COOL STUFF

shocking. every movie is at least 30 years old. didn't see that one coming. /sarcasm

Its because most new movies arent scary, they're just gorey

If only everyone had the exact same taste in scary movies... Then we'd all just have one list and could get on with our lives knowing we all completely agree! Wouldn't that be just the best thing ever? And not only scary movies, all movies, all art, everything! Let's all hold hands with Dan and loci and agree about everything! Wow, I'm getting excited just thinking about that utopian vision... and who wouldn't? Oh, yeah. /sarcasm

Hey Alex I'll take a shot at it. 10.) 28 Days Later 9.) Hellraiser 8.) Arachnophobia 7.) Rosemary's Baby 6.) The Others 5.) The Thing 4.) Pet Cemetert 3.) The Fly 2.) Naked Lunch 1.) Alien There you have it.

#7 I like where you're goin with that! #8 You can laugh at anything. All you have to do to make something stupid, is to think it's stupid and laugh at it. It's a state of mind. Not to mention it's very old so naturally it's gonna be slower than movies of today. And although The Grudge is scary, it's more disturbing and sudden. It's not as well thought out as some of the older movies, like Psycho for instance. Not to mention I don't think The Grudge is on many Best Horror Movies of All Time lists, and I'm pretty sure The Shining is. I think you should watch it again because you're missing out and an awesome film!

eh. scary, disturbing, and sudden is preferable over slow non creepy and really annoying music any day. i've seen it multiple times and it never gets better I guess I just don't see the attraction. Now the grudge is not on the all time lists the same reason its not nominated for an oscar -- its a movie not a film. Kubrick made a film. The grudge was out for thrills and scares. Shining is out for story and meaning. That's the difference. That's what the academy ignores and frankly thats what I enjoy the best. Critics hate it I love it oddly.

I pretty much hate every new horror movie out their, nothing is truly scary anymore, it's all about gore (which is good if done properly.) and stuff jumping out at you. And I'm sorry but #8 is an idiot, The Shining is my favorite horror movie of all time. And I don't care what you guys say, it's a masterpiece. I've only liked really The Ring, Silent Hill, Jeepers Creepers, and The Toolbox Murder remake in the past 10 years. I respect this list, he knows what he's talking about.

Yeah it scared the ever living outta me! But I agree with you, its more of a suspence thriller. I'm saying that you don't need to listen to critics at all mostly they are wrong, form your own opinion, which you have, and if I'm not mistaken you actually liked the film...right?

more than half the movies were made before my parents were born! and i havent seen none of those movies listed above!

Jaws, Halloween, Alien scared the poop out of me when I saw them in the movie theater. Jaws hit on some serious primal fears.

Have to admit I havent seen the top 4. Some of those on the list are very good. But I would have to put the excorcist at the top. At least its on his list. That's definitely one of the scariest. There is a difference between gore slasher movies and scary. Too mmany of the supposed horror movies of today are just slasher gore flicks like Saw and all that other crap. @21 Jaws was scary for sure but I wouldnt categorize it as a horror movie. Aliens was great sci fi with awesome suspense. Actually Spielbergs Poltergeist had some great scary moments that were very effective. The scene with the clown on the chair in the boys room is just a classic scene.

So where's 'A Tale of Two Sisters'?!

i thought the last 15 minutes of "fire in the sky" was the scariest moment in any movie ive seen i dont know about "the shinning" being a "scary" movie though or i just never thought it was scary not saying it was a bad movie deffinetly one of the best but jack nichelson was just so much fun to whatch he made more entertaining then scary

very old movies , i guess he doesn't get out much

Does anyone else think The Orphanage or The Mist deserve mention? Both are well done and in my eyes rather scary, I don't scare easily and these two did that for me. If anything I think Scorsese's list tunes us into films we should see....

