Everyone has their personal opinion on their top five picks of favorite iconic horror movies, here are the public and my personal opinions on these films.

Horror began to pop up in movie’s in the early 1800s, but the horror genre officially got its start with George’s Méliès in the 1890s, with his first horror movie The House of the Devil made in 1896.

The horror genre was intended to frighten, scare, or disturb the audience. Horror is usually divided into sub genres like psychological horror and supernatural horror.

With no further adieu, we begin with our honorable mentions. These weren’t popular enough to make our top five list, but they are still famously known and loved.

Coming up as our first honorable mention would be Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, a psychological horror film released in 1980.

This horror film comes as our first honorable mention due to the iconic scenes that even non-horror buffs can quote; specifically where famous actor Jack Nicholson hacks down a door with an ax and screams “Here’s Johnny!”

The second honorable mention is Michael Doughtry’s  Trick r’ Treat, an anthology. It is an American horror comedy based around Halloween released in 2007.

This comes second in the short honorable mention list due to it being most popular during the holiday it was based around.

Coming up as our third and final honorable mention is the IT miniseries, a two part psychological horror/thriller released in 1990, famously written and directed by Stephen King.

This pick on the list isn’t a movie, but instead a two part miniseries based around King’s early novel It released in 1986. Don’t get this one confused with the popular Pennywise clown It; this miniseries is based around a group of kids who have to fend off an otherworldly alien being who feeds off people’s fear.

Now, on to our top five horror films. To note, this list is based on interviews of others and is not my choice.

Coming at number five is Scream, an American horror slasher franchise including five installments released in 1996.

The first installment is about a girl named Sidney who has to fend off her lover and his crazy friend, both of whom were seeking revenge on Sidney’s family  due to Billy’s father’s affair, which led to his mother abandoning them

Number four on our list is Child’s Play, an American horror slasher franchise released in 1988, directed by film director Tom Holland (not spider-man Tom Holland).

The six year old boy Andy wished for the popular “Good Guy” doll, but with money low the mother resorts to buying a cheaper version from a random sketchy guy. After giving her son the doll, it turns out it was possessed by a serial killer named “Charles Lee Ray”.

Finally, our top three most iconic movie franchises, these are known as possibly the best character’s and best movies in horror of all time.

Number three has got to be A Nightmare On Elm Street; an American supernatural slasher film released in 1984, directed by film director Wes Craven.

It’s about a teenager trying to uncover a dark truth concealed by her parents, after she and her friends become targets of a dangerous serial killer “Freddy Krueger”. As everyone knows, this serial killer has knives for hands and the notorious red and green striped sweater.

Number two on our list is Friday The 13th, released in 1980, directed by film director Sean S. Cunningham.

There are multiple installments, with Jason as the killer in  the 2nd through the 10th installment, with his mother, Pamela Voorhees, being the original killer. The story takes place with a group of teenage camp counselors being picked off one by one while trying to reopen an abandoned summer camp.

Coming first for our top pick as the most iconic horror franchise, Halloween, an American horror slasher film released in 1978. 

The story takes place with a six year old boy killing his sister on Halloween night. After that, he would be taken to a mental institution, but 15 years later he breaks out of the institution and goes on a murderous spree.

We see Michael Myers trying to stalk and kill his long-lost sister, Laurie Strode, a 17 year old girl who was adopted by the Strode family after being left alone.

Halloween grew in popularity in the late 70s and 80s, with a sequel releasing three years after the original. Michael Myers became an icon, and a notorious slasher in horror history, with a good 13 movies currently released, including the newest installment, Halloween Kill’s, released earlier this year, in October.

Each of the movies had their up’s and their down’s with the bad modeling of the masks in some installments, to the very entertaining plot’s in most. The main reason Halloween is known as one of the most iconic horror films is because it single handedly launched the era of slasher horror.

Even with its insanely low budget, it still made over $47 million just from the first installment, which made the movie stand out more.