“O Chi Cha! I am so scared! Flaznak, it scared the pants off me” If these are the expression you love to utter out and glue yourself to the couch with the heap of cushions to hide your face in, still gutsy enough to watch a horror movie, then it is a must read for you, as here is a compilation of the 15 Scariest Movies of all times.
Eliciting verbal as well as facial expressions from every individual who watches the flicks of this genre, enumerated below, irrespective of their order are the all time favorite movies that would scare the shit out of you!
1. Movie: Psycho
Release Date: June 16, 1960
Running Time: 109 minutes
This movie from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, marked the all new beginning of the genre-suspense thriller. The movie was all about what the audiences had never ever witnessed on the screens before. The famous shower scene is what is reminiscent in the minds of the viewers. The movie’s initial reception was mixed but gradually it was viewed upon as a mark of beginning of a new era of movies. There were two sequels, a prequel, a remake and TV series made after Alfred Hitchcock’s death, which had immense reception.
2. Movie: The Grudge
Release Date: October 22, 2004
Running Time: 92 minutes
This was the first installment of the series that followed and was the remake of a Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge which also released in 2004. Takashi Shimizu, who directed the original as well as the remake, retained the originality of intersecting sub-plots. The curse passed on from victim to victim is terrorizing and throughout the movie the only thing you do is yell when all of sudden some hands engulf the whole human. Keep your fingers entwined with someone as it gives you the moral support that you are not alone.
3. Movie: The Ring
Release Date: October 18, 2002
Running Time: 115 minutes
Again a Japanese remake to make you exclaim “Flaznak” (a common expression while one is scared), based on the 1998 movie and on Koji Suzuki’s novel Ring, this movie is about a cursed videotape of random disturbing images. After watching the tape, the phone rings and the girl calls out that the viewer will die in the next seven days. So here is a sure-shot, fully successful formula to die. The movie is very perturbing and haunts you when you seem to be lonely. This one is another movie which is to be watched along with someone sitting right next to you.
4. Movie: Insidious
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Running Time: 102 minutes
This movie is a supernatural horror flick that centers around astral powers and a couple whose son goes into an unexplained state of coma. The movie is going to scare the hell out of your, especially the latter part of the movie. It is real scary and makes one utter God’s name over and over again. The ending is a shock. A must watch movie for those who love this genre.
5. Movie: The Exorcist
Release Date: December 26, 1973
Running Time: 122 minutes
This 1973 film is going to give you gaspshocks and would leave you shivering. This is indeed the scariest of all time and renders the same feeling every time you watch it. This was the first horror movie to be nominated as the Best Picture and even the highest grosser of all times. It is said to be factually based on the Exorcism of Roland Doe.
6. Movie: Drag Me Hell
Release Date: May 29, 2009
Running Time: 99 minutes
Directed by Sam Raimi, this supernatural horror film bagged the award for Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards. It was this supernatural curse that dragged Christine Brown to hell. The eerie moment was when the lady just puked on Christine.
7. Movie: Blair Witch Project
Release Date: July 30, 1999
Running Time: 79 minutes
Made from an amateur footage recovered from three students who went missing in 1994, this film is startling and will leave you petrified after seeing the reality. It is based in the fabled Blair Witch and is the expedition of three film-makers, set on to make a documentary. The movie is an American psychological horror and the horror does strike in. The three went missing but the footage was recovered after a year and shown as the movie.
8. Movie: The Amityville Horror
Release Date: July 27, 1979
Running Time: 117 minutes
It is a movie based on the book by the same name, which was written on real life incidents. The story centers around a family who have moved into a house where years ago a mass murder was executed. Soon after a series of frightening Paranormal activities follow and leave its viewers frightened and screaming. The movie was remade in 2005.
9. Movie: Paranormal Activity Series
Release Date: October 16, 2009, October 22, 2010 and October 21, 2011
Running Time: 86 and 96; 100 and 84 minutes
The series is in fact going to scare your stomach along with the intestines out of you. It is a camera footage found from the camera set up to capture to see what is haunting them. The prequel i.e. Paranormal Activity 2 is a parallel one to the one showing the activities that took place two months before. Another prequel Paranormal Activity 3 is set 18 years prior to the events that took place.
This is one series that continues its horrifying effect and is all set for a fourth part releasing soon.
10. Movie: House on Haunted Hill
Release Date: February 17, 1959
Running Time: 75 minutes
A 1959 movie, it is about a millionaire who is willing to offer $10,000 each to the inmates who would spend a night at the haunted house with a deadly past, with doors locked at midnight. The movie was a great hit at that time and the reception by the audience was pretty good.
11. Movie: Friday the 13th
Release Date: May 9, 1980
Running Time: 95 minutes
Despite the negative reviews from the critics, this slasher horror film was a commercial hit and was equally scary. The story is of a group of teens trying to open an abandoned campsite, who are ruthlessly murdered one after the other. The setting is eerie and dingy. This movie marked the beginning of the series that continues the astounding expeditions.
12. Movie: Suspiria
Release Date: 12 August 1977
Running Time: 92 minutes
An Italian film of the above stated genre, directed by Dario Argento, about an American ballet student transferred to a renowned Academy in Germany, who lands there only to discover that it is governed by a covet of witches. Suspiria is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as “The Three Mothers”, followed by Inferno and The Mother of Tears. This movie will send the chills down your spine. Being critically acclaimed, it is one of the most successful feature films by Argento.
13. Movie: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Release Date: November 9, 1984
Running Time: 91 minutes
“One two, Freddy is coming for you”, this line throughout the movie can scare off anyone. It is all about a dreadful nightmare that takes away life. Freddy Krueger chases a group of teenagers who haunts them in their nightmares and kills them in real. Seeking revenge of what their parents did to him; Freddy puts every teen in a loop and slashes them to death. It is scaring up to the core and leaves one flabbergasted. Though the remake of the original couldn’t do what this one did, it is considered as a film that brought new dimensions to the genre all together.
14. Movie: The Shining
Release Date: May 23, 1980
Running Time: 146 minutes
A psychological horror film, with initial mixed reception, deemed out to be a movie that left huge impact on the minds and considered as a milestone in the genre. The Shining revolves around a writer who acts as a caretaker of a desolated haunted hotel. His son possesses psychic abilities and foresees past as well as future. The events that follow are harrowing and be rest assured that you will scream out loud as the movie progresses.
15. Movie: Night of the Living Dead
Release Date: October 1, 1968
Running Time: 96 minutes
This “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” movie was critically acclaimed and was an independent black and white horror and cult film. One of the oldest and scariest of the lot, this one is surely going to be a nail-biting affair.
So here we are with the 15 Scariest movies to give you a nerve-racking, chilly experience. Go on keep your cushions handy and jump into your couch with the movies playing and the ambiance building up to be daunting one.
