Top 5 Movies That Scared the Hell Out of Me

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Ya’ know, since it’s Halloween coming up at the end of the month, I thought it would be appropriate to make a list of the top 5 movies that, for whatever reason, just scared the hell out of me. It may not be the entire movie, maybe it was just a particular scene/moment; they may not be the technically BEST horror movies (they may not even be strictly “horror” per se.), but just something about them had me hiding behind the pillow, jumping at every noise, looking through the cracks in my fingers, thinking about it for days afterwards, and… changing my underwear — okay, too much information…

Before I get on with the list, just know that (like every list) this is purely opinion and therefore it obviously isn’t going to match YOUR list. If a movie that you find particularly scary isn’t on my list then feel free to let us know in the comments section, but there’s no need to go crazy because “this” movie is on there and shouldn’t be, while “that” movie isn’t on there and should be.

Also, be warned that there will be SPOILERS discussed with each film, so unless you’ve seen the film or don’t mind being spoiled, you might want to just note the title and look ahead to the next film.

Okay, now that we’ve got those things out of way, let’s get on with the scary countdown!

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5. An American Werewolf in London (1981)

While I’m told I used to love watching this movie (particularly for the famous transformation scene), I didn’t properly sit down to watch it from start to finish (now grown up…) until about a couple of years ago, and boy did it scare me. All great horror movies stand the test of time and John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London is definitely one of those movies. Almost every scene that was talked about as truly frightening almost 30 years ago is no less scary today.

The diverse Landis (can you believe he made this AND Animal House?) brought us an eerie atmosphere and a great mix of on-screen horror along with off-screen that’s left to your imagination. The likability of David Naughton as our afflicted leading man makes it that much more compelling – we root for him yet he turns into this hideous monster that terrorizes and attacks people. And the special effects makeup by the legendary Rick Baker are just about unmatched with this type of thing.

Scariest Scene/Moment: There’s quite a few horrific and frightening moments to be found here (such as the repeated moments of the main character’s dead friend talking to him), but I have to give it to the famous, unforgettable scene of our leading character, David Kessler, transforming into the titular werewolf. As mentioned, the special effects makeup by Rick Baker is just astonishing and still holds up today, even after all these years. It’s one of those scenes that serves for re-watches on its own, without watching the rest of the movie. Not just to see the scene again for the effect it has, but to try and see just how technical it “goes down.” I would be very surprised if ANY werewolf movie to come will match that transformation scene.

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4. Misery (1990)

Like John Landis above, Rob Reiner is a diverse filmmaker, going from comedy with such things as This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally; fantasy with The Princess Bride; crime/drama with A Few Good Men; and finally horror with Misery. The latter slides in at number 4 on my scary list and for good reason: Has there ever been such a terrifying female horror “villain” as Kathy Bates’ Annie Wilkes? There’s probably some out there, but I certainly can’t think of any. She’s at first and on the surface a loving, kind and helpful woman – a former nurse, in fact. What more could you possibly want from someone helping you to get better?

Well, as the film shows, she’s a crazed, obsessed fan of James Caan’s novelist, Paul Sheldon, and after he crashes his car after just having written the final book in his series, he unluckily gets “rescued” by Annie who keeps him sedated in her secluded home, eventually forcing him to rewrite his novel because he killed off her favorite character. It’s a fairly straightforward horror/thriller premise (taken from my favorite book by my favorite author, Stephen King), but director Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman draw everything they can from it and make for one helluva of chilling watch. And this is helped tremendously by the performers, particularly Bates as Annie (she won an Oscar for it, FYI).

Scariest Scene/Moment: One scene jumps straight to mind not only when I think about the scariest moments from this film but from any film, and that would be when Annie puts a piece of thick wood between the ankles of Paul and proceeds to break them sideways with a sledgehammer. In King’s book, Annie uses an axe instead of a hammer, which (as you can imagine by the way King describes things) is horrific enough. But somehow the sledgehammer – or at least the way Reiner shows it happening on-screen – is even MORE horrifying.

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