Horror is my favorite movie genre, and it is a shockingly diverse genre at that. But I’ve encountered so many people who don’t know how varied horror is because they straight up refuse to watch a single horror movie, afraid of the mere concept of them. I was once one of these people. Now, returning with my overwhelmingly vast knowledge of the genre, I’ve assembled a list of the movies that helped me get into the genre and can help horror deniers enjoy scary movies too. 

I’ve broken my picks up by sub-genre to show how many entry points there are to horror and ended the list with my favorite overall starting movie.

The slasher

When people talk about horror movies, they’re typically referring to slashers. These are the movies where a masked killer hunts down a group of unruly teenagers until the last surviving victim puts a stop to the chaos. Amongst all the genres of horror, this one has the widest range in quality. There are some horrible, boring slasher movies out there, but there are also some incredible movies that built horror into what it is today. Coming from the latter camp, and also my first horror movie, my pick for best starting slasher is Halloween (1978).

Directed by John Carpenter, Halloween follows what happens when Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to his childhood home of Haddonfield, Ill. While the plot is relatively simple, it’s incredibly effective and helps to deliver on an extraordinary atmosphere, which everything in the film builds toward. For one, Michael Myers is an excellent villain. He is incredibly creepy with his heavy breathing and how he remains in the background as a constant threat. Carpenter’s fantastic score backs up how horrifying Michael is, most notably with the movie’s iconic theme song. 

Halloween is an utterly engrossing experience that is an excellent place to get into horror movies; you get all the aspects that make up classic horror, from atmosphere to music to iconic villains.

Body horror

It feels weird to call this genre amazing, especially with a name as sinister as “body horror.” But it is one of the most adventurous, creative and terrifying genres in all of cinema, and when I say that The Thing (1982) is one of the best movies of all time, I promise I am being genuine.

Also directed by John Carpenter, The Thing follows a group of scientists stranded in Antarctica with an alien in their midst. However, the alien is a shape shifter, so it could be any one of them. Upon determining which one of them is really the alien, without getting into spoilers, things get crazy very quickly. The setting of a completely isolated location, a threatening monster and an atmosphere of paranoia is perfect for a horror movie, creating a terrifying experience. And while The Thing does have body horror, it deftly toes the line of realism so the gore is more disturbing rather than disgusting.

The Thing is a perfect first horror movie for anyone who wants to start out a little more adventurous and see the creative highs that horror is capable of.

Possession

There are a lot of possession movies out there. If you want to get into horror, it’s probably a good idea to check a couple of them out. These are the typical ghost stories with haunted houses, a person getting possessed and usually ending with an exorcism. While the most famous movie might be 1973’s The Exorcist, that film is really intense and not a great place to start in my opinion. For something on the easier side, check out James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013).

The Conjuring follows a pair of paranormal investigators as they take on their most intense case yet. This movie is so iconic that its first five minutes alone spawned a three-film spin-off series (the Annabelle movies), and it never lets up. It’s just sequence after perfect sequence until the movie reaches a crescendo with an absolutely thrilling climax. 

The Conjuring, with a traditional plot but more modern style, would be a great starting point in the genre for anyone who wants a middle ground between classic and contemporary horror.

Modern

Horror might be the genre flourishing the most in the current film landscape. There are so many talented directors taking the genre to new and interesting places. Because of that, it’s kind of hard to go wrong with a modern horror movie. But in my opinion, the best modern horror movie for beginners is Zach Cregger’s Weapons (2025).

Weapons masterfully demonstrates the aspects of modern horror. It has a great story centering on the mystery of a group of children randomly running off into the night. It has an amazing atmosphere from the paranoia and cryptic nature of the situation. It has a compelling deconstruction of how films tell stories through a shifting perspective. It has some really funny moments, especially with its incredible ending. And, most importantly, it has some great scares without ever getting too intense. 

Weapons is an excellent starting point for the modern horror genre, making it great for anyone who wants to jump into more recent films.

Honorable mentions

Psycho (1960) – Hitchcock arguably invented what we now think of as a horror movie in Psycho, and for the most part it still holds up.

Poltergeist (1982) – For those who are very easily scared, Poltergeist is by far the most tame movie on this list, but it is still really good.

Evil Dead 2 (1987) – This monster movie is really funny and has some great scares.

Saw (2004) – Saw is a great mystery movie and not very gory like its reputation suggests (that comes from the sequels), and it has one of the best endings ever.

The best starter horror movie 

… is A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)! Directed by Wes Craven, in A Nightmare on Elm Street sleeping is a perilous act, as the monstrous Freddy Krueger stalks the dreams of those who fall asleep. 

Nightmare has a little bit of everything I’ve mentioned throughout this list. It has an iconic villain in Freddy Krueger, it has some incredibly creative imagery, it has several great sequences, and it has a uniqueness in a way that is still accessible. While it is scary, it never becomes too terrifying, focusing more on entertainment and making it an incredible starting movie for the horror genre.

Horror is a fantastic genre. There are so many different areas that it excels at, from storytelling to worldbuilding to atmosphere to characters to themes and so much more. To not watch horror movies because you know that you do not like them is one thing, but to not watch any because of fear of their reputation is, to me, ridiculous. If you haven’t seen any horror movies, give them a shot. It changed how I see movies and can do the same for you.