Sure, Hitchcock gets a lot of play, but what about the most recent spook-fests to hit our screens?
"Jaws"? Yes, we know. "Night of the Living Dead"? So we've heard. The classic scary movies have been haunting our nightmares and holding steady to the top spots on countdowns for years. But the past 10 years have given us a handful of new classics that have earned their place on our Top 10 for many scary reasons. From a new, nicknamed group of directors to new genres of horror, these are the Top 10 best scary movies of the past 10 years.
10. "Freddy Vs. Jason" (2004)
This might seem like a wacky way to start our countdown, but for some reason this peculiar pairing of "creepy guy" juggernauts is so campy it works. The "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" breed of shock horror is also all still there.
9. "House of 1,000 Corpses" (2003)
Thanks to the overwhelming gore and creepy content, Rob Zombie transitioned from heavy metal singer to horror film director. This 2003 gore-fest earned Zombie a position in the "Splat Pack" with the gross-out kings responsible for "Wolf Creek", "Hostel" and more.
8. "The Blair Witch Project" (1999)
Okay, so nobody fell for the hoax that this was "found footage," but if you happened to be a 16-year-old girl who watched this then spent the night in the woods, it was still pretty freaky.
7. "The Descent" (2005)
This super-scary sleeper was completed in 2005 but didn't hit the screens until 2006. The all-female cast of main characters lurks about a dark cave for the bulk of the film, but about 45 minutes in, things get intense. Love the strong-women angle!
6. "Shaun of the Dead" (2004)
While this put British comedic actor Simon Pegg on the American map, and while it is utterly hilarious, it's also pretty scary! Alongside the gags are enough blood and guts to make you REALLY gag.
5. "The Ring" (2002)
This one took a few years off our lives it was so scary. This remake of a Japanese import spurned a host of similar films like "The Grudge," but also led many college-aged girls to sleep with the lights on for months.
4. "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 twist-ridden hit was so good it got an Oscar nod. It was also so creepy, it gave a whole bunch of people a newfound fear of the dark. Even though the famous line "I see dead people" has been roasted many times, this is a frighteningly good flick.
3. "28 Days Later" (2002)
This took zombie films to a whole new level -- zombie movies with no zombies in them. Jim wakes up in an abandoned London to find that mostly everyone is infected with a disease that makes them zombie-like. The difference is that "the infected" are like zombies, but their beating hearts keep them from being so. Metaphorical ... and terrifying!
2. "The Strangers" (2008)
In a genre seemingly driven solely by gore these days, "The Strangers" manages to pull something off that hasn't been done in a long time: the "BOO! AHH!" effect. This movie is creepy for the plain and simple fact that there is a man in an ugly mask standing behind you waiting to make you jump and scare the bejeezus out of you.
1. "Saw" (2004)
The freak-out factor of the first one in 2004 was so intense, they needed to make four more after. The jigsaw legacy is back for a final time this Halloween,, so watch your step or you could end up in one of his traps.
You Tell Us: What scary movie makes YOUR top 10 list?
