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It’s a great week to be undead. In recent years, the good, old-fashioned ghost story has been an afterthought within the horror movie community, save for last year’s hugely profitable and legitimately scary Insidious, but even that James Wan-directed success wasn’t your typical, vintage supernatural flick. Nowhere near as traditionally simplistic as two new genre flicks opening in theaters this weekend, a pair of cut-and-dry entity films that keep their afterlife-dwelling villains as conventional as possible, to strong effects.
The bigger of the two releases is The Woman In Black, an elegant, Victorian-era haunted house tale starring Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter role. Though it hardly reinvents the wheel, The Woman In Black definitely packs a few scenes genuine fear. On the smaller scale, though, is independent horror favorite Ti West’s The Innkeepers, a more comedic take on malicious haunting set inside the real-life Yankee Pedlar Inn, located in Connecticut.
With on-screen specters back in vogue this weekend, we’ve delved into some of our most scarring viewing experiences to compile the following gallery of The 25 Scariest Ghosts In Movies. Consider it a slide show for those who don’t feel like sleeping for the next few nights.
Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
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The Sixth Sense
25. Kyra Collins in The Sixth Sense (1999)
What an awful gift that little Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) has in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Cursed with the ability to “see dead people,” the kid can’t even wipe his ass without seeing a horrific ghost or two, one such spirit being Kyra Collins, a sad one he finds in a tent (the movie’s scariest scene, hands down).
Played by a young Mischa Barton, she lived her life as a sickly girl before her asshole mother mixed floor cleaner into her food to speed up death’s process. And we thought every project she’s signed onto after The O.C. has sucked for Barton.
A Christmas Carol
24. The Ghost of Christmas Future in A Christmas Carol (1951)
There have been many cinematic translations of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday story A Christmas Carol; the best, though, is the 1951 edition starring Alistair Sim as literature’s favorite miser, Ebenezer Scrooge. On his supernatural excursion toward self-discovery and happiness, Scrooge spends times with four spirits, the final of which is the Ghost of Christmas Future, and it’s by far the scariest. Mainly because of what it represents—the inevitable graveyard conclusion to Scrooge’s miserable life if he doesn’t shape up his unpleasant, insensitive act.
Insidious
23. The Goth Woman (or Man?) in Insidious (2011)
In a stroke of perverse genius, Insidious director James Wan cast a middle-aged man and dressed him in a Goth chick’s wedding dress to portray one of the scarier entities trapped in The Further, a parallel dimension where the meanest of dead folks knock about in hopes of inhabiting a sleeping, or comatose, person’s body. In a movie full of indelibly unsettling imagery, the first and last ghost we see is by far the most disturbing.
Pulse
22. The Shadow Ghost in Pulse (2001)
Impressively ahead of its time, the slept-on Japanese horror flick Kairo (or Pulse), which Hollywood remade with Kristen Bell in 2006, presents a world in which ghosts enter our world through the Internet.
It’s a fascinating allegory about how technology has slowly killed the need for actual human interaction; the spirits in Pulse are barely seen and depressed, but man are they frightening. Credit director Kiyoshi Kurosawa for his use of shadows and dark lighting to keep the ghosts largely concealed, making viewers tremble while squinting to see the film’s blurry antagonists.
Ghostbusters
21. The Librarian in Ghostbusters (1984)
A horror-comedy that’s actually funny, Ghostbusters handles its laughs so well and with such a consistency that, honestly, we could care less if any of director Ivan Reitman’s flick scares us—we’ve got every other movie on this list to do that.
Besides, the film’s scariest bit is also its opening scene, so it’s better that Ghostbusters comes out swinging. And, thanks to the above image, we’ve been too afraid to step foot into the basement levels of libraries. Which, conveniently, is where all of the dreadful romance novels are kept.
Candyman
20. Candyman in Candyman (1992)
Truth be told, the Candyman (Tony Todd) is actually a very charismatic and well-spoken ghost in Clive Barker’s exceptionally dark supernatural gore-fest. He’s suave enough, in fact, to get the film’s main character, played by hottie Virginia Madsen, to melt into proverbial putty whenever she’s around him. But his undead seduction skills don’t take away from that bloody hook for a hand, or those bees that fly out of his mouth, or all of the people he’s disemboweled.
The Grudge
19. Kayako in The Grudge (2004)
Our necks and spines hurt from just watching The Grudge, the bleak tale of a young girl who unravels a domestic tragedy turned ghostly creepshow. The dead woman behind all of the film’s eerie highlights is once-beautiful Kayako, an imbalanced lady whose husband broke her neck after discovering her infidelities.
Since her neck was snapped, Kayako’s ghost, naturally, crawls around with painful-looking contortions and inhuman moans. Something tells us that The Grudge is the scariest movie ever made for chiropractors.
Trick 'R Treat
18. The “Halloween School Bus Massacre” kids in Trick ‘R Treat (2009)
Writer-director Michael Dougherty’s vibrant anthology Trick ‘R Treat is both an underrated winner and the quintessential October 31st viewing experience. Structured in the same interweaving way as Doug Liman’s Go, Dougherty’s multi-narrative touches on various aspects of the holiday’s traditions.
One of the creepiest segments involves the ghosts of handicapped school-kids in Halloween costumes who were drowned to death after their parents paid off a bus wheelman to drive off a cliff. Sounds awful, no? Don’t worry, they get plenty of crowd-pleasing revenge.
13 Ghosts
17. The Decrepit Old Man in 13 Ghosts (1960)
The king of goofy gimmicks, horror filmmaker William Castle loved giving his audiences a little something extra for their ticket money; for 1960’s 13 Ghosts, he dreamt up Illusion-O, a trick where the screen’s hues would turn pale blue and the ghosts themselves were superimposed over the frames and only visible through viewers that were handed out to the spectators beforehand.
The thought process was, those who were too afraid to see all of the movie’s 13 spirits could watch it without said viewers, which, of course, sounds like the softest shit ever. We’re proud to say that we would’ve gladly confronted the above ghost with viewers employed and underwear steadily dry.
The Innkeepers
16. Madeline O’Malley in The Innkeepers (2012)
For the majority of its duration, indie filmmaker Ti West’s The Innkeepers is more of a lighthearted slacker comedy than a horror flick. But then we catch our first glimpse of Madeline O’Malley, the decaying, pretty-no-more, jilted bride-to-be who haunts the top-floor suite of Connecticut’s Yankee Pedlar Inn.
At one point, the film’s protagonist, Claire (Sara Paxton) wakes up next to Madeline’s spirit in bed—not even on our drunkest nights have we burrowed out of a drunken stupor to see such a ghoul sharing our mattress space. Well, on second thought…
The Shining, The Perverted Party Guests
15. The Perverted Party Guests in The Shining (1980)
By the time Shelley Duvall’s character is frantically running around the Overlook Hotel’s many hallways in The Shining, all hell has officially broken loose. Throughout her journey of sorts, Duvall finds a hacked-up corpse, sees a river of blood ooze out of closed elevator doors, and finds skeletons dressed in suits partying in the hotel’s ballroom.
But that’s all commonplace when put up against what she stumbles across on one of the upper floors: A ghost in a tuxedo getting some brains from another ghost, that’s seemingly chubby. And they don’t seem all too pleased that she’s interrupted their private moment. Even ghosts need to get off, apparently.
The Devil's Backbone
14. The Little Boy in The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
If you’re watching a supernatural movie overseen by Guillermo del Toro, there’s a great chance that either the protagonist or primary spirit will be a youngster. The jolly Mexican filmmaker credits this to his being a kid at heart, a sentiment that’d sound rather cheesy if it weren’t for his ability to deliver intelligent horror and genuine creeps. An example of which is The Devil’s Backbone’s undead kid with those black eyes and rotting flesh. Not exactly the kind of second childhood we had in mind.
Poltergeist
13. The Spider Demon in Poltergeist (1982)
The granddaddy of balls-to-the-wall haunted house movies, Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist has its fair share of apparitions, smiling corpses, and malevolent spirits. The scariest of them all, however, is what you see above, a massive, spider-like ghost that may have very well influenced the designers of the similar-looking Cloverfield monster.
The Innocents
12. Peter Quint and Miss Jessel in The Innocents (1961)
There’s nothing particularly terrifying about how morose spirits Peter Quint and Miss Jessel look in the 1961 adaptation of Henry James’ classic horror story The Turn Of The Screw—frankly, they don’t appear any different than they did when they were still breathing.
Well, except the fact that they’ve nailed the scary-as-fuck-leering technique employed by the best of cinematic ghosts. And director Jack Clayton masterfully tucked them into scenes’ frames and edges to ensure prolonged dread instead of instantaneous shocks.
The Orphanage
11. Tomás in The Orphanage (2007)
The best ghost movie of the last 10 years? It’s arguable the Guillermo del Toro-produced The Orphanage, a master’s class in blood-less frights courtesy of proficient Spanish director Juan Antonio Boyega.
At the heart of the film’s scares is Tomás, a baggy-masked apparition dreamed up by the main character’s son, as his imaginary friend. Funny, our made-up pal when we were kids looked more like Scooby Doo’s Daphne in a two-piece bikini.
The Haunting
10. The Unseen Spirits of Hill House in The Haunting (1963)
The Haunting, director Robert Wise’s accomplished variation on author Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting Of Hill House, is minimalist perfection. Not one actual ghost is physically seen throughout the film, and yet it’s endlessly petrifying, using well-timed sounds, characters’ terrified reactions, and pushed-in walls and doors to make the house’s non-living inhabitants’ presence known.
The Fog
9. Blake and his Elizabeth Dane crew in The Fog (1980)
John Carpenter receives tons of love for Halloween, and deservedly so, but, depending on our mood, the Carpenter that scares us the most is 1980’s supernatural gem The Fog.
