The Scariest Movies, Organized by Some of Our Biggest Fears

We’re scared of it already. Let’s watch the scariest movies to make them even scarier.

Published in

The Cinegogue

5 min readJan 25, 2017

From your death to the death of society as a whole (and clowns and dolls and children), some things are just inherently creepy. Here are the movies that give what already freak us out an even stronger presence in our nightmares, accompanied by a fun clip instead of a boring trailer.

The Apocalypse

The Road (2006)

Up the end of the world trepidation with this relentless look into around three years from now.

RT Score: 75%

Alien Invasion

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Watch Donald Sutherland’s mastery while your preemptive distrust for the extraterrestrials we’ll eventually contact continues to mount.

RT Score: 98%

Serial Killer

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Easy choice. Hannibal Lecter is basically the serial killer. He will cut your face off and eat your liver.

RT Score: 95%

School Shooting

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

You will be left with nothing but dread after seeing this gut-wrenching movie. And I mean that in a good way.

RT Score: 76%

Psycho Slasher Maniac

Halloween (1978)

Don’t get this one mixed up with serial killer. These guys aren’t cool and collected, they’re in it for the rampage. Michael Myers set the bar, and few, if any, have been able to match it. So creepy, so slashy.

RT Score: 93%

Lost in the Woods

Deliverance (1972)

You know those movies you watch when you’re too young? Yeah…I watched Ned Beatty get raped at gun point when I was eight.

RT Score: 93%

Dolls

Magic (1978)

The type of doll that’s scariest is definitely debatable. To me, it’s antique porcelain dolls. But the scariest doll movie as far as I know is this one, yet another example of why I never want to run into Anthony Hopkins in a darkened alley. A well-lit coffee shop while I pitch him scripts would do just fine.

RT Score: 83%

Clowns

Stephen King’s It (1990)

I have a theory that clowns, in the same vein as dolls, are so inherently creepy that movies about them are decidedly lazy and rely too much on the stand-alone heebie-jeebies of the villain’s look. The book version of this classic is far scarier, but Stephen King’s It is probably still the best and scariest clown horror movie. That’s not really saying much, though.

RT Score: 62%

Ghosts

The Conjuring (2013)/The Conjuring 2 (2016)

I wrote an article about how a horror movie doesn’t have to scare you to be great, and very rarely do I feel legitimate fear when watching a movie. But I was legit scared of both of these ghost movies.

RT Score: 86% and 80%, respectively.

Personal Insanity

Black Swan (2010)

Obsession with perfection. The dangers of drive. The horrors of pressure. This movie grips you by the throat.

RT Score: 87%

Ouija Boards

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

I don’t take the legitimate fear of Ouija boards seriously at all, but when I saw this movie, which is by far the scariest PG-13 horror movie ever made, I second-guessed myself for a second. (Do not watch the first Ouija movie. It’s awful.)

RT Score: 82%

STDs

It Follows (2014)

This movie doesn’t really have much competition since the only other STD horror movie I can think of is Contracted (2013), which was okay but not that great. It Follows is a wonderfully original flick you’ve seen nothing like.

RT Score: 97%

The Open Ocean

The Reef (2010)

Jaws (1975) is a great movie, obviously, and so is Open Water (2003), but neither are as scary The Reef, which seriously reinstated my avoidance of the ocean water and the country of Australia, where there are more venomous snakes than non-venomous. Joe Rogan aptly calls the ocean “monster soup.” Don’t agree? Watch this movie.

RT Score: 79%

Children

The Children (2008)

Couldn’t find a clip of reasonable length, sorry.

This movie makes Children of the Corn (1984) seem like an enormous waste of time, mostly because CotC isn’t that great, and this movie is.

RT Score: 73%

Zombies

28 Days Later (2002)

This is the scariest zombie movie, but not the best. Obviously, that title goes to Romero, and I think there’s a good argument for Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Re-Animator (1985) being better than 28 Days, but for zombie scares, nothing beats it.

RT Score: 87%

Deadly Disease

Pontypool (2009)

This is a very overlooked and underrated horror with one of the most unique and original ideas in the genre’s history.

RT Score: 83%

Vampires

Let the Right One In (2008) (Sweden)

You know what’s particularly frightening about this movie? It’s oddly extremely realistic.

RT Score: 98%

Home Invasion

You’re Next (2011)

Not exactly the most promising title for a movie that reaffirms our biggest fears. This movie is almost a comedy? But not really? It also has one of my all-time favorite endings.

RT Score: 75%

Giant Creature

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

I really enjoyed the original Cloverfield (2008), but I also don’t mind shaky cameras at all. This follow-up flick didn’t feature the found footage technique, and it was a better, scarier movie. Possibly the best giant creature flick ever.

RT Score: 90%

Parasites

Slither (2006)

There’s something about parasitic movies that I find particularly vulgar, and while Slither doesn’t falter from making me want to vomit, it’s an incredible comedy-horror that’s essential viewing for fans of the genre.

RT Score: 86%

Spiders

Arachnophobia (1990)

Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, freaky ass spiders. If that’s not a recipe for gold, then I don’t want to meet your idea of an alchemist.

RT Score: 91%

Demon

The Exorcist (1973)

It’s not even a question. There is no movie that has aged as well as this has in terms of scary factor. It’s disturbing, riveting, frightening, and quite possibly the best horror movie ever made. If a movie puts people in therapy, you know it’s worth watching.

RT Score: 86% (Which is a joke. Should be 101%.)

Torture

Hostel (2005)

Much like the movie Taken (2008), the message here is: don’t visit Europe, because all Europeans are sick bastards.

RT Score: 61%

Cannibalism

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

We’re not putting a clip to this movie on here. You gotta watch it yourself.

You’re not a movie nerd until you’ve seen this freaky found footage accomplishment that could very easily be construed as offensive for its depiction of Amazonian tribesmen, so take it for what it is: scary as hell.

RT Score: 65%

Witchcraft

The Witch (2015)

I actually just watched this movie for the first time a few days ago. I previously was under the impression that if it’s about witches, it’s almost definitely going to be cheesy (I’m looking at you, American Horror Story: Coven.) But the witch made me rethink that in a major way. It’s really good and scary too.