What is the scariest movie you ever saw?

[cruadin]

In any category (horror, sci-fi, thriller, mystery)--what movie totally frightened and disturbed you?

For me, without hesitation, I'd say, "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer."

That movie totally weirded me out---hell, it still weirds me out, and I saw it years ago. How about you?

[Xipe Totec]

1. Alien on the big screen, when it first came out

It gave me the absolute heebie-jeebies. I could not sleep that night. Kept hearing critters scooting along the edge of the room.

[MotorCityMan]

79. The original Alien

I agree. Saw it the first day it was released back in '79 and it scared the crap out of me.

[Xipe Totec]

82. Yea, Phantasm came out around the same time too

had the same effect. What was it about those films that made them so effective when more recent releases, with more realistic gore, don't seem to be so frightening? Have we become jaded, or are the newer films just not as good at pushing our primordial fear buttons?

[Sequoia]

128. That was a scary movie.

Those little zombies in the Jesiut robes freaked me out. That tall spooky guy was spooky-cool.

[Briarius]

2. Event Horizon

jesus that movie is screwed up

[Ian David]

4. The Omen III

Oh, wait.

That was Bush's inauguration.

[Zuni]

7. That is a scary f-in movie

[truebrit71]

68. No kidding...

..very disturbing...

[oneighty]

3. Screaming Skull

Black and white TV about 1962

180

[Biased Liberal Media]

55. You know...I just saw this not too long ago and I fell asleep

to it. Maybe it's because we're so prone to seeing worse. Generally I like old B&W horror classics though.

Carnival Of Souls is good too.

[Red State Rebel]

67. I remember seeing that one when I was a kid!

I don't remember being that scared tho...

[oppositionmember]

5. Alien, definitely

but Alien II was heavy too.

[Zuni]

6. The Excorcist and Poltergeist

when I first saw them and the Amityville horror when I was 12, they scared me shitless.
They are still scary, but not like they were then. Poltergeist is one of the all time best horror flicks bar none.

The scariest film I have seen recently was the Ring.

[meppie-meppie not]

13. The Exorcist and Event Horizon n/t

[Zuni]

59. event Horizon was a pretty freaky flick

but I found The Ring to be more visceraly disturbing

[meppie-meppie not]

74. I haven't seen The Ring and given that you found it so freeky I think

I'll take your word for it and pass on it, thanks! :-)

[cruadin]

17. I saw "The Exorcist" at the theater when it came out....

and that movie definitely freaked out the audience. There were people screaming and crying like I've never seen before or since. It was definitely a ground-breaking movie.

[TXlib]

78. What's "The Excorcist"?

Is that about somebody who runs around angrily denouncing demons?

[TexasSissy]

102. Exorcist. Definitely. I wasn't THAT scared when I saw it.

Scared, but not THAT scared. But then I got scared when it came time to go to sleep....alone....in my dark room. I ended up sleeping on my roommates floor (while she had sex with the guy she was seeing!). Now, THAT'S scared. (and wasn't she a sport for letting me do that?)

[redqueen]

110. Definitely The Exorcist.

[bigwillq]

8. Candyman

:scared:

[smbolisnch]

27. I saw that when I was around 12.

It scared the hell out of me. I haven't seen it since and hope I never do! :scared:

[bigwillq]

29. I still can't say "Candyman" five times in the mirror

:scared:

[smbolisnch]

30. Lol, I know. My girlfriends and I would dare each other when we were kids

We sometimes got to 3 times, the we'd freak out. That and "Bloody Mary". :P

[bigwillq]

32. I could do "Bloody Mary" but Candyman

NO freaking way!:scared:

[McKenzie]

9. "The Others"

utterly creepy.

[RevolutionaryActs]

16. Mummy went mad.

[Zuni]

63. Thats a good flick

the creepiest part is when they find the photos in the attic with their date of deaths attached

[El Fuego]

121. Great movie, but I figured out the ending.

Probably because I had seen "The Sixth Sense"

[Left Is Write]

10. Rosemary's Baby.

Edited to add: "The Reincarnation Of Peter Proud" and "Audrey Rose."

[Vidar]

11. "Psycho" and "The Excorcist".

[cags]

12. The Ring

[amandae]

107. That movie was scary as shit!!

:scared:

It was one of the scariest movies I've seen!

[El Fuego]

120. "The Ring" for me too.

One thing about it how it made ordinary everyday electronic devices (TVs, cell phones, VCRs) seem so eerie.

That movie shook me up for days.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Donald Sutherland version) (nt)

[ZeroOne]

15. Hocus Pocus

The scariest movie I Have ever seen is without a doubt "Hocus Pocus" It even scared the crap out of my nephew. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming Mommy, Mommy, how'd they get funding?!?!"

