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Top 25 scariest movies of all time

Thursday - 10/18/2012, 5:29am  ET

Exorcist (AP)
Max von Sydow as Father Merrin performs an exorcism on Linda Blair as Regan McNeil in a scene from 'The Exorcist,' one of the scariest movies of all time. (AP)

A History of Horror

WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley challenges you to see how many clips you can name in this monster mash-up of scary movie moments.

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Jason Fraley, WTOP film critic

WASHINGTON - Halloween is 13 unlucky days away.

And what better way to get ready than to have yourself a little scary movie marathon?

Click here for the Top 25 Scariest Movies of All Time. This Top 25 list only includes films with dominant horror elements, not suspense mysteries like "Rear Window" or "Blue Velvet."

For a broader collection, across multiple genres (yes, even spoof comedies), check out our chronological list of Halloween favorites. Better yet, print it off, grab a highlighter, and make yourself a checklist:

  • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
  • Nosferatu (1922)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  • Frankenstein (1931)
  • Dracula (1931)
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
  • Freaks (1932)
  • Vampyr (1932)
  • The Mummy (1932)
  • King Kong (1933)
  • The Invisible Man (1933)
  • Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  • Rebecca (1940)
  • The Wolf Man (1941)
  • Cat People (1942)
  • I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
  • Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  • Godzilla (1954)
  • Rear Window (1954)
  • Dial M for Murder (1954)
  • The Thing from Another World (1951)
  • The Night of the Hunter (1955)
  • Les Diaboliques (1955)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  • The Blob (1958)
  • Vertigo (1958)
  • On the Beach (1959)
  • House on Haunted Hill (1959)
  • Psycho (1960)
  • Peeping Tom (1960)
  • Eyes Without a Face (1960)
  • The Innocents (1961)
  • Cape Fear (1962)
  • The Haunting (1963)
  • The Birds (1963)
  • The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
  • Repulsion (1965)
  • Island of Terror (1966)
  • Wait Until Dark (1967)
  • Rosemary's Baby (1968)
  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  • Deliverance (1972)
  • Frenzy (1972)
  • Last House on the Left (1972)
  • Don't Look Now (1973)
  • The Exorcist (1973)
  • Sisters (1973)
  • Soylent Green (1973)
  • The Wicker Man (1973)
  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
  • Black Christmas (1974)
  • Young Frankenstein (1974)
  • Jaws (1975)
  • The Omen (1976)
  • Carrie (1976)
  • Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)
  • Marathon Man (1976)
  • The Tenant (1976)
  • The Sentinel (1977)
  • Suspiria (1977)
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
  • Halloween (1978)
  • Dawn of the Dead (1978)
  • Alien (1979)
  • Salem's Lot (1979)
  • The Amityville Horror (1979)
  • When a Stranger Calls (1979)
  • Phantasm (1979)
  • The Shining (1980)
  • The Fog (1980)
  • Friday the 13th (1980)
  • The Evil Dead (1981)
  • An American Werewolf in London (1981)
  • Possession (1981)
  • The Thing (1982)
  • Poltergeist (1982)
  • Videodrome (1983)
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
  • Cujo (1983)
  • Ghostbusters (1984)
  • Gremlins (1984)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1982)
  • Children of the Corn (1984)
  • Blue Velvet (1986)
  • The Fly (1986)
  • Fatal Attraction (1987)
  • Hellraiser (1987)
  • Evil Dead II (1987)
  • Child's Play (1988)
  • Pet Sematary (1989)
  • Misery (1990)
  • Arachnophobia (1990)
  • It (1990)
  • Jacob's Ladder (1990)
  • Cape Fear (1991)
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  • Braindead / Dead Alive (1992)
  • Candyman (1992)
  • Jurassic Park (1993)
  • Ed Wood (1994)
  • Interview with the Vampire (1994)
  • Se7en (1995)
  • Scream (1996)
  • I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
  • Ringu (1998)
  • The Blair Witch Project (1999)
  • The Sixth Sense (1999)
  • Audition (1999)
  • Sleepy Hollow (1999)
  • American Psycho (2000)
  • What Lies Beneath (2000)
  • Scary Movie (2000)
  • Final Destination (2000)
  • Requiem for a Dream (2000)
  • Suicide Club (2001)
  • The Others (2001)
  • Jeepers Creepers (2001)
  • Pulse (2001)
  • Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
  • The Ring (2002)
  • Signs (2002)
  • 28 Days Later (2002)
  • House of a Thousand Corpses (2003)
  • A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
  • Shaun of the Dead (2004)
  • Saw (2004)
  • Hostel (2005)
  • The Descent (2005)
  • Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
  • Paranormal Activity (2007)
  • Let the Right One In (2008)
  • Human Centipede (2009)
  • Zombieland (2009)
  • Black Swan (2010)
  • The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Which of these are the scariest? Check out our Top 25 Scariest Movies of All Time.

Read more from WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley by clicking "Fraley on Film" under the "Living" tab above, following @JasonFraleyWTOP on Twitter, and checking out his blog, The Film Spectrum.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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