by John Devera

Created on: September 13, 2008

A good scary movie will hit you as hard as a sledgehammer to the emotional solar plexus. A sad movie may make you cry; a comedy may make you laugh. But a great horror movie can make you wet your pants, and that's a pretty cool trick for some actors, a creepy setting and some nice mood music. In the twenty-first century we have taken the industry of special effects to unimagined heights, but the scariest moments ever caught on film have less to do with latex and CGI, and more to do with classy acting, perfect timing, wonderful sound and creativity. Please forgive me for any spoilers, but you should be warned that knowing what the shocks are going to be ahead of time really doesn't diminish them at all!

10. Un Chien Andalou. This is a little bit of a thing made by two surrealists: Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. It makes no sense, it is filmed in grainy black and white, and it has some of the most minimalist acting you will ever tolerate. But the first three minutes in which a man with a straight razor slices a woman's eye, which is interwoven with shots of clouds passing in front of the moon, is so vicious, meaningless, and morbidly real that it will surely be one of the scariest scenes you will ever see. Dali was a foundational talent amongst the surrealists and dadaists. His art is truly disturbing, and this in no exception.

9. Malcolm McDowell, in the very frightening Clockwork Orange, plays a nihilistic and anarchically vicious punk. The scene in which he beats and terrorizes a couple while singing a song, the perky "Singing in the Rain," complete with a choreographic homage to Gene Kelly, is so WRONG that it notches up the fear of a home invasion. The stark white plastic feel to the house, the antiseptic and sterile environment in which the only color is the violated woman's red top, is brutal and chilling.

8. Carrie is one of Stephen King's best novels, and Stephen King's work is represented on my list more than once. The best gotcha in film history may be the moment when, at the end of the film, Carrie's bloody hand reaches up suddenly out of her grave to grab a mourner. It may sound cheesy, but you need to see it. The entire film is an amazing effort to turn a very scary character into someone that you even sympathize with by the end.

7. The Shining with Jack Nicholson is a fun and frightening romp. Nicholson is perfect as a man who becomes obsessed in a haunted hotel until he turns homicidal. Although his rampage is famous, including the "Here's Johnny,"

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