The Top Scariest Movies of All Time!

This is a list of the scariest horror films I’ve ever seen.  They not only terrify you on such a primeval level that they remain in the consciousness way after the credits are done giving you nightmares for weeks, but they especially make you afraid to be alone in the dark. I know I was!

THE SHINING: A secluded and abandoned hotel for the winter in the Colorado Mountains causes an evil and spiritual presence influencing Jack Nicolson into violence. Do you remember “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”?  Meanwhile his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from the past and future including the previous family’s brutal murder.

THE EXORCIST: This movie will mess you up for months! The Exorcist dares to question the existence of religion by putting Satan in the body of a 12-year-old girl.  Linda Blair’s strange behaviors such as the spider-walk, levitating above the bed, and her demonic male voice causes viewers to be literally scared stiff.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS:  Hannibal Lector is a brilliant murderous cannibal who was a former psychiatrist; whereas Buffalo Bill is a tailor who wears patches skin that he has removed from each of his victims. This gruesome thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: This movie was inspired by a true story! A couple of friends passing through Texas are stalked down by a misshapen serial killer with a chainsaw.  One by one the group of friends disappears to be brutally butchered; each murder more atrocious then the last. There was the victim hung alive on a meat hook, as well as another victim trapped in a wheelchair as he is hacked to death.

JAWS: If there ever was justification for being completely terrified of sticking your feet in the ocean, it’s the movie “Jaws”. It has forever planted in my mind that hidden danger lurks beneath the water and can destroy you in seconds.  Being eaten alive and drowned is one of the most sadistic ways I could ever imagine to die. 

THE RING: This is about a mysterious VHS tape that is killing off everyone who watches it. The infamous line “seven days….” makes it almost horrifying to answer the phone after you watch the movie.  The most memorable scenes are the little girl creeping out of the TV screen and the movie itself with its disturbing black and white images.

SAW:  This movie makes you feel like death is a shortcut! Victims are forced into ghastly situations to spare their lives. Men are chained by their ankles where on victim is told that he must escape while the other victim is told that he must kill the other person before six o’clock, or else his wife and daughter will be killed.  They find hacksaws, though neither is sharp enough to sever through the chains, and then realize that the saws are not intended for the chains, but rather for their feet.

DAWN OF THE DEAD: This movie is all about flesh-eating zombies where the remaining survivors seek refuge.  This movie has the goriest scenes ever and has been banned in over 17 countries. What’s worse than hacking to death your already dead relatives?

ALIEN: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” This movie was so intelligently put together, psychologically powerful, and extremely disgusting. The most memorable scene which is still stuck in my mind is that bloody alien being birthed from a human surrogate. This movie makes me never hope to meet extraterrestrial life.

SEVEN: A serial killer uses the seven deadly sins (gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust) as a motive to go on a killing spree. The beginning and ending of the movie I think are the most gruesome.  How often do you see a dead human head in a postal box?

BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: The first time I saw this I was told that it was a true documentary, but now I know that it is only “based” on a true story. This documentary-like film takes place in the haunted woods where a group of adults get lost and end up being followed by a “witch.”  All though you never see the witch, scary things continuously happening to the group such as finding their missing friends bloody ear.  Eventually, the last scene is the scariest where they get stuck in an abandoned house and are all brutally murdered.

ARACHNOPHOBIA: This spider infested movie was filmed down the street where I grew up, Cambria, CA.  The farmhouse they used to film with was left abandoned with an array of new spider species which later populated the rest of the town.  It is now normal to see tarantulas, black widows, and brown recluses everywhere. Anyways, if you hate spiders this movie is not for you… It is about a South American killer spider which hitches a lift to the California in a coffin and starts to breed and kill everyone who it can reach.