Consider yourself warned: Do not watch these movies alone.
The Haunting (1963)
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Nelson Gidding
Those who assume classic black-and-white horror can't offer the same thrills of more modern offerings should check out The Haunting. (The original, of course — not to be confused with the 1999 remake, which is just scary-bad.) Based on the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House, the film is your standard story about a mansion haunted by a vengeful ghostly presence. But the conventions it helped make mainstream are just as scary now as they were then.
MGM
Repulsion (1965)
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Written by: David Stone
The true horror of Repulsion is that it's not clear how much of the threat Carol (Catherine Deneuve) faces is real — and how much is just a product of her neuroses and overactive imagination. Her descent into madness and paranoia plays out in the house literally crumbling around her (something only she can see), and in her brutal, violent outbursts against men who get too close. It's a complicated psychological portrait that's harrowing no matter which way you slice it.
Criterion
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Written by: Roman Polanski
Another psychological thriller from Roman Polanski — there's no denying his mastery of the genre. Rosemary's Baby stars Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse, a woman who suspects that her unborn child is the spawn of Satan, and that her family and friends are conspiring against her. It's the latter that really gets under your skin. The violation Rosemary endures is horrible, but it's made all the worse by her inability to trust anyone, least of all her husband Guy (John Cassavetes).
Paramount Pictures
The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by: William Friedkin
Written by: William Peter Blatty
Evil children will always be scary, and it doesn't get more evil than Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) in The Exorcist. To be fair, it's not Regan's fault — she's possessed by the demon Pazuzu, who is determined to exact revenge on Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). Everything possessed Regan does is the stuff of nightmares: her deep, guttural growl; her shocking sexual candor; and, yes, her green vomit. No exorcism film has ever come close to the original in terms of sheer terror.
Warner Bros.
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