Entertainment
The Scariest Movies Of All Time
List Rules
Vote up the most terrifying films you've ever seen.
Hell hath no fury a film looking to terrify its audience. The scariest movies of all time encompass some of the most well-crafted, brilliantly executed, and downright dreadful films to ever grace the silver screen. These terrifying films elevate cinema into something almost unrecognizable. Yes, these are simultaneously some of the best films of all time with some of the greatest actors and best directors at the helm, however, these films stay with audiences more than any other before them for one simple reason, they terrify them. The definition of "scary" isn't restricted or limited to a specific type of film, for example, The Exorcist, a supernatural horror movie could be just as scary as serial killer movies like Halloween. The same goes for psychological thrillers like Stanley Kubrick's The Shining or crime dramas like Se7en There are also horror movies from all over the world on this list like 28 Days Later. Terror takes many shapes, but it always achieves the same goal.
When the public closes their eyes, hears a bump in the night, or sees a shadowy figure in the hall, suddenly all the horrifying and vile images they were just subject to come rushing back and leave them stricken in fear. The best scary movies of all time do this effortlessly and will leave those who dare to watch them in terror for the rest of their lives.
Be sure to vote up the scariest movie of all time, and whenever the mood arises for a scare, you know exactly where to come to get your next fix of fright!
Ranked by
- 1Tony DeRosa-Grund, Peter Safran, Rob Cowan
- Actors: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell
- Released: 2013
- Directed by: James Wan
In 1970, paranormal investigators and demonologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson) Warren are summoned to the home of Carolyn (Lili Taylor) and Roger (Ron Livingston) Perron. The ...more - 2William Peter Blatty
- Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn
- Released: 1973
- Directed by: William Friedkin
One of the most profitable horror movies ever made, this tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When young Regan (Linda Blair) starts acting odd -- levitating, speaking in tongues -- ...more - 3Jason Blum, Steven Schneider, Oren Peli
- Actors: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Barbara Hershey
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: James Wan
Parents (Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne) take drastic measures when it seems their new home is haunted and their comatose son (Ty Simpkins) is possessed by a malevolent entity. - 4Jason Blum, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones
- Actors: Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Ransone, Fred Dalton Thompson, Clare Foley
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Scott Derrickson
True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence ...more - 5Tobe Hooper
- Actors: Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain, William Vail
- Released: 1974
- Directed by: Tobe Hooper
When Sally (Marilyn Burns) hears that her grandfather's grave may have been vandalized, she and her paraplegic brother, Franklin (Paul A. Partain), set out with their friends to investigate. After a ...more - 6Ronald Saland, Elliot Geisinger
- Actors: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Natasha Ryan
- Released: 1979
- Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg
Chiller about a family who is terrorized by supernatural forces when they move into a new house in New York State which was the scene of a recent mass killing and the home of an 18th-century ...more - 7Ronald M. Bozman, Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt
- Actors: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant ...more - 8Robert Shaye
- Actors: John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Heather Langenkamp, Amanda Wyss, Johnny Depp
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Wes Craven
In Wes Craven's classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams -- which, in ...more - 9Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald
- Actors: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Gore Verbinski
It sounds like just another urban legend -- a videotape filled with nightmarish images leads to a phone call foretelling the viewer's death in exactly seven days. Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller ...more - 10Harvey Bernhard
- Actors: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Richard Donner
American diplomat Robert (Gregory Peck) adopts Damien (Harvey Stephens) when his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick), delivers a stillborn child. After Damien's first nanny hangs herself, Father Brennan ...more - 11Robert Fryer, Stanley Kubrick
- Actors: Jack Nicholsan, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Barry Dennen, Barry Nelson
- Released: 1980
- Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and ...more - 12Richard P. Rubinstein
- Actors: Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne, Denise Crosby, Brad Greenquist, Michael Lombard
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Mary Lambert
Doctor Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff) moves his family to Maine, where he meets a friendly local named Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne). After the Creeds' cat is accidentally killed, Crandall advises Louis to ...more - 13Maine friends struggle with the embodiment of evil.
- 14Debra Hill, John Carpenter
- Actors: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers
- Released: 1978
- Directed by: John Carpenter
On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being ...more - 15Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg
- Actors: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins
- Released: 1982
- Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings -- Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver ...more - 16Barry Opper, Tom Luse
- Actors: Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Brandon Smith
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Victor Salva
After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old abandoned church, Trish (Gina Philips) and her brother Darry (Justin Long) watch their routine road trip home from college turn into a ...more - 17Rob Tapert
- Actors: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Richard DeManincor, Theresa Tilly
- Released: 1981
- Directed by: Sam Raimi
Ashley "Ash" Williams (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend and three pals hike into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away. There they find an old book, the Necronomicon, whose text reawakens the dead ...more - 18David Giler, Gordon Carroll, Walter Hill
- Actors: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton
- Released: 1979
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The ...more - 19Christian Colson
- Actors: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora Jane Noone
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Neil Marshall
A year after a severe emotional trauma, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) goes to North Carolina to spend some time exploring caves with her friends; after descending underground, the women find strange cave ...more - 20David Foster, Lawrence Turman
- Actors: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur
- Released: 1982
- Directed by: John Carpenter
In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings ...more - 21Mark Burg, Oren Koules, Gregg Hoffman
- Actors: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Tobin Bell
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: James Wan
Photographer Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) and oncologist Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) regain consciousness while chained to pipes at either end of a filthy bathroom. As the two men realize ...more - 22Doug Davison, Rob Tapert, Takashige Ichise
- Actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, William Mapother, Clea Duvall, Kadee Strickland
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Matthew Williams (William Mapother), his wife, Jennifer (Clea DuVall), and mother, Emma (Grace Zabriskie), are Americans making a new life in Tokyo. Together they move into a house that has been the ...more - 23Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Nathan Kahane
- Actors: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward, Kip Weeks, Laura Margolis
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Bryan Bertino
Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James (Scott Speedman) are expecting a relaxing weekend at a family vacation home, but their stay turns out to be anything but peaceful. First, a mysterious and dangerous ...more - 24Andrew Macdonald
- Actors: Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Danny Boyle
A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. When London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma a month ...more - 25Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman
- Actors: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Frances Sternhagen, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Rob Reiner
After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, ...more
