Of course, being scared to death by movie art is not a phenomenon limited to the horror aisle at a video rental store. I heard tales of being rattled by. The Scariest Hauntings of All Time True and terrifying ghost stories that will keep many night lights burning Share Pin Email.
Scariest Horror Movies of All Time. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Summer is finally over, and with its departure comes the sweet relief of not feeling pressured to go outside all the time. Cooler weather means lounging, snacking, debating the merits of pumpkin spice lattes, and most importantly, binge- watching horror movies. So look over Cosmopolitan. The Exorcist. Warner Bros./Getty Images. This 1. 97. 3 classic, adapted from the 1. Regan Mac. Neil (Linda Blair) who gets possessed by the devil after using a Ouija board to communicate with her imaginary friend Captain Howdy. Aside from being terrifying because it. The Witch. A2. 4Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Robert Eggers. The story revolves around a Puritan family who more or less gets run out of town due to the father. Set in 1. 7th- century New England, the dialogue is often hard to understand, so if you find yourself wanting to turn on the subtitles as things start moving along, feel free . As the atmosphere builds and the family starts to fall apart (read: accuse each other of being witches), a patient viewer will be swept away into one of the most satisfying, dark, and honestly kind of metal endings ever. When it comes to scary movies, you can. The Babadook. IFCHave you noticed how children are sort of automatically scary, no matter what they? They could just look over at you and whisper, ! This will probably put you in a bad mood if you. Paranormal Activity. Paramount. These films have since become a franchise, but when the first one came out in 2. Every moment of this movie plays upon the viewer. Filmed in such a way as to make it seem like real life, or at least real life presented via a home movie, it. I have personally still never watched the last few minutes because I keep hearing that they will ruin your life. The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Screen Gems. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Another exorcism movie that. The inspiration for the film came from the story of Anneliese Michel, a supposedly possessed woman who died from starvation after a series of unsuccessful exorcism attempts in 1. The Visit. Universal. People tried to say that this wasn. Night Shyamalan movie. Those people are wrong. Regardless of the film. Night Shyamalan) haunts me daily since the night I first watched it . How is that not scary? The Ring. Dreamworks. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Some people prefer the original Japanese version of this film to the 2. Naomi Watts, so if you have time, watch both, but if you don. There was a really exciting period in the early 2. This movie, among others, helped introduce a transition from slasher and monster films to a more psychological approach that relies on suspense and anticipation more than in- your- face jump scares. It Follows. Instagram@nutmegandhoneybee. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. This is a movie that. The only bummer about this is that a young woman having sex with someone is what sets off the main chain of events, but the female lead is strong enough that the movie gets a pass for an otherwise non- feminist . There are a lot of legitimate scares in It Follows that catch you by surprise but are still very subtle, which makes it feel refreshing, fun, and horrifying at the same time. Days Later. Fox Searchlight. Zombie movies have pretty much been the same, give or take a few details, since Night of the Living Dead came out in 1. Slow- moving zombies, arms outstretched, making . Days Later comes at the genre in a new way by, first and foremost, making the zombies fast, and by using an atmospheric soundtrack to really highlight an overall feeling of unease. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1. Movie Poster Image Art/Getty. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Pulling details from true- crime tales of the past like that of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin serial killer who murdered people and made furniture and clothing out of their flesh, this is one of the creepiest classics there is. The grainy quality of the cinematography and the over- the- top supporting characters make this a must- see. And even though Leatherface hacks up teenagers with a chainsaw and wears a mask made out of skin, you can. The Shining. Warner Bros. