Coming up with a list of the 25 best horror movies is a good way to weed out the scary movie veterans from the scaredy cats. You can spot 'em every time a jump scare happens, or a devil-possessed girl crab walks upstairs, or an alien missiles out of some poor sucker's chest.

The 25 Best Horror Movies 26 IMAGES

Okay, so we were more scared than not when working on this list. Sue us! Using overall movie quality, impact on the genre, legacy potential, fright/creepy factor and that mysterious quality known as Editor's Choice, we assembled a list of movies that guarantee you'll want to sleep with the lights on.Some of the movies here are more traditional horror fare, while others are just twisted and creepy in a "permanently scarred for life" sorta way (e.g. The Silence of the Lambs). But all of them will scare the living heck out of you. So enjoy, and fire off your own suggestions and faves in the comments!

25. Scream

24. Nosferatu

23. The Blair Witch Project

22. Dracula

21. 28 Days Later

20. The Fly

19. An American Werewolf in London

18. Let the Right One In

17. Suspiria

Of course

16. Dawn of the Dead

15. A Nightmare on Elm Street

14. Poltergeist

Both director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson have plenty of successes in their career, but Scream remains a big highlight for both men. Williamson's script managed to deftly be so many things -- it was a sly meta/self-parody about the horror genre that didn't cross the line into goofiness, while also playing as a successful whodunit and, most importantly, an effective horror film in and of itself.Finally a group of horror movie characters made it clear that yes, they'd seen all the same movies we had, and were aware of the rules and clichés that come with the genre. But no one was more knowledgeable than the killer (or is that killers?), who toyed with the victims by asking them horror movie trivia that plenty of us in the audience could have fun playing along with.But when the killer actually showed himself, it was terrifying, with several extremely well-executed suspense scenes by Craven, which proved again just how good he was with this sort of material. A movie that set out to simultaneously make the audience laugh, cheer and yes, scream, Scream deserves a lot of credit for pulling off all these elements so well.Scream's opening scene is incredibly strong and scary, instantly grabbing the audience by the throat. Watching a high school girl (Drew Barrymore) get a series of increasingly ominous phone calls, we (and she) begin to realize just how vulnerable she is. And that's when the guy with the ghost-faced mask shows up... Count Orlok is moving to Germany, and he’s bringing pestilence and shadows with him. F.W. Murnau’s shameless rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula does away with the sensuality that many associate with the undead monster, revealing the vampire to be a sad and rat-like creature, tormented by isolation and completely wrong for the modern world.Murnau seems to have a queasy fixation on Orlok and his eery appetites, and his movie paints them out with thick shadows and grotesque imagery. Max Schreck’s performance as the Count is so bizarre and hypnotic that, years later, he stills ranks as one of the most iconic horror monsters. Indeed, the horror genre is still using the language that Murnau helped invent with Nosferatu, and his film feels as deliriously creepy today as it ever did.Count Orlok’s last hurrah as he approaches a beautiful, sleeping victim is an oft-imitated and, almost 100 years later, still very creepy moment. The movie that gave birth to the widespread "horror movie as faux-documentary" trend and that inspired such films as Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project is quite an effective scare fest in retrospect.Some of its then-inspired choices in the realm of "is it or isn't real" seem dated and obvious now, given the fact that the Internet seemingly sets out to reveal spoilers that surround projects like this. (Also, we know it's all fiction at this point.) But Blair Witch came out in 1999, when the Internet was in its infancy and could be used as a tool to successfully convince audiences that maybe the story of a three-person documentary crew going snipe hunting for what turns out to be pure evil is in fact real.Blame the gift/curse of the shaky cam on this movie, but give it credit for delivering scares in such a way that changed the way we like to be scared... and that changed the way Hollywood goes about making the things that scare us.A night in the woods full of tent shaking and lots of screaming leads to a morning where one character discovers a nice gift-wrap of anatomy no longer attached to its person. All of today's mega-popular vampire franchises owe a debt of gratitude to Count Dracula. And as much as Bram Stoker's original novel helped popularize the vampire story, it was Universal's 1931 adaptation that cemented the image of Dracula in the minds of most moviegoers.Dracula condenses and combines many of the main characters from the novel, opening with the poor Mr. Renfield's arrival in Transylvania. After