CH4 100 Greatest Scary Moments 100-50

[DB7]

100 - Train Pulling Into A Station (1895)

The original scary movie. Shot by the Lumière brothers, the first ever publicly shown moving images depicts a train arriving at Marseille Station.



99 - The Night Of The Hunter (1955)

A deeply creepy and maddeningly tense 50s thriller. Robert Mitchum’s performance went a long way to defining on-screen evil as a crazed preacher, with the words 'Love' and ‘Hate’ tattooed on his hands, who is obsessively searching for $10,000 hidden by a condemned convict. Having married and then murdered the dead man’s wife, the preacher then turns his attention to her two children. In a terrifying moment, the kids flee from him into a swamp and he pursues relentlessly.



98 - Doomwatch (1970)

Doomwatch is the nickname for the fictional Department of Measurement of Scientific Work, whose team (which included a young Robert Powell) are charged with identifying and confronting scientific dangers which might afflict the public. The creepiest episode? When society is under attack from a super intelligent breed of rats.



97 - Roswell (1995)

The alleged alien autopsy footage linked to the famous Roswell incident of 1947 was first broadcast in the UK and in the US nearly 50 years later.



96 - The Prodigy's Breathe video (1997)



95 - The Singing Ringing Tree (1958)

The Singing Ringing Tree was an allegorical fairy-tale series made in East Germany in 1958 and bought in by the BBC children's department to be broadcast as a Tale From Europe in 1964.



94 - Cat People (1942)

A Serbian woman living in New York becomes convinced that if she makes love to her husband.



93 - The Thing From Another World (1951)

A defrosted, ferocious alien sends shivers down the spine of a bunch of scientists and Air Force crew in an Antarctic research team.



92 - The Stone Tape (1973)

1970s BBC drama about a group of electronic scientists hell-bent on discovering the next new recording format.



91 - Star Wars (1977)

One of the most famous villains in cinema history, Darth Vader has scared many a young Jedi with his penchant for all in one black suits and heavy breathing.



90 - Dracula (1931)

Regarded by many as the definitive adaptation of Bram Stoker's Gothic novel, Tod Browning's atmospheric Dracula bears a significance that's only partly the result of its content. It introduced cinema-goers to the extraordinary talents of Bela Lugosi.



89 - Protect And Survive (1975)

These terrifying nuclear war-based government Public Information Films stemmed from the time when we thought we really were going to have to bury our relatives in temporary graves next to the house.



88 - The Day Of The Triffids (1981)

This adaptation of John Wyndham's novel (and a 1962 film of the same name), became a much-publicised BBC 80s production.



87 - Cracker (1993)

Cracker starred Robbie Coltrane as Fitz, the maverick wise-cracking, hard-drinking, gambling forensic psychologist. To Be A Somebody sowed the seeds for writer Jimmy McGovern's unforgettable dramatisation of the Hillsborough tragedy. Robert Carlyle played a terrifying Scouse psychopath, Albie, who snaps after the death of his father.



86 - Dead Of Night - the film (1945)

A pioneering horror classic, and still one of the most successful anthologies to date, with five episodes directed by four different directors.



85 - Peeping Tom (1960)

A truly chilling tale of a shy studio cameraman who spends his nights filming call girls as he kills them with the spiked leg of his camera tripod.



84 - Cape Fear (1961)

A psychopathic rapist, out on parole, seeks out the defence lawyer who he says betrayed him, and targets him and his family for terrifying revenge.



83 - Whistle And I'll Come To You (1968)

This black and white Jonathan Miller adaptation of an MR James ghost story had an eerie sense of foreboding throughout as we saw an eccentric professor (Michael Hordern) spend a holiday in Norfolk.



82 - Captain Scarlet (1967)

Sometimes the scariest thing is not what you see on TV, but what you don't see. The Mysterons are the ultimate example.



81 - Brookside (1995)

Nearly 9m people tuned into the moment in January 1995 when Eddie Banks and Jimmy Corkhill discovered the gruesome remains of Trevor Jordache's body whilst digging up the Jordache's patio.



80 - Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

One of the all-time great Disney animations, and an unexpectedly resonant story, with oh-so-demure Snow White brilliantly counterpoised by the Wicked Queen and those great character 'actors' - the Dwarfs.



79 - 1984 (1954)

On 12th December 1954 George Orwell's controversial play was transmitted, live from the BBC, to an audience of 9m people. Never before in the history of television had so much fuss been caused by one programme.



78 - The Incredible Hulk (1970s)

The Incredible Hulk was adapted from the Marvel comic to become one of the seminal images of Seventies TV from across the pond.



77 - The Twilight Zone (1963)

The Twilight Zone was the brain-child of writer/presenter Rod Serling and set the standard for sci-fi series to come.



76 - Children Of The Stones (1976)

Children's ITV drama broadcast in 1977 about a village held in the grip of psychic forces.



75 - Lonely Water (1973)

You'll remember it when you see it. Who could forget the black-hooded ghoul threatening kids? This was the scariest of all the Public Information Films inflicted on schoolchildren in the 70s.



74 - The War Game (1964)

Peter Watkin's chilling drama documentary about a nuclear attack on Kent exposed the nation's Civil Defence programme and gave the public a grim realisation of the consequences of such an attack. Made for the BBC, it was banned from television broadcast for 20 years because of the disturbing scenes.



73 - Alice Cooper



72 - Frankenstein (1931)

The finest screen adaptation of Mary Shelley's Goth classic, this story of the hulk-like being given life and then mistreated by his creators became the definitive monster horror film.



71 - Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983)



70 - Quatermass (1950s)

The Quatermass series was the X-Files of its day and set the boundaries of top-notch scary TV to come. In the days before video, pubs and clubs emptied as the nation rushed back to their collective armchair to watch mad scientist Prof Quatermass battle with Martians.



69 - The Tripods (1984)

Alien tripods take over Earth controlling human adult minds – so it's naturally down to a couple of boys to start a resistance.



68 - Shallow Grave (1994)

Twisted, funny thriller from the director of Trainspotting. Ewan McGregor, Christopher Ecclestone and Kerry Fox star as a trio of flatmates who suddenly find themselves in the money.



67 - Misery (1990)

Compelling adaptation of Stephen King's novella about an obsessive fan who holds her favourite author prisoner while he satisfies her depraved literary demands. Packed with gripping mind games and sick humour, the film stars Kathy Bates as writer Paul Sheldon's "number one fan", Annie Wilkes.



66 - Theatre Of Blood (1973)

Shakespeare has never been so much fun... Vincent Price chews the scenery as the ham actor extracting a bloody revenge on the critics who ended his career. After a very public humiliation at the Critics' Circle awards, pompous Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart hurls himself into the Thames. He hasn’t died however and Lionheart decides to kill each of the critics who scoffed at him in the same manner as in Shakespeare’s plays.



65 - Fatal Attraction (1987)

A thriller with a scene so unforgettably horrible (particularly if you're a fan of rabbits) that it spawned a new term - the bunny boiler.



64 - Reservoir Dogs (1991)

Quentin Tarantino's groundbreaking bloody heist movie. Undeniably brutal, it's also very funny, the killing interspersed with sardonic asides. But no humour can disguise the delicious horror of the film's famous ear-cutting scene.



63 - Armchair Thriller (1978)

Armchair Theatre was ITV's landmark drama anthology series which went out on Sunday night in the Seventies and was a huge success. Sometimes it changed its format and called itself Armchair Thriller when it grouped together mystery and thriller plays.



62 - Suspiria (1976)

From the master of European horror Dario Argento comes a horrifying tale of sorcery, murder and dying waifs in ballet shoes.



