200 Greatest Sci-Fi Films of All Time

This selection of the 200 most critically-acclaimed sci-fi films in history contains selections ranging from Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters (Star Wars) to iconic dystopias (Planet of the Apes) to more meditative films that will unsettle you and challenge the way you see the world. (Solaris) Beginning with the silent fantasies of Georges Méliès, Science Fiction is a genre that grew up alongside the medium of film. This list includes films you know well mixed-in with movies you almost certainly haven’t seen — but are worthy of an audience’s time.

1 Alien (1979) dir. 1979 Ridley Scott
2 The Shining (1980) dir. 1980 Stanley Kubrick
3 Jaws (1975) dir. 1975 Steven Spielberg
4 Rosemary’s Baby (1969) dir. 1969 Roman Polanski
5 28 Days Later… (2002) dir. 2002 Danny Boyle
6 Halloween (1978) dir. 1978 John Carpenter
7 Psycho (1960) dir. 1960 Alfred Hitchcock
8 Get Out (2017) dir. 2017 Jordan Peele
9 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) dir. 1991 Jonathan Demme
10 The Wicker Man (1973) dir. 1973 Robin Hardy
11 The Exorcist (1973) dir. 1973 William Friedkin
12 Evil Dead II (1987) dir. 1987 Sam Raimi
13 The Fly (1986) dir. 1986 David Cronenberg
14 Don’t Look Now (1973) dir. 1973 Nicolas Roeg
15 Night of the Living Dead (1968) dir. 1968 George A. Romero
16 The Babadook (2014) dir. 2014 Jennifer Kent
17 A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) dir. 1984 Wes Craven
18 It Follows (2015) dir. 2015 David Robert Mitchell
19 The Descent (2005) dir. 2005 Neil Marshall
20 Carrie (1976) dir. 1976 Brian De Palma
21 Dawn of the Dead (1978) dir. 1978 George A. Romero
22 Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir. 2004 Edgar Wright
23 Let the Right One In (2008) dir. 2008 Tomas Alfredson
24 Nosferatu (1922) dir. 1922 F.W. Murnau
25 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) dir. 1920 Robert Wiene
26 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) dir. 1974 Tobe Hooper
27 The Thing (1982) dir. 1982 John Carpenter
28 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) dir. 1935 James Whale
29 Poltergeist (1982) dir. 1982 Tobe Hooper
30 Suspiria (1977) dir. 1977 Dario Argento
31 The Cabin in the Woods (2012) dir. 2012 Drew Goddard
32 A Quiet Place (2018) dir. 2018 John Krasinski
33 Frankenstein (1931) dir. 1931 James Whale
34 An American Werewolf in London (1982) dir. 1982 John Landis
35 The Witch (2015) dir. 2015 Robert Eggers
36 Hereditary (2018) dir. 2018 Ari Aster
37 The Innocents (1961) dir. 1961 Jack Clayton
38 Re-Animator (1985) dir. 1985 Stuart Gordon
39 The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. 1999 Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
40 Eyes Without a Face (1962) dir. 1962 Georges Franju
41 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) dir. 1978 Philip Kaufmann
42 Aliens (1986) dir. 1986 James Cameron
43 Repulsion (1965) dir. 1965 Roman Polanski
44 Freaks (1932) dir. 1932 Tod Browning
45 The Night of the Hunter (1955) dir. 1955 Charles Laughton
46 The Birds (1963) dir. 1963 Alfred Hitchcock
47 The Evil Dead (1981) dir. 1981 Sam Raimi
48 Eraserhead (1977) dir. 1977 David Lynch
49 Cat People (1942) dir. 1942 Jacques Tourneur
50 Near Dark (1987) dir. 1987 Kathryn Bigelow
51 Scream (1996) dir. 1996 Wes Craven
52 The Conjuring (2013) dir. 2013 James Wan
53 Hour of the Wolf (1968) dir. 1968 Ingmar Bergman
54 The Devil’s Backbone (2001) dir. 2001 Guillermo del Toro
55 The Orphanage (2007) dir. 2007 Juan Antonio Bayona
56 The Omen (1976) dir. 1976 Richard Donner
57 The Others (2001) dir. 2001 Alejandro Amenábar
58 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) dir. 1962 Robert Aldrich
59 Audition (1999) dir. 1999 Takashi Miike
