Chiller’s 13 Scariest Films of the Decade.

Recently, the Chiller Television Network has been running a special announcing, what they consider to be, the top 13 Scariest Films of the recent decade.

I’ve posted the list below and I’m curious if anyone has any comments on the list of films.

Are there any you believe are missing, or some that are listed that should be removed?

The List in order from the top spot to spot 13.

  1. The Ring
  2. Paranormal Activity
  3. Saw
  4. The Mist
  5. 28 Days Later
  6. Cloverfield
  7. 30 Days of Night
  8. Hostel
  9. The Descent
  10. Orphan
  11. Final Destination
  12. The Strangers
  13. Drag Me to Hell

70 thoughts on “Chiller’s 13 Scariest Films of the Decade.

  1. I agree with very little. Some of these are so bad, they don’t even deserve me retyping their name to awe at how bad they were. Then again, I don’t have a list of horror movies from this decade to compare them to… so maybe that is why. What about The Crazies. I thought that was pretty freaky.

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    • I really hope, that someone reads this comment, who actually knows the (makers) of the film: Cloverfield* Why??? This film was in the Chiller 13, I do not know? But, Why? Why, would the makers, with a descent Budget, make a movie that could have been worth watching, using freaking hand-held-cameras!!! How IGNORANT* You, failed… You wasted a good film, by not using your brains, & film it with video cams: What Were YOU Thinking??? Take the film, at least down to # 13 on the list…

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    • Sorry for really late reply on this one, but I’m looking for some new scary movies to watch and came across this. I’ve read the comments, albeit not thoroughly, about this, and when it comes to SCARY movies, I’m shocked no one really talks about [REC]. It was an absolutely scary movie, and it was even the basis of the movie Quarantine. Yeah, it may be foreign, but the way things are these days, foreign movies are starting to dominate the scare factor in movies, while America just wants more gore. I enjoy a good gore fest every one in a while, such as The Midnight Meat Train, Hostel I and II, or the Saw franchise, but when I watch a horror movie, I expect to be able to jump up so high that I hit my ceiling. That being said, don’t just be domestic about your selection on horror movies, foreign is good too, and if you don’t wanna deal with being confused by another language, most foreign released movies, especially the popular ones, come with English subtitles for your viewing pleasure :]

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      • Christopher,
        When it comes to foreign horror I have come across a few films I found interesting. So without delay let me go over a few.
        Salvage … British film about a mother who will do anything to save her daughter when something invades her street and starts killing people.
        Troll Hunter …Norwegian film that is in away a mockumentary. It’s a film I may review in this new season. The basics is we find out that trolls are indeed real and living in Norway and the country has a group to stop them from breaking out into public eye.
        Shiver… Spanish film that takes a young boy with a disease that makes the sun deadly to him from the city to a small town. However after an odd killing the boy becomes the prime suspect but what is in the woods.
        The Disappeared …British film but not completely horror more psychological horror. A young man struggles from the death of his brother and nightmares.

        Those are a few foreign horror films I’ve come across and oh I cannot forget the film with Nazi Zombies..aka Dead Snow.

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    • What about Grave Encounters????? That was the only horror to ever keep me up at night and scared to go to the bathroom! It was truely the creepiest thing I ever watched. Insidious was also pretty scary and I absolutely love The Cabin in The Woods. Not much of a horror but it was so clever. Taking a typical horror plot( a group of friend\teenagers\students go into……….) and ending in the most unpredictable way.The woman in Black was just a let down. Good movie but not as creepy as it was hyped up to be. Paranormal Activity also a bit slow

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  2. Em, I happen to know your feeling on one of those films at least and when I posted the list I almost tossed out a reference to you. Something like, “Emerian, I did not make this list and I know you will have comments on the unlucky number in the list”

    I will say you did make a good point about not having a list of films from the last decade so I did some research. Fortunately people have been busy over at Wikipedia and below is a nice and friendly link. All you will need to do is click on the appropriate year to see the list of films.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films:_2000s

