Greg Klymkiw's 10 Favourite Scary Movies of All-Time
All the movies listed here make ideal Halloween viewing and/or gifts to bestow upon those celebrating their birthdays, wedding anniversaries and/or pretty much any holiday celebration - most notably, the birth of Baby Jesus H. Christ!
Below you'll find a handy-dandy list representing my 10 All-Time Favourite Scary Movies. These are, frankly, worth watching any time of year and are movies I tend to watch at least once a year myself.
Because 10 is a ridiculous number, you'll find a more exhaustive list of my favourite scary movies way at the bottom, so make your list and check it twice!!!
Watch 'em and please feel free to soil yourself!
Please note: All my lists, including these, are alphabetical.
Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
The best and scariest Alien of all.
No matter how many times you watch it, everyone will hear you scream.
Black Sunday (1960) Mario Bava
Drawer-filling adaptation of Gogol with first-rate witch burnings, the gorgeous Barbara Steele and Bava style-galore.
The Cat People (1942) Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton
Redefined and Defined horror on film forever by con-temporizing the world of horror, finding scares in the shadows and what you don't see, equating old-world horror with new-world fears and inventing the shock cut. The picture still sends chills down the spine and ruined many a walk in the park after dark.
The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin
Scariest. Movie. Ever. The power of Christ compels thee, indeed.
Freaks (1932) Tod Browning
NEVER fuck a freak over. You could become one yourself.
Creep-fest from the MOST perverse director in the studio system.
The Haunting (1963) Robert Wise
Great ghost thriller. Wise created this nerve wracking film in the Lewton tradition.
Nosferatu (1922) F.W. Murnau
Stunning expressionism and still the creepiest, scariest and most vile vampire picture ever made. Max Schrek still comes closest to Stoker's vision of Dracula.
Rosemary's Baby (1968) Roman Polanski
Devil worship and paranoia at its finest.
Pray for her baby, Pray to replace your soiled panties.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Tobe Hooper
Masterpiece of nightmare logic delivers mise-en-scene seldom matched in modern horror. Like the old Dominion store jingle: "It's mainly because of the meat!"
The Thing (1982) John Carpenter
Carpenter's finest piece of direction yields edge-of-the-seat terror from beginning to end. A remake worthy of the original which inspired it.
Okay, because ten movies might just not be enough, here's a whole whack of my favourite scary movies to supplement the aforementioned list. Not all of them are strictly horror movies, but they all scare the shit out of me in some fashion or another. Enjoy!
10 Rillington Place by Richard Fleischer
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night by Ana Lily Amirpour
Alice Sweet Alice by Alfred Sole
American Mary by Jen and Sylvia Soska
An American Werewolf in London by John Landis
Antichrist by Lars von Trier
Asylum by Roy Ward Baker
Basket Case by Frank Henenlotter
Bedlam by Mark Robson/Val Lewton
Black Cat, The by Edgar G. Ulmer
Black Christmas by Bob Clark
Black Sabbath by Mario Bava
Black Sunday by Mario Bava
Body Snatcher, The by Robert Wise/Val Lewton
Boston Strangler, The by Richard Fleischer
Body Snatchers by Abel Ferrara
Bride and the Beast, The by Adrien Weiss/Ed Wood
Bride of Frankenstein, The by James Whale
Brides of Dracula by Terence Fisher
Brood, The by David Cronenberg
Bug by William Friedkin
Bunny The Killer Thing by Joonas Makkonen
Burnt Offerings By Dan Curtis
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene
Cape Fear by J. Lee Thompson
Carnival of Souls by Herk Harvey
