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    Home/Browse/1940s Movies/1940s Horror Movies

    1940s Horror Movies

    The 40 most popular 1940s horror movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.

    40films
    1rated by members
    Top ratedBud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein4.0
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    Phantom of the Opera
    TMDB3.1

    Phantom of the Opera

    1943 · 1h 29m

    country: United States

    Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.

    The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
    TMDB3.3

    The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

    1949 · 1h 8m

    country: United States

    The Wind in the Willows: Concise version of Kenneth Grahame's story of the same name. J. Thaddeus Toad, owner of Toad Hall, is prone to fads, such as the newfangled motor car. This desire for the very latest lands him in much trouble with the wrong crowd, and it is up to his friends, Mole, Rat and Badger to save him from himself. - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Retelling of Washington Irving's story set in a tiny New England town. Ichabod Crane, the new schoolmaster, falls for the town beauty, Katrina Van Tassel, and the town Bully Brom Bones decides that he is a little too successful and needs "convincing" that Katrina is not for him.

    Cat People
    TMDB3.5

    Cat People

    1942 · 1h 13m

    country: United States

    A Serbian émigré in Manhattan believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves will turn her into a feline predator.

    The Picture of Dorian Gray
    TMDB3.6

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    1945 · 1h 51m

    country: United States

    A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

    The Wolf Man
    TMDB3.5

    The Wolf Man

    1941 · 1h 10m

    country: United States

    After his brother's death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf.

    Jungle Woman
    TMDB2.6

    Jungle Woman

    1944 · 1h 1m

    country: United States

    Paula, the ape woman, has survived the ending of CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN and is running around a creepy old sanitarium run by the kindly Dr. Fletcher, reverting to her true gorilla form every once in a while to kill somebody.

    Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
    TMDB3.6
    FF4.0

    Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein

    1948 · 1h 23m

    country: United States

    The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.

    Dead of Night
    TMDB3.6

    Dead of Night

    1945 · 1h 43m

    country: United Kingdom

    An architect, visiting an English country house, realizes the other guests are familiar from his recurring nightmare. When they share their tales of the supernatural, he is filled with a growing dread.

    Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
    TMDB3.1

    Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

    1943 · 1h 14m

    country: United States

    After being resurrected by grave robbers, Larry Talbot searches for Dr. Frankenstein in the hopes of being cured of his lycanthropy. The mad scientist may turn out to be dead, but his monster is just waiting to be found…

    The Dark Mirror
    TMDB3.5

    The Dark Mirror

    1946 · 1h 25m

    country: United States

    A sister and her disturbed twin are implicated in a murder and a police detective must figure out which one's the killer.

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
    TMDB3.3

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    1941 · 1h 53m

    country: United States

    Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.

    The Lodger
    TMDB3.2

    The Lodger

    1944 · 1h 24m

    country: United States

    In Victorian era London, the inhabitants of a family home with rented rooms upstairs fear the new lodger is Jack the Ripper.

    The Body Snatcher
    TMDB3.5

    The Body Snatcher

    1945 · 1h 18m

    country: United States

    Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.

    House of Dracula
    TMDB2.8

    House of Dracula

    1945 · 1h 4m

    country: United States

    A scientist working on cures for rare afflictions, such as a bone softening agent made from molds to allow him to correct the spinal deformity of his nurse, finds the physical causes of lycanthropy in wolf-man Larry Talbot and of vampirism in Count Dracula, but himself becomes afflicted with homicidal madness while exchanging blood with Dracula.

    The Invisible Man Returns
    TMDB3.1

    The Invisible Man Returns

    1940 · 1h 21m

    country: United States

    The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.

    The Mummy's Hand
    TMDB2.9

    The Mummy's Hand

    1940 · 1h 7m

    country: United States

    A couple of young, out-of-work archaeologists in Egypt discover evidence of the burial place of the ancient Egyptian princess Ananka. After receiving funding from an eccentric magician and his beautiful daughter, they set out into the desert only to be terrorized by a sinister high priest and the living mummy Kharis who are the guardians of Ananka’s tomb.