[Ravenseye]

18. Jacob's Ladder

Hardly any gore in the movie, a pure psychological fuck with your head type movie. When the car tried to run over him and he saw the heads in the back shaking and vibrating so you couldn't see who they were....totally freaked me out.

I also still can't listen to the song (pardon my spelling I don't know French) "voule vous couche avec moi" because of that whole thing with his girlfriend dancing with the evil monsters.

Man that movie freaked me out.

Maybe an honorable mention to The Blair Witch Project. I hated the movie but the very last couple of minutes were some freaky shit. When she goes into the basement and he's just standing there in the corner. That was fucked up.

[Xipe Totec]

23. Yea Jacob's Ladder was messed up

[Zuni]

65. Jacobs Ladder was a real freaky flick

that film and Flatliners are on my list too

[DS1]

87. Hardly any gore? Not even when he's wheeling through a hospital

and his gurney is running over hacked body parts? :shrug:

[Ravenseye]

104. I stand by my statment

I didn't say NO gore. That was gore, but it wasn't like Texas Chainsaw Massacre Friday the 13th horror gore.

The scarey parts from it came from stuff that wasn't bloody. There was other gore, like the bayonetting, but the gore wasn't central to the horror.

[koneko]

19. aww, do I have to choose one?

I'm a scary movie freak!!!!!

When I was young, I'd say - Halloween. Hands down, one of the bravest moments of my life was watching that, while baby-sitting, in a creepy-as-arse old house that creaked a LOT.

When I was in college, I'd say - The Silence of the Lambs. It scared me shitty that I LIKED Hannibal Lecter. It made the whole, "It could happen to anyone" meme seem more real to me.

Others that have kinda gotten to me over the years - The Exorcist, Ringu (Japanese version of The Ring), Seven.

But the one movie I screamed throughout was Arachnophobia - I am deathly afraid of spiders, but I am also stubborn. One of my friends in college dared me to make it through. I did, but people came from three floors up to make sure I was OK. (I lived in a big 'ole sorority house, not a dorm.)

[Jack_Dawson]

20. "Prince of Darkness"

Barely anyone saw it...way scary.

#2: Halloween

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

73. I saw it; it scared me A LOT.

I have the tape and I can't watch it, It was that eerie radio voice from the future that creeped me out completely.

[Jack_Dawson]

98. Totally!

That grainy dream sequence sends shivers. I think President David Palmer is in that movie.

[The empressof all]

21. The Birds

It Creeps me out and never fails to get me to jump. Then again the little creatures give me the willies even when they are in a cage.

[Magrittes Pipe]

22. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles

dubbed into German. :scared:

[Kellanved]

36. Ding Ding Ding We have a Winner!

:scared:

[Beaverhausen]

24. Jaws - Couldn't go in the ocean for years afterwards

[cruadin]

28. Wow, another great choice---that ominous musical score...

whenever the shark showed up--

Who wants to go swimming?

[mtnsnake]

72. Jaws was the best. I couldn't even go in the shower the next morning.

That music was revolutionary, and to this day I don't think there's a movie that could affect you the way Jaws did.

[Poppyseedman]

85. Jaws

I lived right on the beach when Jaws come out. I used to swim every day if it was warm enough.

After seeing the movie it took me about 15 minutes of psyching myself up enough to just walk into the water up to my ankles.

I lived in the northeast and I knew there was almost no possible way a great white shark would be in these ocean waters, but there I was standing in ankle deep water scanning the horizon looking for a dorsal fin.

Cue the music

[Shanty Oilish]

25. On The Beach

...with Fred Astaire.

[InvisibleTouch]

26. The Manitou.

Saw it on TV as a young teen, and woke up for weeks afterward checking to make sure there wasn't a lump growing on the back of my neck - which for the woman in the movie grew into a fetus and subsequently emerged as an evil witch doctor. Very scary stuff - much more so than your typical blood-n-guts hackfest, which only delivers a momentary startle response.

[Flaxbee]

69. FREAKED ME OUT!

Crap, I'd forgotten about that movie. Saw it when I was about 8 or 9 and was just scared silly. I think I've mentally blocked many of the images from the movie and am not gonna try to recall anything. Gross out.


Also, I saw a trailer for "Event Horizon" with someone scuttling along on her feet bent over backwards or something nasty and giggling and making horrible noises and I just crossed it off my list. I don't need that shit clogging up my brain!