My point is that it's ironic that he never picked any movies from the last 3 decades. It's not to say he can't have his own list with his own choices, but did he STOP watching films after 1980? Because there have been some epic, film changing horror flicks since 1980 that I feel he has omitted. The Ring? Saw? Two examples of horror flicks that have changed the genre. And 'shockingly' I'm sure weren't even an option. Because... enter sarcasm... Mr. Scorsese is a classical man... And it is ironic, which is so funny; and I know I'm not the only one that expected that. /sarcasm

I don't think anyone has any right to say anything about this list unless they've seen at least half of the films listed. I mean, maybe he's dead on. I'm the kind of person that STILL thinks Citizen Kane is the best movie I have ever seen but second place easily goes to There Will Be Blood. You all knew about what you were getting when you clicked to read this link, mostly obscure older films. People's shit would have flipped if he'd said Saw, or The Ring. Besides, both of those films are decent at best. My list? Paranormal Activity Jaws Dawn Of the Dead (original) Mothman Prophecies Psycho Noroi Suicide Circle Fire In the Sky (at least as a kid) Of course I come from a different generation. Also, disturbing can be scary sometimes.

woah, marty's into ghost rape (via the entity). dirty birdy.

Interesting to see the complete lack of intelligence from most of the comments. Especially the ones about Scorsese being old. The list was "of all time" you dunderheads!! If you would pause and try to think (if that's possible) you may understand what that means! So if the scariest of all time doesn't include films from years ago then what's the point? The list doesn't say from the last two years, or the last five years. It is a list of 'all time'!! Get it? Man oh man. And if you just dismiss Scorsese without realizing his film history acuman then you really are dummies! Learn from history! Learn from your elders who obviously know more than you do. Or stay in the trap of ignorance and stupidity and live your lives accordingly. Wake up....wake up from your ignorant slumbering!

the exorcist is the scariest movie ever no question about it i do agree less is more things that go bump in the night and the unseen have always worked its the unknown that makes us scared showing too much and explaining everything doesnt always work

35 - I agree, however it's due to the fact that he listed it the '11 scariest horror movies of all time'. Now had it been 'Scorsese's all time favourite...' it's a bit harder to argue. They're his favourite, his opinion, which he's obviously entitled to. Given the fact that it's of all time opens it up to debate. He's now saying, these are them: *bam* I disagree with him.

No Event Horizon? That movie still scares the crap out of me.

Alex is right. Horror and Frightening are two different things. For example: "The Others" scared the ever livin' shit outta me. "The Entity" was pretty terrifying in my opinion. Mostly because it was based on an actual case study from Culver City, CA--Although there's speculation to the validity of it. Point is, you can look at a film like "Hellraiser" and say it's scary, but until you watch a film that has some element of possibility or touches a small part of reality or true fear, than you haven't really seen scary. I mean, c'mon--What if you were being molested by a ghost, or were one and didn't know it...Wouldn't YOU be freaked out? Yeah, that's what I thought.

sense everyone is making there lists: The Wickerman Halloween Jaws The Shining A Clockwork Orange The Fly Alien Psycho The Exorcist The Thing (no particular order) There are some movies I would not have on my list had this been "best" horror movies. But I agree with Mr. Alex Billington with the fact that this is "scariest horror films," not best.

guys, guys!! Marty's list is superb! Only movies missing are Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series. Dead of Night may be 1945 but hey, that's when actor's could scare the snot out of you! The dummy scene still scares me 37 years on!! As for the Exorcist, well being Catholic, it scared the fuck out of me! And as for oldies, how bout Bette Davis ~ Charlotte Sweet Charlotte & Whatever Happened to Baby Jane ~ AAArrrrggghhhhh... Sorry guys, the new horror movies just don't cut it except for maybe The Others.

Alex, I get what you're saying about horror vs. real terror but 28 Days Later and Alien are not examples of that. Those films provide real, unflinching views of terror. The interntal isolation of being in a completely deserted world, or the claustrophobia of being trapped in the dark with some unknown creature...they tap very real, primal fears. And they do it a hell of a lot better than Paramoron Activity.

people who like psychological horror are boring

#9... Alien tops the list. Good choice. As for old films... I can't help but love them, however they do move a little slower. The solution? Watch them at 1.5 speed on your DVD player... Suddenly they seem to go at a normal pace!

Here's my list 10- Hellraiser 9- The Wicker Man (original) 8- Halloween (original) 7- The Blob (80s remake) 6- Psycho 5- Night of the Living Dead (original) 4- The Evil Dead 3- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original) 2- The Evil Dead II 1- Dawn of the Dead and Re-Animator It's not a list of scariest, by the way. Just my favorites (that I could think of, at least).

