# List of horror films of the 1950s

This is a list of horror films released in the 1950s. At the beginning of the 1950s, horror films were described by Kim Newman as being "out of fashion". Among the most influential horror films of the 1950s was The Thing From Another World, with Newman stating that countless science fiction horror films of the 1950s would follow in its style, while a film made just the year before, The Man from Planet X was still in debt to the Universal horror style of filming, with a bearded scientist and foggy sets. For five years following the release of The Thing From Another World, nearly every film involving aliens, dinosaurs or radioactive mutants would be dealt with matter-of-fact characters as seen in The Thing From Another World. Even films that adapted older characters had science fiction leanings, such as The Vampire, The Werewolf and Frankenstein 1970 being influenced by the atomic-inspired monsters of the era. Films with a Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde theme also appeared with The Neanderthal Man, The Fly, Monster on the Campus and Hideous Sun Demon.
While studies suggest that gothic horror had fallen out of fashion between the release of House of Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein, small glimpses of the genre appeared in films such as The Son of Dr. Jekyll, The Strange Door, The Black Castle and House of Wax. Several of these films were also shot in 3D such as The Mad Magician, Phantom of the Rue Morgue, and The Maze. Universal-International produced the film ''Cult of the Cobra which created a short lived wave of horror films featuring Pin-up model like mutants such as The Leech Woman and The Wasp Woman. Prior to the release of Hammer Film Productions's gothic films, the last gothic horror films of the 1950s often featured aged stars like Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., and Boris Karloff in films made by low budget indie film directors like Ed Wood or Reginald LeBorg or producers like Howard W. Koch. Hammer originally began developing American-styled science fiction films in the early 1950s but later branched into horror with their colour films The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. These films would birth two horror film stars: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Along with Hammer's more science fiction oriented series Quatermass, both the gothic and science fiction films of Hammer would develop many similar films within the years.
Horror films aimed a young audience featuring teenage monsters grew popular in the 1950s with several productions from American International Pictures (AIP) and productions of Herman Cohen with I Was a Teenage Werewolf and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein. This led to later productions like Daughter of Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein's Daughter. Director William Castle also attracted horror audiences with his gimmick-themed horror films such as The Tingler and House on Haunted Hill. Horror films also expanded further into international productions in the 1950s such as Mexican production El vampiro. In Italy, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava developed early Italian horror films with I Vampiri and Caltiki – The Immortal Monster. Productions also extended into the Philippines (Terror Is a Man), Germany (The Head and Horrors of Spider Island) and France (Eyes Without a Face).

## List

Horror films released in the 1950s :
| Title | Director | Cast | Country | Notes |
| 1950 |||||
| Harriet Craig | Vincent Sherman | Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey | United States | |
| 1951 |||||
| Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man | Charles Lamont | Bud Abbott, Lou Costello | United States | |
| Bride of the Gorilla | Curt Siodmak | Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr., Raymond Burr | United States | |
| Five | Arch Oboler | William Phipps, Susan Douglas Rubeš, James Anderson, Charles Lampkin, Earl Lee | United States | |
| The Thing from Another World | Christian Nyby | James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey | United States | |
| Satur | Lamberto V. Avellana | Manuel Conde, Delia Razon, Jaime de la Rosa | Philippines | |
| The Son of Dr. Jekyll | Seymour Friedman | Louis Hayward, Jody Lawrance, Alexander Knox | United States | |
| The Strange Door | Joseph Pevney | Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff, Sally Forrest | United States | |
| 1952 |||||
| Alraune | Arthur Maria Rabenalt | Hildegard Knef, Erich von Stroheim, Karlheinz Böhm | West Germany | |
| The Black Castle | Nathan H. Juran | Richard Greene, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. | United States | |
| Mother Riley Meets the Vampire | John Gilling | Arthur Lucan, Bela Lugosi, Dora Bryan | United Kingdom | |
| Taong Paniki | Richard Abelardo | Jaime de la Rosa, Delia Razon | Philippines | |
| 1953 |||||
| Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Charles Lamont | Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff | United States | |
| The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms | Eugène Lourié | Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Donovan's Brain | Felix E. Feist | Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, Nancy Davis, Steve Brodie | United States | |
| House of Wax | André De Toth | Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk | United States | |
| Ghost of Saga Mansion | Ryohei Arai | Kōtarō Bandō, Kunitarō Sawamura, Takako Irie | Japan | |
| Man in the Attic | Hugo Fregonese | Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer | United States | |
