13 Haunting 1940s Horror Films
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It’s spooky season! And that means it’s the best time to watch some scary movies. You may remember our roundup of 25 iconic and bone-chilling horror movies from the ’50s.This year, we’re celebrating with the top 13 haunting 1940s horror films. These movies were some of the most memorable, due to the monsters, fog, and terrors that happened in the shadows.
Dr. Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) exacts his revenge on his employers Mary Heath (Suzanne Kaaren) and Henry Morton (Guy Usher) when he thinks they cheated him out of the company’s profits. He trains his genetically-altered super bats to attack when they smell a perfume he designed, which he gifts to Mary and Henry. A newspaper reporter (Dave O'Brien) then investigates their suspicious death.
Biologist Dr. Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) invited scientists to his Amazonian laboratory on the premise that they will be assisting with his work. When they arrive, the mad scientist uses radiation to shrink his colleagues to microscopic size. The victims escape but must face the jungle’s dangers.
Archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) discovers a vase that could lead him to an ancient princess’ tomb while excavating in Cairo, Egypt. Magician Solvani (Cecil Kellaway) and his daughter (Peggy Moran) fund the expedition and they embark to the grave site together. Unbeknownst to Steve, a mummy guards the tomb and stalks all those who disturb the princess’ final resting place.
Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney) returns to his ancestral home in Wales to reconcile with his family. While there, he falls for a shopkeeper (Evelyn Ankers), but is attacked by a wolf shortly after. To his horror, he soon discovers he was attacked not by a wolf, but a werewolf. He transforms into Wolf Man and wrecks havoc on the community.
Serbian fashion designer (Simone Simon) falls for an engineer (Kent Smith) when she arrives in NYC. She is afraid of intimacy because she believes she is the descendant of a woman who turned into a panther in the heat of passion and killed her lover. Despite her hesitation, the couple gets married, eventually triggering the curse.
A Canadian nurse (Frances Dee) goes to the West Indies to care for a woman (Christine Gordon) on a sugar plantation with a mysterious ailment. Despite falling in love with the woman’s husband (Tom Conway), the nurse attempts to cure the wife. In her quest, she gets entangled in the island’s culture of voodoo and zombies.
Mary (Kim Hunter) is forced to leave school after discovering her sister (Jean Brooks) has disappeared. She travels to NYC to find her sister, and instead finds that she was involved in a satanic cult. Mary discovers this sinister cult is pursuing her sister for exposing them.
This classic Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) film follows the detective and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) as they travel to Quebec, Canada to uncover a mystery. A small village is plagued by grisly murders attributed to a supernatural villain. Sherlock must find the culprit before he commits his next crime.
Dr. MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) runs a medical school in Edinburgh, where he must acquire cadavers for his medical experiments. He hires a resurrectionist (Boris Karloff) to unearth bodies from the cemetery and deliver them to him. When he runs out, he starts to make his own.
A group of five guests are invited to an English manor, including an architect looking at proposed renovations. The guests take turns telling tales of supernatural horror, revealing chilling nightmares.
During the 1912 war, several people are trapped on a Greek isle due to a plague quarantine. An army general (Boris Karloff) takes charge of the group but members inexplicably start dying. A local peasant woman suspects a group member is actually the demon Vorvolaka.
This film is based on Oscar Wilde's classic story of a young man’s corruption. While Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is posing for a portrait, Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders) tells him to seek only pleasure in life. Over time, Dorian finds he’s only left destruction in his wake and that he has lost his soul.
This film sets the precedent in horror comedy, blending laughs and frights that we see in today’s movies like Evil Dead. Wilbur (Lou Costello) and Chick (Bud Abbott) are Floridian freight handlers. After mishandling some containers belonging to a house of horrors museum, the director (Frank Ferguson) demands they personally deliver the two man-sized crates. What lies within is monstrous.
