Top 50 British horror films

Alex Secker discusses how Roman Polanski’s 1965 horror has been recontextualised by the Coronavirus pandemic...​

Ellis Reed chats to director Grant McPhee about his film, Far From the Apple Tree, low-budget filmmaking, and collaboration...

Dean Newman offers his thoughts on the seminal lycanthrope film, An American Werewolf in London (1981) which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021

Johnny Restall examines Richard Fleischer's seminal 1971 British murder masterpiece, 10 Rillington Place...​

Should comedy and horror ever occupy the same space? David Evans-Powell believes so and presents his case with a look at 1973's The House in Nightmare Park...

Ellis Reed interviews the indie filmmaker, Kemal Yildirim about his horror film, The Haunting of the Lady-Jane...

Jane Nightshade explores the rich, red tapestry of horror that is Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now...

The most celebrated of ‘serious’ British directors have taken detours into horror over the years, often producing some of the most thoughtful, nuanced and impactful genre highlights committed to celluloid. Matt Rogerson takes a look at the UK’s long lineage…

In the final part of Jonathan Clode's ode to Hammer films monsters, he looks at their one-and-done take on the werewolf legend with The Curse of the Werewolf...

Andrew David Barker shares this ongoing production diary charting the making of the short film Baby On Board, written by Stephen Volk and directed by Andrew...

Graham Williamson looks at the career of the great Tom Baker, including his tenure as the Doctor...

Jae Prowse heads back to 1980s Britain to look at the troubled production of much-derided festive slasher, Don't Open Till Christmas...

Slaughter High was Britain's answer to the influx of US-made slashers during the 1980s, but was it actually any good? Chris Andrews goes behind the mask...

Devin McGrath-Conwell explores the sophomore effort in Edgar Wright's 'Three Flavours Cornetto' trilogy with 2007's Hot Fuzz and finds the film nestling comfortably within the folk horror canon...

Jenny Davies recalls fond memories of 1957 classic Night of the Demon and how trouble behind the scenes have not detracted from a piece of perfectly crafted storytelling...​

If the hills have eyes, so do the houses: an exploration of voyeurism and the urban Gothic from 1960s London to 1990s Japan

Andy Roberts enters the world of Norman J. Warren once again, this time exploring his 1978 descent into Terror...​

Gavin Whitaker takes a very deep dive into the infamous 1983 shot-on-video British horror, Suffer Little Children...​

Carriages, Cannibals & Corrupt Capitalism! Johnny Restall takes a ride through the Tube's tunnels of terror with 1972's Death Line...

We talk to Terry Cooper about his forthcoming horror comedy, Bloody Students, which is now in development...

Sarah Johnson presents a personal reflection on the films that contributed to her appreciation of the horror genre.

Francis Young explores whether the distant past, in and of itself, can be a source of horror, leading to a distinct fear of the past: archaeophobia...

Johnny Restall celebrates 45 satanic years of British horror classic, 1976's The Omen...​

As the folk horror anthology Rewilding lands on Prime Video, its director Ric Rawlins discusses ten of its key inspirations – from Moomins to M.R James…

In a previously unpublished interview from 2018, Martin Parsons spoke with legendary director Norman J. Warren about the 70s horror industry, dog-faced aliens and women in peril...

Leeroy Cross James takes a retrospective look at the House of Mouse’s dip into the horror genre, and how they used genre tropes to their advantage...​

Dom Rotheroe's EXHIBIT A (2007), isn't often the first found-footage title that springs to mind, but Duncan Gates argues that it stands head and shoulders above a number of better-known contemporaries...

Joe Howsin explores themes centred around the notion of control in Liam Gavin's 2016 British horror, A Dark Song...

After decades in the shadows, the legendary Amicus Productions is set for a grand revival thanks to the team at Hex Studios. Their upcoming film, 'In the Grip of Terror', seeks to honour the classic studio's legacy while forging a…

Jane Nightshade revisits Eye of the Devil: an early, often overlooked example of folk horror cinema…

Ellis Reed caught up with author Matt Glasby to discuss his latest work, The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film...​

The only British video nasty judged to be legally obscene, Exposé (or House on Straw Hill) gets the Horrified treatment from Andy Roberts

Ellis Reed interviews Michael Fausti, director of the psychosexual thriller, Exit...

Emma Platt heads off the beaten track to explore the divergent relationships between the male friends of Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Ritual (2017)...​

Unfairly maligned or a Hammer film low point? Johnny Restall heads back to swinging London for Dracula A.D. 1972...

A never before published interview with the late Bernard Cribbins, originally conducted almost 30 years ago by Adam Jezard, in which the actor discusses his work in the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction...

