What do you think is the best decade in horror?

I'm doing a sort of a unofficial Listal questionnaire!

The question is: What do you think is the best decade in horror?

Give some 2-3 examples and a brief description on why decade stands out!

I'm will make a list and store all the answers over there and if it is successful, I will come up with a new question!

wow!Difficult but i say 70s
Exorcist
Halloween
Jaws
Alien
Carrie
Who Can Kill A Child
I guess

Thnx for the replies but I will wait for at least 2 more before I start a list!

I have to go with the '80s for best decade. While the horror market suffered at times from oversaturation (especially slashers), the '80s produced a lot of entertaining horror films, launched several series with strong beginnings (Elm Street, Evil Dead, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, Poltergeist), and best of all wasn't plagued with unnecessary remakes (which is what disqualifies the 00s for me despite all the great indie & non-US horror released). Plus that's when Stephen King's work started getting adapted more often, usually with very entertaining results (The Shining, Creepshow). I also feel like the special effects really picked up during the '80s (see all of the above, the ones below, and everything Tom Savini touched).

See also: The Vanishing, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing, and The Fly

(sorry, couldn't limit myself to just a couple examples haha)

Thanks alot Giraffe!

I will give my answer:

To me the best decade in horror always has (and always will be) the 30's!

1931 was the year everything changed: Tod Browning's Dracula starring the maestro Bela Lugosi laid all the foundations of horror to which everyone followed helplessly. The same year we had Frankenstein, directed by James Whale and starring the giant Boris Karloff, which is the first true monster film (according to me). These 2 films both forward two of the most recognizable horror icons and were light years ahead of Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & The Phantom Of The opera, all which were released in the 20's! In the same year we had the (then) repulsive thriller M which bought forward not a monster but a child murderer that bought villains to a higher level!

Following 1931, Tod Browning released probably the most controversial movie of all time, Freaks! Which starred actual 'freaks' and shocked viewers worldwide and is still doing so today! We also had The Mummy starring Boris Karloff and although not as chilling as Frankenstein but alot more creepier and a new icon was born in Imhotep!

Just like fans like to debate whether Fender or Gibson is the best guitar manufacturer and Eddie Van Halen combined both to create Frankenstrat, Edgar G. Ulmer did the same in 1934: Instead of using guitars, he called together two icons of yesteryears, Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff, and directed Black Cat! A classic horror film and something that Stephen King would've loved to write a novel on!

Then in 1935 came Bride Of Frankentein, sequel to Frankenstein which contained the eponymous Bride, played amazingly by Elsa Lanchaster and cemented her iconic status. Not as chilly as the first but, nevetheless, helluva entertaining film!

So, in conclusion I would say that yes, we had great horror films in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's & the 00's but what makes the 30's horror films unique is because everything was done manually rather than relying entirely on computers and gazillion software programs. Their main intention was to shock and entertain at the same time whereas the horror movies of the today only disgust us and hardly entertains us at all!

Have too be the 80s for me as well. In the 80s we were introduced to two of the most iconic horror movie characters of all time in Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees. Not too mention Poltergeist(sp?), Fright Night, American Werewolf in London, Silver Bullet. Thats just a few of the many great horror movies that came out in the 80s

I truly can't decide. I could make arguments or listen to arguments for the 30's, 70's, 80's 2000's and maybe even the 60's.

The 30's are iconic and introduced us to so many characters and monsters that are still part of everyone's collective consciousness and imagination. If I'd seen more 70's output I think that would maybe be my final answer because such a high percentage of the horror that came out seems to be really good and actually really frightening. (Alien, TCM, Halloween, Jaws, and several others are simply GREAT. But I'd have to see more to give it my vote. The 80's are fantastic as well, for the reasons others have stated. But there's a lot of camp and trash too, not to mention myriad sub-par sequels floating around. And the 2000's presents possibly the most garbage to wade through of any decade, but enough determination will reveal scores of very satisfying horror titles from all over the world.

