The Scariest Movies to Watch in Honor of Friday the 13th

Oct 13, 2017 11:41 am·

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Alien/Aliens (1979/1986)

In the original Alien, the space vessel Nostromo, filled with miners, explores a planet where one of the crewmen accidentally ingests an alien life form. It gestates within him and then, once back on the ship, decides to give birth to itself by ripping through his chest (#rude). Escaping, the creature begins to grow, picking off the crew one at a time. Hope falls to the hands of Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in a career-defining role). Ripley returned in the James Cameron-directed Aliens, which took the concept of the Alien and placed it in more of a war movie type setting as space marines attempt to take on a whole lot of the creatures this time out. Watch it as a double feature: you won't be disappointed. Other films in the series are Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant.

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The Birds (1963)

The name of director Alfred Hitchcock may not mean much to you, but he absolutely earned the title "The Master of Suspense", and you need look no further than this film to see why. Birds are everywhere, right? And you certainly don't get the impression that they're fans of humans, what with waiting until our cars have been freshly washed before bombarding them from above, or continually building nests in our house gutters no matter how many times we pull them out. Let's face it, they can be spiteful. But in this one, they're psychotic, and they have no problem letting us know that they vastly outnumber us. Tippi Hedren plays school teacher Melanie Daniels, who, in San Francisco, finds the life of her, her boyfriend, and pretty much everyone else turned upside down when our fine feathered friends decide to attack. Absolutely chilling in its intensity.

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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

One of the earliest of the "found video footage" horror films, A trio of young aspiring filmmakers (played by Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard) look to make a documentary about a small town murderer known as the Blair Witch. They begin by interviewing the locals, and then make their way into the woods to explore the legends…and disappear. This footage which is found (hence "found video footage") provides horrifying clues of what happened to them. Scary, original, and made for a budget of just $60,000.

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Cabin in the Woods (2011)

You know the horror cliches about going to a….well, a cabin in the woods? This takes firm hold of all of them as a group of college friends (led by a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth) decide to take a bit of a vacation in one of the cabins. Behind the scenes the audience discovers before the characters do that there are scientists manipulating everything that happens to them. The greater mystery, though, is exactly why they're doing so.

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Carrie (1976)

The first movie based on a Stephen King novel (which just happens to be his first), and still one of the best. Sissy Spacek is tortured high school student Carrie White, mocked by her fellow students, abused by her religious zealot of a mother and gradually discovering that she has telekinetic abilities, which go on full display at the high school prom when a prank goes horribly wrong. A riveting performance by Spacek that helped to put both she and King on the cinematic map. Directed by Brian DePalma, who obviously learned a thing or two from Hitchcock when it comes to suspense.

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Child's Play (1988)

Ever have a nightmare about the stuffed doll at the end of your bed coming to life and having less than friendly intentions? Child's Play brings that notion to life as a dying murderer named Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) uses black magic to have his consciousness transferred to a Chucky "Good Guy" doll. It sounds kind of dopey, but the Chuckster is scary as hell and, nearly 30 years later, he's still going strong. The latest film, Cult of Chucky (No. 7 in the series), was released on Oct. 3.

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The Conjuring (2013)

Not long after moving into a secluded farmhouse (maybe the key to a happier life is not moving into a secluded farmhouse?), the Perron family find themselves the victims of escalating horrifying events. They call in demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) as paranormal events begin taking place, and the terror begins to mount. It's spawned sequels, spin-offs, and has a prequel on the way.

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The Evil Dead (1981)

Bruce Campbell is Ashley "Ash" Williams, who, along with his girlfriend and three buddies, hike into the woods to a cabin that's waiting there for them (aren't they always?). Reading from a mystical book, they inadvertently unleash evil forces that begin taking possession of them (and will go on to threaten the world in further installments). Directed by Sam Raimi, it's over the top gross, suspenseful, and actually kind of funny. Spawned two sequels and a current television series with Campbell playing Ash some 36 years later.

