These Are Hands Down The 30 Scariest Movies To Watch Over Halloween

Phoenix secretary Marion Crane goes on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer to run away with her boyfriend. But when she pulls into a motel to escape the bad weather, she meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates – and nothing will ever be the same again.

Still stands up to this day – a definite classic.

15. Drag Me To Hell

Christine Brown’s heavenly life becomes hellish when, in an effort to impress her banker boss, she denies an old woman’s request for an extension on her home loan. In retaliation, the crone places a curse on Christine, threatening her soul with eternal damnation.

Romany curses are pretty lame movie fodder, but this has enough quirks to make it work.

14. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

In Santa Mira, California, Dr Miles Bennell is baffled when all his patients come to him with the same complaint: their loved ones seem to have been replaced by emotionless impostors. He soon finds that an alien species of human duplicates, grown from plant-like pods, is taking over the small town.

The 1956 version beats the 1978 one for us, but the later one is still a good watch.

13. It Follows

Carefree teenager Jay sleeps with her new boyfriend – only for him to tell her she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sex. Death, Jay learns, will creep inexorably toward her as either a friend or a stranger.

Th electro soundtrack just adds to the creeping dread in this modern classic.

12. Nightmare on Elm Street

In Wes Craven’s classic slasher, teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger, a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on them in their dreams – which, in turn, kills them in reality.

You will find it hard to sleep after this one – just in case…

11. Suspiria

American Suzy travels to Germany to attend ballet school, but has a difficult time settling in. She hears noises, and often feels ill. As more people die, Suzy uncovers the terrifying secret history of the place.

Stylised and with a striking soundtrack by Italian rock band Goblin, this is very 1970s and very cool.

10. Night of the Living Dead

A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. As the zombies start to find ways inside, one by one, the living humans become the prey of the deceased ones.

Black and white but no less scary than George A Romero’s more modern zombie flicks.

9. The Fly

When scientist Seth Brundle completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself – but unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. As the fly’s cells begin to take over his body, he becomes increasingly fly-like and monstrous.

Jeff Goldblum makes this creepy 1986 body horror come alive – but there are other versions.

8. The Omen

American diplomat Robert adopts Damien when his wife delivers a stillborn child. But as the bodycount of people around Damien grows, Robert investigates – and realises his adopted son may be the Antichrist.

This has just been added to Netflix, so it’s an easy one to track down.

7. Paranormal Activity

Set in 2006, a young couple who have recently moved to a new house are terrorized by a demon that the woman believes has been following her all her life.

There are loads of them now, but the first one is still good – a slowburn of chilling inevitability.

6. The Others

Grace moves her family to the English coast during World War II and awaits word on her missing husband while protecting her children from a rare photosensitivity disease that causes the sun to harm them. Grace thinks the servants are playing tricks but chilling events and visions make her believe something supernatural has occurred.

This is a good twisty one that keeps you guessing.

5. The Thing

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog – but when they take in the dog, it brutally attacks everyone, and they discover beast can assume the shape of its victims before picking them off, one by one.

John Carpenter’s 1982 one is the one you want – Kurt Russell’s a legend in it.

4. The Exorcist

Young Regan starts levitating and speaking in tongues, so her worried mother seeks help. Doctors are useless, but a local priest thinks the girl may be possessed by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert to help.

The projectile vomiting and head-spinning are the headline grabbers, but the movie’s a lot more considered than you might think.

3. Scream

The sleepy little town of Woodsboro has a killer in its midst who’s seen a few too many scary movies. Nobody is safe, as the psychopath stalks victims, taunts them with trivia questions, then rips them to bloody shreds.

This changed everything about horror when it came out in 1996 – self-aware, post-modern and very sexy.

2. Halloween

On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his teenage sister. Locked away for 15 years, on October 30, 1978, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.

Another John Carpenter, this made Jamie Lee Curtis a star and is far and away the queen of all slasher flicks.

1. The Shining

Writer Jack Torrance becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel hoping to cure his block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, who is plagued by psychic premonitions. As Jack’s writing goes nowhere and Danny’s visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel’s dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac hell-bent on terrorising his family.

The top of the lot, Jack Nicholson is excellent as the alcoholic losing his mind.

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