20 Great Films You Won't Believe Aren't On IMDb's Top 250

Rating: 7.8

Horror films don't do well on the Top 250. On the list, there are only 10: Seven, The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Alien, The Shining, Aliens, The Sixth Sense, The Thing, Diabolique and Jaws. It's painful that Jaws is barely on the list despite being one of the best films of all time, but at least it made it onto the list at all. Many good horror films are off the list, but Halloween is the most painful exclusion given that it's one of the very, very best horror films ever.

With just a few elements - a terrifying villain, a hugely likable heroine, a group of fleshed-out victims and a chillingly normal setting - John Carpenter created what is pretty much the ultimate Halloween movie. A chilling, terrifying, borderline harrowing yet ridiculously entertaining game of cat and mouse unfolds in the streets of American suburbia, amounting to one of cinema's best nightmares. With perfect music, agonizing long-takes and painful suspense and without gore, jump scares and endless exposition, this remains as terrifying as ever.

As a definitive, influential and timeless exercise in pure horror, this genre masterpiece should definitely have a spot.

Where It Should Be: #150-#200