Every single horror film to peak at #1 in the United States since 1960!

[My Coffee Cup]

Lately, I've been a busy bee, trying to find every number one horror film in North America based on box office receipts. Wikipedia used to have a weekend based list from 1960 to now, but as 1960 to 1981 had no sources, they ended up only including 1982 to now, with the older entries having been archived. Anyway, I used Box Office Mojo and The Numbers as two sites to find out every weekly and weekend number one horror movie ever released up to now, although I will try to fish around for a list of horror films to do with the 1950s as well, but I reckon that's not going to be easy. Here is what I found so far.

I'm soon going to be owning them all on DVD. There's only several that I don't have yet. They are coming soon in the mail, though, so let me know what you think of this huge list.

Personally, I think most of these movies deserved to be at the top spot.

1960s

Psycho
The Birds
Carnival of Souls
Rosemary's Baby
Little Shops of Horrors

1970s

Willard
The Exorcist
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Young Frankenstein
Jaws
Trog
To the Devil a Daughter
The Omen
Burnt Offerings
Carrie
The Car
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Damien: Omen II
Jaws 2
Halloween
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Alien
Dracula
The Amityville Horror

1980s

The Fog
Friday the 13th
My Bloody Valentine
The Funhouse
Omen III: The Final Conflict
The Howling
Friday the 13th Part 2
Happy Birthday to Me
The Burning
An American Werewolf in London
Halloween II
Friday the 13th Part III
Amityville II: The Possession
Creepshow
Jaws 3-D
Amityville 3-D
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Once Bitten
Aliens
The Fly
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Predator
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
House
They Live
Child's Play
The Fly II
Pet Sematary
Motel Hell
Eyes of a Stranger
The Awakening
The Hand
Wolfen

1990s

Flatliners
The Exorcist III
Graveyard Shift
Jacob's Ladder
Child's Play 2
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Sleepwalkers
Death Becomes Her
Dracula
Wolf
Interview with the Vampire
The People under the Stairs
From Dusk till Dawn
The Craft
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The Relic
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Scream 2
Blade
Vampires
The Haunting
Stigmata
House on Haunted Hill

2000s

Scream 3
Scary Movie
What Lies Beneath
Hollow Man
The Cell
Urban Legends: Final Cut
Jeepers Creepers
From Hell
Queen of the Damned
Blade II
The Ring
Darkness Falls
Freddy vs. Jason
Jeepers Creepers 2
Underworld
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Scary Movie 3
Dawn of the Dead
Hellboy
Alien vs. Predator
Exorcist: The Beginning
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The Grudge
Hide and Seek
Boogeyman
The Ring Two
The Amityville Horror
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Fog
Doom
Saw II
Hostel
Underworld: Evolution
When a Stranger Calls
Silent Hill
The Covenant
The Grudge 2
Saw III
The Messengers
Disturbia
Halloween
Resident Evil: Extinction
30 Days of Night
Saw IV
I Am Legend
Cloverfield
Prom Night
Friday the 13th
Final Destination 3
The Final Destination
Zombieland
Paranormal Activity

2010s

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Paranormal Activity 2
Saw 3D
The Rite
The Roommate
Paranormal Activity 3
The Devil Inside
Underworld: Awakening
The Possession
Resident Evil: Retribution
Paranormal Activity 4
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Mama
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Warm Bodies
Evil Dead
The Purge
The Conjuring
Insidious: Chapter 2
Ouija
The Conjuring 2
Don't Breathe
Boo! A Madea Halloween
Split
Get Out
Alien: Covenant
Annabelle: Creation
It
Happy Death Day
Boo 2! A Madea Halloween
Jigsaw
A Quiet Place

[dollhouse]

We reviewed The Birds in the movie club and I think that might have been it... Lots of work making the list, My Coffee Cup....which ones would be your top ten or more favorite out of your long list?

I would pick: 11
Rosemary's baby
Carrie
Alien
Death becomes her
The craft
Jeepers creepers
The grudge
30 days of night
The conjuring
Get out
A quiet place

[lovebroken]

The 2000s and 80's seemed a better decade over the 90s for horror movies going by your lists. Wonder what the stall in the 90's was? Would have thought Hereditary would have been on the list too.

[My Coffee Cup]

Most horror movies in the 90's went direct to video, like with Full Moon Entertainment being one of those companies that released low budget, yet highly lovable movies. However, I don't think the genre really got reinvented with Scream and all that until around 1996. So maybe that explains the decline throughout much of the era. It's maybe a case of a horror sub-genre having its one great run, then they lose interest, so they leave it be for years and come up with ways to introduce new concepts that either work well or they don't. The 80's definitely was the best decade for horror, besides the 2000's. Although I think the difference between 1980's horror and 2000's horror movies is that modern films have no campy feeling any more, because they all seem to rely too much on excessive gore effects, sex and computerized imagery. Back in the 80's, you could just enjoy a film that was cheesy and funny, and had really organic effects, and the story wasn't all serious like 90% of today's films.

[lovebroken]

The Elm Street, Halloween, and Friday the 13th movies were all definitely campy like you mentioned above and that probably made them cult classics because of it.

[topazlight]

That is a nice list. Be fun if a movie house showed one movie a week till the list is completed ( Saturday matinees)

[My Coffee Cup]

I missed a few films, but I got most of them. Box Office Mojo doesn't have a lot of 1980 listed, so it's anybody's guess what was a hit on those days.

[lovebroken]

Bump......

[My Coffee Cup]

The Meg is the latest number one horror film, according to Wikipedia.

[Snow White]

Boo! A Madea Halloween....Really?

[lovebroken]

Paranormal Activity 2/3/4 surprises me too.