Top 50 Scariest Movies Of All Time (11-01)

October 22, 2010 / 25420

10. ‘Audition’ (1999)

Synopsis: Hold an audition to meet women? Check. Meet the girl of your dreams? Check. All your friends say they have a bad feeling about her? Check. And so begins this horror classic featuring a lonely widower making some very bad choices when it comes to affairs of the heart. How bad? Her idea of a friendly date involves a rubber apron and medical bag full of pins. Ouch.

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9. ‘Halloween’ (1978)

Synopsis: It was all downhill from here on out for Jamie Lee Curtis. And we mean that. Would she ever scream like this again? Hide in a closet while a very persistent Michael Myers spent about, oh, say, 78 minutes trying to hack through the door? Did we mention she’s related to the killer? Little known fact: John Carpenter wrote the theme song himself. Genius like that doesn’t come along many times in a lifetime, folks.

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8. ‘Evil Dead II’ (1987)

Synopsis: Sam Raimi is now a famous Hollywood director, but long before he directed “Spiderman” he all but invented the horror/comedy genre with this 1987 classic. The film features cult-movie icon Bruce Campbell as a hapless hero defending himself from hordes of demons. Ever been on a roller coaster? That’s what watching “Evil Dead II” is like — lots of screams.

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7. ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1978)

Synopsis: Director George Romero single handedly created the zombie genre with “Night of the Living Dead.” But it was the sequel, “Dawn of the Dead” that he really cranked the scares up exponentially by featuring some of the goriest scenes ever committed to film. It’s no wonder the film was banned in 17 countries.

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6. ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (1978)

Synopsis: Why is my family acting so strangely? Why do they keep insisting that I go to sleep? What are these strange plants I see suddenly sprouting up? These are the important questions dealt with in this classic sci-fi thriller. Incidentally, if you are a big fan of uplifting endings (like the one tacked on to the original 1956 version) … consider a different flick.

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5. ‘Alien’ (1979)

Synopsis: Sigourney Weaver: hot. Alien monster: ugly. Throw them together in a futuristic, highly stylized space battleground: beautiful. And terrifying. “Alien” was important not least because it showed that the science-fiction horror genre was one of possibility — this movie was also intelligently rendered, psychologically powerful, and, well, gross. Where else can find a bloody creature being birthed from a human surrogate?

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4. ‘The Ring’ (2002)

Synopsis: Naomi Watts. Very good looking, yes. Sassy? Yep. Try squaring her off against a weird chick who really wants to climb out of a well and kill people and eat their guts. OK, well maybe she doesn’t want to eat their guts. But she does a good job of killing a lot of people in this cinematically beautiful horror romp — and she scares the bejeezus out of Naomi Watts (right) in the process. Hey, that little kid playing the doomed son is cute, but kinda freaky. Extra points for that.

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3. ‘Rec’ (2007)

Synopsis: Spanish reporter Angela Vidal is looking for a good story. And, when she follows a group of firefighters on an emergency call to a creepy apartment building she gets more than she bargained for. A little girl locked in a penthouse, a zombie dog, dimly lit rooms, a screaming old lady, the list of scary stuff in this flick is a mile long. Knowing a good thing when they see it, Hollywood is producing its own version called “Quarantine.” Stick with the original.

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2. ‘Ju-on’ (2000)

Synopsis: Dateline, Japan: Jealous of his wife’s love for another man, a man brutally kills his wife and young son. Better than the Sarah Michelle Gellar slog-fest (”The Grudge”) that followed this flick, “Ju-on” is edgy — it even allows you some time to get comfortable before the heavy breathing, black blood, and phantasmagoric preschoolers start popping out of the woodwork like drunk termites. Put on a helmet, and dive in.

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1. ‘The Thing’ (1982)

Synopsis: “Scariest movie . . . ever!” We mean it. The film follows a crew stationed at an Antarctic base stalked by a shape-shifting alien. Which member of the crew is the alien? The crew doesn’t know, and neither does the audience until the creature begins one of its stomach churning transformations. If the scene where the guy’s head sprouting insect legs to escape doesn’t give you nightmares consult a therapist immediately.

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