Scariest Horror Movie Poll

Batutta

Batutta

Major Contributor
These were voted as the scariest movies of all time in an HMV poll. I agree with most of it.

1. 'The Exorcist' (1973) - William Friedkin
2. 'The Shining' (1980) - Stanley Kubrick
3. 'Halloween' (1978) - John Carpenter
4. 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984) - Wes Craven
5. 'Ringu' - 'The Ring' (Japanese version) (1998) - Hideo Nakata
6. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) - Tobe Hooper
7. 'The Omen' (1976) - Richard Donner
8. 'Stephen King's It' (1990) - Tommy Lee Wallace
9. 'Hellraiser' (1987) - Clive Barker
10. 'Hostel' (2005) - Eli Roth (c) BANG
 
The movies listed that I feel belong there?

Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (parts of it, at least), Nightmare on Elm Street and maybe The Omen.

I'd add The Changeling, Suspiria and I'll have to think about a few more.
 
Nope. I think The Exorcist is actually pretty boring until you get to the Exorcism scene, and then I find it amusing... not scary. The Shining... well, my hatred for Kubrick has become well-worn territory around these parts and I'm in the extreme minority on that.
 
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Of all those films up there, The Exorcist is the only one that genuinely still scares me, which is amazing to me because I'm an agnostic. Must be my catholic upbringing.
 
The Entity could possibly be there.

I'd probably rate The Exorcist number 1 - with the lights out and the sound up that movie is pretty scary, it's really the sound fx that do it for me there.
 
No 'Rosemary's Baby' on the list?
The soundtrack alone makes me look over my shoulder.

It's a dangerous thing to have in your iTunes library.
I'll forget its in there....working late at night with the music playing in the background....
One second I'm listening to Radiohead...next thing I know I"m hearing "la la la la la"

creepy
 
Luis Caffesse said:
No 'Rosemary's Baby' on the list?
The soundtrack alone makes me look over my shoulder.
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Oh yeah, Rosemary's Baby. And you might also be able to add The Sentinel to the list. There have been a lot of good horror and thrillers but I find very few are actually "scary". Not all are necessarily scary but good none the less:

Halloween
Angel Heart
Shadow of the Vampire
Devil's Advocate
The Hunger
Rosemary's Baby
The Thing
Secret Window
The Excorcist
Session 9
Frailty
Carrie
The Sentinel
 
Session 9 has got to be up there. The Abandoned was pretty good too, what no silence of the lambs? The Shining is #1 in my book, it made me have zero ability to go to my bathroom without the door open and the shower checked for two weeks! Oh but Hostel needs to be off that list, it was not scary, gory yes but not scary.
 
Weird how King himself didn't really like Kubrick's take on The Shining. I heard he did apporove of the made-for-tv version with Steven Weber that aired back in the 90s.

Maybe he was a big fan of Wings.
 
DeSica said:
Weird how King himself didn't really like Kubrick's take on The Shining. I heard he did apporove of the made-for-tv version with Steven Weber that aired back in the 90s.

Maybe he was a big fan of Wings.
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King is an idiot when it comes to filmmaking. Anyone see Maximum Overdrive? His best adaptations have mainly been the non-horror stuff. I thought The Shining took what was scary about the book and converted that into cinematic terms, rather than doing a literal adaptation. The things that are scary in a book are scary because they exist in the mind's eye. In filmmaking, what is NOT shown is scary for the same reasons. Sound design also plays a big part in conjuring fear in the mind's eye, as our ears are fairly dumb compared to our eyes. We can pretty easily classify what we see as real or not real in a cold, objective way, but sound tends to bypass the more critical parts of our brains and head straight for the emotional center.
 
No particular order. Some outright SCARY, some CREEPY, some leaving an impression that can't be shaken ....

Salems Lot -

Anytime that Nosferatu jumped out. Creepy, perfect looking vampire.

Carrie -

Sissy Spacek just looked evil in this. Just a bizarre, creepy film. The religious overtones make it even worse.

Halloween -

Michael Myers is maybe the scariest of them all. Faceless and plausible. Relentless.

The SHining -

It was homeboys visions that were the scary part. The most tense scene is when Shelly Duvall is slowly walking up behind him and Kubrick uses a wide open shot of the entire room. Forget closeups, that was scary. And she sees what he has been typing. OMG OMG OMG HE IS ****ING INSANE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Excorcist -

Regan is one evil looking person.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -

Another 'It could happen' scenario.

An American Werewolf in London -

Brilliant. Whether it was the shock of Nazi Skeletons with Machine Guns or him running naked through the woods or the wolf pursuing the businessman in the tunnels; wonderful film. The opening sequence just sets the tone.

The Evil Dead -

The demons and camerawork create an insane tense feeling; the rushing camera (undercranked on a plank of wood) just keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Jaws -

(GO ahead; go swim in the ocean and not think about it.

The AMityville Horror -

What is about those 70's film grains ? Another no frills appraoch. Today it is all CG BS; then, it was a camera, some actors and a house.

Helter Skelter -

Too real to put into words. A true nightmare of the complete meaning


Oh yeah

and White Chicks
 
Night of the Living Dead creeps me out more than any other movie. Can't quite put my finger on what it is about the movie.

John Carpenter's The Thing is one of my favourite movies of all time and I still find most of the effects to be amazing. While sitting through 30 Days of Night, all I could think about is how I would rather be watching The Thing on the big screen.

Here are some other horror films I love:
Dawn of the Dead
The Shining
Alien
Jaws
The Haunting
Psycho
Halloween
Rosemary's Baby
Poltergeist
The Omen
The Vanishing
A Nightmare of Elm Street
 
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