🩸 Best Horror Movies of the 1950s

Discover 14 essential horror films from the 1950s. The ScreamDesk Vault's definitive guide to 1950s horror cinema.

14 Films
1957–1953 Span
El Vampiro (1957)

El Vampiro (1957)

Vampire

A pretty young Mexican girl returns to her hometown to make funeral arrangements for her beloved aunt, who has just died. Soon she begins to hear dist...

Fiend Without a Face (1958)

Fiend Without a Face (1958)

Sci-Fi Horror

An American airbase in Canada provokes resentment from the nearby residents after fallout from nuclear experiments at the base are blamed for a recent...

Les Diaboliques (1955)

Les Diaboliques (1955)

Psychological Thriller

The cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly...

Night of the Demon (1957)

Night of the Demon (1957)

Supernatural Horror

American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was ki...

The Abominable Snowman (1957)

The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Creature Feature

A kindly English botanist and a gruff American promoter lead an expedition to the Himalayas in search of the legendary Yeti....

The Bad Seed (1956)

The Bad Seed (1956)

Psychological Horror

Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps he...

The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959)

The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959)

Gothic Horror

Two doctors make a pact in which they swear that the first to die will return - if possible - to tell the other how to get a glimpse of the afterlife ...

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Gothic Horror

Baron Victor Frankenstein has discovered life's secret and unleashed a blood-curdling chain of events resulting from his creation: a cursed creature w...

The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)

The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)

J-Horror

This horror tale adapts the Japanese legend which tells of a man who faces the consequences of betraying his wife in order to acquire wealth and power...

The H-Man (1958)

The H-Man (1958)

Sci-Fi Horror

When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where s...

The Man and the Monster (1959)

The Man and the Monster (1959)

Gothic Horror

A failed pianist sells his soul to the devil in return for his becoming the greatest musician in the world. The catch: every time he plays he turns in...

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Psychological Thriller

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money....

The White Reindeer (1952)

The White Reindeer (1952)

Folk Horror

A newly-married woman becomes frustrated as her husband, a reindeer herder for an Arctic village, spends much of his time away. Desperate for affectio...

Ugetsu (1953)

Ugetsu (1953)

Supernatural

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage'...

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