This roundup has been a passion project of mine for the last two years, and I am SO STOKED to make it my 300th post on this site: The best horror Western movies.

My ultimate goal is to watch every single movie that comes up when you search “horror Westerns,” and to include them on this list (plus all of the awesome reccos I’ve found on reddit). My to-watch list is massive, and this article will get updated regularly. If you want to recommend something for the list, join my group. We’re pretty cool.

Anyway, here’s my tribute to the spooky, the weird, and the thrilling side of the Western genre. Each title includes a link to the full review, if you want more detail. Enjoy – if you dare. Mwahahaha.

1. The Best Overall Horror Westerns

This is the whole reason you’re here, so I may as well hand over the goods. These movies made a lasting impression on me – some permanently – and have continued to stand out as my faves. They most embody the absolute best of both genres.

These aren’t in ranking order, they’re all awesome for different reasons.

Bone Tomahawk (2020)

Physical horror. Mental horror. Bone Tomahawk is well-made and accurate to the period. There’s an insanely brutal scene in this movie that will stay with you right up until your last breath. The cast is great. The psychological terror builds slowly into real monsters. I will probably NEVER watch this movie again because it’s so scary, but that’s why it’s in the top.

Read the full review here.

The Burrowers (2008)

Where Bone Tomahawk is a slow burn, The Burrowers is a psychological thriller that immediately delivers an unknown enemy and bloody action. This horror feels a bit supernatural, and a LOT like a creature feature. Picture Tremors (also on this list) but 100% serious, dark, and scary AF. This movie is graphic, gory, and chilling. No notes.

Read the full review here.

NOPE (2022)

NOPE is unlike all of the other top contenders. It’s a modern Western instead of a period Western, and it’s also Sci-Fi horror. But hot damn, this is a well-made movie. It has a winning combo of glorious big-budget effects and well-written characters that make you really care about the body count. Cowboys vs. Aliens has nothing on NOPE.

Read the full review here.

Ravenous (1999)

I’m a comedy horror connoisseur, and Ravenous is THE comedy horror Western of all time. The writing is great. Robert Carlyle is so completely brilliant in his maniacal, cheeky performance. This could be a cult movie like Rocky Horror, playing in theatres while audiences shout the one-liners along with the film and throw meat at the stage.

Read the full review here.

The Wind (2018)

Bringing it back to pure horror, pun intended, The Wind delivers a religious horror. It builds suspense with its intimate group of just five characters, living on two isolated homesteads in New Mexico. The score is primarily the sound of wind on the plains. The cinematography is eerily stunning. And the underlying story of female frontier life, written and directed by women, is the stuff of nightmares.

Read the full review here.

2. Psychological/Thriller Horror Westerns

Three of the top five overall horror Westerns (in my humble opinion) come from this category, probably because psychological horror lends extremely well to the Old West. If you’re looking for a movie that feels truly HORROR-Western, it’ll be one of these ones. Not listed in ranking order.

1. Bone Tomahawk (2020): Slow-burn suspense combined with brutal action and a stellar cast.
2. The Burrowers (2008): A constant unseen threat with a high body count makes every moment scary.
3. The Wind (2018): Isolation, interpersonal drama, gaslighting, and paranoia go head-to-head with religious horror.
4. The Forever Purge (2021): Agoraphobia and radical politics are weaponized by an entire army of slashers in modern Texas.

3. Comedy Horror Westerns

Comedy horror encourages you to laugh at the bloodbath on the screen. And you do! The cinematography and special effects can be exactly the same splatter-level as a regular horror movie, but the dialogue and the score add a giddy glee. These horror Westerns are what my weird brain considers to be wholesome fun. Not listed in ranking order.

1. Cannibal! The Musical (1993): Sharp musical comedy from the South Park creators, based on actual historic events.
2. Tremors (1990): Witty banter, giant monsters, and Kevin Bacon. It’s a bit of a stretch to call it a Western, but the tropes are there.
3. Ravenous (1999): The Donner Party had nothing on these delightful cannibals.
4. Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat (1989): Bruce Campbell vs. David Carradine in a cheesy flick that pays homage to both genres.

