10. “Quartier de la Madeleine” (from Paris Je t’aime)

Directed by Vincenzo Natali

It’s a little surprising that an anthology film that has a segment from Wes Craven in it still bestows the title of “scariest short” to another director. Yet, Vincenzo Natali has steadily proven his name in that area with his recent work on the final season of Hannibal being a grand indication of what he’s capable of doing.

Here, in a piece that’s entirely bereft of dialogue, a lonely man played by Elijah Wood tries to attract the attention of a comely vampire, personified by Olga Kurylenko. He wants to be turned into what she is, but his attempts go terribly awry in the best possible way. Natali also shoots the piece with an incredibly muted color palette so when blood is spilled, it looks ultra vibrant and full of the life that these creatures associate it with.

9. “They’re Creeping Up On You” (from Creepshow)

Directed by George A. Romero

A germophobe’s worst nightmare, “They’re Creeping Up On You” depicts a very Howard Hughes like individual slowly losing his mind over meticulousness in his hermetically sealed bubble of an apartment. A cockroach infestation would be a bad day for anyone, but for this individual, it might literally be his hell. You truly get a sense of how pained and uncomfortable this guy is through all of this as he battles for cleanliness, and the final reveal of where the cockroaches have gone is one of the more upsetting visuals to come out of the entire movie.

8. The Eye” (from Body Bags)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

Body Bags is a weird movie due to the bonkers “host” of the film that John Carpenter plays; he’s one part Crypt Keeper and two parts the Genie from Aladdin. Bizarre hamminess in the framing device aside, there’s some great stuff hiding in here if you give it a chance.

“The Eye” sports an incredible performance from Mark Hamill as he brings a mediocre story to scary heights. Hamill plays a baseball legend whose career is cut short prematurely after he loses an eye in an accident. A transplant miraculously comes along, but as you might suspect our hero soon starts adopting the homicidal tendencies that its former owner was so driven by. The story moves much how you’d expect, but the practical gore work that’s done to Hamill is amazing and the perfect extra dose of insanity to an already unhinged performance.

7. “…And All Through the House” (from Tales From the Crypt)

Directed by Freddie Francis

Before Tales From the Crypt was creating anthology madness on HBO in the ‘90s, it was one of Amicus’ better British horror films from the ‘70s ruling the subgenre. Pulling from EC Comics for its inspiration, this film highlights a number of the choice stories from that illustrated line.

The “homicidal Santa” concept is a fascinating one due to its utter simplicity of perverting this deified figure. The story is strengthened by the family in peril having their own crimes to hide too, and therefore not contacting the police for help. There’s a real ferocity in how this story’s presented and its unwillingness to hold back. It’s an idea that’s so effective that the Tales From the Crypt television series would take their own crack at it (and directed by Robert Zemeckis, no less).

6. “Amelia” (from Trilogy of Terror)

Directed by Dan Curtis

Trilogy of Terror is a rather interesting anthology that acts as a starring vehicle for Karen Black, who plays a woman in distress in all three segments. While the other two are largely forgettable, “Amelia” is deeply unsettling, and I was not surprised to learn that there’s a deep well of people who had once seen this piece, with certain visuals sticking in their mind, but not realizing that they had watched it.

The short (which feels more like a haunting one-woman play) depicts Black picking up a Zuni, voodoo-like sort of doll as a gift. However, upon bringing the trinket home, it comes to life and begins terrorizing her. Richard Matheson’s legendary script work helps elevate “Amelia” into a larger meditation on mental illness, but at its core it’s just frightening watching a woman get attacked by a tiny predator. Even the noises that the creature makes are bloodcurdling.

Plenty of the attack scenes are full of scary stuff, but the crowning moment is no doubt the piece’s conclusion. Black channels some powerful stuff as you see her taken over by the figurine’s spirit, with the final images of her being as powerful as the closing shot in Body Snatchers or A Clockwork Orange.

5. “The Drop of Water” (from Black Sabbath)

Directed by Mario Bava

Before “Black Sabbath” was blaring out of your ear buds, it was some cutting edge and influential Italian horror cinema. “The Drop of Water” is no doubt the most chilling segment from the film, which looks at a woman who steals a ring from a corpse that is about to be buried. The ensuing haunting is very effective work, and you’d never think that you’d be so frightened from the sound of dripping water (seriously). The minimalist work done here by Bava is great, but it’s the work that’s done on the relentless corpse that’s the true masterpiece. They don’t rot them like that anymore!

