Ten Frightening Flicks to Watch This Halloween Season

If you are looking to enjoy a good spine-chiller to kick off the Halloween season, try one of these ten terrifying flicks...

Halloween

Halloween, which has inspired nine other films and a small cottage industry of novels, memorabilia, and comics, is still the most frightening piece of the saga of the murderous mental patient Michael Myers.

Nightmare on Elm Street

The original film of the Elm Street franchise introduced the world to the memorable serial killer Freddie Krueger, whose film exploits are matched only by Michael Myers. It is as scary today as when first released.

It

Another Steven King creation, It will give any child an unhealthy fear of clowns upon viewing. The film about children haunted by a malevolent demon who takes the form of a vicious clown is terrifying.

The Thing

John Carpenter's remake of The Thing from Another World is technically science fiction, but the film itself proffers such a horrifying and bleak view of first contact between humans and alien life that it will send as many shivers down your spine as any other classic horror film. The film, about an alien that can absorb and replicate lifeforms that is discovered on a remote Antarctic outpost, is deeply disturbing.

Alien

A science fiction classic, Alien is also a masterpiece of horror the eerie tone and goriness of which make it more than a match for any film on this list.

The Exorcist

The film itself is simple: Satan possesses a little girl and her family seeks help in exorcising the demon from her body. With that premise begins, perhaps the most horrifying two hours ever filmed. This film will satisfy your appetite for horror films for weeks, even months, especially if you have never seen it.

Psycho

The original nail-biting horror thriller that has been an influence on every horror flick since, Norman Bates is still one of the most disturbing film creations ever invented.

The Shining

The premise itself, an innkeeper haunted by a murderous spirit, who begins to stalk his family, is terrifying enough, but add an electrifying Jack Nicholson as the innkeeper, and Stanley Kubrick's ability to conjure pitch perfect atmosphere and mood, and you have one of the most frightening films ever.

The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Hopkins as FBI agent Clarice Starling seeks help from one serial killer to help catch another. And Anthony Hopkins as the imprisoned serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter makes his presence felt with the film's most memorable lines, even though his onscreen time is brief. Overall, the tone and psychological mind games played between Lecter and Starling make this one of the creepiest films ever made.

Poltergeist

Another terrifying film featuring children, Poltergeist, with its plethora of spirits benevolent and malevolent, provides some genuinely terrifying moments. The vengeful Beast's use of the house as a weapon against the hapless Freeling family has made its mark on subsequent horror films.