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TOP TEN SCARIEST MOVIES

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The Exorcist
6. THE EXORCIST (1973)*
Warner Bros.
This movie so terrified audiences that some even checked themselves into mental hospitals after seeing it.

William Friedkin, the Director, was a bastard to be sure in the handling of his actors. That said, the movie became an all time classic and it's all right there on screen. Ellen Burnstyn was tortured by her director during the movie. To make her appear scared or jump he would come up behind her - just out of range of the camera, and fire a gun. During one torturous physical scene, she suffered permanent back injury.

The Exorcist (1973) on IMDb
Then again, can you think of another Burnstyn movie that will still be remembered a century from now?

For that matter, are there any other Ellen Burnstyn movie titles that immediately come to mind for you now? The woman has 135 to her name as of 2013.
Jaws
7. JAWS (1975)
Universal Pictures
Like THE EXORCIST, this movie so terrified audiences that there were people by the thousands (in letters to newspapers and on talk radio shows) who refused to get more than knee deep in the ocean ever again (it didn't help matters when shortly after these declarations, some people in Florida were attacked by sharks in knee deep water!). My father was a body surfing fiend until he saw this movie. He never swam in the ocean again. This Horror / Scary movie is a tribute to Steven Speilberg, who made this film at the very height of his hunger as a film maker. He has made many other good movies in his career, but none so breathtaking as JAWS.

This movie, in fact, was so damn scary and influential, that it spawned an entire industry of shark hunters - men fighting their fears by killing sharks. In various interviews, they had all seen Jaws and admitted that it had an effect on them (whether this was for real or just an excuse, who knows?). In the late 1970s and on throughout the 1980s, shark hunting became such an epidemic that the author of JAWS, Peter Benchley, went on record as saying that he was sorry he ever wrote the book. Peter spent the rest of his days volunteering, working, and supporting various shark preservation efforts world wide.

Jaws (1975) on IMDb

And as for those message board clowns who think that a Horror movie can't be scary unless it's rated "R"? JAWS was and still remains rated PG.

Carrie
8. CARRIE (1976)
United Artists
This movie was a career launcher both for Stephen King and Brian DePalma (John Travolta was already hitting his stride with a popular non-horror TV show).

DePalma started this movie off as a slow burner, using the Vincent Price tactic of humor and frights, and creeping us out every time we had to deal with Carrie's (Sissy Spacek) house and her Mother (Piper Laurie).

Carrie (1976) on IMDb
The grand finale scene was truly just that and everyone who has seen it, knows that "shock" moment in the movie when it's a good idea to suddenly GRAB your unsuspecting partner and make them lose their shit!
Alien
9. ALIEN (1979)
20th Century Fox
Shock after shock had audiences leaping from their seats. From the "Face hugger" scene to the infamous chest burster and beyond, Ridley Scott's amazingly claustrophobic movie did what some would consider the impossible: frightened audiences with a premise so futuristic it couldn't possibly ever happen to them. With a creature both hideous and elegant, the world was now formally introduced to the amazing art of H.R. Giger.
(http://www.hrgiger.com)
Alien (1979) on IMDb
Ringu
10. RINGU (1998)
Omega Project / Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Company, Ltd. (Japan) / Golden Scene (Hong Kong)
Director Director Hideo Nakata, working off a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi, from the novel by Kôji Suzuki, made a movie so terrifying that it made all of their names. And though all three men have gone on to make other successful Horror novel and movies, none have so resonated world wide as the original RINGU.

The movie was remade as THE RING in the U.S. and received astounding success far beyond expectations, and turning director Gore Verbinski into an A-List director.

The movie was also remade as THE RING VIRUS in South Korea, again, to amazing success. While lesser sequels have been made of the various original RINGU and THE RING movies, it is Hideo's original vision (one that even he was unable to duplicate through sequels both in Japan and the U.S.) that remains the most terrifying.

So there you go. Now argue with me.

March 18, 2002:
I just want to say "Thanks!" to all the folks who have wrote me over this list saying how much they agree with my choices. Some have thought of other scary movies they could add, making the list a top fifteen or twenty, but none felt they could argue with my choices.

Am I amazed?

And how: having been in numerous chat rooms and message boards, I am very surprised that no one has criticized my choices. Not that I'm asking for a kick in the ass, you understand. I'm just... surprised is all. Thanks to everyone who wrote to let me know that I'm on the right track here.

January 4, 2013:
Still no arguments even with all of the new movies that have come out since this was originally posted. No one argues with what I have up here, but many have asked me to expand this list to 15 or 20. Sorry. If it can't make the top ten it doesn't deserve to be here.

July 26, 2013:
On further reflection, it takes away from the Top Ten (the most searched for term for "Top" anything", to knnock out the deserving films just because a newer one can replace it. at the same time, some deserving films have come along. So go to Page 3 for more Top Scares!

Continued on Page 3

Return to TOP 10 SCARY MOVIES Page 1

This review copyright 2013 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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