Scariest movie you ever saw?

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Years ago, I studied Psycho for a Cinema Studies class at uni, and had great fun people-watching during a screening in the lecture hall. It was really easy to tell who had seen it before and who hadn’t: about half the students were sitting back in their chairs taking notes about camera angles and whatnot as we’d been instructed to do… and the other half were craning forward whispering, “No! Don’t go up the stairs!”

My vote for scariest film, though, would have to be The Wicker Man. (The 1973 original with Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee, not the wimpy remake.)
 
Jacob’s Ladder starring Tim Robbins - There is just so much to dread in this movie. It’s the uncertainty and isolation of his experiences that is the most scary aspect.

Cube starring David Hewlett - A structure was built for an unknown purpose like a Rubik’s cube of horrors.

Se7en staring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey - The epitome of the depths of human depravity. It’s like they say “There’s nothing worse than a monster who thinks he’s right with God.” That is to mean that the true depths of evil come from people who believe their depravity is righteous.
 
Years ago I was watching Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel’s movie review show. Can’t remember what horror movie it was, but Gene was talking about sitting at this scary movie and a teenage girl who happened to be sitting next to him (they didn’t know each other) at one point screamed and buried her face in his chest! That made me laugh…I still chuckle when I think about it.

I try to avoid scary movies…I don’t like to get scared!
 
Pax2u said:
Years ago I was watching Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel’s movie review show. Can’t remember what horror movie it was, but Gene was talking about sitting at this scary movie and a teenage girl who happened to be sitting next to him (they didn’t know each other) at one point screamed and buried her face in his chest! That made me laugh…I still chuckle when I think about it.

I try to avoid scary movies…I don’t like to get scared!
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😃

Reminds me of back in '70-'71 when I was stationed at a remote Army base in Turkey. They showed Night of the Living Dead (the original) for a mid-flick, for the benefit of guys who had just gotten off evening shift. At one point, where a zombie’s arm bursts thru the kitchen good and grabs one of the normals, one of the big hairy soldiers sitting down on the front row screamed like a little girl :bigyikes:
 
colmywaykurtz said:
Without question, Angel Heart. When Louie Cypher (sp?) tells Harry Angel that HE is Johnny Favorite (the Faustian object of Harry’s investigation), and you see the doubt creeping into Harry’s mind as he looks into the mirror, it’s a moment of high terror—the notion that you can do terrible things and not even remember them. How would one navigate through such a moral minefield if that were true?

The Exorcist probably WOULD have been the most scary movie for me, IF I had seen it unedited, on the big screen, initially. I didn’t. I saw edited versions on TV for years, which eventually lost their punch after enough viewings. Never saw it unedited until some time in the mid-1990s. But it was scary enough, I can see how it must have terrified people seeing it in 1973 for the first time, unedited, on the big screen, without a clue as to its subject matter until they actually saw it. I’m glad I’m not part of that category of people.
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I saw the Exorcist when it first came out in 73 and I was barely 18 and able to get in. I was terrified and held my rosary tightly during the whole thing. And then I slept with the lights on for a week. Perhaps pictures like the Exorcist are old hat now with movies getting more explicit and bloody by the day. But in 1973 it was every scary.

The film that came next in scare factor to me was Poltergeist.

I dislike what I call vegamatic movies, movies that slice and dice and just focus on blood & guts. Like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Give me supernatural scare or give me nothing.
 
DaveBj said:
😃

Reminds me of back in '70-'71 when I was stationed at a remote Army base in Turkey. They showed Night of the Living Dead (the original) for a mid-flick, for the benefit of guys who had just gotten off evening shift. At one point, where a zombie’s arm bursts thru the kitchen good and grabs one of the normals, one of the big hairy soldiers sitting down on the front row screamed like a little girl :bigyikes:
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That’s a great story!!!
 
“A Haunting in Connecticut.”

It went like this: I was in my early 40s, it was a sunny Saturday afternoon, I was home alone. I was channel surfing and started watching it.

It totally, utterly, completely freaked me out. At my age, during broad daylight, and I was :eek:.

It wasn’t until some time later that I found out it was a popular movie. At the time I saw it, I thought it was just a low-budget throw-away cable movie for a Saturday afternoon. 😃

I saw only the last few minutes of “Phantasm,” but the very last scene still gets me whenever I think of it. What I love most about it is that the Tall Man is played by Angus Scrimm. Is that a great name for a villain, or what?
 
Psycho (the original version)

Open Water (2 couples forgotten by their charter boat when scuba diving)

The Blair Witch Project

Freaks

The Wizard of Oz (because of the evil witch and the flying monkeys)
 
Sinister was the scariest movies I ever saw

The Changeling with George C. Scott
Insidious
Woman in Black
Ju On The Grudge (American and Japanese versions)
The Believers with Martin Sheen
The Echo (American version)
Orphanage (Spanish film)
Devil’s Backbone
Rec
Quarantine
Grave Encounters
Mama
Shutter (Thai version)
The Ring (American version)

Used to love the movies by Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci but think they are rated O.

Still, Sinister is #1.
 