Peter Strickland has forged a career from a desire to reconfigure whichever genre he works in. In this essay, Graham Williamson discusses the British director's work...​

Grace Britten explores Ben Wheatley's Kill List (2011) through a contemporary lens, highlighting the brutal discourse and exposing its neo-folk commentary...

Ellis Reed reviews She Lives Alone, a rural gothic short from emerging filmmaker, Lucy Rose. He also discusses the film with Lucy for Horrified...

Readers of Horrified have come together to choose their favourite British horror films, so here is the ultimate top 50 list of British horror films, as chosen by you.... 

Graham Williamson inspects the late author Angela Carter's Vampirella, its abandoned cinematic dramatisation and how more of her exquisite horror tales remain curiously unmade...

David Evans-Powell tackles displacement, trauma and ghosts in His House, the 2020 debut film from writer/director, Remi Weekes...​

Paul Lewis dives deeply into Urban Ghost Story, an undeservedly obscure film set in Glasgow...

Director Marcus Anthony Thomas, speaks with Christina Brennan about his short film, The Retreat, and the impact of online platforms...​

Johnny Restall celebrates 50 years of Dr Anton Phibes - Malevolent Master of Music & Murder...​

Mark Anthony Ayling interviews director Ed Greenberg and actor/executive producer C.J. de Mooi about ‘psychological enigma’ The Renata Road...

Andy Roberts climbs aboard the Horror Express to explore the 1972 sci-fi horror favourite, which was not alone in taking inspiration (and plot points) from John. W. Campbell's influential novella, Who Goes There?​

Throbbing Gristle have left an uncertain legacy; this piece from Declan Cochran examines that legacy, via the short film After Cease To Exist...​

Matt Rogerson asks: is Edgar Wright’s surreal psych-horror Last Night in Soho a love letter to Swinging Sixties’ London or a celebration of the giallo?

David Evans-Powell explores Piers Haggard’s 1971 folk horror classic, The Blood on Satan's Claw, and offers some reflections on the more troubling aspects of the film...​

With the passing of Angela Carter and plans for a cinematic Vampirella abandoned, director Neil Jordan nonetheless produced two films examining vampire lore. Graham Williamson discusses how the spirit of Carter is instilled in both...​

In this in-depth essay on the work of José Ramón Larraz, Paul Lewis explores the director's work, focusing on his early films made in 1970s Britain...

Nick Bartlett returns to The Awakening, finding a subtle and affecting ghost story beyond the genre tropes...​

Parody or pastiche? Nick Bartlett revisits Shaun of the Dead to explore the balance between horror and humour, finding it a heartfelt homage to Romero's vision...

Paul Lewis' absorbing essay on Ghost Story (1974), takes an in-depth look at Stephen Weeks' independent haunted house film and its profound sense of Englishness...

Ray Newman examines Lindsey C. Vickers' obscure 1981 British horror, The Appointment. With a recently announced BFI Blu-ray coming in 2022, the film is notable for being Vickers' one and only feature-length film...​

Jane Nightshade looks back at possibly the best cinematic ghost story ever made, Jack Clayton's 1961 masterpiece, The Innocents...​

Celebrating the British influence in Universal's Classic Monster stable, Johnny Restall explores James Whale's 1933 adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man...

K B Morris explores Night of the Eagle where a college professor vies with his wife who has turned to witchcraft to further his career. The article examines rationality versus the irrationality of superstition and the supernatural in a battle…

Emily McQuade celebrates the absurd delights of the cultish, kitsch and unique Psychomania (1973)...

Joe Howsin explores the 'social horror' of Rose Glass' excellent British horror debut film, 2019's Saint Maud...​

Horrified catches up with Charlie Steeds, the man behind Dark Temple Productions, for an exclusive interview with the wunderkind of neo-retro British horror...

Huw Lloyd presents his argument in defence of the 1981 horror anthology, The Monster Club...​

Johnny Restall grows horns and takes a personal look at the Satanic highlights of British horror cinema...​

In the first in an occasional series on less-heralded mainstream horror, Jonathan Clode explores the rather maligned update of Universal's Classic Monster, The Wolfman...

Ellis Reed examines Ben Steiner’s short horror films, available now via YouTube, and speaks to the British filmmaker about his work...

Lawrie Brewster has huge plans for the British horror film industry. But can the UK return to the halcyon days of Hammer and Amicus? Horrified's editor, Jae Prowse spoke with the Hex Studios co-owner... 

Jane Nightshade looks at 10 British ghost stories that deserve adaptation for the big (or small) screen...​

Graham Le Neve Painter dissects a classic of British Horror, 1987's Hellraiser...