4. “Sweet Tooth” (from Tales of Halloween)

Directed by Dave Parker

Tales of Halloween crams 10 stories into its runtime with the results being considerably mixed. Indeed, the level of quality between shorts fluctuates wildly at all times. But Dave Parker presents a scary and concise segment with “Sweet Tooth,” giving us a modern Halloween urban legend about a candy-craving youth who died and is out on a rampage.

The strengths in “Sweet Tooth” don’t lie in the monster effects (which isn’t to say that Sweet Tooth isn’t sufficiently frightening), but rather the messed up concept of this monster being so hungry for candy that he’ll literally rip out your intestines to get every last piece. That is a terrifying idea and one that will now hopefully pop into your head next time you’re chowing down on Mars Bars.

Trick ‘r Treat: The Halloween Schoolbus Massacre from Michael Dougherty on Vimeo.

3. “The School Bus Massacre Revisited” (from Trick ‘r Treat)

Directed by Michael Dougherty

Michael Dougherty created something special with Trick ‘r Treat. And that confidence applies not only to the film’s macabre unofficial mascot, Sam, but also to the sheer unflinching nature that all of the stories in this anthology operate with. Any of the shorts contained here would be suitable additions to this list, but there’s something particularly chilling about the utter callousness of “The School Bus Massacre Revisited.”

further reading: 13 Horror Movies That Take Place on Halloween

While the other segments may showcase big moments like werewolf transformations and poisonings (and granted, this one still does have a ghost attack from the undead), the most disturbing thing out of the whole film is probably the story presented here where a bunch of parents paid to have their mentally challenged children drowned in a bus crash to “relieve them of their burden.” The segment hits all of its marks, and the way in which this piece connects to the rest of the larger narrative is inspired. Now, if only that long-gestating sequel could get into production.

2. “B-17” (from Heavy Metal)

Directed by Barrie Nelson

Heavy Metal might not have been your first thought when you came to this list, but after watching Nelson’s “B-17,” I defy you to tell me that it doesn’t belong on here. First off, the thing is written by Alien’s Dan O’Bannon, and that alone should give it the horror cred necessary to get you off its back.

Furthermore, “B-17” is a fun and creative take on zombies, and the Heavy Metal universe is a great place to explore the concept. The titular B-17 bomber’s dead crew being brought back to life as the undead is effectively done, but seeing the bomber end up in the airplane graveyard during the closing moments is an even more devastating visual. This is just such a slick piece to watch, with the soundtrack only adding to all of this.

1. “Ventriloquist’s Dummy” (from Dead of Night)

Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti

You’re probably not familiar with Dead of Night. And if not, it’s time to change that. This is even one of Scorsese’s favorite horror films, and do you think you’re better than him?

No matter what, however, it’s likely that you are still familiar with the “Ventriloquist’s Dummy” story from this movie. Largely seen as the archetype for the “killer dummy” category of horror, not only does this piece pull off the dummy effects well, and inject the right amount of creepiness, it also immediately ditches the typical conventions in this sort of story and puts everything on the table from the start. It’s one of the better dummy stories out there, and the fact that it’s also one of the earliest ones is proof of its power.

Also worth your time: “The Tunnel” (from Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams), “Drawn and Quartered” (from The Vault of Horror); “S is for Split” (from The ABCs of Death 2); “The Man Who Collected Poe” (from The Torture Garden); “The Case of M. Valdemar” (from Tales of Terror); “The Ledge” (from Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye); “Hoichi the Earless” (from Kwaiden); and Federico Fellini’s “Toby Dammit” (from Spirits of the Dead).

You now have all of the necessary weapons in your arsenal to form quite the formidable horror mix tape. Also, with it seeming like there will be no short supply of content to add to this list in the coming years, why not curate your own to perfection? You can group the similarly themed ones together, arrange them chronologically, place them from least goriest to hemophiliac massacre, and create any other combination that leads to a terrifying Halloween viewing party.

So how about it? What are your favorite horror anthology segments that didn’t make the cut?