10 Essential Horror Movies of the 1990s, Ranked

The 1990s may not have been the best decade for horror, but filmmakers still tried their best to make some memorable stories. This is the decade when people got into watching movies from other countries, specifically when Japanese horror entered the landscape and started winning people over with its eerie, inimitable features. With a lot more popular international horror movies, the genre got enriched and was given a lot more depth during the 90s (though international features weren’t exactly needed for understanding how deep horror can be).

To understand the impact of the most essential horror movies of the 1990s is to look at the times – a lot of the most popular horror features became like that because of either word of mouth or brilliant marketing. They’re among the first features that experienced the modernization in film and media, and started to understand the importance of good marketing. While some movies don’t have more than a good ad run to boast about, these essential horror movies have that, and they’re incredible contributions to the genre to boot.

10

‘Event Horizon’ (1997)

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

Event Horizon was initially critically panned and a box office failure. However, its impact was reevaluated later and today, it’s an appreciated cult film with a massive following. In some way, Event Horizon has become essential to the 1990s retroactively, but it’s an important movie to watch and understand the sci-fi/horror landscape of the time. Having the misfortune of premiering just before Titanic, Paul W.S. Anderson was forced to cut production and edit Event Horizon much faster than originally planned. Paramount wanted a hit before Titanic, and in a way, Event Horizon became the underdog scapegoat for a more popular box office hit.

The movie follows the search for the lost spaceship called Event Horizon. When it suddenly sends out a signal after years of being lost, a crew of astronauts is sent to find it and retrieve it. However, when the astronauts find and board the ship, they encounter a bloody scene and begin having visions. The movie unfolds in gory, hallucinatory scenes, and it’s full of body horror-type scenes. More than physical hell, though, Event Horizon represents a descent into madness, and combining the two encapsulates the feeling of horror many fans of the genre look for in a good horror movie.

9

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (1997)

Directed by Jim Gilespie

Though maybe not the greatest horror movie ever, I Know What You Did Last Summer holds a special place in many people’s hearts. It was a sort of blockbuster hit that teenagers were happy to play hookie for and go see, mainly because Jennifer Love Hewitt was a universal crush to so many people. In other ways, I Know What You Did Last Summer was the first ensemble slasher after Scream, and people wanted to experience that once more. This is one of the parodied slashers in Scary Movie, further enhancing its pop culture relevance.

I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of four friends who cover up hitting a man with their car. A year later, they start getting threatening messages that say the one who wrote them knows what happened the year before; the group begins suspecting each other, but they’re chased and taken out one by one by a hook-wielding killer. The movie was based on the Lois Duncan novel of the same name, but its popularity turned it into a massive franchise, steering away from the novel. Inspired by 1980s slashers, this movie is a great addition to the subgenre.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Release Date

October 17, 1997

Runtime

101 minutes

Director

Jim Gillespie

Writers

Kevin Williamson

Sequel(s)

I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

8

‘Misery’ (1990)

Directed by Rob Reiner

Stephen King‘s novels are notoriously hard to adapt for the screen, but Misery stood that test of time and managed to kidnap people’s hearts. A horror of its own kind, Misery psychologically torments both its protagonist and the audience. The novel of the same name was written from the perspective of the kidnapped writer Paul Sheldon, and the movie often takes on a similar role, with director Rob Reiner deciding to let Kathy Bates stand alone in most frames, and even look like she’s speaking directly to the camera in several scenes.

Misery follows Paul Sheldon (James Caan), a writer of a series of romance novels called Misery. As Paul wants to move on, he writes a final manuscript in which Misery dies; going on a trip to New York to talk to his publisher, Paul gets caught in a blizzard and gets severely injured. He’s rescued by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be Sheldon’s number one fan. She takes him hostage after realizing Misery dies in the latest novel, forcing him to rewrite the novel. Anthony Hopkins called Bates’ performance the “best piece of mad acting he’s ever seen”, and she was universally recognized for making Misery chilling and terrifying. Misery is essential for Stephen King fans and those who wish to evaluate horror from a psychological perspective.