Carrie by Brian De Palma
Castle of Blood by Antonio Margheriti
Changeling, The by Peter Medak
Citadel by Ciaran Foy
City of the Dead by John Llewellyn Moxey
Creature from the Black Lagoon by Jack Arnold
Cruising by William Friedkin
Curse of the Cat People by Robert Wise/Val Lewton
Dark Water by Hideo Nakata
Dawn of the Dead by George Romero
Day of the Dead by George Romero
Dead of Night by Hamer/Dearden/Crichton/Cavalcanti
Dead Snow 2 by Tommy Wirkola
Deliverance by John Boorman
Demon by Marcin Wrona
Descent, The by Neil Marshall
Devil Rides Out, The by Terence Fisher
Don’t Look Now by Nicholas Roeg
Dracula by Tod Browning
Dressed to Kill by Brian DePalma
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Rouben Mamoulian
Duel by Steven Spielberg
Editor, The by Astron-6
Ejecta by Matt Wiele, Chad Archibald
Entity, The by Sidney J. Furie
Evil Dead, The by Sam Raimi
Eyes Without A Face by Georges Franju
Father's Day by Astron-6
Fly, The by David Cronenberg
Frankenstein by James Whale
Frenzy by Alfred Hitchcock
Ghost Ship by Mark Robson/Val Lewton
Hellmouth by John Geddes
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer by John McNaughton
Hexecutioners, The by Jesse Thomas Cook
House of Dark Shadows by Dan Curtis
Howling, The by Joe Dante
Incredible Shrinking Man, The by Jack Arnold
Innocents, The by Jack Clayton
Invaders From Mars by William Cameron Menzies
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Don Siegel
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Phil Kaufman
Invisible Man, The by James Whale
Island of Lost Souls by Erle C. Kenton
Isle of the Dead by Mark Robson/Val Lewton
I Walked With A Zombie by Jacques Tourneur/Lewton
Jaws by Steven Spielberg
Kwaidan by Masaki Kobayashi
Last Man On Earth, The by Ubaldo Ragoda/Sidney Salkow
Leopard Man, The by Jacquea Tourneur/Val Lewton
Let's Scare Jessica To Death by John Hancock
Let The Right One In by Tomas Alfredson
M by Fritz Lang
Mad Love by Karl Freund
Man Who Laughs, The by Paul Leni
Mark of the Devil by Michael Armstrong
Masque of the Red Death by Roger Corman
Midnight Son by Scott Leberecht
Mulberry Street by Jim Mickle
Mummy, The by Karl Freund
Night of the Demons by Jacques Tourneur
Night of the Living Dead by George Romero
Omen, The by Richard Donner
Paranormal Activity by Oren Peli
Phantom of the Opera by Rupert Julian
Play Misty For Me by Clint Eastwood
Poltergeist by Tobe Hooper
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock
Pulse by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Pyx, The by Daryl Duke
Rabid by David Cronenberg
Race With The Devil by Jack Starett
Re-Animator, The by Stuart Gordon
[REC] by Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Repulsion by Roman Polanski
Ring, The by Gore Verbinski
Ringu by Hideo Nakata
Road, The by John Hillcoat
See No Evil by Richard Fleischer
Seventh Victim, The by Mark Robson/Val Lewton
Shining, The by Staney Kubrick
Shivers by David Cronenberg
Silent Partner, The by Daryl Duke
Sinister 2 by Ciarin Foy
Sisters by Brian De Palma
Stake Land by Jim Mickle
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The by Charles Jarrot/Dan Curtis
Straw Dogs by Sam Peckinpah
Suspiria by Dario Argento
Tales From The Crypt by Freddie Francis
Targets by Peter Bogdanovich
Tenant, The by Roman Polanski
Terminal Man, The by Mike Hodges
Uninvited, The by Lewis Allem
Vampires by John Carpenter
Vampyr by Cark Dreyer
Videodrome by David Cronenberg
War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg
Werewolf of London by Stuart Walker
Westworld by Michael Crichton
White Zombie by Victor Halperin
Wicker Man, The by Robin Hardy
Willow Creek by Bobcat Goldthwait
Wolf Man, The by George Waggner
Wyrmwood by Kiah Roache-Turner
X - The Man With The X-Ray Eyes by Roger Corman