45 thoughts on “John Charet’s Top 100 Favorite Horror Films of All-Time”

1. nice list. ive seen all but half a dozen and enjoyed all of them except Nope, which i found insufferable. Happy Halloween!

2. That’s a huge list. I reckon I have seen 70-75% of them, and was very happy to see ‘Onibaba’ and ‘The Innocents’ included, two of my personal favourites.

   Best wishes, Pete.

3. Glad to hear that you enjoyed my list Bill – it must have made you very happy to see The Birds rank within the first 50 – number 46 in this case 🙂 Their are a lot more I would have wanted to include and there seems to be endless debate as to whether or not 1950’s monster movies like Them! or Tarantula are horror or science-fiction – I am willing to think of them as both 🙂

4. I am happy to hear that you enjoy the list Pete 🙂 I too love Onibaba and as you can see, I ranked The Innocents within the first 50 films on the list 🙂

5. i think of science fiction as a subdivision of horror. Horror comes from reviving the old myths while science fictions comes from speculating and creating future myths. Most of the horror I grew up on was more science derived than mythic. If it is scary, it is horror, whether its antagonist is a ghost, a monster, a mutation, or a mythical creature from the past terrorizing the modern world. I set myself a challenge this morning because i wondered if it were possible to create another top 100 horror films without citing any on your list, as yours is so close to being a completist list. anyway, i got 40 titles and when i attempted to save the file, it crashed. and i lost them. Perhaps an omen that such a challenge should be accepted. When the science fiction films were considered, I had to ask myself the question if their quality lie in their ideas or their scares. Most had elements of both. One would have to weigh both sides and decide if the horror outweighed the speculation. For instnce I would classify Tarantula as Horror but not The Day the Earth Stood Still.

6. an alien planet populated by beautiful women is science fiction. an alien planet populated by monsters is horror. also, while serial killers with or without masks may be horrific, they are not horror, which require an element of the supernatural, or a reality mutated by witchcraft or a mad scientist.

7. Here is my alternate list of 100 favorites..in no particular order, and not meant to replace any of your picks, as I rate many of yours higher than the ones i have cited here. I just did it as a way to challenge myself.

   The Sentinel
   Demented
   Hangman’s House
   Pit and the Pendulum
   House of Usher
   Spiral
   Exorcist 2 the heretic
   The Possession of Joel Delaney
   Count Yorga, Vampire
   At Midnight Ill Take Your soul
   This Night Ill Possess Your corpse
   Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
   The doctor and the Devils
   Nag Nak
   Polanski’s MacBeth
   The Hills Have eyes
   The Stuff
   It’s Alive
   Basket Case
   Maniac cop
   Melancholia
   Invisible Invaders
   Salo
   Red Cherry
   The Devil’s Rain
   The Satanic rites of Dracula
   The ring Virus
   Zombie
   ReAnimator
   Dantes Inferno
   Salem’s Lot
   The Night Evelyn Came Out of Her Grave
   Opera
   Demons
   Blood Bath
   Day of Wrath
   Leaves from Satans Book
   The Beyond
   City of the Living Dead
   Bug
   Mask of Satan
   The Long Hair of Death
   Christine
   The Devil rides Out
   Quartermass and the Pit
   Viva la Muerte
   The Day the Earth Caught fire
   Flesh for Frankensterin
   Blood for Dracula
   The Tingler
   Bay of Blood
   Come and See
   Destroy all Monsters
   The Mask
   X The Man with the X Ray eyes
   2000 Maniacs
   Creature from the Black lagoon
   Curse of the Werewolf
   Attack of the Mushroom People
   The Blob
   The Church
   The Omen
   The ghost Galleon
   Dracula’s Daughter
   Equinox
   Performance
   Tombs of the Blind Dead
   Demon Seed
   Terror-Creatures from the Grave
   The Love Witch
   Two Orphan Vampires
   Deadgirl
   Grapes of Death
   The Living Dead Girl
   The Iron Rose
   The Seventh Seal
   The Brain that wouldnt Die
   Terror from the Year 5000
   Screaming Skull
   The Time machine
   The War of the Worlds
   Earth vs the Flying Saucers
   The Thing from Another world
   Cannibal Holocaust
   The Vanishing
   The Master and the Margarita
   Dr, Faustus
   Nightmare on elm Street
   Don Siegels Invasion of the Body snatchers
   The Reincarnation of Isabel
   Eyes Wide Shut
   the Skull
   The Flesh and the Fiends
   Phenomena
   Phantom of the Opera
   Ugetsu
   The Sacrifice
   Monster on the camput
   Il Demonia
   Shivers

8. Great list as expected, and some interesting (and brave) picks! A global list of horror old and new showing how the genre continues to be popular even after a hundred plus years.