    The Spiral Staircase
    TMDB3.5

    The Spiral Staircase

    1946 · 1h 23m

    country: United States

    On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.

    The Uninvited
    TMDB3.5

    The Uninvited

    1944 · 1h 39m

    country: United States

    A pair of siblings from London purchase a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price—and soon they’re caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave.

    The Invisible Man's Revenge
    TMDB2.8

    The Invisible Man's Revenge

    1944 · 1h 18m

    country: United States

    A fugitive, dangerous madman reaches an English village where he confronts his former partner who left him for dead in the jungle after their discovery of a diamond mine. When the former partner also claims to have since lost the mine and all its wealth, which he took all for himself, and though the partner is still living in a state of luxury , the madman takes up an offer from a crazed scientist to make him invisible, something the scientist has already done with experimental animals, so that he can take revenge.

    Son of Dracula
    TMDB2.9

    Son of Dracula

    1943 · 1h 17m

    country: United States

    Carpathian Count Alucard is invited to the U.S. by a young heiress. Her boyfriend and local officials are suspicious of the newcomer, who is interested in the "virile" soil of the new world.

    Invisible Agent
    TMDB2.9

    Invisible Agent

    1942 · 1h 21m

    country: United States

    The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany.

    The Unknown
    TMDB3.1

    The Unknown

    1946 · 1h 10m

    country: United States

    "The Unknown" was the final entry in Columbia’s I Love A Mystery series. A woman hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.

    I Walked with a Zombie
    TMDB3.4

    I Walked with a Zombie

    1943 · 1h 9m

    country: United States

    A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.

    The Return of the Vampire
    TMDB3.0

    The Return of the Vampire

    1943 · 1h 9m

    country: United States

    In 1918, an English family is terrorized by a vampire, until they learn how to deal with it. They think their troubles are over, but German bombs in WWII free the monster. He reclaims the soul of his wolfman ex-servant, and assuming the identity of a scientist who has just escaped from a concentration camp, he starts out on a plan to get revenge upon the family.

    Hold That Ghost
    TMDB3.4

    Hold That Ghost

    1941 · 1h 26m

    country: United States

    Two bumbling service station attendants are left as the sole beneficiaries in a gangster's will. Their trip to claim their fortune is sidetracked when they are stranded in a haunted house along with several other strangers.

    The Ghost Breakers
    TMDB3.3

    The Ghost Breakers

    1940 · 1h 25m

    country: United States

    After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle. Undaunted, Mary sets sail for Cuba with a stowaway in her trunk—wise-cracking Larry Lawrence, a radio announcer who helps Mary get to the bottom of the voodoo magic, zombies and ghosts that supposedly curse the spooky estate.

    Midnight Menace
    TMDB3.2

    Midnight Menace

    1946 · 23m

    country: Unknown

    A strange voodoo man kills women and moves their bodies wherever he wants. But this time, he just wants to torment Lollypop Jones with a body that keeps showing up no matter where he goes.

    The Time of Their Lives
    TMDB3.6

    The Time of Their Lives

    1946 · 1h 22m

    country: United States

    Two ghosts, who were mistakenly branded as traitors during the Revolutionary War, return to 20th century New England to retrieve a letter from George Washington which would prove their innocence.

    The Mummy's Ghost
    TMDB2.8

    The Mummy's Ghost

    1944 · 1h

    country: United States

    An Egyptian high priest travels to America to reclaim the bodies of ancient Egyptian princess Ananka and her living guardian mummy Kharis. Learning that Ananka's spirit has been reincarnated into another body, he kidnaps a young woman of Egyptian descent with a mysterious resemblance to the princess. However, the high priest's greedy desires cause him to lose control of the mummy...

    Black Dragons
    TMDB2.3

    Black Dragons

    1942 · 1h 4m

    country: United States

    It is prior to the commencement of World War II, and Japan's fiendish Black Dragon Society is hatching an evil plot with the Nazis. They instruct a brilliant scientist, Dr. Melcher, to travel to Japan on a secret mission. There he operates on six Japanese conspirators, transforming them to resemble six American leaders. The actual leaders are murdered and replaced with their likeness.