61 - Blue Velvet (1986)

One of David Lynch's best and most controversial films, it gained particular notoriety for its depiction of Isabella Rossellini's dangerously dependent relationship with psychopathic kidnapper Dennis Hopper.



60 - Basement Jaxx's Where's Your Head At video (2002)



59 - Tales Of The Unexpected

Everyone of a certain age remembers the dancer in the flames title sequence for Tales of the Unexpected – a continuing series of one-off stories from Roald Dahl with a 'twist in the tale'. One of the episodes that caused a real buzz was Royal Jelly, in which we see Timothy West turning into a bee in front of Susan George's eyes.



58 - Candyman (1992)

Helen (Virginia Madsen), a graduate student researching urban legends, comes across the disturbing tale of the Candyman, a hook-wielding maniac who will appear and 'cut you in two' if his name is chanted five times in front of a mirror.



57 - EastEnders (2001)

From a seemingly happy marriage, to domestic abuse in the extreme, the tortuous relationship between Little Mo and evil Trevor brought us many scary moments.



56 - Marathon Man (1976)

Open wide! Idealistic graduate Dustin Hoffman gets kidnapped by ex Nazi Dentist Lawrence Olivier who mistakenly believes the young student knows where his missing stash of diamonds are.



55 - Goodfellas (1990)

Sometimes the threat of something awful happening is worse than actually watching a horrific moment on screen. Ask any fan of Scorsese's gangster epic Goodfellas which is the most memorable scene in the film, and most will point straight to Joe Pesci's "You think I'm funny?" tirade.



54 - Doctor Who - opening credits (1963)

The theme music and titles from Doctor Who were always so evocative that even the first bars of the music would send children hiding behind the sofa at the beginning and end of this popular children's drama.



53 - Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

George A Romero gave birth to the modern horror movie with this 1968 masterpiece.



52 - V (1984)

This American alien series shocked late night audiences on TV in the mid-80s with its story of supposedly friendly rat-eating aliens masquerading as humans.



51 - Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski's horror classic is literally pregnant with paranoia. Rosemary's pregnant, in love with her husband, and living in a beautiful new apartment. But a burning pain in her womb tells her something's not right



Channel 4's 100 Greatest Scary Moments,

[DB7]

50 - Hammer House Of Horror (1980)

Bleeding houses, sinister pet shop owners and gore galore - Hammer House Of Horror had it all.



49 - AIDS - Don't Die Of Ignorance (1986)

The AIDS tombstone advert was transmitted in 1986 by the Government to shock people into practising safer sex.



48 - Les Diaboliques (1955)

Michel Delasalle is a tyrant who bullies both his wife Christina and mistress, Nicole. (Simone Signoret). Having beaten the two women once too often Nicole persuades Christina that they should murder her husband. The two women lure Delasalle back to Nicole's lodgings, Christina drugs him and Nicole drowns him in the bath. They dump the body in the swimming pool for the body to be discovered only to find the next day it has disappeared.



47 - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)

A masterclass in paranoia, Don Siegel's sci-fi chiller has always been read as an attack on 50s McCarthyism in America, or conversely, on Communism.



46 - Final Destination (2002)

This is one movie that will definitely never be shown on planes. A flight loaded with US high school students is about to take off when passenger Devon Sawa has a terrifying premonition that the plane will crash.



45 - The Vanishing (1988)

Memorably terrifying Dutch tale of abduction, obsession and psychosis. Immaculately crafted, understated and compelling, this arthouse chiller become an enormous cult hit, prompting its director, George Sluizer, to come up with a markedly less effective Hollywood version in 1993. When Saskia is abducted by scientist Raymond Lemorne, her boyfriend Rex engages in a dangerous game of trust with her kidnapper in a desperate bid to get her back. It's a game Rex is destined not to win and Lemorne fashions a truly hideous fate for him - he wakes up from a drugged sleep to find himself buried alive in a coffin, using his last breath in a futile scream for help.