[Rapcw]

31. the one where that one guy steals the election and then starts a war

n/t

[Taverner]

33. Testament

[ET Awful]

34. Gigli

Scared the crap out of me that it even got made :).

Henry was a pretty freaky film.

[achtung_circus]

35. The Collector, Terence Stamp & Samantha Eggar

Scares the crap out of me. It's so low key, inevitable.

Drama
Upon winning a sweepstakes prize, Freddie Clegg (Terence Stamp), an inconspicuous and deeply troubled young man, spends his time capturing and cataloging butterflies. Meeting lovely art student Miranda Grey (Samantha Eggar), he has now found another creature he wishes to possess. Exercising maniacal patience, Freddie manages to bag his prey using a handkerchief soaked in chloroform. He brings Miranda to his isolated farmhouse and holds her prisoner, all the while trying to convince her to love him.

This frightening tale of obsessive admiration is one of the key cinematic works in understanding the class and cultural clashes of the 1960s. Samantha Eggar's liberated woman, open about sex and knowledgeable about art, frustrates Terence Stamp's repressed captor, adding further tension to the situation

[ceile]

99. Seen it-very disturbing....

[hippiechick]

37. Texas Chainsaw Massacre - the original

Holy shit. I was freaked out for over a month afterwards.

:scared:




:hippie:

[cruadin]

40. I forgot about that one---a true classic.

The original was made on a shoestring budget. I think it was the first of its kind--the slice-and-dice horror film.

[UdoKier]

94. And yet wasn't really all that gory.

The scene where leatherface slams that door shut was scary enough on its own.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

45. On the DVD commentary, Director Tobe Hooper calls this shot...

...his favorite. And with good reason. It's a true example of cinematic art...heavy, grim foreboding without a drop of blood. Anyone who's seen this movie knows what happens to this woman 60 seconds after this shot.

:scared:



NOTE TO MODS: She's not naked. It's a backless halter top.

:toast:

[cruadin]

47. I remember hearing, years ago, that this movie was...

based on a true story---not sure if I ever believed that, but it sure added to the movie's creepiness factor.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

54. It is based on truth, and the TCM (2003 remake) DVD has a documentary

On the TCM (2003 remake with Jessica Biel, "deluxe" 2-DVD version) DVD, the documentary is called "Ed Gein: The Ghoul Of Plainville." This is a video capture from the DVD:



Ed Gein (pronounced "Geen"), lived on a farm in Wisconsin. Steve Railsback starred in a movie called "Ed Gein" a few years ago (that showed the real Gein being led to a police car in archive footage that ran over the end credits). Gein was also the inspiration for "Psycho."

This is the REAL "Norman Bates" and "Leatherface." You can do a Google search for his full story, but only if you have a strong stomach.

[cruadin]

56. Yikes. I just googled Ed Gein--kinda wished I hadn't.

They say he was the inspiration for Buffalo Bill in "Silence of the Lambs" as well.
Psycho seems like to mild a word for that guy.

[Samurai_Writer]

109. He was also a source of inspiration for...

Jamie Gumm in Silence of the Lambs. The special features on the DVD talk about it.

[Downtown Hound]

123. I'm sure I can think of another reason why this was

Tobe Hooper's favorite shot. :P

[Guaranteed]

135. 75 minutes of pure terror.

I've never seen a movie as scary.

[LanternWaste]

38. Parents... NEVER do this!!!

My parents took me to see Jaws when it opened (77?) so I was only 10 or so. They took me to see The Exorcist at a drive-in in '76.

In my adult life, I got back at my mother and took her to see Silence of the Lambs. I was just as spooked by her, but my spook was overshadowed by a sense of final justice....hehe.

[petron]

91. my folks were strange about scary movies too

Saw tons of scary movies as a kid. What were our folks thinking?

I remember seeing "Jaws" in the theater too and I was 9!

Luckily for me I never had nightmares about scary movies. I'd probably be crazier then I am now. ;)

[hickman1937]

39. Night of the Living Dead.

Saw it at the drive-in in the fall of 1970. I'd never seen a movie that scary before, and no movie has scared me as bad since.

[Biased Liberal Media]

52. I had nightmares as a kid of this movie

"They're coming to get you Ba-bruh!"

[Digit]

41. Silence of the Lambs

[Zuni]

61. Silence of the Lambs is a masterpiece of horror

the scene after Lechter breaks out of his cell and crucifies the guard
that was just physically disturbing

[nytemare]

83. Yep, that, and the Exorcist!

I like creepy scary better than gory scary.

[rug]

42. the tingler

[Bullwinkle925]

75. me too.............

i bought the dvd for nostalgia sake - now it's so darned hokey. LOL

[msgadget]

43. Jaws

I'm dating myself but when that movie came out a lotta people had trouble trusting the water again.

