The psychological horror film, The Shining, directed by American master filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick has topped the list of the world's scariest movies.

The Shining -- a 1980 horror film, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name -- scared off the fierce competition and was chosen as 'the most terrifying film of all time', according to a poll conducted by the movie website, Totalscifionline.com.

“Nearly 30 years after its initial release, The Shining remains an unparalled study in isolation, madness and paranoia,” says Matt McAllister, editor of Totalscifionline.com. “The expansive sets, surreal visuals, and an intense performance from Jack Nicholson add up to a film guaranteed to give viewers a sleepless night.”

A gauge of the film's success has been the adoption of portions of its script in pop culture. The repetitive phrase, “All work and no play make a Jack a dull boy”, is one such phrase. Another occurs when an insanely grinning, Jack Nicholson smashes through a door with an axe and announces, 'Here's Johnny!'. Such scenes have cemented the film's reputation.

The movie stars Jack Nicholson as tormented writer, Jack Torrance, Shelley Duvall as his wife Wendy, and Danny Lloyd as their son, Danny.

The Shining tells the story of a family, which heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil spirit influences the father to turn towards violence, while his psychic son sees horrific images from both the past and future. When the hotel is cut off by a snow storm, Jack Torrance trades his soul for a drink and, attempts to murder his wife and son on the advice of a ghostly caretaker, who did the same.

Rosemary's Baby, starring Mia Farrow and directed by Roman Polanski, landed the second spot on the list of the scariest films of all time, with British cult classic. The Wicker Man, coming in third. The top ten also included Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller, Psycho, Alien (1979), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), and Jaws (1977).

MP/TG/DT