44 - The War Of The Worlds (1938)

The scariest piece of radio of all time, this inspired work of genius from Orson Welles sent America into a state of panic.



43 - The Birds (1963)

It's woman vs nature in Hitchcock's masterful suspense thriller, starring Tippi Hedren as an icy, unsympathetic blonde socialite who sets her sights on Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) when she comes across him buying a pair of lovebirds for his sister in a pet store.



42 - Salem's Lot (1979)

This classic American series starred Hutch himself, David Soul, as a writer investigating spooky night-time bloodsuckers in his home town. Based on the novel by Stephen King and directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Tobe Hooper, Salem's Lot also featured a fantastically creepy performance from James Mason as a suave antiques dealer whose shop isn't the only thing that's ancient and covered in dust.



41 - Ghostwatch (1992)

This BBC drama from Halloween 1992 was so realistic that viewers thought it was for real. But it was never meant to be a hoax, just a sophisticated drama about a live TX broadcast (hosted by Michael Parkinson) which saw a ghost called Pipes appear in an allegedly possessed house.



40 - The Others (2001)

Spaniard Alejandro Aménabar directs Nicole Kidman in this fabulously atmospheric supernatural movie with all the ingredients of vintage haunted house stories - an isolated mansion, borderline insanity and sensitive children.



39 - Doctor Who - daleks (1963)

Despite Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman promising that Doctor Who wouldn't have any 'bug eyed monsters', four weeks into its run the British public were introduced to the Daleks.



38 - Nosferatu (1922)

Think of the bald bony fingered vampire climbing the stairs and you’re thinking of German maestro FW Murnau’s 1922 classic.



37 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Surprisingly, Dick Van Dyke isn’t the most frightening thing about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The real villain, in director Ken Hughes’ children’s musical however, is the child-catcher.



36 - Dracula: Prince Of Darkness (1966)

Sequel to the enormously successful 1958 Hammer version of the Bram Stoker classic, with Christopher Lee turning in another star-making performance as the enigmatic blood-sucker.



35 - Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy video (1997)



34 - The Wicker Man (1973)

The best ever British horror and the film Christopher Lee is most proud of working on. The uptight, virginal Sergeant Howie, played by Edward Woodward, is sent to a small British island to investigate the disappearance of a schoolgirl amid rumours of a ritual killing.



33 - The Sixth Sense (1999)

A massive sleeper hit from director M Night Shyamalan, in which Bruce Willis tries to help a vulnerable young boy who claims to be able to see dead people.



32 - Coronation Street - Richard the killer (2003)

Over 19m viewers tuned in when Richard 'the Killer' Hillman killed Maxine in her own home, and later confessed to Gail, before kidnapping the whole family and driving them all into the canal.



31 - Judderman from Metz advertising (2001)



30 - Carry On Screaming (1966)

One of the most consistently funny Carry On films sees the old horrors of cheap British comedy sending up the cheap British horror of Hammer films!



29 - Poltergeist (1982)

Classic domestic horror movie recounting the tale of an average family whose home is besieged by supernatural forces. Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) brings his hardcore horror credentials to the film but, in a bizarre mix of movie-making styles, the presence of its co-writer, Steven Spielberg, can be felt throughout.



28 - The Silence Of The Lambs (1990)

A modern thriller masterpiece that established intellectual murderer Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in the canon of cinema's all time favourite monsters and did wonders for sales of Chianti wine.



27 - Carrie (1976)

Adapted from the bestselling Stephen King novel, Carrie is the chilling tale of a lonely high school outsider who is tortured by her deranged mother and who develops devastating telekinetic powers when she hits puberty.



26 - Jam (2002)

Jam – mmm, yummy. Sweet, sticky and utterly delicious? Not the Chris Morris version. Developed from the radio series Blue Jam, this Channel 4 series delved deep into the dark recesses of comedy and came up with something truly original.



25 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997+)

The show that proved chicks can kick ass too, Buffy provided a post-feminist role model for millions of girls as posters of star Sarah Michelle Gellar graced the walls of teenage boys'



24 - The League Of Gentlemen Christmas Special (2002)

Perhaps the most terrifying comedy series ever made, The League Of Gentlemen demonstrates that comedy and terror are sometimes separated by a very fine line. Set in the village of Royston Vasey, the surreal characters are the stuff of nightmares.



23 - The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

It's one thing to watch The Wizard Of Oz as a child, but quite another to see it as a grown-up.



22 - Scream (1996)

The film that kicked off not just a trilogy, but a whole subgenre of postmodern teen slashers, and got Halloween trick-or-treaters wearing identikit white plastic ghoul masks.



21 - Twin Peaks - the TV series (1990)

Damn fine coffee and damn scary viewing courtesy of David Lynch. When the body of a young girl named Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small town of Twin Peaks, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is called in to investigate her strange demise.



20 - Don't Look Now (1973)

Deeply chilling but moving classic of British cinema. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a couple who move to Venice after the death of their daughter Christine, only to encounter premonitions of death amid its dank off-season canals.



19 - Hellraiser (1987)

British writer-turned-director Clive Barker adapted his short story 'The Hell-Bound Heart' for his screen debut, to protect his visceral tale from incompetent hands. The result is wonderfully appalling. Hellraiser is a dark, adult horror story of glamorous, exquisite cruelty and brooding menace.



18 - 28 Days Later (2002)

Director Danny Boyle turned the zombie movie on its head with his DV-shot horror. Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Britain, "the infected" in his film are rampaging monsters that chase down the living to quench their thirst for blood.



17 - The Thing (1982)

A helicopter chases a lone husky dog across the Arctic snowscape before crashing outside an American research base. With no-one to explain the incident, the Americans, led by Kurt Russell, take the dog in. So begins John Carpenter’s classic lesson in gore, tension and paranoia, The Thing.



16 - An American Werewolf In London (1981)

Two hapless American guys lost on the Yorkshire moors end up as a werewolf snack. One survives the attack but, of course, the horror's not over for the hapless tourist - before long he's growing hair and coming over all werewolf himself in this funny and inventive take on the monster genre from John Landis. The scene in which man transforms into wolf still has the power to shock, and won the movie's make-up team a well-deserved Oscar.



15 - Friday The 13th (1980)

Jason Vorhees got his first taste of slasher movie cult status in 1980.



14 - Se7en (1995)

Who'd have thought? An absurd-sounding tale of a serial killer basing his crimes around the seven deadly sins, directed by the man behind Alien3 (David Fincher), turning out to be one of the most original thrillers of the 1990s.



13 - The X-Files (1993+)

The truth continues to be out there for agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, still investigating the more bizarre and paranormal unsolved FBI files.



12 - The Evil Dead (1983)

A group of kids go out to a house in the woods, find a demonic text and start reading. Everyone turns into demons apart from hero Ash who is left to chainsaw and shotgun blast his former buddies to death. Except they just keep comin'...



11 - Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece has passed into cinema history as the mother of all slasher movies. Janet Leigh escapes from her life as a bored clerical worker with $40,000 of her company’s money and heads for Phoenix. Caught in a rainstorm on a dark road, she seeks refuge in an old roadside motel run by the shy and retiring Anthony Perkins. There follows some of the most chilling moments ever filmed, including the now iconic scene in which Leigh takes a shower.



10 - A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven kicked off a long-running horror franchise with this imaginatively scary yarn about a dead killer who starts murdering teens in their dreams. The film introduces us to one of the 80s' most iconic movie bogeymen, Freddy Krueger.



9 - The Omen (1976)

Any Damiens out there born in the late 70s? If so, your parents must have had a sick sense of humour. The staggering success of The Omen put paid to the name for years.



