My favorite thriller/horror movies
by taurus_sweets | created - 26 Nov 2011 | updated - 26 Jul 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ghost Ship (2002)
R | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A salvage crew discovers a long-lost 1962 passenger ship floating lifeless in a remote region of the Bering Sea, and soon notices that its long-dead inhabitants may still be on board.
Director: Steve Beck | Stars: Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington
Votes: 109,042 | Gross: $30.11M
2. Stir of Echoes (1999)
R | 99 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around him.
Director: David Koepp | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Zachary David Cope, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas
Votes: 87,528 | Gross: $21.13M
3. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,923 | Gross: $26.12M
4. Fallen (1998)
R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Homicide detective John Hobbes witnesses the execution of serial killer Edgar Reese. Soon after the execution, the killings start again, and they are very similar to Reese's style.
Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 92,639 | Gross: $25.19M
5. The Amityville Horror (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror
Newlyweds and their three children move into a large house where a mass murder was committed. They start to experience strange, inexplicable manifestations which have strong effects on everyone living in or visiting the house.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud
Votes: 44,609 | Gross: $86.43M
6. The Ring (2002)
PG-13 | 115 min | Horror, Mystery
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.
Director: Gore Verbinski | Stars: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman
Votes: 375,139 | Gross: $129.13M
7. The Grudge (2004)
PG-13 | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.
Director: Takashi Shimizu | Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, William Mapother
Votes: 150,887 | Gross: $110.36M
8. The Fog (1980)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
An unearthly fog rolls into a small coastal town exactly 100 years after a ship mysteriously sank in its waters.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, John Houseman
Votes: 83,030 | Gross: $21.38M
9. Darkness Falls (2003)
PG-13 | 86 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A vengeful spirit has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her 150 years earlier. Her only opposition is the only child, now grown up, who has survived her before.
Director: Jonathan Liebesman | Stars: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield Ford, Antony Burrows, Lee Cormie
Votes: 33,392 | Gross: $32.55M
10. Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
R | 91 min | Fantasy, Horror
When Cyrus Kriticos, a very rich collector of unique things, dies, he leaves his house, fortune, and his prized collection of ghosts.
Director: Steve Beck | Stars: Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard
Votes: 93,844 | Gross: $41.87M
11. The Boogey Man (1980)
R | 82 min | Horror
Through the reflection in the mirror, a girl witnesses her mother's boyfriend's murder.
Director: Ulli Lommel | Stars: Suzanna Love, John Carradine, Ron James, Nicholas Love
Votes: 5,108 | Gross: $4.50M
12. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,106 | Gross: $44.02M
13. Shutter (II) (2004)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can not escape your past.
Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom | Stars: Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana, Unnop Chanpaibool
Votes: 49,188
14. The Believers (1987)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Cal Jamison, a police psychologist, is forced to deal with a series of ritualistic murders and a malevolent cult.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver, Harley Cross, Robert Loggia
Votes: 8,113 | Gross: $18.75M
15. Shutter Island (2010)
R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 1,457,421 | Gross: $128.01M
16. What Lies Beneath (2000)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she is losing her mind.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne, Miranda Otto
Votes: 135,758 | Gross: $155.46M
17. Candyman (1992)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd, Kasi Lemmons
Votes: 100,177 | Gross: $25.79M
18. Hostel (2005)
R | 94 min | Horror
Three backpackers head to a Slovak city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.
Director: Eli Roth | Stars: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson, Barbara Nedeljakova
Votes: 191,026 | Gross: $47.33M
19. Hostel: Part II (2007)
R | 94 min | Horror
Three American college students studying abroad are lured to a Slovakian hostel and discover the grim reality behind it.
Director: Eli Roth | Stars: Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, Roger Bart
Votes: 96,018 | Gross: $17.61M
20. Halloween (1978)
R | 91 min | Horror, Thriller
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.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran, Nancy Kyes
Votes: 306,875 | Gross: $47.00M
21. Prom Night (1980)
R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At a high-school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin
Votes: 20,935 | Gross: $14.80M
22. Christine (1983)
R | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky
Votes: 92,474 | Gross: $21.20M
23. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,278
24. The Omen (1976)
R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery
Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner
Votes: 132,624 | Gross: $4.27M
25. The Descent (2005)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
Director: Neil Marshall | Stars: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder
Votes: 247,017 | Gross: $26.02M
26. 28 Days Later (2002)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
Votes: 445,970 | Gross: $45.06M
27. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 340,562 | Gross: $25.59M
28. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 951,241 | Gross: $78.90M
29. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,888 | Gross: $24.95M
30. Jaws (1975)
PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
Votes: 659,667 | Gross: $260.00M
31. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 466,841 | Gross: $13.78M
32. 30 Days of Night (2007)
R | 113 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.
