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About Thoth-Amon the Mindflayerian choices:
Lets Scare Jessica to Death scared the crap out of me duing the lake scene.
YES!
Prophecy
Person in a sleeping bag being atomized against a tree, and the resultant downy cloud spooked me to no end as a kid.
Absolutely terrifying to a kid.
Evil Dead I
The first one was acutally quite scary.
Evil Dead II
This was was so much better made, and while bent as all get out, it didn't actually scare me. I saw it before I saw Evil Dead 1.
I'm partial to The Shining, though I'm not sure if I'd call it the scariest movie ever. It is a really good movie though.
Someone mentioned those Ernest movies a page back, and I actually recall one of them (whichever one had the troll that petrified people) that scared me when I was very little.
There was some scene where a girl is afraid of the troll, so she looks under her bed for it and instead finds her teddy bear or something. She picks it up, hugs it, and rolls over in bed...only for the troll to be suddenly right in the bed next to her.
That scared the crap out of me as a kid...not immediately, mind you, but when I went to bed and thought about rolling over...
Killer Clowns From Mars.
I was forced to watch it when I was about 5 by a babysitter. I was afraid of clowns for about...13 years. I can't watch it today and clowns still give me the heeby-jeebies.
I can't deal with 'horror' video games. I get so nervous and tense, then something jumps out at me, I yelp and drop my controller and then die. It all started with Castle Wolfenstien, man. Seriously.
p.s. I have a board twin!
For some reason, Child's Play and all of those movies freaked me out as a kid. I think it was a combination of 1. scuzzy video store in my neighborhood with huge cardboard cut-out of Chucky and 2. whole bunch of scary dolls and things lying around the house.
Now looking at my penchant for drawing creepy babies and caterpillars with the heads of infants, I realize that it's all just an attempt to deal with Chucky.
Killer Clowns From Mars.
I was forced to watch it when I was about 5 by a babysitter. I was afraid of clowns for about...13 years. I can't watch it today and clowns still give me the heeby-jeebies.
I can't deal with 'horror' video games. I get so nervous and tense, then something jumps out at me, I yelp and drop my controller and then die. It all started with Castle Wolfenstien, man. Seriously.
p.s. I have a board twin!
See now that was a great comedy schlock film. It shows just how much you can accomplish with a little bit of money and a lot of art direction.
Saw Terminator 2 at a baby sitter's house. Not really horror, but I had nightmares of the terminator head staring at me through my bedroom window for months after that... O o
That and I developed a deep-seated worry of dying in an atomic blast that resulted in me waking my dad up at odd hours of the night asking really weird scientific questions. Crap, I was a really weird kid!
I haven't really been scared by a movie since I was 5 and watched The Amnityville Horror. Too much for a 5 year old, but I loved the sensation and wound up hooked.
There have been several mentioned on this thread that I have really enjoyed. The Shining was great, The Exorcist was great, The Changeling was great, Event Horizon was great, etc. One that I absolutely loved, however, was the Exorcist III. The second one was such crap that most people didn't bother with the third one. Brad Dourif was brilliant in this film. And George C. Scott wasn't too bad, either. This one has actually clawed, scratched, and bitten its way to the top of my favorites list. If you haven't seen it, watch the first Exorcist and follow it up with The Exorcist III.
One movie that seems to be a favorite here that I never really cared for was The Thing. To me, it seems to just be a lesson in how stupid humans can actually be. (OK guys, there is an alien here that can look just like any one of us. Let's split up and look for it. Oh, man, it just killed Larry. Let's split up again and look for it. I guess it will just kill us all one at a time if we don't stick together. Let's keep splitting up and looking for it.)
Exorocist III. A great sequel which built upon the original story.
Contains the scariest scene for me. It literally makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
** spoiler omitted **
Oh yes indeedy. They really took the necessary time to set that one up. That scene was a shocker, and then the old folks crawling around on the ceiling. Very well done.
Watership Down scared me as a kid...specifically the scene where one of the rabbits is buried under the dirt and rises up to surprise and attack the king of the evil rabbits. That in itself wasn't the scary part. I distinctly remember being freaked out when we left grandma's house after watching it. It was dark outside and I just knew that a rabbit was going to jump up out of the dirt and attack me.
As a youngster, I saw the Exorcist when it first came out, but wasn't scared. I had read the book prior. I did find Jaws scary, though. Just the simple scene of those barrels popping up when you least expected. Since then I haven't been particularly impressed by horror - it does seem to be more gore. I did find the remake of Amityville Horror with Ryan Reynolds to be a good thrill. He was really creepy in that movie, good job.