falling victim to Dracula's influence, the pair head to London so Dracula can feast on the city's inhabitants. Only the courageous Dr. Seward, his ally Professor Van Helsing, and their friends can prevent Dracula from slaughtering innocents and making the fair Mina his newest bride.Dracula isn't the scariest film by modern standards (though the alternate Spanish cut is superior in that regard). What it does have is plenty of atmosphere and a very memorable take on the lead villain. This adaptation diverged from the source by making Dracula a handsome, charismatic figure, and Bela Lugosi captured the imaginations of millions with his performance as Dracula. For better or worse, it was a role that would follow him for the rest of his life. And it remains the definitive portrayal of this classic villain for many.Renfield's midnight ride is full of dramatic tension as he meets the world's creepiest carriage driver. By the time he finally arrives at the castle and is introduced to its master, he and the viewer are much worse for wear. The zombie genre is bigger than ever now, and you have 28 Days Later to thank for it. The genre was practically dead by the time Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland gave zombies a much needed shot of adrenaline with this film. Seriously, this movie is pumped up on adrenaline. The zombies -- er, sorry, “infected” -- sprint through the movie, spawning endless debates about whether “fast zombies” are scarier than “slow zombies.” As if that’s the important thing.What mattered most is that 28 Days Later was more than a visceral horror experience. A great cast and a smart script treated the concept with sincerity and severity, and Boyle’s digital cinematography gave the film an immediacy that hadn’t been matched at that time. If zombies -- sigh, “infected” -- did take over the Earth, this is surely what it would look and feel like. And it would be terrifying.When Cillian Murphy finds his way into a church and starts to realize what’s really been going on since he woke up. David Cronenberg's very R-rated, very intense and very excellent remake of The Fly puts Jeff Goldblum in the role of Seth Brundle, a scientist who invents telepods meant to change the world. Instead, they change him into a man-fly monster when a fly accidentally gets trapped in one of the machines as Seth teleports from one pod to the other.The script, performances and Howard Shore's tremendous score work together to create a horror opera, one full of dark twists and practical creature effects scares. Once all the gore and vomiting-on-food-to-eat-it settles, we realize we've just watched a tragedy about a scientist who accounted for everything save nature finding a way to remind man not to play God. (Kind of fitting that Goldblum learned this lesson here and again in Jurassic Park, no?)Brundlefly inspecting a medicine cabinet-turned-museum of pieces of the man-fly that his new insect body doesn't need anymore. (Give yourself a gold star if you can spot his mason-jarred junk or if you don't wince at the moment before this scene, where Seth peels off his fingernails.) It rarely hurts to merge horror with a tinge of comedy, and John Landis' An American Werewolf in London is one of the finer examples of that combination. It's also one of several iconic werewolf movies that hit theaters in 1981. Of the trio, American Werewolf remains the most popular and well-loved.The film begins with two backpackers traveling the English countryside. When only one survives an attack by a vicious wolf, he becomes convinced he's been infected by the werewolf's curse. And it wouldn't be much of a werewolf movie if he turned out to be wrong.An American Werewolf in London stood out at the time thanks to its amazing makeup and special effects work; never had the werewolf transformation seemed so convincing. The humor didn't hurt either. And then there’s the brilliantly demented nightmare sequences. But American Werewolf was ultimately a tragic horror film, and one certainly deserving of remembrance today.American Werewolf's iconic transformation scene is a showcase for just how grotesque and painful the werewolf curse can be. When David wolfs out, what ensues is a graphic transformation of man into werewolf. This all-too convincing display of special effects and makeup work from 1981 still holds up today. Can you believe that there's a movie on our list that got its title from a Morrissey song? This most unusual of love stories is a Swedish film which hit it big internationally with its tale of a 12-year-old boy and his centuries-old vampire... who looks like a 12-year-old girl (but most certainly isn't).Whether or not Oskar and Eli's relationship is an equal partnership, or Oskar is doomed to become the vampire's next Hakan (the old and ill-fated human who takes care of Eli early in the film) isn't clear. But it's an engrossing story from start to finish.Though chock-full of bloody good horror moments, director Tomas Alfredson's film works so well because it is acutely interested in its two lead characters: Oskar, the boy who is bullied at school and finds a protector in his new, nocturnal