Top 12 Horror Movies with the Scariest Scenes

Horror movies are usually meant to be scary but every once in a while a scene or two standout in some horror movies as being particularly scary and definitely memorable. These are the type of scenes that are so powerful that they can still scare viewers after repeated views. Below is a list of 12 movies in chronological order with some of the scariest scenes but, bear in mind that everyone is afraid of different things, so one person's scary might be another person's chuckle.

"Nosferatu" (1922)

What horror fan doesn't know about the silent classic based on the story of "Dracula"? Every scene with Max Schreck as Count Graf Orlok / Nosferatu is scary in my opinion. He has one of the creepiest faces I've ever seen and I'm not sure how much of it is actually makeup.

I could not really find a good scene on YouTube, so I included a link to the movie trailer in which you can see the vampire's face.

"Nosferatu" (1922) YouTube video clip

"The Exorcist" (1973)

The movie adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel about a young girl that becomes possessed by a demon really needs no introduction. It is considered by many people to be one of the scariest movies ever made. The book is scary enough, dealing with demons and possession, but the movie really adds a lot more scare with Linda Blair's portrayal of Regan in her demon form. The demon's face is so scary that it can haunt you long after the movie has ended. Pretty much any scene with her possessed face in it is beyond scary.

"The Exorcist" (1973) YouTube video clip

"Salem's Lot" (1979)

Stephen King's movie adaptation of his book, which is about a vampire who sets up shop in a small New England town with his only enemies of are a novelist and a young horror fan, is a classic for sure. I really do not like the 2004 remake even though it is truer to the novel. The 1979 version changed a few things such as Barlow cannot talk, only growl, and Richard K. Straker (James Mason), Barlow's human bodyguard, is given a larger talking role and he really makes this movie that much more creepier with his unique voice.

In "Salem's Lot" (1979), I think Mr. Barlow is much scarier the way he looks in this movie than the version in the book or remake. Every scene with him in it is scary. The main one is when Barlow (Reggie Nalder) crashes through the window and pits himself against the faith of Father Callahan (James Gallery).

"Salem's Lot" (1979) YouTube video clip #1

Another scene that is very scary is when Danny Glick (Brad Savage), dead and now a vampire, appears outside of Mark Petrie's (Lance Kerwin) second-story window at nighttime asking to come in.

"Salem's Lot" (1979) YouTube video clip #2

"Phantasm" (1979)

This has to be one of the scariest and most misunderstood horror films (from writer/director Don Coscarelli) ever made and it spawned a whole franchise of its own. The basic story is about a mysterious grave-robbing entity (for lack of a better term) known only as the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm). He basically pretends to run funeral homes in order to steal bodies and turns them into demon-like dwarves that serve as his minion. He cannot really be killed because he can just return in another body that is a duplicate of his own. We still do not really know what he is or where he came but the mystery keeps us watching.

There are two scenes in the first movie that I feel are especially scary. The first one is of The Tall Man simply walking down Main Street during the day in slow motion and staring at Jody Pearson (Bill Thornbury), the hero of the franchise.

"Phantasm" (1979) YouTube video clip #1

The second scene is at the very end of the movie when The Tall Man appears behind Jodi in his bedroom and, when Jodi turns around, arms smash through the full-length mirror and pull him through. The Tall Man simply yells, "BOY!" yet it sends shivers through viewers.

"Phantasm" (1979) YouTube video clip #2

"The Shining" (1980)

Another of Stephen King's movie adaptations of his books, which is about a haunted hotel that slowly drives the caretaker crazy until he wants to kill his family. Although not as true to the novel as the 1997 remake, director Stanley Kubrick's version is a favorite among some fans. Those that oppose this point of view think that Jack Nicholson portrays the character of Jack Torrance as a bit over-the-top and crazy before even getting to the hotel but I particularly like the direction he took.

There are several scenes that are scary but I chose those that are especially scary, not due to their violence but due to the overall creepy atmosphere of the scenes. The first scene involves Wendy (Shelley Duvall) staring into one of the hotel bedrooms and witnessing an image from a previous time in which a man is dressed up in a dog suit and kneeling in front of another man -- the dog man looks up and turns his head to look at Wendy. His appearance kind of reminds me of John Candy in "Spaceballs" (1987).

"The Shining" (1980) YouTube video clip #1

The second scene involves Jack's son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), riding his tricycle through the empty hallways of the hotel when he encounters two ghost sisters, the dead daughters (Lisa & Louise Burns) of Grady, the previous caretaker, asking him to play with them.

"The Shining" (1980) YouTube video clip #2

"Poltergeist" (1982)

"Poltergeist" is about a family home that is haunted by poltergeists and, in later movies, they actually follow the family when they move.

There are many scary scenes in the movie but most fans think that one of the scariest scenes is when the young boy, Robbie (Oliver Robins), is scared by a large clown doll in his room at night and he covers it with a sheet. A few minutes later a poltergeist possesses the clown and drags Robbie under the bed.

"Poltergeist" (1982) YouTube video clip

The second scene I find to be scary is actually in "Poltergeist II: The Other Side" (1986) but I decided to list it with part one. Every scene with Reverend Kane (Julian Beck) is scary simply because of his gaunt appearance but the clip I included is his first appearance when he is whistling a creepy tune while walking up the sidewalk to the Freeling home to ask about their little daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) in a creepy southern drawl. The character is extra creepy because in the 19th century, he led his parishioners ala Jonestown to their grave where they slowly starved to death. The actor's gaunt appearance is his actual face and I'm sure part of it was due to him having stomach cancer since 1983 and he died before this movie was finished.

