50 Horror Movies To See Before They Kill You

The greatest works of cinematic horror as voted for by Film4's critics

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50. Candyman
Superior slasher very, very loosely based on Clive Barker's story 'The Forbidden'.

49. Friday The 13th
First chapter in the much extended slasher series. A group of teenagers suffer various violent fates at the hand of a mysterious killer who is lurking at a summer camp.

48. Dark Water (2002)
A newly divorced woman and her daughter move into a shabby apartment block, where they are haunted, seemingly by the ghost of a missing schoolgirl. More supernatual goings-on from Hideo Nakata, the man behind Ring and Ring 2.

47. Scream
The film that kicked off not just a trilogy, but a whole subgenre of postmodern teen slashers. Smart, innovative, funny and downright scary.

46. Near Dark
Highly effective latter-day vampire Western from Kathryn Bigelow, who went on to direct Point Break.

45. Village of the Damned (1960)
John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos was turned very expertly into an eerie British sci-fi movie, which plays effectively on the passive prettiness of an English village.

44. The Blair Witch Project
Smash low budget horror hit of 1999. The highly effective conceit involves the audience viewing 'found' footage shot by three films students who encounter something nasty in the woods, and are never seen again.

43. Alice, Sweet Alice
A 12-year-old girl seems to be responsible for a series of brutal murders in her devoutly Catholic neighbourhood. Memorably nasty slasher with cerebral undertones.

42. Cat People (1982)
Loose remake of the 1942 classic, directed by Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader. Stars Natasha Kinski and Malcolm McDowell as the humans cursed to transform into panthers.

41. The Last House On The Left
Wes Craven's banned rape-revenge shocker lives up to its reputation as one of the nastiest and most provocative horror films of all time.

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