10 Best Years in Horror Movie History

The history of horror movies stretches on for more than a century, but the best years in the genre's timeline stand out as being especially terrifying and important. Some of the earliest silent films were horror, and it's the most consistent genre in cinema. While it has changed significantly in the last 100 years, its popularity has never really waned.

Evolving from moody black-and-white silent chillers to the diverse range of horror seen today, the genre is constantly changing to suit the needs (and fears) of the modern audience. Even though originality and surprise are cornerstones of the genre, there are also strong trends within horror that come and go with each generation. Some years become pinnacles for these trends.

Often culminating within one 12-month period, some years of horror history completely transform the genre, or introduce new ideas that push boundaries further than they have ever been pushed before. While these years are becoming increasingly rare as horror further diversifies, there are still instances when one year stands out from the rest.

2018

Modern horror is so varied that it's almost impossible to pick out trends. Therefore, 2018 was a landmark year not for its consistency, but for the opposite. Highlights include films like Hereditary and Annihilation, but there were also more conventional horror flicks like A Quiet Place and Bird Box that exploded in popularity with general audiences.

2018 was a scattershot year, but that's why it's the perfect representation of 21st century horror. Box offices boomed thanks to blockbusters like The Nun, but mind-bending experiments like Mandy also found pretty large audiences on streaming. Some years in the 2010s might have had brighter highlights, but no other year from the decade so perfectly summarized the pre-COVID era.

1999

The first half of the 1990s was a 1980s hangover, and there was a rejection of trends in the decade's middle years. By 1999, horror had finally moved away from its irreverent mood, and established its own identity as the decade closed. Films like The Blair Witch Project reminded viewers that horror could still be groundbreaking.

Marrying DIY spirit with burgeoning internet technology, no film better sums up 1999 than the found footage classic. Meanwhile, new voices like M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) appeared, while established directors like Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow) delivered some of their best work. Ironically, in a year with so many remakes, there were so many original films too.

1987

By 1987, horror had firmly found its groove and the year represented the pinnacle of the decade's franchise obsession. Evil Dead II and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors weren't just some of the most popular films of the year, but some of the best as well. Even though sequels abounded, new ideas were still common too.

Hellraiser introduced Clive Barker as the next big thing, and Lost Boys was quintessential '80s horror. The year was dominated by sequels, but there was a lot of diversity within the genre. Predator combined science fiction and horror, while The Stepfather put a distinctly psychological twist on the played-out slasher formula. 1987 proved that horror wasn't stuck in a rut.

1981

It's impossible to overstate Friday the 13th's influence, and 1981 was littered with movies aiming to cash in on the slasher's success. Happy Birthday to Me, The Burning, My Bloody Valentine, and The Funhouse are some of the most famous examples, but there were many others. Despite such a strong trend, 1981 still produced many classics.

Besides the aforementioned slashers, there were other trends. The Evil Dead carried the torch for supernatural horror, while An American Werewolf in London combined a keen cinematic vision with a sharp sense of humor. The ensuing years would be dominated by sequels and slashers, but 1981 still maintained the sense of originality that drives the horror genre.

1980

A new decade meant a new era of horror was beginning, and 1980 was another year without an identity. The trends of the '70s were slowly dying off, which opened the door for films like Friday the 13th and Prom Night to claim the upcoming decade for the slasher. However, the supernatural horror subgenre made a strong case as well.

Stephen King's The Shining was arguably the best horror film of the year, but it stands in a category all its own. Meanwhile, urban horrors like Maniac and Don't Answer the Phone exploited modern fears. Overall, the strength of 1980 is that so many ideas were being thrown out, that there's something for everyone.

1978

Things moved much slower in the past, and 1978 represented the culmination of every horror movement throughout the 1970s. Earlier movies of the decade introduced a lot of the ideas found in Halloween and Dawn of the Dead, but those two films specifically cemented the era's legacy. Elsewhere, the genre was torn between its conventional roots and newer, grittier ideas.

Halloween solidified the slasher, while Dawn of the Dead further modernized the tropes of the zombie flick while tying them into contemporary social issues. There weren't as many highlights in 1978, but each of the year's best horror movies indicated a much larger shift in the genre that would come to fruition in the future.

1974

With the Vietnam War ending, and all the man-made nightmares of the conflict laid bare, horror had a mean streak in the middle of the '70s. Flashes of brilliance in the '60s were eventually snuffed out by years of somewhat dull and overproduced Hollywood horror, but terrifying new visions like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre arrived in 1974 to change that.

Horror movies couldn't compete with the real-life destruction seen on the news every night, so newcomers like Tobe Hooper upped the ante with gruesome and senseless violence. Black Christmas replaced the usual supernatural movie monster with a more human villain, bringing horror in line with the dark realities of modern life. 1974's horror wasn't just scary, it was real.

1968

The legacy of 1960s horror is really only defined by a handful of movies, and two of the most important came out in 1968. Released alongside a ton of monster movies and creature features starring Old Hollywood relics, Rosemary's Baby and Night of the Living Dead gave the genre its first revolution in nearly a decade.

The former combined urban horror with the trappings of devil movies (which were popular at the time), while the latter made horror socially conscious whether it meant to or not. George Romero not only established the modern image of a zombie, but broke new ground by addressing issues of race when it was the prominent social topic of the day.

1960

Though it seems quaint today, there was a tectonic shift in horror in 1960. Atomic fears and the popularity of sci-fi had pushed horror to the backburner in the post-WWII years, but it came back with a vengeance at the outset of the '60s. Alfred Hitchcock took a hard turn toward horror with Psycho, but he wasn't alone.

Psycho was unlike anything Hollywood had produced, and it premiered around the same time that Michael Powell released a similar film, Peeping Tom. Both films explored the psychology of evil, examining the rise of motiveless violent crime that was in the news on the daily. Horror would regress throughout the '60s, but the importance of 1960 was seen years later.

1931

Though horror existed before the advent of sound cinema, it truly hit its stride in 1931. Universal was the first movie studio to fully commit to the genre, and they released two of their greatest masterpieces in the same calendar year. Dracula and Frankenstein both premiered in 1931, and can be credited for kicking off the horror craze in earnest.

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi became two of the first icons of the genre, and their performances defined a generation of horror cinema. Horror movies went from novelty to bona fide blockbusters, and Universal's Classic Monster cycle produced most of the great films of the era. Nearly 100 years later, Dracula and Frankenstein are still celebrated as cornerstones of horror.