Scorsese's 11 Scariest Movies of All Time

[JumpCutz]

Marty goes off the map a bit. A few atypical entries.

As to be expected, a great list...and some better than usual reader comments.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...s-of-all-time/

[RagingBull80]

I've never heard of some of those.

[Suprmallet]

Me either! I can't wait to check them out, though. The Entity, in particular, seems very interesting.

[newginafets]

Interesting list

[Gerry P.]

For the lazy:

1. THE HAUNTING
2. ISLE OF THE DEAD
3. THE UNINVITED
4. THE ENTITY
5. DEAD OF NIGHT
6. THE CHANGELING
7. THE SHINING
8. THE EXORCIST
9. NIGHT OF THE DEMON
10. THE INNOCENTS
11. PSYCHO

It's interesting that most of his picks are ghost stories.

The first half of 'The Changeling' will make you jump out of your skin. The second half is pretty tame.

[wm lopez]

THE INNOCENTS has the cinematography style of THE EXORCIST.

[Norm de Plume]

Not my kind of list, as much respect as I have for Scorsese. Great to see The Changeling, the Mount Everest of ghost movies, on there. The Shining is almost a given, and The Entity is an interesting choice. I remember the ghost-rapist attacks being terrifying when I saw the movie as a child. Not so much when I saw it years later. I've been planning to check it out again.

[naitram]

All great movies but not very scary now really (haven't seen The Entity). The Haunting is a deep good flick, but not the scariest thing in the world. Night/Curse of the Demon is great too but I'm a big Tourneur fan (as is Scorsese). The Innocents, Exorcist, not very scary either. Maybe those were scary to Scorsese when he originally saw them? I know when I was a kid Exorcist, Psycho, Haunting, Shining all scared the hell out of me.

Where's TCM '74 though? It's about the only thing I dread watching alone at night still.

[KillerCannibal]

This is about what I'd expect from him. Old classics with some scares, but few truly terrifying pictures. Actually, I thought he'd go a little more obscure than he did.

[onebyone]

The Entity is beyond scary into sleep with your lights on territory.

Nice to see The Uninvited on there, I love that movie.

Now if only i could see it with a proper region one release.

[gryffinmaster]

Night of the Demon.

That's a pretty great list, nice mix of obvious and not-so-obvious.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by KillerCannibal

This is about what I'd expect from him. Old classics with some scares, but few truly terrifying pictures. Actually, I thought he'd go a little more obscure than he did.

But 'truly terrifying' is different for everyone. What would you say fits?

I find TCM to be a joke, and The Exorcist to be the scariest film ever.

[inri222]

I am surprised he did not include Michael Powell's Peeping Tom

[Suprmallet]

I still find The Exorcist scary.

[fumanstan]

When i saw the Exorcist for the first time during the re-release (2000?) I chuckled more then actually getting scared.

[TallGuyMe]

this is a bullshit list, obviously slanted toward gearing up interest for his upcoming supernatural thriller. either that, or he's just old.

[auto]

Originally Posted by TallGuyMe

this is a bullshit list, obviously slanted toward gearing up interest for his upcoming supernatural thriller. either that, or he's just old.

Uh, yeah.

[MinLShaw]

Any list called "the scariest movies" that doesn't include Trekkies is incomplete.

[Hokeyboy]

Originally Posted by TallGuyMe

this is a bullshit list, obviously slanted toward gearing up interest for his upcoming supernatural thriller. either that, or he's just old.

[wm lopez]

Till to this day I don't understand the big deal with THE SHINING.
I went to see at the movies on opening weekend with girl who loved horror movies.
We weren't scared at all. I was entertained by Jack's performance but that's it.

[Coral]

Originally Posted by wm lopez

Till to this day I don't understand the big deal with THE SHINING.
I went to see at the movies on opening weekend with girl who loved horror movies.
We weren't scared at all. I was entertained by Jack's performance but that's it.

I agree.
It has a nice atmosphere to it, but I didn't find it scary or that creepy.

In my opinion, The Exorcist is the greatest horror made. It's not the boo-factor that makes a film scary - it's the creepyness, uneasyness and texture that makes the difference. I don't find monsters and masked killers scary, I find what's NOT there scary. When a film does a good job of conveying an evil presence, then it will make me a little more jittery when I go to bed that evening.

[William Fuld]

Peter Tscherkassky's experimental reworking of The Entity is better than the original. It's called Outer Space and it's on the dvd "Experiments in Terror."

[ororama]

It seems that Scorsese gave serious thought to his list. There are a few that I haven't seen yet, but a few that I'm sure I'd put on my own list.
I watched The Uninvited alone in my dorm room with the lights out, probably on Halloween, and was really scared-much more than you would expect for a 1940s Hollywood movie.
The Entity was hard to watch-brutal and explicit. I can't think of another role that an actor was more brave to take-Barbara Hershey risked becoming the fantasy object of every psychopath, and in the process illustrated that rape is about violence, and not about sex.
Psycho was a film that I saw relatively late, after I finished school. I had the classic "afraid to take a shower for a few weeks" response.
The Shining is a great horror film. Nicholson's performance is funny because he is so over the top, but you don't laugh. The novel is scary, but Kubrick improved on it. Some shots, like the twins, suggest terrifying things before you're even sure why. The most terrifying scene is simply a woman reading a manuscript. Ultimately, Kubrick understood that isolation, events driven by an unstable person whose motives and limits are unclear, and an ordinary crime that you might read about in a newspaper every once in a while can be frightening as you see it unfold. One killing can be more scary and profound than the murder of a parade of interchangeable victims.
I'm not sure that The Haunting is one that would be near the top of my list, but it is a very scary ghost story. I found The Others to be one of the scarier movies of recent years, and this is in a similar vein.

[theflicker]

I just saw The Exorcist (2000 director's cut) for the first time on Saturday and was largely unimpressed. I didn't feel it was scary so much as it was disturbing and even then that's only with regard to the one or two explicit scenes involving Regan. The most interesting part of the movie for me was actually the inserted beginning set in Iraq.

One film that I would have on my list is Rosemary's Baby. That film, I feel, really generates a creepy mood.

I also have a hard time classifying Psycho as a horror film for whatever reason. Great movie, but it always feels like more of a crime film than a horror film.

[Daytripper]

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

Me either! I can't wait to check them out, though. The Entity, in particular, seems very interesting.

I vaguely remember "The Entity" being released and too young to see it. And completely forgot about it until this list. BTW, "The Changeling" has not held up well at all! Wish I hadn't revisited that again. It was so creepy and effective when it first came out. Didn't think it was either of those when I rented it again about a year or so ago.