THE LAST LIGHT CANON / EDITORIAL RANKING
One hundred films.
One opening argument.
Weighing craft, influence, staying power, and the way a film gets under your skin. This is our editorial judgment—not a critics’ aggregate, audience poll, or objective verdict.
Read the list. Disagree with it. Make your own.
Make your own rankingThe Thing
1982 · John Carpenter · Creature / Body horror
Trust melts away at an Antarctic outpost. Bring friends. Suspect everyone.
Alien
1979 · Ridley Scott · Sci-fi / Creature
A distress call, a working spaceship, and something that should have stayed asleep.
The Exorcist
1973 · William Friedkin · Drama / Mystery / Supernatural
Psycho
1960 · Alfred Hitchcock · Drama / Mystery / Psychological
The Shining
1980 · Stanley Kubrick · Psychological / Haunted house
A winter job in an empty hotel leaves far too much room for the past.
Halloween
1978 · John Carpenter · Slasher
A quiet suburb. A long shadow. The essential October-night ritual.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974 · Tobe Hooper · Slasher / Survival
A sun-blasted road trip becomes a raw nightmare that feels far too close.
Rosemary's Baby
1968 · Roman Polanski · Drama / Gothic / Psychological
Night of the Living Dead
1968 · George A. Romero · Zombie / Survival / Social horror
Strangers barricade a farmhouse while the outside world becomes unrecognizable.
Get Out
2017 · Jordan Peele · Psychological / Social horror
Meeting the family becomes a nightmare of manners, control, and stolen agency.
The Innocents
1961 · Jack Clayton · Ghost story / Haunted house
Nosferatu
1922 · F. W. Murnau · Vampire / Silent
The long shadow at the root of a century of screen vampires.
Bride of Frankenstein
1935 · James Whale · Sci-fi
The Witch
2015 · Robert Eggers · Folk / Supernatural
A family at the edge of the woods, and a faith coming apart at the seams.
Hereditary
2018 · Ari Aster · Supernatural / Psychological
Grief becomes a trap in a family tragedy that keeps opening darker doors.
Suspiria
1977 · Dario Argento · Supernatural / Giallo
A dance academy becomes a fever dream of impossible color and unseen malice.
The Wicker Man
1973 · Robin Hardy · Folk / Mystery
A missing-person investigation arrives on an island whose rituals resist explanation.
Let the Right One In
2008 · Tomas Alfredson · Vampire / Drama
An isolated child finds an unusual companion in the cold of a Swedish winter.
The Fly
1986 · David Cronenberg · Body horror / Sci-fi
A scientific breakthrough transforms into an intimate study of losing yourself.
The Haunting
1963 · Robert Wise · Ghost story / Psychological / Haunted house
Scream
1996 · Wes Craven · Slasher / Mystery
The rules of horror get turned against a town that thinks it knows them.
Jaws
1975 · Steven Spielberg · Creature / Sci-fi / Survival
Dawn of the Dead
1978 · George A. Romero · Action / Drama / Sci-fi
A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984 · Wes Craven · Slasher / Supernatural
Sleep becomes unsafe in a suburban nightmare with a vicious imagination.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1920 · Robert Wiene · Fantasy / Gothic / Psychological
The Night of the Hunter
1955 · Charles Laughton · Drama / Thriller
Don't Look Now
1973 · Nicolas Roeg · Drama
The Babadook
2014 · Jennifer Kent · Psychological / Supernatural
An unwelcome storybook makes itself at home in a house already full of grief.
It Follows
2014 · David Robert Mitchell · Supernatural
A slow-moving threat turns every background figure into a reason to look twice.
The Descent
2005 · Neil Marshall · Creature / Survival
A caving trip tightens into a nightmare of darkness, distance, and distrust.
The Silence of the Lambs
1991 · Jonathan Demme · Drama / Psychological / Thriller
Carrie
1976 · Brian De Palma · Drama / Psychological / Supernatural
Frankenstein
1931 · James Whale · Creature / Sci-fi
Audition
1999 · Takashi Miike · Drama / Psychological / Thriller
Ring
1998 · Hideo Nakata · Fantasy / Ghost story / Supernatural
Possession
1981 · Andrzej Żuławski · Drama / Surreal
Videodrome
1983 · David Cronenberg · Body horror / Drama / Fantasy
Black Christmas
1974 · Bob Clark · Slasher
Cat People
1942 · Jacques Tourneur · Fantasy
The Devil's Backbone
2001 · Guillermo del Toro · Drama / Fantasy / Gothic
Eyes Without a Face
1960 · Claude Sautet & Georges Franju · Drama
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1978 · Philip Kaufman · Mystery / Psychological / Sci-fi
The Blair Witch Project
1999 · Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez · Found footage / Folk
Three filmmakers, a forest, and the terrible feeling of walking in circles.
Evil Dead II
1987 · Sam Raimi · Comedy / Supernatural
A cabin fever dream of slapstick, splatter, and spectacular practical effects.
An American Werewolf in London
1981 · John Landis · Werewolf / Comedy
A walking holiday takes a strange turn between black comedy and transformation.
The Evil Dead
1981 · Sam Raimi · Supernatural / Body horror
A remote cabin and a very bad reading choice unleash rough-edged supernatural chaos.
Shaun of the Dead
2004 · Edgar Wright · Comedy / Zombie
An ordinary bad week meets an extraordinary dead end. Pub plans included.
