by Dayna Noffke

Created on: July 25, 2007   Last Updated: February 10, 2009

We humans are a unique bunch, both blessed and cursed with the singular understanding of our own mortality. Barring this understanding, horror movies wouldn't even exist. What is it that humans are most afraid of? Zombies? Vampires? Michael Myers? The fictional monsters that evoke the strongest response- the ones that really manage to get at us- are those that reflect on our most primitive human fears- the dark, isolation, loss of individuality, pain, and death.

In listing the top ten scariest films of all time, body count wasn't really a factor. In fact, in one of the films no one dies- these movies don't necessarily boast a hefty body count or buckets of blood (though some do), because in the human psyche, the unknown really can be the scariest of all. Sounds, shadows, and innuendo play a prominent role in most of these films. Ergo, a list of 10 of the films that successfully scared the bejeezus out of me. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
If you haven't seen this film in a while, you will have to take my word for the fact that there is far less blood in it than you remember. As a character, Leatherface is as frightening as they come. The use of sound, both subtle (the sound of bones clinking together) and ear-shattering (one of the longest and most realistically piercing screaming sequences ever captured on film) is artful. Spartan and gritty, the Chainsaw Massacre is just plain scary as hell.

2. The Shining (1980)
Low body count, high terror- this is psychological terror at its finest. The endless whirring of the Big Wheel tires going up and down the hotel hallways might be enough to drive me over the edge too. Jack Nicholson is pitch perfect in his depiction of a man descending into madness. The Overlook Hotel, as a setting, is a character in itself filled with history, secrets and a myriad of nifty hiding places.

3. Halloween (1978)
This film is the granddaddy of slasher flicks, opening the door for the glut of teen-babysitting imitator films to follow. But the frightening thing about Halloween remains that it takes place in such everyday surroundings. The setting is not some remote location, but a Midwestern every town' where children trick or treat freely every Halloween and most folks don't even bother to lock their doors. And Michael Meyers, he's the kid who grew up down the street from you, yet is described by his psychiatrist as pure evil.' This film changed the focus of horror from something outside of us' to something

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