Scariest Movies
This is a list of the scariest movies I've ever seen starting with the scariest and descending from there, and is a work in progress. I will be adding description of my reasoning and ranking these in terms of the effect they had on me when I first saw them. In anticipation of the flack I may receive for two notable omissions: The Exorcist and Psycho; I would just like to say that these are both brilliant films and I love them. However, neither one actually scared me.
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- DirectorTakashi ShimizuStarsSarah Michelle GellarJason BehrClea DuVallAn American nurse living and working in Tokyo is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse, one that locks a person in a powerful rage before claiming their life and spreading to another victim.This picture scared the crap out of me at a time in my life when I didn't think a movie could scare me anymore. The timing of the scares was perfect and the concept of an intangible threat such as a ghost or spirit is terrifying to me which is ironic because I don't believe in them.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.I first watched this, with the whole family, when it first hit HBO; I was about 7 years old. It moves a little slow in the beginning, but I was able to appreciate Kubrick's brilliance even at that young age. When Danny came upon the little girls in the hallway while riding his bigwheel I was terrified, when Jack met the woman in 237 I was traumatized, and the climactic wringer Wendy and Danny were put through just needled the resulting psychological wounds. This remained the scariest movie I had ever seen for over 20 years.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.Another one I saw with my parents, on cable, when I was very young. All I remember about this movie some guy beginning to convulse and his eyes rolling up in his head which then exploded. This terrified me and my mom used this as a tool to make me behave. She told me that if I got too far out of line it would make her head explode like in this movie. When I would act up she would put her hand out in front of me and fake a little tremble. I knew her head wouldn't explode and she was trying to scare me. That's just how she handled these things; she didn't yell or punish me, she just created little inside jokes like this that let me know I was getting out of hand.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsHal HolbrookLeslie NielsenAdrienne Barbeau"Creepshow" is a 1982 movie that tells five grisly tales from a children's comic book: a murdered father rising from his grave, a bizarre meteor, a vengeful husband, a mysterious crate's occupant, and a plague of cockroaches.Saw this at a drive-in double feature with Cujo, when I was 8, with two of my aunts and my cousin. For years after, any one of the three of them could reduce me to tears by saying, "I want my cake!"
- DirectorDon CoscarelliStarsA. Michael BaldwinBill ThornburyReggie BannisterA teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.Watched this little gem on cable with the trio from the Creepshow/Cujo outing. This picture was really creepy and the Tall Man scared the crap out of me (which is ironic considering that Angus Scrimm is one of the nicest people you will ever meet).
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsJoBeth WilliamsHeather O'RourkeCraig T. NelsonA family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.Another picture I watched on cable with my parents when I was less than ten years old. There was so much to be scared of; the guy ripping his face off, the skeletons in the pool excavation, and that goddamned clown!!! It's ironic, considering all the terrifying *beep* my parents let me watch when I was younger than ten, that they had the gall to express concern about the content of the films I was watching when I became a full-fledged horror geek in my teens. Perhaps they were concerned because I was now watching them by choice instead of having them inflicted on me.
- DirectorOren PeliStarsKatie FeatherstonMicah SloatMark FredrichsAfter moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.This picture fulfilled the promise of The Blair Witch Project. The "found footage" concept was a great idea that one-upped the "based on true events" gimmick employed by the original Texas Chainsaw; however, Blair Witch did a great job setting up the audience but just didn't quite close the deal. This picture did close the deal, it set the audience up and then knocked them down. It didn't terrify me like The Grudge did, but it was scary. All the gags were great, like when Katy gets dragged down the hall by an unseen force.
- DirectorMarcus NispelStarsJessica BielJonathan TuckerAndrew BryniarskiAfter picking up a traumatized young hitchhiker, five friends find themselves stalked and hunted by a deformed chainsaw-wielding loon and his family of equally psychopathic killers.
- DirectorJonathan LiebesmanStarsJordana BrewsterMatt BomerDiora BairdBefore being sent to serve in Vietnam, two brothers and their girlfriends take one last road trip, but when they get into an accident, a terrifying experience will take them to a secluded house of horrors, with a chainsaw-wielding killer.
- DirectorKevin TenneyStarsTodd AllenTawny KitaenStephen NicholsWhen his girlfriend becomes dangerously obsessed with a ghost she contacted using a Ouija board, Jim reluctantly joins forces with her ex-his own estranged childhood best friend-to identify and exorcise the evil spirit.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
- DirectorJohn IrvinStarsCraig WassonAlice KrigeFred AstaireTwo generations of men find themselves haunted by the presence of a spectral woman. When the son of one of the elderly men returns to his hometown after his brother's mysterious death, they attempt to unravel her story.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsMartin SheenHelen ShaverHarley CrossCal Jamison, a police psychologist, is forced to deal with a series of ritualistic murders and a malevolent cult.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.By the time I saw this horror classic I was pretty jaded, so it didn't scare me. I found it more disturbing than scary, it instilled a feeling of hopelessness, and had me on the edge of my seat.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsNaomi WattsMartin HendersonBrian CoxA journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.
- DirectorJim GillespieStarsJennifer Love HewittSarah Michelle GellarAnne HecheFour young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town.This was just a rock solid slasher film that startled me and made me jump several times.
- DirectorFritz KierschStarsPeter HortonLinda HamiltonR.G. ArmstrongA young couple is trapped in a remote town where a dangerous religious cult of children believes that everyone over age 18 must be killed.The murderous cult taking over a town concept is very disturbing to me.
- DirectorLewis TeagueStarsDee WallaceDaniel Hugh KellyDanny PintauroCujo, a friendly St. Bernard, contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.Saw this at a drive-in double feature with Creepshow. I found the concept of being trapped in a car by a rabid St. Bernard terrifying.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsDennis HopperCaroline WilliamsJim SiedowA radio host is victimized by the cannibal family as a former Texas marshal hunts them.I saw this on HBO when I was a teen and, SPOILER, when Leatherface sawed that yuppie's head in half I switched channels in horror. I didn't get back around to seeing this film for a good long time.