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1950s: Horror & Suspense Throughout the Decades

by Encyclopedia_of_Horror • Created 8 years ago • Modified 4 months ago
The 1950s, the atomic age of horror! Giant Monsters, Extraterrestrial Invasions, Science Gone Wrong and more. A list brought to you by Eric Myford, author of The Encyclopedia of Horror & Suspense Movies book series...
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  • 202 titles
  • Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

    1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    19561h 20mApproved92Metascore
    7.7 (58K)
    A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
    DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry Gates
  • House of Wax (1953)

    2. House of Wax

    19531h 28mPG68Metascore
    7.0 (21K)
    An associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
    DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis Kirk
  • Vertigo (1958)

    3. Vertigo

    19582h 8mPG100Metascore
    8.2 (446K)
    A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
    DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel Geddes
  • Henry Jones, Nancy Kelly, and Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed (1956)

    4. The Bad Seed

    19562h 9mApproved51Metascore
    7.4 (17K)
    Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
    DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsNancy KellyPatty McCormackGage Clarke
  • Vincent Price and Carolyn Craig in House on Haunted Hill (1959)

    5. House on Haunted Hill

    19591h 15mApproved
    6.7 (33K)
    A millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
    DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard Long
  • Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Georgine Darcy, Judith Evelyn, and Harry Landers in Rear Window (1954)

    6. Rear Window

    19541h 52mPG100Metascore
    8.5 (548K)
    A bored photographer recovering from a broken leg passes the time by watching his neighbors and begins to suspect one of them of murder.
    DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell Corey
  • Robert Cornthwaite, Margaret Sheridan, Douglas Spencer, and Kenneth Tobey in The Thing from Another World (1951)

    7. The Thing from Another World

    19511h 27mApproved
    7.0 (35K)
    Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
    DirectorsChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames Arness
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

    8. Creature from the Black Lagoon

    19541h 19mG68Metascore
    6.9 (37K)
    A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
    DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard Denning
  • Revenge of the Creature (1955)

    9. Revenge of the Creature

    19551h 22mApproved
    5.6 (7.4K)
    Men capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.
    DirectorJack ArnoldStarsJohn AgarLori NelsonJohn Bromfield
  • Jeff Morrow, Gregg Palmer, Rex Reason, and Leigh Snowden in The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

    10. The Creature Walks Among Us

    19561h 18mApproved
    5.6 (4.3K)
    A scientist captures the Creature and turns him into an air-breather, only for him to escape and start killing.
    DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsJeff MorrowRex ReasonLeigh Snowden
  • Ishirô Honda and Takashi Shimura in Godzilla (1954)

    11. Godzilla

    19541h 36mNot Rated79Metascore
    7.6 (43K)
    After a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.
    DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira Takarada
  • Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

    12. Godzilla Raids Again

    19551h 18mApproved
    5.7 (9.2K)
    Scout pilots for a fishing company are startled to discover a second Godzilla, whose battle with rival monster Anguirus threatens to destroy Osaka.
    DirectorsMotoyoshi OdaIshirô HondaStarsHiroshi KoizumiSetsuko WakayamaMinoru Chiaki
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956)

    13. Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

    19561h 20mApproved61Metascore
    6.3 (9.3K)
    An American reporter visiting Tokyo becomes a witness to the city's destruction by a dinosaur-like beast awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing.
    DirectorsIshirô HondaTerry O. MorseStarsRaymond BurrTakashi ShimuraMomoko Kôchi
  • Richard Carlson, Charles Drake, Kathleen Hughes, and Barbara Rush in It Came from Outer Space (1953)

    14. It Came from Outer Space

    19531h 21mApproved68Metascore
    6.5 (12K)
    A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.
    DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonBarbara RushCharles Drake
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

    15. The Day the Earth Stood Still

    19511h 32mG83Metascore
    7.7 (88K)
    An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
    DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh Marlowe
  • Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, and Jimmy Hunt in Invaders from Mars (1953)

    16. Invaders from Mars

    19531h 18mApproved
    6.2 (9.7K)
    A young boy learns that space aliens are taking over the minds of earthlings.
    DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesStarsHelena CarterArthur FranzJimmy Hunt
  • World Without End (1956)

    17. World Without End

    19561h 20mApproved
    5.8 (2.7K)
    Astronauts returning from a voyage to Mars are caught in a time warp and are propelled into a post-Apocalyptic Earth populated by mutants.
    DirectorEdward BerndsStarsHugh MarloweNancy GatesNelson Leigh
  • Them! (1954)

    18. Them!

    19541h 34mApproved74Metascore
    7.2 (26K)
    The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
    DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames WhitmoreEdmund GwennJoan Weldon
  • The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

    19. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

    19531h 20mApproved
    6.6 (9.3K)
    A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
    DirectorEugène LouriéStarsPaul HubschmidPaula RaymondCecil Kellaway
  • David Hedison and Patricia Owens in The Fly (1958)

    20. The Fly

    19581h 34mApproved62Metascore
    7.1 (27K)
    A scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
    DirectorKurt NeumannStarsDavid HedisonPatricia OwensVincent Price
  • Return of the Fly (1959)

    21. Return of the Fly

    19591h 20mApproved
    5.7 (5.5K)
    Philippe Delambre, the now-adult son of "The Fly", does some transportation experimentation of his own.
    DirectorEdward BerndsStarsVincent PriceBrett HalseyDavid Frankham
  • Christopher Lee in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

    22. The Curse of Frankenstein

    19571h 22mApproved65Metascore
    7.0 (14K)
    While awaiting execution for murder, Baron Victor Frankenstein tells the story of a creature he built and brought to life - only for it to behave not as he intended.
    DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingHazel CourtRobert Urquhart
  • Richard Boone in I Bury the Living (1958)

    23. I Bury the Living

    19581h 17mApproved
    6.3 (3.4K)
    Cemetery director Robert Kraft discovers that by arbitrarily changing the status of plots from empty to occupied on the planogram causes the death of the plots' owners.
    DirectorAlbert BandStarsRichard BooneTheodore BikelPeggy Maurer
  • Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula (1958)

    24. Horror of Dracula

    19581h 22mApproved67Metascore
    7.2 (30K)
    When Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.
    DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael Gough
  • Henry Daniell, Valerie French, and Paul Wexler in The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

    25. The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake

    19591h 10mApproved
    5.7 (1.4K)
    Anthropologist Jonathan Drake believes that the men of his family have been cursed for generations by the native South American tribe he studies. Shortly after his brother, discovers one of the tribe's shrunken heads, he's found murdered.
    DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsEduard FranzValerie FrenchGrant Richards

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