If there is one film genre that benefits from a lack of color, it has to be horror. Through the efforts of filmmakers such as Robert Wiene and F. W. Murnau, cinematic horror blossomed during the silent black and white era, producing German Expressionist masterpieces that still hold up today.
Even after sound and color became a thing, the genre continued to periodically omit the latter as a stylistic choice, with black and white horror films being common all the way up to the 1960s. As exemplified by 2014's stellar A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, there is still a place for an absence of color in modern horror cinema. There are hundreds of chilling black and white horror films, but which ones are the scariest?
Honorable Mentions: While the Universal Classic Monsters movies are not especially scary in this day and age, Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Black Cat, and The Mummy are all quality productions. House on Haunted Hill is also a campy delight and one of the best black and white horror movies for Halloween.
10 The Innocents (1961)
Horror can take many forms. Some movies opt to throw caution to the wind and fling everything but the kitchen sink at audiences, taking them on a wild ride characterized by jump scares, gory murders, and stinging sound effects. Other films prioritize atmosphere over thrills, seeking to create a mood defined by constant dread that something terrible is just about to happen. The Innocents is one such movie.
The caretaker of two children in a large estate bears witness to unsettling phenomenon that suggests something else inhabits this house (and the kids within it).
9 Nosferatu (1922)
F.W. Murnau (unofficially) brought Bram Stoker's Dracula to the big screen, defining the image of the vampire for generations to come. Nosferatu's fear factor has diminished with age, but that's the only thing about the film that has changed since its original release.
Nosferatu is and will always be a technical marvel and a prime example of German Expressionism's capacity for timeless horror. Max Schreck's Count Orlok persists as an unsightly boogeyman; an entity that could only live in nightmares and fiction.
8 Eyes Without A Face (1960)
A picture can speak a thousand words, and the image of Eyes Without a Face's Christiane in that expressionless mask is enough to chill people right down to the bone. As it so happens, this movie has a lot more to offer than just a creepy visual.
A car accident damages Christiane's face, driving her father to experiment on subjects in order to create a new one for his daughter. Obsession and guilt blend in this haunting classic by Georges Franju.
7 Cat People (1942)
Few things are more terrifying than the unseen. Inspired by budgetary constraints and the creativity to find ways around it, Cat People leaves plenty of things off-screen, creating an experience that provides glimpses towards a greater threat lurking just beyond the viewer's gaze.
The movie features a strong turn by Simone Simon as Irena, a woman stemming from a Serbian village that has a history of cultists who could transform into cat people. As her husband grows distant and suspect, Irena's world begins to fall apart.
6 Carnival Of Souls (1962)
Carnival of Souls demands that viewers question everything they see unfold on screen. An early sequence sees Mary miraculously survive a horrific car accident, and she opts to move to a new town to get a fresh start. However, unhospitable town folks don't make Mary feel welcome, and she also can't help but feel a magnetic pull to a disturbing abandoned carnival. Also, Mary keeps seeing visions of a strange being called "The Man."
A mind-bending trip, nearly everything within the Carnival of Souls feels off. The horror film is available on HBO Max.
5 Psycho (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock's psychological horror film is a victim of its own enduring popularity. So many of the movie's greatest moments and reveals are engrained so thoroughly in pop culture that even new watchers will most likely not be shocked by anything that transpires during the story.
While the surprises might be gone, Psycho can still depend on Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates to deliver the scares, and his performance holds up. Naturally, the direction is also brilliant and suspenseful, while the soundtrack is pretty much flawless. Also, while not in black and white, Psycho's sequels are much better than they have any right to be.
4 Freaks (1932)
Predominantly set in a carnival's sideshow, Tod Browning's movie comes with a lot of baggage; however, while controversy will forever follow the film, Freaks' reputation has improved to the point that it is nowadays considered a horror classic. A trapeze artist, Cleopatra, seeks to charm one of the sideshow's performers, Hans, out of his inheritance. It doesn't go well.
Freaks establishes most of the sideshow's members as sympathetic characters, contrasting with Cleopatra's physical beauty but inner hideousness. From the disquieting "One of Us" scene to the disturbing climax, Freaks is uniquely terrifying.
3 The Haunting (1963)
In 2018, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House made waves through a Netflix series adaptation, which was just the most recent attempt to bring this exceptional novel to life. 1963's The Haunting was the first to take a stab at adapting the story, and Robert Wise did justice by the source material.
The Haunting finds a group of people entering Hill House, a reportedly haunted mansion with a complicated past. Paranormal activity soon begins to transpire, and it seems to revolve around Eleanor, a timid and repressed woman. The Haunting is a mood piece, fittingly so since the characters' emotions directly influence the story.
2 Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Along with plenty of sequels and spiritual successors, George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead birthed the zombie genre as it is known today. As the walking dead swarm the roads and fields, a group of survivors seek refuge in a farmhouse, and tensions quickly begin to stir within this "safe" haven.
Despite the movie's cultural significance to the zombie genre, the undead take a secondary role to the human characters in Night of the Living Dead. The movie explores sociopolitical ideas while delivering plenty of scares in the process.
1 Eraserhead (1977)
While perhaps an unexpected pick, Eraserhead is nightmarish in a way that few films have ever been able to duplicate. Set in only a few locations, David Lynch's debut feature captures the essence of "anxiety" in its purest and most twisted form.
Thematically, Eraserhead is essentially about the fear of parenthood, explored through dystopian visuals and body horror. Scary as some horror films can be, they are typically still entertaining or fun; Eraserhead is neither of those things. However, it sure is scary.