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Jack Nicholson. You know those rides they have at amusement parks like Six Flags that have sections where animatronic people come to life as you pass and say something weird to you? Those things are Jack Nicholson. His performance in Stanley Kubrick. This movie has it all, and you should just buy it right now if you don. Hellraiser. Getty. A favorite of goths due to its heavy reliance on evil, pain, gallows humor, and metal body adornments, this first film of a very popular franchise is a night ruiner. The main focus of this is a character named Pinhead (above), who. If you like gore and just about every other disgusting and grim thing you can dream up in your worst nightmares, then here you go. Halloween. Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. The overall lumbering creepiness of Halloween. Director and composer John Carpenter. Watch this on a super- cold night with a mountain of snacks and a cozy blanket. The Silence of the Lambs. Century Fox. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. One of the most . The combination of Anthony Hopkins as the seductively grotesque Hannibal Lecter, Jodie Foster as the take- nary- a- shit Clarice Starling, and some lotion in a basket makes this a highly enjoyable roller coaster of freakouts. Based on the popular novel by Thomas Harris, a psychological thriller of this caliber only comes around about once in a lifetime. Black Swan. Fox Searchlight. This is another one that people try to say isn. Darren Aronofsky directed this, and since he. The Blair Witch Project. Artisan. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Released in 1. 99. A thriller about a group of friends who take off into the woods to document the myth of a witch who kills people, it. Initial reviews claimed that people were passing out in movie theaters from fear, and there are definite elements of terror to be had here. If you can stomach the shaky handheld camera and the screaming, this is a fun one. Candyman. Tri. Star/Getty. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. All I remember about this one is that I. Produced by Clive Barker, who. Directed by Roman Polanski and starring a very young Mia Farrow as an almost comically neurotic expectant mother who, unbeknownst to her, shares an NYC apartment building with Satanists, this is Old Hollywood drama at its finest. Jaws. Universal/Getty. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Up until this point, this list has stuck pretty close to paranormal ghost and monster tropes, but Jaws is some real- life shit that needs to be included for sure. Sharks are real and they would actually eat you if given the chance. Sharks are a thing that could happen. In addition to the fear that comes from watching something that could happen in real life, the score to this gets in your subconscious and never leaves. Tell me that after watching this you don. Poltergeist. MGM/Getty. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. A lot of people don. Let me tell you: It is terrifying. This movie about a family experiencing heavy ghost activity in their home could very well have had a hand in people abandoning their TVs in favor of static- free laptops, phones, and tablets. That static screen buzzing at you, telling you to do things, filling your house with ghost vibes ! Carrie. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images. Yet another classic based on a Stephen King novel, this tells the story of Carrie White, a small- town girl cooped up in a house with her religious nut of a mother. As the anxieties of high- school life build, Carrie comes to find that she has special powers. When you think about it, this is the ultimate teenage girl revenge movie, because who hasn. Let the Right One In. Magnet. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Sometimes when you. Good friends are hard to come by, so I. Viva la vampire friends! Seven. New Line. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Very little can be said about this without giving away one of the best movie endings ever, but suffice it to say that Brad Pitt stars as a homicide detective investigating a serial killer who models each murder after one of the seven deadly sins. To say any more would be to let the head out of the box. Children of the Corn (1. New World. Has that thing ever happened to you where you go on a road trip and stop for gas and realize that if you stray too many miles off the beaten path people start looking at you like you? Those instances always remind me of this movie. Venture too far into the wilderness and it. Eraserhead. Libra Films. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. This isn. This one achieves it the best. An abstract take on family life centering on a baby that looks like a shrimp that you dropped and then forgot to pick up and put in the trash can. Scariest Movies of All Time . Ostensibly the story of two young psychopaths who terrorize a family on vacation, Funny Games is really about how bringing fear to the viewer is a question of pure cinematic manipulation, with director Michael Haneke thwarting expectations at each turn and forcing us to suffer the consequences. Next time a neighbor asks to borrow an egg, lock your door. Top 2. 