There are certain images that from the first glance, burn into our minds. Horror has a habit of doing that time and again for obvious reasons. The iconography of horror is vast and sometimes we don’t even know the film that it’s from but we remember the image. Today we have a look at 25 of the most influential images in horror – images that not only represent the film, but the genre as a whole. These are the images that chill us to the bone and remind us that there are things that we are afraid of.
25 Most Iconic Horror Images
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#25
THE SKULL: Peter Cushing with magnifying glass in hand. Often mistaken for an image from Sherlock Holmes, the picture of Peter, one eye magnified, is actually from Amicus films The Skull, where Cushing obtains the skull of the Marquis De Sade and pays the price. The image was also spoofed by Cushing in the 1980’s spy spoof Top Secret.
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#24
THE MUMMY: Lon Chaney Jr. As The Mummy – Boris Karloff indeed created the mummy as we know him visually, but it was Lon Chaney Jr.’s interpretation that graces many T-shirts and Universal Monster posters. His turn as the mummy in two sequels has him fully bandaged and wandering the land in search of revenge.
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#23
SAW: It was the image of Shawnee Smith as Amanda incased in the horrid reverse bear trap that first caught our attention in Saw. The image was so powerful and tied to the series that Amanda was brought back in the sequel.
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#22
DAWN OF THE DEAD: Machete zombie. No, not an undead Danny Trejo, but the zombie put down by Tom Savini in the George Romero classic. The picture has come to represent the film appearing in countless posters and articles.
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#21
SCANNERS: Exploding head. When Scanners hit the scene, no one could believe what they were watching. People ran out of the theater sick to their stomachs and it was all cause of this unshakable scene.
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#20
NOSFERATU: Count Orlock silhouette climbing the stairs. This is a technique that you’ve seen used in a hundred movies and this is why. Anticipation is greater than the payoff in general so it is much more terrifying to see a shadow ascending the stairs towards a victim than it is to simply see the killer. The hat has been tipped to this one for decades and out right saluted in Full Moon’s Subspecies’ films.
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#19
SCARS OF DRACULA: Christopher Lee as Dracula has many great images, much more so than Bela Lugosi. While the image of Lee red eyed and holding a female victim close is from late in his vampiric career, it is the one most referenced. This picture has come to represent Hammer’s Dracula series more than any other.
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#18
THE CITY OF THE DEAD/HORROR HOTEL: The silhouette of a man carrying a gigantic cross through a fog covered graveyard has an influential and lasting impression. It’s a stand-out scene in a film with several stand-out scenes.
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#17
THE WICKER MAN: This is one of those films that for years, everyone was aware of, but few had seen. All we knew was that Christopher Lee was in it and there was a giant Wicker Man in back of him. We were hooked.
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#16
THE NIGHT CREATURES: Used on the cover of several horror books and adapted to t-shirts and posters by both Glenn Danzig and Rob Zombie, the image of hooded skeletal riders atop skeletal horses is one of the all-time undying nightmares. The actual film itself, is more adventure thriller than anything, but marketed by Hammer Films as a horror. In any case, it’s hard to beat!
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#15
HALLOWEEN: Michael Myers , The Shape, is a frightening thing to see walk into a room. He is iconic by just being there, but it’s the picture of him standing dressed as a ghost, that stands out. Glasses, sheet, mask, human skin… layers of masks covering true evil which only purpose is to kill.
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#14
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD: Ingrid Pitt as a vampire rising from her coffin has become a calling card for both her and Hammer Films. The thing is, it’s not a hammer film. It’s actually from an Amicus anthology. Just a case of the picture being more iconic than the film it’s from.
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#13
ROSEMARY'S BABY: The seminal film that started the satanic craze of the 1970s. So many things stick out about that film, but none more so than Rosemary with a kitchen knife and her new born baby in a black bassinette complete with inverted cross.
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#12
VIDEODROME: Some people get so scared watching a horror film that they believe that the monster is gonna come out of the TV and get them. 20 years before the ring, horror not only came out of the TV, but sucked us in as well.
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#11
BLACK SUNDAY: This is probably the portrait that will go down as most representing Barbara Steele. Her first horror film, Black Sunday, is one of the moodiest film ever made and was even referenced in Tim Burton’s love letter to Euro horror, Sleepy Hollow. Though this is the most iconic image from the film, it is far from the only one.
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#10
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: Zombified Karen Cooper has been put on more comics and DVD art than anything else from the film. The idea that a child could become a flesh eating killer is one that most parents can’t reconcile. Not only that, but she kills her own mother. That is why she stays with us a representation of horror. It’s simply unthinkable.
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#9
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: We never see the witch. All we see is this girl crying a lot. That being said, the scene of Heather looking in her camera and saying goodbye to her family is heartbreaking, terrifying, and arguably, the most shot in modern horror films.
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#8
DAY OF THE DEAD: Bub. If we could have a zombie for a friend, it would be bub. Being the first Romero zombie with personality (and head phones), he has a special place in our hearts. Hell, in many ways, he is the heart of the movie.
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#7
CARRIE: We all know Carrie, but the only thing we think about is her covered in blood at the prom. It’s a simple image but what it represents is the complete destruction of ones dreams and humility. 'nuff said!
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#6
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: More brains! That became the zombie creed and it was uttered by none other than the Tarman in Return of the Living Dead. He represents the talking zombie and for most who have never seen it before, ROTLD as a whole. He has spawned numerous T-shirts, tattoos, models, and even an action figure. He is the living dead.
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#5
THE EVIL DEAD: As much as Ash, his sister is equally toted in Evil Dead memorabilia. Ask people what the one undeniable image is from the film and its Shelly, peeking from the cellar door and taunting us to join her. That’s the image that sticks in my head at night. Yes, it’s still scary.
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#4
THE SHINING: It has nothing to do with “shining” or the ghosts per say, but the idea of Jack Nicholson busting through the door and smiling at you is so powerful that it became the poster for the film and is the sole image consistently marketed under the Shining banner. We all know the scene and the dialogue and we know we don’t want it to happen to us.
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#3
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: Leatherface with his chainsaw chasing after you is the stuff of nightmares. It has been ripped off time and again to market lesser efforts without losing any of its power. We knew this picture before we ever knew it was a movie.
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#2
PSYCHO: There are three things that we think when we think of Psycho, Norman, the house, and Janet Leigh’s death in the shower. Her face distended in terror is all that they would show us so we didn’t know she died. Brilliant and because of it, Janet Leigh will always be thought of naked in the shower first before anything else.
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#1
THE EXORCIST: Yes, it’s number one. But there is a reason. Regan possessed has been the bench mark image since its inception. Even if you have never seen ANY horror film, you know this one. Photos of her have even been used in religious print to warn against the evils of the world and demonic forces. It’s power and influence over the entire genre is without question and even if you’ve never seen the movie, you don’t want to walk in on that!
