Note: I didn't want to repeat movies from list to list, so some of my favorite films who might have been categorized as "comedy films" but are missing here were put in the other categories (see my other lists), such as art, science fiction, comedy, or crime/thriller.

• 1950s and before
• 1. Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot)

• 2. Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi)

• 3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene)

• 4. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau)

• 5. Frankenstein (James Whale)

Honorable mentions: Freaks (Tod Browning), Dracula (Tod Browning), The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein)

• 1960s
• 1. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)

• 2. Repulsion (Roman Polanski)

• 3. Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)

• 4. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)

• 5. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero)

Honorable mention: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich)

• 1970s
• 1. The Exorcist (William Friedkin)

• 2. Eraserhead (David Lynch)

• 3. Suspiria (Dario Argento)

• 4. Carrie (Brian De Palma)

• 5. Alien (Ridley Scott)

Honorable mentions: Jaws (Steven Spielberg), Don't Look Now (Nicolas Roeg), The Omen (Richard Donner), Halloween (John Carpenter), The Tenant (Roman Polanski), Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero), House (Nobuhiko Obayashi), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper), Deep Red (Dario Argento)

• 1980s
• 1. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)

• 2. The Fly (David Cronenberg)

• 3. The Thing (John Carpenter)

• 4. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven)

• 5. Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)

Honorable mentions: Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi), Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto), Tenebrae (Dario Argento)

• 1990s
• 1. Ring (Hideo Nakata)

• 2. Scream (Wes Craven)

• 3. Braindead (Peter Jackson)

• 4. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez)

• 5. Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne)

Honorable mentions: The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)

• 2000s
• 1. Irréversible (Gaspar Noé)

• 2. The Others (Alejandro Amenábar)

• 3. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)

• 4. Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson)

• 5. The Descent (Neil Marshall)

Honorable mentions: Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky), Antichrist (Lars von Trier), Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli), The Ring (Gore Verbinski), Final Destination (James Wong), Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright), Rubber Johnny (Chris Cunningham)

• 2010s
• 1. Get Out (Jordan Peele)

• 2. Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)

• 3. It Follows (David Robert Mitchell)

• 4. It (Andy Muschietti)

• 5. Split (M. Night Shyamalan)

Honorable mention: Paranormal Activity 3 (Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman)