For the best of gore, suspense, and thrills take your pick from our R-rated classics. To get your kids into the spirit without scaring them out of their seats, turn to our top 10 family-friendly picks.
The Rocky Horror Picture ShowFor the ultimate Halloween experience, catch a late-night showing of the raunchy musical about a couple who get lost and stumble into an alien transvestite’s castle. Make sure you don’t ruin it by watching it on video. This film is all about audience participation.
The ShiningStanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel could quite possibly be one of the scariest films of all time. The bone-chilling movie is based in an isolated hotel where Jack Nicholson and his family have moved in as caretakers for the winter. What follows is a ghostly encounter with a former hotel custodian who murdered his wife and two daughters. Beware: The eerie silence of the movie will haunt you long after you’ve hit the stop button.
The Silence of the LambsAnthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter the Cannibal will scare you into numbness. Not for the weak-hearted — the psychological thriller is a two-hour-long hair raiser about FBI agent Clarice Starling, who tries to gain insight into a murderer’s mind by interviewing psychopath Hannibal.
HalloweenA Halloween night turns deadly when a former child murderer escapes from the mental hospital and returns to his small hometown to terrorize a babysitter. Soon her friends start disappearing one by one….
PoltergeistWatch this before you go haunted house hunting this Halloween. A suburban family is visited by ghosts who play odd tricks on them, and soon the events build up to a frightening climax when the ghosts kidnap the youngest daughter.
A Nightmare on Elm Street The film that spawned six sequels and made Freddy Krueger into a household monster is still a must-watch horror flick. A group of teenagers start having dreams about a scarred man with razor fingers and soon they are brutally murdered in their sleep. The remaining teen, Nancy, realizes that she has to stay awake to survive. Good luck going to bed after this one!
AlienThis ultimate horror-sci-fi combo is an eerie look at what happens when a space crew stumbles upon an unknown planet and finds alien eggs.
Night of the Living DeadThis black-and-white film can still disturb you to death. You’ll cross your fingers for the group of people who hide in a farmhouse, trying to avoid being killed by the dead who have come back to life.
The ExorcistYou’ll know why The Exorcist is the most bloodcurdling movie ever made when you watch the brutal depiction of a 12-year-old girl possessed by an evil spirit as the exorcist tries to save her.
SevenShock, nausea, and utter fright, you’ll feel it all at the pit of your stomach while watching Seven. The intense psychological drama follows two detectives, played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, as they try to catch a maniac who plans to kill seven people, one for each of the seven deadly sins
The Rocky Horror Picture ShowFor the ultimate Halloween experience, catch a late-night showing of the raunchy musical about a couple who get lost and stumble into an alien transvestite’s castle. Make sure you don’t ruin it by watching it on video. This film is all about audience participation.
The ShiningStanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel could quite possibly be one of the scariest films of all time. The bone-chilling movie is based in an isolated hotel where Jack Nicholson and his family have moved in as caretakers for the winter. What follows is a ghostly encounter with a former hotel custodian who murdered his wife and two daughters. Beware: The eerie silence of the movie will haunt you long after you’ve hit the stop button.
The Silence of the LambsAnthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter the Cannibal will scare you into numbness. Not for the weak-hearted — the psychological thriller is a two-hour-long hair raiser about FBI agent Clarice Starling, who tries to gain insight into a murderer’s mind by interviewing psychopath Hannibal.
HalloweenA Halloween night turns deadly when a former child murderer escapes from the mental hospital and returns to his small hometown to terrorize a babysitter. Soon her friends start disappearing one by one….
PoltergeistWatch this before you go haunted house hunting this Halloween. A suburban family is visited by ghosts who play odd tricks on them, and soon the events build up to a frightening climax when the ghosts kidnap the youngest daughter.
A Nightmare on Elm Street The film that spawned six sequels and made Freddy Krueger into a household monster is still a must-watch horror flick. A group of teenagers start having dreams about a scarred man with razor fingers and soon they are brutally murdered in their sleep. The remaining teen, Nancy, realizes that she has to stay awake to survive. Good luck going to bed after this one!
AlienThis ultimate horror-sci-fi combo is an eerie look at what happens when a space crew stumbles upon an unknown planet and finds alien eggs.
Night of the Living DeadThis black-and-white film can still disturb you to death. You’ll cross your fingers for the group of people who hide in a farmhouse, trying to avoid being killed by the dead who have come back to life.
The ExorcistYou’ll know why The Exorcist is the most bloodcurdling movie ever made when you watch the brutal depiction of a 12-year-old girl possessed by an evil spirit as the exorcist tries to save her.
SevenShock, nausea, and utter fright, you’ll feel it all at the pit of your stomach while watching Seven. The intense psychological drama follows two detectives, played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, as they try to catch a maniac who plans to kill seven people, one for each of the seven deadly sins
