Highly Rated Horror, a list by Chaz Larson

8.5

/777532/

82

/14258/

84

/10710/

4.3

/1246057/

97

/118/

95

/10325/

97

/18/

4.0

age 14+

When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother.

88

8.5

/1050883/

83

/33745/

81

/15889/

4.2

/1656240/

93

/207/

94

/22400/

89

/34/

4.0

age 15+

During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

88

8.0

/255158/

78

/6231/

78

/4233/

4.2

/522119/

97

/88/

87

/4057/

96

/16/

4.0

age 16+

A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.

87

8.6

/1694744/

85

/35766/

83

/17428/

4.3

/2629175/

95

/157/

95

/29657/

86

/20/

3.5

age 17+

Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

86

8.0

/75417/

77

/1894/

79

/1722/

4.1

/204443/

96

/83/

89

/1670/

4.0

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

86

8.1

/727521/

78

/18212/

77

/11239/

3.9

/1545574/

97

/169/

91

/36180/

87

/21/

4.0

age 12+

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.

85

8.1

/18059/

77

/375/

79

/382/

4.1

/32008/

91

/34/

91

/254/

4.0

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.

85

7.7

/335395/

75

/11170/

75

/6016/

3.8

/1022456/

97

/92/

89

/15062/

91

/21/

4.0

age 16+

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

85

8.4

/832656/

82

/24827/

80

/10519/

4.1

/835346/

94

/143/

94

/22899/

84

/23/

3.5

age 15+

Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.

85

7.8

/58168/

74

/1385/

75

/1070/

4.0

/122293/

98

/57/

87

/1148/

95

/16/

4.0

age 9+

Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive after being attacked by an angry mob. The now-chastened scientist attempts to escape his past, but a former mentor forces him to assist with the creation of a new creature.

85

8.1

/72722/

78

/1292/

79

/1057/

4.2

/80528/

95

/88/

93

/869/

3.5

The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become increasingly unhinged by a series of odd occurrences after Delassalle's corpse mysteriously disappears.

85

7.9

/95170/

74

/1813/

76

/1569/

3.8

/107709/

97

/116/

86

/3073/

92

/14/

4.0

age 10+

Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow and his first mate Jack Driscoll, they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to be displayed on Broadway as King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.

85

8.5

/5488/

80

/402/

78

/168/

3.9

/10182/

100

/9/

94

/196/

For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films.

84

7.8

/122244/

74

/3073/

76

/2371/

3.8

/386937/

97

/74/

87

/2782/

4.0

age 13+

The mysterious Count Orlok summons a happily married real estate agent to his castle, located up in the Transylvanian mountains, to finalise a terrifying deal.

84

7.6

/9079/

74

/242/

73

/217/

3.9

/17935/

100

/24/

87

/175/

4.0

When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured.

84

8.0

/66868/

79

/1690/

79

/1121/

4.2

/116337/

91

/53/

91

/1789/

75

/15/

4.0

age 13+

A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

84

8.4

/1208964/

81

/29593/

82

/18472/

4.2

/2841750/

84

/111/

93

/28528/

68

/26/

4.0

age 15+

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

83

7.7

/198489/

77

/11691/

76

/2939/

4.1

/821811/

99

/213/

98

/1981/

81

/34/

3.0

age 11+

In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.

83

7.8

/238214/

77

/5739/

75

/3142/

4.0

/226554/

98

/193/

90

/9767/

82

/30/

3.5

age 17+

When Oskar, a sensitive, bullied 12-year-old boy, meets his new neighbor, the mysterious and moody Eli, they strike up a friendship. Initially reserved with each other, Oskar and Eli slowly form a close bond, but it soon becomes apparent that she is no ordinary young girl.

83

7.6

/38550/

75

/1030/

76

/779/

3.9

/136374/

97

/60/

87

/670/

90

/9/

3.5

Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.

83

7.6

/43262/

73

/1032/

74

/871/

4.0

/94713/

96

/67/

85

/764/

4.0

Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reactions of victims as he murders them. He befriends Helen, the daughter of the family living in the apartment below his, and he tells her vaguely about the movie he is making.

83

7.8

/149426/

75

/4043/

76

/2638/

3.9

/305402/

95

/82/

87

/6466/

89

/17/

3.5

age 17+

A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.

83

8.1

/492988/

78

/13030/

77

/8407/

4.0

/928214/

78

/178/

87

/18747/

83

/23/

4.0

age 16+

When a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.