Train to Busan
2016 · Yeon Sang-ho · Zombie / Survival
A train becomes a moving test of who we protect when everything falls apart.
The Others
2001 · Alejandro Amenábar · Haunted house / Mystery
Draw the curtains and listen closely: this house has rules for a reason.
Candyman
1992 · Bernard Rose · Supernatural / Social horror
An urban legend speaks back to the researcher who thinks she is only documenting it.
The Changeling
1980 · Peter Medak · Mystery / Thriller / Haunted house
The Omen
1976 · Richard Donner · Mystery / Thriller
The Sixth Sense
1999 · M. Night Shyamalan · Supernatural / Mystery
A troubled child and a psychologist try to make sense of what the living miss.
Repulsion
1965 · Roman Polanski · Comedy / Drama / Mystery
The Birds
1963 · Alfred Hitchcock · Action / Creature / Drama
Onibaba
1964 · Kaneto Shindō · Drama
Kwaidan
1964 · Masaki Kobayashi · Fantasy / Anthology
Kuroneko
1968 · Kaneto Shindō · Ghost story
House
1977 · Nobuhiko Obayashi · Surreal / Comedy
A country-house visit abandons the rules of reality in glorious handcrafted style.
The Wailing
2016 · Na Hong-jin · Mystery / Thriller
The Orphanage
2007 · J. A. Bayona · Drama / Haunted house
The Host
2006 · Bong Joon-ho · Comedy / Creature / Drama
The Ring
2002 · Gore Verbinski · Supernatural / Mystery
A videotape gives its viewers a deadline. A journalist tries to read between the frames.
REC
2007 · Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza · Found footage / Zombie
A routine emergency call locks a camera crew inside an escalating disaster.
28 Days Later
2002 · Danny Boyle · Action / Drama / Sci-fi
The Return of the Living Dead
1985 · Dan O'Bannon · Comedy / Horror / Sci-fi
Re-Animator
1985 · Stuart Gordon · Body horror / Comedy / Sci-fi
Hellraiser
1987 · Clive Barker · Body horror
Poltergeist
1982 · Tobe Hooper · Haunted house / Supernatural
Suburban comfort fractures when a family discovers who else is tuned in.
The Fog
1980 · John Carpenter · Supernatural / Ghost story
An anniversary celebration brings a coastal town’s secrets rolling back in.
The Conjuring
2013 · James Wan · Supernatural / Haunted house
A farmhouse haunting with a relentless talent for making the dark feel occupied.
A Tale of Two Sisters
2003 · Kim Ji-woon · Drama / Mystery / Psychological
Freaks
1932 · Tod Browning · Drama / Thriller
Vampyr
1932 · Carl Theodor Dreyer · Vampire
Dracula
1931 · Karl Freund & Tod Browning · Drama / Vampire
The Wolf Man
1941 · George Waggner · Drama / Werewolf
The Mummy
1932 · Karl Freund · Fantasy
The Invisible Man
1933 · James Whale · Sci-fi
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1956 · Don Siegel · Creature / Drama / Mystery
Nosferatu the Vampyre
1979 · Werner Herzog · Drama / Horror
The Masque of the Red Death
1964 · Roger Corman · Drama / Fantasy / Gothic
Peeping Tom
1960 · Michael Powell · Slasher / Thriller
Cure
1997 · Kiyoshi Kurosawa · Psychological
The Brood
1979 · David Cronenberg · Body horror / Psychological / Sci-fi
The Beyond
1981 · Lucio Fulci · Zombie
Deep Red
1975 · Dario Argento · Drama / Giallo / Mystery
Blood and Black Lace
1964 · Mario Bava · Giallo / Mystery / Psychological
Martyrs
2008 · Pascal Laugier · Drama / Splatter
The Cabin in the Woods
2012 · Drew Goddard · Comedy / Creature
Five friends take a familiar trip. The less you know, the better.
Trick ’r Treat
2007 · Michael Dougherty · Anthology / Supernatural
Interlocking Halloween tales for anyone who takes the rules of October seriously.
Midsommar
2019 · Ari Aster · Folk / Psychological
A summer festival offers sunlight, belonging, and a deeply unsettling welcome.
Under the Skin
2013 · Jonathan Glazer · Drama / Sci-fi
Raw
2016 · Julia Ducournau · Drama
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
2014 · Ana Lily Amirpour · Vampire
The Invitation
2015 · Karyn Kusama · Psychological / Thriller
Dinner with old friends asks how long politeness can survive a bad feeling.
Coraline
2009 · Henry Selick · Animation / Fantasy
A little door leads to an improved world with very particular terms.
The Lighthouse
2019 · Robert Eggers · Drama / Fantasy / Surreal
Us
2019 · Jordan Peele · Action / Psychological / Sci-fi
The Mist
2007 · Frank Darabont · Creature / Drama / Sci-fi
The Substance
2024 · Coralie Fargeat · Body horror / Comedy / Creature
How this ranking works
This is an original Last Light editorial seed, developed with AI assistance. It considers filmmaking, influence, originality, atmosphere, and lasting impact. It is a starting position for the app, not a tally of outside critics. Intensity ratings, when available, describe a different question from overall quality.
Your private favourites can be ordered however you like. The app separates editorial lists, your personal lists, and eligible member ballots. The community view stays empty until there are enough real votes; this page does not substitute editorial judgments for them.