With Halloween just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start planning an evening of scary movie binge watching. Pop some popcorn, grab your favorite beverage and settle in for a night of terror.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Rosemary Woodhouse, a young Catholic housewife, and her husband Guy Woodhouse, a struggling actor, were looking forward to starting a family. They moved into the Bramford – a building in New York that had an unpleasant history of obscure dwellers and ghastly occurrences. Shortly after moving in, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and her and Guy are befriended by their elderly and eccentric next-door neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castevets. Little by little, Rosemary becomes systematically cut off from her circle of friends, and there are alarming hints of a well-planned and sinister conspiracy beginning to emerge.
Favorite Quote: [Mrs. Gilmore to Rosemary] “We’re your friends, Rosemary. There’s nothing to be scared about. Honest and truly there isn’t!”
The Exorcist (1973)
When Regan starts acting odd — levitating, speaking in tongues — her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest, however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert to help with the difficult job. You’ll never look at split-pea soup the same again.
Favorite Quote: [Regan] “Mother? What’s wrong with me?” [Chris MacNeil] “It’s just like the doctor said. It’s nerves, and that’s all. You just take your pills and you’ll be fine, really. Okay?”
The Omen (1976)
Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Great Britain, but they want nothing more than to have children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife, he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events – and the ominous warnings of a priest – lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate. This kid is the exception to the rule “all children are inherently good”.
Favorite Quote: [Mrs. Baylock] “Have no fear, little one… I am here to protect thee.”
Carrie (1976)
Withdrawn and sensitive teen Carrie White faces taunting from classmates at school and abuse from her fanatically pious mother at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers. Invited to the prom by the empathetic Tommy Ross, Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually take a dark and violent turn. Ah, those awkward high-school years.
Favorite Quote: [Margaret White] “Witch. Got Satan’s Power.” [Carrie] “It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It’s me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things.”
The Sentinel (1977)
A New York City fashion model with a troubled past, Alison Parker decides to make some changes in her life. Breaking up with her boyfriend, Michael, Alison relocates to an apartment in a brownstone building where the only other tenant is a withdrawn blind priest. After experiencing strange occurrences, Alison begins to realize why the holy man is present — the building has an evil presence that must be kept in check at all costs. Here’s a hint: Find out who your neighbors are BEFORE you sign a lease!
Favorite Quote: [Miss Logan] “I find that New Yorkers have no sense for anything but sex and money.” [Alison Parker] “Well, I guess there’s something to be said for that.”
Halloween (1978)
The year is 1963, the night: Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Ln. only to discover that 15 year old Judith Myers has been stabbed to death, by her 6 year-old brother, Michael. After being institutionalized for 15 years, Myers breaks out on the night before Halloween. No one knows, nor wants to find out, what will happen on October 31st 1978 besides Myers’ psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis. He knows Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realizes it, it’ll be too late for many people. Carving knife sales owe their success to Michael Myers.
Favorite Quote: [Laurie] “Was that the Boogeyman?” [Loomis] “As a matter of fact, it was.”
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Based on a true story that was claimed by writer Jay Anson, The Amityville Horror is about a large house on the coast of Long Island where newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz and their three children move into the house that they hope will be their dream house which ends up in terror. Despite full disclosure by the real estate agent of the house’s history, George and Kathy buy the house. George says, “Houses don’t have memories,” but they turn to their family priest Father Delaney who believes the house is haunted and performs an exorcism on the house. But the evil spirit in the house causes him to become blind and makes him very sick. Suddenly mold growth isn’t the worst home-owner problem!
Favorite Quote: [Kathy Lutz – to George after having an encounter with Jody] “What I saw was not a cat!”
The Shining (1980)
Signing a contract, Jack Torrance, a normal writer and former teacher agrees to take care of a hotel which has a long, violent past that puts everyone in the hotel in a nervous situation. While Jack slowly gets more violent and angry of his life, his son, Danny, tries to use a special talent, the “Shining”, to inform the people outside about whatever that is going on in the hotel. Hide the fire axes, folks.
