The 20 Greatest Classic Horror Movie Posters

09 How to Make a Monster

Two things stole my heart when I saw this poster. First, the loud orange. That’s a color that jumps off of paper. And second, that dagger in the eyeball. It’s such a gorgeous yet somewhat subtle detail… nothing but respect for the visionary who designed this looker.

08 The Conqueror Worm

How about a legendary poster for a legendary film? Seriously, there’s nothing more that need be said!

07 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is inarguably one of the greatest monster mashup movies ever shot. Bringing two of Universal’s greatest monsters together to share screen time – feuding or not – was a stellar idea, and that idea continues to live on to this day. But very few of these crossovers are as magnetic and engaging as this masterpiece. I added this poster to my collection years ago, and I take real pride in it. It’s almost as beautiful as the film itself!

06 Frankenstein

This is one of the most haunting posters ever created. Boris Karloff looks both menacing and empty, a cruel combination and opposite him, looking small and fragile is the amazing, perennially underrated performer Dwight Frye (if you don’t recognize him from Frankenstien, you may recognize him in the role of Renfield in Tod Browning’s Dracula) in a classic shot from the film. It’s stunning in every way and will forever be a true favorite.

05 Creature from the Black Lagoon

There’s a blue tinted rendition of this poster that is also amazing, but the old green fits the look of the Creature perfectly. The rest of the poster is just perfection put in place. An amazing film (I recommend looking into the full trilogy) that got the amazing poster it deserved.

04 I Bury the Living

I’ve never in my life seen I Bury the Living. But you know what? That doesn’t prevent me from admiring the hell out of this busy but impressive poster. From the graveyard that looks like a skyline of broken teeth to that gnarly ghoul looming high above to the romantic embrace of two obvious lovers in the foreground, everything about this poster is excellent.

03 Squirm

Squirm deserves a place on the list of greatest terrible movies. Realistically, it’s so damn hokey it should lull you into a coma where cheesy images fly by the mind’s eye for a lifetime. But in actual reality, the movie is loaded with tons of endearing moments. Forget the fear factor, just look for a fun, preposterous idea and a couple of very memorable sequences (there’s a scene in which two of the focal characters slip away to casually smoke a doobie, and for some reason, that scene has managed to stand out in my mind since the first time I saw the film in the mid-1980s. It’s great… this poster however, is absolutely epic!

02 Taste the Blood of Dracula

This film and this poster hold a special place in my heart. The film is memorable for me because it’s the very first purchase (VHS) I made on ebay back in the 90s. The poster is also the first horror poster I ever obtained, a gift from my father when I was about 12. There’s a lot of sentimental value in the combo for me, and although there are more impressive posters on this list, none are as special to me as this vibrant beast.

01 Black Sabbath

The Black Sabbath poster has always crawled under my skin. That headless horseman… the gorgeous dames lining the side of the frame. It’s bright, and not quite as eerie as a few other pics, but it’s always been my favorite vintage horror poster. I can’t change that, regardless of opinion, popular or otherwise.