The scariest horror movies of all time

There was a moment in my childhood when it seemed like every time I surfed the channels and landed on USA, I heard Tim Currys – and it’s unquestionably Tim Currys –It played. And because, like everyone else, I’ve always been plagued by morbid curiosity, I’d linger on the two-part miniseries, up to a certain scene: Eddie, the most neurotic member of The Losers Club, is confronted by Pennywise the killer Clown, as he showers in the school locker room. Just as the ancient, transdimensional evil entity emerges from the drain (!), my frantic index finger would tap random numbers on the remote control. A naked, vulnerable teenager forced to bathe in public and taunted by a demonic Ronald McDonald? Needless to say, I stood with both feet over the drain until I was 18.

When the story was adapted in 2017, I wasn’t sure it would have the same impact on my adult self. Thanks to a bloody respectable performance by Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise and a deeper exploration of the horrific psychological wounds The Losers Club has endured – from sexual abuse to bullying – I’m once again distraught but unable to keep the channel shut with every watch switch.

As Jamie Lee Curtis said (repeated) of the Halloween franchise: “It’s a movie about trauma!” Well, I’ll be damned if there’s anything more traumatic than being a kid plagued by shitty parents, asshole bullies, and a clown in the confines of a small town . – Audra Heinrichs