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    • Good evening. I was looking for this listing and had difficulty finding it. I even checked the chiller website. Of course, I may not have looked thoroughly. The films seem to be in order. My husband and I have been renting the movies and found that some have a really stale ending. The best ending so far has been The Orphan. Dead. Done. Buh-Bye. Cloverfield had good content, but again, stale ending. We wanted to know about the creature and its fleas. Where. Why. More. Tonight we’re renting 30 Days of Night. I’ve seen it and thought it was pretty good. But again, the ending. There was but it was too sissy-lala. I have 3 boys: 11 / 10 / 8. They loved The Mist. This one will be part of our collection. The boys found out by accident about the movie. How many of you watch Fanboy and Chum Chum on Nick? There’s an episode of the store scene with Fan and Chum referring to the movie. Even the part of the torso-less guy on the rope. In any case, we’ll be watching more.

      Vicky

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      • I’ve been a bit shocked how Chiller has not posted this list on their website. I know for me to get the list I had to watch the special when it aired on the Chiller Television Network. I have to give you credit for taking time to watch the movies on the list. I also have to agree with the poor or empty endings on several of the films. Due to the way they ended 30 days it got a direct to DVD sequel, and so did the Decent.

        By now many should be well aware of the sequel to Paranormal Activity and there is even talk of a third film in that franchise. Thank you for sharing your thoughts so far and would love to read your comments on the rest of the list as you get through it.

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  3. Looping back to E.A. Draper excellent guest blog about the Eeeee Factor vs. the Ewww Factor in horror movies, all I can say is that most of the movies on this list, whether they mean to or not, get an Ewww from me.

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    • I have to say I thought Drag me to hell was mediocre, not bad but mediocre. Orphan was ok but I’ve seen this idea done a few times so I didn’t think it was anything special. Two movies I would like to see on this list was Session 9(great movie probably didn’t make it because it wasn’t a hit.) Another one was May(this movie is funny and creepy at the same time).

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      • May was excellent!!! Definitely deserved a mention.

        I noticed too that most of the movies listed were popular at the box office, which is usually the case for almost any list I’ve read. That leads me to believe that die hard horror fans aren’t the ones making up the lists. I thought of a few more not listed, such as Inside, The Collector, The Hills Run Red, and 5150 Elm’s Way.

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  4. I agree with a few of them, but wonder why so many excellent Foreign films were left out, such as Audition, The Eye (Gin gwai), Ringu, and Haute tension for example.

    The Strangers is on the list, but not the equally disturbing Funny Games. I still haven’t seen the original German film, but I’m almost positive it would probably be worthy of the list as well.

    1408 and Session 9 were not on the list, but much scarier films than Final Destination or Drag Me To Hell. Don’t get me wrong…I love those movies, but I found them more pure horror FUN than scary or disturbing. I’d have a whole other list just for these types of movies, and have Trick ‘r Treat listed with them!

    I guess it really is hard to make a list like this without being subjective…impossible actually since fear is unique to the individual.

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  5. Wow, I also agree with very little. How is it that Wolf Creek and The Exorcism of Emily Rose were overlooked? Some of these movies made me laugh out loud at the theater they were so bad.

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  6. This may not come as a surprise but I have seen all the films they listed in the top 13. I think personally the only one I really agree on is Paranormal Activity. The film brought back the simplest of frights. It left much of the horror up to the mind of the viewer. There are other films I really enjoyed on the list, and I have to agree with some of che comments. So, I’ve seen some of the respondents state what they’d like to have seen on the list. Anyone else have suggestions?

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  7. Wikipedia is good, but I was like… I haven’t seen many of these and there has to be more, so I went to IMDB. Advance search turned up 848. Check this out.
    http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=horror&release_date=2010-01-01,2010-12-31&title_type=feature,short
    I also noticed this list adds in all the b-movies like Bikini Vampire Girls and Attack of the Vegan Zombies! Hhehee.
    The Dead Matter is counted up in there too.
    Perhaps we should make our own Horror Addicts top 13 movies of the year. Post here if you want your movie on the list!

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  8. Ingrid I liked your comments on the foreign films I’ve seen all the ones you mentioned and thought they were all great over the last 10 years I’ve seen a lot better foreign films then American films, Audition was the first movie I had seen in years that made me jump.

