Images|Brief Strong Language|Terror|Thematic Material|Violence) |
James Wan’s Insidious stood at number six on our list. The teenage boy who falls into a coma, and starts to harness an evil Spirit, collaborated on the supernatural thriller. Leigh Whannell, Wan Colleague’s regular contributor, infused the tale’s bones with convincing ample mythology that it produced three installations. The best recommended scary movie Insidious was supposed to be a correction of Saw’s absolute brutality, which pushed him to make something more spiritual, and the result was The Conjuring and one of the greatest slide fears ever.
8. SINISTER (2012)
Release Date: | October 12, 2012 |
Director: | Scott Derrickson |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $48.1M |
Production Co: | Blumhouse, Automatik |
Rating: | R (Some Terror|Disturbing Violent Images) |
Regisseur Scott Derrickson had already made several horror films, several of the cults when he entered MCU with Doctor Strange in 2016. One of them is this Sinister, a haunted tale of a real crime writer (Ethan Hawke), who moves his wife and children into a house where a family was murdered. They shifted there only to find that the new location had a bad vibe or not.
The director, C. Robert Cargill, was inspired to write the film based on a snack that he had seen during The Ring, and it shares a slight resemblance to that film. Those viewers who have seen it stated that the dramatic revelations outweighed many recycled horror stereotypes.
7. HALLOWEEN (1978)
Release Date: | October 25, 1978 |
Director: | John Carpenter |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $47.5M |
Production Co: | Falcon Films |
Rating: | R |
The film that brought Queen Jamie Lee Curtis to all-time shouting and put John Carpenter on the map stood at the seventh point on our ranking. Halloween is the first example of a slasher as we know it today. While Halloween does not have the same kind of realistic gore that we have expected of films under this genre, the bundle incorporates a lot of suspense and a little imaginative excitement. The legacy of this film is still very untouchable. Michael Myers’ mask has become the iconic material, the great, invincible assassin, and “the final girl” is entrenched in the horror lexicon.
6. THE RING (2002)
Release Date: | October 18, 2002 |
Director: | Gore Verbinski |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $128.6M |
Production Co: | DreamWorks SKG |
Rating: | PG-13 (Language|Disturbing Images|Some Drug References|Thematic Elements) |
It is still a risky step to take something that perfectly fits one society and attempt successfully to traduce the recipe for another, but in The Ring, Gore Verbinski succeeded. A rework of a cursed videotape by the Japanese director Hideo Nakata, Verbinski’s photo retained the striking visual— a teenage girl in white, long black hair hiding her face — and realized that she was terrified by the hell, regardless of where she was from. Although the film was not as highly appreciated as its precursor, it was admired by Naomi Watts’s performance. For many, it was an exposure to Eastern Asian horror movies.
5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
Release Date: | October 11, 1974 |
Director: | Tobe Hooper |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $30,859,000 |
Production Co: | Vortex |
Rating: | R |
Although the four top films collectively received 42% of the total votes, six films, all of which won about 3% of the total votes, were followed. In other words, not more than 60 votes divided these above six films. The first is a low-budget slasher co-written by Tobe Hooper, who is inspired very loosely by Ed Gein’s crimes. Texas Chainsaw’s gritty aesthetic has managed to give it an air of reality that makes it even more terrifying. Simultaneously, Gunnar Hansen’s Leatherface’s huge intimidating appearance opened the door for their brutes, such as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Multiple efforts have been made to breathe new life into the franchise and are listed as number fifth on our list.
4. THE SHINING (1980)
Release Date: | June 13, 1980 |
Director: | Stanley Kubrick |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $47M |
Production Co: | Producers Circle, Warner Brothers, Peregrine, Hawk Films |
Rating: | R |
Stephen King’s stories were translated to the widescreen. Many of those films are classical today, such as Carrie, Despair, and the Pet Sematary (which doesn’t qualify for non-horror stuff such as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me). But Stanley Kubrick’s modification to The Shining is the mother of all. The Shining provides much unforgettable imagery and an unforgettable appearance by Jack Nicholson, and it is a masterpiece of art and a profoundly unnerving twist on typical haunted house studies.
The scary scenes are comparatively few in leaping, but its true potency lies in such a way that it crawls under your skin and lets you feel the gradual fall of Jack Torrance into folly. That’s why It is one of the best horror movies ever made.
3. THE CONJURING (2013)
Release Date: | July 19, 2013 |
Director: | James Wan |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $137.4M |
Production Co: | Producers Circle, Warner Brothers, Peregrine, Hawk FilmsSafran Company, Evergreen Media GroupProducers Circle, Warner Brothers, Peregrine, Hawk Films |
Rating: | R (Disturbing Violence and Terror) |
James Wan has created a name for himself with the current masters of suspense films like Saw, Dead Silence, or Insidious. The Conjuring is influenced by real-life paranormal detectives such as Ed and Lorraine Warren. Patrick Wilson and Vera in the role of Warrens, most notable for their work on the odd case inspired by The Amityville Horror movies (which played a role in The Conjuring 2), which established the successful Leap Fears, and the moments of incredible freak-out world-weariness. Warren took over the evil that centers on the Perron family. The Warrens use both their skills and divine power to stop this evil and break the spectral threat from its root, threatening to ruin everything. Warren and his fellow leaders have created his new horror drama and eventually give rise to such an admirable movie.
2. HEREDITARY (2018)
Release Date: | June 07, 2018 |
Director: | Ari Aster |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $44.1M |
Production Co: | PalmStar Media |
Rating: | R (Disturbing Images|Brief Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Horror Violence|Language) |
Author-director Ari Aster had an immense influence as a film director, a bleak family drama about the essence of sadness lying in a supernatural tale. With his slow-racking-up success as the frail mother of Annie, Toni Collette won a place in the pantheon of great Oscar snubs; but the movie’s greatest shock came… Ok, here we’re not going to ruin it. This movie hit the audience so emotionally that Aster suddenly became a director to see and fire second in our list.
Annie (Toni Collette), her husband (Gabriel Byrne), son (Alex Wolff), and daughter (Milly Shapiro) are dealing with the demise of her mentally ill mother. The family was trying to live with their sadness, including the flirtation with Annie and her daughter. All of them start to have unsettling encounters from the rest of the world associated with their family generations’ dark secrets and traumatic suffering.
1. THE EXORCIST (1973)
Release Date: | December 26, 1973 |
Director: | William Friedkin |
Box Office (Gross USA): | $441.4M |
Production Co: | Warner Brothers, Hoya Productions |
Rating: | R |
You may not believe that The Exorcist is the scariest film ever, but it’s certainly not disappointing to see it at the top of our list – with 19% of all votes cast. The eponymous novel’s adaptation on a devil-possessed boy by William Friedkin and efforts to banish this demon has been the top R-rated horror film ever nominated for the Oscar Best Picture (it earned nine other nominations and grabbed home two trophies). Aside from its critical and economic bona fides, the film is famed for its mass hysteria.
The best horror movies documented here are a carefully selected blend of old and new horror. Of course, oblations had to be made, and we even apologized if your favorite scariest movie is not mentioned above. But it’s time to load up your favorite streaming service and embed some more horror movies in your knowledge or pick some favorites to rewatch. So, grab some tea and binge-watch your favorite!