    The Ghost of Frankenstein
    TMDB2.9

    The Ghost of Frankenstein

    1942 · 1h 8m

    country: United States

    Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer, plans to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when he turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.

    The Invisible Woman
    TMDB2.9

    The Invisible Woman

    1940 · 1h 12m

    country: United States

    Kitty Carroll, an attractive store model, volunteers to become a test subject for a machine that will make her invisible so that she can use her invisibility to exact revenge on her ex-boss.

    Flesh and Fantasy
    TMDB3.5

    Flesh and Fantasy

    1943 · 1h 33m

    country: United States

    Anthology film of three tales of the supernatural. The first story is set at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The second involves a psychic who predicts murder. The third is about a man who literally meets the girl of his dreams.

    The Face Behind the Mask
    TMDB3.3

    The Face Behind the Mask

    1941 · 1h 9m

    country: United States

    A kindly, enthusiastic, newly-arrived American immigrant from Hungary is forced to turn to a life of crime after his face is badly disfigured in a hotel fire.

    The Seventh Victim
    TMDB3.2

    The Seventh Victim

    1943 · 1h 11m

    country: United States

    After young Mary Gibson discovers that her older sister Jacqueline has disappeared, she leaves her boarding school and heads to New York City to track down her sibling. But Mary gets drawn deeper into the mystery.

    The Mummy's Tomb
    TMDB2.8

    The Mummy's Tomb

    1942 · 1h 1m

    country: United States

    A high priest of Karnak travels to America with the living mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) to kill all those who had desecrated the tomb of the Egyptian princess Ananka thirty years earlier.

    Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
    TMDB3.3

    Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

    1949 · 1h 24m

    country: United States

    Lost Caverns Resort Hotel bellhop Freddie Phillips gives an empty threat to one attorney Amos Strickland, and is shortly fired. When Freddie visits his guest's suite to apologize, he finds Strickland dead of a gunshot wound. As the investigators file in, Freddie becomes the scapegoat of the guests in the hotel, who all had a bone to pick with Strickland. It's now up to Freddie and Detective Casey Edwards to find out who the real killer is, all the while avoiding the many vigorous and violent villains staying at the resort.

    House of Frankenstein
    TMDB3.0

    House of Frankenstein

    1944 · 1h 11m

    country: United States

    Deranged scientist, Gustav Niemann, escapes from prison and overtakes the director of a traveling chamber of horrors, soon reviving the infamous Count Dracula, the frozen Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man.

    The Amazing Mr. X
    TMDB3.1

    The Amazing Mr. X

    1948 · 1h 18m

    country: United States

    On the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf...then meets a tall dark man, Alexis, who seems to know all about such things. After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and younger sister Janet become enmeshed in the eerie artifices of Alexis; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper deviltry than he had in mind...

    The Beast with Five Fingers
    TMDB3.2

    The Beast with Five Fingers

    1947 · 1h 28m

    country: United States

    Locals in an Italian village believe evil has taken over the estate of a recently deceased pianist where murder has taken place. The alleged killer: the pianist's severed hand.

    About 1940s Horror Movies

    The 1940s

    1940s cinema is split by the war: propaganda and home-front melodrama, then the darker, more cynical film noir that followed. Italian neorealism emerged from the rubble at the decade's end.

    Horror

    Horror is cinema's most reliable laboratory — cheap to make, endlessly reinvented, and unusually good at smuggling in subtext. Every few years a national wave redefines it: Italian giallo, Japanese J-horror, the Korean thriller, American indie horror.

    In this list

    Best reviewed
    Dead of Night (7.2)
    Often also
    Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy

    Common questions

    What are the best 1940s horror movies?
    By popularity across Flickfolio and TMDB, the top picks right now are Phantom of the Opera, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and Cat People. The full ranked list of 40 sits above — open any movie for ratings, reviews, and streaming availability.
    How is this list ranked?
    1940s horror movies are ordered by overall popularity, which blends how often a title is viewed, searched, and logged. It updates as viewing habits shift, so the list reflects what people are actually watching rather than a fixed critical canon.
    Where can I watch these movies?
    Every movie page lists current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region, alongside community ratings and reviews from Flickfolio members.

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