Top 10 Scariest Movies of All-Time

Posted by College Spot in Top 10 Lists

Halloween is right around the corner and pretty much everyone will be trying to intentionally scare the crap out of themselves. There is no better way to accomplish this than with a great scary movie. College Spot has compiled the following list of classic and little-known movies that will help you decide what to watch this October. We tried to avoid the cheesy slasher films and really focus on the movies that are just plain terrifying.

10. Frailty (2002)

Frailty is a creepy gothic thriller that tells the story of an East Texas serial killer who calls himself the Hand of God. An FBI agent, desperate for information, listens when a young man named Fenton (Matthew McConaughey) comes in offering a suspect, his brother Adam. Fenton tells of their strange childhood, beginning with the night their father (Bill Paxton) had a religious vision. God told him he must kill people that are actually demons in disguise. He is given a list of names and a double-edged axe and he and his boys, reluctantly, carry out a murder. The movie creates a compelling mood and keeps you wondering who you can trust. With powerful performances and many twists and turns, Frailty is an unjustly underrated scary movie.

9. Ginger Snaps (2000)

Sisters Ginger and Brigitte are ostracized by their town because of their morbid inclinations. Their strange hobbies lead to Ginger being attacked by a wolf and she begins to exhibit strange nocturnal behavior. Brigitte must then decide whether to save herself or join Ginger in her reign of terror. Not widely known, Ginger Snaps is a fresh and clever modern werewolf tale. You wouldn’t think a film that examines the close relationship between two young girls and the trials of adolescence would be especially scary, but this is what sets Ginger Snaps apart and why this incredibly creepy movie has made our list.

8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski wrote and directed this seriously spooky classic horror film. Soon after moving into a new apartment building with her actor husband, Rosemary (Mia Farrow) becomes pregnant and certain events lead her to believe she may have been raped by a demon. Intrusive neighbors, uncaring doctors, and an emotionally unavailable, self-centered husband add to the suspense as it gets closer and closer to Rosemary delivering what may or may not be the spawn of Satan. Suspenseful and riveting, Rosemary’s Baby will leave you feeling out of sorts and disturbed for days after the final credits roll.

7. Bug (2007)

Bug is an unrelenting crawl into madness from the same man that brought us The Exorcist 35 years earlier. The story follows a down-on-her-luck waitress (Ashley Judd) at a desolate motel who meets a polite, yet possibly delusional, drifter. As they get to know each other, he shares that he is the victim of horrific military experiments, and he believes he is being watched. When the bites appear and he starts complaining about the bugs in their room, we learn why scratching is just about the worse thing you can do.

6. The Shining (1980)

A list of the scariest movies of all-time would certainly not be complete unless it included at least one Stephen King classic. Even though Stanley Kubrick took some artistic license with the movie adaptation, he still captures King’s vision of an isolated recovering alcoholic tormented by ghosts and his own inner demons. The story is of Jack Torrance, his wife, and his son who sign on to be the winter caretakers at a snowed-in, isolated Overlook Hotel. As winter sets in, the hotel starts to show its residents visions of horrific events that have taken place there over the years and it causes Jack Torrance to lose his mind and to eventually turn on his family. Jack Nicholson plays the part of psycho husband and father perfectly. You will travel with him on his descent into insanity and you will not regret the journey.

5. The Omen (1976)

As with all the movies on our list that have been re-made, we recommend getting the original, as there was nothing that needed to be improved upon. This is especially true of The Omen, which tells the story of an American ambassador (the legendary Gregory Peck) and the horrifying incidents that seem to have coincided with the arrival of his only son, Damien. From the first notes of the classic and bone-chilling musical score, you will tense up and stay that way until the movie has ended and possibly for a few days after.

4. The Thing (1982)

The Thing is directed by horror movie hall-of-famer, John Carpenter, and tells the story of a group of scientists stationed at the South Pole that becomes infiltrated by a shape-shifting alien. Fear and paranoia spreads throughout the crew (and the audience) as they try to figure who the alien is and how they can escape alive. The South Pole setting, with its subzero temperatures and total isolation, is the perfect backdrop to this immensely terrifying and classic thriller.

3. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)

The scariest part about Henry is that at times you forget you are actually watching a movie and you feel like you are viewing the most disturbing documentary that has ever been created. This is not a cheesy slasher film with a masked supernatural monster haunting the dreams of high school students. Henry is the horror movie for those of you who feel they have scene it all and have become desensitized to movie violence. In other words, this movie will mess you up, leave you feeling unsettled for weeks, and probably could be number 1 on this list if the next 2 movies weren’t quite so scary.

2. Audition (1999)

Just as you cannot have a scary movie list without a Stephen King story, you also cannot have a complete list without a Takeshi Miike film as well. Audition is about a lonely widower who decides to hold auditions to meet women and he ends up meeting the girl of his dreams. Of course all of his friends tell him they have a bad feeling about her, but he thinks they are crazy (this guy is not the best judge of character). Maybe they feel that she is not exactly “girlfriend material” because her idea of a fun date involves a rubber apron and a medical bag full of pins. A surprisingly large number of reviewers feel that this is perhaps the most disconcerting, gruesome, upsetting, and horrific movie ever made. So, if you are looking for a fun time being frightened with the lights off, then rent Halloween H2O, not this movie. Knowing this and you are still curious, go ahead and check out this physically brutal, psychologically disturbing, and somewhat brilliant horror film. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

1. The Exorcist (1973)

Wrapping up College Spot’s Top 10 Scariest Movies of All-Time is a movie that when it first came out in 1973 was responsible for frightening moviegoers so badly that paramedics had to be called out to theaters all over the country to assist people with post-traumatic stress and shock. Perhaps when compared to modern films like Audition, The Exorcist does not seem quite so scary, but in its day it was the most disturbing thing out and it has managed to stand the test of time. The story of Regan, an adorable 12-year-old girl that starts exhibiting extremely odd and violent behavior, such as projectile vomiting, cursing, and masturbating with a crucifix, is still just as upsetting today as it was over 30 years ago. When the doctors are stumped by Regan’s deteriorating condition, Catholic priests are brought in and determine that Regan is possessed by a demon and that this demon must be exorcised. The Exorcist contains all of the elements that make up an ideal horror film: suspense, violence without reason, mystery, demons, and disturbing behavior. This is why The Exorcist tops our list of the scariest movies of all-time.

Happy Halloween.