100 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time

46. Black Swan

Before he started dabbling in religious allegory, Darren Aronofsky delivered Black Swan: a movie that turns the graceful world of ballet into a nightmare-fuelled hellscape.

It’s not a film concerned with spooking its audience, but instead possesses the kind of terror that creeps up on you - it’s all in the mind, and yet it’s that which will completely unnerve you.

Natalie Portman delivers a career-best performance as Nina, who dances and descends her way into madness in pursuit of artistic perfection.

[JH]

45. Frankenstein (1931)

Hot on the heels of Dracula's success, Frankenstein cemented Universal Studios as the masters of horror in early Hollywood, adapting Mary Shelley's seminal novel for the big screen to huge commercial success. That was, of course, because it's creepy as all hell, with Boris Karloff's portrayal of the monster retaining a sense of sympathy few cinema villains had at the time.

Part of the charm is just how rough around the edges the whole thing is, though. You can practically see the sets shaking, the makeup melting off under the lights and the props falling apart. While that might make it seem like an Ed Wood project, Frankenstein is anything but, and the fact that it can overcome these production limitations is a testament to just how great this early horror is.

[JB]

44. Night Of The Living Dead

There isn’t a horror movie quite as salient as George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Not only did it introduce the world to the zombie phenomenon, it did so though the prism of the 1960s Civil Rights movement.

Night of the Living Dead is stunning to behold even to this day, and though Romero’s series would perhaps go on to create bigger and better things in its numerous sequels, there’s no denying how revolutionary - and brilliant - the original was.

[EP]