Johnny Restall revisits drab, wet London for Séance On A Wet Afternoon, a 1964 psychological thriller with supernatural undertones...

Created during a nationwide lockdown in 2020, Host captured the zeitgeist to become one of the most popular and discussed horror films of the year. With its impending release on Blu-ray and DVD (amid another lockdown), James Swanton writes exclusively…

The final of three essays by K B Morris on occult writer Dennis Wheatley explores Hammer Productions’ final '70s horror film, To the Devil... a Daughter, loosely adapted from Wheatley's novel...​

Often, somewhat justifiably, derided as a low-rent video nasty, Xtro is a piece of British horror that looks unflinchingly at grief and trauma...

Nick Bartlett returns to one of the great British horror anthologies, 1945's Dead Of Night, in this article for Horrified...​

Indie Filmmaker David Bryant talks about his new psychological chiller Kindred and gives the low down on how to craft a DIY genre film.

Andy Roberts dives head-first into the schlock-and-gore of Norman J. Warren's alleged 'Alien knock-off', 1981's Inseminoid...

Graham Williamson revisits Joe Cornish's 2011 council estate-set alien invasion film, Attack the Block, which brilliantly subverted the notion of faceless 'hoodie horror'...

Witchfinder General is an undisputed classic of British horror, but is it entirely historically accurate? Tristan Shaw goes back to history class to find out

American filmmaker Andy Milligan's extremely low-budget work was consigned to his homeland until 1968 when he ventured to the UK and made five horror films over a two-year period. Paul Lewis examines Milligan's films in detail...​

Paul Lewis revisits Vincent Price's vengeful thespian in Douglas Hickox's blackly comic 1973 horror, Theatre of Blood...

Blurring the line between hero and villain, monster and human. Emma Louise Platt examines the gendered duality of 2005's The Descent….

Eleanor Miller discusses 'Hoodie horror', Eden Lake and the media demonisation of British youth for Horrified...

Filmmaker Alex Secker discusses how Vincent Price and Robert Fuest’s early 70s cult classics continue to influence the horror genre...

Andy Roberts revisits Norman J. Warren's 1977 Sci-Fi horror, Prey, to discuss the film's 'contrasting depictions of gender, sexuality and the role of animals' amid an exploration of human nature...

An interview with Rubicon Films' George Popov, director of Hex (2017) and The Droving (2020)...

It's safe to say, British exploitation shocker, Corruption, was not a favourite of its star, Peter Cushing. Jamie Evans looks at Cushing's turn as the damaged doctor, Sir John Rowan...

Caitlyn Downs returns to the films of Ben Wheatley, this time exploring the search for meaning in his 2021 psychedelic folk horror, In The Earth...

To celebrate The Wicker Man at 50, English Bob reflects on the soundtrack and the sounds that inspired Paul Giovanni, accompanied by a two-hour radio show ‘Soundtrack to Summerisle’...

Graham Williamson explores Jonathan Glazer's 2013 unsettling sci-fi horror, Under The Skin...

James Fleming unpacks the alienating experience of Robin Hardy's 1973 folk horror classic, The Wicker Man...

Rebecca McCallum tackles the controversy of violence and audience complicity through an exploration of the bold and brutal The Last Horror Movie... ​

Jane Nightshade recounts the story of Marlon Brando's strange sojourn into British horror for Michael Winner's The Nightcomers...​

Steve Kilpatrick conducts a whistle stop tour of avant-garde composer Elisabeth Lutyens’ musical scores for British horror cinema giants, Hammer and Amicus...

HOST was the horror phenomenon of 2020, not least because it reflected our own status quo. Here are Andy Roberts' thoughts on the brilliant British horror...

Jane Nightshade considers Alfred Hitchcock's last great film, 1972's Frenzy, and examines how this took him home literally, thematically, and stylistically...

Paul Lewis explores the oddly prescient The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, Jorge Grau's 1974 zombie film that explores both the urban and the rural, centre and periphery - the motivation for a significant proportion of English supernatural fiction...

Graham Williamson speaks with filmmaker, photographer and lecturer, Dean Puckett about his work, particularly the five folk horror shorts including the recently completed, The Devil's Footprints..

Johnny Restall dares enter Ashley Thorpe's 2017 recreation of Borley Rectory - the Most Haunted House in England...​

Freddie Francis' cinematographic brilliance is undisputed but his sojourns into directing produced some British horror favourites among fans. Jane Nightshade selects 10 of his best...

Horrified interviewed filmmaker Terry Cooper in 2021 whiles in the early stages of development for his next feature, Bloody Students. As he gears up to make the film, Terry gives an honest assessment of low-budget filmmaking in 2023...