The 5 Best Horror Movies of All Time

1. The Shining (1980)

The Shining might just be Stephen King’s most popular horror novel. Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation is almost certainly the most popular Stephen King movie. The project was an unusually commercially-focused one for Kubrick, but the same stylistic elements that defined his earlier films were on full display, and the film remains a haunting and unsettling chronicle of a family man’s psychological breakdown.

Jack Nicholson is iconic as Jack Torrance, the struggling writer who accepts a job as winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Mountains. The knowledge that the previous caretaker had gone insane and murdered his family fails to scare Jack away. But when both Jack and his psychically attuned son begin communing with the many spirits haunting the Overlook, things quickly take a turn for the worse. Deadly hedge mazes, elevators full of blood and the terrifying Room 237 are only some of the horrors that await viewers.

Aside from being a genuinely scary film, The Shining has left its mark on modern pop culture. Who doesn’t recognize the image of Nicholson poking his head through a doorway and shouting “Here’s Johnny!”? The Shining also served as fodder for one of the best “Treehouse of Horror” segments in the history of The Simpsons.

The film is required viewing for any horror aficionado — just don’t expect to sleep easily that night — and our pick for the best horror movie ever made.

Scene to watch with the lights on: “The blood usually gets off on the third floor.” May we also suggest the Room 237 scene. Beware of women in bathtubs that are really Overlook corpses!