4. High-Action Horror Westerns

I tend to think of horror as an attack on my psyche, because that’s what scares me the most. These horror Westerns are more about adding amped-up tension and violence to a regular Western setting, even getting into splatter territory. Not listed in ranking order.

1. Prisoners of the Ghost Land (2021): Welcome to the bizarro Japanese Wild West. Your guide is Nicolas Cage.
2. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996): This clever, gratuitously violent movie has it all, from a vampires-vs-bikers brawl to a sexy snake dance and a codpiece gun.
3. The Forever Purge (2021): So many guns, so much one-on-one violence, and the added element of no law.
4. Ghosts of Mars (2001): Set in a remote frontier settlement of Mars with trains, lawmen, outlaws, and an epic shootout.
5. Vampires (1998): There are no sparkly romantic vamps in this neo-Western, just a lot of creative fighting, killing, and gore.

5. Retro or Obscure Horror Westerns

I’m looking forward to diving deeper into the older horror Westerns, especially the many made in Mexico. None of these movies is particularly scary, but they’re fun for people who love either genre. Not listed in ranking order.

1. El Grito de la Muerte (1959): This is one of the oldest Mexican horror Westerns, and it’s a lot of fun.
2. Curse of the Undead (1959): This is THE oldest American horror Western, and it’s mostly a regular Western except the bad guy is a vampire.
3. Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966): Dracula gets a hankerin’ for Billy the Kid’s fiancé, so they must fight.

6. Not-Quite Horror Westerns (and Not-Quite Western Horrors)

If you’re looking for a Western that’s less spooky and more horror-adjacent, or a horror movie that’s got neo-Western vibes, these have you covered. Some of them appear in other categories, others only really fit here. Not listed in ranking order.

1. NOPE (2022): A gorgeously shot, modern Sci-Fi thriller in which a Black family’s ranch becomes the target of a horse-thieving alien ship.
2. Organ Trail (2023): More thriller than horror and badly marketed, but a gory survivor flick.
3. Prisoners of the Ghost Land (2021): A richly detailed dystopian story involving a wealthy white guy who has created a Western town in near-future Japan.
4. Tremors (1990): A cheeky survival/monster flick that takes place in a desolate Nevada town.
5. High Plains Drifter (1973): A dark (and occasionally funny) revenge Western with an underlying supernatural element.
6. Near Dark (1987): To quote my own review, “It’s like if The Lost Boys, Young Guns, and Suburbia (1983 not 1996) had a baby.”
7. The Forever Purge (2021): A supposedly dystopian action-horror movie where rich white ranchers and poor Mexican ranch hands have to team up to survive lawless masked killers.
8. Vampires (1998): Vampire bounty hunters and vampires alike go around doing a lot of violence somewhere in modern New Mexico.
9. Ghosts of Mars (2001): A distant-future Sci-Fi movie about lawmen and outlaws trapped in a remote mining town on Mars, facing a supernatural army.
10. Place of Bones (2023): It seems like a Western about bad guys closing in on a woman and her daughter on an isolated homestead, but the final moments have a horror twist.

7. Bad-But-Good Horror Westerns

These movies aren’t making the top of any list, but they’re still worth a watch.

1. From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (1999): It can’t compete with the original, but has nonstop action and one-liners.
2. High Moon (2019): You need to be under the influence to appreciate this movie about a time-traveling gunfighter versus a werewolf biker gang.
3. Dead Birds (2004): This movie about a gang of Confederate deserters-turned-robbers does a lot with a small budget, and its pros (and jump scares) outweigh its cons.

8. Just Horror-ble: The Worst Horror Westerns

You have to lick a lot of frogs to find a prince, and these bottom feeders are the pond scum of the genre. I don’t recommend watching any of them. You can still read my reviews, though.

1. Gallowwalkers (2012): An insult to Wesley Snipes, to Westerns, to horror movies, to Sci-Fi, and to everyone who watches it.
2. The Pale Door (2020): Fully flops on the concept of gunfighters vs. witches.
3. West of Hell (2018): No point, completely forgettable.
4. Eyes of Fire (1983): Nonsensical plot, terrible acting.
5. Death Rider in the House of Vampires (2021): So, so, so bad.