(Photo by courtesy Everett Collection)
Unearth the best 1960s movies ever and you’ll see the decade started off screaming. Psycho titillated audiences showing Janet Leigh in a bra before serving up one of the most shocking death scenes ever committed to screen – it still shocks some 60 years later. Both Psycho and Peeping Tom released the same year and both share comment on voyeurism, with the latter going as far as implicating the viewer in its POV murder shots. Introducing such a lurid concept was enough to get Peeping Tom pulled from theaters, and all but killed director Michael Powell’s career.
The introduction of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the late ’40s created a new palate for international cinema, and while the ’50s were filled with prestige pics like The Seventh Seal and Seven Samurai, genre movies from abroad began to light up theaters. This includes horror classics like Eyes Without a Face, Kwaidan, Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace, and Hour of the Wolf. And after ramping up in the ’50s, British horror entered a prestige era with The Haunting, House of Usher, The Devil Rides Out, and Village of the Damned.
By 1968, the Hays Code (which delineated what violence, sex, and themes could be depicted on American screens) was all but gone, and that same year The Night of the Living Dead birthed a new age of independent cinema and the zombie genre itself. Speaking of birth: Rosemary’s Baby also came out in ’68, capping a decade of memorable psychological thrillers like The Innocents, What Ever happened to Baby Jane?, Persona, and Seconds.
To compile this list of ’60s horror, we took every critically-approved genre movie of the decade, and then ranked them by Tomatometer score, with Certified Fresh films first! Now, read on for the best 1960s horror movies!
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#1
Adjusted Score: 112334%
Critics Consensus: Infamous for its shower scene, but immortal for its contribution to the horror genre. Because Psycho was filmed with tact, grace, and art, Hitchcock didn’t just create modern horror, he validated it.
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#2
Adjusted Score: 104590%
Critics Consensus: A horrific tale of guilt and obsession, Eyes Without a Face is just as chilling and poetic today as it was when it was first released.
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#3
Adjusted Score: 106912%
Critics Consensus: A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon.
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#4
Adjusted Score: 105912%
Critics Consensus: George A. Romero’s debut set the template for the zombie film, and features tight editing, realistic gore, and a sly political undercurrent.
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#5
Adjusted Score: 103153%
Critics Consensus: Peeping Tom is a chilling, methodical look at the psychology of a killer, and a classic work of voyeuristic cinema.
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#6
Adjusted Score: 101752%
Critics Consensus: Creepily atmospheric, The Innocents is a stylishly crafted, chilling British ghost tale with Deborah Kerr at her finest.
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#7
Adjusted Score: 102340%
Critics Consensus: Proving once again that build-up is the key to suspense, Alfred Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history.
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#8
Adjusted Score: 97914%
Critics Consensus: Chilling performances and a restrained, eerie atmosphere make this British horror both an unnerving parable of its era and a timeless classic.
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#9
Adjusted Score: 97031%
Critics Consensus: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? combines powerhouse acting, rich atmosphere, and absorbing melodrama in service of a taut thriller with thought-provoking subtext.
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#10
Adjusted Score: 98165%
Critics Consensus: Arguably Bergman’s finest film, Persona explores the human condition with intense curiosity, immense technical skill, and beguiling warmth.
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#11
Adjusted Score: 95700%
Critics Consensus: Exquisitely designed and fastidiously ornate, Masaki Kobayashi’s ambitious anthology operates less as a frightening example of horror and more as a meditative tribute to Japanese folklore.
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#12
Adjusted Score: 92428%
Critics Consensus: Both psychological and supernatural, The Haunting is a chilling character study.
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#13
Adjusted Score: 90181%
Critics Consensus: Scary, strange, and maybe a little silly, House of Usher represents an early high mark for Vincent Price and a career triumph for director Roger Corman.
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#14
Adjusted Score: 86588%
Critics Consensus: Featuring dazzling, disorienting cinematography from the great James Wong Howe and a strong lead performance by Rock Hudson, Seconds is a compellingly paranoid take on the legend of Faust.
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#15
Adjusted Score: 100707%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#16
Adjusted Score: 100254%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#17
Adjusted Score: 94065%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#18
Adjusted Score: 84487%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#19
Adjusted Score: 74129%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#20
Adjusted Score: 98545%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#21
Adjusted Score: 98262%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#22
Adjusted Score: 95101%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#23
Adjusted Score: 95253%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#24
Adjusted Score: 94687%
Critics Consensus: Ingmar Bergman makes a successful foray into horror with Hour of the Wolf, infusing the demons that spring from creativity with his trademark psychological curiosity.
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#25
Adjusted Score: 91363%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#26
Adjusted Score: 91478%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#27
Adjusted Score: 92964%
Critics Consensus: A startling directorial debut by Peter Bogdanovich mixes an homage to Boris Karloff horror films with a timely sniper story to create a thriller with modern baggage and old school shock and awe.
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#28
Adjusted Score: 91609%
Critics Consensus: A chilling visual treat, Pit and the Pendulum unites genre masters Roger Corman and Vincent Price with delightfully dark results.
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#29
Adjusted Score: 90553%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#30
Adjusted Score: 89115%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#31
Adjusted Score: 90624%
Critics Consensus: By turns lurid and disturbing, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes is a compelling piece of sci-fi pulp and one of Roger Corman’s most effective movies.
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#32
Adjusted Score: 88050%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#33
Adjusted Score: 89101%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#34
Adjusted Score: 88098%
Critics Consensus: Mario Bava’s official narrative debut is a witchy nightmare steeped in gothic splendor, shot in chiaroscuro black and white and punctuated with startling gore.
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#35
Adjusted Score: 87978%
Critics Consensus: Three auteurs descend on the works of Poe, each putting on a ghoulish show — adapting The Tomahawk Man’s tales of dreams and fright, with Fellini’s segment particularly out of sight.
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#36
Adjusted Score: 79002%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#37
Adjusted Score: 80697%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#38
Adjusted Score: 86735%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#39
Adjusted Score: 84509%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#40
Adjusted Score: 85151%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#41
Adjusted Score: 82956%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#42
Adjusted Score: 82270%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#43
Adjusted Score: 80859%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#44
Adjusted Score: 81594%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#45
Adjusted Score: 79535%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#46
Adjusted Score: 80206%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#47
Adjusted Score: 78258%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#48
Adjusted Score: 78335%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#49
Adjusted Score: 76372%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#50
Adjusted Score: 75118%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#51
Adjusted Score: 73470%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#52
Adjusted Score: 73525%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#53
Adjusted Score: 73988%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#54
Adjusted Score: 69446%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#55
Adjusted Score: 74464%
Critics Consensus: This uneven but amiable 1967 vampire picture is part horror spoof, part central European epic, and 100 percent Roman Polanski, whose signature sensibility colors every frame.
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#56
Adjusted Score: 70568%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#57
Adjusted Score: 73182%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#58
Adjusted Score: 56594%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#59
Adjusted Score: 49817%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#60
Adjusted Score: 40116%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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#61
Adjusted Score: 49445%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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