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    • Thanks David…I feel the same way. The Foreign movies even SCARE me too occasionally, and I can tell you that that’s an amazing feat at this point. 😉 Hollywood has been too busy cranking out remakes to actually produce anything worth mentioning, never mind actually spending money on seeing. I’m still wondering why they feel the need to remake The Thing. Yeah…I’ll just pass on that one.

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  9. I don’t think I can really agree with ANYTHING on this list.. The Ring is a (very poorly done) Americanized Ripoff of Ringu. A Japanese horror film. Not to mention the fact that Cloverfield, Hostel and Final Destination are onthere.. For one, Cloverfield was a disaster, Hostel is a disturbing thriller, and the Final Destination is a psychological thriller series. Also, to have listed the film adaptation of Stephen Kings: The Mist, as a horror… No. It was a Sci-Fi Thriller. And the fact that Paranormal Activity is listed AT ALL, completely discredits this list. Paranormal Activity was a DISGRACE. They DIDN’T pick a theme.. It went from a Haunting, to a Demon, to a Hell Hound, to a Poltergeist, to a Possession, and skipped back and forth from each one. v.v

    And while I agree with SAW being on there, I do have to argue that it’s not a “scary” film series.. It is also a Psychological thriller/horror series. I am a die-hard SAW fan, and absolutely LOVED every single one of the films. It ranks at the top of my list of Best Horror Films Series’ along with SCREAM.

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    • PA 1 and 2 were excellent and the ambiguity of the first makes it much more psycologically scary solely because of that and it absolutely does not have an “identity crisis” in regard to the creature at all…in fact the background story given for the origins of the creatures haunting of the girls is excellent. Saw I watched the first 6 and didn’t waste my time on 7 because they were absolutely terribly written beyond the first. The first was excellent however but not exactly “psycologically scary” to any appreciable extent like PA 1 or PA 2. Scream is a great franchise and with Scream 4 coming out friday I look forward to that one very much.

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  10. Barely any films are legitimately “scary” for starters so let’s just get that out of the way. Top 5 in terms of “scary” films which are actually “psycologically scary” to the average individual my list would be:

    1.) Paranormal Activity
    2.) Paranormal Activity 2
    3.) 1408
    4.) The Others
    5.) The new Paranormal Activity will likely rank somewhere on the top 5 as well i’m sure but until then I would give the psycological thriller “Buried” starring Ryan Reynolds facilitates enough of a claustrphobic feeling throughout to ascend above the vast majority of “scary” films even though technically in a different genre

    as far as pure entertainment “scary films” Quarantine and Trick R’ Treat serve their purpose well in that regard and I expect Scream 4 to be good as well.

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    • 1408 and The Others are on my list of… I love to watch these to get me in the horror mood. They are done well and have that gentle, slow, fear building spookiness that I really like.

      Back to the subject of career choice and scare factor, movies like 1408 and The Shining kinda freak me out more because of the writer factor. I’m always thinking it could happen to me. I could go insane and find my newest manuscript is nothing but… “All work and no play makes Emz….” Or… could my scary realities become real and try to murder me?

      Question… Do we like horror movies that we can watch over and over and still be freaked out? Or do we like movies that are so freaky and off-putting that you will remember it forever but would never want to watch it again?

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  11. I AGREE WITH #1 AS THE RING ABSOLUTELY IT’S SO SCARY. THERE WERE OTHER MOVIES I FELT WERE SCARIER THAN DRAG ME TO HELL, THE DESENT, 28 DAYS LATER, THE MIST.
    THE ONES I THOUGHT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THERE TO IS: SILENT HILL, THE GRUDGE, 2010 VERSION OF THE WOLFMAN, THEY, ALIEN, AND THERE ARE OTHERS BUT I CAN’T THINK OF THEM AT THIS MOMENT. I LOVE HORROR SINCE THE AGE OF 5 A RELATIVE OF MINE LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME AND WE WENT THERE FOR DINNER A COUSIN OF MINE WORKED IN THE THEATER AND HE BROUGHT SOME MOVIES HOME THAT IS WHEN THEY HAD THE OLD PROJECTORS AND ME AND MY 2 BROTHERS SAT ON THE COUCH AND MY FIRST HORROR I EVER SEEN WAS “HORROR’S OF DRACULA” I WAS SO INTO THE MOVIE AND MY 2 BROTHERS COVERED THEIR EYES THEY WERE SCARED. I WAS BUT I LOVED THE MOVIE. EVER SINCE I SAW THAT MOVIE I WAS INTO HORROR MOVIES EVER SINCE. MAKE MORE HORROR FLICKS.
    GLORIA L. HALL

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    • Gloria,
      You will be a very happy person as more and more Horror Films are being made and coming to a theatre near you. It seems that Horror is seeing a major resurgence in the film industry.

