The 15 Best Warner Bros. Horror Movies Of All Time

While Warner Bros. may be more known for the way they revolutionized the horror genre throughout the 70s and 80s, they also had a second magnificent renaissance in the 2010s, starting with the stellar paranormal film, The Conjuring. Switching the mainstream horror audiences attention away from splatter films and into a more melancholic paranormal vibe, The Conjuring is a catalyst for the modern horror film, as it showcases great feats of terror, but also has phenomenal directorial style and heart. The impact the film has had on the genre is astronomical, and helped change cinema forever.

When Stephen King's It released in 2017, almost no one could have imagined or predicted the global sensation this utterly terrifying film would become. Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise the Dancing Clown became a legend overnight, and showed the world that there was still terror in horror. It transcended the horror genre and, for all intense and purpose, made horror the popular culture for a short while as suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the clown and The Losers Club. Warner Bros. has had, arguably, the biggest horror hit in decades on their hands, and they managed to not only live up to expectations, but surpass them in every way.

The crown jewel of the Warner Bros. horror catalog is undoubtedly The Exorcist. A film that revolutionized horror, terrified an entire generation, and was one of the most successful films critically and financially of all time, the story of Regan, Pazuzu, and the titular exorcism is, to this day, a landmark in horror and one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. Released 50 years ago in 1973, the film shocked, appalled, disturbed, and haunted audiences with its far too realistic portrayal of possession and satanic culture, and instilled to the movie-loving world that horror is one of the best, most original, and most remarkable genres in all of film. 

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining remains an, ironically, shinning example of how to adapt source material, make it completely your own, and utterly petrify audiences for all time. Inarguably one of the greatest horror movies of all time, The Shining turned this sadistic ghost story and transformed it into a modern work of art that simultaneously challenged and rewarded viewers with some of the most unique and frightening scenes of all time, while giving them plenty of mind-altering ideologues to digest. While Stephen King may not be a big fan of what Kubrick did to his novel, he is most certainly in the minority, as The Shining is an incredible cinematic achievement. 

Whether horror fans believe it was truly Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg who directed the generational paranormal horror film Poltergeist, there is simply no doubt that it could, and should be considered one of the best horror films of all time. Mixing the whimsy and fantastical elements that Speilberg presents with the outright terror and dread of Hooper, the film is the best of both worlds and is widely considered to be one of the best entry-level horror movies of all time. 

The slasher subgenre was alive and well by the time Wes Craven released A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it was this glorious turn in nightmarish terror that solidified the horror subgenre as one of the greatest of all time. Introducing Freddy Kruger to the world, A Nightmare on Elm Street took all the sadistic and masochistic tropes of slashers and flipped them on their head, delivering a holistically unique work of art that still managed to scratch the itch the horror fans were clamoring for. Brutal and horrifying gore, some of the most unique kills of all time, and a character who has withstood the test of time and become a legend, A Nightmare on Elm Street is not only one of the best Warner Bros. horror movies, but one of the best horror movies of all time.