10 Scary Movies That Are 40+ Years Old and Still Hold up Today

A small shore town in California is beset by supernatural happenings right before a mysterious fog appears, killing everyone it encounters. The murderous fog soon covers the entire town, trapping and killing its inhabitants. It's left to a small group of residents to face the ugly truth about their town's past if they hope to survive. As a weather event, the fog has never looked so menacing.

This two-part television miniseries based on the novel 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King is about a writer who becomes a vampire hunter after returning to his Maine hometown and discovering the residents are becoming vampires. Salem's Lot is one of those movies you don't watch at night when you're alone. Or any time of day when you're alone.

A monstrous alien with no known vulnerabilities systematically picks off the crew of a cargo spaceship. Even though the entire movie takes place in outer space, the ensemble cast's realism and chemistry help to make this science-fiction horror flick feel relatable, which is the biggest scare of all, second only to the dining room scene with Kane.

John Carpenter's tale of a teen babysitter and her friends stalked by a ruthless, seemingly unstoppable killer didn't rely on special effects to make it scary. The banality of the characters and setting makes it such a petrifying movie to this day. If such horrific crimes occur in middle-class suburbia, they can happen everywhere.

Considered by many to be Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film, Psycho made Norman Bates and the Bates Motel household names. The random acts of violence committed without warning still make even the most devoted horror mavens jump out of their seats.

Adapted from William Peter Blatty's novel of the same name, the disturbing sights and sounds of a young girl's demonic possession and her mother's desperation to save her leave audiences shaken 50 years later. The 2000 director's cut includes the terrifying spider walk scene.

Another Hitchcock masterpiece, this time about birds viciously turning on humans and subjecting them to lethal attacks, has caused generations of fans to see birds in a different light. The imagery alone is enough to invoke nightmares.

Skipping the high school prom seems like a good idea after what happened to Carrie White in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's supernatural horror novel. The story of an abused, bullied teen with telekinetic powers continues to be sad and terrifying. Then there's that closing scene, which is the stuff of nightmares.

The cult classic starring an adolescent, Jodie Foster, is about a brilliant 13-year-old girl who's keeping a lot of dark secrets is scary because of the lengths she will go to protect her privacy. What makes it even more alarming is how empathetic she is to the audience and how easy it is to justify her actions.

A lone driver on a business trip is menaced by an unseen driver in a semi-truck. If that isn't menacing enough, the trip mostly takes place in the backdrop of the desolate Mojave Desert, where no one is there to help or save the businessman from his unshakable antagonist. This movie makes you think twice about driving alone for long distances in isolated areas.

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