The Only 5 Horror Movies On The IMDB Top 250 List

Universal Pictures

It seems odd to think that there's still any kind of debate over the legitimacy of horror as a serious form of filmmaking. The very term "elevated horror" — against which this site has argued passionately — implies from the outset that the genre needs some sort of additional element in order to ascend to the level of that most revered of movie genres: drama. But aside from the fact that it's ridiculous to suppose that confronting society's widespread fears through the art of film is somehow less important than other cinematic projects, the history of cinema itself is replete with masterpieces that stand unapologetically within the horror sphere.

Sadly, in 2024 it seems this point still hasn't quite sunk in, as evidenced by the fact that IMDb's top 250 movies list only features five horror films. Now, it should go without saying that IMDb is not the arbiter of quality in filmmaking, and these lists have a superficial veneer of importance that they really don't possess. But in an age where sites such as IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes do, for better or worse, have inordinate sway over our collective tastes, it is at the very least disappointing to learn that only five horror flicks made it onto this particular ranking.

Ironically enough, the few films that did make the cut are all proof of the genre's power to deliver groundbreaking, important works of art, thereby standing as an indictment of the list to which they belong.

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It should be noted that IMDb's top 250 films list is ranked by user rating, which somehow makes the whole thing even worse as audiences, not some faceless corporation, neglected the horror genre. Nevertheless, the list is what it is. So, which horror films were good enough to make it into a ranking which after years still has "The Shawshank Redemption" as the greatest movie ever made?

Well, the lowest entry is "The Exorcist," which comes in at number 228 with a rating of 8.1 based on 461k votes from users. John Carpenter's "The Thing" is next up in the 149th position with an 8.2 rating based on 484k votes. "The Shining" claimed the 68th position with an 8.4 rating based on 1.1 million, while "Alien" made it to the 51st spot with its 8.5 rating based on 991k votes. Finally, Hitchcock's "Psycho" is the highest-rated horror on the list, with an 8.5 rating based on 737k votes, which places it at number 34 overall.

Before you take this list too seriously, though, consider that any registered IMDb user can vote on individual films, and that there are internal processes going on behind the scenes that complicate the final ratings we see on the site. As IMDb itself notes:

"Although we accept and consider all votes received by users, not all votes have the same impact (or 'weight') on the final rating. When unusual voting activity is detected, a different weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system. To ensure our rating mechanism remains effective, we don't disclose the exact method used to generate the rating."

20th Television

It is interesting to note that some of the horror films listed in the IMDb top 250 aren't really outright horror movies in the way "Halloween" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" are. Two of the movies that did make this list can arguably be filed under another genre entirely: sci-fi. The slow burn sci-fi horror of "Alien" or "The Thing" are part of what makes those films great, and certainly deserving of a spot on the list. But these sci-fi classics being two of only five horror movies in IMDb's top 250 films suggests that the concept of "elevated horror" still holds some sway among mass audiences who might well still see horror as requiring some extra element to make it worthy. 

Still, "Psycho" is the prototypical slasher, and though "The Shining" isn't quite the same thing, Stanley Kubrick's seminal effort is one of the best psychological horror movies ever made. In that sense, it can at least be said that some straight-up horror fare did make it onto the list. But it's still dismaying to see that, if you had no idea about the history of film and used this list as a guide, you'd have no real sense of the important role horror has played in cinema's development, from Georges Méliès's "The House of the Devil" in 1896 all the way through to horror films such as "Skinamarink," which continue to push the frontiers of filmmaking today.

It's also disappointing to note that not a single film that could be considered horror or horror-adjacent made it into IMDb's top 10 movies of all time. So, for everyone looking to remind themselves of the power of horror as a genre, check out /Film's own 106 best horror movies ever made.