Top 10 Most Horror Movies of All Time

10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and Leatherface. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider mature audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional; however, the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life murderer Ed Gein.
Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 and used a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas, where the film was shot. The limited budget forced Hooper to film for long hours seven days a week, so that he could finish as quickly as possible and reduce equipment rental costs. Due to the film's violent content, Hooper struggled to find a distributor. Louis Perano of Bryanston Pictures eventually purchased the distribution rights. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in hopes of securing a PG rating, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rated it R. The film faced similar difficulties internationally.










9. Saw

Saw is an American horror franchise distributed by Lionsgate, produced by Twisted Pictures and created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, that consists of eight feature films and additional media. In 2003, Wan and Whannell made a short film to help pitch as a potential feature film. This was successfully done in 2004 with the release of the first installment at the Sundance Film Festival. It was released theatrically that October. The sequels were directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, David Hackl, and Kevin Greutert, and were written by Wan, Whannell, Bousman, Patrick Melton, and Marcus Dunstan, and were released subsequently every October, on the Friday before Halloween, between 2004 and 2010. Both of the creators remained with the franchise as executive producers. On July 22, 2010, producer Mark Burg confirmed that the seventh film, Saw 3D, is the final installment of the series.Lionsgate reportedly expressed interest in continuing the franchise in 2012 with a reboot.However, in November 2013, it was reported that they were in active development of a sequel.
The films collectively grossed over $873 million at the box office worldwide. The film series as a whole has received mostly mixed to negative reviews by critics, but has been a financial success at the box office and is one of the highest grossing horror film franchies of all time. While the films are classified as torture porn by critics,the creators of Saw disagree with the term










8. Scream

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Released on December 20, 1996, Scream follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer known as Ghostface. The film combined black comedy and "whodunit" mystery with the violence of the slasher genre to satirize the clichés of the horror film genre popularized in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. The film was considered unique at the time of its release for featuring characters who were aware of real world horror films and openly discussed the clichés that Scream attempted to subvert.












7. The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American horror-thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Scott Glenn.Adapted by Ted Tally from the 1988 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, his second to feature the character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter; a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer, the film was the second adaptation of a Harris novel featuring Lecter, preceded by the Michael Mann-directed Manhunter in 1986. In the film, Clarice Starling, a young U.S. FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Lecter to apprehend another serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill".
The Silence of the Lambs was released on February 14, 1991, and grossed $272.7 million worldwide against its $19 million budget. It was only the third film, the other two being It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to win Academy Awards in all the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Adapted Screenplay. It is also the first (and so far only) Best Picture winner widely considered to be a horror film, and only the third such film to be nominated in the category, after The Exorcist in 1973 and Jaws in 1975.The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2011.A sequel titled Hannibal was released in 2001 with Hopkins reprising his role, followed by two prequels: Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal Rising (2007).










6. Alien

Alien is a 1979 science-fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and attacks the crew of a spaceship. Dan O'Bannon, drawing upon previous works of science fiction and horror, wrote the screenplay from a story he co-authored with Ronald Shusett. The film was produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill through their company Brandywine Productions, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. Giler and Hill revised and made additions to the script. Shusett was executive producer. The eponymous Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the more human aspects of the film. Alien began a franchise: it has three sequels, and two prequels.












5. Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and written by Joseph Stefano, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles and Martin Balsam, and was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film centers on the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Leigh), who ends up at a secluded motel after stealing money from her employer, and the motel's disturbed owner-manager, Norman Bates (Perkins), and its aftermath.
After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Studios began producing follow-ups: three sequels, a remake, a television film spin-off, and a prequel TV series. In 1992, the US Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.











4. A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer as a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name, which revolves around a group of teenagers who are being stalked in their dreams by an enigmatic man named Freddy Krueger.
Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes produced the film for New Line Cinema,[3] as an intention to reboot the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise,[4] with the cast of Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz. This production makes it the ninth installment of the franchise. The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 30, 2010. It received mainly negative reviews from critics and grossed $115 million against a production budget of $35 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.












3. The Shining

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel The Shining.
Although contemporary responses from critics were mixed, assessment became more favorable in following decades, and it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made. American director Martin Scorsese ranked it one of the 11 scariest horror movies of all time.Critics, scholars, and crew members (such as Kubrick's producer Jan Harlan) have discussed the film's enormous influence on popular culture.










2. Halloween

Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with producer Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut. The film was the first installment in what has become the Halloween franchise. In the film, on Halloween night in 1963, Michael Myers murders his sister in the fictional Midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois. He escapes on October 30, 1978 from Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and returns home to kill again. The next day, Halloween, Michael stalks teenager Laurie Strode. Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, knowing Michael's intentions, goes to Haddonfield to find and stop him.Halloween was produced on a budget of $300,000 and grossed $47 million at the box office in the United States,$23 million internationally, for a total of $70 million worldwide, equivalent to roughly $267 million as of 2016, becoming one of the most profitable independent films.










1. The Exorcist

The Exorcist is a 1973 American supernatural horror film, adapted by William Peter Blatty from his 1971 novel of the same name, and starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, and Jason Miller. The film is part of The Exorcist franchise. The book, inspired by the 1949 exorcism of Roland Doe, deals with the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to win back her child through an exorcism conducted by two priests. The adaptation is relatively faithful to the book, which itself has been commercially successful (earning a place on The New York Times Best Seller list).The film experienced a troubled production; even in the beginning, several prestigious film directors including Stanley Kubrick and Arthur Penn turned it down. Incidents, such as the toddler son of one of the main actors being hit by a motorbike and hospitalized, attracted claims that the set was 'cursed'. The complex special effects used as well as the nature of the film locations also presented severe challenges. The film's notable psychological themes include the nature of faith in the midst of doubt as well as the boundaries of maternal love as a mother has to do whatever she can to save her child.