10 scary movies you need to watch

10 scary movies you need to watch

Alex Ferenczy Jones, Staff writer

With October upon us and Halloween a few weeks away, you may be looking for some horror movies to get you into the spirit of the scary season.

The list below was generated from looking at several lists of the scariest films and identifying the movies most-commonly praised for their fear-factor.

Many of these movies are recommended for teens and adults, so watch with caution!

 

  1. The Shining

The Shining, based on the novel of Stephen King, is about a family of three who is alone in a hotel for the winter due to the father’s job of maintaining the hotel. At first, the main character is a little bit wary of moving in for the winter because he heard that there was a murder in one of the rooms, in which the father got cabin fever and killed himself and the rest of his family. But they move in anyway. At first, it goes well, but then, strange things start happening. The little boy of the family starts seeing the past and sees the people who were killed in the incident.

MMS student Jax Moore comments on the scariest part of the movie. “There was like a pair of twins… I have an irrational fear of little girls and dolls.” 

The father starts going crazy and gets angry over everything. More incidents start happening, and the father starts seeing them too, but just thinks he’s imagining it. Eventually, the dad goes completely insane and starts to repeat the horrors of the past.

“Such a good movie,” a student from Mayfield Middle School, Aubree Frazier, says, “You should definitely watch it.” 

 

2. IT Chapter One

This movie, also based on the book by Stephen King, is about a clown that torments children. But seven children work together to stop this clown after one of their brothers died.  They go on a lot of adventures to try and stop this evil clown. All these kids are barely hanging on, with awful parents and having to deal with bullies. All the kids have different experiences with this clown based on their deepest fears. 

Asher Longar,  when asked if he would recommend this, said “ Yes, absolutely, a hundred percent yes.” 

 

3. The Conjuring

This movie is based on a true story. Paranormal investigators are called to a  farmhouse away from everyone else. At first, the paranormal sightings are only a little bit startling, but it starts becoming much freakier. It even comes to the children being attacked. They try to find out ways to stop it, and the family wants an exorcism to get rid of these so-called evil spirits. The paranormal investigators think nothing is going on at first, but then, the spirits start playing tricks on the kids at night and making disturbing noises. The children get very frightened and try to get away from the spirits,  but the paranormal investigators realize that the spirits are attached to the family and they need to get an exorcism for the farmhouse. They set up cameras because they need evidence before the priest comes to the house. They find out the mother is related to the occurrences in a very disturbing way.

This is a great movie if you like ghostly figures and classic haunting tales. Anastasia Alimova says, “ Yes, you should watch this, because it’s scary.”

 

4. The Ring

A journalist wants to write about a mysterious videotape that allegedly makes people mysteriously die. She wants to learn about this because her son drew a picture of a family member’s death right before it happened and learned that it might be associated with the videotape.  It takes her a while to find this videotape, and she even has to go to a mental hospital to talk to one of the patients to find it. Eventually, she finds the videotape and watches it. She hears a voice telling her that she has seven days left. After she watches this tape, weird things start happening with her body. She sets out to try find ways to cheat death. Eventually, she thinks she has done it and comforts her son, but it isn’t over.

 

 

5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Five teenagers go on a road trip to visit their grandfather’s grave. They encounter a terrified hitchhiker who soon proves mentally unstable. They stop at a house at the side of the road begrudgingly, to find gas for their car. But inside this house is a murderous family and their chainsaw-wielding son, Leatherface.  They try to escape them but one by one, all of the teenagers fall victim to a gruesome death. 

This classic movie from 1974 saw a 1984 sequel, a 2003 remake, a 2006 prequel, and then other spinoff versions in 2013, 2017, and 2022.

There’s a reason this film keeps being reimaged.  Leatherface, who wears the skin of his victims and somehow always manages to track down his prey despite his slow, labored limp is one of horror’s most terrifying villains.

 

6. Children Of The Corn

Based on the book by Stephen King, (yes, this is the third on this list), this film begins with two adults who are driving past a small town and stop because they see a dead body on the side of the road.  They try to find somewhere to report it, but the town is empty. They stumble upon a cornfield with a civilization of children living there. The children have killed all the adults and made their own village with only children. They kill the children in the village once they grow to the age of an adult–all to please some kind of evil entity that makes its home in the cornfields. The characters get trapped inside the cornfield and have to find a way out without being killed by the children.

 

7. Lights Out

The movie “ Lights Out” is about an evil entity that kills anyone who has the lights off for too long. At the beginning of this movie, a man is in his office when one of his coworkers tells him that there’s a random woman in the office. He isn’t too worried about it, but when he leaves, he gets the fright of his life. Meanwhile, a young boy gets frightened whenever he turns the lights off because of this strange figure, and his mom tells him that it’s just her friend. But whenever he goes into her room she’s never actually talking to anyone. His older sister, fearing the mother is insane, removes the brother from the house, but the entity follows him.

 

8. Annabelle: Creation

A group of orphans and a nun are taken in by two welcoming parents. As they adjust to the house, one of the kids finds a doll locked and hidden in one of the rooms. Strange things start happening. The doll starts harassing one girl in a wheelchair then begins frightening the other orphans. The host parents must admit the secrets behind the doll’s mysterious origins, but it is too late, as the doll claims its new host and its victims. 

Fans of the creepy doll can also watch the orginal Annabelle from 2014 as well as Annabelle Comes Home (2019).

 

 

9. In The Tall Grass

A pregnant woman and her brother stop on their drive to San Diego because they hear a little boy screaming for help. It comes from this large patch of very tall grass. Even though a woman, who they assume to be the boy’s mother, tells them not to help, they venture inside, only to lose each other. They soon discover that  the space between them changes every time they get too close.

The people grow increasingly disoriented and find they are in a loop where time and space are controlled by the grass.  Driven to madness, they turn murderous.

 

10. The Whole Truth

For the last spot on the list, a movie that is newer and lesser known.  This Thai movie, viewed with subtitles, is available on Netflix.

After their mother gets in a car accident and is hospitalized, Pim and Putt get taken in by their grandparents. Their grandparents act strange and they feel a bit uncomfortable there. They find a hole in the wall, but their grandparents can’t see it. They hear strange noises at night, but their grandparents can’t hear them. And Pim keeps feeling strange after he wakes up.

Putt and Pim look into the hole in the wall and see a dark room with a disfigured child who seems to be getting neglected. Every night the hole calls to them and they see a story unravel. What they don’t know is that it happened long ago. 

The grandparents attempt to hide the past and the shameful secrets that reside there. Very interesting and complex, this movie accomplishes  a lot in a 2-hour time frame and keeps viewers intrigued.