7 Scary Classic Movies
Modern cinema offers a plethora of scares; from Ari Astor’s nightmarish Midsommar to Jordan Peele’s psychological terror, Us, you don’t have to look far to get the living daylights scared out of you.
But lest you find yourself craving a more vintage scare, the following are some of the scariest films in movie history to keep you in the spooky mood. From classic horror movies’ black and white ambiance to psychological horrors, you are sure to find something new and creepy to love.
I haven’t included obvious classic movie monster or comedic films such as Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, or Dracula; those classic films deserve their own separate spotlight; and while they might be spooky, they might seem campy (and even comedic) to a modern-day audience.
Instead, I utilized the science behind what makes a movie truly terrifying; in my book, these classic movies hold up as truly frightening.
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These Classic Horror Movies Will Actually Scare You
The Uninvited
When Roderick and his sister, Pamela on the Cornish coast, they don’t suspect it is haunted. But before long, they discover the secret of the manor—a ghost intent on communicating with Roderick’s beautiful new romance Stella. Stella is sure that the ghost is that of her mother, who died in the mansion. But what they can’t figure out is, why does the ghost seem intent on harming her own daughter?
Cat People
With scenes that seem almost Hitchock-ian in their suspense, Cat People tells the tale of a young woman’s sexuality complex—namely that she turns into a black leopard whenever she gets in the mood, if you catch my meaning.
House of Wax
This horror film (which originally showed in 3D) stars the inimitable Vincent Price as a deranged sculptor who loses his wax museum in a tragic fire.
His solution? To replace his beloved wax figures by murdering people and covering their corpses in wax.
House on Haunted Hill
Another Vincent Price flick, this classic horror flick is based on the book by Shirley Jones.
Price plays a millionaire who offers $10,000 to five people if they will complete one seemingly simple task; agree to be locked into a haunted house overnight.
Nosferatu
Arguably the most visually stunning on this list, Nosferatu is a 1922 German Expressionist horror film.
It is the vampire movie that started them all, and is defined by the the astounding performance of Max Schreck as Count Orlok.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
This Picasso-esque vision of a horror movie tells the story of a deranged hypnotist (Dr. Caligari) who uses his powers of somnambulism to compel an unwitting accomplice (Cesare) to commit murders.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Something is wrong with the neighbors, honey.
Perhaps it has to do with those mysterious seed pods that people are finding in their backyards. And the fact that they are producing “Stepford Wife”-ish duplicates of everyone in the community, one at a time.
The creep factor here is effective for the same reasons as Jordan Peele’s us — there is something incredibly creepy about a mirror version of us existing somewhere.
More Scary Movie Stories Await
In honor of Halloween, this month I am focusing on Hollywood tales of a spooky nature. Enjoy!
Sometimes when I am reading interesting stories from Old Hollywood, accounts vary tremendously. This one about a shrunken head is too good to ignore, regardless of the differences in details.
It seems that Clark Gable once gave Carole a shrunken head as a gift -- you see, they were both the ultimate pranksters. It was their thing -- to try to one up each other.
But this time, Clark had gone too far. Carole accused him of putting a curse on her, and threw the shrunken head out the window on the way to a party as they passed through Coldwater Canyon. This is where the story diverges. It is well-documented that they went back to pick up the head (I guess she was afraid of the fury of the shrunken head, perhaps because she was known to consult with psychics and mediums? I am sure they would advise her that was not good ju-ju).