9. Hey Bill 🙂 I think one of the problems I have with classifying something like Godzilla as a horror film is because giant monster movies seem to play out more as spectacle than horror. This is not to say that horror can not be seen as an element in giant monster movies, it is only that the former outweighs the latter when one really thinks about it 🙂

10. I do not know Bill 🙂 Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Freddy Krugger and Ghostface are mass murderers and the films featuring those respective characters are often labeled (and rightfully so) as horror 🙂 Nevertheless, I do agree with what you said on a whole regarding the genres as a whole 🙂 For example, how can anybody see Frankenstein as anything but a horror film because as you mention the genre does involve mad scientists 🙂 I do not know If it is just me, but did you ever seem to notice that Peter Cushing’s Dr. Frankenstein comes off as more of a sociopath than others who have portrayed him? 🙂

11. Excellent job Bill – you did complied a list of what would possibly be your first 100 favorite horror films of all time and yes, I am aware that you rank my own very highly with the exception of Nope 🙂 Great to see some Larry Cohen titles on here as well 🙂 I see a Cronenberg on here too (Shivers) 🙂 In fact, you have a lot of great ones on here 🙂 Speaking of Re-Animator, I have a huge crush on it’s female co-star Barbara Crampton 🙂 I read somewhere that her personal favorite of her collaborations with the late Stuart Gordon was Re-Animator’s follow-up entitled From Beyond – another one I love 🙂 Thoughts? 🙂

12. Thank you for the kind words Carlosnightman 🙂 I wish I could have included Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and An American Werewolf in London, but those would undoubtedly make it on my 100-200 list 🙂 Would you ever consider putting together a top 10 or top 100 favorite horror films list or would that be a Herculean task? 🙂 I know that Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me would make it on your first 10 titles like mine 🙂 Also, how was your visit to Dublin during the past few days? One of my friends went there and loved Ha’Penny Bridge 🙂 Thoughts? 🙂 Also, here is a late Halloween present courtesy of a link for you to click on 🙂

13. Great list, John and great choice for number 1! I really haven’t seen all those films but I’m glad that The Innocents is here (it’s my personal favourite). 🙂

14. Michael Myers is the boogie, supernatural because he cannot die Jason Voorhees,and Freddy Krugger are dead, and leatherface and ghostface wear masks, posing as monsters. so i woudnt put them in the human serial killer category. At lest the first three re real monsters, and the last two are humans dressed as cinematic monsters. about barbara crampton. i love her s well and thought From Beyond a credible follow up to ReAnimator,

15. you will notice there are no godzilla movies on my list, mainly because i find them boring, but also because thy are more socio-political allegories than scare movies. and you are absolutely justified in deriding them as spectacles rather than horror filsm. we do not get scared watching godzilla destroy tokyo.. we enjoy the spectacle. but movies like tarantula are free of spectacle. their appearance on the horizon of a desert town is terrifying, what makes so many 1950’s monster movies science fiction rather than horror is the simple fact that it is science that has created the monster. but even if we agree on that, frankenstein would be science fiction rather than horror, and frankenstein is the cornerstone of the horror film. so with all of these factors taken into consideration, my summation is that anything with a horrific theme and development should be classified as horror, and can be subdivided into science fiction, serial killers, demonic activity, creature features, folk horror, animal horror, ghost stories, dream scenarios, and any other theme in which the fear factor outweighs the narrative element. My single exception to this rule would be The Birds, which is a suspenseful psychological family drama with the animal horror aspect assuming a purely metaphorical function.

16. Peter Cushing is the ONLY Dr. Frankenstein,

17. Thank you for the kind words Virginie 🙂 Don’t Look Now is undoubtedly a masterpiece – RIP Donald Sutherland. The Innocents is another great one and it would serve as the perfect film to go on a double-bill with The Haunting 🙂

18. I hear what you are saying about the characters I mentioned 🙂 Glad to hear that you love Barbara Crampton as well 🙂 Also wonderful to see that you enjoyed From Beyond 🙂 For me, Crampton is every bit as gorgeous as the Hammer women (i.e. Ingrid Pitt among others) 🙂

