Curated collection

Curated Cult Classic Horror Movies

A cult classic horror movie is one whose reputation grew long after release, carried by devoted fans rather than box office numbers or early reviews. Every film on this list was underestimated at some point. Curated horror cult classics earned their status outside the mainstream, through midnight screenings, worn-out VHS tapes, and the kind of word-of-mouth that studio marketing can't manufacture. Some took decades to find their audience. Worth the wait.

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Poster artwork for Motel Hell

Motel Hell

1980 · Movie
Pick

Farmer Vincent runs a roadside motel and sells smoked meats locals swear by. The production process is what makes this a horror film.

1980sHorror ComedyCannibal
Poster artwork for Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Pick

A visit to a country cemetery goes wrong, and by nightfall a handful of strangers are nailing boards over the windows of a lonely farmhouse. The dead outside are hungry, and the living inside can't agree on anything.

1960sZombieBlack and White
Poster artwork for Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity

2007 · Movie

A couple in San Diego sets up cameras after unexplained sounds begin in the house at night. The footage becomes the film.

2000sCult ClassicFound Footage
Poster artwork for Parents

Parents

1989 · Movie

Young Michael Laemle suspects his parents' 1950s suburban normalcy is a cover for something much darker. The leftovers are the clue.

1980sDark ComedyCannibal
Poster artwork for Prom Night

Prom Night

1980 · Movie

Four friends have kept a guilty secret since childhood: they were there when a young girl fell to her death. On prom night, a masked killer comes for them.

1980sSlasherSchool Horror
Poster artwork for Psycho

Psycho

1960 · Movie
Pick

Marion Crane stops at an empty motel on the run from her own bad decision, and the manager seems harmless. The house on the hill behind the office is another matter.

1960sPsychologicalSerial Killer
Poster artwork for Psycho (1998)

Psycho (1998)

1998 · Movie

Gus Van Sant recreates Hitchcock's original shot for shot, in color, with a new cast. Norman Bates still runs the motel, and the shower still isn't safe.

1990sSlasherPsychological
Poster artwork for Queen of the Damned

Queen of the Damned

2002 · Movie

Lestat wakes from a long sleep, becomes a rock star, and draws the attention of an ancient vampire queen who's been dormant for centuries.

2000sVampireGothic
Poster artwork for Re-Animator

Re-Animator

1985 · Movie
Pick

Herbert West arrives at Miskatonic University with a glowing reagent and complete certainty about his work. His experiments work, which turns out to be the actual problem.

1980sBody HorrorMad Scientist
Poster artwork for Return of the Living Dead III

A teenager uses a military experiment to bring his girlfriend back after she dies in an accident. She comes back, but not entirely as herself.

1990sZombieBody Horror
Poster artwork for Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby

1968 · Movie
Pick

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into a storied Manhattan apartment building and their charming elderly neighbors take an unusually strong interest in Rosemary's pregnancy.

1960sPsychologicalSupernatural
Poster artwork for Saw

Saw

2004 · Movie
Pick

Two strangers wake up chained to pipes in a decaying bathroom with a corpse on the floor between them. A tape recorder explains the rules.

2000sTorture HorrorDeath Game
Poster artwork for Scanners

Scanners

1981 · Movie
Pick

Cameron Vale has spent his life hearing everyone else's thoughts and it's driven him to the street. A shadowy corporation wants to weaponize what's wrong with him, and someone else's head is about to pay the price for the demonstration.

1980sBody HorrorSci-Fi Horror
Poster artwork for Scream (1996)

Scream (1996)

1996 · Movie
Pick

Still grieving her mother's murder, Sidney Prescott starts getting calls from a killer in a ghost mask who loves horror-movie trivia, and everyone around her in quiet Woodsboro becomes a suspect.

1990sSlasherMeta Horror
Poster artwork for Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead

2004 · Movie
Pick

Shaun works at an electronics store and has been a disappointing partner long enough that his girlfriend ends their relationship on the same day the zombie apocalypse begins outside his window.

2000sZombieHorror Comedy
Poster artwork for Shivers

Shivers

1975 · Movie
Pick

A parasite escapes containment inside a luxury apartment building and spreads from resident to resident, stripping away every social inhibition it finds.

1970sBody HorrorPandemic Horror
Poster artwork for Silent Hill

Silent Hill

2006 · Movie
Pick

Rose DaSilva follows her adopted daughter Sharon into a fog-covered town that was burned decades ago and hasn't been right since, where the streets shift and something is waiting.

2000sPsychologicalVideo Game Adaptation
Poster artwork for Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp

1983 · Movie
Pick

Angela Baker barely speaks when she arrives at Camp Arawak with her cousin. Then campers start dying and the investigation circles back to the new arrivals.

1980sSlasherSummer Camp
Poster artwork for Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

1999 · Movie

A New York constable arrives in Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of beheadings and finds a community that believes in the Headless Horseman for very good reason.

1990sGothicGhost Story
Poster artwork for Society

Society

1990 · Movie
Pick

Bill Whitney is a popular, wealthy Beverly Hills teenager who grows more uneasy about his family by the day. The more he looks, the more wrong things get.

1990sBody HorrorSatire