neighbor; and Eli, a beautiful little cherub who's actually not even a girl and certainly not a cherub. Weird, right? But so good.This may be a controversial pick (and a spoilery one), but we'd have to go with the closing moments of the film, as Oskar and Eli head off for a new life together as friends and/or love interests. Or as master and slave? You decide, but it is creepy either way.we're including a giallo film on this list, though the question did come up as to which of the Italian horror masters was most deserving to represent this distinctive genre. In the end, we had to give it to Dario Argento and his Suspiria -- a supernatural shocker that is an experience in style as well as terror.The film is about an American ballerina who travels to Germany to attend a dance academy, but instead gets a tutu full of trouble when she comes to realize that the place is home to a coven of witches who are brewing up all kinds of deadly mischief.The picture might seem over the top in some ways, but Argento proves masterful at creating an environment and a world that is uniquely its own thing. The gruesome, convoluted killings, the garish color design, the freaked-out sound (including a haunting score by Goblin)... this is the stuff that nightmares are made of.Don't even bother turning the lights off, since the film gets right to it with a double murder early on that sees one young lady staring out a window into the dark, only to suddenly realize that a pair of eyes are staring back. This leads to stabbings, a hanging and, finally, impalement by stained glass for her and her friend. George Romero practically created the zombie movie genre single-handedly in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. Ten years later he refined the formula with Dawn of the Dead. Far bigger, gorier, and funnier than its predecessor, Dawn of the Dead remains Romero's definitive work.Whereas Night featured a small cast of survivors holed up in a remote farmhouse, Dawn opens with a glimpse of a major metropolitan area falling to chaos during the zombie outbreak. It isn't long before our four heroes are forced to leave town and barricade themselves inside a shopping mall. But as it turns out, the undead hordes still retain enough of their old selves to feel the need to shop and consume.The true brilliance of Dawn is how it combined straight-up zombie carnage with a healthy dose of satire and social commentary. At the end of the day, are modern Americans really so different from the shambling undead? They crave warm flesh; we crave iPhones.When Roger finally succumbs to his bite wounds, it’s a tragic moment that really drives home what our characters have lost in this world. By 1984 the slasher movie had been done to death (excuse the pun). Just how many masked killers could you see before fatigue set in? But Wes Craven had a brilliant twist on these types of films. First, he created a killer, Freddy Krueger, who instantly stood out from the rest of the pack. His face was burned beyond recognition, but Freddy wore no mask and didn't stay silent.In fact, he had plenty of cruel taunts for his victims. More importantly, his domain was the dream world, where he could stalk and terrorize without any rules to bind him -- if you ran away from him, he could just as easily be waiting for you as you approached. There was nowhere to hide from Freddy because we all have to sleep sometime, right?Featuring a more down to Earth and relatable group of young characters than most slasher films, A Nightmare on Elm Street made a huge impact upon its release, thanks to its excellent conceit and amazing villain, and Craven's talent at building tension and delivering the goods in his murder scenes. And with Freddy, Craven gave us one of the most popular, durable and recognizable movie characters of all time.When Freddy gets a hold of Tina in her dream, we suddenly realize just how big the stakes are, as her sleeping body is pulled up into the air, and four fatal cuts rip into her. The fact that she's dragged along the ceiling, screaming, before she dies, as her boyfriend looks on in horror, only adds to the shock of the scene. After Poltergeist, all of a sudden quaint cookie-cutter houses everywhere became haunted death-traps, ravaged by violent Native American ghosts who weren't too pleased about their current state of "unrest."Director Tobe Hooper and producer Steven Spielberg created a veritable masterwork that took the ghost story out of ancient castles and haunted mansions and shoved it, without apology, into the happy suburban track home.Almost every single part of this movie is so full of devastating win -- from Carol Ann's warbled white-noise voice to freakin' angry trees that bust through your window to grab you -- that one is almost able to forgive the less-than-warranted sequels. This house may now be "clean," but your pants are going to need changing.Man. Just pick anything. How about the guy who tears his own face apart or the malicious clown doll that loves to strangle or the vengeful zombies coming out of the swimming pool? This movie will hit you from every direction and leave you cowering in the corner.