This is the scariest movie ever. Most people confuse being "terrified" with being "startled" --true terror is harder to accomplish while it is easy to startle someone with a sudden blast of music or something jumping out at you. The Exorcist made you think and there are subtle points in the movie that still haunt me years later. Two of the most terrifying scenes in the movie: Father Karras is in the room with "it" and hears a familiar voice say "can ya spare a quarter for an old altar boy father?" --it was the voice in the subway at the beginning of the movie when Karras was about to board the train. The other scene is when Karras enters the room and seems HIS DEAD MOTHER sitting there on the bed staring at him in the brightly lit room. Come on!!! No scene in Halloween comes even close to that stuff!!! The rest of the movies on this list are relatively simple-minded!