Misery

Release Date

November 30, 1990

Runtime

107 minutes

7

‘Ringu’ (1998)

Directed by Hideo Nakata

A decade when everyone collectively agreed to watch movies with subtitles also coincides with Japanese filmmakers creating some brilliantly terrifying horror movies. J-horror has become a staple in many horror-loving households, and these movies promise high-value entertainment with an added psychological toll. Ringu may be the first J-horror feature film that people in the West universally accepted; the movie sparked inspiration for a franchise, including American remakes that also branched out into sequels.

Ringu follows journalist Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who investigates a supposedly deadly videotape that’s been circulating around high schools. It’s said that whoever watches the tape receives a call afterward that tells them they’ll die in seven days. Reiko enlists the help of her ex-husband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), who has a sixth sense and senses supernatural presences. Ringu is a masterclass in scares, with perfect directing, editing, and even a stunning musical score; it’s one of the movies where it’s most apparent that sound design carries a lot of tension.

Ringu

Release Date

January 31, 1998

Runtime

95 Minutes

Director

Hideo Nakata

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6

‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999)

Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

The movie that popularized and brought found footage horror back to its old glory was The Blair Witch Project. Though imperfect, the movie’s relevance is similar to what I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream did for the genre, giving it freshness in the form of a blockbuster hit. The most deserving players in the success of The Blair Witch Project are undoubtedly its creators – Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick. They used the power of the Internet – this brand-new thing – to advertise their movie, which is now also a paragon in film marketing.

Sánchez and Myrick created a website about an urban legend called The Curse of the Blair Witch. They listed details of residents’ disappearances from the town of Blair, Maryland, which were universally blamed on a local witch who lived in the 18th century and haunted the area. The movie, The Blair Witch Project, follows three film students as they head out to Blair to record a documentary about Blair Witch. There’s little shown in terms of the witch itself; the movie rather emphasizes an ominous presence, and “found” video footage makes the movie scarier and more convincing. No matter what folks think about The Blair Witch Project, it remains one of the most influential horror movies of the 1990s.

5

‘Audition’ (1999)

Directed by Takashi Miike

Back to Japan, where Takashi Miike cooked up one of the most disturbing horror movies of all time – Audition. The movie changes lanes halfway, evoking a feeling of going from 0 to 100 in a blink of an eye, shifting the mood from a weird romantic story to a downright scarring psychological horror. The movie is good when watched only once, but anyone who has the affinity for rewatching movies will notice many new details in the story that analyzes loneliness, trauma, innocence, and the corelation between feminism and misogyny.

Audition is an adaptation of Ryu Murakami‘s novel of the same name, and it follows widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), whose best friend lures him into throwing a false audition for a movie that will actually be a front for finding Aoyama a new girlfriend. When the young Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) appears, Aoyama is instantly smitten and the two start dating. Aoyama gets hit with an unpleasant surprise when he realizes that innocent and sweet Asami is the complete opposite of his beliefs. Eihi Shiina stuns in a challenging role, but her portrayal makes Asami one of the greatest female villains of all time; Audition is the perfect horror movie to round up the 1990s, which were, most definitely, the decade of J-horror.

Audition

Release Date

March 3, 2000

Runtime

115 minutes

Writers

Daisuke Tengan

4

‘Cure’ (1997)

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Kiyoshi Kurosawa uses horror as a means to an end. Finding the genre ideal to convey a message isn’t unusual, as themes often covered in horror movies include some of the most challenging human emotions, from grief and anger to loneliness and ambition. Cure concentrates on memory and experience more than emotion; it shows how volatile the human psyche can be when under a strange influence. Kurosawa himself said he doesn’t plan the final cut of his movies far in advance, but it’d be interesting to know how he views the ending of Cure, since it’s heavily debated.