Watership Down scared me as a kid...specifically the scene where one of the rabbits is buried under the dirt and rises up to surprise and attack the king of the evil rabbits. That in itself wasn't the scary part. I distinctly remember being freaked out when we left grandma's house after watching it. It was dark outside and I just knew that a rabbit was going to jump up out of the dirt and attack me.
My friend told me he saw it as a kid, expecting a bunny movie, and was seriously scarred.
Watership Down scared me as a kid...specifically the scene where one of the rabbits is buried under the dirt and rises up to surprise and attack the king of the evil rabbits. That in itself wasn't the scary part. I distinctly remember being freaked out when we left grandma's house after watching it. It was dark outside and I just knew that a rabbit was going to jump up out of the dirt and attack me.
All I remember of that movie is blood.... O O
I would have to vote for Blair Witch Project. I don't even want to admit how much that movie scared me.
Interesting thing about Zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, etc.--I don't really find them that scary, but I *love* them. I've never seen a bad zombie movie. I love the scenarios and situations they pose. As a gamer, particularly, I like picking apart the protagonists' decisions and thinking how I might handle the same situation.
And 28 Days Later was scary, too. But not technically a zombie movie, in my opinion.
Another one I just thought of is Sixth Sense. Sadly most of the M. Night Shamalyan (sp?) movies have been downhill since.
I liked Signs... When Mel breifly spots one on top of his barn and sits up straight in his bed is pretty creepy. The scene where they actually see an alien for the first time on TV is very powerful.
Ultradan
Actually one of the movies that scared me the most was Kids. But as far as the scariest horror movies ever, I would have to go with titles that have already been mentioned:
And one that has not been mentioned, yet:
This movie is genuinely creepy using nothing more than sound effects, acting, and camera angles. This is a lesson that more horror movie directors should learn, imo.
Cos
"I know the supernatural isn't supposed to happen, but it does happen."
The Haunting I refer to the 1963 version and not the laughably stupid, bad-CGI-fest, 1999 version.** spoiler omitted **
Saw that one when I was seven. Probably shouldn't have. It lived up to its name.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, so I'll add...
Quoting from what I wrote in the cult films thread:
I saw John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness with my mother. The second time I saw it my girlfriend was watching it beside me in a dark bedroom. 30 minutes before the end I excused myself and went to fill my mouth with water. I returned and said nothing. I waited until the end of the film and then went in for a kiss whereupon I shot my water down her throat. This is unsettling enough as is, but coupled with the "I spit pure liquid evil into your mouth" device in the film... it was a typical Jade-psychologically-cripples-a-girlfriend good time.
while technically not a film the episode of doctor who called blink scared me,it was well filmed and scripted and i bet it gave kids everywhere nightmares
As far as TV episodes go, the X-files episode titled "Home" surpassed scary and landed squarely in disturbing.
In fact, it is so scary and disturbing that it was brought up on the floor of Congress as an example when they were debating the need for TV ratings. Reruns of the episode (before it was banned outright) got the TV-MA rating.
When I was eight I watched an episode from the old outer limits from the 60's where two people made their way into an ghost town military base in a SW desert.
There were these sixteen inch stop-motion ants with human faces and big evil eyes. Had me scared. Minutes later, my mother fed me some hippie food and thought it funny to say, "Now try this, on the side, I'm not going to tell you what it is."
Two hours later I sat before the plate, positive that mom had fed me larval flies. I had insects on the brain, after all. Never before seeing me unwilling to eat, she finally conceded the origin of the dish. It was only kous-kous (couscous). Oh.
Why didn't she just tell me that?
As far as TV episodes go, the X-files episode titled "Home" surpassed scary and landed squarely in disturbing.
In fact, it is so scary and disturbing that it was brought up on the floor of Congress as an example when they were debating the need for TV ratings. Reruns of the episode (before it was banned outright) got the TV-MA rating.
Did politicians ban it because it had references to incest?? Now that's scary.
I don't really care for non-zombie "horror" flicks, but even I was bored out of my skull by The Blair Witch Project, which seems to be based on the idea that dark forests are somehow scary. On the other hand, 3 Days Of The Condor was pretty scary, as was The Day After. Also, I did not sleep well for weeks after watching Arachnophobia - man, I hate spiders... :(
My favorite King flick (other than Kubrick's endlessly classic "The Shining") is "The Dead Zone." The movie as a whole was just OK, but there's a scene where Martin Sheen (playing the president of the U.S.) flashes a big grin and says, "Gentlemen, the missiles are flying." That scared me to death.
Scariest movie? Sybyll. I couldn't even finish watching it as a kid. Scared my brother and I so silly that he ended up becoming a psychiatrist.
1)Black Christmas (original 70s version)- the grandaddy of creepy slasher flicks
2)The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - feels like you're watching a snuff film.
3)Halloween - John Carpenter, 'nuff said.
