20 Scariest Movies of All Time

Halloween and Psycho. Both have the same effect after all these years.
Carrie disturbs me as well.

 

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I agree with you...Carrie was pretty good..

I also like Dario Argento's films... Suspiria etc..

 

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Paranormal Activity. The only movie to date that has every made me feel uncomfortable. The tension in this movies builds progressively till the climactic ending.

For me, the tension in this movie is largely a result of its excellent soundtrack. That said, I would imagine the "scariness" of this movie would be significantly less if played through TV speakers then it would be played through a quality surround sound system.

 

Yeah, I just saw Paranormal Activity. Pretty well done, and it's interesting to note that the Blair Witch Project approach is still scary a decade later. Plot's a bit thin though - no real resolution or plot progress, just a lot of quality tension and creepiness. Again, it's just Blair Witch Project in a house instead of a forest.

Focus on Jack Nicholson in The Shining misses the point - the villain isn't him, but the hotel. The scary shit is the ghost twins, the bloodbath in the elevator shaft, the corpse lady in the bathtub, etc. You're supposed to actually empathize with Jack and hope that he can resist the hotel - he's an almost-hero, doing his best to overcome his violent alcoholic past and do right by his family, tragically confronted with a force he cannot overcome. The horror of his madness isn't that Jack with an axe is particularly terrifying, but that it represents the collapse of the family's last, best bullwark against the malign influence of the hotel. The part when he smashes the radio is the turning point - absent Jack's sanity and any means to communicate to the outside, they family is trapped in an alternate world of malign power, unencumbered by social structures or other normalizing influences. It's the horror of being marooned on a hostile alien world. Where once was a husband and father (and so, a stable social structure) there is now only inexplicable violence and hatred.

Let the Right One In is also great - no plans to see the American remake. I found certain of Van Sant's Death Trilogy pretty terrifying, in a certain way (not so much the Kurt Cobain one). Lots of others, but no time to brainstorm right now...

 

I think the best scary movies are the ones that are realistic. I'm not worried about a boogeyman who invades my mind and kills me through my dreams. But movies like Seven or 28 Days Later are really good, in my opinion.

I can see a wacko killing people in ways related to the seven deadly sins. I can see a plague destroying human civilization. I even thought Hostel was good. It was intended to be over-the-top rather than just scary, but I can easily see something like that happening in real life.

 

I'd agree cowboy. I just saw "The Boston Strangler" over the weekend and it was very frightning in that this type of person can be your neighbor, policeman or have a family of their own but still can do what he did because of who they really are.

 

Event Horizon - deeply disturbing

Sean Pertwee is in it too and he's cool as fucking fuck - Dog Soldiers anyone?

 

The Shining. Slowly paced with a climax. This is a film you need to experience- no YouTube vid can capture that essence.

 

Frailty
Driving Miss Daisy - Shyt is scary!!!!

 

Such underrated flick. Sean is always good.
There is another British werewolf movie released these days, "13 Hrs".
Don't let bad score fool you. Sure, it has some weak moments and horrendous cast, but it is enjoyable and tense flick.

 

I agree. Not sure why, but the film is definitely memorable.

I think that a movie being scary isn't just about the movie, it's about what we were like when we saw the movie.

I still think that one of the scariest movies was the old 1950's 'Earth vs the Flying Saucers'. It doesn't seem all that scary now, but when I first saw it I was just a little kid and it was the first alien invasion movie I saw. The whole idea of an irresistable malevolent force from the sky that the grownups and the authorities were helpless to stop scared the pants off me.

Creepy isn't exactly scary, but the most... disturbing...movie that I ever saw was probably David Lynch's totally-surreal 'Eraserhead'. It's the most uncompromising film that Lynch has made and is my choice for best horror movie of all time. The twist there is that it isn't really supernatural horror so much as it's psychiatric horror, a visual cinematic take on the world as it's perceived by an incredibly depressed schizophrenic. You almost feel like killing yourself after seeing that movie and it took me a week to get over it.

 

I recommend the Japanese film "Audition"..

I'm not so sure I would call it scary, but it's a very disturbing film.

 

Kinda like 'The Abyss' in space, I thought/

Dog Soldiers is an ace movie. Although if you like Sean, don't get suckered by 'Doomsday' or 'The Mutant Chronicles' as he's billed, but gets very little screentime.

Apart from 'Dog Soldiers' my fave Sean Pertwee film has to be 'Blue Juice'.

 

I've become immune to most horror movies, I have to admit Darkness Falls creeped me out in a classic horror sense. The Exorcist used to, when I was more superstitious. One of the best modern horror stories is Wolf Creek. According to the real sole survivor it really happened. As one gets older, only real/plausible stories can scare.

 

I agree. While the movie itself is dull, the beginning is intense and scary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCjlK57WxOk
Wolf Creek is pretty gritty and well made. But I'm not much into blood and torture stuff. I like the atmosphere and suspense.
Few horror movies from 2000s I really like:

The Descent - also one of my all time favorites
Shaun of the Dead - another favorite, it's a comedy, but it has zombies in it
The House of the Devil - nice little retro movie (set in 80s)
The Strangers - there is a lot of hate around this movie, but I think it's a great and suspenseful thriller
Trick r' Treat - pleasant surprise, it's like those little horror movies we enjoyed in 80s
Dawn of the Dead (remake) - one of the best remakes, so fast and rabid
28 Days Later... - faster and more rabid
Session 9 - criminally underrated
À l'intérieur -although I don't like gore, this movie has superb atmosphere
Haute Tension - it's bloody, messy, but also over the top suspenseful
Ils - The Strangers borrowed the idea here, very good french thriller
[Rec] - great flick filmed as a TV report about unknown infection gone horribly wrong
Let the Right One In - no words needed for this one, a modern masterpiece
Frailty - it's not filled with scary scenes, it's rather concept of how 'normal' religious family deal with the 'demons' around us, that will make you shiver
Shutter - creepy Thai ghost story
The Mothman Prophecies - it's actually a thriller, but with some creepy moments, very good and underrated


Horror freaks not afraid of experimenting should also check (far from the best movies, but worth checking):
Infection - J-Horror placed into hospital
Isolation - Irish madness with cows (no pun intended)
Below - haunted WWII submarine
The Dark Hours - cool psycho thriller
Uzumaki - Holy shit!

 

That could have been a great film, had they left the creatures as being possible figments, and the happenings having a human cause maybe,... insane people are far more scary than monsters.

 

The Descent is f*cked up scary....well to me anyway. Being stuck in a cave system is bad enough but, well I won't spoil it.

I won't watch Buried, the idea is just too terrifying, I'm getting scared just thinking about it.

 

jesus camp