Cure follows detective Kenichi Takabe (Koji Yakusho), who’s faced with gruesome crimes that seem to be done in the same pattern – the people who committed the crimes remember doing them, they just don’t know why. In parallel, the story follows the silently strange young man Kunio Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) as he meets people who end up strangely influenced by him. When Mamiya and Takabe finally meet, the movie takes viewers on a rollercoaster, wondering what’s real and what isn’t. Cure is a masterclass in psychological horror, and one of the most perfect horror movies of the 1990s.

Cure

Release Date

December 27, 1997

Runtime

111 Minutes

Director

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

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  Masato Hagiwara

  Det. Kenichi Takabe

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  Kôji Yakusho

  Kunio Mamiya

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  Tsuyoshi Ujiki

  Dr. Makoto Sakuma

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  Anna Nakagawa

  Fumie Takabe

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3

‘Candyman’ (1992)

Directed by Bernard Rose

Candyman, Candyman, Cand— that’s enough, right? Though there’s no mirror, evoking the chant from one of the scariest 90s horror movies isn’t a piece of cake. The eerie story of a famous artist and slave’s son, Daniel Robitaille, who was killed by a lynch mob for falling in love with a white woman, is the lore of one of the best horror movies of the 1990s (and in general). Candyman got a decent remake by Nia DaCosta in 2021, but nothing could top the original with the late Tony Todd, which was nightmare fuel for most people who watched the movie when it first came out.

Candyman follows graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), who investigates the urban legend about Candyman as part of her graduation paper. She and a colleague learn that the man from the urban legend can be summoned by saying his name five times in the mirror; Helen and her colleague try it, but nothing happens – at first. Helen and Candyman then begin a cat-and-mouse chase, and the legend slowly becomes reinforced. Candyman truly has interesting and elaborate lore, and it’s a brilliant movie that doesn’t need to be defined only by the word “horror.”

Candyman

Release Date

October 16, 1992

Runtime

100 Minutes

Director

Bernard Rose

2

‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme

Many wouldn’t consider The Silence of the Lambs a horror movie, but it has all the elements of one: a series of murders, an eerie serial killer that causes chills in the viewers, and a final girl that overtakes the odds. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins do a dance of wits as FBI detective Clarice Starling and imprisoned cannibal and psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter; their dynamic becomes blurred as Clarice is inexperienced in the field but intelligent enough to fascinate Hannibal.

The Silence of the Lambs follows Clarice as she advises with Hannibal Lecter on catching a serial killer on the loose called Buffalo Bill. As an experienced genius psychiatrist, Lecter understands how Buffalo Bill ticks, and Clarice learns firsthand about a mind of a killer. The Silence of the Lambs was based on Thomas Harris‘ novel of the same name, and is often considered one of the best movies of all time. With Hopkins delivering the perfect villain performance, The Silence of the Lambs can be considered a horror movie for it alone.

The Silence of the Lambs

Release Date

February 14, 1991

Runtime

118 Minutes

1

‘Scream’ (1996)

Directed by Wes Craven

What other movie could be more defining and essential to the 90s than Scream? The slasher horror masterpiece unexpectedly made history, winning over global audiences in a slash. The screenwriter Kevin Williamson was apparently on his last legs, struggling to get a good story out, and then he read about real-life murders that happened on a college campus in 1990. Teaming up with Wes Craven, both artists saw something to gain and not much more to lose, and the movie became the best Christmas slasher of all time (as it was released near Christmastime in 1996).

Scream follows a group of high-school friends, with Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as the protagonist and the standout of the group. The kids in the school begin to receive terrifying phone calls followed by a masked murderer entering their home and killing them. The killer becomes known as Ghostface, because of his signature black outfit and a white elongated face mask; terror, paranoia, and fear spread through campus, as the friends all begin to doubt each other. The movie evokes some slasher clichés while also delivering intense thrills; Scream is a well-known franchise today, and it has word of mouth to thank for its blockbuster status.

Scream

Release Date

December 20, 1996

Runtime

111 minutes

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