[guitar man]

44. The one

that was on all the networks today.:scared:

[solinvictus]

46. Henry..

the stark realism of the movie reached me. This was, and is, the definitive film that deals with the subject. I understand that it is a sanitized version of the murder spree committed by Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole; the fact it was toned down gives insite into the nature of the real crimes. On another note, the actor who played Henry is from Jasper, a town northwest of Birmingham.

[cruadin]

49. One of the most disturbing parts of that movie (at least for me)...

is when the killers are watching a video tape of themselves murdering a family. You, as the audience, are drawn into the voyeuristic world of the killers--you're doing what they are doing, right along with them--and that realization is jarring, to say the least.

[solinvictus]

133. I agree...

that was a disturbing scene. The fear created by "Henry" is it's plausability. You have two men committing heinous, random murders and live completely under the radar of the law. Both Henry and Otis (the characters, not the real murderers) have comparatively minor run-ins with the law and are never (presumably) caught for their murders. I've always said the real people to fear are the serial killers still at large, not the ones who were caught.

[bobthedrummer]

48. I think it was called "Caltiki-The Undying Monster"

That one scared me-so did the original "Not of This Earth".

[no_hypocrisy]

50. "Dementia 13" when I was 6 during the Halloween matinee.

At the end, a doll's head is split in 2 with an axe. I was convinced it was a human. Francis Ford Copolla owes me a pair of underpants.

[Biased Liberal Media]

53. Oh man that last bit WAS freaky

I just recently saw that in October, picked it up along with other $1 horror DVDs at Target.

[Biased Liberal Media]

51. Night of the Living Dead (original)

Halloween comes in close as does Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)

[last_texas_dem]

57. The Omen

Not sure there ever will be a movie that will creep me out more than that one.

Of more recent movies The Ring scared me the most. The Exorcist actually didn't get to me that much, but The Guardian, I believe by the same director, kind of got to me.

[Zuni]

66. Of recent horror flicks, the only one that freaked me out

like the Exorcist or Poltergeist were The Ring and to a lesser extent, Event Horizon.

[B Calm]

58. Earthworm Tractors / 1936 Joe E. Brown or Long Long Trailer / Lucy Ball

[clovis29]

60. Exorcist hands down

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

62. "The Omen" and "The Exorcist"

[Haole316]

64. The Exorcist.....

[mtnsnake]

70. Play Misty for Me spooked me out

It was kind of a predecessor to Fatal Attraction, wasn't it?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

71. The original "The Haunting" . It had me jumping out of my seat!

I loved the book too by Shirley Jackson. :)

[Bullwinkle925]

76. "Natural Born Killers" & "A Clockwork Orange" ......

I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of "Clockwork" - too disturbing for me.

[orpupilofnature57]

108. Are you kidding some of the most lovable kids ever, both movies

[Bullwinkle925]

116. Right up there with Wally and The Beav!

[x-g.o.p.er]

77. The Changeling

with George C. Scott.

Not a very well known movie, but scared the effin' hell outta me.

No blood or gore, but a very tense, scary movie about a haunting in a house that the main character (Scott) buys.

Watch with the lights on!!

[WoodrowFan]

88. Changling gave me nightmares for weeks

and when the ghost appeared the first time I jumped and my hand left a BIG bruise on my girlfriend's knee! Rente dit last year to show it to my wife. Still scary as h***!!!



The rubber ball bouncing slowly down the steps GOOSEBUMPS!

[x-g.o.p.er]

117. That rubber ball is giving me goosebumps just thinking about it

I have only yelled out loud during a movie once, and it was during The Changeling.

Scary as hell.

[ceile]

100. I thought I was the only one....

I don't know of anyone else that has seen that movie. It is truly frightening. I almost rented it last weekend, maybe I'll go back and give myself a good scare this weekend!

[WoodrowFan]

131. nope

I work in a "haunted" house and everytime I look up the stairs I half expect to see an empty wheelchair movinbg on its own!!!! :scared:

[redqueen]

112. Ooh that is a good one!

That scene where the medallion moves on its own... unforgettable. Such suspense...

[Cush]

134. saw that when i was little

the whole bath tub thing was creepy

[noonwitch]

80. "The Shining" and "The Ring"

I never want to see any part of "The Ring" again. It didn't scare me when I was watching it, but I had the weirdest dreams afterwards. I don't scare easily at movies, either.

"The Shining" scared the crap out of me when I saw it at 16. I was on a date, so I kind of wanted to be scared. I can watch it without getting nightmares, however.

