Decade
1930s Horror
The horror that defined the 1930s — ranked by Crypt Score, from era-defining classics to the deep cuts worth resurrecting.
51 titles
Mark of the Vampire
›1935 · Mystery, Horror · 60m · Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi
Sir Borotyn, a prominent Prague resident, is discovered murdered in his home, with all indications pointing to a vampire assault. The victim's friend, Baron Otto, and the physician who analyzes the body, are certain that the vampire is the mysterious Count Mora or his daughter. Receiving little help from the law, Professor Zelen, an expert in the occult, is called in to assist with their investigation.
Doctor X
›1932 · Horror, Thriller, Mystery · 76m · Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy
A wisecracking New York reporter intrudes on a research scientist's quest to unmask The Moon Killer.
Werewolf of London
›1935 · Horror, Fantasy · 75m · Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson
A strange animal attack turns a botanist into a bloodthirsty monster.
Murders in the Rue Morgue
›1932 · Horror, Mystery, Crime · 61m · Sidney Fox, Bela Lugosi, Leon Ames
In 19th century Paris, a maniac abducts young women and injects them with ape blood in an attempt to prove ape-human kinship but constantly meets failure as the abducted women die.
The Walking Dead
›1936 · Crime, Horror, Science Fiction · 66m · Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez, Edmund Gwenn
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.
The Man Who Changed His Mind
›1936 · Horror, Science Fiction · 66m · Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, John Loder
Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming ... a mad scientist, almost unstoppable.
The Mask of Fu Manchu
›1932 · Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction · 68m · Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley
The villainous Dr. Fu Manchu races against a team of Englishmen to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan, because he wants to use the relics to cause an uprising in the East to wipe out the white race.
The Invisible Ray
›1936 · Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller · 79m · Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Frank Lawton
Dr. Janos Rukh discovers a certain type of radium that has almost magical healing properties. But the element has a dangerous side, too, and it has already started affecting Rukh. Consumed by paranoia, he begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair. Wild for revenge, Rukh hatches a deadly plot...using his own poisoned body as a weapon to kill.
Murders in the Zoo
›1933 · Crime, Horror · 62m · Charles Ruggles, Lionel Atwill, Gail Patrick
Dr. Gorman is a millionaire adventurer, traveling the world in search of dangerous game. His bored, beautiful, much younger wife entertains herself in the arms of other men. In turn, Gorman uses his animals to kill these men. When a New York City zoo suggests a fundraising gala, Gorman sees a prime opportunity to dispatch the dashing Roger and anyone else who might cross him.
White Zombie
›NR1932 · Horror · 67m · Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, John Harron
A wealthy landowner living in Haiti convinces a sorcerer to lure the woman he has fallen for away from her fiancé. The madman later betrays their agreement by keeping the woman for himself…as a zombie.
Scrooge
›NR1935 · Drama, Fantasy, Horror · 78m · Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Robert Cochran
Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of holiday spirit. In the night, Scrooge is visited by spirits of the past, present, and future.
The Bat Whispers
›NR1930 · Mystery, Comedy, Crime · 83m · Chester Morris, Chance Ward, Una Merkel
Infamous burglar "The Bat" commits a daring jewelry theft despite heavy police presence. Soon after, a bank theft occurs, which may be the work of the criminal as well. Meanwhile, Cornelia Van Gorder has various people arrive at her old mansion, including her niece, Dale, a bank employee, and police detective Anderson. When guests start turning up dead, Cornelia begins to suspect that The Bat may be lurking around the estate.
Secret of the Blue Room
›NR1933 · Mystery, Thriller, Horror · 66m · Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas
According to a legend, the mansion's "blue room" is cursed -- everyone who has ever spent the night in that room has met with an untimely end. The three suitors of the heroine wager that each can survive a night in the forbidding blue room.
Dracula's Daughter
›1936 · Horror · 68m · Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill
A countess from Transylvania seeks a psychiatrist’s help to cure her vampiric cravings.
Black Moon
›NR1934 · Horror, Drama · 68m · Jack Holt, Fay Wray, Dorothy Burgess
A woman returning to her island birthplace finds herself drawn to a voodoo cult.
The Death Kiss
›NR1932 · Mystery, Comedy, Horror · 75m · David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi
When a movie actor is shot and killed during production, the true feelings about the actor begin to surface. As the studio heads worry about negative publicity, one of the writers tags along as the killing is investigated and clues begin to surface.
Supernatural
›1933 · Mystery, Thriller, Horror · 64m · Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne
After her brother's death, Roma Courtney becomes the heiress to his fortune. When a fake psychic claims to have a message from her dead brother, he coaxes her into participating in a séance. While her fiancé first believes the séance is nothing more than a scam, he eventually realizes that the vengeful spirit of an executed murderer has possessed Roma's body.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
›NR1936 · Drama, Crime, Horror · 76m · Tod Slaughter, Stella Rho, John Singer
It is England in the 1830s. London's dockside is teeming with ships and sailors who have made their fortune in foreign lands. Sweeney Todd, a Fleet Street barber, awaits the arrival of men whose first port of call is for a good, close shave. For most it will be the last time they are seen alive. Using a specially designed barber's chair, Sweeney Todd despatches his victims to the cellar below, where he robs them of their new found fortunes and chops their remains into small pieces. Meanwhile, Mrs Lovett is enjoying a roaring trade for her popular penny meat pies.
The Vampire Bat
›NR1933 · Horror, Thriller · 64m · Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Melvyn Douglas
A German village is stricken by a series of murders that appear to be the work of vampires.
The Ghoul
›NR1933 · Horror, Mystery · 77m · Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger
British Egyptologist Professor Morlant seeks immortality through a jewel buried in the tomb of an Oriental idol. Upon his death, Morlant returns to Earth to seek vengeance upon those who removed the jewel from his grave.
The Dark Eyes of London
›NR1939 · Horror · 76m · Bela Lugosi, Hugh Williams, Greta Gynt
Insurance agent-physician collects on policies of men murdered by a disfigured resident of the home for the blind where he acts as doctor-on-call.
The Return of Doctor X
›1939 · Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery · 62m · Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane, Wayne Morris
When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.
The Son of Kong
›1933 · Adventure, Action, Horror · 70m · Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Frank Reicher
Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.
The Gorilla
›NR1939 · Comedy, Mystery, Horror · 68m · Jimmy Ritz, Harry Ritz, Al Ritz
When an escaped circus gorilla appears to have gone on a murderous rampage, a threatened attorney calls on the detective trio of Garrity, Harrigan and Mullivan to act as bodyguards. In short order, we discover that there is more to the attorney than meets the eye, and the ape may be innocent after all. When a pretty young heiress faces peril, it's up to our heroic trio to save the day.