With Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey shocking fans of the classic children’s series, it reminds viewers of how many great properties have lapsed into the public domain over the years. Almost anyone can make Sherlock Holmes movies, with only a select number of books still under copyright protection. The best guideline is that anything published before 1923 is in the public domain. In 2024, the date moves up to 1928. However, while this is a way to see what old properties are now available to anyone to remake or retool, there are also newer movies that have slipped into the public domain for other reasons.
The world of horror movies is especially filled with a wealth of monumental chillers that are free of any copyright. From silent terrors such as Nosferatu to influential zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, some of the greatest horror classics are available to view free of charge. They are also there for anyone to remake or release using the titles, characters, and storylines of those originals. In the case of Night of the Living Dead, it was a failure to file for a new copyright. This is the same reason the Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life fell into the public domain in 1974 and remained there until a Supreme Court decision gave the studio the rights back.
14 Spider Baby Or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967)
- Stream on AMC+
In this day and age, films rarely have the ability to shock anymore. However, Spider Baby stands out as an old horror movie that is actually terrifying. The film concerns an affable caretaker who puts himself in charge of a group of adult siblings who go mad after the death of their parents. Essentially a passing of the torch, the film stars Lon Chaney Jr. in one of his last roles, and Sid Haig in one of his earliest. What makes the film chilling is how macabre and strange it is, especially for the 1960s. The performances are all top-notch, and the movie is packed with enough twists and turns to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat until the very end.
13 A Bucket Of Blood (1959)
- Stream on Paramount+
On his way to becoming the most prolific Hollywood director of all time, Roger Corman made his fair share of great horror movies. A Bucket of Blood is the story of a struggling artist who begins using dead bodies in his artwork which garners him increasing prestige in the art community. Though more tongue-in-cheek than terrifying, A Bucket of Blood is nevertheless an under-appreciated horror classic from a decade that was dominated by sci-fi. Making biting criticisms of the art world, as well as the 1950s beat culture, it is just as easy to laugh as it is to scream while watching Corman’s masterpiece.
12 The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)
- Stream On Prime Video
Despite the fact that it was a tentpole movie from Universal Studios, the original silent Phantom of the Opera nevertheless lapsed into the public domain. Even nearly a century after its release, it still stands as the best adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. The opera in Paris is inundated with mysterious happenings that all point back to the supposed Phantom who haunts the company’s star ingénue. Mostly remembered for its terrifying face reveal thanks to Lon Chaney’s ghoulish makeup, the film also has other cinematic merits to stand on. Made on an epic scale, the huge lavish sets allow for the action of the film to play out with an almost theatrical gravity.
11 The Hands Of Orlac (1924)
- Stream on Tubi
German auteur directed the Austrian horror film Hands of Orlac in 1924, a movie starring Conrad Veidt as a concert pianist who lost his hands in a railway accident. When his wife pleads with a renowned surgeon to help save his hands, the doctor transplants the hands of a recently executed murderer. In this terrifying silent-era horror movie, Orlac believes the hands bring the murderer’s tendencies into his mind. After he realizes he can’t play the piano anymore with the new hands, he ends up finding his own father dead and believes he has become a murderer without knowing it. While controversial upon its release, it has since become a classic of the German Expressionist silent film era.
10 Carnival Of Souls (1962)
- Stream on Prime Video
Horror has always pushed boundaries, and few films left as indelible a mark on cinema history as Carnival of Souls. After surviving a traumatic accident, a young woman is mysteriously drawn to a remote town where she is haunted by a ghostly carnival. In a time when horror movies were pretty straightforward, Carnival of Souls got decidedly ethereal with its story and execution. Packed with deeper themes about trauma and death, the movie is so much more than the run-of-the-mill chillers that haunted theaters and drive-ins at the time. Though the film itself is woefully under-seen, its impact on horror cinema is still felt to this day.
9 Der Golem (1920)
- Stream on Kanopy
While not mentioned as much as its contemporaries, Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Der Golem remains one of the seminal German Expressionist horror films of the silent era. Paul Wegener had previously directed a version of The Golem in 1915, but with Der Golem in 1920, he created a masterpiece of the era. What might hold the movie back somewhat in recognition is the old mythology that has since slipped into obscurity. Der Golem is a tale of the Jewish plight and follows a Rabbi named Loew who creates a Golem and brings it to life to save his people, only for it to turn on its creator. The movie was a massive success, selling out theaters for months in Germany and the United States.
8 Häxan (1922)
- Stream on HBO Max
Even though it was made as a mock documentary, Häxan is still an undeniably chilling piece of silent cinema. The film recounts fictional parts of European history, especially concerning the prevalence of witchcraft and devilry. While it very easily could have been dry and boring, the visuals of the film are what make it a horror classic. The many dramatic reenactments are filled with surreal visuals and utterly horrifying depictions of demons and devils. Though the film has been recut into several different versions, the original silent film will always be the most unsettling.
7 The Last Man On Earth (1964)
- Stream on Prime Video
Most horror movie fans know this story under the name I am Legend. However, the first attempt to adapt Richard Matheson’s horror tale to the big screen chose to rename the movie The Last Man on Earth. Dr. Robert Morgan living alone in a world where almost everyone has been turned into vampiric creatures, who Robert hunts and kills in the daylight. Unlike the later Will Smith movie, this one followed the book closer and revealed that the vampires were not mindless undead, but attempting to rebuild society while being hunted by people like Morgan. The Vincent Price movie went into the public domain in the 1980s.
6 House On Haunted Hill (1959)
- Stream On Prime Video
The crown jewel in director William Castle’s impressive resume of creepy classics, House on Haunted Hill is one of the most recognizable horror films of the ’50s. A group of five people attempts to stay the night at a spooky house with the chance to win a large sum of money from an eccentric millionaire. Filled with all of the hair-raising chills of a haunted house, the film is a masterclass in effective tension and fun. Vincent Price is his usual ghoulish self, and the movie alternates between humor and horror quite deftly. House on Haunted Hill is a short but thrilling ride through a host of recognizable horror movie tropes.
5 Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)
- Stream On Paramount+
Years before Rick Moranis starred in Little Shop of Horrors in 1986, a version arrived in 1960 from director Roger Corman about the plant cultivated through human blood. It was an extremely low-budget movie, made for only $28,000 using sets from another Corman horror movie, Bucket of Blood. The movie picked up a huge cult following over the years and gained even more fans when it started airing on television. It ended up going into the public domain, which allowed it to become an Off-Broadway Musical, the 1986 remake, and an eventual run on Broadway in 2003.
4 White Zombie (1932)
- Stream on Prime Video
Around the same time that actor Bela Lugosi made a splash in Dracula, he would once again turn heads in the unsung classic, White Zombie. The film follows a young man who goes to a witch doctor in order to sway his beloved away from her fiancé. White Zombie is an atmospheric feast for the senses and features some of the most beautiful scenic design of any film from the ’30s. Lugosi is magnetic as Legendre, and his hypnotic gaze was carried over from his time as the infamous Count. Though the movie is barely over an hour long, it packs a creepy punch that sticks with the viewer long afterward.
3 The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1920)
- Stream on Tubi
German Expressionism was a short-lived film movement between the World Wars, but it still remains one of the art form’s most adventurous periods and is most remembered because of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The film follows a hypnotist who uses an acolyte to commit a series of revenge murders. With its painted shadows and strange sets, Caligari is very much like a dream caught on film. The silence of the movie only adds to the creepiness factor, and few films have ever been able to match its originality. Cesare the somnambulist helped to inspire nearly every famous monster that followed, even if he isn’t often counted among their ranks.
2 Nosferatu (1922)
- Stream on The Roku Channel
Coming as one of the earliest adaptations of Dracula, Nosferatu is still remembered as a truly horrifying take on vampire lore. The mysterious and vampiric Count Orlock takes up residence in Germany where he begins tormenting the city. The most iconic piece of the film is the Count’s gruesome appearance, and despite being a century old, the film’s visuals are still mortifying. The movie experimented with dozens of new artistic techniques, and it is not only one of the scariest movies of its time, but it is also one of the most influential and forward-thinking as well.
1 Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
- Stream on Peacock
Horror history has many turning points, and the release of Night of the Living Dead was one of the biggest tectonic shifts of all, still regarded as one of the most influential zombie movies of all time. A group of disparate people takes shelter in a remote farmhouse when a legion of undead zombies rises and starts devouring living flesh. Groundbreaking in many different ways, including breaking racial boundaries, the film also changed the way that zombies were seen on screen. Before Night, zombies were usually of spiritual origin, but director George Romero had a much more ghoulish vision. Night of the Living Dead never fails to get the audience’s pulse pounding.
