Good Scary Movies to Rent
This is a larger version of the homepage section I wrote about good scary movies to rent. I like horror movies as much as the next guy, probably more, in fact, but finding goodhorror movies that are actually scary sometimes seems like an impossible task. And when you're renting movies at the local video store, you're sometimes subjected to a lot of direct to DVD choices.
Keep in mind that what's scary to me might not be scary to you. But I can only write about what I think are the good scary movies to rent, so you're stuck with my opinion. And if you think I'm totally mistaken or wrong about which movies you should rent if you really want to be scared, well, then go build you own site and post your list. (And some people prefer to buy horror movies.)
- Paranormal Activity (2009) - This shouldn't even be on the list, as it is not available to rent yet. But it's the scariest movie I've ever seen, so I can't leave it off the list. I saw it at the theater, and even the teenagers in the back were scared by some scenes. This is possibly one of the best scary movies you could ever rent.
Pet Sematary (1989) -This is one of the rare Stephen King movies that's actually scary. (A lot of them are laughable, actually.) Pet Sematarytouches on some taboos though, and the result is a truly scary movie to rent. It's available on Netflix on DVD.- Halloween (1978) - Don't bother with the silly, poorly-made remake from Rob Zombie. Rent and watch the original night he came home from John Carpenter. At one time,Halloween was the most successful independent film ever made. It still has the ability to scare, even after dozens of viewings.Halloween is available on Netflix in both Bluray and DVD formats.
- Night of the Living Dead (1968) - I love zombie movies of all shapes and sizes, especially some of the newer ones like Shaun of the Dead and Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake. But the only zombie movie I've ever seen that was remotely scary was the original Night of the Living Dead. Something about the low budget and the intensity of the black and white made it seem so much more real than other zombie movies. Night of the Living Dead is available to rent via DVD on Netflix, or you can watch it on your computer via their streaming video functionality.
- Prince of Darkness (1987) - Another masterpiece from John Carpenter, albeit an unsung masterpiece. Donald Pleasence and Jameson Parker star. This movie is creepy from start to finish, in no small part due to John Carpenter's musical score.
- The Omen (1976) - Who knew that Richard Donner would be a master of horror movies too? Donner's better known for movies like Maverick,Superman, and Lethal Weapon. Nonetheless, he manages to make a movie about the Antichrist legitimately scary.
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - The 1978 version usually makes all the "top horror" movie lists, but the original from 1956 is the better film. It's a little bit dated, but it's 50 years old. But it's far and away scarier than anything else that was filmed in the 1950's.
I see a lot of lists of "scariest movies ever made" that include movies like Evil Dead,Psycho, or Silence of the Lambs. I don't doubt that some of these movies are horror movies. And many of them are fine films, classics even. But were you really scared at any point in Silence of the Lambs? Is Se7en really your idea of scary? Not me.
My point is that just because it's one of the best horror movies ever, it's not necessarily a scary movie.
Just because a movie is great doesn't mean it's scary. That's why I limited this list of "good scary movies to rent" to only the films I thought were really the scariest movies you could ever rent. There are plenty of other sites who list scary movies, and I encourage you to check them out, but please remember that you came here looking for scary movies. Not just good horror movies to rent, but good scary movies to rent.
If you're interested in buying horror movies, Amazon has the lowest prices online.
