Top 10 Scary Movies

You're safe at home in your living room. You've got popcorn, some soda. Maybe the lights are on, maybe you're brave and they're not. But the blinds are drawn. Your door is locked tight. You're perfectly safe. After all: ghosts, demons, zombies, monsters…they don’t exist. As a rational adult, you know this. So what is it about certain films that can make your muscles tense, make an icy shiver race up your spine, make your heart quicken at a sudden sound—a quiet creak, a soft breath, the scratch of a nail or a claw on the windowpane? Probably just a tree branch, you tell yourself. But you don't turn around, because you wouldn't dare tear your eyes away from the screen.

These ten films don't just shock or frighten: they get under your skin. Unlike the slashers of Elm Street or Camp Crystal Lake—who are here today, gone to terrorize another group of nubile young teenagers tomorrow—the fears evoked by the films on our Top Ten list will linger. Once you've seen them, we guarantee you'll never look at a placid wave, a roadside motel or a plate of fava beans the same way again.

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