We used one simple criterion for this list: If you asked someone, “What’s the scariest movie of all time?” could you imagine them saying one of the twenty-five films below? Some difficult decisions followed. Alien is one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, but is it one of the scariest films of all time? Paranormal Activity kicked off one of the most profitable horror franchises in film history, but is it still taken as seriously as it was nearly twenty years ago? Does a film like Jaws, once called the scariest movie of all time, leave real and lasting scars?
Naturally, there’s no winning on the Internet. Modern horror heads will say that Psycho isn’t scary anymore. They’ll tell us that Insidious has a terrible ending, or that The Blair Witch Project is only terrifying for a couple of iconic scenes. Let the comments come—we can take it. But we believe the twenty-five movies below represent the gamut of jump scares, dread, torture, legacy, and everything else you could want in a film deserving of the title of the scariest movie of all time.—Josh Rosenberg
The Wailing
A modern slow-burn masterpiece, Na Hong-jin’s acclaimed The Wailing marinates in the eerie and the otherworldly. Set in a remote village, a police officer (Kwak Do-won) investigates a strange illness that causes the afflicted to viciously attack their own families. But when his own daughter falls sick, he begins heeding warnings from a local shaman and a woman in white. What The Wailing lacks in jump scares, it more than makes up for with abundant psychological dread and eerie atmospherics.—Eric Francisco
The Conjuring
The jump scare of the clap alone might have been enough to include The Conjuring on this list, but director James Wan didn’t become one of our greatest horror storytellers simply off of gimmicks. The film follows paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), in a supernatural possession story based on the real-life reporting that would inspire The Amityville Horror. Though it contains less thought-provoking material when compared to a classic like The Exorcist, The Conjuring certainly makes up for it in thrills.—J.R.
Insidious
Another James Wan entry. Insidious may predate The Conjuring, but it’s not any less terrifying. I’ll always remember this film about a family who tries to save their son from becoming a demonic host as one of the first horror movies to break a golden rule: The scares also happen during scenes that take place in the daytime. When that red-faced demon appears behind Patrick Wilson? I haven’t jumped higher out of my seat since.—J.R.
The Ring (2002)
It’s rare for both an original film and its remake to be celebrated, but Hideo Nakata’s The Ring (1998) and Gore Verbinski’s 2002 English-language remake are both exceptional horror films in their own right. There’s only so much you can do to remix a story about a cursed videotape that kills the viewer seven days after they watch it. Still, Verbinski’s remake featuring Samara climbing out of your TV to kill you is a faster-paced and highly stylized update that feels just as worthy as the original Japanese film’s unforgettable imagery.—J.R.
Ju-On: The Grudge
While Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s American remake is decent enough, his original film made just two years earlier is arguably the better entry. Remember the under the covers scare, or the hand that helps her clean her hair in the shower? What about when the dead woman and her son, killed by her jealous husband, who just stand lurking over her body while she sleeps? With less cheap effects and more of a focus on the vengeful spirits lurking in domestic Tokyo homes, Ju-On’s practical scares were already perfect.—J.R.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
When it seemed like Wes Craven’s burned slasher Freddy Krueger (the immortal Robert Englund) had become a joke, the auteur’s return to his series restored Freddy’s malice and menace. Set in the “real” world, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare features original A Nightmare on Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp playing a fictional version of herself. After she’s approached by New Line to again play “Nancy” for a sequel, Heather becomes haunted by the possibility that Freddy may be real. Between its novelty premise and chilling moments like the screenplay scene, New Nightmare is a sequel unlike any other, where telling oneself “It’s only a movie” feels futile.—E.F.
Hereditary
If I had to pick just one Ari Aster film to include, Hereditary is the undisputed champ. Hell, if we ranked this list we might have even placed Hereditary at No. 1. Not only does Aster’s audacious debut feature contain some of the most horrifying moments ever put on screen—coupled with an amazing performance from Toni Collette—the film’s story about grief and mental illness passed down through family left viewers with a lot to chew on outside of the scares.—J.R.
