SURVEY SAYS: Favorite Scary Movie

The movies listed represented the original movie (not a remake) and any sequels to the original. Nearly half of the movies on the list did not get any votes. They were:  

• 2001, A Space Odyssey 
• 28 Days Later 
• The Crazies 
• Dog Soldiers 
• Don’t Look Now 
• Dracula 
• Drag Me to Hell 
• Final Destination 
• The Haunting 
• A Haunting in Connecticut 
• The Hitcher 
• Jeepers Creepers 
• The Legend of Hell House 
• Mirrors 
• Night of the Hunter 
• Orphan 
• The Others 
• Poltergeist 
• Scream 
• Signs 
• Silver Bullet 
• The Sixth Sense 
• Stephen King’s Storm of the Century 
• Strangers 
• The Uninvited 
• V/H/S 
• The Wolfman 

Among the movies that did get votes, those at the bottom of the list were:  

• Alien 
• American Werewolf in London 
• Cape Fear 
• Carrie 
• Dawn of the Dead 
• The Evil Dead 
• Frankenstein 
• Night of the Living Dead 
• Rosemary’s Baby 
• Saw 
• Seven 
• Stephen King’s “It” 
• The Woman in Black 

The Birds, The Blair Witch Project and Texas Chainsaw Massacre just fell out of the top five. A number of movies tied for 5^th place, including: The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, Paranormal Activity, The Ring, The Thing and Wait Until Dark. Aliens, Hocus Pocus, Jaws and The Shining tied for 4^th place. 

And the top three: 

1. Halloween 
2. Silence of the Lambs 
3. Psycho 

A couple of readers said in the verbatim comments that The Wizard of Oz should have been on the list. One reader suggested Dr. T and the Women was scary. Others mentioned Cold Blood, other Alfred Hitchcock movies and the news. I agree with the readers who say suspense and shock are better than gore, but the Editor’s Choice goes to “There are a lot of things that (IMO) go into deciding what constitutes a "favorite" scary movie. Some are better stories than others, some are simply better movies, some are better every time you watch them, while some - once you've watched it all the way through - aren't really all that scary. But "Paranormal Activity" still creeps me out - years after I watched it - when I wake up at 2 a.m. for no particular reason. Thankfully, I still have the Internal Revenue Code to lull me back to sleep...” 

Verbatim   

Scary movies...especially today's scary movies...are too, well...scary! Hocus Pocus is about as scary as I can handle these days! 

I'm still in the school that thinks suspense and shock are more important to a scary movie than gore. 

Wizard of Oz (flying monkeys are scary!) 

Good list! For someone who claims to dislike scary movies, I seem to have seen a number of these.... 

My input is of limited value: I stopped watching scary movies after I saw Nightmare on Elm Street . . . shudder. 

I knew it was fiction, but after seeing The Video within "The Ring", I didn't rest easy until seven days had safely passed. 

I didn't see this one on the list because it's not really classified as a "scary movie..." "Dr T and the Women" with Richard Gere, Farrah Faucett, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Shelly Long and Helen Hunt (to name a few of the women) is pretty scary. I remember seeing it in the theater years ago and there were people getting up and walking out; never had seen that in my life. I only stayed because it was Richard Gere and I kept expecting it to get "less scary..." 

None - I'm too much of a wimp to watch them 

I didn't know 2001 was a scary movie; maybe intellectually scary, but certainly not Halloween scary. 

Favorite scary movie plays every night...it's called the news. 

Halloween had the three things any great scary movie needs. Suspense, the right music and spookiness. Blood and gore is overrated. Halloween had little blood and didn't need it. I still get shivers when I hear the music. A close second for me would have been the Exorcist. Who can forget Linda Blair rotating head, vomiting pea soup and of course the music. Paranormal Activity is very good as well. 2001? That wasn't scary. 

I remember watching In Cold Blood at a friend's house one evening when I was in junior high. That was one scary walk home by myself afterwards! 

Verbatim (cont.)  

I'm not a fan of Scary movies. 

When it comes to scary movies, I prefer a thriller over gore. 

The Birds still scares me more than today's economy and watching the indices. 

Hitchcock was always the best! It wasn't about blood and gore just for the sake of it. He invoked plain old fashioned fear from something that didn't look bad until it happened. He was a master of light and sound, filming in black and white and using the shadows to direct the viewers’ vision to what he wanted them to see and not to see until it was time. The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, Rear Window were scary because you cared about the characters, not just because there might be lots of blood. 

Took my 12 year old brother to Midnight showing of movie and had to walk thru cemetary to get home. he's never forgotten that night-and he's 57 now. 

The Omen ties with Wait Until Dark but I could only choose one. 

What about the Wizard of OZ with the witches and flying monkeys? 

It' hard to choose between Psycho, The Shining and Silence of the Lambs....they aren't just scary, they are all terrifying to the core and the fear just never goes away... 

If there is a zombie in the movie - I'm done for! Makes my skin crawl! 

I haven't seen most of these, but Halloween is a classic. Alien runs a very close second - it scared the beejesus out of me! And I had nightmares the night after seeing "It"! That's why I don't watch scary movies!! 

How about "Nov '12 - Obama II" 

I've only seen two of the movies listed. I don't do scary movies....I don't enjoy being scared! 

There are a lot of things that (IMO) go into deciding what constitutes a "favorite" scary movie. Some are better stories than others, some are simply better movies, some are better every time you watch them, while some - once you've watched it all the way through - aren't really all that scary. But "Paranormal Activity" still creeps me out - years after I watched it - when I wake up at 2 a.m. for no particular reason. Thankfully, I still have the Internal Revenue Code to lull me back to sleep... 

NOTE: Responses reflect the opinions of individual readers and not the stance of Asset International or its affiliates.