The horror genre has gone through many phases, trends, and styles, and it wouldn’t be what it is today without some specific horror movies that redefined it. The horror genre is home to some of the best movies in film history as well as some of the most controversial ones due to the topics and themes addressed in them and how graphic horror movies can get. Movies from both of these sides have been key in shaping the horror genre, and their legacy has led them to become classics of not just the genre but film in general.
The horror genre has also mixed with other genres with incredible results, with the most frequent combinations being with sci-fi, comedy, and drama. Horror movies have also explored different narrative styles, of which some made such an impact that they kicked off entire subgenres, thus leaving an important mark on film history. Some of the most influential horror movies weren’t big hits when they were initially released, but their impact and influence have led them to become classics of the genre.
10 Alien (1979)
Directed by Ridley Scott.
Alien took horror and brought it to space, leading to it being widely regarded as the best sci-fi horror movie ever made. Alien’s successful blend of genres is attributed to how it’s a horror movie first and a sci-fi adventure in second place, and how it paid attention to the pacing, slowly building up tension and horror without being a slow-burner. Alien also stands out for its production design, creating the perfectly claustrophobic and isolated environment of the Nostromo, and its visual effects, with the Xenomorph being mostly the result of unbelievable practical effects, as well as the famous chestburster scene.
In addition to the characters being completely alone in space, left with no real help nor some deus ex machina moment, Alien had a woman as its lead and hero (or Final Girl), who wasn’t overly sexualized nor was she the damsel in distress, instead fighting to survive like any male character would have done back then.
9 Scream (1996)
Directed by Wes Craven.
The slasher genre was at its peak in the 1980s, but when the 1990s arrived, its popularity plummeted. In 1996, Wes Craven brought Scream, which successfully revived and redefined the slasher genre while also pointing out the flaws of the genre through its meta-commentary. Scream mixed horror and comedy without giving up jump scares and graphic deaths, and it was also the beginning of a trend of teen-led horror movies, as were I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend.
Scream’s ability to laugh at itself and the horror genre while also building the mystery of a masked killer and having some shocking deaths earned it a place in horror history as one of the best slasher movies ever made and the one that revitalized the genre during its decline in the 1990s.
8 Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Directed by George A. Romero.
The zombie genre is what it is nowadays thanks to George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Although Night of the Living Dead wasn’t the first zombie movie, it redefined the genre by bringing horror to ordinary settings, making it feel more real even if the source of terror was not the most realistic. Night of the Living Dead made way for the splatter genre (which is home to movies like Cannibal Holocaust and Terrifier) and brought a new type of zombies that weren’t linked to religious practices, making them a bigger threat as there was no one in control of them.
Surely, Night of the Living Dead’s visual and makeup effects look cheap nowadays and its camera angles aren’t exactly horror-inducing, but they made way for the more graphic and grotesque zombies that are now seen in movies and TV shows.
7 Halloween (1978)
Directed by John Carpenter.
John Carpenter’s Halloween was key in the development of the slasher genre in the 1980s. As such, Halloween established many of the tropes seen in slasher films since then, such as the Final Girl, characters who use alcohol and other substances and who are sexually promiscuous being killed, a theme song for the killer, absent parents, and scenes filmed from the killer’s perspective.
While Halloween wasn’t the first slasher film, as movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas came first, it began a new wave in the genre with new tropes that became a blueprint for subsequent slasher movies, such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
6 The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin.
The Exorcist arrived after the end of the Production Code (a.k.a. the Hays Code), which dictated what was acceptable and what wasn’t in movies, allowing it to explore religious themes that would have been forbidden not long before, but which were still controversial. However, The Exorcist did so with a visual and narrative quality not seen in horror before, through which it legitimized the genre, leading to well-known actors being cast in horror movies (as happened with Gregory Peck in The Omen) and bigger budgets being given to horror projects.
The Exorcist also pushed the boundaries of what could be shown on screen, terrorizing generations of viewers with its disturbing but fascinating visual effects that still hold up to this day, earning the title of one of the scariest horror movies ever made.
5 Nosferatu (1922)
Directed by F.W. Murnau.
Nosferatu is widely considered the first vampire movie (though it’s possible that the Hungarian silent movie Dracula’s Death came first), and it established various of the most popular characteristics associated with vampires in pop culture, such as vampires dying from exposure to sunlight. Nosferatu is a black-and-white silent film, so it doesn’t rely on many of the camera tricks used nowadays in vampire movies, yet it has a haunting atmosphere made even more unsettling by Max Schreck’s performance as Count Orlok.
4 The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez.
Although it isn’t the first found-footage horror movie, The Blair Witch Project is credited with launching this subgenre. While The Blair Witch Project’s found-footage style was key in its realism, the movie is most notable for how it was marketed. The Blair Witch Project was sold to the audience as a real story and the footage being real, along with the legend of the title witch. The Blair Witch Project also never showed the witch, but the tension, paranoia, and fear among its protagonists were enough to make the audience feel the same.
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3 Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Psycho is considered by some film historians to be the first slasher movie, and its influence can still be felt in the horror genre. Before Psycho, horror films mostly focused on monsters and other creatures, but Hitchcock brought a human villain who was more terrifying than any other monster. Psycho also shocked the audience by killing its main character in its first act, in the famous shower scene which was also highly influential in the slasher genre.
This scene is widely regarded as the most suspenseful scene ever filmed, and its impact was the result of the brilliant work of editor George Tomasini. The twist and shocking reveal at the end of Psycho also made way for gender-bending villain reveals in the horror genre, as later seen in movies like Sleepaway Camp and Terror Train.
2 Jaws (1975)
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Jaws left jumpscares aside and revealed who the threat to defeat was early on – but didn’t show it until later. This way, Spielberg built tension and kept the audience engaged as they waited for the shark to be revealed, with John Williams’ score serving as a cue for the character (the shark, that is), adding to the tension that was gradually built. In addition to all that, Jaws redefined the summer blockbuster, as it was a huge box-office success and held the spot of the highest-grossing film of all time for two years.
1 Le Manoir du diable (The House of the Devil) (1896)
Directed by Georges Méliès.
Without The House of the Devil, the history of the horror genre would be very different, as it’s considered the first horror movie. Despite the point of Méliès’ film being to evoke amusement and wonder rather than fear, the movie follows an encounter with the Devil, which is enough to consider it a horror movie. The House of the Devil is even considered the first vampire film by some historians as it depicts a character transforming into a bat, though this was the Devil. The House of the Devil was considered a lost film, but it’s now known that there’s one copy kept at the New Zealand Film Archive.
