Best Horror Movies – Methodology
I searched far and wide for lists of best horror movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).
I was able to find 19 lists. I took the 19 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 1,700 including all the repeats, with Halloween and The Exorcist being on all 19 lists. I experimented with different formulas, trying to balance the value of being ranked high on any list and being included on the most lists. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 250 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists.
The movies that were on the most lists (out of 19) were:
- Halloween (1978) – 19
- The Exorcist (1973) – 19
- Psycho (1960) – 18
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – 18
- The Shining (1980) – 18
- Night of the Living Dead (1968) – 17
- The Blair Witch Project (1999) – 17
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – 16
- Dawn of the Dead (1978) – 16
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – 16
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) – 16
- Suspiria (1977) – 16
- The Wicker Man (1973) – 16
- Alien (1979) – 15
- Carrie (1976) – 15
- Get Out (2017) – 15
- Don’t Look Now (1973) – 15
- The Fly (1986) – 15
- Let the Right One In (2008) – 15
- The Babadook (2014) – 15
- It Follows (2014) – 15
- The Thing (1982) – 14
- Nosferatu (1922) – 14
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – 14
- The Innocents (1961) – 14
- The Birds (1963) – 14
- Evil Dead II (1987) – 14
- 28 Days Later (2002) – 14
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – 14
Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:
- Paste Magazine – 8 Oct 2020
- Rotten Tomatoes – 3 Oct 2020
- Ranker.com – 2 Oct 2020
- Films Ranked – 1 Oct 2020
- GamesRadar TotalFilm – 1 Oct 2020
- ScreenRant – 1 Oct 2020
- Business Insider – 29 Sep 2020
- YahooSports / Metacritic – 15 Sep 2020
- IndieWire – 21 Aug 2020
- Insider.com – 29 Jun 2020
- StudioBinder – 17 May 2020
- Slant Magazine – 25 Oct 2019
- Thrillist – 22 Oct 2019
- TimeOut-London – 1 Oct 2019
- CinemaBlend – 8 Oct 2018
- The Guardian (scariest movies) – 7 Jun 2018
- Bloody Disgusting – 20 Feb 2018
- Film School Rejects – 2017
- The Guardian (best horror) – 22 Oct 2010