      Just a few films upcoming yet in 2011.
      The Ward….From John Carpenter (July)
      Good Neighbors (July)
      Fright Night (Reboot (August)
      Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Remake August)

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      • Thanks for the information. I read a comment that someone made saying the Ring was not scary. That is wrong what that person said. I went on the internet and search for info on the ring and what I found out is that video that everyone was afraid of really exsists. There is a video from the movie and that video exsists. That alone is very scary. Bring on the horror movies. Thanks for replying to me. I have a scary thing to tell everyone. When I was 8 or 9 years old me and my best friend who lived next door and this was after I had moved away and I was visiting my girlfriend and I think I was about 11 years old. Her parents weren’t home and we turned off all the lights and locked the doors and she had a very large mirror in the living room. We stood in front of it and we said,” I believe in Mary Worth 500 times and than a vesion of a horrible looking witch appeared in the mirror at that moment all doors flew open. This is a true story. Thanks for l;etting tell my true story. Gloria

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  12. A lot of the films on the list were disturbing, but not scary. I actually did find Orphan and The Ring scary though. I had images of that skittery movement from the girl in the TV in my dreams for several days. But Saw and Hostel and their ilk aren’t scary to me, just disturbing. I guess that’s still a horror film, but not a scary horror film.

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    • Sean,
      When it comes to films like Saw and Hostel I do agree with you. They are not really Horror films, but instead more of gore fests. They look for inventive ways to dismember and hurt people over really trying to scare them.
      The interesting about the Horror Genre is that it continues to be expanded as more sub genres are being made and developed into the Horror main Genre. It will be interesting to see what other type of films suddenly will show up as Horror.

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  13. Personally, I feel that any gore-fest movie isn’t scary, more like enjoyable. And, I do feel that the movie They should be mentioned, as well as Audition. I found their story line original and exhilarating. I do agree that Pa1 is on here, it isn’t a movie with these crazy effects, it lets the viewer a sense of realism. This movie that i am about to mention isn’t scary, but I do encourage people to see, its called Repo the Genetic Opera. Its is a gore-fest and indeed a musical.

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  14. I don’t know what I’m in for for saying this, but Paranormal Activity wasn’t really that scary. It was a bit scary and suspenseful, but in terms of actually scaring me out of my mind, the Ring also tops my list. And I thought that the original SAW was pretty good, too.

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  15. Late to the party, but I caught this show this morning on Chiller…and was looking to find the list to see which ones I had missed. I came in at Hostel, and I stumbled across this place.

    It seems that everyone has a different view of what exactly “horror” is. Is it blood, guts and gore? Things that make you cringe and gross you out? Is it psychological? Things that freak you out and make you look over your shoulder and keep the lights on? I was watching this special, and while most of the list did nothing for me, I did notice the commentators seemed to mention more the gross out aspects and gruesomeness than those things that are truly scary.

    Slasher or torture/porn films don’t really bother me. I work in the medical industry, so blood and guts and torn apart bodies don’t scare me…even when I was younger, things like that never bothered me. I have always been more scared by the things you don’t see. Your imagination is always better than anything a director can put on screen. Movies like Paranormal Activity scare the crap out of me. I remember being a kid and not sleeping for 3 days after seeing Poltergeist. Go ahead and scoff, but I’ve had my own paranormal experiences, and ghosts and unseen things messing with you just wig me out. Always have.

    Vampire movies don’t really bother me either…vampires just aren’t scary. No matter how vicious they might be portrayed as. They can be disgusting and gross, but not scary.