The Grudge and Sinister. Personally I didn’t find The Exorcist scary at all. I found it to be extremely boring and cheesy. The Women in Black was a great movie, one of my favorite horror movies.
 
I am one of those who is turned off by blood and guts - just cheap thrills. I agree w/Tarp who mentioned No Country For Old Men. That character was truly unique and for those who haven’t caught the film, it is a very thought-provoking movie. Really kep my attention.
Back to my scariest list I would put The Ring and Blair Witch at the top. I also love Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Nobody does Drac better than Christopher Lee and the Brits really know how to create great atmosphere.
My favorite all-time scariest scene comes from the 70s - Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman in Wait Until Dark. Based on a play the dialog is often laughable, but the bit where baddie Alan Arkin who you think Audrey stabbed to death and lying on the floor comes joltingly to life by launching into the air and grabbing Audrey is maybe one of the first scenes of its kind. The audience sure didn’t see this coming at the time.
Have to say I still enjoy the original Halloween, as campy as that is today.
 
andrewstx said:
I saw the Exorcist when it first came out in 73 and I was barely 18 and able to get in. I was terrified and held my rosary tightly during the whole thing. And then I slept with the lights on for a week. Perhaps pictures like the Exorcist are old hat now with movies getting more explicit and bloody by the day. But in 1973 it was every scary.

The film that came next in scare factor to me was Poltergeist.

I dislike what I call vegamatic movies, movies that slice and dice and just focus on blood & guts. Like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Give me supernatural scare or give me nothing.
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The original Halloween contains very little gore. Give it a try.
 
Wait Until Dark. Definitely. Without A Doubt.

http://http://www.slantmagazine.com/assets/film/waituntildark.jpg

I actually told it as a scary story on my Confirmation Retreat, and everyone was SOO freaked out at the end. (We were around a campfire in February, it was 55 degrees and there was a cold, foggy wind blowing off of the lake). When a log fell in the fire, everyone jumped. 😃

Afterwards, no one went back to the cabins alone…

Another super-scary movie is the Woman In Black.

SPOILERS!! 😃

What I couldn’t get over was why everyone wouldn’t just move out of the town if their children all kept getting killed by the ghost lady who’s son had died. The scariest part was when Harry Potter… Sorry, Daniel Radcliffe - dives into the muck of this crazy disgusting swampy marsh thing, and pulls out the dead and preserved body of her son, buries it with her in her desiccated tomb, all to stop the death of his five-year old son who is coming on the train tomorrow. :eek:
Guess what happens?
MORE SPOILERS!!
The woman doesn’t forgive Radcliffe or accept his apology, and then leads his son to the edge of the railroad tracks. Radcliffe dives in after the boy and they both get… basically, we see them next in an afterlife, where Radcliffe’s dead wife leads them up to Heaven.
Sweet. ;D :p:thumbsup:

but what you aren’t prepared for is the glaring shadowy, image of the ghost lady.:mad:
Gave me nightmares for a week!

END SPOILERS>

SO, in summary. Don’t watch scary movies. Ever. :eek:
 
These three are all time favorites of mine, and are really scary, I think:

The Dark, and Dark Water, and The Echo.

Here is a synopsis about The Dark:

In mourning over the tragic drowning of their daughter Sarah, James and Adèle are visited by Ebrill, a young girl who claims she died 60 years ago … and bares a startling resemblance to Sarah.

Here is a synopsis about Dark Water:

A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hole up in a run-down apartment building. Adding further drama to their plight, they are targeted by the ghost of former resident.

Here is a synopsis about The Echo:

An ex-con moves into an old apartment building, where he encounters a domestic problem involving a police officer, his wife, and their daughter. When he tries to intervene, however, a mysterious curse entraps him.

I also like The Grudge, and The Grudge 2.
 
Watership Down and The Brave Little Toaster have some pretty freaky stuff in them.

Well, freaky to the mind of an 8-year-old. And the latter has fridge horror (no pun intended) that really hits when you get older.

Love both though! 😃
 
Pax2u said:
Years ago I was watching Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel’s movie review show. Can’t remember what horror movie it was, but Gene was talking about sitting at this scary movie and a teenage girl who happened to be sitting next to him (they didn’t know each other) at one point screamed and buried her face in his chest! That made me laugh…I still chuckle when I think about it.

I try to avoid scary movies…I don’t like to get scared!
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This reminds me of when I took two mentally handicapped young men to see Aliens as a reward for helping me move. As the movie progressed to it’s scarier parts they kept getting closer and closer. By the end of the film they were practically setting in my lap! I gently nudged them away.
 
A lot of people have said The Woman in Black was the scariest movie they’ve ever seen. Did you know they’re making a sequel to that movie and it comes out on January 2nd?
 
Without a doubt, EVEN HORIZON is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.

It’s like a haunted house/ghost story in Space. Except that a space ship
literally returns from Hell, very scary!
 
NoMondays said:
Without a doubt, EVEN HORIZON is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.

It’s like a haunted house/ghost story in Space. Except that a space ship
literally returns from Hell, very scary!
Click to expand...
Correction for the benefit of those who might want to find the movie – the title is Event Horizon.
 
Session 9 was pretty scary. I just watched it over the weekend. It was a low budget movie but good anyway.
 
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