60 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) dir. 1986 John McNaughton
61 The Sixth Sense (1999) dir. 1999 M. Night Shyamalan
62 Black Christmas (1974) dir. 1974 Bob Clark
63 It (2017) dir. 2017 Andres Muschietti
64 The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988) dir. 1988 George Sluizer
65 Drag Me to Hell (2009) dir. 2009 Sam Raimi
66 Vampyr (1932) dir. 1932 Carl Theodor Dreyer
67 Dracula (1931) dir. 1931 Tod Browning
68 Predator (1987) dir. 1987 John McTiernan
69 [REC] (2007) dir. 2007 Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
70 Zombieland (2009) dir. 2009 Ruben Fleischer
71 Hellraiser (1987) dir. 1987 Clive Barker
72 Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) dir. 1979 Werner Herzog
73 Possession (1981) dir. 1981 Andrzej Żuławski
74 The Haunting (1963) dir. 1963 Robert Wise
75 The Fog (1980) dir. 1980 John Carpenter
76 Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975) dir. 1975 Dario Argento
77 Don’t Breathe (2016) dir. 2016 Fede Álvarez
78 Train to Busan (Busanhaeng) (2016) dir. 2016 Sang-ho Yeon
79 Videodrome (1983) dir. 1983 David Cronenberg
80 Jacob’s Ladder (1990) dir. 1990 Adrian Lyne
81 Under the Skin (2013) dir. 2013 Jonathan Glazer
82 Kwaidan (1965) dir. 1965 Masaki Kobayashi
83 Carnival of Souls (1962) dir. 1962 Herk Harvey
84 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) dir. 1956 Don Siegel
85 Phantasm (1979) dir. 1979 Don Coscarelli
86 House of Wax (1953) dir. 1953 Andre DeToth
87 The Devils (1971) dir. 1971 Ken Russell
88 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) dir. 1992 Francis Ford Coppola
89 Peeping Tom (1960) dir. 1960 Michael Powell
90 The Beyond (1981) dir. 1981 Lucio Fulci
91 The Phantom of the Opera (1925) dir. 1925 Rupert Julian
92 The Unknown (1927) dir. 1927 Tod Browning
93 Black Sunday (1960) dir. 1960 Mario Bava
94 The Tenant (1976) dir. 1976 Roman Polanski
95 The Changeling (1980) dir. 1980 Peter Medak
96 Little Shop of Horrors (1986) dir. 1986 Frank Oz
97 Godzilla (Gojira) (1954) dir. 1954 Ishirô Honda
98 Pulse (Kairo) (2001) dir. 2001 Kiyoshi Kurosawa
99 The Mist (2007) dir. 2007 Frank Darabont
100 Ginger Snaps (2000) dir. 2000 John Fawcett
101 Goodnight Mommy (Ich seh, Ich seh) (2015) dir. 2015 Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
102 A Girl Walks Home at Night (2014) dir. 2014 Ana Lily Amirpour
103 It Comes At Night (2017) dir. 2017 Trey Edward Shults
104 The Host (2006) dir. 2006 Joon-ho Bong
105 The Conjuring 2 (2016) dir. 2016 James Wan
106 Horror of Dracula (1958) dir. 1958 Terence Fisher
107 Candyman (1992) dir. 1992 Bernard Rose
108 Day of the Dead (1985) dir. 1985 George A. Romero
109 Paranormal Activity (2017) dir. 2017 Oren Peli
110 Martyrs (2008) dir. 2008 Pascal Laugier
111 Les Diaboliques (1955) dir. 1955 Henri-Georges Clouzot
112 Dead of Night (1945) dir. 1945 Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Chrichton
113 The Skin I Live In (2011) dir. 2011 Pedro Almodóvar
114 Let Me In (2010) dir. 2010 Matt Reeves
115 Wolf Creek (2005) dir. 2005 Greg Mclean
116 The Legend of Hell House (1973) dir. 1973 John Hough
117 King Kong (1933) dir. 1933 Leo McCarey
118 Split (2017) dir. 2017 M. Night Shyamalan
119 Raw (2016) dir. 2016 Julia Ducournau
120 Cronos (1994) dir. 1994 Guillermo del Toro
121 The Brood (1979) dir. 1979 David Cronenberg
122 Funny Games (1997) dir. 1997 Michael Haneke
123 Suspiria (2018) dir. 2018 Luca Guadagnino
124 Gremlins (1984) dir. 1984 Joe Dante
125 The Ring (2002) dir. 2002 Gore Verbinski
126 The Love Witch (2016) dir. 2016 Anna Biller
127 Gerald’s Game (2017) dir. 2017 Mike Flanagan
128 The Dead Zone (1983) dir. 1983 David Cronenberg
129 I Walked with a Zombie (1943) dir. 1943 Jacques Tourneur
130 Evil Dead (2013) dir. 2013 Fede Alvarez
