The Top Ten Scariest Horror Films of All Time

The latest horror films Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 were scaring up some big numbers at the box office this month. Both low budget pics reigned, with Saw 3D estimating a $24 mil take on its first weekend, and the meager 3 million budgeted Paranormal Activity 2 raking in an impressive $65 mil.

But the reviews for Saw 3D are horrific, some calling it the worst of the seven part installment. Paranormal seems to be satisfying appetites, but plenty of reviews suggest that this pic only offers a semblance of scariness. It seems studios are failing to satisfy the appetites of true horror enthusiasts.

Sure, modern horror directors certainly have mastered the ability to jolt audiences out of their seats with a scary noise or a quick image of something frightening. But true horror gurus will tell you that those cheap parlor tricks aren’t what horror is about. True horror is in the unnatural premise that makes you shudder at the mere prospect of the scares to come. It's in the concept.

I decided to comb through the pantheon of horror films, searching for a true top ten of horror. Crack My Story's contenders listed below made the cut for three necessary ingredients.

1) A truly bone-chilling concept. The best premises take the true nature of what scares us emotionally and psychologically and manifest it before our very eyes. Sure ghosts and monsters are scary, but not as scary as a primal, unnatural situation.

2) A mastery of the scare. It's an artform to build tension and make us bite our nails until we find ourselves leaping from our seats. Plenty of older horror classics or landmarks horror films fail to build the scares necessary to satisfy modern audiences.

3) Gritty realism and appropriate genre. Some put thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs, Seven or Psycho on their lists, but it must be a true horror film to make it on board. And horror can often combined with camp and comedy, from the Evil Dead trilogy to the Scream franchise, but this lack of utter realism fails to deliver true fright.

Crack My Story’s

Top Ten Scariest Horror Films

1. The Shining (1980)

Watching over a haunted hotel for the winter, novelist Jack Nicholson experiences "all work and no play" and turns on his family in a possessed crazy murderous rampage. Providing some of the creepiest and scariest images in horror, this masterpiece explores one of the darkest premises of all time: what if your loved one turned on you and tried to kill you? Stephen King's The Shining combines horror subgenres: monster, haunted house, psychological, and slasher. Plus Stanley Kubrick’s cinematography and editing, along with that chilling score, puts us into a true spell of fright.

2. Exorcist (1973)

Two priests must battle a demonic force in the battle for a little girl’s soul in The Exorcist. William Friedkin’s religiously-charged masterpiece has been called one of the scariest movies of all time, delivering a premise that can frighten even the most nonreligious person. It's hard not to flinch watching the demonic forces corrupt twelve year old Regan in unnatural ways. The horror doesn’t just come from the eerie mood or the graphic images, but the fear that evil knows no bounds, and even an innocent girl can be turned into a force of evil.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

What separates the Nightmare franchise from the other scary slasher films out there is it’s terrible premise. What if horror awaited you in your dreams and you couldn’t stop from falling asleep? In this Wes Craven classic, a demonic killer with blades for fingers stalks five teenagers in their dreams. It taps into a visceral fear of our nightmares, a world in which we cannot control what happens to us. It's this element that takes Freddy Kruger to the top of all slasher villains.

4. Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott combines science fiction, suspense and action into his monster classic, Alien, about a spaceship screw who stumble upon a stranded vessel that has been overrun by predatory aliens. There have been plenty of monster movies, but Aliens explored a genetically superior monster that made human beings the prey in the most primal of ways. With fantastic suspense and amazing scares, audiences can’t help but be on the edge of their seats rooting for Sigorney Weaver to escape in time.

5. Jaws (1975)

Spielberg’s summer blockbuster about a Sheriff who finds his beach community terrorized by a monster great white shark might seem light in tone and the most “popcorn” of our horror list, but this movie was so scary that audiences refused to go into the ocean during the summer of '75. Jaws tapped into something visceral about own of humanity’s greatest predators: sharks. We are helpless in the water. And that fear is something everyone relates to.

6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Critics may commend documentary horror styles today, but Tobe Hooper was already mastering this gritty technique in this next low budget pic about a group of teenagers who stop at the wrong farm and encounter a chainsaw wielding family of cannibals. Plenty of movies have tapped into our fear of the uncivilized man out in the country, from The Hills Have Eyes to Deliverance, but none have elevated this fear more than Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which claims to be based on true events.

7. The Omen (1976)

For any parent, one of the greatest fears one could have is the fear of your own child. But that’s just what befalls an American diplomat and his wife, when their son turns out to be marked with the sign of Satan: 666. Richard Donner explores this religious monster movie in which the monster is a little boy who is the anti-christ and tries to kill his mother. It’s unnatural for young children to be so murderous, and that's why The Omen is so terrifying. Of all the evil children movies, The Omen rules the roost.

8. The Birds (1963)

The master himself, Alfred Hitchcock, has made countless psychological horror and thriller masterpieces, but none deliver such a horrific notion as does The Birds, in which a flock of birds attacks the people of a small town. There are some dated elements and the novel story isn’t perfect, but this inventive premise truly makes us shudder at something we never saw coming. And of course, the suspense in Hitchcock fashion couldn’t be better, always focusing more on the threat of the attacks than graphic violence.

9. Misery (1990)

The topic of Misery appears to be more relevant than ever: a look a fanaticism and notoriety when taken to horrific levels. Seeped in realism, Stephen King does what he does best in a story about a romance novelist rescued by an insane reclusive fan (Kathy Bates), only to be tormented and tortured to write his next novel in her vision. It’s a frightening tale of entrapment, and director Rob Reiner builds several amazing suspense sequences that define fear. Along with an amazing performance by Bates, it’s psychological horror at its best when fanaticism is taken too far.

10. Carrie (1976)

If our list were to go on, it would no doubt contain much more of Stephen King, from It, Pet Sematary, The Stand, Children of the Corn, and many more. But Carrie stands out with a revenge story of a tormented young girl who lashes out with demonic powers to fight back against her bullies during their Prom. Brian DePalma's true resonance here stems from the issue of bullying combined with the mysteries of the teenager girls sexual awakening. With a creepy mother and a boiling cauldron of teen aggression, this movie has one of the best and scariest endings in the genre.

Some have been left off because while they epitomize horror, like Rosemary's Baby or the Thing, they lack the scares of some of the other winners. Others fall short in premise, such as The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, or The Grudge. But there just might be a candidate you think deserves to be on the list, and by all means, challenge me with your nomination. But before you do, ask yourself, does it contain these three horror necessities: A true horrific concept, real frightening scares, and genre appropriate-ness? That's what truly defines the timeless, scary, horror classics.