GamerSpeak:

Scary Movies for Halloween

Published October 18, 2007

Halloween is fast approaching, so we asked the Xbox.com forum community to submit their choices for the scariest movies ever. Here's what some of them had to say:

In preparation for Halloween I've been watching classic horror like The Fog, Children of the Corn, Halloween, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Darkness Falls TERRIFIED me. But there are a few movies I am too scared to even try. I will NEVER watch Dead Silence. I have a phobia of puppets, dolls, and old ladies!
—trixie360

Many forum members mentioned the original Exorcist, but not the sequel.

I have noticed that there are many, many horror movies on the Marketplace, and I have been guilty of buying a couple. I have always loved horror movies, I love to go alone to the theatre (no one will come with me) on a Friday afternoon to see the latest Hollywood can throw at me. I have been really disappointed with recent horror movies. Here are my favorites: The Shining (those twins will always terrify me), The Exorcist (classic, classic movie), In the Mouth of Madness (overlooked movie, very creepy and corny), and The Evil Deads. The first Halloween was a true great, nothing more terrifying then a mute psychopath.  
—AMW Godfather

• The Exorcist (classic good against evil)
• Alien (the iconic H. R. Giger master piece)
• The Shining
• Psycho (the best slasher film ever by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock)
• The Thing (John Carpenter's version is one heck of a gore fest)
• Poltergeist (the American ghost story)
• Grindhouse (a trashy double feature that is fun with over-the-top gore and sexuality)
• The Silence of the Lambs

—doomsoth

The first movie that really creeped me out as a kid was The Others. Now I'm sure it would be stupid, but it was pretty frightening back in the day.
—DeadlyDevil666

• Silent Hill (One of two video game movies I would ever recommend. It is a great scary movie.)
• Dawn of the Dead (New)/Land of the Dead (Both entertaining and fun to watch.)
• 28 Days Later (Really cool movie, guys should look away in the first seconds in the hospital though.)
• Planet Terror (The good half of Grindhouse, excessive violence and humor galore.)

—BC4T

• The Silence of the Lambs
• The Shining
• Aliens
• Halloween
• Candyman
• Land of the Dead

All of these movies are simply classics. Top notch stuff that makes me jump this day. 
—zer0myst

If you want to see a great creep fest that will make your spine tingle, get Danny and Oxide Pang's The Eye. It's an Asian horror film about a young woman who is blind and receives a cornea transplant from a girl who can see ghosts. This movie will have you watching it with your lights on. Guaranteed!
—GVNSLINGER

Many think this is one of the horror classics.

Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Blair Witch, and It.
—DBobMane

• The Exorcist
• Session 9
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• The Thing
• Phantasm
• The Shining
• Candyman
• Halloween
• Audition
• Event Horizon
• Pet Sematary
• 28 Days Later
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (version with Donald Sutherland)

—IONZEU5

1408 is a GREAT movie as well as The Shining for the classic scare. Don't forget the Halloween movies either with Jamie Lee Curtis.
—KaYotiX

Has to be Steven King's It. Creepy murderous clown, scared the **** out of me when I was younger.His face still haunts me when I think about it.
—A Lazy Llama

Signs freaked me out pretty good.
—PaNfOoT 

I just watched Saw 1 on Saturday and then saw 2 and 3 on Sunday. They're not that scary but fun to watch.
—Power Drainer

The Amityville Horror freaked me out the most! Especially since the location of the movie is so close to home.
—Bill 12951

Tobe Hooper's classic made a few lists.

• Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• The Grudge
• Silent Hill
• Resident Evil
• Dawn of the Dead
• Shaun of the Dead (not scary, but funny)

—HyeWarrior

• Cape Fear
• Evil Dead
• Army of Darkness
• Silence of the Lambs
• American Psycho

—Rham

• Wrong Turn 2: Dead End
• 28 Weeks Later (Much better than the first one, I love this movie!)
• Flight of the Living Dead (Outbreak on a plane)
• House of 1000 Corpses
• Black Christmas (Sick, crazy movie)
• 13 Ghosts
• The Hills Have Eyes
• Silent Hill
• Return of the Living Dead (Rave to the grave)

—pinkthrowup

• The Amityville Horror (The new version)
• Candyman
• The Ring (The phone rang exactly after the movie finished, the movie even ended with the big ring)
• Chucky series (The old actually scary ones)
• Poltergeist

—JDEMAN

The Exorcist. One of the only ones I haven't said, "Wow, that was stupid" afterwards. Never have been able to get into scary movies. That one terrified me. Prolly didn't help I was quite young, though.
—Unending chaos

Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Hellraiser, Leprechaun (for LOLs), Carrie, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Scream.
—JeffyLube0

No one mentioned Dead Clowns. It's got clowns! And they're dead. Scary enough.

Try The Mothman Prophecies. It's not a horror movie in the classic sense of the term, but it really disturbs me for some reason. I guess I'd label it a "psychological thriller." Hello John. This is Indrid Cold.—Inceptor

The original Japanese version of The Grudge and The Ring, believe me, it's just really, really creepy and scary. Well, any Japanese horror movie would be listed since they have no limits in their movies. Mostly all are great scary movies to watch and I don't mind watching them with English subtitles.
—FLIPINOM4D

My top five:

• The Thing (John Carpenter's classic. I'm not looking forward to Hollywood butchering it for a remake/prequel.)
• Jesus Camp (Seriously scary. I'm honestly not kidding.)
• Feast (Genius gore fest on a low budget. More of a comedy sometimes, but that never interferes with the amount of blood.)
• Halloween (Just a great film. It led to a slew of inferior competitors and a less than stellar remake, but it still holds up to repeated views.)
• Evil Dead (Maybe this should be higher in my top five, since it's one of my all-time favorite films, but some of the cheesiness can detract from its original horrorific intentions.)

Honorable Mention goes to the ending of Carrie. Sure, the film wasn't that great (IMO) but that hand scared the crap out of me.
—HellblazerUSA

Everyone go out and rent 1408 right now … Awesome movie.
—IRISHprik411

The Exorcist was the first movie that had me shook as I was very young when I saw it. Phantasm also scared the crap out of me, again because I was young at the time. I was afraid of hearses for awhile after that. More recently The Exorcism of Emily Rose was pretty good. I like most of the zombie movies but they don't scare me. I do find them entertaining.
—PortCityPlayaOG

If you want to see a good all around horror movie with everything included, may I suggest 28 Days Later. The cinematography was just dumbfounding and I recommend it to everyone.
—masterxploder1