Scariest Films, in my opinion
I've been watching Horror Films since I was a pre-schooler. I love watching films that make me jump and scream and kick my feet in a deluded feeling of self defense. Though this list is not the end all list to the scariest films, and different things scare different people, I hope that you would enjoy all these films too... in the dark.
And if you're favorite film isn't on this list, there is a good chance I have seen it, and may have even liked it but it has to really scare me. (BTW, comments are off because I am not cool with Facebook. sorry.)
And if you're favorite film isn't on this list, there is a good chance I have seen it, and may have even liked it but it has to really scare me. (BTW, comments are off because I am not cool with Facebook. sorry.)
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- DirectorBanjong PisanthanakunParkpoom WongpoomStarsAnanda EveringhamNatthaweeranuch ThongmeeAchita SikamanaA young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can not escape your past.This is THE scariest film I have ever seen. I jumped several times and shrieked a couple times, in my living room.
This is a ghost story, and a scary Asian long haired ghost story at that. What really works about this film is the creepy music, the great pacing, and the actress they chose to play the ghost. The music keeps you creeped out when nothing is happening. Almost every 10 minutes, something very scary or creepy happens. And the ghost actress is creepy alive, and in makeup, she is just about the scariest thing you ever seen. - DirectorJames WanStarsPatrick WilsonRose ByrneTy SimpkinsA family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.Made me jump several times.
This one is very creepy, with ghosts that just pop out of nowhere. What's great about this film is it doesn't have gore to disgusts you, just good clean jump scares with creepy smiling ghosts. - DirectorJames WanStarsRyan KwantenAmber VallettaDonnie WahlbergAfter his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen returns to his hometown of Ravens Fair to find answers. His investigation leads him to the ghost of a ventriloquist named Mary Shaw who seems to have ties to his entire family treeWhat do you get when you combine a ghost story with a evil doll story? a pretty scary story!
What gets you about this one is that they turn down the volume right before a scare, so you know it's coming... but what are you going to do? look away? NO, you just cringe and wait for the scary ghost lady to show up. And just a screen shot of this ghost is pretty scary on it's own. Like Shutter, the ghost make up is just very good. - DirectorÁlex de la IglesiaStarsJavier GutiérrezLeonor WatlingSancho GraciaIn Spain, the sports journalist Juan has a perfect life with his wife Sonia: they have just had a baby and moved to an old house that needs to be repaired in a fancy neighborhood. When Juan's sister and her husband visit the couple, they give them an electronic nanny to monitor the baby's room. During the night, Juan and Sonia hear voices in the room but they do not find anybody. On the next day, Juan hires an alarm system for the house and a monitor to observe the baby's room. When Juan sees a man in the room, he gets a knife to protect his son. However, Sonia believes her husband is insane and moves to her mother's house. Juan investigates the happening with the former journalist Domingo, who explains him the paradoxical experiment Schrodinger's Cat and the existence of parallel worlds. Further, he advises the obsessed Juan to leave the house otherwise could be trapped in another world.What's cool about this one is you don't know what's going on for awhile. The scares are similar to Insidious, though, I believe there are less scares.
- DirectorGore VerbinskiStarsNaomi WattsMartin HendersonBrian CoxA journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it.Yes, the remake, why? because it's the CGI and makeup of Hollywood that really made this film. The whole film is very dark, and from the beginning, you know they are going to make you wait to see the real scary stuff, and it becomes very worth it. The lead up is very creepy, especially the little boy, you know the kid playing the living kid, not the dead kid. He's creepy anyways. That's some nice casting.
- DirectorKim Jee-woonStarsLim Soo-jungYum Jung-ahKim Kap-suAfter being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Su-mi reunites with her sister, Su-yeon, and they return to live at their country home. But strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.What I like about this one is it's not just a ghost story, but way more than that. Yes, the lead up is somewhat slow and it mostly is a drama, but there are some very scary scenes. One of my favorite films.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsJoBeth WilliamsHeather O'RourkeCraig T. NelsonA family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.One of the first scary movies I ever saw. The gross out scene in the kitchen/bathroom gets me every time. There are so many memorable and interesting moments in this that Family Guy could, and probably has, done a whole episode parodying it. This film is a complete classic. And I heard they used real corpses in this film. Bleh.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsNicole KidmanChristopher EcclestonFionnula FlanaganIn 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.You put a creepy old lady in a movie, and I am going to jump out of my chair. This is a great movie if you know very little about it. So all you need to know is there is this family in this big house and it's haunted. I believe this film is loosely based off of the novel, "The Turn of the Screw" which was made into many films, like "The Innocents" (1961)
- DirectorNeil MarshallStarsShauna MacdonaldNatalie MendozaAlex ReidA caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.For a change, the cast of this film is mostly all female. This is a great film that leaves you very uneasy throughout. Very dark scenes and a great mutant(?) monster movie.
- DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsManuela VelascoFerran TerrazaJorge-Yamam SerranoA television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.It's almost hard to say which I found to be scarier, the original or the remake Quarantine, since they are so similar, I can't remember which shot is from which film. But you have to give credit to the original and it's sequel, as they have great continuity and are very dark and suspenseful. And with the major explanation being different between the two films, which is more notable in the sequels to both, they do offer a different take on the same basic story.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.classic. The whole plot doesn't scare me, being a religious horror film and all, but the FX make up is very effective. There are definitely some memorable dark moments.
- DirectorJames WanStarsCary ElwesLeigh WhannellDanny GloverTwo strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer.The first one is of course the best of all the Saw films. The scariest scenes are the ones that show people being kidnapped. Made me jump maybe 3 times.
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsBruce WillisHaley Joel OsmentToni ColletteMalcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.When a ghost walks in front of the camera, I jump. You might have guessed it by now, but Ghost movies scare the heck out of me. Sure I love Zombies, and enjoy vampires and psycho killers, but ghosts are my cup of tea.
- DirectorJ.A. BayonaStarsBelén RuedaFernando CayoRoger PríncepA woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.Warning: Most of this film is a dark Drama. The whole of the film is beautiful and sad, and not scary as hell. But there are some very scary moments towards the end especially.
- DirectorJames WongStarsDevon SawaAli LarterKerr SmithAfter getting a premonition about a plane crash on his school trip, Alex, a student saves a few of his classmates. However, their situation gets complicated when death starts chasing them.Since you as the viewer know this whole movie will end with many people dead, and you just have to watch and check to see how it's going to happen, is pretty darn creepy and suspenseful.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.The beginning is the real scary part, and then after that it get's pretty hard to watch. Definitely not for those who hate torture scenes.
- DirectorMikael HåfströmStarsJohn CusackSamuel L. JacksonMary McCormackA man who specialises in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.a story about an evil room full of ghosts. This one if fun.
- DirectorAlexandre BustilloJulien MauryStarsAlysson ParadisJean-Baptiste TabourinClaude LuléFour months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.This is a cat and mouse type situation where one lady is trying to steal this other ladies baby, but the victim is still pregnant, and the psycho lady is in her friggin house and ready to operate.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.the scariest part only last like 3 seconds, and the rest is just disturbing, but hey, the few seconds is worth it when you jump out of you seat. To warn you though, this film is going to leave you speechless.
- DirectorSteve BeckStarsTony ShalhoubShannon ElizabethEmbeth DavidtzWhen Cyrus Kriticos, a very rich collector of unique things, dies, he leaves his house, fortune, and his prized collection of ghosts.watch the original for a laugh, but watch this remake to see some of the scariest ghosts ever imagined.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHaruhiko KatôKumiko AsôKoyukiTwo groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.The room with the ghost inside....
- DirectorDavid KoeppStarsKevin BaconZachary David CopeKathryn ErbeAfter being hypnotized by his sister-in-law, a man begins seeing haunting visions of a girl's ghost and a mystery begins to unfold around him.What i like about this film is the comic relief. The father character starts acting pretty crazy and it's very enjoyable. Though of course the scenes with the ghost are pretty scary. The whole baby monitor scene, used in Insidious and The Baby's Room, really works here.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Of course, it's classic for a reason.
- 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.the creepy children tent scene. It's just freaks me out.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard LongA millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.It amazes me that to this day, I'm still very afraid of the old lady in this one. I saw this first when I was 5, and I know everything looks fake, and that's why this film is so much fun, but some part ARE scary.
- DirectorAlexandre AjaStarsKiefer SutherlandPaula PattonAmy SmartAn ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.some pretty good jump scares and creepy moments
- DirectorJames WanStarsPatrick WilsonVera FarmigaRon LivingstonParanormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.While almost being a nonstop scary moment film, the attention to different types of scares paid off in several instances where I did jump in my own living room.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsMichèle MercierLidia AlfonsiBoris KarloffBoris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories concerning a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.The story about the dead woman really freaked me out. Once again it's the old lady.
- DirectorMike FlanaganStarsKaren GillanBrenton ThwaitesKatee SackhoffA recently released inmate from a mental asylum learns from his sister that the murders he was convicted of committing were actually orchestrated by a supernatural entity, the Lasser Glass mirror.
- DirectorAnthony DiBlasiStarsJuliana HarkavyJoshua MikelHank StoneA rookie cop is tasked with taking the last shift at a police station before it is permanently closed, but it turns into a living nightmare.