Horror remains one of the most popular and profitable genres for a lot of reasons, perhaps most notably because it really makes viewers react. The best of the genre aren't really something you watch so much as something you experience, ideally something you endure and survive with a theatrical audience.

From the silent era through classic Hollywood to New Hollywood and beyond, the 20th century gave audiences iconic, legendary horror pictures that pushed boundaries and provoked conversation (sometimes even hysteria), with many of the best from the genre remaining classics to this day. The following are the most purely rewatchable horror pictures of the 20th century. To be clear, this isn't a definitive ranking by artistic merits and overall quality (though it's easy to designate all of these titles as essential, great horror films), rather a ranking by how many times horror diehards or even casual fans can watch them, over and over.

10 'The Exorcist' (1973)

Directed by William Friedkin

Based on the novel by adapting screenwriter William Peter Blatty himself, William Friedkin's supernatural thriller about a possession in Georgetown is generally regarded as the finest and most impactful horror picture ever made. As it's also become one of the most parodied and referenced movies ever as well, some modern viewers aren't fully aware of just how shocking and traumatizing it was for viewers in 1973.

For all its heaviness, and The Exorcist is a heavy film—as powerful a meditation of good and evil as has ever been filmed—it's certainly rewatchable for the filmmaking craft that holds up beautifully a half century on. The special effects still look pretty seamless, and The Exorcist has one of the best and most innovative sound designs (Oscar-winning) this side of the original Star Wars. Friedkin himself, known for his merciless candor and self-deprecation, has gone on record saying he thinks The Exorcist is as close to perfect as a film can be.

9 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

Here's a hot take, maybe. Tobe Hooper's original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has retained its shock value better than any classic horror film, even better than The Exorcist. To be clear, The Exorcist is still the final word in horror and the absolute zenith of the genre, but Texas Chain Saw, which Hooper originally, hilariously thought would pass with a PG rating (it had to be trimmed to avoid an X), is arguably even more disarmingly disturbing and reactionary when viewed these days.

Most recently emulated to exquisitely artistic effect in Ti West's X, the sweltering low-fi thriller, about youths at the mercy of the cannibal Sawyer clan, is a marvel of no-budget attention to detail. The story behind the guerrilla filmmaking here is immortalized in Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen's terrific book Chain Saw Confidential: How We Made the World's Most Notorious Horror Movie. Here is a genre film that was shocking but not fully appreciated by critics in its day. Its reputation, and infamy, only grow as time goes by.

8 'Psycho' (1960)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Here's the oldest film on this list (it's nearly 65 years old), and it's really as simple as this: Every other film on this list either would not exist without it, or at the very least would be in some way different. It is that influential, the grandpops of modern shock cinema. And it holds up like gangbusters as film history, filmmaking how-to—and pure, thrilling entertainment. The entire runtime is as carefully composed as the iconic shower scene that is undeniably the centerpiece.

Psycho is a movie that broke all the rules. From the shocking casting of Anthony Perkins as the murderous motel manager Norman Bates to the death of our heroine at the midway point to the then-shocking onscreen depiction of a toilet, it was an act of aggression upon the censors. There's never been a more impressive feat of film direction than Psycho; it's still frightening, still able to affect the heart rate.

7 'Jaws' (1975)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

At one point in time the highest-grossing motion picture ever made, Steven Spielberg's sophomore feature and international breakthrough blurs the line between thriller, horror and adventure film. But it's absolutely a red-blooded (not to mention toothy) horror picture. Its slow-burn genre-blending thrills arguably remain unmatched nearly a half-century later.

Adapting Peter Benchley's novel about three men on a manhunt—er, sharkhunt—for a great white terrorizing New England (with a script co-written by Benchley himself), Spielberg insisted upon a much more explosive (literally, explosive) ending that's a far cry from the silent ending that worked so well on the page. Jaws is a slow-burn, character-focused thriller with shocks and tension that still jolt and grip.

6 'Carrie' (1976)

Directed by Brian De Palma

As far as Stephen King genre adaptations go, it's safe to say The Shining is king. Here's the thing: Carrie is pretty much every bit as great as The Shining and even more entertaining. Like The Shining, it has formidable replay value as pure storytelling, and as a showcase of perfect filmmaking in every department.