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The Exorcist (1973)

Admittedly some of the effects haven't aged that well while others definitely have, but this classic (directed by William Friedkin) remains scary as hell. Linda Blair is introduced to the world as Regan, a sweet little girl who is inconveniently possessed by the Devil. What follows is her mother's (Ellen Burstyn) desperate attempts to get her daughter help. Who you gonna call? Not Ghostbusters, but exorcists in the form of Max von Sydow as Father Lankester Merrin and Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras. Trust us, you'll never look at pea soup the same way again after seeing this one.

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Halloween (1978)

One of the earliest entries in the slasher/slice-and-dice horror film genre, and by all estimates still considered something of a classic. Things begin in 1963 when six-year-old Michael Myers murders his older sister and is locked up in an institution for 15 years. Flash forward to 1978 and he manages to escape, returning to his Illinois town, and beginning to claim new victims. This one made a Scream Queen star out of Jamie Lee Curtis, and served as inspiration for nine additional films. Michael Meyers is like the Energizer Bunny of serial killers.

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956/1978)

The first version was released in 1956, with a remake coming a little over twenty years later. It's all about an alien invasion that is launched from the arrival of plant spores that have grown into pods that have the ability to create an exact copy of a human being, though mentally the new version is part of a hive mentality. In both films, the heroes discover what's going on as the people around them are being replaced, and they struggle to let the world know before it's too late. A tremendous and frightening look at paranoia as we attempt to maintain our self-identities. This is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

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It (2017)

Stephen King. Pennywise the Clown. Need we say more? Yeah, we probably do. One of the biggest horror hits ever, the film is based on the 1986 novel by King. It tells the story of a group of friends as kids who are terrorized by a force of evil that takes the form of Pennywise The Clown, played to perfection by Bill Skarsgard in the new film. Previously the character had been played chillingly by Tim Curry in the 1990 TV miniseries adaptation of the novel. The sequel has been announced for 2019, and it will have the former kids uniting again as adults to take on the resurrected Pennywise. Not sure our hearts can take it.

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Jaws (1975)

Mic drop. Seriously. How much more terrifying can you possibly get than this Steven Spielberg sensation about a fictional island community being terrorized by a great white shark? The only hope comes from a police chief who's terrified of the water (Roy Scheider), an oceanographer obsessed with sharks (Richard Dreyfuss) and a former Navy man who watched many of his fellow crew mates get eaten by sharks during World War II after the battleship USS Indianapolis was sunk by the Japanese (Robert Shaw). Spielberg proves himself the master of less being more, since a malfunctioning robotic shark forced him to suggest the creature more than actually show him for much of the film. And it's so much the better for it. Not only did Jaws keep people out of the water, it even made going to the bathroom a nerve-wracking experience. You just never knew when you'd hear that theme.

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Jurassic Park (1993)

Nearly twenty years after Jaws, director Steven Spielberg was back terrifying us, but this time it wasn't with sharks, but, instead, dinosaurs. Everybody loves dinosaurs….but maybe at a distance? In Jurassic Park they're right in your face…sometimes eating your face, as a matter of fact. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton (who created E.R., by the way — hey, you never know what nuggets of information you'll pick up here), the idea is that T-Rex, raptors, and all the rest are being cloned from DNA frozen in amber for millions of years. The end goal is a theme park, but you just know things are going to quickly go south. The dinosaur effects remain mind-blowing nearly 25 years later.

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The Omen (1976)

In the '70s, the Devil must have had quite a bit of free time on his hands, because he made his presence known in a lot of movies, and a couple of them are horror classics. This is one of them, as the antichrist comes to Earth in the form of infant Damien Thorne, who is destined to grow up and lead the world to Armageddon. Director Richard Donner absolutely creates suspense as we watch the people who get close to discovering the truth about Damien be dispatched through supernatural means, And beware of young Harvey Spencer Stephens as Damien — this is one creepy kid!

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Poltergeist (1982)

When a family moves into a new California home, they start to notice odd little happenings that seem out of the norm. It isn't long before things start becoming more harrowing and then downright terrifying as the family's young daughter is pulled into the spirit world (through their television set!). They've no choice but to call in a medium, which unveils horrible truths about their home and the land it's built on.

