After a lifetime of watching and re-watching horror films, I compiled this list as a personal challenge, selecting only 100 horror films of the 20th Century. These are not necessarily the best horror films, but also those that are the most innovative and important in the evolution of the genre. I’ve been flexible in including some films that are only partially horror.

Chronological order:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) (cover image)

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Häxan (1922)

Nosferatu (1922)

Faust (1926)

A Page of Madness (1926)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

Dracula (1931)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)

Vampyr (1932)

Freaks (1932)

The Invisible Man (1933)

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Cat People (1942)

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

The Spiral Staircase (1946) (image)

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Night of the Demon (1957)

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Village of the Damned (1960)

Psycho (1960)

Peeping Tom (1960)

Black Sunday (1960)

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

Jigoku (1960)

The Innocents (1961) (image)

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

The Birds (1963)

Black Sabbath (1963)

The Haunting (1963)

Onibaba (1964)

Kwaidan (1964)

Blood and Black Lace (1964)

Repulsion (1965)

The Face of Another (1966)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Kuroneko (1968)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

The Cremator (1969)

Demons (1971)

Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)

The Last House on the Left (1972)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Wicker Man (1973)

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Messiah of Evil (1973)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) (image)

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Deep Red (1975)

Carrie (1976)

The House with Laughing Windows (1976)

Suspiria (1977)

Eraserhead (1977)

Hausu (1977)

Halloween (1978)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Alien (1979)

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

Phantasm (1979)

The Brood (1979)

The Shining (1980)

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Inferno (1980)

The Fog (1980)

An American Werewolf in London  (1981)

The Funhouse (1981)

The Evil Dead (1981)

Possession (1981)

The Beyond (1981)

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

The Thing (1982)

Creepshow (1982)

Basket Case (1982)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Videodrome (1983)

The Hunger (1983)

Angst (1983)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Prince of Darkness (1987)

Hellraiser (1987)

Deliria – Stage Fright (1987)

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Society (1989)

The Church (1989)

The Reflecting Skin (1990)

Braindead (1992)

Ghostwatch (1992)

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

New Nightmare (1994)

Scream (1996)

Cure (1997) (image)

Ringu (1998)

The Ninth Gate (1999)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Audition (1999)

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The list on Letterboxd: 

https://letterboxd.com/frankiedrivein/list/100-essential-horror-of-the-20th-century/