At the peak of his powers as a voice of New Hollywood amidst peers like George Lucas and Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma had a vision for King's tale of high school torment and vengeance down to the exact budget. His muscular, flashy but never distracting steady hand complements uniformly vibrant, tender and darkly comical performances. De Palma makes a bold stylistic choice in virtually every scene here, but there's always a reason. Compare this timeless landmark with the limp 2002 and 2013 adaptations (the latter of which used the same script) and it's basically an entire course in film school.

5 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme's humanist, breathtaking masterwork from Ted Tally's bestseller is many things: it's a police procedural, arguably the best psychological thriller ever made... and a horror movie. Much of its allure is rooted in classical Gothic. Despite its grim and violent subject matter (or, honestly perhaps because of it in some cases), it's a movie that's never stopped being popular and beloved.

A lot of horror movies, perhaps especially ones rooted in our real world and not the supernatural, leave you feeling drained and beat up, maybe even unhappy. For a story heavy on serial killers, The Silence of Lambs is an oddly upbeat (not to mention heart-pounding) experience. Aside from the undeniable charm (and oh hell, fun) that erudite Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) brings to the table, a key factor for that is the hero's journey of Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster). The lambs being silenced is literally her personal, internal triumph.

4 'Scream' (1996)

Directed by Wes Craven

There are few movies in any genre as purely pleasurable as Wes Craven's 1996 meta landmark Scream. The first slasher movie of note where the characters were savvy in slasher tropes remains an irresistible blend of snarky observation and pure, savage, even celebratory terror. Pulitzer Prize winner Roger Ebert had a phrase he'd use pretty frequently: bruised forearm movie. A movie that made you grip the arm of your date. That's what this is; it's one of the best.

Opening with the humorously then bone-chillingly self-aware stalking of Drew Barrymore's Casey Becker, then concluding with the explosive "longest night in horror history" that set a record for fake blood on a set, Scream is a horror lover's dream. Its entertainment value and innovation are so remarkable that this is also a movie that transcends the genre as essential viewing for all film fans, even those who insist they don't do horror. It's an exorbitant, gleefully exhausting amount of fun.

3 'The Shining' (1980)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

The more times you watch Stanley Kubrick's aggressively scary horror masterpiece, the more its layers of genius become undeniable. Loosely based on Stephen King's book about an isolated writer's descent into alcoholism and other violence of the mind and body, the labyrinthine film is itself the subject of an uneven but compulsively entertaining documentary, Room 237.

Sometimes it's easy to forget the deafening meh that met The Shining in 1980 (Ebert gave it two stars) in its time, before that gave way to universal acclaim (Ebert added it to his "Great Movies" companion in 2006). Atmospheric in the extreme and known most for Jack Nicholson's most iconic starring turn, The Shining is an enveloping experience with seemingly infinite replay value.

2 'Aliens' (1986)

Directed by James Cameron

In addition to being one of the best-looking movies across all genres, Ridley Scott's 1979 original Alien is just perfect, from script to execution. It's the best haunted house movie ever made, with the added bonus that it's on a spaceship. The exhilarating action/horror hybrid Aliens is just as good only it's even more re-playable. There's never been a better film to watch with an audience. Over two hours and change, Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley evolves, believably, into the biggest badass in genre history. It raises the pulse.

Weaver is so good here, in fact, that she became one of few actors in the Academy's history to be Oscar-nominated for horror. James Cameron's underrated writing and very rated technical craft support a streamlined arc that couldn't possibly be more gripping, more gratifying.

1 'Halloween' (1978)

Directed by John Carpenter

In so many ways outwardly a direct descendant of Psycho (hell, the lead is a descendant of that film's lead), John Carpenter's Halloween has aged just as well as the Hitchcock and Howard Hawks movies that inspired it. As much as any film in existence, Halloween is drunk in love with movies and the craft of movie-making. Its raw, low-fi yet dazzling craftsmanship only gets better as the modern industry leans harder into the bloated $300 million blockbuster that often just looks and feels like expensive gas.

The slasher formula it generated, and the idea of a boogeyman lurking around suburbia, would go on to be run into the ground, but Halloween is a timeless exercise in the art of suspense. Aside from one classroom scene where people talk about fate, there's no subtext here whatsoever. It's simply the ultimate popcorn horror movie, a merciless rollercoaster that is designed solely to generate an emotional, physiological response. When Halloween is over, you're exhilarated. Who the hell wouldn't want to experience that over and over?