Top 10 scariest horror movies

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

You'll have a whole new appreciation for your in-laws after watching the original version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Featuring a hitch hiker, cannibals and a monster killer -- Leatherface -- the psychological horror starts long before you see the meat hooks. This movie was deemed so gross that it was banned in several counties shortly after its 1974 release.

Poltergeist

If the sound of television static totally freaks you out, you likely have Poltergeist to blame. The scariest part -- aside from that awful toy clown that's possessed by the devil -- is that the evil this family faces is faceless.

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The Exorcist

An innocent child turned evil incarnate? Glowing eyes, bodies in unnatural positions, demonic voices and the stifling environment of a single room all add to the super creepiness of the classic horror flick The Exorcist. If you really want to scare yourself silly, watch the director's cut.

The Blair Witch Project

In another case of never seeing the enemy, The Blair Witch Project scared the poop out of audiences by showing little more than the abject fear of the three main characters. Fun fact: The night we saw this movie, this writer's roommate at the time woke up screaming, "I know why Mike was in the corner!" over and over. The small-yet-terrifying details of this flick will haunt you long after you've turned off your TV.

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The Amityville Horror

The fact that The Amityville Horror is based on supposedly true events is one reason why this tale is so terrifying. The fact that the American Dream becomes bastardized by evil is another. An unwitting family moves into a beautiful home where a brutal murder occurred and the previously loving husband and father slowly turns into an axe-wielding psychopath. Always check police records before you buy a house!

Paranormal Activity

Single camera. Slow build. Unseen evil. Creepy things happening while the unwitting victims are sleeping. Demon possession. A completely out-of-nowhere horrifying ending. Paranormal Activity has it all, leaving Hollywood special effects behind in favor of a voyeuristic peek into Hell. Watch the Paranormal Activity 3 movie trailer.

Hellraiser

One word: Pinhead. In Hellraiser, a skinless dude with pins holding his face on tries to get his girlfriend (how does he have a girlfriend?) to do unspeakable things, all while being chased by a gang of angry demons. No wonder he's so mad.

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The Descent

Scared of the dark? Claustrophobic? The Descent will be your worst nightmare. Compound those two fears with the possibility of being buried alive and unseen evil, and you can pretty much guarantee you won't sleep for weeks after watching this flick.

Deliverance

Canoeing in the South? No thank you. Deliverance is the sole reason why every man you know turns white as snow when he hears a banjo play. Sexual sadism and human hunting both figure prominently in this tale of four city boys who choose the wrong river to explore.

Saw

What would you do to save yourself? Cut your own feet off? Kill a stranger? How about if it meant saving the lives of your spouse and child? Saw explores the horrifying realities of what a person will do when faced with near-certain death, and what happens when going to the farthest extremes proves to just be all part of someone else's twisted game.

Tell us: What is your scariest movie of all time?

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