The 50 Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made (Part 2)

Hey… you want to see something really scary? Well, you’ve come to the right place, because CraveOnline​’s film crew is here with the second half of our list for The 50 Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made. Yesterday introduced you to #50-26, which included films from Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Steven Spielberg, haunted house movies, slashers and psychological thrillers and much, much more.

Today we’re showing off our picks for the 25 Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made, as voted by Witney Seibold, Fred Topel and myself, William Bibbiani. Each of us was given the opportunity to write whatever we wanted to say about the films we ourselves voted for, although practically every film in the Top 25 received multiple votes. Remember, the assignment was to nominate the Top 50 Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made, not just the best. Sometimes that goes hand-in-hand, but not necessarily. Hence why Jaws ranked so low on our master list compared to more focused, monstrous and amoral chillers throughout cinema history.

Check out the second half of the list, then scroll down for our final analysis.



Check Out #50-26 of CraveOnline’s Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made!

We’ve learned a lot about what scares the CraveOnline film crew, but a few observations really stand out. Wes Craven really is the “Master of Horror,” apparently: he’s the only filmmaker with four movies in the Top 50 (#36, #30, #28 and #2). John Carpenter came close, directing three of our scariest movies ever made (#35, #16, #7). Filmmakers who popped up twice include David Cronenberg (#44, #17), Sam Raimi (#24, #18) and Tobe Hooper (#13, #1). 

We swear we didn’t plan this, but someone else turned up four times throughout our list of The 50 Scariest Horror Movies Ever Made: Stephen King, the subject of our 31-episode web series running throughout the month of October called The Kings of Horror. You can watch me and Shock Till You Drop‘s Ryan Turek review every single theatrically released Stephen King horror movie at the official Kings of Horror page, where we talk at length about #49, #41, #26 and #6.

Believe it or not, 1991 was the scariest year for CraveOnline, contributing three films – #33, #28 and #15 – to the Top 50. We didn’t see that one coming. But the 1980s was the scariest decade of them all, with 16 entries total: #50, #45, #42, #37-36, #26, #24, #19-16, #14-13, #10, #6 and #3. The only decade that didn’t provide a single scariest horror movie ever made from the 1920s onward was the 1940s. Sorry, The Wolf Man. Maybe next time.

That’s it, folks. Those were our picks for the scariest horror movies ever made. Did the film that freaks you out the most make the list? Where did we screw up? Let us know in the comments below, or check us out on Twitter and keep the conversation going there.


William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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