Horror film lists
Horror film lists from goreledger's editors and its readers: where to start, gateway horror for people who avoid the genre, the best final girls, the practical effects shelf and more. Fork any list and make it your own.
From the house
Best final girls
6 films
Carol Clover named her in 1987. These are the ones the films actually earn.
Start with the list
6 films
Six of the DPP 72 that are worth your evening on their own merits, not as historical curiosities.
Gateway horror for people who do not like horror
6 films
Films that work as films first. Nothing here will punish somebody for being talked into it.
The practical effects shelf
6 films
Latex, foam, air bladders and karo syrup. The argument is not nostalgia, it is that the light falls on it correctly.
Nearly bloodless and devastating
6 films
For the argument that horror needs gore. Almost nothing on this list is red.
The DPP 72 at its most indefensible
6 films
Not a recommendation. These are on the site because a partial list is worth nothing, and this is what the bottom of it looks like.
How the lists work
A list here is a short argument, not a ranking of everything. The house lists are written by the editors and built from films already in the database, so every title links to a full entry with its dread, gore, atmosphere, rewatchability and disturb scores, its certificate and, where it applies, its place in the DPP video nasties story.
Reader lists are made the same way. Pick films, add a note on why each one earns its slot, and publish. You can fork any list, house or reader, and change it to suit you. Lists with a theme and a reason for every entry are the ones worth reading.
Other ways in
- Every film A to Z, if you know the title.
- Subgenres, if you know the mood: folk horror, giallo, J-horror, slashers and more.
- The DPP 72, the 1983 prosecution shortlist behind the video nasties.
- Let's Scare Jessica to Death, a good first entry if you want one film to start with.