19. I see you are not a huge fan of Godzilla Bill 🙂 Nevertheless, I was actually not trying to deride them when I labeled them as spectacles. I actually love Godzilla 🙂 What you said about the connection between science fiction and Tarantula is insightful and I agree with it 🙂 I think the reason we are all more than happy to label Frankenstein as horror is because the size of the monster is of human stature, though If he was a giant, I would like to think that they would still label (correctly or incorrectly) as science-fiction since that is the label they give to a film like Tarantula 🙂 Equally insightful is how you sum up horror, even though I disagree with you on The Birds and feel that it is every bit as much a horror film as it is (in your words and quite rightly so) “a suspenseful psychological family drama with the animal horror aspect assuming a purely metaphorical function.” Otherwise, right on Bill 🙂

20. You are 100 percent correct on that Bill 🙂

21. i dont dislike godzilla. in fact, i have enjoyed most of the films in that series. i was agreeing with you that they are more spectacle than horror. and we spend a lot of time watching the scientists and the military trying to figure out away to stop him, thye are definitely monster movies but i dont find them at at scary.
    as for the birds, i would never go to any lengths trying to convince anyone that ti was not a horror film, it has a few shocks, but i am so engrossed in the changing human relationships that the bird attacks , whilre suspenseful, do not scare me. when i taught the film, i did not address the horror element. i was too engrossed in dissecting the mise-en-scène of the final living room sequences, in which mitch, melanie, and lydia vied for the gaurdianship of little cathy. and how hitchcock finally resolved his mother complex with he disempowerment. when i saw it the first time, at the age of twelve, i was very disappointed because as a horror film to a young horror fan, it didnt cut it. since i didnt understand all the various power plays and innuendoes, i was bored waiting for the birds to attack, i think it is its reputation as a horror film that has prevented many people from seeing it as the masterpiece it is. after psycho, the birds did not deliver on that level.

22. Gotcha Bill 🙂 I had a feeling that you were not putting down spectacle, I only emphasized that because you mentioned the word “deride” and I misunderstood 🙂 I agree with you on what gives The Birds it’s power 🙂 I get the hunch that people feel that all horror films need to be the same, but The Birds scares us in a different way and this is how aggressive the title characters attack the innocent. All that being said, I do agree with you about your theories and observations on the film. I never disagreed with you on that 🙂 I personally feel that Hitchcock topped Psycho with The Birds 🙂 After breaking new ground with Psycho, Hitchcock made a film in which he becomes so comfortable with his own style that he decides to make a pure suspense film. Yes, The Birds has the innuendo that you mentioned, but it is the relationships between everybody that powers the film, but never overshadows the suspense. Also, did you notice that their is really no music score for the film. For me, that fact is just one of many aspects that makes The Birds Hitchcock’s most radical film. Plenty more of course, but my thoughts serve as a perfect example of what you and me are talking about 🙂

23. i have to disagree about the musical score. it is just as radical as the rest of the film, beginning with the electronics that accompany the bird sounds, the touches here and there of debussy, and even an occasional nod to bernard hermann. there is also effective uses of silence.

24. Bill, you are actually making my argument for me 🙂 In place of the music score, you have the variety of sound effects that populate the film. Debussy and the nod to Herrmann is part of that. According to Norman Lloyd, it was actually Herrmann’s idea not to set the film to a music score, but Herrmann does serve as a sound consultant on it 🙂

25. I guess it depends on what you call music. Take the Eraserherad score for example. Not traditionally what one might cal music, yet it is a fantastic score. Nina Rotas score for Satyricon was pretty wils as well. And Jerry Fielding didnt consider bob dylans score for Pat Garrett and Billy the kid music at all, yet it gave the film a unique atmosphere.Fielding goaded Peckinpah about it, saying he should consider getting some fans to blow cowshit odors into the audience to accompany the music. and where os this leave miles davis’ improvised score for Elevator to the Gallows? i realize it is only a linguistic issue when it comes to defining what constitutes a musical score for a film, and soundscape is an acceptable term in defining the soundtrack for the birds, but it might be legitimate to apply that term to the sound recording that accompanies the images of any film,

26. I actually agree with you on all of that Bill 🙂 I think I am only basing it on what sounds like a music score. For example, I would If a film was composed by Tangerine Dream (electronic type score), I would count it as a music score. I also count Bob Dylan’s music for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as such 🙂 Thank you for bringing up not only that film, but Eraserhead, Satyricon and Elevator to the Gallows as well 🙂 I love them all 🙂 In fact, sound is an element that stands out in The Birds just as much as it’s special effects If we are talking about the film’s technical aspects alone – it’s content also plays a significant role in it’s greatness 🙂 Speaking of Sam Peckinpah and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, you probably heard by now that Kris Kristofferson passed away recently 😦

27. Yes, I am very sad that Kris is no longer with us. It is hard to admit this, but I am jealous of him, He is the only person who I would want to be were I someone other than myself. In his life, he has succeeded in all the areas I would like to have been successful. Not that I am unhappy with my own modest achievements, but he did it all and seemed to have had a good time in the process. no towering genius, but he did good solid work in every area of his career.