Director: David Slade | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster
Votes: 189,475 | Gross: $39.57M
33. Burnt Offerings (1976)
PG | 116 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 13,614
34. The Entity (1982)
R | 125 min | Drama, Horror
A woman is tormented by an invisible being.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa, George Coe
Votes: 18,279 | Gross: $13.28M
35. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
PG-13 | 99 min | Horror
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
Votes: 217,541 | Gross: $42.10M
36. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Not Rated | 144 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
Director: Jee-woon Kim | Stars: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan, Chun Ho-jin
Votes: 146,287 | Gross: $0.13M
37. Saw (2004)
R | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Two strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Ken Leung
Votes: 466,861 | Gross: $56.00M
38. Cabin Fever (2002)
R | 93 min | Horror
Five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.
Director: Eli Roth | Stars: Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong, James DeBello, Cerina Vincent
Votes: 83,715 | Gross: $21.16M
39. Creepshow (1982)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
"Creepshow" is a 1982 movie that tells five grisly tales from a children's comic book: a murdered father rising from his grave, a bizarre meteor, a vengeful husband, a mysterious crate's occupant, and a plague of cockroaches.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Adrienne Barbeau, E.G. Marshall
Votes: 53,253 | Gross: $21.03M
40. Trilogy of Terror (1975 TV Movie)
Unrated | 72 min | Horror, Thriller
Three bizarre horror stories, all of which star Karen Black in four different roles playing four tormented women.
Director: Dan Curtis | Stars: Robert Burton, John Karlen, George Gaynes, Jim Storm
Votes: 8,721
41. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,490 | Gross: $32.00M
42. Children of the Corn (1984)
R | 92 min | Horror, Thriller
A young couple is trapped in a remote town where a dangerous religious cult of children believes that everyone over age 18 must be killed.
Director: Fritz Kiersch | Stars: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong, John Franklin
Votes: 57,351 | Gross: $14.57M
43. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 455,118 | Gross: $232.91M
44. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 340,562 | Gross: $25.59M
45. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
R | 91 min | Horror
Teenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, John Saxon
Votes: 262,600 | Gross: $25.50M
46. The Collector (I) (2009)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.
Director: Marcus Dunstan | Stars: Josh Stewart, Andrea Roth, Juan Fernández, William Prael
Votes: 72,236 | Gross: $7.71M
47. The Strangers (2008)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
Director: Bryan Bertino | Stars: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Alex Fisher
Votes: 143,657 | Gross: $52.60M
48. Joy Ride (2001)
R | 97 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychopathic killer.
Director: John Dahl | Stars: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Bowman
Votes: 75,964 | Gross: $21.97M
49. Wrong Turn (I) (2003)
R | 84 min | Horror, Thriller
Chris and a group of five friends are left stranded deep in the middle of the woods after their cars collide. As they venture deeper into the woods, they face an uncertain and bloodcurdling fate.
Director: Rob Schmidt | Stars: Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Desmond Harrington
Votes: 131,544 | Gross: $15.42M
50. The Hitcher (1986)
R | 97 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A young man who escapes the clutches of a murderous hitchhiker is subsequently stalked by the hitcher and framed for his crimes.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 52,560 | Gross: $5.84M
51. The Hitcher (2007)
R | 84 min | Crime, Thriller
A couple from college get caught in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a psychopathic hitchhiker and the police after witnessing a murder and being framed.
Director: Dave Meyers | Stars: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough
Votes: 45,071 | Gross: $16.47M
52. Turistas (2006)
R | 93 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of young backpackers' vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.
Director: John Stockwell | Stars: Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, Desmond Askew
Votes: 40,763 | Gross: $7.03M
53. Poltergeist (1982)
PG | 114 min | Horror, Thriller
A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight
Votes: 179,630 | Gross: $76.61M
54. Damien: Omen II (1978)
R | 107 min | Horror
Damien the Antichrist, now about to turn thirteen years old, finally learns of his destiny under the guidance of an unholy disciple of Satan. Meanwhile dark forces begin to eliminate all those who suspect the child's true identity.
Directors: Don Taylor, Mike Hodges | Stars: William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth
Votes: 35,900 | Gross: $3.88M
55. The Final (I) (2010)
R | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
An awkward student with a deadly vendetta leads a group of outcasts who plot to avenge the years of humiliation they faced by the popular students at Hohn High School.
Director: Joey Stewart | Stars: Marc Donato, Jascha Washington, Whitney Hoy, Justin Arnold
Votes: 11,997
56. Carrie (1976)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery
Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta
Votes: 206,741 | Gross: $33.80M
57. Splinter (I) (2008)
R | 82 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
Trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still-living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.
Director: Toby Wilkins | Stars: Shea Whigham, Jill Wagner, Paulo Costanzo, Charles Baker
Votes: 40,939
58. High Tension (2003)
R | 91 min | Horror
Best friends Marie and Alexia decide to spend a quiet weekend at Alexia's parents' secluded farmhouse. But on the night of their arrival, the girls' idyllic getaway turns into an endless night of horror.
Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Cécile de France, Maïwenn, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun
Votes: 77,877 | Gross: $3.68M
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