🩸 Best Horror Movies of the 1920s

Discover 11 essential horror films from the 1920s. The ScreamDesk Vault's definitive guide to 1920s horror cinema.

11 Films
1922–1924 Span
Häxan (1922)

Häxan (1922)

Documentary Horror

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore th...

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Silent Film

Rich old Cyrus West's relatives are waiting for him to die so they can inherit. But he stipulates that his will be read 20 years after his death. On t...

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

Gothic Horror

Convinced that his family is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hellbent on stopping his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the curse...

The Golem (1920)

The Golem (1920)

German Expressionist

In 16th-century Prague, a rabbi creates the Golem - a giant creature made of clay. Using sorcery, he brings the creature to life in order to protect t...

The Hands of Orlac (1924)

The Hands of Orlac (1924)

Psychological Horror

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is horrified to learn they once belonged to a murderer....

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

Gothic Horror

When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly executed and his son surgically disfigured....

The Penalty (1920)

The Penalty (1920)

Silent Film

Blizzard, deranged from a childhood operation in which both his legs were needlessly amputated after an accident, becomes a vicious criminal, and even...

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Supernatural Horror

An alcoholic, abusive ne'er-do-well is shown the error of his ways through a legend that dooms the last person to die on New Year's Eve before the clo...

The Unknown (1927)

The Unknown (1927)

Silent Film

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder – a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really ...

Warning Shadows (1923)

Warning Shadows (1923)

Psychological Horror

During a dinner given by a wealthy baron and his wife, attended by four of her suitors in a 19th century German manor, a shadow-player rescues the mar...

Waxworks (1924)

Waxworks (1924)

Anthology

A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible and Jack the Ripper. While writing, ...

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