    One of the things I enjoy about sparring with you is that it is real discussion, in which I feel both of us are enriched by each other’s perspectives. What might begin as a disagreement ends as a fuller understanding of the subject under discussion.That is so rare in these days when people only want to converse with those who are in agreement with them.

28. Very insightful thoughts on how you looked up to Kris Kristofferson Bill 🙂 He worked with some truly interesting directors as well including Sam Peckinpah as you and me know 🙂

    I too greatly enjoy talking to you 🙂 I too feel enriched whenever I talk to you and you have a lot of interesting stories to tell regarding interview subjects – I am aware of the Monte Hellman one 🙂 He truly was an original director 🙂 In fact, thanks largely to you, I now understand why giant monster movies like Them! and Tarantula are categorized as horror. As to whether or not I would include those two on my list of great horror films between the numbers 101 and 200, they would undeniably be on there 🙂

    Btw, are you familiar with British film critic/novelist and horror aficionado Kim Newman? The reason I ask is because I found a youtube video link of him introducing Black Sunday back in the early 1990’s on British television I believe and I am interested in hearing what you think of his take on the film’s history even If he is limiting it to it’s initial release in the UK back in the 1960’s 🙂

29. Well, my comments feel almost inane compared to the deep dive you’ve already engaged in, but I’ve seen LOTS of these movies, John! Some of the ones I especially liked: The Lighthouse (although I wasn’t 100% for the ending; but then again, how else could it have ended?) Baby Jane, of course, and Rosemary’s Baby. We just saw Jacob’s Ladder a few weeks ago! So good. Annihilation was a nice surprise–the book is good too. Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorites ’cause it’s the rare comic horror, and Let the Right One In. What a great detail to focus in on: vampires live forever, but human familiars grow old and die. Lastly, The Descent was pretty good. There’s a book by the same name by Jeff Long which has nothing to do with the movie which, if you like reading horror too, is EXCELLENT. I can’t express it enough. It’s a really good book, well worth it. 🙂

30. thanks for the link to the black sunday intro. he didnt have much to say about the film. and was dismissive of bavas directorialwork (largely uncredited) before black sunday, and seemed ignorant of his twenty year career as a cinematographer that preceded his work as a director. As he was a contemporary of the classic hammer film, i doubt that he was influenced by them, nor does his work have anything in common with the mostly bland direction of the universal horror cycle. i would place his influences in the much earlier work of murnau, dreyer, and lang.

31. Ha, lets just say some time was spent in a few pubs waiting for the crowds in the streets to disperse (they didn’t).
    It was my first time really wandering around Dublin – I’d been down for concerts plenty of times but those shows were outside the city centre. Walked past a famous theatre and saw a few embossed handprints in the ground outside the entrance – Gabriel Byrne for example – but mostly shopping, relaxing, nothing exciting.
    I thought I had written a Top Hundred horror list, but upon checking I couldn’t find one. I love reading and writing lists so it’s on the cards for some time in the future. I could probably cull most of the entries from my existing ‘Favourite Films Per Year’ lists to be honest, although there should be some space to add in a few others.

32. Glad to hear that you have seen a lot of the films listen here Stacey 🙂 I agree with your compliments on the films too 🙂 I will check out Jeff Long’s book – thank you for the recommendation 🙂

33. Insightful thoughts as always Bill 🙂 As much as I adore Kim Newman’s work as a critic/novelist/historian of horror, he does seem to overlook significantly important aspects of a director that are important when it comes to understanding them. I take it that Hammer Horror only serves as a precursor to Mario Bava when one takes into account the use of color, but that is about it and Bava went further with his own films in that area. As for Universal horror, James Whale was undoubtedly the best director of the horror films there. Nevertheless, I still rank Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat higher. I also agree with your assessment that Bava’s influences seem more rooted in that of F.W. Murnau, Carl Theodor Dreyer and Fritz Lang’s early work. BTW, did you ever see Riccardo Freda’s 1957 Italian horror film entitled I Vampiri? I ask this because Bava served as cinematographer on it 🙂