5 Horror Movies of All Time. Share. It will mess you up for life! You can spot 'em every time a jump scare happens, or a devil- possessed girl crab walks upstairs, or an alien missiles out of some poor sucker's chest. Okay, so we were more scared than not when working on this list. Using overall movie quality, impact on the genre, legacy potential, fright/creepy factor and that mysterious quality known as Editor's Choice, we assembled a list of movies that guarantee you'll want to sleep with the lights on. Some of the movies here are more traditional horror fare, others are just twisted and creepy in a . The Silence of the Lambs). But all of them will scare the living heck out of you. So enjoy, and fire off your own suggestions and faves in the comments! The Cabin in the Woods is an incredibly clever and fun take on classic horror movie tropes centered around a group of kids going to a, you guessed it, cabin in the woods. Filmmakers Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard - - the two wrote the film together with Whedon producing and Goddard directing - - came up with a wonderfully conceived story that gives a bigger than life and fascinating explanation for why so many horror movie cliches exist in the first place. And Whedon and Goddard are acutely aware of and inspired by that fact. Without giving too much away, the filmmakers add an extra level of menace beyond the typical horror movie tropes. It's a metatextual examination of the genre itself, which Whedon and Goddard are able to use to comment on and reflect upon horror films, and how the likes of Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 1. The offbeat tone and sensibility of the film is established early on, and as it goes on, The Cabin in the Woods begins to add more and more fascinating elements. The film's final act is especially audacious, delving into a whole other level of reveals that are especially crowd- pleasing and bold. Scene to watch with the lights on: That ending, where our surviving heroes realize that the horrors they thought they were facing were only just the tip of the (bloody) iceberg. Both director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson have plenty of successes in their career, but Scream remains a big highlight for both men. Williamson's script managed to deftly be so many things - - it was a sly meta/self- parody about the horror genre that didn't cross the line into goofiness, while also playing as a successful whodunit and, most importantly, an effective horror film in and of itself. Finally a group of horror movie characters made it clear that yes, they'd seen all the same movies we had, and were aware of the rules and clich. But no one was more knowledgeable than the killer (or is that killers?), who toyed with the victims by asking them horror movie trivia that plenty of us in the audience could have fun playing along with. But when the killer actually showed himself, it was terrifying, with several extremely well- executed suspense scenes by Craven, which proved again just how good he was with this sort of material. A movie that set out to simultaneously make the audience laugh, cheer and yes, scream, Scream deserves a lot of credit for pulling off all these elements so well. Scene to watch with the lights on: Scream's opening scene is incredibly strong and scary, instantly grabbing the audience by the throat. Watching a high school girl (Drew Barrymore) get a series of increasingly ominous phone calls, we (and she) begin to realize just how vulnerable she is. And that's when the guy with the ghost- faced mask shows up.. All of today's mega- popular vampire franchises owe a debt of gratitude to Count Dracula. And as much as Bram Stoker's original novel helped popularize the vampire story, it was Universal's 1. Dracula in the minds of most moviegoers. Dracula condenses and combines many of the main characters from the novel, opening with the poor Mr. Renfield's arrival in Transylvania. After falling victim to Dracula's influence, the pair head to London so Dracula can feast on the city's inhabitants. Only the courageous Dr. Seward, his ally Professor Van Helsing, and their friends can prevent Dracula from slaughtering innocents and making the fair Mina his newest bride. Dracula isn't the scariest film by modern standards (though the alternate Spanish cut is superior in that regard). What it does have is plenty of atmosphere and a very memorable take on the lead villain. This adaptation diverged from the source by making Dracula a handsome, charismatic figure, and Bela Lugosi captured the imaginations of millions with his performance as Dracula. For better or worse, it was a role that would follow him for the rest of his life. And it remains the definitive portrayal of this classic villain for many. Scene to watch with the lights on: Renfield's midnight ride is full of dramatic tension as he meets the world's creepiest carriage driver and passes unearthly lights burning in the fog. By the time he finally arrives at the castle and is introduced to its master, he and the viewer are much worse for wear. Jennifer Kent's