| The Maze | William Cameron Menzies | Richard Carlson, Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery | United States | |
| The Neanderthal Man | Ewald André Dupont | Robert Shayne, Doris Merrick, Richard Crane | United States | |
| Scared Stiff | George Marshall | Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis | United States | |
| White Witch Doctor | Henry Hathaway | Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum | United States | |
| 1954 |||||
| Godzilla | Ishirō Honda | Akira Takarada, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura | Japan (released in the United States in 1956 with added Raymond Burr footage) | |
| Creature from the Black Lagoon | Jack Arnold | Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning | United States | Science fiction horror |
| La Bruja | Chano Urueta | Lilia del Valle, Ramón Gay | Mexico | |
| The Mad Magician | John Brahm | Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor | United States | |
| The Snow Creature | W. Lee Wilder | Paul Langton, Leslie Denison, Teru Shimada | United States | |
| Them! | Gordon Douglas | James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness | United States | Science fiction horror |
| 1955 |||||
| Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy | Charles Lamont | Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor | United States | Horror comedy |
| Bride of the Monster | Ed Wood | Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Tony McCoy | United States | |
| Creature with the Atom Brain | Edward L. Cahn | Richard Denning, Angela Stevens, S. John Launer | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Cult of the Cobra | Francis D. Lyon | Faith Domergue, Richard Long, Marshall Thompson, Jack Kelly, Kathleen Hughes, David Janssen, Edward Platt, Myrna Hansen | United States | |
| Dementia | John Parker | Adrienne Barrett, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Richard Barron | United States | |
| It Came from Beneath the Sea | Robert Gordon | Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Les Diaboliques | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel | France | |
| Night of the Hunter | Charles Laughton | Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters | United States | |
| Queen Bee | Ranald MacDougall | Joan Crawford, Barry Sullivan, Betsy Palmer, John Ireland, Lucy Marlow | United States | |
| 1956 |||||
| Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Don Siegel | Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates | United States | Science fiction horror |
| The Black Sleep | Reginald Le Borg | Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, Tor Johnson | United States | |
| Man Beast | Jerry Warren | Rock Madison, Asa Maynor, George Skaff | United States | |
| The Mole People | Virgil Vogel | John Agar, Cynthia Patrick, Hugh Beaumont | United States | Science fiction horror |
| The She-Creature | Edward L. Cahn | Chester Morris, Marla English, Tom Conway | United States | |
| 1957 |||||
| The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas | Val Guest | Forrest Tucker, Peter Cushing, Maureen Connell | United Kingdom United States | |
| Attack of the Crab Monsters | Roger Corman | Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson | United States | |
| Back from the Dead | Charles Marquis Warren | Peggie Castle, Arthur Franz, Marsha Hunt | United States | |
| The Black Scorpion | Edward Ludwig | Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas | United States | |
| Blood of Dracula | Herbert L. Strock | Sandra Harrison, Gail Ganley, Jerry Blaine | United States | |
| Cat Girl | Alfred Shaughnessy | Barbara Shelley, Robert Ayres, Kay Callard | United Kingdom United States | |
| The Curse of Frankenstein | Terence Fisher | Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court | United Kingdom | |
| Daughter of Dr. Jekyll | Edgar G. Ulmer | John Agar, Gloria Talbott, Arthur Shields | United States | |
| The Disembodied | Walter Grauman | Paul Burke, Allison Hayes, John Wengraf | United States | |
| From Hell It Came | Dan Milner | Tina Carver, Baynes Barron, Suzanne Ridgeway | United States | |
| The Giant Claw | Fred F. Sears | Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday | United States | |
| La Maldicion de la Momia Azteca (aka Curse of the Aztec Mummy) | Rafael Lopez Portillo | Julian DeMeriche, Alejandro Cruz, Arturo Martinez Sr. | Mexico | |
| La Momia Azteca (aka The Aztec Mummy) | Rafael Lopez Portillo | Emma Roldan, Jorge Mondragon, Arturo Martinez Sr. | Mexico | |
| The Monster That Challenged the World | Arnold Laven | Tim Holt, Audrey Dalton, Mimi Gibson | United States | Science fiction |
| Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon) | Jacques Tourneur | Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis | United Kingdom | |
| Pharaoh's Curse | Lee Sholem | Mark Dana, Ziva Rodann | United States | |
| Plan 9 from Outer Space | Ed Wood | Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Maila Nurmi | United States | Shot in 1956, released in 1957 Science fiction horror |
| The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy | Rafael Lopez Portillo | Emma Roldan, Jorge Mondragon, Arturo Martinez Sr. | Mexico | |
| Spook Chasers | George Blair | Huntz Hall, Robert Shayne | United States | Horror comedy |
| The Undead | Roger Corman | Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes, Val Dufour | United States | |
| The Vampire | Paul Landres | John Beal, Kenneth Tobey, Dabbs Greer | United States | |
| I Vampiri (aka The Devil's Commandment) | Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda | Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D'Angelo, Dario Michaelis | Italy | |
