Public domain horror films for Halloween

Halloween is when public-domain horror gets used the most: watch parties, YouTube uploads, projections, remixes. But "public domain" usually describes only the film print. The music on the copy you downloaded, the restoration it came from, and the monster's trademark can each still be owned by someone.

Below is every horror and gothic film we have researched, layer by layer. "Clear" means a cited source shows that layer is free in the US. "Unclear" means it is not proven either way yet, so treat it as protected. Click a film for the evidence.

Film	Year	Film print	Music	Story	Trademarks	Restorations
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari	1920	Clear	Active rights	Clear	Unclear	Active rights
Nosferatu	1922	Clear	Active rights	Clear	Unclear	Active rights
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	1923	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Monster	1925	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Phantom of the Opera	1925	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
Faust	1926	Clear	Active rights	Clear	Unclear	Active rights
London After Midnight	1927	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Cat and the Canary	1927	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Unknown	1927	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Last Warning	1928	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
The Man Who Laughs	1928	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear
King Kong	1933	Active rights	Active rights	Active rights	Active rights	Active rights
Robot Monster	1953	Active rights	Active rights	Active rights	Unclear	Unclear
Plan 9 from Outer Space	1957	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights
House on Haunted Hill	1959	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights
The Little Shop of Horrors	1960	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights
Carnival of Souls	1962	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights
Dementia 13	1963	Clear	Clear	Clear	Unclear	Active rights
The Terror	1963	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights
The Last Man on Earth	1964	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights	Unclear	Active rights
Night of the Living Dead	1968	Clear	Unclear	Unclear	Unclear	Active rights

21 films · all collections · all researched films