Top 5 Scariest Movies of All Time

Two nice choices there. I would love to have seen the audience reaction to The Haunting back in the 60s, some scenes that would have been truly frightening back then.

Ringu is really the only Asian horror that has creeped me out. A Tale of Two Sisters didn't scare me but I absolutely love the film.

Okay, before I put up a list, I want to make some points regarding the subjectivity of horror and how it ties into genre categorization. First, while it's true that Alien is basically a traditional creature feature in a sci-fi setting, I have to defend the horror elements of Aliens too.

Yes, Aliens is much more action-oriented than Alien, but part of the brilliance of Aliens for me was how it kept the horror elements while being a fast-paced and exciting film. It was and is still the best example of how to combine action and horror together, and there are scenes in the film which I consider just as scary as what Alien had, such as when Burke traps Newt and Ripley with the facehuggers.

Similarly, it's crass to label Lambs as simply a "crime thriller". It is as much a horror film as it is a thriller. Like in Se7en, SOTL dwells heavily on the grotesque, both intentionally entering the hellish warped mindsets of villains. Make no mistake, these are psychological horror at its finest.

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Okay, this isn't 100% definitive, but here are 5 of the scariest I've ever seen:

A Nightmare on Elm Street

This one is superb; An imaginative and surreal take on slasher movies, with truly frightening imagery and one of the most iconic film killers ever, before he became a cartoonish franchise villain.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Gruesome and brutal it is, and also one of the most terrifying movies ever. There's a genuine sense of evil in this one that's hard to take and that final sequence is nerve-wracking.

Alien

An unforgettable masterpiece. Unbearably claustrophobic and with a bizarre and frightening monster like no other, this is why I love horror,

Night of the Living Dead

This one sucks me in every time despite knowing the ending. Its matter-of-fact style only adds to the tension and dread. The famous trowel scene genuinely stunned and horrified me the first time I watched, transfixed. I still squinch my eyes when it gets to that part.

The Birds

I've always counted the Alien series as Horror/Sci-Fi, because they are. And your Psychological Horror/Thriller is spot on too.

Am I the only one who didn't think the exsorsist was scary?
1. Silence of the Lambs
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Shining
4. Misery
5. When a Stranger Call (1979)

I thought Exorcist was pretty scary in some parts but mostly just found it interesting and creepy.

Nope, I didn't find it scary in the slighest. I prefer the third film to the first.

Yes! Nausicaä, the third Exorcist film is really underrated. The mood was spooky throughout, but there is one scene that I don't want to spoil and it did make me jump when it happened. All I will say is that it involves a long camera shot and a hallway and...no, I cannot go further!

Deadite, I love The Birds and as a kid, whenever it would come on television, I would have to watch it. If anyone tried to change the channel, I would throw a fit. I don't think it's really scary, but I still, to this day, get hooked on it whenever it's on.

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Most of my friends and family think The Birds is downright silly, so I'm usually a little defensive about it.

I'm with them. It never even occured to me that it was supposed to scare.

Kiss my grits.

I agree very strongly with your five movies, Deadite, although it's hard for me to be scared by them, anymore, except maybe Night of the Living Dead. I think The Birds is very scary.

People get scarred by different things, some by monsters, be they unreal or human, some by ghosts, some by dead people and some not by much.
I guess the last would be me.
The one time I remembered anything akin to fear was when I was seven years old and my parents left me alone at home.
I was watching TV and the lights suddenly went out. Through the living room window I could see a silhouette getting bigger and bigger, until it came to the window and the window started to move open. I dove underneath the sofa and could hear someone's footsteps in the living room. Suddenly the light came back on and I could hear the sound of police sirens in the distance through the open window. In my sight of vision, underneath the sofa, I glimpsed at these enourmous white sneakers and a smudge of bell bottom jeans. And then, just as quickly as I saw them, they dissapeared and I heard the closing of the window. I know I felt a sense of relief. I know that the feeling just before that must have been the closest I've come to fear.
I know some movies make me feel uncomfortable and I can only guess what scares other people, but movies really don't scare me, so sorry to say, I couldn't name five.

Right on, CA. Horror may be the most subjective in effect out of all genres.

Perhaps The Birds affected me more because when I was young, I found an injured bird and tried to take it home but it promptly attacked me.

I can see where that might prevent you from enjoying chicken

I guess I can call myself a coward because every horror movie I've ever seen was scary for me.Well,I probably haven't watched more like 20 of this genre films since I watch movies for relaxation and education.The Ring,The Grudge,Mirrors,Exorcist,Psycho and some other - all frightened me more or less.On the other hand,Saw and other movies where the main scary thing is cutting people in 10 pieces I wouldn't even call horror movies - they are just gross.

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I love watching horror films with people who get scared by them. It makes them even more enjoyable for me.

I think The Birds is Hitchcock's scariest film, even if Psycho and Frenzy are more thematically unsettling. I still look away every time during the one-two-three closeup cut of the farmer's eyes pecked out. The dead silence makes it all the more shocking.

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and I hate watching horror films with people who don't get scared by them because it makes me look like an idiot.