The Top 5 Classic Scary Movies You've Never Heard Of

From the darkest depths of Hollywood comes a sampling of vintage chills and terror to expand your Horror palette...

5. The Thing From Another World (1951)

RKO Radio Pictures / Via veronicascott.wordpress.com

The first film adaptation of the novella Who Goes There?, this film has all the ingredients for truly claustrophobic terror: a small group of scientists and soldiers, a remote Arctic base, and a terrifying creature from beyond the stars. Can our heroes defeat this literally bloodthirsty Thing From Another World?

John Carptenter would go on to remake this film as The Thing, widely considered a watershed of the horror genre.

4. This Island, Earth (1955)

Universal Pictures / Via theavclub.com

A pair of brilliant scientists are pulled into a plot by an alien race to flee their besieged planet...and take ours! Fighting mutant monsters, dodging guided asteroids, and piloting flying saucers are just some of the many adventures awaiting any who come on this voyage from This Island, Earth.

This film was eventually edited down and used as the basis for Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.

3. Mad Love (1935)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Via pinterest.com

A gifted surgeon fall in love with a beautiful actress, only to discover she is engaged to another man. But when the object of his desire begs for the surgeon's help in restoring her fiancee's hands after an accident, he seizes the opportunity to satisfy his Mad Love!

The film features the work of cinematographer Gregg Toland, who would go on to shape the look of Citizen Kane, which is consistently called one of the greatest films ever made.

2. House of Wax (1953)

Warner Bros. / Via motionpictureimaging.com

A brilliant wax sculptor survives the burning of his wax museum, arranged by his business partner for an insurance payout. The sculptor debuts a new exhibit (after his former partner's totally coincidental death) featuring incredibly lifelike wax figures...just as people begin to disappear without a trace. Could they be in the House of Wax?

This was the first color 3-D film, and helped kick off the 3-D craze that swept the '50s and '80s, and has reappeared today.

1. M (1931)

Nero-Film AG / Via badische-zeitung.de

Children have begun disappearing in postwar Germany, and the mounting police investigation is making it harder for the country's organized crime families. The criminals decide it's time to open an investigation of their own, and find the person responsible for the childrens' disappearances...and mark him with the sign of M!

Peter Lorre, famous for playing villains and henchmen in classic Hollywood pictures, saw his first leading role in this picture.