Ten Classic Pre-'Psycho' Movies To Watch On Streaming Right Now

Still think Psycho marks the start of the film horror history? Check out this list of films which were all released before that infamous Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece.

Directed by Robert Wiene

This early silent film, which many people consider the first foundational horror movie, follows a mysterious hypnotist who at an exhibition awakens a sleepwalker and wields sinister control over him.

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Directed by F. W. Murnau

Another silent German film, and another landmark in horror film history, tells an unofficial Dracula-inspired tale following a nocturnal vampiric fiend named Count Orlok. 

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Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer creates this German production of another vampire-centered film, this one an adaptation of a story by 19th-century Gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu. An occult-obsessed student visits a village which is under a vampire's curse.

Watch on: HBO Max

Directed by James Whale

Boris Karloff leads an incredible cast in the original The Old Dark Horse, a satire of British classes which was largely overlooked thanks to the director's other notable titles in the 1930s. Upon revisiting in the late 1960s, critics considered it a cult classic of the era.

Watch on: Tubi

Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot

This psychological horror classic was snatched up from Alfred Hitchcock by lesser-known French director Clouzot, who blended horror and thriller tropes into the twisty story, which has since been copied by dozens of other movies.

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Directed by Charles Laughton

When a serial killing false priest discovers that a man hid his fortune, he marries the man's widow and hunts their children who know the location of the money.

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Directed by Don Siegel

The original 'alien duplicate' feature was a resoundingly successful satire on 1950s American conformity, and holds up as an archetype of simple yet effective horror.

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Directed by Terence Fisher

Horror heavyweights Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee lead what plenty of folks argue is the best Dracula adaptation. Whether it beats the first adaptation or the 1992 Gary Oldman one is definitely a close call.

Watch on: HBO Max

Directed by Georges Franju

A French-language classic. After his daughter is disfigured in a car accident, a plastic surgeon intends on fixing her face with a transplant, whatever the cost.

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Directed by Michael Powell

A man who takes pin-up photographs of women spends his nights recording their expressions of fear... as he murders them.

Watch on: Tubi, Roku

More horror movie suggestions as we get closer to October coming soon!