The Ten Scariest Movies Of All Time

There’s no doubt that Halloween can be the most frightening time of the year – especially if you’re confronting 50 kids who are engaging in a door-to-door search for fun-size Milky Ways. (Just kidding.) But it’s a great weekend to fire up the microwave popcorn, turn down the lights and prepare to be really freaked out by a spooky movie. Here are a few of our favorites:

Psycho (1960)

Two words: Shower scene. Alfred Hitchcock created one of the scariest movies of all time by leaving 99 percent of the horror to the viewer’s imagination. Janet Leigh is a thief on the run who checks into a sinister motel with a scary owner (Anthony Perkins) and his "mother."

Rosemary's Baby (1968) Talk about a rough pregnancy. Because of her delicate, innocent appearance, Mia Farrow provides an especially horrifying touch as the delicate woman who is afraid of giving birth to a very frightening baby. Eerily, the movie was released one year before director Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, was killed by Charles Manson. And the building where it was filmed, the Dakota, was the scene of John Lennon’s murder in 1980.

The Exorcist (1973) Not only is “The Exorcist” inevitably on any top-ten scary movie list, it’s also frequently mentioned as one of the best films, period. Max von Sydow stars as a brillilant Catholic priest who makes the ultimate sacrifice in a death match with the devil. And although there have been thousands of jokes about Linda Blair’s swiveling head and projectile vomiting, the young actress turned in an utterly believable, terrifying performance as a girl possessed by Satan.

Halloween (1978) Jamie Lee Curtis’s performance in her first “scream queen” role is memorable, to say the least, as the intended victim of psychotic killer Michael Myers. An unknown actor, Tony Moran, plays Michael, brandishing what seems to be the world’s biggest butcher knife and a mask that makes him all the scarier. Director by horror meister John Carpenter ("The Fog," "Village Of The Damned.")

The Amityville Horror (1979) Based on a real-life story, which makes it even scarier. George and Kathy Lutz buy a home in the Long Island town of Amityville even though they know it’s the scene of several horrific killings. “Houses don’t have memories,” says George Lutz (James Brolin). Unfortunately, they do, at least in this case. Strangely cold air in the house, a sinister “imaginary” friend of the Lutzes’ daughter and a pair of disembodied eyes combine to create a house that’s hell on earth.

The Shining (1980) Unlike many horror movies, the title of “The Shining” refers to something good rather than bad. “The Shining” is the positive force that’s pitted against the evil ghosts of a deserted hotel—and Jack Nicholson, whose character is driven mad by them. The movie’s most memorable line, delivered by a deranged Nicholson, is “Heeere’s Johnny!” as he bursts through a door in pursuit of his family. Nicholson actually ad-libbed the line, an echo of the introduction to the Johnny Carson-era “Tonight Show.” Carson loved it.

Poltergeist (1982) Who knows what terrors lurk in your television set? The Freelings (Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Williams) find out when their young daughter gets sucked into the family Motorola. Even after she’s rescued. though, the family still has a bit of a problem. The 4’3” Zelda Rubinstein is a classic zany psychic, inviting all to “come into the light.”

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) A young Johnny Depp is one of the targets of the murderous Freddy Krueger, a horribly disfigured psychopath who comes back from the dead to avenge his own killing. Robert Englund has made a career out of potraying Freddie, whose razor fingers are one of the most instantly recognizable horror-movie images.

Silence Of The Lambs (1991) Unfortunately, there’s nothing supernatural about this movie’s storyline. That makes serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) even more terrifying. Lecter’s psychological cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is mesmerizing. But somehow it’s the liver accompanied by “some fava beans and a nice chianti” that everyone remembers.

Paranormal Activity (2007) Like Hitchcock, the movie relies on suspense, rather than gore, to create fear in the viewer. A young couple, convinced a demon is in their house, sets up a 24-hour black-and-white video camera to see if they can catch the evil spirit in action. They do, but not quite in the way they’d anticipated. The movie has since turned into quite the franchise, with Paranormal Activity 3 opening just this month. But while the suspense has worn thin (you know you’re not going to see any family-reunion video footage), the tension of the first one is legendary.