13 Best Horror Movies of 1961
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The films listed below include 1961 horror movies; including movies shown in movie theaters ranked in order of best to worst.
For released horror movies in movie theaters , Blu-ray/DVD , and On-Demand/VOD services like Netflix .
A quick rundown of some scary movies coming to movie theaters soon include . Full details for those new movies and more you can find here .
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List of horror movies released in 1961 list sorted by popular, most voted, and alphabetical order. Check out which movie was the top grossing movie of 1961.
13 Best Horror Movies of 1961
Score: 5.9/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.1/10 | IMDB Votes: 2,555 | Rotten Tomatoes: 5.7/10 | MPAA Rating: G
Plot / Synopsis: Upon his return from battle in the previous film, the great warrior Hercules learns that his lover, Daianara, has lost her senses. Acording of the oracle Medea, Dianara's only hope is the Stone of Forgetfulness which lies deep in the realm of Hades. Hercules, with two companions, Theseus and Telemachus, embarks on a dangerous quest for the stone, while...
Director: Mario Bava
Stars: Reg Park, Christopher Lee, Leonora Ruffo, George Ardisson, Marisa Belli
Score: 7.5/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,361 | Rotten Tomatoes: 8.6/10 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: On leave in a shore side town, Johnny becomes interested in a young dark haired woman. They meet and he learns that she plays a mermaid in the local carnival. After strange occurrences, Johnny begins to believe that she may actually be a real mermaid that habitually kills during the cycle of the full moon.
Tagline: Temptress from the...
Director: Curtis Harrington
Stars: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir, Luana Anders, Marjorie Eaton
Full Review of The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
Score: 6.16/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 7,574 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.0/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
The Curse of the Werewolf is Streaming on PeacockPlot / Synopsis: In Spain, Leon is born on Christmas day to a mute servant girl who was r**ed by a beggar. His mother...Tagline: EVEN THOSE WHO LOVED HIM WERE NOT SAFE! (original print ad - all caps)...
Director: Terence Fisher
Stars: Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson
Score: 7.9/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.0/10 | IMDB Votes: 17,582 | Rotten Tomatoes: 8.9/10 | Metascore: 7.8/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
Plot / Synopsis: In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.
Tagline: Until now no one has dared to film this ...... the most diabolical classic of all time!...
Director: Roger Corman
Stars: Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, Antony Carbone
Score: 6.95/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 5,875 | Rotten Tomatoes: 10.0/10 | Metascore: 6.5/10 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: A wheelchair-bound young woman returns to her father's estate after ten years, and although she's told he's away, she keeps seeing his dead body on the estate.
Tagline: For maximum thrill . . . we earnestly urge you to see this motion picture from the start!...
Director: Seth Holt
Stars: Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, John Serret
Score: 5.88/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,555 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: Set in the 17th century. A convent in a small town is being visited by high-ranking Catholic official trying to exorcise the nun supposedly posessed by demons. A local priest have been burnt for creating this condition by s**ual temptation of the nuns, especially the Mother superior who bring on the collective hysteria of the group. There is another...
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Stars: Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska, Maria Chwalibóg, Kazimierz Fabisiak
Read Our The Innocents Review
Score: 8.08/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 34,815 | Rotten Tomatoes: 9.5/10 | Metascore: 8.8/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
Plot / Synopsis: A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.Tagline: Apparitions? Evils? Corruptions?...
Director: Jack Clayton
Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens
Horror Movies of 1961 List
Read Our The Innocents ReviewScore: 8.08/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.7/10 | IMDB Votes: 34,815 | Rotten Tomatoes: 9.5/10 | Metascore: 8.8/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
Plot / Synopsis: A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.Tagline: Apparitions? Evils? Corruptions?...
Director: Jack Clayton
Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens
Score: 7.9/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.0/10 | IMDB Votes: 17,582 | Rotten Tomatoes: 8.9/10 | Metascore: 7.8/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
Plot / Synopsis: In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.
Tagline: Until now no one has dared to film this ...... the most diabolical classic of all time!...
Director: Roger Corman
Stars: Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, Antony Carbone
Score: 7.5/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,361 | Rotten Tomatoes: 8.6/10 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: On leave in a shore side town, Johnny becomes interested in a young dark haired woman. They meet and he learns that she plays a mermaid in the local carnival. After strange occurrences, Johnny begins to believe that she may actually be a real mermaid that habitually kills during the cycle of the full moon.
Tagline: Temptress from the...
Director: Curtis Harrington
Stars: Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, Gavin Muir, Luana Anders, Marjorie Eaton
Score: 6.95/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.4/10 | IMDB Votes: 5,875 | Rotten Tomatoes: 10.0/10 | Metascore: 6.5/10 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: A wheelchair-bound young woman returns to her father's estate after ten years, and although she's told he's away, she keeps seeing his dead body on the estate.
Tagline: For maximum thrill . . . we earnestly urge you to see this motion picture from the start!...
Director: Seth Holt
Stars: Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, John Serret
Full Review of The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)Score: 6.16/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 7,574 | Rotten Tomatoes: 6.0/10 | MPAA Rating: Approved
The Curse of the Werewolf is Streaming on PeacockPlot / Synopsis: In Spain, Leon is born on Christmas day to a mute servant girl who was r**ed by a beggar. His mother...Tagline: EVEN THOSE WHO LOVED HIM WERE NOT SAFE! (original print ad - all caps)...
