13 Best Horror Movies to Watch, From Classics to 2025 Hits

The best horror movies to watch include classics like The Exorcist (1973), The Thing (1982) and Halloween (1978), modern hits like The Conjuring (2013), IT (2017) and Hereditary (2018), and recent standouts like Talk to Me (2023), Sinners (2025) and Weapons (2025). This list mixes ghost stories, slashers, monsters and slow-burn psychological horror.

We have refreshed this list for 2026. Rob Zombie’s 2007 Halloween remake makes way for John Carpenter’s 1978 original, and three newer films join the classics.

Best horror movies to watch: quick list

The classics

1. The Haunting (1963)

Robert Wise’s black-and-white film is based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House. A small group spends time in a huge old mansion to study reports of ghosts. There is almost no blood. The fear comes from sound, shadows and slow camera work, and it still works today.

2. The Exorcist (1973)

William Friedkin’s film follows 12-year-old Regan, whose behaviour changes after she is possessed by a demon. Two priests attempt to save her. It was the first horror film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and won two Academy Awards. Many critics still call it the scariest film ever made.

3. Halloween (1978)

John Carpenter’s low-budget slasher introduced Michael Myers, the masked killer who stalks babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) on Halloween night. Its music and long, quiet shots shaped the slasher genre for decades. Curtis returned for a later trilogy that ended with Halloween Ends (2022).

4. The Thing (1982)

Kurt Russell leads a team at an Antarctic research station that finds a shape-shifting alien able to copy any living being. Nobody knows who is still human. It flopped on release, partly because it opened around the same time as E.T., but it is now seen as one of the best creature films ever made.

5. The Ring (2002)

Gore Verbinski’s remake of Hideo Nakata’s Japanese film Ringu (1998) stars Naomi Watts as a journalist looking into a videotape that kills viewers seven days after watching. The film was a big hit and introduced many Indian and Western viewers to Japanese horror.

Modern horror hits

6. Insidious (2010)

James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell made this low-budget film about a boy who falls into a mysterious coma while his parents, played by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, face strange events at home. It launched a long franchise, with Insidious: The Red Door (2023) as the fifth film.

7. Sinister (2012)

Ethan Hawke plays a true-crime writer who moves his family into a house where a family was murdered. In the attic, he finds old home movies showing more killings. Scott Derrickson’s film uses those clips brilliantly, and it is often listed among the scariest films of its decade.

8. The Conjuring (2013)

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who help a family in a farmhouse in Rhode Island. The film started the Conjuring Universe, which includes Annabelle and The Nun. The main series ended with The Conjuring: Last Rites in 2025.

9. IT (2017)

Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel follows a group of kids in Derry who face Pennywise, a shape-shifting clown played by Bill Skarsgard. It became one of the highest-grossing horror films ever. IT Chapter Two followed in 2019.

10. Hereditary (2018)

Ari Aster’s debut is a family drama about grief that slowly turns into something much darker. Toni Collette’s performance as a mother falling apart is the reason many critics rank it among the best horror films of the century so far. Watch it with no spoilers.

New horror films worth watching (2023 to 2025)

11. Talk to Me (2023)

Australian YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou made their feature debut with this story of teenagers who use an embalmed hand to contact spirits at parties. It treats possession like a viral party trick, which feels very current. A24 released it, and it became a surprise hit.

12. Sinners (2025)

Ryan Coogler’s film stars Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers who return to their Mississippi hometown in the 1930s to open a juke joint. On opening night, vampires arrive. It mixes music, history and horror, and it drew praise from critics and audiences alike.

13. Weapons (2025)

Zach Cregger, who made Barbarian (2022), wrote and directed this mystery about 17 children from one class who all leave their homes at the same time one night and disappear. Julia Garner and Josh Brolin lead the cast. The story is told in chapters from different points of view.

Before you stream any of these, check the current listings on Netflix, Prime Video and JioHotstar, as licences in India change often. For more picks, see our Hollywood and movies sections.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Wikipedia: The Exorcist, Wikipedia: Sinners (2025 film), India TV: Weapons OTT update.