Um, have you seen the new IT movie yet? We don’t want to give away any spoilers, but it’s freaking scary. Like, crazy scary. Like we’re never going to be able to sleep without the light on again scary. Why do we insist on watching movies that give us nightmares for years?
Because it’s super fun, that’s why.
IT may the latest movie to strike fear into the hearts of every theater-goer who dares to buy a ticket, but it’s not even the scariest movie of all time. Hollywood has gotten its jollies freaking people out for decades, and it defintely seems like they have no intention of stopping anytime soon. And we’re totally cool with that.
Just in time for Halloween, we’ve rounded up every top-rated movie of the year since 1965, according to IMDb. Get ready to binge, y’all. Just a word of warning: You might not want to be eating lunch while you click through our list — you might lose it.
Originally posted October 2016. Updated September 2017.
-
1965: ‘Repulsion’
Image Credit: Compton Films A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister’s boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.
-
1966: ‘Seconds’
Image Credit: Joel Productions An unhappy banker has a procedure to fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity — one that comes with its own price.
-
1967: ‘Wait Until Dark’
Image Credit: Warner Bros. A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.
-
1968: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’
Image Credit: Williams Castle Productions When a young wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.
-
1969: ‘The Cremator’
Image Credit: Filmové studio Barrandov In World War II, a demented cremator believes that cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
-
1970: ‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’
Image Credit: Central Cinema Company Film A writer who witnessed an attack is then stalked by a serial killer.
-
1971: ‘The Devils’
Image Credit: Russo Productions In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu.
-
1972: ‘The Night Stalker’
Image Credit: ABC An abrasive Las Vegas newspaper reporter investigates a series of murders committed by a vampire.
-
1973: ‘The Exorcist’
Image Credit: Warner Bros. When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
-
1974: ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
Image Credit: Vortex Two siblings visit their grandfather’s grave in Texas, along with three of their friends, and are attacked by a family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
-
1975: ‘Jaws’
Image Credit: Universal Pictures When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and a grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.
-
1976: ‘The Tenant’
Image Credit: Marianne Productions A bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment, where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.
-
1977: ‘Eraserhead’
Image Credit: American Film Institute Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend and the unbearable screams of his mutant newborn child.
-
1978: ‘Dawn of the Dead’
Image Credit: Dawn Associates Escaping an ever-growing zombie epidemic, a group of people seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
-
1979: ‘Alien’
Image Credit: Twentieth Century Fox Productions A crew on the moon gets attacked by a mysterious life form. They head back to Earth with the deceased critter but realize its life cycle has just begun.
-
1980: ‘The Shining’
Image Credit: Warner Bros. An evil spiritual presence influences the father to commit violence while his psychic son sees horrific visions of the past and the future.
-
1981: ‘The Evil Undead’
Image Credit: Renaissance Pictures Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
-
1982: ‘The Thing’
Image Credit: Universal Pictures An American research base is greeted by an alien force that can assimilate anything it touches. The researchers have to stay alive and be sure that the others are human.
-
1983: ‘Videodrome’
Image Credit: Filmplan International A sleazy cable TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion.
-
1984: ‘The Terminator’
Image Credit: Pacific Western An indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines.
-
1985: ‘Re-Animator’
Image Credit: Empire Pictures A dedicated student at a medical college and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the reanimation of dead tissue.
-
1986: ‘Aliens’
Image Credit: Twentieth Century Fox Film The moon from Alien has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower — but will it be enough?
-
1987: ‘Evil Dead II’
Image Credit: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group The lone survivor of an onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
-
1988: ‘The Vanishing’
Image Credit: Argo Films While on vacation, Rex and Saskia stop at a busy service station, and Saskia is abducted. After three years, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
-
1989: ‘Santa Sangre’
Image Credit: Produzioni Intersind A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback, we see that he was traumatized as a child when he and his family were circus performers.
-
1990: ‘Misery’
Image Credit: Castle Rock Entertainment After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare.
-
1991: ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
Image Credit: Orion Films A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated, manipulative killer. She needs his help to catch another serial killer who skins his victims.
-
1992: ‘Dead Alive’
Image Credit: WingNut A young man’s mother dies after being bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey but comes back to life to kill and eat dogs, nurses, friends and neighbors.
-
1993: ‘Cronos’
Image Credit: CNCAIMC A mysterious device designed to give its owner eternal life resurfaces after 400 years, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
-
1994: ‘Interview with the Vampire’
Image Credit: Gaffe Pictures A vampire tells his epic life story of love, betrayal, loneliness and hunger.
-
1995: ‘Se7en’
Image Credit: Cecchi Gori Pictures Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.
-
1996: ‘Scream’
Image Credit: Dimension Films Sidney and her horror movie-obsessed friends are stalked by an unknown killer who seems to have a hard time letting the past go.
-
1997: ‘Funny Games’
Image Credit: Filmfonds Wien Two violent young men take a mother, father and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic “games” with one another.
-
1998: ‘Ringu’
Image Credit: Basra Pictures The ghost of a seer’s daughter kills all the viewers of a video tape seven days after they watch it — unless a viewer finds the escape clause.
-
1999: ‘The Sixth Sense’
Image Credit: Hollywood Pictures A boy who communicates with spirits who don’t know they’re dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
-
2000: ‘American Psycho’
Image Credit: Am Psycho Productions A wealthy investment banking exec hides his psychopathic alter ego from his friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
-
2001: ‘The Others’
Image Credit: Cruise/Wagner Productions A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.
-
2002: ’28 Days Later…’
Image Credit: DNA Films Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
-
2003: ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’
Image Credit: B.O.M. Film Productions Co. A family is haunted by the tragedies of deaths within the family.
-
2004: ‘Shaun of the Dead’
Image Credit: Rogue Pictures A man tries to turn his life around by dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.
-
2005: ‘The Descent’
Image Credit: Lionsgate Films A caving expedition goes horribly wrong as the explorers become trapped and are ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
-
2006: ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’
Image Credit: Estudios Picasso In Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
-
2007: ‘[Rec]’
Image Credit: Castelao Producciones A TV reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
-
2008: ‘Let the Right One In’
Image Credit: EFTI Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
-
2009: ‘Zombieland’
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures A shy student, a gun-toting tough guy and two sisters join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.
-
2010: ‘Shutter Island’
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures In 1954, a U.S. marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.
-
2011: ‘The Skin I Live In’
Image Credit: Blue Haze Entertainment A plastic surgeon creates a synthetic skin that withstands any damage. His guinea pig: a volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.
-
2012: ‘The Cabin in the Woods’
Image Credit: Lionsgate Films Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for.
-
2013: ‘The Conjuring’
Image Credit: New Line Cinema Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
-
2014: ‘It Follows’
Image Credit: Northern Lights Films A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
-
2015: ‘The Witch’
Image Credit: RT Features A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
-
Share the scare
Image Credit: Dimension Films, Lionsgate Films, Am Psycho Productions, Russo Productions Don’t forget to share this with your friends and plan your horror movie marathon night!
More Stories from Entertainment
Leave a Comment