131 Bone Tomahawk (2015) dir. 2015 S. Craig Zahler
132 The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) dir. 2016 André Øvredal
133 Frankenweenie (2012) dir. 2012 Tim Burton
134 The Old Dark House (1932) dir. 1932 James Whale
135 Dead Alive (1992) dir. 1992 Peter Jackson
136 Misery (1990) dir. 1990 Rob Reiner
137 From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) dir. 1996 Robert Rodriguez
138 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) dir. 1975 Jim Sharman
139 Army of Darkness (1992) dir. 1992 Sam Raimi
140 Interview with the Vampire (1994) dir. 1994 Neil Jordan
141 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) dir. 1992 David Lynch
142 Santa sangre (1989) dir. 1989 Alejandro Jodorowsky
143 Cannibal Holocaust (1979) dir. 1979 Ruggero Deodato
144 Faust (1926) dir. 1926 F. W. Murnau
145 Dead Ringers (1988) dir. 1988 David Cronenberg
146 The Lost Boys (1987) dir. 1987 Joel Schumacher
147 I Saw the Devil (2010) dir. 2010 Kim Jee-woon
148 I Am Legend (2007) dir. 2007 Francis Lawrence
149 Ringu (1998) dir. 1998 Hideo Nakata
150 Black Sabbath (1963) dir. 1963 Mario Bava
151 Annihiliation (2018) dir. 2018 Alex Garland
152 Us (2019) dir. 2019 Jordan Peele
153 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) dir. 2007 Tim Burton
154 The House of the Devil (2009) dir. 2009 Ti West
155 The Strangers (2008) dir. 2008 Bryan Bertino
156 Häxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) (1922) dir. 1922 Benjamin Christensen
157 Sleepy Hollow (1999) dir. 1999 Tim Burton
158 Better Watch Out (2017) dir. 2017 Chris Peckover
159 Crimson Peak (2015) dir. 2015 Guillermo del Toro
160 Dressed to Kill (1980) dir. 1980 Brian De Palma
161 A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) dir. 2003 Kim Jee-woon
162 Slither (2006) dir. 2006 James Gunn
163 House on Haunted Hill (1959) dir. 1959 William Castle
164 Antichrist (2009) dir. 2009 Lars von Trier
165 The Loved Ones (2012) dir. 2012 Sean Byrne
166 Lake Mungo (2008) dir. 2008 Joel Anderson
167 Halloween (2018) dir. 2018 David Gordon Green
168 Switchblade Romance (2003) dir. 2003 Alexandre Aja
169 Night of the Demon (1957) dir. 1957 Jacques Tourneur
170 Sisters (1973) dir. 1973 Brian De Palma
171 From Beyond (1986) dir. 1986 Stuart Gordon
172 The Endless (2018) dir. 2018 Justin Benson, Aaron Morhead
173 Kill, Baby… Kill! (Operazione Paura, Curse of the Dead) (1966) dir. 1966 Mario Bava
174 CAM (2018) dir. 2018 Danial Goldhaber
175 Fright Night (1985) dir. 1985 Tom Holland
176 God Told Me To (1976) dir. 1976 Larry Cohen
177 The Return of the Living Dead (1985) dir. 1985 Dan O’Bannon
178 Village of the Damned (1960) dir. 1960 Wolf Rilla
179 We Are Still Here (2015) dir. 2015 Ted Geoghegan
180 Martin (1978) dir. 1978 George A. Romero
181 Saw (2004) dir. 2004 James Wan
182 Upgrade (2018) dir. 2018 Leigh Whannell
183 The Purge (2013) dir. 2013 James DeMonaco
184 Session 9 (2001) dir. 2001 Brad Anderson
185 The Devil’s Candy (2017) dir. 2017 Sean Byrne
186 Backcountry (2014) dir. 2014 Adam MacDonald
187 The Phantom Carriage (1921) dir. 1921 Victor Sjöström
188 Creepshow (1982) dir. 1982 George A. Romero
189 Society (1989) dir. 1989 Brian Yuzna
190 In the Mouth of Madness (1995) dir. 1995 John Carpenter
191 Hangover Square (1945) dir. 1945 John Brahm
192 House (1977) dir. 1977 Nobuhiko Ōbayashi
193 The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) dir. 1957 Jack Arnold
194 The Sentinel (1977) dir. 1977 Michael Winner
195 Overlord (2018) dir. 2018 Julius Avery
196 Cemetery Man (1994) dir. 1994 Michele Soavi
197 Pet Sematary (2019) dir. 2019 Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
198 Green Room (2015) dir. 2015 Jeremy Saulnier
199 Ganja & Hess (1973) dir. 1973 Bill Gunn
200 The Visit (2015) dir. 2015 M. Night Shyamalan