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Predator (1987)

On the surface this is just another Arnold Schwarzenegger action film from the 1980s, but what's terrifying about it is that the title character has come to Earth from another galaxy for the specific purpose of hunting. And it is equipped to track and kill just about anything that it sets its sights on (obviously it didn't count on Ahnuld). Look for a remake called The Predators next year.

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Psycho (1960)

Another Alfred Hitchcock classic, this is considered to be the first true slasher film, that reputation earned by the famous shower sequence in which Janet Leigh's Marion Crane is mercilessly slaughtered with a kitchen knife while showering in the motel she checked into. But that's only part of what this one has to offer, as it explores Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates and his "relationship" with his mother. Definitely has a huge creep out factor. Spawned three sequels and the prequel television series Bates Motel.

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The Shallows (2016)

You cannot think of shark movies without thinking of Jaws. Fine, it's there, circling around all the others like a….er…shark. But, damn, if Blake Lively's The Shallows doesn't offer up plenty of thrills and chills of its own. The actress is pro-surfer, pre-med student Nancy Adams, who is looking for new purpose in life following the death of her mother. Encouraged via Facetime by her father to pick up the pieces and "survive," she finds she has to do exactly that when she's trapped on a large rock 200 yards from shore of a remote Australian beach, and figuring out a way around an unrelenting great white shark. Nope, we're not going back in the water!

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The Shining (1980)

If you're a fan of Stephen King's novel of the same name, there's a really good chance you're not a fan of this movie. But if you want the bejeezus scared out of you, you've come to the right place in the form of the Overlook Hotel. Stagnated writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), looking for a change of scenery in the hopes of sparking his creativity, moves his family to the hotel to serve as winter caretaker during off-season. Giving new meaning to the phrase cabin fever, the spirits of the Overlook make their presence known, and Jack starts to lose his sanity, putting his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) in peril, and there is no hope in that they're cut off from the rest of the world due to weather conditions. Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

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The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The word creepy keeps coming up, but how can it not when you're talking about Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, cannibal serial killer? This one is a master's class on psychological terror: Jodie Foster is FBI agent Clarice Starling who visits Lecter in prison hoping that he can provide her with some clues about a serial killer she is hunting. What she doesn't expect is the way that he gets inside her mind and touches her deepest pain. And as if Clarice doesn't have enough to deal with, Lecter manages to escape, which sets things off in a whole other direction. Winner of five Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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The Sixth Sense (1999)

He sees dead people! The "he" in question is Haley Joel Osment as troubled kid Cole Sear, who has been reached out to by child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), who is attempting to help him with his little problem…. You know, in case you haven't seen the movie we can't say anything else. Just make sure you check it out — it's perfect for Halloween.

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Split (2016)

A tour de force performance by James McAvoy as Kevin Wendall Crumb, who has 23 personalities and can even alter his physical appearance depending on which one he is at any given time. Now this is all fine and good if it's Kevin hanging out in his house, but nobody's laughing when he kidnaps three teenage girls and terrorizes them —particularly due to the fact they never know who they're dealing with from moment to moment. A return to form for writer/director M. Night Shyamalan who broke on to the scene with The Sixth Sense.

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The Thing (1982)

Okay, so Jaws kept us out of the water, Alien prevented us from going into space ('cause, you know, that vacation was on the books), and now it seems Antarctica is off limits as well! Research scientists are horrified to see someone from a helicopter shooting a sled dog. They bring the animal in to see if it can be helped, but the question they really should be asking is who is going to help them? Turns out that the canine ain't a mutt after all. It's a creature that can transform itself into its victim, and what develops is an excellent exploration of paranoia and claustrophobia where no one knows who they can trust. Kurt Russell stars.

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Real life serial killer Ed Gein, known as The Butcher of Plainfield for murders he committed in the 1950s, served as an inspiration for several Hollywood monsters, among them Norman Bates in Psycho, Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, and Leatherface in this film. In it, on word that their grandfather's grave has been vandalized, a brother and sister along with some friends head out of town to the family farmhouse (don't do it!!!!). Once there, they discover that the next door neighbors are dangerous outcasts from society, and it isn't long before Leatherface — a chainsaw-wielding dude waring a mask of human skin (obviously not his own) starts hunting them down. Low budget chills, but still terrifying.

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