debut feature is an elegant, psychologically- dense horror film which taps into various traditions without ever feeling the slightest bit derivative. It's an instant classic. Like all great psychological horror, it begins with a tragedy. Amelia's husband died while driving her to the hospital to give birth to Sam, their only child. Ever since that day, Amelia has raised Sam alone and never celebrated his birthday. The film spends time establishing this complex domestic situation and the fractured relationship between mother and child. Even seven years later, it's painfully clear that Amelia hasn't successfully grieved and moved on with her life. But what's more unsettling is her relationship with Sam. While she takes him to school, reads him bedtime stories, and cooks him nutritious dinners, she secretly can't stand him. She pulls away, when she should be pulling him close. And it's into this troubled home that The Babadook worms his way. What follows isn't a monster movie nor a slasher film; things don't frequently jump out of the shadows. The threat is much less tangible - – it's ambitious, pervasive, and in the final analysis, much more terrifying. Things go bump in the mind. This is a brilliantly made, elegant horror film, with real psychological depth. It's also a celebration of a school of horror that's been dormant for much too long. The Babadook belongs firmly to a genre that understands the power of restraint and terror of the unseen. There are definite shades of The Haunting and The Innocents, but it stands proudly in its own right. This is modern psychological horror at its most rich, macabre, and moving. Scene to watch with the lights on: When The Babadook pays Amelia a visit one night, all she can do is throw the covers over her head while she listens to the inhuman sounds it makes. You'll be reaching for the covers too in this moment. The movie that gave birth to the whole . In fact, a new take on Blair Witch is coming out in the fall of 2. Scene to watch with the lights on: A night in the woods full of tent shaking and lots of screaming leads to a morning where one character discovers a nice gift- wrap of anatomy no longer attached to its person. Of course we're including a giallo film on this list, though the question did come up as to which of the Italian horror masters was most deserving to represent this distinctive genre. In the end, we had to give it to Dario Argento and his Suspiria - - a supernatural shocker that is an experience in style as well as terror. The film is about an American ballerina who travels to Germany to attend a dance academy, but instead gets a tutu full of trouble when she comes to realize that the place is home to a coven of witches who are brewing up all kinds of deadly mischief. The picture might seem over the top in some ways, but Argento proves masterful at creating an environment and a world that is uniquely its own thing. The gruesome, convoluted killings, the garish color design, the freaked- out sound (including a haunting score by Goblin).. This leads to stabbings, a hanging and, finally, impalement by stained glass for her and her friend. Can you believe that there's a movie on our list that got its title from a Morrissey song? This most unusual of love stories is a Swedish film which hit it big internationally with its tale of a 1. But it's an engrossing story from start to finish. Though chock- full of bloody good horror moments, director Tomas Alfredson's film works so well because it is acutely interested in its two lead characters: Oskar, the boy who is bullied at school and finds a protector in his new, nocturnal neighbor; and Eli, a beautiful little cherub who's actually not even a girl and certainly not a cherub. But so good. Scene to watch with the lights on: This may be a controversial pick (and a spoilery one), but we'd have to go with the closing moments of the film, as Oskar and Eli head off for a new life together as friends and/or love interests. Or as master and slave? You decide, but it is creepy either way. It rarely hurts to merge horror with a tinge of comedy, and John Landis' An American Werewolf in London is one of the finer examples of that combination. It's also one of several iconic werewolf movies that hit theaters in 1. Of the trio, American Werewolf remains the most popular and well- loved. The film follows two backpackers traveling the English countryside. When only one survives an attack by a vicious wolf, he becomes convinced he's been infected by the werewolf's curse. And it wouldn't be much of a werewolf movie if he turned out to be wrong. An American Werewolf in London stood out at the time thanks to its amazing makeup and special effects work; never had the werewolf transformation seemed so convincing. The humor didn't hurt either, particularly with the brilliantly demented nightmare sequences. But American Werewolf was ultimately a tragic horror film, and one certainly deserving of remembrance today.
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