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: