The film that frightened me most
Psycho: the film that frightened me most
Joe Queenan wraps up our Halloween series by reluctantly remembering an unwise solo outing to the cinema when he lived alone on the sixth floor of a strange Parisien apartment block
Watership Down: the film that frightened me the most
A prescient bunny with apocalyptic visions leaves a young Phil Hoad terrified and turning tail out of a Newcastle cinema
Eden Lake: the film that frightened me most
Alex Hess: a slasher flick that swaps self-consciousness for societal fears and sadistic gore
The Orphanage: the film that frightened me the most
JA Bayona's 2007 horror flick still makes me scream like a banshee after three viewings, as much for its real human terror as for its supernatural shocks
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the film that frightened me most
The rustic horror classic drags Xan Brooks back – kicking and screaming – to a terrifying childhood encounter with a west country farmer and a sliding steel door
The Shining: the film that frightened me most
It wasn’t so much the axe-wielding maniac, the twins or the corridor of blood that left Peter Kimpton sleepless, but that he began to doubt his own eyes on first view of Kubrick’s classic
Blair Witch Project: the film that frightened me most
Steve Rose: Entrails, ghosts, devil-worshippers: horror films generally leave me unperturbed. But in 1999 a new genre in a dark cinema left me absolutely terrified
The Sixth Sense: the film that frightened me most
Haley Joel Osment, bathroom doors and creepy hallways … a pre-adolescent sense of bravado ensured Sian Cain’s night-time loo visits are now dripping with fear
Ring: the film that frightened me most
Japanese cult horror Ringu scared Stuart Heritage (and a whole houseful of his friends) rigid. He tells all in the latest of our Halloween series
Threads: the film that frightened me most
In the first of a new Halloween series, Peter Bradshaw reveals he was a shivering wreck for weeks after watching Mick Jackson’s post-nuclear masterpiece. Just don’t call him a baby …
