Your list of the Scariest Movies of All Time

[caj]

With Jared posting his annual 31 Horrid Days thread for watching scary movies through the month of October, I thought it would be fun for everyone to list their favorite scary movies.

The list can include horror, creepy, monster-related, supernatural, suspenseful, sci-fy - anything that scares the bejeebees out of you.

The list can be top 10, top 20 or 25, top 50 - however many films you want to list.

Also, the list should be ranked by how much you like them, not by how scary they are. It's your favorite films.

So let's see your lists.

[Captain Smith]

First, Haunting of Hill House. When I was a kid, two Disney flics:
1. Darby O'Gill and the Leprechauns. The Banshee freaked me out.
2. The cartoon Disney Sleepy Hollow - the Headless Horseman - same thing.

No other movies really scare me.

TV - though. The old Thriller show where ghosts came out of mirrors with William Shatner IIRC. Scared of mirrors! Buffy - the Hush episode, that scared me as a grown up.

Some other movies give me starts and startles but not real fear. Real fear is not turning off the lights after seeing the show and trying to go to bed.

[caj]

Mine

1 jaws 1975
2 jurassic park 1993
3 the shining 1980
4 poltergeist 1982
5 signs 2002
6 terminator 1984
7 the ring 2002
8 rosemary's baby 1968
9 scream 1996
10 predator 1987
11 sinister 2012
12 joy ride 2001
13 silence of the lambs 1991
14 paranormal activity 2007
15 stephen king's it 1990
16 psycho 1960
17 the exorcist 1973
18 the changeling 1980
19 pet semetary 1989
20 halloween 1978
21 the village 2004
22 the amityville horror 1979
23 the conjuring 2013
24 the blair witch project 1999
25 the omen 1976
26 a nightmare on elm street 1984
27 it follows 2014
28 Friday the 13th 1980
29 cujo 1983
30 tremors 1990
31 wrong turn 2003
32 texas chainsaw massacre 1974
33 alien 1979
34 the evil dead 1981
35 salem's lot 1979
36 the thing 1982
37 silver bullet 1985
38 the howling 1981
39 a quiet place 2018
40 the birds 1963

[Kirby101]

I would say Jaws tops my list. Never scared like that in a movie theater. Maybe Alien is second.
When I was a wee lad, the scariest movie I saw was Black Sabbath by Mario Brava.

[choptop]

I like horror movies but they don't scare me I never really understood how people get scared watching them.

[caj]

I like horror movies but they don't scare me I never really understood how people get scared watching them.

Well, let's see your list of favorite scary movies. Even if they don't really scare you. LOL

[Jokerz79]

The film that scared me the most upon seeing it was the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

I was about 5 when it came out and my siblings were teenagers and took me to see it. It scared me and that night I had a nightmare with Freddy in it I ran to my mum's bed screaming "Freddy's Coming for Me" my mum is like "Honey it was a dream" I'm like "I know and Freddy's coming". My mother wanted to kill my siblings that night. Wasn't until I saw Robert out of makeup and realized he was Willie from V that I was no longer scared of Freddy.

[Scott Taylor]

Most of them I've gotten over due to time, but one that still manages to scare me is Suspiria (1977). This October I'm going to watch the remake. What fascinates me about the original is the mystery aspect. Throughout the entire movie, you are left guessing and have no idea who to trust. And lots of the movie is troubling.

I'll add a couple of others as honorable mentions - Night of the Demon (1957), Psycho (1960) and Satan's School for Girls (1973). The latter is the movie that inspired Suspiria.

[caj]

Most of them I've gotten over due to time, but one that still manages to scare me is Suspiria (1977). This October I'm going to watch the remake. What fascinates me about the original is the mystery aspect. Throughout the entire movie, you are left guessing and have no idea who to trust. And lots of the movie is troubling.

I'll add a couple of others as honorable mentions - Night of the Demon (1957), Psycho (1960) and Satan's School for Girls (1973). The latter is the movie that inspired Suspiria.

Jaws scared me so bad that I wouldn't swim in a POOL or the ocean for a year.

Poltergeist scared the bejeebees out of me for sure.

The Shining and Sinister both gave me the absolute creeps.

And I slept with the light on for a couple of days after watching Paranormal Activity. But I didn't care because I loved it.

[Gaastra]

Barneys great adventure. Scariest film ever!

Joking.

1. Darby O'Gill and the Leprechauns. The Banshee freaked me out.

Me too. It used to air on disney channel in the 80s and i found that part creepy! Watcher in the woods and return to oz had some creepy parts also!

Not a movie but as a preschooler the burt in egypt scene scared me as a kid. As an adult I see it as a funny abbot and Castillio meets Frankenstein spoof but as a preschooler it creeped me out!

Others did also as they edited it years later to be less scary to kids!

Uncut version.

[Kirby101]

It Follows got to me.

[Scott Taylor]

Jaws scared me so bad that I wouldn't swim in a POOL or the ocean for a year.

Poltergeist scared the bejeebees out of me for sure.

The Shining and Sinister both gave me the absolute creeps.

And I slept with the light on for a couple of days after watching Paranormal Activity. But I didn't care because I loved it.

Yah Jaws really put fear in me for a while of any water body. I like to feel that I am over it but just this past July I was on a day cruise to the Channel Islands and a 15-foot great white surfaced and swam slowly by the boat. Even from the safety of the big boat there was a serious tingle that went down my spine and I was very happy to not be in the water.

[Username taken]

Nightmare on Elm Street (I don’t think anything has affected me like that movie).
IT (the TV movie/series)
The Exorcist (I was from a religious home, I need not say more)
An American Werewolf in London (they said it was a horror comedy, as a kid I didn’t find it funny at all)
The Fly
Michael Jackson’s Thriller
The Thing (John Carpenter’s version)
Hellraiser 2

[Celgress]

Movies that are uncomfortable for me to watch (in part or in whole) is my criteria. Here is my top ten list in no particular order -

The Exorcist
The Blob (1988)
The Fly (1986)
The Thing (1982)
Cannibal Holocaust
Splinter (2007)
Amityville II The Possession
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Alien
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1977)

[Captain Smith]

Forgot about Jaws but it didn't scare me as much as startle me with the first big shark appearance to the three amigos on the too small boat. Night of the Demon was scary.

To me, there is a distinction between a big startle and something that is profoundly scary and make me want to sleep with a cross, bible or other supernatural defenses. Things that I can shoot, regular scary - not metaphysically scary.