[Richardo]

81. Early 70s TV movie: "Crowhaven Farm"

Witchcraft. Don't remember anything else except it scared the crap out of me. Would have been 10-13 years old :shrug:

[tigereye]

84. Salvador

followed by Psycho

[Poppyseedman]

86. The only movie I ever walked out of

was "The Amityville horror" the scene with the flies and the priest for some reason, completely freaked my wife and I out. She started crying and asked me if we could leave. I didn't have be asked twice.

[grace0418]

95. That came out when I was a little kid and

I couldn't ever bear to see it. The ads alone freaked me out really bad. There was even a house near mine that looked like the house and I was petrified every time we drove past it.

[redqueen]

113. I can relate

I still get weirded out by flies sometimes due to that scene.

[petron]

89. Poltergiest

My parents frequently took my sister and I to scary movies when we were kids. Yea, my folks were weird. I remember seeing "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (sutherland) when I was 10. What were my folks thinking!?

"Poltergiest" totally freaked me out. The part where the steak starts crawling along the kitchen counter and the guy shines a flashlight on the mobile meat and then the meat kind of erupts! OMG, that wigged me out.

And I don't know why.

[DelawareValleyDem]

90. Another vote for Natural Born Killers

Who would have thought a movie with Edie McClurg in it could be so scary?

Also, The Shining and that Marat/Sade movie from the 60s

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

92. Hannibal n/t

[sundog]

93. The Shining

I first saw it as a kid :scared:

Come play with us...

[Coventina]

103. Another vote for "Shining"

I didn't sleep for 3 nights after that movie.

:scared:

REDRUM

[Downtown Hound]

126. I concur!

That scene with the woman in the shower, I think that was the only time I literally hid my head in a movie.

But hey, I was 12! :P

[UdoKier]

96. Halloween.

Carpenter's use of things like the song "Don't fear the Reaper" when the girls are in the car, the momentary glimpses of Michael Myers among the clotheslines are pretty creepy.

The presence of children being babysat, trick-or-treaters, all-nite movie marathons, etc. gave it a sense of realism - like this was easily a scenario that could be unfolding in YOUR neighborhood.

[grace0418]

97. "Seven" and "Silence of the Lambs"

They both freaked my shit out.

[ceile]

101. The Ring and The Changeling

[DrGonzoLives]

105. When I was young

it was "Poltergeist" - the scene with the tree eating the kid always gave me nightmares.

There was also another movie, can't remember the name, where these aline-vampire things land who suck the skin off people to survive - when I was about ten, I couldn't get past the first twenty minutes of it.

[redqueen]

115. Alien vampires?

Sounds interesting... I'll have to try to find that one... around when did it come out?

[DrGonzoLives]

119. Mid to late 1980's

I cannot for the life of me remember the title now, and it's driving me nuts.

[redqueen]

125. It wasn't X-tro, was it?

I can't really remember that movie, but I do remember the monster things were alien-ish.

[DrGonzoLives]

132. No

X-tro is just bizarre sci-fi quasi-soft porn. It was called "Lifeforce."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089489/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9TGlmZSBGb3JjZXxodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=4;ft=20;fm=1">IMdB entry

I've got to get it one of these days and make it through. I do remember the hot alien vampire leader chick.

[Downtown Hound]

124. Lifeforce?

[orpupilofnature57]

106. the first nightmare on elm st. Freddy most Hannis boogie ever

[liberalmom]

111. The Shining

[Arkana]

114. Final Destination

This one was scary because it screwed with your mind. You knew they were going to die, you just didn't know how or when. :scared:

[NewJeffCT]

118. Fahrenheit 9/11

I'm still shaking in fear...

[livetohike]

122. Village of the Damned

I think I was eight years old when it came out. Scared me to death. I saw it a few years ago and can see now why I was so scared. It's tame compared to some of today's movies.

[Sequoia]

127. "The Vanishing" , French movie

Don't see it.

[solinvictus]

136. "The Vanishing"

Was it the basis for the Jeff Bridges movie?

[jswordy]

129. "The Blair Witch Project", though...

...I was blown away by it, but at the end my friends were all laughing at me and telling me how lame it was. Heheheh.

:crazy:

[Delarage]

138. I was terrified

by the Blair Witch Project, especially since I was going camping the next week. But for some reason, it was a movie that you either loved or hated--it was definitely not a typical horror movie and the people that hated it probably expected some computer-generated witch to fly around casting computer-generated spells on screaming teenage beauties.

[PST]

130. I thought Shallow Grave was very intimidating

the Shining is still #1 though!

[Hillary08]

137. Phantasm

"BOY!..."