As the years fly by, entertainment shifts and adapts to keep up with the times. This sentiment reigns true with cinema as a whole, and with Halloween lurking around the corner, now is a perfect time to tear into horror movies from both recent and previous years. From iconic slashers to the petrifying paranormal, there’s something for everyone. In this list, we’ve compiled some of the most bone-chilling horror films from each decade dating back to the roaring 20’s that may just be your next watch.
1920: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) -Based on the acclaimed novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, Nosferatu follows the harrowing tale of a young man named Thomas Hutter who is assigned to travel to Transylvania to visit a new client named Count Orlok. He hopes to sell him a new home. As more oddities begin to happen to Thomas during his stay at Count Orlok’s estate, he uncovers something truly malignant within the Count. Now racing against time, Thomas must find a way to protect his family from the vampiric powers of Count Orlok before it’s too late.
1930: The Invisible Man (1933) -This movie serves as an adaptation of H.G Wells’s titular novel of the same name originally published in 1897. After an experiment goes wrong and leaves Dr. Jack Griffin insane and invisible, he begins a murderous rampage. With the local police growing more desperate to catch this translucent villain, tensions rise as Dr. Griffin becomes more deranged with each passing moment.
1940: The Body Snatcher (1945) – Adapted from the 1884 short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Body Snatcher is a sinister thriller about a medical student known only as Fettes. The movie follows his encounters with grave robbers selling the freshly dug-up deceased. As the guilt and dread of his actions begin to weigh on his conscience, Fettes must navigate through these morbid dilemmas while keeping his sanity and alibis in check. With both the short story and movie being based off of the grisly Burke and Hare murders, The Body Snatcher is filled with suspense and scares for audiences to enjoy.
1950: The War of the Worlds (1953) – Dropping into the nifty fifties, our next pick is another adaptation from sci-fi enthusiast H.G Wells. This time, it is the infamous film known as The War of the Worlds. After inciting mass hysteria with a radio broadcast in 1938, The War of the Worlds would spread terror again in 1953, this time, through the silver screen. As multiple unidentified objects crash land in California, the country is sent into shock when it is revealed that the Earth is under attack from an advanced species from Mars. As panic ensues worldwide, Dr. Clayton Forrester must attempt to evade the deadly Martians and try to survive by any means necessary.
1960: Night of the Living Dead (1968) – From Woodstock to the first ever moon landing, the sixties were chocked full of historic events. The world of horror movies also experienced a revolution when the Godfather of the Dead, George Romero, made his feature debut Night of the Living Dead in 1968. The movie chronicles the perilous tale of a group of survivors trying to repel the reanimated corpses of the dead. As the horde multiplies into thousands of infected, the survivors are picked off throughout the run of the film, the audience will bear witness to the drastic measures one will take for their own survival. Night of the Living Dead gave birth to Hollywood’s modern depiction of the zombie genre and would catapult Romero into fame and acclaim.
1970: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) –The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would go on to become one of the most recognizable horror franchises to date thanks to its macabre nature and unsanitized feel. After running out of gas in the desolate town of Newt, Texas, a group of teens are mercilessly hunted by a psychotic family of cannibals. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a must-watch for any horror movie enthusiast as it shows the humble origins of the horror legend, Leatherface.
1980: John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) – With many high-quality scary movies being released in the eighties, picking only one was certainly a challenge. In the end, we decided on John Carpenter’s The Thing. From the twisted creator of Halloween, The Thing follows a group of researchers stranded in a desolate research base in Antarctica trying to desperately survive as a shapeshifting alien infiltrates the base and picks them off one by one. With incredible practical effects mixed with a constant sense of dread and paranoia, this film is one of Carpenter’s best works with Kurt Russel taking the reins as the main characterRJ Macready.
1990: Scream (1990) -Directed by horror aficionado Wes Craven, Scream is a mix of classic slasher films and eerie whodunit mysteries. The small town of Woodsboro, California is rocked to its core as a masked killer begins their brutal slayings. Still recovering from the recent murder of her mother, Sidney Prescott must crack the mystery of Ghostface and live to see a new day as the student body count is rapidly dwindling.
2000: Saw (2004) – Moving into a new century for our next pick, we chose the original Saw film. Directed by James Wan, Saw follows two men trapped in a death game orchestrated by the serial killer Jigsaw. These two supposed strangers try to recount how they ended up in these dire circumstances and must figure out their next course of action before they’re out of time. With a mind-bending plot, bleak setting, and spectacular effects, you won’t be able to look away as Saw will make you ask questions about your own morality in desperate situations.
2010: Hush (2016) – As we near the end of our 100 years of horror films, we have an underrated film directed by Mike Flanagan by the name of Hush. This film takes a new spin on the classic home invasion sub-genre as the movie is centered around Maddie Young, a deaf and mute novelist who decides to venture into a secluded house in the woods in hopes of igniting new ideas for her latest book. Our main character is forced into a deathly game of cat and mouse as a sadistic serial killer hones his sights on her and has no intentions of letting her escape alive. With no hope of help from the outside reaching her, Maddie must use her surroundings and her gut instincts to fend off her unrelenting assailant.
2020: Late Night with the Devil (2024) -This unique film incorporates found footage with traditional film all wrapped up into a terrifyingly beautiful homage to late night talk shows such as The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. The plot revolves around Jack Delroy, a talk show host making a last-ditch effort to keep his show afloat with a spectacular Halloween special as the public’s interest in him has sunk to an all time low. As the show proceeds through the night, with numerous psychics and paranormal experts being brought on, a demonic presence steals the spotlight and forces Delroy to remember the pact he made and the sins of his past.