    The only ones on the list that I agreed with were PA, The Descent, and The Strangers. I explained about PA…The Descent scared me less for the creatures and more for the claustrophobia aspect. Stuck down in the dark, with tons of rock above, below and around you and something stalking you that you can’t escape from. And The Strangers because there are really, severely disturbed people in this world who would actually do that. Just pick a random person, because they answered the damn door, and torment them to the edge of sanity and then kill them just for the pleasure of it. It was just torturous for me.

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    • You bring up a good point. I think what scares us truly has to do with what we’re made of and what we’ve been through. Is it some grand scheme of nature? Do people who gravitate towards a medical career have some sort of “off” switch nature has clicked to make them impervious to gore? Is it a part of natural selection and human survival that some of us can do things others can’t? I’d be interested in some sort of study about a person’s natural talent (or chosen career) vs. their fears. I wonder what we would find?
      Thank you for your comments Vicious! Got me thinking on this early Sunday morning!

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    • When I finally turned on the TV this day I saw that Chiller was re-running the special. I’m happy that you came across our list and put in some feedback, VisciousCircle. I believe I may have pointed this out in past posts but I do agree with you. A lot of the splatter films are not my cup of tea, it’s just not something that scares me. It may disturb me, but does not scare me. I like you, do find more fear from the thoughts and feelings that can come out of ones own imagination.

      In thinking about it more, I have a feeling that it’s possible that avid readers will be those who enjoy the more thought provoking horror. A reader is more likely to be used to having to use their imagination to fill in the blanks when it comes to what is happening. A reader cannot count on a video, or image, to show them what happened or is happening. Those who have grown up in the digital age maybe more likely to love the splatter films. It’s hard not to find a movie or television show that is not afraid to show the viewer all what is happening. It would be almost natural for them to want to see every aspect of the horror on the screen and not rely on the imagination. Now I maybe generalizing here, but these are just some of my own thoughts on the possible differences.

      Again a possible rehash of a previous post but I agree with your comments on the strangers. My family owns a cabin on a remote lake with just a few other cabins nearby and it’s not odd to be out there and hear cars driving around in the other roads. Their sounds can echo across the small lake and sometimes you can even hear voices. So that film did scare me quite a bit and it’s one I will not be bringing to the cabin to watch. LOL

      As for being late for the party, don’t worry about it. I’m sure we have some leftover grub and maybe some beverages around. he he.

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    • @viviouscircle … I have to say I completely agree with you, gore does not =scary to me .. however, PA takes a note from Hitchcock in allowing the viewer’s imagination fill in the blanks about the bumps in the night, I loved it… and I consider The Strangers to be one of the scariest movies ever, and for the same reason you mention, that it is so real – could truly happen to anyone …

      I like the movies that make you think, get in your head and make you concerned that you could be in the same scenario ….

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    • Have you seen “The Hamiltons” that’s a vamp movie like no other (not your traditional “sleep in a coffin” n “stake em” flick. I found it pretty disturbing.

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  16. Okay for the number one file ‘the ring’, i thought this movie was scary whaen i was 8yrs old, (im a big horror fan,) so i thought most of these where funny as heck, and the others i havent seen. but thats just me. so for the ring being the number one most scariest horror movie, i disagree, it was scary when i was little but not now.

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    • I agree Kenzie. The Ring seems more like a Thriller – like Hand That Rocks The Cradle or something… not a really scary movie. Course, I’m more scared by something that could actually happen.

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  17. I thought this list was pretty weak, i really liked 28 days later but was sad to see other films like exorcism of emily rose, 1408, frailty, and wolf creek were left off.

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  18. What about the fourth kind or insidious they were freaky plus the movies on here aren’t real which makes them not scary like the fourth kind that actually happened that’s what makes it so freaky

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    • I am sorry to be the one to tell you this..

      The fourth kind wa a great movie, until I came home and did research on it. The entire story and all of the footage is fake. They even made fake websites with fake articles and ended up getting sued for it. So the movie presents a good idea, but ruins it with talk about true story and actual footage.

      And this cheap promotion tactic continues today.. The devil inside? I haven’t researched this movie, but the actual film itself is not scary.. Movie is not worth spending money on.

