To quote Ghostface, “What’s your favorite scary movie?” If it reflects the realms of the supernatural, the evil, the slasher, or even the meta, grab the popcorn and settle in for a night of fright.While horror movies first terrified audiences decades earlier, some of the most iconic films in the genre — Psycho, The Exorcist, The Omen, Halloween — hit the silver screen in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
It was the success of these groundbreaking flicks that paved the way for many more slasher films (Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and helped cement the “haunted kids” trope (as seen in The Shining, Poltergeist, The Ring).The ’80s and ‘90s saw a continuation — or formation — of the classic “serial killer comes after teens” story line, with Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees leading the pack.
The Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer movies soon followed suit, all culminating in the early ‘00s Scary Movie franchise that parodies the entire genre.The mid-2000s saw a resurgence in the popularity of the jump-scare increased exponentially in movies like The Ring, The Grudge, Paranormal Activity and many more.
The Conjuring franchise, which began with the inaugural film in 2013, put a new spin on the supernatural, while 2018’s Hereditary gave a different meaning to the phrase “family film.” Midsommar, for its part, not only put Florence Pugh on the map but sparked a renewed interest in creepy cults for horror fans across the world.While not every scary movie can be included on the list — honorable mentions go to The Babadook, Candyman, Saw, A Quiet Place, Jaws, The Strangers, 28 Days Later, Night of the Living Dead — the below are 14 of the most frightening films viewers will ever
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