The best horror movies of all time

The best jump scares in horror history

Ever since the first jump scare in 1942’s “Cat People,” directors have been using the technique to terrify (and delight) audiences. This list of 25 classic instances of the move includes scenes from “Get Out,” “Psycho,” “Candyman,” and more.

Ten of the most horrifying moments in film

Many films in the genre lean into gratuitous horror, putting off the average viewer. This list of ten moments highlights particularly terrifying scenes from films that otherwise met with mainstream acclaim, from "Mulholland Drive" to "The Lord of the Rings."

Horror is an artistic genre aimed at scaring its audiences

Whether it's a movie, novel, comic book or any of the genre's other terrifying incarnations, horror's primary purpose is to scare its audiences. Throughout its history, the style has evolved and splintered, and now includes many subgenres, like the slasher flick, the found footage film, and even the horror comedy.

Contemporary horror novelists on their favorite scary stories

Ten of horror's best writers name the books that still give them nightmares. From established classics, like Stephen King's "IT" and Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," to unexpected picks like Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love," this collection of scary stories is a perfect reading list for Halloween.

Horror grossed more than $1B at the box office for the first time in 2017

It was the first time the genre broke the barrier for domestic box offices, powered by hits like “Get Out,” “IT” and “Split.” Since then, horror movies have remained commercial juggernauts: In 2025, the genre surpassed the $1B mark by September.

The ‘Universal Monsters’ series solidified horror as a film genre

Before 1931, most scary movies were billed as “mystery” or “suspense” with grounded explanations for anything "supernatural." That changed with “Dracula,” which presented the character as a real vampire who drank victims' blood. Universal continued adapting similar titles, including HG Wells’ “The Invisible Man” and Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories.

Critics rank the best movie franchises of all time

Franchises and sequels make up a growing percentage of annual films at the box office and aren't typically associated with critical acclaim. However, many franchises over the decades have achieved high praise from critics. This list compiled from...

‘Horror hosts’ helped build the genre’s cult following

Horror is now considered high art, but much of its cult popularity is due to the B-movies that defined the genre. Starting in the 1950s, many of these low-grade films were licensed on the cheap by television networks to fill airtime, introduced by “horror hosts”—MCs with campy, over-the-top personas.

The best cult movies

Cult film followings develop for a number of reasons. Some admire a movie's unappreciated genius. Others believe the work was simply ahead of its time. And, yes, some cult classics gain their cult status because they're unbelievably, laughably bad. This list includes all of the above, ranking the films that have developed passionate, even obsessive, followings—for whatever reason.

The best Valentine's Day-themed horror movies

It may seem like an odd combination—a holiday centered on love and a film genre dedicated to fright—but the hyperspecific subgenre thrives on the apparent juxtaposition, along with some campy send-ups of an overly commercialized holiday.

The greatest satirical films of all time

This list of satires from the silver screen runs the gamut: There’s a send-up of the music industry (“This is Spinal Tap”), a zombie-filled treatise on consumerism (“Dawn of the Dead”), and an oft-misunderstood analysis of masculinity (“Fight Club”), among several other classic critiques.

Keep track of how many of the '100 best films' you've seen

This list from the AFI, a nonprofit dedicated to the cinematic arts, ranks the 100 best films of the past 100 years. A jury of 1,500 film experts compiled the list and includes movies from nearly every genre. It’s also an interactive checklist, allowing you to keep track of how many of the films you’ve seen.

The best Steven Spielberg movies

Spielberg's impact on Hollywood is massive—so is his filmography. This list from the Guardian ranks every one of his film's from the forgettable, like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Always," to his essential flicks, including the science-fiction classic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the first modern blockbuster, "Jaws."

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The 2017 adaptation of King's 'IT' is the most successful horror movie ever

The 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel "IT" wasn't the first adaptation for the screen, but it was the most successful. It broke multiple box-office records, becoming the highest-grossing horror movie in history. This resource breaks down every record it broke in its theatrical release.

The Hays Code limited the ways horror films could scare audiences

Beginning in 1930, the Hays Code laid out a strict set of guidelines for Hollywood filmmakers to prevent films that might corrupt those with a “susceptible mind.” That meant no graphic violence, no sexual relations outside of marriage (or of a homosexual nature), and no interracial relationships, among other dictums.

Rotten Tomatoes scores have gone up by 13% in the past decade

Rotten Tomatoes is the gold standard in the film industry, offering viewers aggregated critical scores of recently released movies. Filmmakers have criticized the site, though, suggesting its scores are now meaningless, evident from the past decade's inflation, and that the company has a conflict of interest.

The 100 best fantasy books

This is a comprehensive list of the genre’s most significant works, chosen by a panel of some of the genre’s leading writers, including NK Jemisin, Neil Gaiman, and George RR Martin. It runs the gamut, from “The Arabian Nights” to the present day and is sure to offer more than one new addition to your reading list.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

The best HBO shows of all time

In addition to establishing the blueprint for TV in the 21st century, HBO has also been responsible for excellent comedies ("Veep"), talk shows ("Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"), and historical dramas ("Chernobyl").

The horror hotlines of the 1990s

Before the internet, 900-number hotlines were the way to retrieve instant information over the phone, whether for weather reports, movie information, or spooky horror stories. Callers could dial the number and hear ghost stories, experience interactive horrors, and more. This article reminisces about this extinct technology and how it paved the way for the internet.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is a Hitchcock superfan

Famed director Martin Scorsese breaks down what makes four Hitchcock films (“Dial M for Murder,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” and “Psycho”) so remarkable and discusses how Hitchcock’s style influenced his own work, including his 1980 film, “Raging Bull.”

The scarecrow isn't an effective tool for farms, but it is a potent symbol in horror

Scarecrows are no longer the best way for farmers to prevent birds from messing with their crops, but the humanlike figures are still found in horror movies. Folklorists say that's because they recall an agrarian past that makes modern viewers uneasy.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Every NFL team's top 10 plays of all time

In more than a century of football, there have been a tremendous number of awe-inspiring, defy-the-odds, and borderline miracle plays. This 90-minute compilation from the NFL pulls together the top 10 plays for each time from their franchise history.

The best Eurovision winners of all time

The contest has been around since 1956 and has amassed an impressive catalog of winning songs in that time. This list from The Guardian ranks them all, allowing you to time-travel through 70 years of Eurovision.

True crime, explained

Tales exploring some of the most grisly and unthinkable crimes have satisfied the public's morbid curiosity for more than a century, and modern podcasting has shot the genre to new heights. Want to learn more about the history of true crime? 1440 has the breakdown here.

The best female rappers of all time

Hip-hop has too many incredible female MCs to name, but this list does an admirable job of ranking the 25 greatest. Along the way, it breaks down how ‘80s artists like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah paved the way for ‘90s innovators like Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill and more contemporary names like Doechii and Micki Minaj.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.