The Halloween season is upon us, and what better way to get into the spirit than turning out the lights and turning on a scary movie? Choosing a good horror movie, however, can be as tense as the movies themselves, so we dove into the IMDB.com database to put together this list of the best horror movies based on average IMDB user rating. Scroll down to see the terrifying results.
Did your favorite make the list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
1. Psycho (1960)
IMDB user score: 8.5/10
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
2. The Shining (1980)
IMDB user score: 8.4/10
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
3. Alien (1979)
IMDB user score: 8.4/10
After a space merchant vessel receives an unknown transmission as a distress call, one of the crew is attacked by a mysterious life form and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
4. The Thing (1982)
IMDB user score: 8.1/10
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
5. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)
IMDB user rating: 8.1/10
A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
6. The Exorcist (1973)
IMDB user rating: 8.0/10
When a 12-year-old girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her.
7. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
IMDB user rating: 8.0/10
A young couple trying for a baby move into a fancy apartment surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
8. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
IMDB user rating: 7.9/10
A man's uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse in this horror-comedy.
9. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
IMDB user rating: 7.9/10
Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
10. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
IMDB user rating: 7.9/10
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the East Coast of the United States.
11. King Kong (1933)
IMDB user rating: 7.9/10
A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition.
12. Freaks (1932)
IMDB user rating: 7.9/10
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
13. Frankenstein (1931)
IMDB user rating: 7.8/10
Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.
14. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
IMDB user rating: 7.8/10
Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
15. Get Out (2017)
IMDB user score: 7.7/10
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
If you've made it this far, congratulations you've survived. Reward yourself with more fun content like this. Become a subscriber to the Cincinnati Bell Consumer Blog and be among the first to know when we publish new articles.