What Movies Scare You?

[mavrach]

Halloween is coming up, so let's discuss what movies scare us!

As much as I love horror movies, I find an extreme minority to actually be scary. Most of what you see are jump scares, which you can see coming a mile away and are just plain cheap and unearned. As for gore effects, I just see through them and pick apart how they did it (usually meat and caro syrup).

My short list:

Sleepaway Camp - [SPOILER] I saw this about a year ago and can't bring myself to see it again. The movie itself was pretty cheap, so I hate to say this, but that ending was masterful. I was 30 years old last year, and that night I had to sleep with the lights on. Something about that ending, and how it took such an innocent character and perverted her so quickly with a flashback and a reveal. And they didn't bother to show an action sequence where she's subdued, it just ends on the freezeframe of the reveal.


Mulholland Drive[b] - I've said this before a few times, but the fellow in my avatar might be the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in a movie. And what fascinates me the most about this is that [b]Mulholland Drive is not a horror movie at all. It just features this standalone scene about 20 minutes in, that you could show to anybody and completely freak them out. A guy in a diner says he has recurring nightmares about a filthy homeless man living behind the diner. They go behind the diner to make him feel better, and out slides my avatar, and the guy collapses (dies?) in fear. Fun fact: the bum is played by a woman. I wonder what it'd be like if David Lynch ever tried to make an actual horror movie.

The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre both acheived a great level of tension for me, but I can't say if that consitutes fear. Any well done movie will be able to create suspense, be it an action movie or an epic, but that doesn't necessarily make them scary, right?

[Dunnyman]

That rat bastard Pope knows what terrifies me, and he never lets me forget....

[mkiker2089]

Very few scare me. It's not that I'm super tough, put a bug in front of me and test it yourself. I just seem to have some sort of disconnect when it comes to movies. Most people develop it to different degrees i think. What scares me would be odd to others because it would have to appeal to something deeper in my psyche.

House on Haunted Hill (remake) - the scene where the woman is watching the ghosts through the camcorder and they look over at her. We were assuming it was some sort of after image until that point. Something about the jerky motion of the Dr also makes him more unnerving.

X-Men - the ending where Rogue seems dead. Yes, it's not a horror movie and all ends well so it's not a Halloween viewing option.

Resident Evil- the opening scene was exhilarating the first time I saw it. Not anymore though. As with all examples once I've seen it once it never works the same again.

[molly1216]

movies don't scare me but some scenes have creeped me out..
like Robert Wise 's The Haunting..has the scene with the banging door.
Legend of Hell House has that Electrophon music which amps up the creep factor..when the ghost is rampant and the music cranks up i get all goose pimply.

[Steve T Power]

Haven't been many, but a few that really gave me the heebie jeebies:

What Lies Beneath
Insidious - DAMN that was one freaky flick.
Below
Silent Hill

[Bryan Pope]

That rat bastard Pope knows what terrifies me, and he never lets me forget....

Damn straight.

And STP, Insidious freaked me out, too.

[mkiker2089]

I seem to recall that The Ring can be creepy if you let it. Most "horror" is state of mind. If you go to ANY movie and take it light heartedly it won't be scary at all. Just like you could go to any comedy in a bad mood and it won't be funny. If you turn the heat down, grab a blanket and some popcorn, maybe light a few candles, and let the movie sink in you have a much better chance of enjoying the tingle.

I also jumped at The Others but it's impossible to repeat. I worked at a movie theatre and a bunch of little girls bought tickets to it. I happened to be getting off work and found a seat in the half full theatre. I can't remember why but suddenly the girls all screamed at once and half the audience pissed themselves. The movie itself was so so but the experience was quite funny. I think this comes back to what Molly mentioned about soundtrack. Sounds get us often more than visuals.

Which on a side note I HATE movies that use loudness for a jump rather than actual emotion. Yes, volume can make someone jump and get a shot of adrenaline but it's not the same. Earn your scares.

I'll second Silent Hill but the game freaked me out more. I remember struggling through it and every time the scenes would turn metal I'd reach for the power button. The transforming of the environment to forebode evil was a unique idea that I'd like to see explored further. We need a remake of that one that's just a little better. The movie was good, but not great at all.

[molly1216]

I also jumped at The Others but it's impossible to repeat. I worked at a movie theatre and a bunch of little girls bought tickets to it. I happened to be getting off work and found a seat in the half full theatre. I can't remember why but suddenly the girls all screamed at once and half the audience pissed themselves. The movie itself was so so but the experience was quite funny. I think this comes back to what Molly mentioned about soundtrack. Sounds get us often more than visuals.

what he said...The Others I put up there with The Innocents (1960) super creepy but not 'scary'
it's been 40 years since a movie made me turn on the light or look under the bed...
but i can COUNT the number of times they made my blood run cold.

[Bryan Pope]

Gave this some more thought...

'Salem's Lot (Tobe Hooper) version. Certain scenes (Glick boys) play like an intense nightmare thanks to effective music and cinematography.