The Exorcist
It was once called the scariest movie ever made, and you know what? It still might be. Adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, The Exorcist tells of a Jesuit priest (Jason Miller) who is tasked with exorcising a demon from a young girl. A monster success when it opened in December 1973, with moviegoers lining up in the freezing cold for hours (and vomiting out their insides once they saw it), The Exorcist endures as a striking meditation on faith and the existential war between good and evil. Decades of parodies and homages have done little to diminish its power to frighten.—E.F.
Jaws
I don’t care what anyone says, I’m not going in the ocean. For a generation that made this 1975 Steven Spielberg classic one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, this film about a great white shark that terrorizes a New England beach was the scariest movie of all time. No demons, no exorcisms, and no knife-wielding, masked psychos. Jaws is real-life terror. There’s nothing here that couldn’t actually happen to you.—J.R.
The Blair Witch Project
One of the most influential independent films in horror history, The Blair Witch worked because it played on the viewer’s imagination. The found-footage hit followed three film students who venture out into the woods to interview residents about recent disappearances and investigate the truth behind the myth. But like a well-told, scary campfire story, the very idea of the Blair Witch is so frightening that a simple camera trick was all they needed for the film’s final jump scare to rattle audiences.—J.R.
Psycho
By today’s standards, Psycho likely wouldn’t crack the top ten. Still, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller about an eccentric murderer who slashes victims staying at his motel is still one of the most famous horror movies of all time. There are few kills analyzed more than the shower scene, not just for its use of suspense but its artful ending. Plus, to say that viewers at the time wouldn’t have called it the scariest film ever made would be an understatement. After Psycho, nearly every kill came with a screech from a violin.—J.R.
Rosemary’s Baby
Despite all that horror that director Roman Polanski reportedly caused to real-life women, his work on Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby surprisingly highlighted the fears of women who feel trapped under patriarchal establishments that strip them of their rights. In Rosemary’s Baby, his horror masterpiece starring John Cassavetes and Ruth Gordon, a recently pregnant newlywed begins to suspect that her neighbor’s satanic cult is taking ownership of her unborn child. When her husband fails to intervene or believe her, she realizes just how little agency she has over her terrifying situation.—J.R.
Halloween (1978)
A teenage Jamie Lee Curtis became a scream queen in this seminal John Carpenter slasher, which follows a crazed killer who escapes the sanitarium and sets out to wreak havoc on the suburban community he once called home. As she’s chased around the neighborhood by Michael Myers, the iconic score’s synthesizer and a horrifyingly deformed William Shatner mask cemented him as one of the greatest movie monsters in film history.—J.R.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
A low-budget horror movie that struck Hollywood gold? Call it the American dream. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre from Tobe Hooper dwells in the grit and grime of a politically turbulent 1970s, its story centered on teenagers whose summer road trip takes a dark turn when they encounter a family of cannibals. Among them: The one and only “Leatherface.” Drenched in sweat and blood, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a harrowing visit to the underbelly of rural America that in retrospect feels like the overture to the slasher genre’s ascension. Its iconic ending, thirty chaotic seconds of a hysterical teenager and a madman’s thundering chainsaw—against an ironically picturesque sunrise—cements the film as a disturbing classic.—E.F.
Skinamarink
Before Backrooms, there was Skinamarink. Kyle Edward Ball’s liminal lo-fi oddity struck fear in audiences when it opened in January 2023. Set inside a suburban home that is apparently changing shape, two young siblings find themselves at the mercy of an evil entity after their parents vanish. Is it a nightmare? A coma? Or is it young eyes interpreting a horrible waking reality? Skinamarink leaves you with a million questions and zero answers, and its abstract imagery—low angles, off-center framing, dim lighting, and ample film grain—prevent coherent understanding. But maybe it’s best that you don’t see what’s lurking in the dark.—E.F.
Rec
When it seemed like found footage horror had worn thin, the Spanish-language cult hit Rec showed there was life in the decaying genre yet. Directed by Jaume Balaguero, Rec is about a television reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman (Pablo Rosso) who wind up trapped inside a Barcelona apartment building with infected residents. Though Rec’s bag of tricks isn’t totally original, it is greater than the sum of its parts as a claustrophobic zombie horror that makes masterful use of its limited point of view, immersive atmosphere, and airtight 80-minute runtime. Rec has rightfully enjoyed recognition as one of the finest, and scariest, found footage horror movies ever made. Skip the American remake, Quarantine, released two years later.—E.F.