The only decade that I absolutely, positively could not agree with being the best decade for horror is the 90s. I've bitched and moaned about the 90s sucking for horror before. Largely it was just a lifeless decade, horror-wise. And even many of the titles that get praised as the best horror movies aren't actually pure horror films, but horror/thriller hybrids (Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Jacob's Ladder, Stir of Echoes, Cape Fear, etc.) Much of the output came from major studios with big-name actors, and there just doesn't seem to be a lot of creativity or cutting-edge independent horror from the U.S. or overseas markets. Pure horror that was actually good really tough to find and besides Cemetery Man, Dead Alive, Scream, and maybe Audition I have a hard time thinking of any real notables off the top of my head.

So yeah, I don't feel comfortable voting for any one decade, but I give the 90's my anti-vote!

I'd go for the 70s as well. That was when special effects really came into play, and censorship allowed films to be more graphic and psychologically disturbing. Also, I think the films from this decade really helped cement the traditional elements of the genre, and a vast number of the horror auteurs were starting out then too.

examples:
Halloween
The Exorcist
Alien
Don't Look Now
Shivers
Jaws
Suspiria

easy the best decade is - 2000 + I will include the last 2 years as this second decade is nowhere near over

A Serbian Film - 2010 but too good to leave off any horror list
Red Room - damn thats 1999
Shutter
Coming Soon
Melanchole Der Engel
The Eye
The Re-cycle
The Final
Trick R Treat
Pontypool
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Antichrist
Let The Right One In
Silk
Kairo
Eden Lake
The Divide
May
Noroi: The Curse
Occult: The Unidentified
Spider Forest

Asian horror and indie extreme films have pushed the boundaries so.... far can we really go back

70s!
Jaws 75
Halloween 78
Carrie 76
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 74
The Exorcist 73
The Omen 76
Frenzy 72
etc.

70s:

Dawn of the Dead
Halloween
Black Christmas
Jaws
Alien
The Exorcist
Hausu

I'll vote for 60's. It's when horror got it's sea legs so to speak. Just glancing at some of the horror movies I've seen from this decade and others, I like how there was a shift from B-movie monsters to suspenseful, eerie, legitimate horror.
Not that there weren't great gems in the previous decades (I agree that the 30's gave us a lot of cinematic gold in this genre). The 60's had not creatures but actual human beings as the villains. It's like this mass mental awakening happened (and not just in horror movies but pretty much everything during the 60's) and they got a little more serious, a little more personal.

Peeping Tom, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Psycho, Repulsion. Psychologically terrifying, full of emotion.

Also I'd say the significance of Night of the Living Dead bringing life to the zombie genre. Rarely do zombie flicks I've seen do it "right" but this classic is a classic for a reason.

And obviously there are several great Hammer films out in this decade, though from the 50's to the 70's they were all pretty solid so I don't wanna count them just for my favorite decade.

I vote for the 60's because of Psycho and The Night of The Living Dead, but the 20's are great too because of Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Phantom Carriage.

I choose the 1970s as I loved watching these types of films when I was growing up:
Carrie
The Exorcist
The Omen
The Wicker Man
Alien
Jaws
Halloween
Dawn of the Dead
The Legend of Hell House
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Salem's Lot
Don't Look Now
The Amityville Horror
The Sentinel
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Haunting of Julia (Full Circle)
Twins of Evil
Deadly Strangers
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1973)
Theater of Blood

I agree with Kathy, the 70's, the class of '77 :

Suspiria
Shock
The Car
The Sentinel
The Hills Have Eyes
Shock Waves
Rabid
Audrey Rose
Demon seed
Dead of night
The incredible melting man
Day of the Animals
Snowbeast
Kingdom of the Spiders
Tarantulas

The 80s are my personal favorite. A great year for unique slashers, not to mention the start to two of the greatest franchises in movie history - Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Nightmare on elm street for sure. I posted a list of hottest women was wondering if u guys could drop in a vote or opinion on it