We present to you the 10 classic films in the history of horror films that we like and impact the most, although there are many that have stayed in the inkwell due to the huge amount of terrifying productions that have been made so far. Many of them have marked times and the way forward to later horror films. Knowing that each person would probably choose different ones here we show you the 10 movies that we consider essential and that you should not miss. Sorted by a criterion of release dates we go on to show them. We hope you’re Terrified!
Psychosis (1960)
American horror film directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles and John Gavin in the main roles.
The film has become a classic of horror and suspense movies.
A young secretary, after committing a robbery, leaves town and drives for hours, stopping to rest at a small roadside motel run by a young man named Norman.
Everything seems normal and quiet in the secluded motel and in the house next door where Norman and his mother live but, while in the shower, the young woman is killed savagely to slash.
The Devil’s Seed (1968)
American horror film directed by the controversial Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer in the main roles.
This film is considered by many to be the greatest horror film of all time.
The Woodhouses, a New York couple, move into a building opposite Central Park (the now-famous Dakota Building), over which, according to a friend, a curse weighs.
Once installed, they become friends with Minnie and Roman Castevet, neighbors who fill them with attention. Faced with the prospect of a good future, the Woodhouses decide to have a child; But when Rosemary becomes pregnant, all she remembers is making love to a strange creature that has left her body full of marks. Over time, Rosemary begins to suspect that her pregnancy is not normal.
The Exorcist (1973)
American horror film directed by William Friedkin and starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb and Kitty Winn in the main roles. It’s probably the most popular horror movie of all time. Inspired by a real exorcism that occurred in Washington in 1949. Regan is a twelve-year-old girl who is the victim of paranormal phenomena such as levitation or the manifestation of superhuman force. His mother, terrified, after subjecting her daughter to multiple medical tests that offer no results, go to a priest with psychiatric studies. He is convinced that evil is not physical but spiritual, that is, that the girl is the victim of diabolical possession. Therefore, with the help of another priest, he decides to practice an exorcism…The Texas Massacre (1974) American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and starring Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal and Allen Danzinger in the main roles. Five teenagers head to visit the supposedly desecrated tomb of one of them’s grandfather. Once they arrive at the site, where there is a sinister slaughterhouse, they will eat delicious meat at a gas station. From this moment the group of young people will live the worst nightmare of their life.
The Prophecy (1976)
American horror film directed by Richard Donner and starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner in the leading roles. When Kathy Thorn gives birth to a dead baby, her husband Robert hides the truth from her and replaces her child with an orphaned child, ignoring its satanic origin.
The horror begins when, on Damien’s fifth birthday, unexpectedly, his nanny commits suicide. A priest who tries to warn Robert of the danger he is in dies in an unexpected accident. The increasing number of deaths finally makes Robert realize that the child they have adopted is the Antichrist and that he must be killed to prevent a terrible prophecy from being fulfilled.
Alien, the Eighth Passenger (1979)
American Horror Film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto and Tom Skerritt in the main roles. Back on Earth, the Cargo Ship Nostromo interrupts its voyage and awakens its seven crew members. The central computer, MADRE, has detected the mysterious transmission of an unknown life form, coming from a nearby planet. The ship then heads to the strange planet to investigate the origin of communication.
The Shining (1980)
American horror film directed by the great Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers in the main roles. Jack Torrance moves with his wife and seven-year-old son to the impressive Overlook Hotel in Colorado to maintain the facility during the winter season, a time when it remains closed and isolated by snow. His goal is to find peace and quiet to write a novel. However, shortly after his arrival at the hotel, at the same time as Jack begins to suffer disturbing personality disorders, strange and creepy paranormal phenomena begin to occur.
Friday 13th (1980)
American horror film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby and
Kevin Bacon in the main roles. In the lake crystal camp a boy named Jason Voorhes is drowned due to the negligence of teenage counselors, a year later a couple of counselors is killed brutally and the camp closes, years later the current owner of the camp decides to reopen it and hires a new group of young people, but the curse of the camp is still present and the murders begin again on a night of Friday the 13th.
Poltergeist (1982)
American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper and starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight and Dominique Dunne in the main roles. A multitude of forces from another world invades the peace of the Freeling family home. At first, it is only paranormal events, but soon his house becomes a whirlwind of supernatural phenomena. The intruders are not exactly cordial and if the unfortunate family does not leave their home they will be dragged into a nightmare that goes beyond the imaginable.
Dracula by Bram Stoker (1992)
American horror film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Cary Elwes, Monica Bellucci in the lead roles.
In 1890, young lawyer Jonathan Harker traveled to a lost castle in Transylvania, eastern Europe, being captured thereby Count Dracula, who will travel to London inspired by a photograph of Harker’s fiancรฉe, Mina. Already in England, the Count will begin his attempt at conquest and reign of seduction and terror, absorbing the life of Mina’s best friend, Lucy.