I completely forgot to mention 28 Days Later which has been mentioned here several times. That's a fantastic movie that turned the Zombie genre upside down. It was scary, and gory, and really made you think about what you would do in that situation. 28 Months later was a good sequel, that touched on similar themes. I recommend both flicks.

EVIL DEAD TRILOGY!!!....without a doubt #6 MR Alex Billington. :-0

i say though alot. and ill correct myself. First time views only taken into account: Alien The Shining The Exorcist Only movies the scare the EFF out of me. seriously have me dreading a moment. Alien set the groundwork for a ridiculous amount of movies after it. the other 3 movies to come after are all jokes.

to all you kids that say movies like The Shining, Exorcist, or Rosemary's Baby aren't scary ...you're either lying to impress or you're brains are malfunctioning. Maybe you have a different idea of what "scary" or "scared" means but to me it's a movie that has an unsettling vibe, like there's something more going on behind the scenes, a real touch of madness involved. The reason true horror fans pick old classics as their favorites is because most give that underlying dread, it's like the movies have a soul. That is something that recent horror lacks, soul. Take Paranormal Activity for instance, what was new or dreadful about that? I've seen so many horror films involving the mockumentary touch, ouija boards, demons ...but that isn't why PA was bad, it's bad simply because it lacks feeling, it was mechanical. I'm all but ready to completely give up on new horror but I have my fingers crossed that something good will come out soon. I had high hopes for both PA and House of the Devil but both let me down, hell, even Romero can't make a decent horror film anymore. I think horror is a lost art.

#67 the Shining had no "unsettling vibe" at all at least in my opinion. It had a slightly creepy vibe possibly....Jack staring out a window for several hours, him typing the same thing over and over again for several hundred pages, weird twins, etc. none of which got close to unsettling, well maybe they were initially shocking, initially being like the very first five seconds they were introduced, but not ever unsettling. All i got from the Shining was 2 hours of laughs and annoying music plus a sweet hedge maze axe chase scene. I haven't seen Exorcist or Rosemary's baby so I won't comment on those but hopefully they are way more unsettling than Shining was or I will be severely disappointed.

You guys are idiots. If everything is opinion, how can critics be wrong? It's not critics that are out-of-touch with general audiences, it's general audiences who are out-of-touch with critics!

I agree with #72, its not just the content of the movie, but the atmosphere of it. A true Horror movie can display and transfer feelings if impending doom without the use of blood, guts or anything like that, or at least not show it (like in Halloween, there is not a single drop of blood the entire movie). That's what makes movies like "Psycho" and the other movies on Martin's list so great. It seems like people have differing opinions on what "Horror" truly is, its a genre now, there's Psychological Thriller, Slasher, "Pop Up" (like Alien & Jaws), Gory (like Saw, Hostel & Hellraiser) and Foreign Horror (Ringu/The Ring {Japanese}, Ju-On/The Grudge{Japanese, saw the original, not too bad but not scary}, The Orphanage {Spanish}). Classic Horror is what Martin was going for, movies that seemed to bring forth the darkest nightmares and let them loose. Here's my list: #11 - The Messengers - nice "pop up" horror flick, I think it deserves recognition as such #10 - Gothika - as a psych student when I saw it, the thought of waking up on the other side of the door was freaky #9 - Dawn of the Dead - remake, I know EVERYONE is going to argue with this but try watching it alone at 10pm in a giant, dark dorm room with like 7 windows with people that KNOW you're watching it...I was paranoid the entire time #8 - Samantha Darko (aka Donnie Darko 2) #7 - El Orfanato (aka The Orphanage) #6 - The Shining - the remake, the original with Jack Nicholson and Shelley Long was just retarded, she ruined the movie...literally, anyone else for the mom and the original would be on here, the acting was just simply horrible in the original..and what's scarier: and Axe? or getting bludgeoned to death with a freakin' CROCHET MALLET?!?!? #5 - Halloween - the original, though Zombie's remake was really good, but the movie has to be on 35mm film...otherwise it gets removed from the list #4 - Donnie Darko - I had nightmares about Frank #3 - The Haunting of Emily Rose - I'm not catholic, but that movie was messed up...especially with all the dark figures and the barn scene...holy crap people #2 - House on Haunted Hill - original, decent remake but the original is the scarier #1 - Event Horizon - still can't watch it in the dark I know that Event Horizon has more blood and death than most psychological horror movies, but it is still the scariest movie I've ever seen. Really anything by Vincent Price should be up there, like the Original House of Wax...the only redeeming factor that piece of crap they call a remake had was that Paris Hilton got a metal pole thrown through her head (the people cheered in the audience when I saw it, I literally burst out laughing). Calling The Evil Dead trilogy and The Blair Witch Project (aka lamest movie ever) "scary" movies is like saying that the live-action "Scooby Doo" duo or "Monsters and Aliens" should also be included. Michael Crichton's "Sphere" or/and "Silent Hill" has more reason to be up there than those movies...even Resident Evil saga is scarier than Blair Witch. Alien did have things "pop out at you" and it was claustrophobic throughout the whole thing so it was disturbing but then you see the Alien and it just goes downhill. Also, The Others? was not scary...it was like an M. Night Shamalyan movie, interesting story with (usually) a decent twist at the end. I laughed during Signs (mainly on how cheesy it was), groaned through Lady in the Water and The Village, the only decent one was The Sixth Sense. You want a list of disturbing movies instead of horror? Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses" tops the chart...hands down, that movie is sick. Mainly because Hostel ruined itself, The Ruins was just lame and Saw has been played out 5 movies too many (Saw 2 sucked so much that I refuse to see the rest).

