Around a week and a half ago, if you were browsing RT, you might have noticed a little poll we were conducting to try and identify the scariest movie ever. We compiled 40 of the spookiest films ever produced based on other lists and recommendations from the RT crew, and we asked you to choose the one that frightened you the most. Unexpectedly, the results of a research experiment conducted to get the same answer by a British broadband service comparison website were revealed. Did the findings find favour with Rotten Tomatoes users? Find out which horror films our viewers thought were the 10 scariest of all time by reading on.
1. THE EXORCIST (1973)
Even if you disagree that The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever, the fact that it came in first on our list with a whopping 19% of the votes cast certainly isn’t much of a surprise. The first R-rated horror film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, as well as the highest grossing one, was William Friedkin’s adaptation of the same-named novel about a child who is possessed by a demon and the attempts to drive the demon from the child (it received nine additional nominations and won two awards). But aside from its reputation among critics and audiences, the movie is well-known for the widespread frenzy it caused across the nation, from protests over its contentious themes to tales of audience members fainting and feeling queasy.
2. HEREDITARY (2018)
Dark family drama about the nature of grief wrapped up in a supernatural horror movie, written and directed by Ari Aster, made a big impression with his feature directorial debut. Toni Collette’s performance as troubled mother Annie earned her a place in the pantheon of famous Oscar snubs, but the biggest surprise in the film came from… Well, we won’t reveal it right now. Let’s just say that Hereditary was such a hit with viewers that it immediately elevated Aster to second place on our list and made him a director to watch.
3. THE CONJURING (2013)
With films like Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, and this chiller based on the experiences of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, James Wan has established himself as one of the current masters of horror. The Warrens were portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who gave weight to the scares and freak-out moments with a convincing sense of exhaustion. The Warrens are well known for their work on the bizarre case that served as the basis for the Amityville Horror films and was a factor in The Conjuring 2. Together, Wan and his co-leads discovered new fear in well-known genre clichés, and the result is a vast cinematic universe that only keeps expanding.
4. THE SHINING (1980)
Numerous Stephen King books and short stories have been adapted for the big screen, including Pet Sematary, Misery, and Carrie. These adaptations don’t even take into account non-horror works like The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me. But without a doubt, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining is the best of them all. A very unsettling retelling of the classic haunted house tale and a wonder of production design, There are many enduring imagery in The Shining, as well as a legendary Jack Nicholson performance. Even though there aren’t many jump scares in the movie, they are nevertheless incredibly terrifying, but its real strength comes from the way it gets under your skin and causes you to feel Jack Torrance’s gradual spiral into madness. It is legitimately regarded as one of the best horror films ever produced, and it came in fourth in our survey.
5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
Six films that each received roughly 3% of the vote came after the top four films on this list, which together received 42% of the votes cast. In other words, there were no more than 60 votes separating these final six films. This low-budget slasher, which Tobe Hooper directed and co-wrote, is the first of them. It is partially based on the atrocities of Ed Gein. The dirty look of Texas Chainsaw contributed to giving it an aura of reality, which made it more frightful (“This could actually happen, you guys!”). Additionally, Gunnar Hansen’s Leatherface set the path for subsequent brutes like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees with his imposing, scary demeanour. There have been other attempts to revitalise the franchise, and there is one more on the horizon, but none have come close to matching the original in terms of raw, extravagant, power tool-inspired fear.
6. THE RING (2002)
Going from something that works well in one culture to trying to properly adapt that formula for another is always a tough idea, but Gore Verbinski did it with The Ring. Verbinski’s version of the acclaimed thriller about a cursed videotape by Japanese director Hideo Nakata kept the original’s striking visual imagery, including the ghost of a young girl in a white dress with long black hair covering her face, and discovered that it terrified audiences from all over the world. Although the movie wasn’t as well-liked as its predecessor, Naomi Watts gives a strong performance, and for many people, it was their first exposure to East Asian horror films.
7. HALLOWEEN (1978)
The movie that made John Carpenter famous and introduced the world to all-time scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis comes in at number seven on our list. While Halloween may not contain the same level of realistic gore we’ve come to expect from movies in that genre, it does contain a lot of tension and some creative thrills in a relatively small package. This movie is frequently cited as one of the earliest examples of the slasher genre as we know it today. The legacy of the movie is also largely untouchable: Michael Myers’ mask is now legendary, and terms like the “final girl,” “giant, unstoppable killer,” and “final girl” have been imprinted in the language of horror. The franchise continues for a reason..
8. SINISTER (2012)
We’ve reached the movie it named the scariest, for those who didn’t read the “scientific study” described at the beginning. Director Scott Derrickson has made a number of horror films before breaking into the MCU with 2016’s Doctor Strange, several of which gained cult followings. One of these was a small-scale haunted house/possession tale starring Ethan Hawke as a true-crime author who relocates his family into a home where a family was murdered only to learn the new residence may already be occupied by a fairly terrible tenant. The tale does have a slight resemblance to that of The Ring, and writer C. Robert Cargill claims that his nightmare inspired him to write the script. considering the eerie snuff film perspective. However, for many viewers, the suspenseful revelations and unsettling set pieces far exceeded any possible rehashed genre clichés. Additionally, at least one review claims that it is the scariest movie ever, so that must be significant.
9. INSIDIOUS (2010)
However, James Wan and Patrick Wilson previously collaborated on this supernatural thriller about a young child who enters a coma and starts to channel a malicious spirit before they filmed The Conjuring, which has already appeared higher on the list. The plot itself wasn’t particularly ground-breaking, but Leigh Whannell, a regular collaborator with Wan, gave it a compelling enough mythology to inspire three additional films. Insidious, according to Wan, was created as a sort of counterbalance to Saw’s overt brutality, which forced him to create something on a more spiritual level. The result is a chilling thriller with what is generally regarded as one of the best jump scares ever captured on film.
10. IT (2017)
Even though it’s become so ordinary to declare it, the fear of clowns is a very real phenomenon that shouldn’t be dismissed. If you needed any further evidence, we direct you to the box office haul of 2017’s IT, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, which went on to beat The Exorcist’s 44-year record as the highest-grossing horror film ever. Oh, and it naturally came in at number ten on this list. While Bill Skarsgard’s portrayal of Pennywise, the wicked, shape-shifting clown, was peculiar and scary in all the right ways, Andy Muschietti’s high-budget remake focused on nostalgia to convey its tale of youngsters damaged by tragedy. Add some hop to the A horror movie that is both entertaining and full of horrors requires scares, a few great set pieces, and excellent CGI.