Still, I gotta say The Exorcist tops them all. The seventies were definately the best years for horror.
Oh yes indeedy. They really took the necessary time to set that one up. That scene was a shocker, and then the old folks crawling around on the ceiling. Very well done.Exorocist III. A great sequel which built upon the original story.
Contains the scariest scene for me. It literally makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
** spoiler omitted **
Always wondering if that one was any good.
Wheres the love for my pal Damien? Omen666. Not remakes. The first two have some really scary things going on.
"Its all for you Damien."
Invasion of the Body Snatchers got me. Donald Sutherland version.
Serpent and the Rainbow did too.
The Bad Seed, The Haunting, and Night of the Hunter were a few black n whites that really do hold up as scary.
Deliverance...squeal like a pig!
Stepfather (with Locke from Lost) was pretty creepy.
Clockwork Orange and Trainspotting though not horror, were very shocking.
Last House on the Left deserves another mention.
The opening scenes of first Amityville Horror and the ending scenes of first Pet Sematary were pretty creepy. Oh yeah, and the sister with spinal meningitis.
Sam from Cheers coming out of the surf to take good old Lt Frank Drebin back for revenge got to me. Actually, a lot of Creepshow got to me.
Play Misty for Me.
The friggin flyin monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. Dont EVEN say you werent scared of them at one time.
Thats all I can think of for now.
Although it was loaded with cheese, I still thought that In The Mouth Of Madness was pretty good. It had some fun scenes.
Yeah, I also liked the original Omen movies. Good times.
Heathy, like I said before: watch The Exorcist and follow it up with The Exorcist III. There is quite a bit of stuff in the third one that builds from the first one.
Oh, and The Machinist. Not really the story...but the apple and water diet that Christian Bale went on to look like he did. Jeez! That's dedication.
And Ill flog Galaxy of Terror and Silent Scream again. Those two flicks (along with the first Nightmare on Elm Street) really freaked me out as a kid.
I guess In Cold Blood (original) was scary in that it really happened. Along with Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. I still get freaked out when I see Powers Boothe is in a movie.
And..Riget and Riget II. These are the things that King 'paid homage' to with Kingdom Hospital. Creepy and usettling and was once shown on IFC or BBC america one Halloween a few years back. The entire miniseries in one shot. Let me tell you, being up at 3-4 AM and watching this will make you lose your s*+#.
And..Riget and Riget II. These are the things that King 'paid homage' to with Kingdom Hospital. Creepy and usettling and was once shown on IFC or BBC america one Halloween a few years back. The entire miniseries in one shot. Let me tell you, being up at 3-4 AM and watching this will make you lose your s*@*.
I LOVE those movies. Lars Van Trier is a beast. King's pale version so missed the mark.
The friggin flyin monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. Dont EVEN say you werent scared of them at one time.
Try watching it in German. You think the Munchkins (and monkeys) are creepy now?
Das ist das Pferd einer anderen Farbe!
Something else I just thought of that still creeps the hell out of me:
The end of the original Indiana Jones where all the germans....melt. Blech, shudder.
Halloween, Friday th 13th, and Poltergeist scared me when I was little. The Exorcist made me laugh and I love Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal is an awsome character.
Funny how much people hated Halloween 3 for having nothing to do with Michael Myers. As a teenager, I thought it was brilliant and brave in the peril it suggested for... oh no, the precious children! It's a little schlocky in its delivery, but I was probably permanenly bent as an author by its focus and no-holds-barred approach to horror.
The first movie that really kept me up as a 6-year old was Gremlins. Something about little monsters with pointy teeth, maniacal laughter, that multiply in water, tearing up a small town at Christmas just scared me out of my wits. Still holds up as a really terrifying flick.
Other scary movies that make my list include:
Rosemary's Baby
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Suspiria
Nosferatu (Werner Herzog version)
Uzumaki (here and there...particularly at the end)
Silence of the Lambs
And amongst those mentioned already:
(John Carpenter's) The Thing
The Shining (Kubrick)
Audition
American Werewolf in London
Psycho (yep, still spooks me)
Blair Witch Project
I think that covers most of it. Great thread, BTW.
Ah! But in answer to the actual thread's topic of discussion, I'd have to say there's nothing more terrifying than a copy of a "pan & scanned" Ben-Hur. Most excruciating murder of an otherwise magnificent chariot race.
A couple no one has brought up so far: Stir of Echoes and The Mothman Prophecies. Not the scariest movies ever (I have to agree with everyone who said The Ring was the scariest movie they'd ever seen- I had dreams about that one months later), but still good for a chill.
I don't see how people can stand to watch Audition though.
If you're up for some scary J-horror, I'd recommend Pulse (the original, also known as Kairo). Be prepared for a movie that is not only creepy but depressing as well, however.