English-language horror films

Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh), shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and his disturbed mother. A private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin) and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist who takes a job as winter caretaker for a mountain resort hotel with his wife and clairvoyant son.

1999 film directed by Stephen Sommers

1975 film by Steven Spielberg

2004 film directed by James Wan

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, the plot follows high school student Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and her friends who, on the anniversary of her mother's murder, become the targets of a costumed serial killer.

It is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. It is the first of a two-part adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King, as well as the second adaptation following Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990 miniseries. Starring Jaeden Lieberher and Bill Skarsgård, the film was produced by New Line Cinema, KatzSmith Productions, Lin Pictures, and Vertigo Entertainment. Set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, the film tells the story of The Losers' Club, a group of seven outcast children who are terrorized by the eponymous being which emerges from the sewer in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Skarsgård), and face their own personal demons as the monster torments them.

2009 animation film directed by Henry Selick

2007 film by Tim Burton

1992 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

2005 film by Darren Lynn Bousman

1968 American independent zombie horror film by George A. Romero

1968 film directed by Roman Polanski

Eraserhead is a 1977 American horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch in his feature-length directorial debut. Lynch also created its score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of other musicians. Shot in black and white and surrealist style, the independent film was Lynch's first feature-length effort following several short films. Starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, Judith Anna Roberts, Laurel Near, and Jack Fisk, it tells the story of a man (Nance) who is left to care for his grossly deformed child in a desolate industrial landsca

2002 film directed by Gore Verbinski

2001 film by Ridley Scott

1984 film directed by Wes Craven

2014 film directed by John R. Leonetti

2006 film by Darren Lynn Bousman

1980 film directed by Sean S. Cunningham

1997 film directed by Jim Gillespie

1999 film directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

1931 film directed by Tod Browning

2007 film by Darren Lynn Bousman

2005 film by Terry Gilliam

1997 film by David Lynch

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film produced, co-composed, and directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. The film stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen. The plot follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate. Although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.

2010 film by James Wan

2017 film directed by Alex Kurtzman

1976 film directed by Richard Donner

2005 film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

2010 film by Kevin Greutert

2003 film directed by David R. Ellis

1988 film by John Carpenter

2006 film directed by James Wong

1992 film by David Lynch

1981 film directed by Steve Miner

2013 film by Tommy Wirkola

1955 film by Charles Laughton

2003 film directed by Rob Schmidt

1988 film by Tom Holland

1982 film directed by Tobe Hooper

Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut. Based on Barker's 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart, the film's plot concerns a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure. It stars Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, and Doug Bradley as the leader of the Cenobites.

2009 film directed by David R. Ellis

1978 American action horror film by Jeannot Szwarc

Five Nights at Freddy's is a 2023 American supernatural horror film based on the video game series of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. It was directed by Emma Tammi and written by Cawthon, Tammi and Seth Cuddeback. The film stars Josh Hutcherson as a troubled security guard who starts a job at a condemned pizzeria where he discovers that its animatronic mascots are possessed by the spirits of murdered children who were abducted by a serial killer decades prior. It additionally features Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson and Matthew Lillard in supporting roles.

The Black Phone is a 2021 American supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay he wrote with C. Robert Cargill, based on the 2004 short story by Joe Hill. It is the first installment in the Black Phone franchise. It stars Mason Thames as Finney, a teenage boy abducted by a serial child killer known colloquially as the Grabber. When Finney encounters a mystical black rotary phone in captivity, he uses it to plot his escape by communicating with the ghosts of the Grabber's slain victims. Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies, and James Ransone also feature in the principal cast. Derrickson and Cargill produced The Black Phone in association with Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum. Universal Pictures oversaw the film's commercial distribution, and funding was sourced through a pact with Blumhouse and tax subsidies from the North Carolina state government.

1979 film directed by Werner Herzog

1987 film by Wes Craven, Chuck Russell

2009 film directed by Kevin Greutert

Midsommar is a 2019 folk horror film written and directed by Ari Aster. It stars Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor as an American couple who are drawn into a violent cult in rural Sweden. Supporting actors include William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, and Will Poulter.

1987 film by Alan Parker

1985 film by Jack Sholder

2003 film directed by Marcus Nispel

2009 film directed by Marcus Nispel

2009 film directed by Lars von Trier

2005 film directed by Andrew Douglas

2019 film directed by Jordan Peele

1984 film by Joseph Zito

2010 film directed by Samuel Bayer