20 Scariest Horror Movies Of All Time

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

With a title like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a tagline (€œWho will survive and what will be left of them?€) so memorable that Rob Zombie immortalized it in song, Tobe Hooper€™s movie promises all the blood and guts in the world, but instead steers clear of splatter in favour of unrelenting claustrophobia and suspense. As the remake proved, this turns out to be to the film€™s advantage. Showy special effects tend to overwhelm character and narrative, so by keeping the blood offscreen (mostly), Hooper shows how less really is more. If he€™d gone for the sledgehammer method favoured by his competitors, then the picture would€™ve had nowhere to go. It certainly wouldn€™t have been able to build up to the dinner party sequence which, however you feel about it, is one of the wildest and craziest scenes in horror cinema.