Halloween is drawing near, and everyone’s in a creepy-crawly kind of mood. Whether you’re flipping channels after a Halloween party or browsing Netflix while waiting for trick-or-treaters, you’re probably looking for something terrifying to watch. Which is why Slate is proud to publish a definitive ranking of the seven most frightening films ever made. From jump scares to shivers to abject terror, these movies are guaranteed to give you nightmares.
7. Dead of Night, 1945
New York Times critic A.O. Scott picked this Ealing Studios horror film as an ideal Halloween watch in 2009, and we couldn’t agree more. It’s an anthology film, with four directors giving five ghost stories (and the narrative that ties them all together) their own individual touch. Each segment has its virtues, but the standout is Michael Redgrave playing a ventriloquist whose doll, Hugo, seems to have a mind of his own. The film’s climax, which boldly ties the stories together with nightmare logic, is justly famous. And what other horror movie can claim to have inspired a scientific theory about the origin of the universe? Though Dead of Night can be tricky and expensive to find on DVD in the U.S., it’s well worth seeking out.
6. Devil Doll, 1965
Clearly inspired by Redgrave’s sequence in Dead of Night—the “devil doll” is even named Hugo—this 1965 film is not much seen today. That’s a shame, because Lindsay Shonteff’s low-budget masterpiece still inspires gasps and screams from anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to stumble upon it on late-night TV. Bryant Haliday plays “the Great Vorelli,” a ventriloquist whose dummy is possessed by the spirit of the man he murdered. Although it never reaches the same heights as the climax of Dead of Night, by focusing exclusively on the story of Hugo and Vorelli, Devil Doll achieves a more sustained feeling of dread than its predecessor.
5. Magic, 1978
Years before the overrated Silence of the Lambs made Anthony Hopkins a household name in horror, he gave the best performance of his career as ventriloquist Corky Withers in this 1978 shocker. Working from a script by William Goldman, director Richard Attenborough used his considerable talents to pack every frame of the film with chills. Even Magic’s TV spot was horrifying—it was taken off the air at the request of parents whose children were given nightmares by the sight of the film’s ventriloquist dummy, “Fats.” The ad was just 30 seconds long, so at one hour and 47 minutes, it’s no surprise Magic is the fifth-most-frightening movie of all time.
4. Dead Silence, 2007
Unjustly condemned by critics on its release—Slate didn’t even review it—Dead Silence is undoubtedly Saw creator James Wan’s most terrifying invention. Ventriloquist Mary Shaw, played by Eraserhead’s Judith Roberts, instantly became an enduring horror icon, and her signature line (“Now who’s the dummy?”) has sent shivers down the spine of anyone who hears it for nearly a decade. But Shaw doesn’t just have one ventriloquist dummy, she has 101, making Dead Silence more than 100 times as scary as Magic.
3. The Great Gabbo, 1929
This early sound film features Erich Von Stroheim in a role that lets him play up his megalomaniacal tendencies: a ventriloquist slowly driven mad by his own act. Mismarketed on its initial release as a “singing, dancing, and dramatic spectacle,” its first audiences were horrified to behold, instead, Von Stroheim’s creepy downward spiral. Although The Simpsons’ toothless attempt to reduce The Great Gabbo’s grisly core to comedy, of all things, is better known today, it’s no exaggeration to describe it as the foundation of all modern horror.
2. You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, 1938
In George Marshall’s 1938 terror spectacular, two dummies fly above the Earth in a balloon, gazing coldly down at us. The one known as Charlie watches us through his monocle. The other smiles when he says his name is Mortimer, but his front teeth are shiny and sharp. They sit at the right hand of Edgar Bergen to judge us all from on high. We are found lacking. We are always found lacking.
1. The Howdy Doody Show, 1947–1960
The wooden man will not let the children go. The cowboy holds them still until it is time for them to sing. The wooden man says he will perform “the Kellogg’s Rice Krispies March.” He is a liar, and this is his favorite lie. As he capers and prances it becomes clear that what he is doing is not a march at all but a dance. It is the dance that led the children from Hamelin, the dance of the red shoes, and all must join. Not even the box of cereal can resist; it snaps and crackles with each foul step. The cereal tells the clown what to do, and the wooden man smiles with delight. He is dancing, dancing. He never sleeps, the wooden man. He says that he will never die.