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  19. The Ring ISN’T SCARY ! Well I Dont Think It Is .. Wanna Now The Scariest Movie I ever watched? THE ORIGINAL EXORCIST !!! Holy Crap!

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  20. A Serbian Film is one of the worse movies out. It is stupid and just made to shock for porn style purposes. I think that does not fit in with horror or scary movies etc.
    I would say the movies like paranormal activity and blair witch etc are made for kids and look like they are made by kids. Lots of new horror films really suck but I guess people do not care or notice when they are not used to good films.
    For me I liked Saw and Hostel and Frontiers etc but of course things like The Frankenstein Experiment and even some of the new Romero movies of course. The Loved Ones is kind of cool in a horror funny style too. I found the trailer and videos on the http://www.logs.tv site and think that is worth watching. Of course ZombieShows.com has the market on zombie things some new and old. That has the best costumes and movies etc.

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  21. NO way is the “The Ring” the scariest movie of the decade. “Hostel” is SO creepy and that would be my pick!
    “Wrong Turn” should be on the list as well.

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  22. I loved orphan it wasnt scary but it just gave me the chills that a cute little Russian girl turned out to be a grown freaky mental murder

    CHILLS!!!

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  23. Drag me to hell wasn’t scary it was disgusting with a back-stabbing surprising ending what about don’t be afraid of the dark that gave me chills now I will never live in a manchine

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    • When you consider the movie was directed by Sam Raimi I went expecting some odd and a bit gross moments. I mean the fight with the old woman in the car, and her teeth. Yeah that was the one thing that made me go eww. I did like the movie overall till the ending you mentioned.

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  24. I really think that Let the Right One In should have been included in the top five. It was one of the most original horror films I’ve seen. Even the American remake Let Me In, was well done. Albeit not quite as good as the original. Also, Shiver is a genuinely scary film, this list is very dissappointing. But then again, I rarely agree with any of these listing type programs.

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    • Dillon if you look at the list there isn’t much in the way of foreign horror listed or considered. It’s like they didn’t want to take the time to watch something with a subtitle. I believe someone else pointed out the lack of foreign films being discussed earlier on too.

      I know that Let the Right One In and Let Me In are both in my personal collection. There are also a LOT of films that I think the network and it’s “professional” cast over looked. In away it’s kind of sad that they did overlook so many. This would have been a great opportunity by the network to introduce horror fans to other films.

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  25. Personally, I really just don’t ynderstand the obsession with “The Ring.” Was it creepy? Sure. Terrifying? Not in my book. There are certainly other movies that should have been on this list at the expense of others, but rather than go down that rabbit hole, I’ll just say this; if this is Chiller’s definitive list, then at the very least, the order is messed up. The Ring should not, in my mind, be number one. Paranormal Activity is EASILY the scariest movie on this list. The Strangers should be higher, and frankly, The Descent should be at the very bottom.

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    • John,
      I’m sure if we had our chances the list would be ordered a lot different than it is now. Also I bet we’d have films that would be knocked off the list all together. The great thing about the list is it got people talking.

      Now, curious if you have a list you’d want to share and heck you don’t even need to list them in your favorite order. I’d love to see others come forward with their lists too. Actually stay tuned to the Horror Addicts blog. I think I just got an idea for a possible challenge or opportunity for more fans to give their choices.

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  26. Greetings! This is my first comment here so I just
    wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading your articles.
    Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that
    cover the same subjects? Thanks a ton!

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  27. I watched Paranormal Activity and the only time I jumped was at the jump scare at the end. The movie was long and dull and with a female lead who I could not stand. When I am in more agreement with the annoying boyfriend, I didn’t feel bad for the things happening to her.

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  28. U all aren’t real horror fans, everyones seen that list and most of the movies u put down on here are played out.

    Ever seen any of these:

    Apartment 143
    Hypothermia
    Yellow brick road
    The collection
    Silent house
    Beneath
    Thirst
    Reeker
    Pontypool
    The dread
    Over the black rainbow
    Wreckage
    Wreaked
    Hunger
    Zero below
    Grave encounters 1, 2
    Ambert alert

    And those r just a few I could think of
    Those r good films,

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