[oh8eleven]

Arness as the Thing was really the scariest movie I saw as a child
I also have to throw in Vincent Price movies of the same era: The Tingler, House on a Haunted Hill, Fall of the House of Usher, etc. Great stuff.
I hold these movies and many others (eg, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds) in such high esteem that I never watch the remakes. Never.
What makes them all so special too is how much "terror" they created without the use of gratuitous violence, gore and profanity.

[laconic]

Yes, House on Haunted Hill was terrifying, although the ultimate plot was really quite well thought out. The weird guy who appears as an appartion at the end of the movie was extremely odd; don’t remember the name of the actor.