Favorite Quote: [Dick Hallorann] “Some places are like people: some shine and some don’t.”
Hellraiser (1987)
A man and wife move into an old house and discover a hideous creature – the man’s half-brother, who is also the woman’s former lover – hiding upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of S&M demons, the Cenobites, he is brought back into existence by a drop of blood on the floor. He soon forces his former mistress to bring him his necessary human sacrifices to complete his body… but the Cenobites won’t be happy about this. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “pin-head”.
Favorite Quote: [Lead Cenobite] “The box, you opened it, we came.” [Kirsty Cotton] “It’s just a puzzle box!” [Lead Cenobite] “Oh, no, it is a means to summon us.”
The Prince of Darkness (1987)
A sinister secret has been kept in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church for many years. With the death of a priest belonging to a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement and discovers a vat containing a green liquid. The priest contacts a group of physics graduate students to investigate it. Unfortunately, they discover that the liquid contains the essence of Satan himself, and they also discover that he will release HIS father – an all-powerful Anti-God! The liquid later comes to life itself, turning some of the students into zombies as the Devil comes forward to release his father. Will these students be able to stop him? Great cameo appearance by Alice Cooper. “Faaaathhhheeeerrr!”
Favorite Quote: [Voice] “This is not a dream… not a dream. We are using your brain’s electrical system as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast as a dream. We are transmitting from the year one, nine, nine, nine. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness, but this is not a dream. You are seeing what is actually occurring for the purpose of causality violation.”
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
FBI trainee Clarice Starling works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide/put behind her West Virginia roots, of which if some knew, would automatically classify her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the agency’s Behavioral Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford. While she is still a trainee, Crawford asks her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist imprisoned, thus far, for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial killer who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to pick Lecter’s brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone coined by the media as Buffalo Bill, who has so far killed five victims, all located in the eastern US, all young women who are slightly overweight (especially around the hips), all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who were stripped of large swaths of skin. It’s always the ones driving the non-descript full-size vans.
Favorite Quote: [Hannibal Lecter] “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”
Candyman (1992)
Helen Lyle is a student who decides to write a thesis about local legends and myths. She visits a part of the town, where she learns about the legend of the Candyman, a one-armed man who appears when you say his name five times, in front of a mirror. Of course, Helen doesn’t believe all this stuff, but the people of the area are really afraid. When she ignores their warnings and begins her investigation in the places that he is rumored to appear, a series of horrible murders begins. Could the legend be true? Don’t go running to your mirror and say his name… trust us.
Favorite Quote: [Billy] “Candyman… Candyman… Candyman… Candyman…” [Clara] “No one ever got past four.”
Se7en (1995)
Two homicide detectives’ desperately hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world’s ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The seasoned and cultured but jaded Somerset researches the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer’s modus operandi while the bright but green and impulsive Detective Mills scoffs at his efforts to get inside the mind of a killer. Mogan Freeman AND Brad Pitt in the same movie?! What’s not to like!
Favorite Quote: [David Mills] “Who knows. So many freaks out there doin’ their little evil deeds they don’t wanna do… “The voices made me do it. My dog made me do it. Jodie Foster told me to do it.””
Do you have any other scary movies to add to the list? Please share in a comment below.
Oh My, Scary Stuff! Just looking at the pictures brought back a flood of scary movie memories. I don’t “do” scary anymore, my nerves can’t take it : ) I’ve seen most of them on your list, and I’ll not even try to watch the ones I haven’t.
LOL, Mimi! I get what you are saying! One of my best friends isn’t a fan of scary movies either. I convinced her to watch one with me and she declared that movie the last scary movie she ever wanted to see (Prince of Darkness). My kids (teens) aren’t big fans of scary movies either, so now I have to watch them myself.