8 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

We start in classic slasher territory. Five innocent kids go a wanderin' in the Texas badlands. In this case it’s to investigate reports of grave robbing. A sliding door opens …and soon little Pammy has fallen into the mechanical teeth of Leatherface’s chainsaw.



7 - Halloween (1978)

John Carpenter's horror masterpiece kicked off the slasher genre and has been much copied - most recently to ironic effect in the Scream trilogy. A six-year-old Michael Myers murdered his older sister on Halloween night in 1963 and was locked away. Years later, Myers has escaped and returns to his old town on another Halloween night to murder his way through the local teenagers.



6 - Ring (1998)

A recent Hollywood remake of Ring had audiences flocking to cinemas in the US, but no remake can match the unadulterated terror value of Hideo Nakata's original Japanese version. Depicting the horrors perpetrated by a mysterious videotape, which inflicts an agonising death on anyone who watches it within seven days, Ring is dark, suggestive and psychologically charged. In short, it's one of the 1990s' most gratifyingly unsettling movie experiences. Most terrifying moment? When you find out exactly what happens when the seven days are up...



5 - The Blair Witch Project (1998)

Smash low budget horror hit of 1999. The highly effective plot involves the audience viewing 'found' footage shot by three films students who encounter something nasty in the woods, and are never seen again.



4 - Alien (1979)

The film that gave us the action heroine, in the shape of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley. Director Ridley Scott gave us one of the great moments in horror with great special FX and some good old-fashioned nastiness. When one member is attacked by a parasite, they bring him back to the ship and he later seems to recover. Then they sit down to eat dinner



3 - Jaws (1975)

The film that left a generation of schoolkids afraid to go into a swimming pool, let alone back into the water.



2 - The Exorcist (1973)

The most successful and notorious horror film of all time has lost none of its power to shock. The story of the possession of 12-year-old girl Linda Blair had them screaming in the cinema aisles in the 70s. As her mother grows increasingly distraught with her daughter’s behaviour, she calls on the help of exorcist Max Von Sydow, so setting up one of the great battles between good and evil. Famous for its scenes in which the possessed girl vomits, screams profanity and twists her head through 360 degrees, The Exorcist fell foul of the censors in Britain and was banned here for many years. Not the Catholic Church though, they love it!



1 - The Shining (1980)

Yet another Stephen King adaptation, this one directed with great atmosphere by the legendary Stanley Kubrick. Jack Nicholson stars as Jack Torrance, a writer who takes on the job of caretaker for the winter at an isolated hotel, bringing his wife (Shelley Duvall) and young son with him. Afflicted by a severe case of writer's block, Torrance soon begins to lose his mind and it's not long before he's chasing his terrified wife around the hotel with an axe. By the time she's trapped in the bathroom, screaming with horror as he attempts to smash the door down, you sense she's near to mental collapse herself - in fact, it's rumoured that Kubrick pushed Duvall so hard during filming that she suffered a nervous breakdown afterwards.



Channel 4's 100 Greatest Scary Moments

[Colpepper]

Strewth - people actually found some of these damp squibs frightening! The mind boggles - no-one had better say "Boo"!

Maybe ten from the entire top hundred could be termed scary, the rest - not in a month of proverbial Sundays. My personal favourite has to be "The Others" - first film in over 30 years to actually send a tingle up my spine.

[DB7]

I thought The Others was something of a pale imitation of The Innocents. (good to see Eric Sykes tho)



The Blair Witch Project is the one nomination I'd object to as I found it overrated and simply not scary. A fantastic example of hype and guerilla marketing. It's no more frightening than those ghost hunt shows you find on Granada +.



Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon (there are a few nods to M.R. James in the list) and John Carpenter's The Fog are two atmospheric faves I'd have like to have seen get a mention.

[anthony chubb]

my personal fav was the birds i went to watch it in the odean leicester sq london on my own and when you came out all the birds in the trees twitering wow that was scary i got to the tube quick that day