The best 30 horror films of all time according to fans

With Halloween fast approaching viewers are ready to dip into the horror genre in earnest, and films fans have chosen the top 30 scary movies of all time.

Research from Perspectus Global has revealed which horror movies have been deemed the greatest of all time, with 2,000 film fans contributing to the study. The final list includes an array of classic horror movies from slashers, to gore-fests, to Stephen King adaptations, there are a number of films that have terrified as much as they have delighted fans.

Here is everything that you need to know.

The top 30 horror films of all time according to fans

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found that classic horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw and The Ring dominated film fans' minds when it came to the genre. The movie that came out on top though was William Friedkin's The Exorcist.

The 1973 horror movie became a worldwide sensation when it was released, and was the first horror film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, though not all the publicity was for good reasons as some viewers were said to be fainting and being sick as a result of the twisted narrative of a young girl's demonic possession. The Exorcist is still widely regarded as one of the scariest films of all time, and Hollywood has tried to recapture its success with follow-ups and reboots ever since.

John Carpenter's 1978 movie Halloween comes a close second, with the slasher about masked serial killer Michael Myers attack on a babysitter and her friends still proving to have an enduring legacy. This is followed by Alfred Hitchcock's iconic Psycho, Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece The Shining, and the terrifying A Nightmare on Elm Street.

While classic horror movies proved the most popular, more recent films like A Quiet Place, Paranormal Activity, and Midsommar also made the top 30. 2022 horror flick Smile also made the list, despite only coming out very recently, but feels apt given the sequel's current success at the box office.

Read more:

How making The Exorcist was scarier than the movie itself

How A Nightmare on Elm Street made slashers supernatural 40 years ago

The strange case of Texas Chainsaw Massacre's age rating

Perspectus Global's Jon Horsley, who commissioned the research, said: "Despite a host of modern horror films having been released in recent years, it was great to see the classics, like The Exorcist and Halloween remain our favourites, even half a century after they were made."

The top 30 horror films of all time

1. The Exorcist (1973)

2. Halloween (1978)

3. Psycho (1960)

4. The Shining (1980)

5. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

6. Scream (1996)

7. Saw (2004)

8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

9. The Sixth Sense (1999)

10. The Ring (2002)

11. A Quiet Place (2018)

12. Paranormal Activity (2009)

13. Child's Play (1988)

14. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

15. 28 Days Later (2002)

16. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

17. Smile (2022)

18. The Thing (1982)

19. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

20. Hellraiser (1987)

21. Pet Sematary (1989)

22. Get Out (2017)

23. Talk to Me (2022)

24. The Descent (2005)

25. The Witch (2015)

26. Midsommar (2019)

27. Barbarian (2022)

28. Hereditary (2018)

29. The Babadook (2014)

30. Malignant (2021)