83

7.6

/56252/

71

/1236/

73

/1376/

3.9

/125216/

100

/26/

85

/1343/

4.0

Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.

84

83

8.0

/15536/

77

/416/

77

/345/

4.1

/32862/

100

/16/

89

/126/

An alcoholic, abusive ne'er-do-well is shown the error of his ways through a legend that dooms the last person to die on New Year's Eve before the clock strikes twelve to take the reins of Death's chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year.

82

IMDb 17

7.5

/227869/

76

/5436/

76

/2593/

3.9

/1857701/

85

/365/

94

/622/

78

/58/

4.0

age 16+

Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

82

7.8

/25182/

76

/619/

77

/456/

4.1

/84706/

90

/20/

90

/378/

While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.

82

7.6

/60865/

73

/1239/

73

/1066/

3.9

/90112/

96

/70/

86

/1160/

91

/8/

Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.

82

7.8

/135474/

75

/3501/

75

/2230/

4.0

/181591/

92

/61/

90

/8033/

71

/14/

4.0

age 16+

During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

82

7.7

/86877/

74

/2244/

75

/1737/

3.8

/167958/

94

/94/

87

/1589/

91

/15/

age 10+

Henry Frankenstein pieces together body parts in the hope of bringing a human-like creature to life. The mad scientist’s dreams are shattered by his monstrous creation awakening with rage to a world that hates and fears him.

82

7.8

/798471/

78

/48266/

76

/18424/

4.1

/3944850/

98

/403/

86

/6257/

85

/48/

3.0

age 15+

Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

82

7.9

/22464/

76

/523/

77

/433/

4.2

/50771/

91

/46/

89

/336/

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

82

7.7

/35701/

74

/889/

74

/641/

4.1

/63362/

95

/57/

86

/615/

88

/17/

A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.

82

7.7

/36130/

76

/673/

73

/572/

3.9

/39559/

96

/28/

91

/1247/

81

/9/

3.5

After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move -- and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the thugs.

82

7.7

/59055/

74

/1615/

74

/1153/

3.8

/76088/

97

/58/

85

/957/

92

/16/

age 11+

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

82

7.6

/211843/

77

/12089/

75

/3800/

4.1

/583121/

96

/190/

87

/1428/

76

/33/

3.5

age 16+

Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.

81

7.4

/48709/

71

/1190/

73

/1042/

3.8

/146829/

93

/71/

83

/988/

79

/19/

4.0

A real estate agent leaves behind his beautiful wife to go to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar.

81

7.8

/633517/

79

/24060/

75

/9053/

4.0

/1124025/

92

/220/

93

/39175/

76

/35/

3.0

age 15+

Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners.

83

81

8.0

/12576/

79

/355/

77

/255/

4.3

/43336/

89

/9/

90

/66/

In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.

81

7.8

/54216/

75

/1370/

78

/1267/

3.9

/102258/

95

/59/

88

/1748/

80

/16/

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.

81

8.2

/72907/

78

/1242/

75

/304/

3.7

/41217/

87

/30/

95

/170/

India, 1918. On the outskirts of Tumbbad, a cursed village where it always rains, Vinayak, along with his mother and his brother, care of a mysterious old woman who keeps the secret of an ancestral treasure that Vinayak gets obsessed with.

81

7.6

/43594/

73

/1206/

75

/915/

3.9

/93550/

95

/58/

85

/649/

87

/15/

age 11+

After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.

81

7.6

/44670/

75

/1610/

76

/1066/

4.1

/148405/

94

/78/

89

/1072/

79

/20/

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

81

7.6

/217990/

75

/5696/

75

/4344/

3.7

/391027/

95

/73/

83

/6881/

90

/16/

age 13+

Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.

81

7.5

/5846/

74

/318/

75

/184/

4.2

/57063/

96

/54/

78

/15/

86

/9/

3.5

After escaping from a religious colony in Chile, Maria seeks shelter in a mansion where she’s taken in by two pigs, its only inhabitants. Like in a stop-motion dream, the universe of the house reacts to her feelings. The animals slowly morph into humans and the house into a dark, menacing world.

81

7.5

/25336/

73

/593/

71

/482/

4.0

/54507/

88

/43/

86

/541/

4.0

A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless, cult leader mother, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.

81

7.4

/52893/

72

/1139/

71

/979/

3.7

/53633/

89

/47/

78

/817/

92

/15/

4.0

age 15+

London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.

81

7.5

/46794/

75

/1228/

77

/1556/

3.9

/118966/

94

/31/

85

/882/