Director: Terence Fisher
Stars: Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed, Yvonne Romain, Catherine Feller, Anthony Dawson
Score: 5.9/10 | IMDB Rating: 6.1/10 | IMDB Votes: 2,555 | Rotten Tomatoes: 5.7/10 | MPAA Rating: G
Plot / Synopsis: Upon his return from battle in the previous film, the great warrior Hercules learns that his lover, Daianara, has lost her senses. Acording of the oracle Medea, Dianara's only hope is the Stone of Forgetfulness which lies deep in the realm of Hades. Hercules, with two companions, Theseus and Telemachus, embarks on a dangerous quest for the stone, while...
Director: Mario Bava
Stars: Reg Park, Christopher Lee, Leonora Ruffo, George Ardisson, Marisa Belli
Score: 5.88/10 | IMDB Rating: 7.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,555 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: Set in the 17th century. A convent in a small town is being visited by high-ranking Catholic official trying to exorcise the nun supposedly posessed by demons. A local priest have been burnt for creating this condition by s**ual temptation of the nuns, especially the Mother superior who bring on the collective hysteria of the group. There is another...
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Stars: Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska, Maria Chwalibóg, Kazimierz Fabisiak
Score: 4.94/10 | IMDB Rating: 4.9/10 | IMDB Votes: 644 | MPAA Rating: Approved
Plot / Synopsis: In 1890 England a doctor, in order to cure his wife's "sick mind", injects her with snake venom. She...
Tagline: Nothing Ever Struck You Like ... The Snake Woman...
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Stars: John McCarthy, Susan Travers, Geoffrey Denton, Elsie Wagstaff, Arnold Marlé
Score: 4.71/10 | IMDB Rating: 4.9/10 | IMDB Votes: 1,116 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet!
Tagline: A Monster created from the depths!...
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Stars: Kieron Moore, Hazel Court, Ian Hunter, Kenneth J. Warren, Gerald Lawson
Score: 4.66/10 | IMDB Rating: 4.8/10 | IMDB Votes: 1,403 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: The new science teacher Dr. Julian Olcott with a mysterious past arrives in an institutional boarding school for troublemaker girls. Along the night, the intern Mary Smith, who is blackmailing another teacher - Sir Alfred Whiteman - with some love letters, is slaughtered by a werewolf. The detective in charge of the investigation attributes the crime to a wolf,...
Director: Paolo Heusch
Stars: Barbara Lass, Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Maurice Marsac, Michela Roc
Score: 4.08/10 | IMDB Rating: 3.5/10 | IMDB Votes: 3,505 | MPAA Rating: Unrated
Plot / Synopsis: American crook Renzo Capetto sees a chance to make a bundle when a Caribbean island has a revolution. He plans to help loyalists (and the national treasury) escape on his boat, then kill the men and blame their deaths on a mythical sea monster. Trouble ensues when the _real_ monster shows up!
Tagline: This Gangster's "Single Partner" Isn't Even...
Director: Roger Corman
Stars: Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Robert Towne, Beach Dickerson, Robert Bean
Score: 3.45/10 | IMDB Rating: 3.6/10 | IMDB Votes: 4,589 | Rotten Tomatoes: 3.3/10 | MPAA Rating: R
Plot / Synopsis: A portion of the tail of a prehistoric reptile is discovered in Denmark. It regenerates into the entire reptile, which proceeds to destroy buildings and property and generally make a nuisance of itself. It can fly, swim, and walk, and has impenetrable scales, which makes it difficult to kill.
Tagline: Invincible...Indestructible! What was this awesome BEAST born 50 million...
Directors: Poul Bang, Sidney W. Pink
Stars: Bent Mejding, Asbjørn Andersen, Povl Wøldike, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich
Score: 3.36/10 | IMDB Rating: 1.9/10 | IMDB Votes: 10,611 | MPAA Rating: Unrated
Plot / Synopsis: A defecting Russian scientist is transformed by an atomic test into a hulking monster, Tor Johnson, of course. Not much else except some people are killed, boys get lost, and a rabbit sniffs Tor's corpse. (This film was used for Mystery Science Theater 3000.)
Tagline: Commies made him an atomic mutant!...
Director: Coleman Francis
Stars: Douglas Mellor, Barbara Francis, Bing Stafford, Larry Aten, Linda Bielema
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13 List of 1961 Horror Films Worth Watching!
Looking for the best 1961 horror movies? Included in our best horror movies of 1961 list are "The Innocents (1961), Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Night Tide (1961), Taste of Fear (1961), and The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)." Our top list is an average of our review scores, our movie fans and movie viewers like you, and a few other sources.
The best horror film of 1961 is The Innocents (1961) scoring 8.08/10 stars with our combined scores. IMDB already has over 34,820 votes for this movie. Starring in The Innocents (1961) is Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, and Martin Stephens. Director Jack Clayton did a phenomenal job treating us with this 1961 best horror film which was remarkable.The Innocents (1961) is in Horror, Drama, Mystery, and Fantasy movie genres.
The next best 1961 horror movie is Pit and the Pendulum (1961) with a score of 7.9/10 stars.
Vincent Price, John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, and Antony Carbone star in "Pit and the Pendulum (1961)". Pit and the Pendulum (1961) is directed by Roger Corman and has over 17,580 IMDB votes. You can find Pit and the Pendulum (1961) in Horror, Drama, and Mystery movie genres.
These are the best horror films of 1961, and we hope you enjoy the 13 movies on our list of good 1961 horror movies sorted best to worst.
Please let us know if there is a movie that you think belongs on our list that we missed.
More Horror Movies 1961 Lists: MovieWeb