Insidious. As STP already mentioned. Doesn't work all the time, but often enough. And when it does... daaaaamn.

The Shining. Those twins. The man in the dog/bear suit.

Black Christmas (Bob Clark). Billy peering around the closet door.

Exorcist III. You know which scene.

[Jim_Thomas]

Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers freaks me out at times.

The Mist has its moments, mainly when you can hear what's happening but can't see.

[Gabriel Girard]

Exorcist III. You know which scene.

Yeessss! A very underrated movie IMHO.

Staying with George C Scott, I'll add The Changeling. You know the drill....

The Devil's Backbone. Best Horror movie of the 90's

In the Lovecraftian realm I'll go with John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness which will probably stand as the last good movie he directed and with Stuart Gordon's Dagon.

[Burson_Fouch]

The Haunting (Wise version), The Shining, The Excorcist, Halloween, The Thing all scared me when I orginally viewed them for the first time, but I've seen them all so many times now that I aprreciate them more for their other qualities.

Believe it or not, the scariest film I've seen, in a theatre, this year was Drive...with it's sudden unexpected flashes of grisly violence and haunting ending (face it folks, the Goslin character is dead and he's doomed to spend the rest of eternity cruising down a highway to nowhere).

[Andrew Forbes]

[●REC], The Brood, The House of the Devil, Manhunter.

[the5thghostbuster]

Manhunter.

Manhunter is only behind Ghostbusters for being my all time favourite film, and I was happy as heck to be able to pick it up on Blu Ray this week (well, save the crappy art work on it)

As for other films which scare me:

As others noted earlier, it is hard not to include The Exorcist or The Exorcist III. The former is just about the scariest film I have ever seen, and the latter is massively under rated.

While I prefer the sequels, there is no question The Evil Dead is one creepy as heck film. Dracula's Daughter I find to be superior in every way to the original film, while Freaks creeps the heck out of me. Then there is Hellraiser. Just plain ol' messed up, that one is. And brilliantly so

[Andrew Forbes]

Freaks creeps the heck out of me.

How could I have forgotten Freaks?

[Dan Mancini]

No movies scare me in the sense of keeping me up at night. But creep me out? I concur with:

Sleepaway Camp
Freaks
Insidious
[REC]
The Shining
Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

I'll add:

1408
Nosferatu (1922)
The Vanishing (1988)

[the5thghostbuster]

I'll add:

1408
Nosferatu (1922)
The Vanishing (1988)

No argument with the Vanishing or Nosferatu. But 1408...I love the first half of it, I really do. But once it starts getting into the back story of the Cusack character, it really just falls apart. A great 30 minute Twilight Zone episode could have been made out of the short story, however

[Dan Mancini]

But once it starts getting into the back story of the Cusack character, it really just falls apart.

I'm not vouching for its overall quality, just the fact that there are most definitely moments that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

[Bryan Pope]

But once it starts getting into the back story of the Cusack character, it really just falls apart.

I'm not vouching for its overall quality, just the fact that there are most definitely moments that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Agreed. For me, those moments include Cusack trying to catch the attention of the person in the window across the alley, the way the seemingly normal maintainence man practically vanishes without a word after helping fix the a/c, and the use of "We've Only Just Begun."

[the5thghostbuster]

But once it starts getting into the back story of the Cusack character, it really just falls apart.

I'm not vouching for its overall quality, just the fact that there are most definitely moments that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Ah, understood. Ignore my previous post

[The Butcher]

The first half of Jeepers Creepers was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen...then the movie continues and loses all of it's awesomness...but that first half is scary as hell.

[stypee]

That's such a tough question to answer.. Its not so much the scares but more of my reaction after the movie's over that stays with me. If a movie can leave that kind of an impression with me, than it did the job.

No matter how many times I watch The Exorcist it completely messes with my head. Just looking at Regan makes me quiver and that infamous scene in the hospital room where that machine roles around her always stays with me.

In all honesty and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this but Aftermath, the short film by Nacho Carda, really, really bugged me the first time I saw it. I just couldn't get the images and that chill of my spine. It wasn't until my second viewing that I realized how really stupid I felt thinking about the first time I watched it. and frankly nothing I had thought I experienced the first time led to its validity.

The film itself doesn't scare me but the atmosphere of Suspiria does, there's just something about it that gives me the willies.

I also recall the first time I'd expreinced Misery and trying to shake that one off me while walking out of the theatre.

There's also something about the one and only, original Nosferatu that to this day brings chills up my spine. I think it has more to do with the time it was made, the incredible performance by Max Schreck and the really impressive make up.

[Future Man]

Alien
I've seen it too many times to count so of course the impact is no longer what it once was, but still there are so many scary scenes (I'm not afraid to use that word)..the scene with Dallas in the airshaft for instance..forget about it.

For bone-chilling dread, The Innocents never seems to lose its impact. Especially the woman in the reeds...I literally get a chill every time.