Top 10 films that scared me the most
Not necessarily the best, but these are the films that shocked me the most in order of best to worse.
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- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.The single most shocking movie I have ever scene. It starts out with a slow pan of a monstrous ship that could hide any number of monstrosites. The graphic design of the entire movie, along with the insectile or mechanical creature which is still the scariest monster I have ever seen, only adds to the horror. And lets not forget that graphic chest burster scene which horrified all who saw it for the first time. It still packs a punch, even though that graphic scene has been watered down with the other three movies using it ad nauseaum. Still the sequel Aliens, though not on this list, was pretty darn good. Alien is a masterpiece of tension and horror thanks to Ridley Scott and Dan O' Bannon.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.The musical score and the possibility in life of something like that really happening made me terrified of waters and still nervous about going out in the ocean today. The jump scares were masterful, and keeping the creature hidden for the most part worked wonders for this movie.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.Rob Bottin's horrifying special effects on top of the dread and tension that pervades the entire movie. The actors didn't offer much, but the movie itself and the sort of down beat ending that leaves things unresolved was pretty scary. The music score is one of the best, and only adds to the isolation that is the Antarctic, including that beginning scene which is all snow and large hills, making everything else seem tiny and insubstantial. A Carpenter masterpiece.
- DirectorDaniel MyrickEduardo SánchezStarsHeather DonahueMichael C. WilliamsJoshua LeonardThree film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.One of he first of the video camera movies and one that chills to the soul, especially the ending and that shot of Heather Donahue speaking to the camera knowing what was going to happen. Scary as all out.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsJoBeth WilliamsHeather O'RourkeCraig T. NelsonA family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.The clown, that tree outside by the window, and the TVs white screen after the national anthem made this movie a real shocker, and then we have the dead bodies popping up out of the water around one of the characters. Scary stuff.
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsShauna MacdonaldNatalie MendozaAlex ReidA caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.Claustrophobia in caves wasn't enough, so they had to bring on the Crawlers on top of that. Then a shocker at the ending which made me jump. I have since seen both endings, and both are terrifying
- DirectorDon CoscarelliStarsA. Michael BaldwinBill ThornburyReggie BannisterA teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.A little hokey, but those dream sequences and the sight of Angus Scrimm as a bogeyman, and the whole dreamlike state of the movie along with the musical score was shocking.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDonald PleasenceJamie Lee CurtisTony MoranFifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.The music and evil that pervades Michael Myers and the way the camera made him a supernatural entity instead of a person grabbed me. Great montage at the end of all the places the shape had been, which only added to Mike Myers being just pure evil. And that Captain Kurt mask of pale white still gets me.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsDee WallacePatrick MacneeDennis DuganAfter a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.That big werewolf transformation still gets me, and it was the first before An American Werewolf in London did one better, still I found the Howling more shocking.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.This is not one of my favorites, but it is indeed one of the most shocking and belongs in the top 10 list. The scene, where they have that girl tied as they try to get the Grandfather to bash her head in with the hammer was pure terror, and the chase sequence when she escapes is way up there at the top.