The source of the movie’s chills: The pissed-off ghosts of a leper colony’s members who were all killed off back in 1880 by the despicable founders of the fishing town Antonio Bay. In a clever touch from co-writer Carpenter, Blake and his fellow lepers move around the community within the veil of a huge fog; as for anyone unlucky enough to find themselves stuck inside said fog, it’s swords and hooks to the entrails for them.
The Woman In Black
8. Jennet Humfrye in The Woman In Black (1989, made for TV)
In the new version of The Woman In Black, the vengeful ghost of Jennet Humfrye is rendered, in part, using CGI, so it should come as no shock that we actually prefer the naturalistic Woman in Black seen in the British, 1989 made-for-the-tube take on author Susan Hill’s creepy novel—we’re old school like that. Plus, actress Pauline Moran’s icy stare, with its faint hint of maniacal laughter, as if she knows some bad shit is about to happen, is textbook freaky.
The Others
7. The Old Woman in The Others (2001)
One of the most underrated horror films of the aughts, The Others, starring a spot-on Nicole Kidman, is a brilliant exercise in restrained scares and vintage gothic atmosphere. And it’s not without its shiver-inducing death blows, such as the above scene, in which Kidman’s frazzled mother character creeps up behind her young daughter to greet a much older, creepier, and deader entity that speaks with the kid’s voice. And causes sissy viewers to change their Depends.
House On Haunted Hill
6. The Freaky, Random Old Lady in House On Haunted Hill (1959)
If someone ever invents a time machine, one of the more random things we’d love to do is travel back to the days when perennial horror showman William Castle was debuting new flicks in packed theaters. He was a man of many entertaining, interactive gimmicks, including flying skeletons above audience’s heads and rigging theater chairs to jolt during particularly scary scenes.
As for his movies, they were funhouse experiences, too, namely 1959’s House On Haunted Hill, which includes a bizarre, inexplicable scene where one of the heroines walks down a hallway and, out of nowhere, bumps into what looks like the Wicked Witch’s frozen stunt double and glides away as if someone pushed her skateboard from behind. One of horror’s great WTF moments, for sure.
Carnival Of Souls
5. “The Man” in Carnival Of Souls (1962)
Do you love 2010’s Insidious as much as we do? Well, have a look at the inspiration behind the makeup work on the ghouls populating the film’s third act Further madness.
In writer-director Herk Harvey’s low-budget cult classic Carnival Of Souls, the filmmaker plays “The Man,” and we’re not talking about the guy who holds us down in a negative way—Harvey’s Man is the ringleader of a crew of uncomfortably happy, ballroom dancing ghosts that plague a car accident survivor.
Carnival Of Souls, like Insidious 48 years later, is proof that the most effective supernatural creations don’t need to be so damn expensive.
The Shining, The Naked Old Lady
4. The Naked Old Lady of Room 237 in The Shining (1980)
They warned him not to go into Room 237 of the Overlook Hotel, but Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) just wouldn’t listen. And at first, we couldn’t blame him; after cautiously walking into the room, Torrance sees a sexy, dripping wet, and naked woman emerge from the bathtub, and then they start making out.
But director Stanley Kubrick was never one for tender romance, so, naturally, the nudie chick suddenly turns into a revolting old hag whose loud cackles are haunting and whose sagging twos are sickening.
Black Sabbath
3. The Sapphire Ring Owner in Black Sabbath (1963)
Mario Bava, Italy’s horror trendsetter, was a master of colorful homicides and deeply impacting dread, and, in our eyes, his scariest flick is the impeccable 1963 anthology Black Sabbath, which features one of the genre’s all-time great shock moments.
It comes at the end of a segment titled “A Drop Of Water,” about a greedy caretaker who swipes a pricey ring from a recently deceased medium. The terrorizing sounds of water dropping (think the beat for Jeru The Damaja’s “Come Clean,” but unbearable instead of terrific) drive the sticky-fingered woman to madness, and then she comes face-to-face with the medium’s insane-looking ghost, as seen above.
Ringu
2. Sadako Yamamura in Ringu (1998)
As much as we love Gore Verbinski’s 2002 stateside remake, The Ring, starring Naomi Watts, the edge will always go to Japanese filmmaker Hideo Nakata’s 1998 original, which first presented, and perfectly executed, the unforgettable scene in which malicious kid ghost Sadako crawls through a television set and straight into our worst nightmares.
The Shining, Delbert Grady’s Daughters
1. Delbert Grady’s daughters in The Shining (1980)
The Shining, iconic director Stanley Kubrick’s cynical take on Stephen King’s much more optimistic supernatural novel, is stuffed with foolproof scares, so picking the best of them all shouldn’t be an easy task.
But go and ask any person on the street to describe one scene from The Shining, and we’re willing to bet that they reference the genius bit where young Danny (Danny Lloyd) joy-rides through the hallways on his toy bike, casually turns a corner, and stops before two of the creepiest little girls ever put on film (the kind that almost make us hesitate to do twin sisters).
And who can forget their oddly spoken dialogue: “Come play with us, Danny. Forever, and ever, and ever.”