"Poltergeist II" (1986) YouTube video clip

"The Exorcist III" (1990)

This is the true sequel to "The Exorcist" (1973) and is based on the novel, "Legion," also written by William Peter Blatty, who wrote this screenplay and directed it. It follows the demon from the first movie as it torments Detective Kinderman (George C. Scott) by resurrecting Father Karras' (Jason Miller) spirit into the body of a man (Brad Dourif) who is killing people the same way The Gemini Killer did. While working on a serial killer case 15 years ago, Kinderman killed The Gemini Killer, so it's not the same man. It is the demon's way of getting revenge against Kinderman for interfering in the demon possession of Regan and his friend, Father Karras.

This scene in question is the hospital nurse station scene in which we see a lone nurse enter a room and, on her exit, a tall person in a white gown runs at her from behind with huge scissors used to decapitate people during autopsies. It's so sudden and violent with a loud screeching sound that it makes me jump every time.

"The Exorcist III" YouTube video clip

"It" (1990)

This is yet another movie based on a Stephen King novel to make my list. This one is about an evil entity that preys on the fears of children in many different forms, in this case a circus clown named Pennywise, played by Tim Curry, who makes the scariest clown many of us have ever seen with razor-sharp teeth and a creepy laugh.

Every scene with Pennywise is scary but my focus is an early scene in which the younger brother of 12-year-old Bill Denbrough (Jonathan Brandis and later as an adult played by Richard Thomas), Georgie Denbrough (Tony Dakota), goes outside on a rainy day to float a paper boat that Bill made him. The boat goes into a drain gutter next to the curb and Georgie meets Pennywise, who lures him closer with his goofy voice, balloons, and promises of candy and popcorn -- then he grabs his arm and pulls. The rest is up to your imagination, although I don't know of any kid who wouldn't be creeped out by a menacing-looking clown in the sewer no less!

"It" YouTube video clip

"The Shining" (1997)

This is a TV miniseries remake of the 1980 movie that is much closer to the novel. The scary scene I am referencing here was found in the 1980 movie but the effects are much better. In the 1980 version, Danny enters room 237 and is hurt (we don't actually see it), so Jack enters the bathroom in room 237 to check on any danger that might exist there -- he finds a beautiful woman and kisses her when she suddenly turns into a haggard but human old woman. In the 1997 version, we actually see Danny enter the bathroom and see the hideously scary woman that rivals that of Regan in "The Exorcist." Scarier still, the monster woman actually talks in this version! She says a spooky little rhyming phrase a few times: "With a little boy here. And a little boy there. Here a boy, there a boy, everywhere a boy, boy."

"The Shining" (1997) YouTube video clip

"The Sixth Sense" (1999)

Most of us remember this movie that made the writer, M. Night Shyamalan, hugely successful, brought Bruce Willis back into the spotlight, and made young Haley Joel Osment famous. The movie operates on the simple premise of a young boy, Cole Sear, who can see the ghosts of dead people. Some of the ghosts are nice but some are also evil and dangerous.

There are two scenes I want to add to the list of scariest scenes. The first scene is when Cole is in the bathroom and he hears someone in the kitchen and finds the ghost of a woman who turns around with cuts on her arms because she committed suicide due to her husband's abuse in life. She is angry and runs after Cole, who quickly runs to his bedroom and inside a tent covered with religious relics to ward off spirits.

"The Sixth Sense" YouTube video clip #1

The second scene is at a children's party that Cole is invited to. He sees a balloon go up the staircase and he follows it to the outside of a "dungeon room," where some slave owners would put their slaves as punishment for doing something wrong. Cole hears the spirit calling his slave owner and then threatening to hurt someone. Two boys that do not like Cole lock him inside the dungeon and we hear Cole screaming as the spirit attacks him. After a few minutes, his mother hears the screaming but cannot open the dungeon door. It gets quiet after a few minutes and the door opens up, letting an unconscious Cole out into the arms of his mother.

"The Sixth Sense" YouTube video clip #2

"The Ring" (2002)

This is the Americanized version of the earlier Japanese film, "Ringu" (1998), both about a young girl, Samara (Daveigh Chase) in this version, with psychic powers who is killed by her mother by being dropped into a well and left to die. She lives on through a videotape of herself embedded with her psychic energy and anyone who sees the tape will die in seven days unless a copy is made and given to someone else.

The scene I'm focusing on is the infamous one most of us remember. It is near the end of the movie when Noah (Martin Henderson), a friend of the main characters, is working in his film studio and the videotape of Samara appears on a TV screen. Samara is seen climbing out of the well and crawling towards and through the TV screen to kill Noah. Her gaunt, soaking wet, and decomposed body is unforgivable -- her face is even worse!

"The Ring" YouTube video clip

"The Grudge" (2004)

This is another Americanized version of an earlier Japanese film, "Ju-On: The Grudge" (2002), both about ghosts who retain a powerful rage after dying. This version is about an American nurse, Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar), hired to take care of a home in Tokyo, Japan in which a man killed his wife, Kayako (Takako Fuji), son, Toshio (Yuya Ozeki), and himself. Now the ghosts are holding a grudge against the living and killing them.

There are two especially scary scenes in this movie. The first is when the ghost of Kayako (Takako Fuji) crawls down the steps towards Karen. The second seen is not as graphic as the first scene but scary nonetheless in a more subtle way -- this is the scene where the ghost of the little boy, Toshio, is sitting at the top of the second floor balcony looking down at Karen when he lets out an eerie cat meow. I couldn't find the exact scene on YouTube but did find the "Ju-On" trailer which shows Toshio meowing and Yuya Ozeki played the part in both versions.

"Ju-On" YouTube video clip