Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Scorsese's Favorite Horror Flicks

One of cinema's greats shares his favorite scary movies

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 30, 2009 4:07 PM CDT

(Newser) Martin Scorsese wants to give you a Halloween treat: The legendary director, writing for the Daily Beast, lists his top 11 fright-fests.

  1. The Haunting: “You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!”
  2. The Isle of the Dead: "There’s a moment in this picture that never fails to scare me. let’s just say that it involves premature burial."
  3. The Uninvited: "The tone is very delicate, and the sense of fear is woven into the setting, the gentility of the characters."

  1. The Entity: "Barbara Hershey plays a woman who is brutally raped and ravished by an invisible force in this truly terrifying picture."
  2. Dead of Night: "Four tales told by four strangers mysteriously gathered in a country house, each one extremely disquieting, climaxing with a montage in which elements from all the stories converge into a crescendo of madness."
  3. The Changeling: "George C. Scott discovers the angry ghost of another dead child in the mansion where he’s staying."
  4. The Shining: Stanley "Kubrick made a majestically terrifying movie, where what you don’t see or comprehend shadows every move the characters make."
  5. The Exorcist: "A classic, endlessly parodied, very familiar—and it’s as utterly horrifying as it was the day it came out."
Click the link at right to see the complete list.

A still shot from 'The Exorcist.'
A still shot from 'The Exorcist.'   (Youtube)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Original theatrical trailer for Robert Wise's 'The Haunting'.   (ToddDominion)
The Exorcist?s Trailer, from December 25, 1973   (aheutohmaluko)
The trailer for Isle of the Dead, one of Martin Scorsese's favorite horror movies.   (foxter65)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
cornelison
Nov 1, 2009 1:23 AM CST
"Alien" is my no. 1. Others that gave me a scare were; a) Hostel, b) Aliens, c) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original), d) Jaws, e)Gothika, f) King Kong (2005) & f) Halloween (original). Honorable mention goes to the "campy," "Hannibal Rising" (2007) & "Saw" films.
vendetta
Oct 31, 2009 12:59 PM CDT
Yea my most scary movie was the one where Scorsese tried to stick up for a child rapist who.. oh wait that was real life. WTF scorsese.
The_Pinkston
Oct 31, 2009 5:18 AM CDT
I agree...Silence of the Lambs is on my top 5 along with The Shining. Haven't seen any of those other movies listed above....When I was a child I was most terrified of the Childs Play movies with the killer doll named Chucky. Now watching those movies I laugh at how I could ever be scared of them.
 

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Timelines   |   POPSUGAR Tech   |   Business Insider   |   HuffPost Entertainment   |   NewsOne