funny how Stephen Kings LAME ass list of scary movies didnt get as much criticism.. rather than criticize a master, pay attention and learn something. maybe your film opinion isnt as matured and in depth as his?

"THE EXORCIST" , HAND DOWN, the scariest movie that ever made, got 10 oscar nominations[ including best pictures], 2 won[including best adapted screen and linda won best supporting actrees] , and won best picture at golden globe award. "The film earned $66,300,000 in distributors' domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals during its theatrical release in 1974, becoming the second most popular film of that year (trailing The Sting).[26] After several reissues, the film eventually earned $89,000,000 in domestic rentals.[27] To date, it has a total gross of $440,000,000 worldwide; if adjusted for inflation, this would be the top-grossing R-rated film of all time.[1] It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and also won four Golden Globes, including the award for Best Picture – Drama for the year 1974.". i remember the first time i saw it on tv, it was on 1995. first of all i didnt know this movie exist, till i saw and watched it accidentally, the funiest thing and experience after i watched it, i was scare to the bathroom and alone in my room for long time, lol

Night of the demons fx are still pretty good too! val lewton horror and most scary films of that period relied on creeping you out and making you feel that tension as opposed to grossing out the audience. Personally I find creeping people out to be the harder of the two... those movies really ingrained a certain sense of fear..fear that would linger long after the movie..like at home going to bed..I feared something coming to get me more than I feared a phone call after I saw "THE RING"!!!! its not horror if you leave your fear in the theater..

btw, next time you see psycho, think about it a little alright. think about how vulnerable u are when ure just taking a shower, take a look a norman, what a peaceful fella he seems to be, and see how safe you feel if you take a shower afterwards.

The problem with scary movies now-a-days is that you don't have to work through the movie, you just seat there and let the movie tell you what to feel. Older horror movies are the best because it works every human's (for the most part) greatest asset, their imagination. Using it to fill in the blanks and figuring out what's going to happen next, that is what makes a horror movie great. The Tension!! If a movie makes me uncomfortable and nervous, then someone has out done themselves. Like, The Shining, someone said it was slow. HELLO, that's the point. You invest yourself. Watch the tension and body language between Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as the hotel starts to wear on them. You spend time worried the kid's cracking up and his dad is the one losing his marbles. Still to this day I get chills when she walks into the great hall to look for him and she starts to read his novel, " All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over again. Locked in a creepy places with a psycho, who has hurt your kid before and you're getting snowed-in. That's what we're missing that give and take with the audience, and that feeling like you're crawling out of your skin because you keep thinking "What if it were me!!"

this is his list - not your list. i agree with the #1 movie on his list. it is the scariest movie i have ever seen. he did not do a list for everyone else.

i think every man would agree that "hard candy" was the scariest movie ever made.