"Lights Out" and 13 other terrifying movies of all time

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Writer: Casey Chong

To coincide with the highly-anticipated release of "Lights Out", see our brief intro and expectations of "The Conjuring's" James Wan produced horror as we also handpick the 13 most terrifying movies of all time that sends cold shivers down our spines!

"Lights Out" (2016)

You're about to go to bed and you switch off the lights. And then, you think you see something. Is it a shadowy figure standing in the dark? You get curious and turn on the lights again. Everything looks normal. But then, when you turn off the lights you see the same shadowy figure again, so you turn them back on and... BOO! That was the premise for David F. Sandberg's "Lights Out" at the 2013 BC Horror Challenge. Not only did 2.5-minute terrifying short won plenty of accolades, but also caught Hollywood's attention and prompted him to make a feature-length debut of the same movie with James Wan ("The Conjuring 2") attached as one of the producers. If the short film and trailer are anything to go by, then this might just join the ranks as one of the most terrifying horror movies out there!

"The Exorcist" (1973)

Horror movies about demonic possession and exorcism were a dime a dozen, but William Friedkin's 1973 seminal classic of "The Exorcist" remained the undisputed genre of its kind till this day. Already a successful filmmaker following his Oscar triumph two years prior via "The French Connection", Friedkin successfully blended classic themes of good vs. evil while touching on the subject of faith and religion with engaging character moments. The centrepiece of this horror classic was the terrifying finale where Father Karras (Jason Miller) and Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) performed an exorcism together against the possessed child, Regan (Linda Blair, in her most iconic role ever). Although four decades has passed since the movie's original release, that particular scene still gave us the goosebumps.

"The Thing" (1982)

Forget about the ill-advised prequel of 2011's "The Thing". John Carpenter's 1982 remake of Howard Hawks' "The Thing From Another World" remained the real deal. Back then, "The Thing" was a box office flop during its original release but later emerged as a horror classic. The movie, which centred on a group of scientists (led by Kurt Russell's MacReady) in the remote Antarctic research station encountering an alien parasite, was famously known for Rob Bottin's groundbreaking creature effects. The effects were both imaginative and gruesome. In fact, they were all impressively designed long before the emergence of the CG era. John Carpenter, who was still on the peak form with "Halloween" four years prior, successfully combined paranoia and fear of the unknown while brimming the screen with enough claustrophobic tension. Not to forget also was Ennio Morricone's minimalist yet chilling score that made the movie all the more eerie to watch for.

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Cinema Online, 20 July 2016