10. ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968)

Roman Polanski's apocalyptic yet darkly comic paranoia about the hallowed institution of childbirth touched a nerve with late-'60s audiences feeling uneasy about traditional norms. Produced by B-horror maestro William Castle, Rosemary's Baby became a critically praised hit, winning Gordon an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Inspiring a wave of satanic horror from The Exorcist (1973) to The Omen (1976), Rosemary's Baby helped usher in the genre's modern era by combining a supernatural story with Alfred Hitchcock's propensity for finding normality horrific.

9. THE SHINING (1980)

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", or, rather, a homicidal boy in Stanley Kubrick's eerie 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel. Jack Nicholson's performance alone defines this frightening motion picture. Stanley Kubrick's The Shining may stray away from the Stephen King novel, but the film's disturbing tone and psychological barrage is memorable and, to this day, is held up as one of the most outstanding horror films ever made.

8. ERASERHEAD (1977) 

This surreal nightmare examines male paranoia. Our hero and title character, Henry, faces a number of horrifying obstacles in meeting someone of the opposite sex, meeting her parents, and procreating. Produced during a one-and-a-half-year period while director David Lynch was a student at the American Film Institute, the film launched him as a major new talent admired by cinephiles and filmmakers all over the world. It stands today as a milestone in personal, independent filmmaking.

7. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

This multi-Oscar-winning classic, adapted from Thomas Harris's bestseller, was responsible for giving cinematic serial killers a better image, thanks to Anthony Hopkins's enthralling portrayal of Hannibal Lecter. Jonathan Demme's hypnotic adaptation has a seriousness and intensity that's been entirely lacking in horror movies lately. This breathtaking psychological horror and terrific character study should always be remembered for its iconic depiction of one of the most fascinating monsters ever created.

6. THE BIRDS (1963)

Hitchcock's The Birds absolutely manages to turn birds into frightening monsters of terror. Hitchcock manages to build tension slowly until the build-up almost becomes unbearable and then all hell breaks loose. Obviously the special effects are dated and a little laughable at times, but nonetheless they get the point across and were much better for their time. The actors do a good job of character building during the slower first half where we get to know all of the characters.

5. GET OUT (2016)

What makes Get Out more than just a slam-bang scarefest is that, in its own darkly satiric way, it is also a movie about racial paranoia that captures the zeitgeist in ways that many more prestigious movies don't. Jordan Peele makes his directing debut with a horror movie that sticks closely to genre convention even as its ribbing of white liberals hardens into a social point. A brilliant film that gives freshness to the rebirth of independent horror as the new genre of American social satire.

4. PSYCHO (1960)

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller. A seminal classic of horror by master Alfred Hitchcock, with some of the most memorable iconic scenes in the history of Cinema. Tense, horrific and a superb lesson in filmmaking, it offers well-constructed characters, a lot of revealing dialogue and a huge regard for details.

3. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)

It is another film that seems to get better with age, despite the fact that the film’s humble origins make it fairly rough around the edges. Featuring a lo-fi look that seems to add to the film’s terror and a hugely unsettling family of cannibals, there’s no doubt that everyone’s first viewing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an impressively terrifying experience.

2. ALIEN (1979)

'In space, no one can hear you scream'. A close encounter of the third kind becomes a nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic. A fantastic blend of sci-fi and horror, incredibly suspenseful and carefully elaborated with a perfect pacing. Scott knows very well how to slowly build a disquieting tension and elevate it to the point of nerve-wracking, and this film is a genuinely scary modern classic.

1. THE EXORCIST (1973)

It is nearly unanimously ranked as the scariest film of all time and it’s not a fluke. More than 40 years after The Exorcist was released in theaters, the film is just as scary today as it ever was, featuring a truly terrifying story, unsettling visuals, and tremendous acting in a film that has received as much critical acclaim as it has attention for scaring audiences decade after decade. The infamous crucifix and head-turning scenes have consistently ranked as some of the most disturbing moments in all of film and one thing’s for sure: anyone watching The Exorcist in a dark room will not come out unscathed.