‘Variety’ writers rank the scariest movies of all time

Just in time for Halloween, Variety‘s resident critics have come up with their definitive ranking of the 100 scariest movies of all time.

1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre slayed the competition at #1.

The long list shares some titles with some of the experts’ greatest films of all time, like Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho (#3), but also movies that would never rank among the greatest ever, like 1991’s Dead Alive (Braindead) at #95 and The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) at #92. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre was hailed for creating “a mythology of horror, one that feels even more resonant today than it did 50 years ago.”

1973’s The Exorcist placed second on the list, with the critics saying of the film, “Half a century later, [director William] Friedkin‘s … classic remains so compelling because everyone involved commits to the realism of demonic possession.”

Psycho was hailed as “iconic,” adding “Anthony Perkins‘ performance channels a cunning and terror for the ages.”

Fourth place went to Steven Spielberg‘s 1975 classic Jaws, with the critics declaring that while many movies can give you scares, “few have so fundamentally altered human behavior the way Jaws did, compelling millions to steer clear of the water.”

Rounding out the top five was Roman Polanski‘s 1968 offering Rosemary’s Baby, a film that “generates such supreme paranoia and suspense that it stands as one of the last great pieces of classical movie-making to emerge from the New Hollywood.”