Interesting list, & some dead-on choices here.

I believe the ending of Island of Lost Souls to be the most horrifying finale ever put to film. What was Moreau thinking, mentioning the house of pain right then?!

Although I didn't see it till years later, Rosemary's Baby was released when I was about 10. It coincided, roughly, with Simon & Garfunkle's "Scarborough Fair". I thought the refrain, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme" had something to do with the posters that admonished us to "pray for Rosemary's baby" & that was scary somehow.

Shining? Maybe a great film in its own right, but no one could have filmed some of King's scariest passages because they relied on inner monologues, perceptions. Kubrick tried with room 237 (was that it? not going to look it up). I think he did make the encounters with Lloyd & Grady more menacing then in the the book. But I think many King fans were disappointed. At least initially.

Jaws? Yeah. Great film. Perfect film. But it's not hard to scare people when in an alien environment like water.

The Haunting? Maybe the best haunted house movie ever, even though I don't believe Hill House was haunted. As Shirley Jackson implies in her opening paragraph, Hill House wasn't sane; it didn't dream; it was more a mirror that reflected what was brought to it, including Eleanor.

The Innocents? Another fine film. Slow burn.

Haven't seen Jekyll & Hyde.

To me the scariest film ever when I was 9 or 10 was The Crawling Hand. No idea why. Just that hand, I guess. My parents got so mad at me for watching it.

Then there's the F. Marion Crawford short story, The Upper Birth. That shit will murder sleep at any age!

Did they ever try to film it?

Nice work...