Saint Maud
In early 2020, Saint Maud had momentum as one of that year’s scariest movies until the COVID-19 pandemic killed its theatrical release. It’s a shame, because it’s really one of the most disturbing supernatural horror movies in recent memory. Morfydd Clark stars as Maud, a devout Catholic nurse who is assigned to care for a terminally ill former dancer, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). Maud is convinced that her care for Amanda is a divine order from God, and so she seeks to cleanse Amanda of her degenerate ways. But who is actually the sick one? A stirring portrait of mental illness, religious zealotry, and psychosexual power dynamics, Saint Maud is a sinfully good time that makes maximum use of its very few jump scares.—E.F.
The Strangers
How about something real? The Strangers, starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, follows a couple who experience a break-in while staying at an isolated summer home. What do the intruders want? Who knows! Inarguably, that’s far scarier than a robbery, and the threat of violence emanating from the masked infiltrators is palpable. Take it from Stephen King, who said, “Horror is the scene in The Strangers where Liv Tyler tries to hide beneath the bed…and discovers she can’t fit there.”—J.R.
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
Hey, wanna have a really bad time? Put on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s provocative, disturbing, and wildly controversial Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Based on the 1904 novel, Pasolini’s vulgar satire sets the story in fascist Italy during World War II, where four wealthy men begin a ritual at a lavish estate. With over a dozen teenage captives at their mercy, the men carry out sadistic acts of torture and sexual pleasure. On the surface, Salò is no better than a snuff film that violates good taste. But get past the shock horror, and Salò reveals the raw inhumanity of the political elite. There are no ghosts or demons or masked killers here. Only the monstrous ways of men when nothing is forbidden, and everything is permitted.—E.F.
Suspiria (1977)
A giant of giallo cinema, Dario Argento’s Suspiria is not just an international classic but easily one of the most haunting movies ever made. Jessica Harper stars as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious school in Germany, only to learn the academy is run by a coven of witches. Its eye-popping visual palette, gruesome and gory sequences, and sublime synth/prog-rock score by Goblin have made Suspiria an immortal representative for Italian horror around the world. And yes, it’s scary as hell.—E.F.
The Thing
Being trapped in an Antarctic research station is scary enough. Freezing to death is a largely unexplored way to go in horror films. But John Carpenter’s The Thing ups the ante. Not only are helicopter pilot R. J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and a team of scientists (including Keith David) forced to survive the bitter cold, they’re also plagued by the discovery of an organism that can mimic living cells. As bodies begin to disappear, the question becomes: Am I talking to you, or am I talking to The Thing?—J.R.
Lake Mungo
Perhaps the scariest movie ever about familial grief, Lake Mungo emerged out of Australia an instant classic when it released in 2008 and found U.S. distribution in 2010. Directed by the now-reclusive Joel Anderson, who made the movie on a shoestring budget, the movie follows a family trying to cope with the drowning death of their sixteen-year-old daughter Alice (Talia Zucker) only to encounter unexplainable paranormal phenomena. Presented as a mockumentary with “interviews” of the family, Lake Mungo effortlessly immerses you with heavily realistic scares.—E.F.
The Babadook
“If it’s in a word, or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of the Babadook.” Adapted from director Jennifer Kent’s 2005 short film Monster, The Babadook is a 2010s cult classic about a single mother (Essie Davis) who inadvertently unleashes a monster in her home after reading a pop-up storybook. Though The Babadook follows in the tradition of suburban haunted house movies like Poltergeist, Kent’s film stands on its own as an ode to overcoming grief not by repressing it or even “defeating” it, but simply learning to live with it. The otherworldly design of the Babadook and the movie’s ingenious scares make it an unusually creepy modern masterpiece.—E.F.
The Shining
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy. All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.—E.F.
Martyrs
Sometimes a classic needs time to get the respect it deserves. When Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs premiered in 2008, audiences walked out and critics expressed disgust. But over time, the movie found an audience who latched onto its themes of revenge, trauma, and religious martyrdom, which altogether elevate its hyper-violence into something more than exploitative junk. In the same way Catholicism centers on redemptive suffering, Laugier’s movie rewards audiences who can endure past its onscreen violence.—E.F.