34. Well all of that is interesting nonetheless Carlosnightman 🙂 I remember Gabriel Byrne from Joel and Ethan Coen’s Miller’s Crossing 🙂 Compose your top 100 favorite horror films list only If you want to 🙂

35. I only watched  I Vampiri because Bava was its cinematographer, But I didnt care for the movie. Whale was definitely the best director of the Universal horrors, but he was as different from Bava as one can get. Mostly block and shoot by the rules, very little atmospherics. He told the story well, but nothing scary cinematically..unlike the direcors who worked for Val Lewton or the silents by murnau, lang. and dreyer, did you know that ford was in awe of murnau, they were often shooting at the same time and ford learned a lot from hi. Hanging House is a good example of the influence. You are spot on in mentioning how different hammers approach to color was from bavas. no comparison. im not sure, but i think i recall newman saying leone was influenced by peckinpah. i believe it was the other way around, as leones style was established in the early sixties, while Peckinpah didnt start shooting in that way until the wild bunch in 1969.

36. I feel the same way about I Vampiri. I heard that John Ford was a huge fan of F.W. Murnau and I am not surprised because they are both high ranking cinematic poets – the two directors we think of when it comes to the silent era and the advent of sound. Whether they did anything revolutionary for the latter is beside the point. Anyway, how could anyone say that Sergio Leone was influenced by Sam Peckinpah, when the former became popular first. Let us all not forget that Peckinpah did not earn the nickname “Bloody Sam” until The Wild Bunch. I would never accuse Kim Newman of being a lightweight, but I think he leaves too much information out from his film knowledge. Speaking of Leone, do you remember Sergio Corbucci? 🙂

37. Corbucci? Sure. Django, The |Great Silence, and quite a few more. one of the better euro western directors….but really. with few exceptions, i prefer the american westerns. i have a friend who owns over 100 euro westerns and watches them over and over again,,,yet is uninterested in watching american westerns.

38. John, in case you missed it, wrote a new post on the Gena Rowlans thread.

39. Sorry for the late reply Steve 🙂 Thank you for that Moviedrome link – especially insightful was Alex Cox’s mentioning of Cuba and Mexico being more knowledgable about Soviet cinema than the rest of the world. As for Barquero, I have not seen that so I will have to check that out 🙂

    Btw, you may have heard by now but Kris Kristofferson passed away recently 😦 I mention this because I know you (like myself) are a huge fan of Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

40. Hi, John. Hope you’re doing well.

    Superb list. Very pleased to see What Ever Happened to Baby Jane and The Spiral Staircase on it, films that don’t often make such lists, but are very deserving I think.

    Here’s my top 10. (We’ve probably done this before and my lists has surely changed. Such is the way with top favorite lists.)

    1. Psycho (1960)
    2. Halloween (1978)
    3. Jaws (1975)
    4. Deep Red (1975)
    5. American Werewolf in London (1981)
    6. The Vanishing (Spoorloos 1988)
    7. Peeping Tom (1960)
    8. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
    9. The Spiral Staircase (1946)
    10. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

    Honorable mention: Midnight (2021); A Clockwork Orange (1972); Alien (1979); Bram Stocker’s Dracula (1992); Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962); Aliens (1986)

41. Great list Pam 🙂 All of these are masterpieces 🙂 There seems to be much debate whether or not Jaws can be labeled a horror film, but I see no wrong answer regarding that 🙂 The Vanishing is more of a thriller than anything else as is Midnight. A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian sci-fi film more than horror. The first Alien is a horror film and Aliens is more sci-fi action, but again, this is based on how you categorize them 🙂 Awesome list all the way through Pam 🙂

42. Hi John. Yeah, I considered the films you mentioned, whether or not they are horror. To me, there’s no debate about Jaws. It’s straight up horror. And I consider The Vanishing as psychological horror and Midnight a slasher with thriller overtones.
    Both Aliens, to me, are hybrids, as much horror as they are science fiction. Aliens has an action mutation, if you will.
    I think A Clockwork Orange is the iffy one on the list, but, again, the psychological horror element is strong enough to push it into the horror film realm.
    In any event, I’m pleased that you like my list. Nice to converse again.

43. Pingback: What I Have Accomplished in 2024? – cinematiccoffee
44. Pingback: R.I.P. David Lynch (1946-2025) – cinematiccoffee
45. Pingback: John Charet’s Top 100 Favorite Horror Films of All Time (2025 Edition) – cinematiccoffee