| Voodoo Island | Reginald Le Borg | Boris Karloff, Beverly Tyler, Murvyn Vye | United States | |
| Voodoo Woman | Edward L. Cahn | Marla English, Tom Conway, Lance Fuller | United States | |
| 1958 |||||
| The Blob | Irvin Yeaworth | Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Blood of the Vampire | Henry Cass | Donald Wolfit, Vincent Ball, Barbara Shelley | United Kingdom | |
| Black Cat Mansion | Nobuo Nakagawa | Toshio Hosokawa, Yuriko Ejima, Takashi Wada | Japan | |
| The Brain Eaters | Bruno Ve Sota | Ed Nelson, Alan Frost, Jack Hill | United States | |
| The Bride and the Beast | Adrian Weiss | Charlotte Austin, Lance Fuller, Johnny Roth | United States | |
| The Castle of the Monsters | Julián Soler | Antonio Espino, Evangelina Elizondo | Mexico | |
| Corridors of Blood | Robert Day | Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee | United Kingdom | |
| The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror) | Quentin Lawrence | Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne, Jennifer Jayne | United Kingdom | |
| Curse of the Faceless Man | Edward L. Cahn | Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara | United States | |
| The Fly | Kurt Neumann | Al Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Giant from the Unknown | Richard E. Cunha | Ed Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer | United States | |
| The Haunted Strangler (aka Grip of the Strangler) | Robert Day | Boris Karloff, Jean Kent | United Kingdom | |
| The Hideous Sun Demon | Tom Boutross, Robert Clarke | Robert Clarke, Patricia Manning, Nan Peterson | United States | Science fiction horror |
| El hombre y el monstruo (The Man and the Monster) | Rafael Baledon | Abel Salazar | Mexico | |
| The Horror of Dracula | Terence Fisher | Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Melissa Stribling | United Kingdom | |
| I Bury the Living | Albert Band | Richard Boone, Theodore Bikel, Peggy Maurer | United States | |
| It! The Terror from Beyond Space | Edward L. Cahn | Marshall Thompson, Shirley Patterson, Kim Spaldin | United States | |
| Macabre | William Castle | Jacqueline Scott, Jim Backus, Philip Tonge | United States | |
| Monster on the Campus | Jack Arnold | Joanna Moore, Troy Donahue, Nancy Walters | United States | |
| The Return of Dracula | Paul Landres | Francis Lederer | United States | |
| The Screaming Skull | Alex Nicol | John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Toni Johnson | United States | |
| Space Master X-7 | Edward Bernds | Bill Williams, Lyn Thomas, Robert Ellis | United States | |
| Terror in the Haunted House (aka My World Dies Screaming) | Harold Daniels | Gerald Mohr, Cathy O'Donnell, William Ching | United States | |
| The Thing That Couldn't Die | Will Cowan | William Reynolds, Andra Martin, Jeffrey Stone | United States | |
| The Vampire's Coffin | Fernando Mendez | Abel Salazar | Mexico | |
| The Woman Eater | Charles Saunders | George Coulouris, Vera Day | United Kingdom | |
| 1959 |||||
| The Alligator People | Roy Del Ruth | Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr., George Macready | United States | |
| Attack of the Giant Leeches | Bernard Kowalski | Jan Shepard, Gene Roth, Yvette Vickers | United States | |
| Beast from Haunted Cave | Monte Hellman | Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Chris Robinson | United States | |
| A Bucket of Blood | Roger Corman | Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Anthony Carbone | United States | |
| Caltiki – The Immortal Monster | Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava | John Merivale, Didi Perego, Gérard Herter | Italy France | |
| The Head | Victor Trivas | Horst Frank, Michel Simon, Paul Dahlke | West Germany | |
| La Casa del Terror | Gilberto Martínez Solares | Lon Chaney Jr., Tin-Tan, Yolanda Varela | Mexico | |
| Curse of the Undead | Edward Dein | Eric Fleming, Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley | United States | |
| The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake | Edward L. Cahn | Eduard Franz, Valerie French, Henry Daniell | United States | |
| Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow | William J. Hole Jr. | Jody Fair, Martin Braddock, Russ Bender | United States | |
| Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan (aka The Ghost of Yotsuya) | Nobuo Nakagawa | Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa | Japan | |
| The Giant Gila Monster | Ray Kellogg | Don Sullivan, Fred Graham | United States | |
| House on Haunted Hill | William Castle | Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long | United States | |
| Jack the Ripper | Monty Berman, Robert S. Baker | Eddie Byrne, Lee Patterson | United Kingdom | |
| La Llorona (a.k.a. The Crying Woman) | René Cardona, Sr. | María Elena Marqués | Mexico | |
| The Man Who Could Cheat Death | Terence Fisher | Anton Diffring, Hazel Court, Christopher Lee | United Kingdom United States | |
| The Mummy | Terence Fisher | Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux | United Kingdom | |
| Return of the Fly | Edward Bernds | Vincent Price, Brett Halsey | United States | |
| Teenagers from Outer Space | Tom Graeff | David Love, Dawn Bender, Bryan Grant | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Terror Is a Man | Gerardo de León | Francis Lederer, Greta Thyssen, Richard Derr | Philippines United States | |
| The Tingler | William Castle | Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman | United States | Science fiction horror |
| Uncle Was a Vampire (aka Hard Times for Vampires) | Steno | Sylva Koscina, Christopher Lee | Italy | |