Something to Keep You Up at Night: The Top 10 Scariest Movies of All Time

I am a huge fan of all things horror. I read horror novels, I watch horror movies, and I enjoy spooky music. While horror movies often do well in theaters, very few receive critical acclaim. There are many reasons for this: Low budget, emphasis on gore over story, and the mindset of many supposedly "professional" reviewers.

In my opinion, the best way for a fan of horror to gauge the quality of a horror movie is by checking out posts, websites, and forums from other horror fans. Sure, maybe the plot of a given movie was a bit formulaic or an actor or actress wasn't the best. While critics tend to jump on these things, horror fans are more forgiving. Truthfully, we're not that hard of a bunch to please.

So in the interest of assisting my fellow horror fans, here are my ten picks for scariest movies of all time:

10) Alien(1979): Sigourney Weaver stars in this movie about a predatory creature that threatens to wipe out the entire crew of her spaceship. The alien itself was created by surrealist artist H. R. Giger.

9) Child's Play(1988): Who would have ever thought some silly-looking doll could be so scary? This movie creates the perfect mixture of the nefarious and the childlike in its main character, Chucky. Both grisly and suspenseful, Child's Play is anything but.

8) Nosferatu(1922): This thinly-veiled adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula is terrifying due to the main character, Count Orlok. The viewer gets the impression that Orlok is not acting, but is indeed maliciously, unrepentantly evil. This notion was explored in the 2000 movie, Shadow of the Vampire.

7) Invasion of the Body Snatchers(1978): Donald Sutherland stars in this remake of a 1956 movie of the same name. The story involves alien pod people who decide they would rather live in human bodies. Their gradual takeover of the world and the battle of the holdouts against them provides for plenty of sheer terror.

6) Phantom of the Opera(1925): This silent film starring horror legend Lon Chaney is spectacular due to Chaney's terrifying visage. The scene where the phantom's mask is torn off is one of the single most horrifying moments in movie history.

5) Hellraiser(1987): Probably best known for being the first film appearance of "Pinhead", Hellraiser is the tale of a puzzle box that summons unwanted creatures from another realm. After accidentally becoming involved with these creatures, called Cenobites, main character Frank spends the rest of the movie attempting to escape their clutches.

4) Saw(2004): A masterpiece of revenge and diabolicalness, Saw excels at plot twists, which it unveils like Russian matroyashka dolls. With better acting, this movie could have been up higher on the list, but it is still definitely a worthwhile view for horror fans.

3) The Fly(1958): A film that inspires more of a steadily building dread than specific moments of shock, The Fly weaves a web of tension that increasingly unnerves the viewer right up to the terrifying(and somewhat sickening) ending.

2) Event Horizon(1997): This British sci-fi/horror film was a shock to me when I first saw it. I had never heard of the movie and was not expecting much. However, the film's depiction of an evil spaceship and the fate of it's unwitting crew is as scary as it comes.

1) A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984). Undoubtedly Wes Craven's magnum opus, this movie blurs the line between reality and dream and spawned one of horror's most famous villains, Freddy Krueger. The perfect blend of terrifying plot, twisted monster, and raucous gore, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the undisputed classics of American horror.

In the mood for something scary tonight? Give one of these movies a try. They might just have you sleeping with one eye open.