What are the most scary or disturbing horror movies you have seen? PLEASE don't tell the story. I am searching for inspiration so it's very possible that I watch your suggestions.
Ah horror I see? Well I have watched tons and tons of horror movies, but the one I've seen recently is called Malignant. It's really good and I think it might spark something for you
Having majored in History with a focus on Nazism and genocide, I've yet to see anything fictionalized that has disturbed me. But if I had to pick? I don't know... Alien gave me nightmares for years, but my dad let me watch it when I was maybe 11. And my mom still hasn't forgiven him for it.
There's hardly anything that came close to the level of dread Courage the Cowardly Dog imposed on me in my childhood. Maybe it made me completely unperceptive to horror/dread. The Wicker Man (and the original version) is a very good learning experience if you want to see tools of horror. I have always appreciated its gaslighting/absurdity over gallons of blood spilled in other movies.
1984. The Shining. The movie was better than the book, and certainly better than Stephen King's mishandling of film.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have seen the trailer and it looks promising. I agree with you. Real horror is hard to beat. Same thing with true crime horror with serial killers stories. I don't consider this movie an horror movie but a comedy Thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look. I 100% agree with you. The movie was better than the novel but there are some things I liked about the novel. Especially when Jack Torrance goes in the basement and discovers piles of newspapers and begin to read them. We then, know a lot more about why this building is haunted than in the movie.
If you want good horror, go with Hammer. That’s the studio not the name of the film. Anything with Peter Cushing and you can’t go wrong in my book! Scariest is The Exorcist. I don’t care that’s it’s a cliched and obvious film to pick, it just is (the scariest).
I love horror movies but mainly for the aesthetics, very few actually make me afraid. Generally I find more fear in stories like Algernon Blackwood’s “The Wendigo”, Arthur Machen’s “The White People” or MR James “Count Magnus.” A few movies that did genuinely frighten me: Kwaidan (an anthology film of Japanese ghost stories, absolutely gorgeous film) Night of the Demon (based on an MR James story, and in turn it inspired Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell) The Wailing Evil Dead (the first one) Candyman (the original)
The Exorcist (of course, gotta get that out of the way). I won't explain any plot points but I've got to say something. Martyrs Holy hell. Miserable. I've never shouted at the screen so much. RUN! RUN! RUNNN!!! Why didn't you run? (weeps) A very Barkeresque movie, just in its trajectory. Hereditary This will be considered a classic in future years. It kind of already is. Jacob's Ladder Trippy. Knocks you out of your comfort zone. Nightmare inducing. The Others For so little special effects, it's amazing. It is quietly ominous. Atmospherically genius. [REC] Quarantine I like the American remake better, so sue me! haha. Because the cameraman was awesome. Ju-On (The Grudge) This time the Japanese original is orders of magnitude better than the remake. I know some of it's weird, and it's become "tropey" in its own way, but God . . . I hate that ghost. It resonated with me and made it difficult to be alone in an empty house. The Wailing I love the MC. Best exorcism scene of all time, and the former champion is noted up above. A Tale of Two Sisters I could cry. So messed up. A movie with a J-Horror bent from Korea. The Babadook This was just plain creepy. A unique ending which I don't think I've ever seen before. I'm trying to think of something metaphorically similar . . . hmm. After reading/watching so much horror, I have to say, what makes a story scary is its authenticity. It has to be told with sincerity. It can't feel like a Hollywood effort or paint-by-numbers pulp. All of the above movies fit this criteria. It's why The Exorcist is so scary. More than just being based on factual belief (and this is the part Hollywood fails at), it's told by someone who believes, and that gives it incredible weight. It also helped that Friedkin directed it. He's an expert with that documentary feel. (Watch "Sorcerer" by him too. It's more of an adventure movie. Fantastic.) It's also why "Blair Witch" hit so hard. It had a realness to it that made it resonate.
One reason The Exorcist works so well (and it isn't clear if Friedkin understood he was doing this or not) is because Regan's behavior parallels that of children who have been sexually molested. In fact he gives equal weight to the idea of a real demonic possession and this more psychological explanation, with a strong dose of subjective visual effects as if to show how she's experiencing it. For me the psychological horror films are the most powerful. Here's an analysis digging into this sexual abuse theme underlying the movie:
The Blair Witch project was disturbing, perhaps in part because of the circumstances under which I watched it. I've thought about watching it again someday with the lights on, a cat on my lap, a dog' laying on my feet, and a bowl of Cheetos at my side. Suspect that atmosphere will detract somewhat from the mounting dread originally aroused by the movie.
Huh I remember watching that. Such nostalgia. But stopped because of bad words and how rare it airs on television now.
I recently watched "His House" which just came out on Netflix I'm not quite sure what it was that was so unsettling. I think because we've seen tons of haunted house movies and they have a regular pace, and this one just didn't follow that pace. Insidious was also much scarier than I thought it'd be. Unfortunately, I don't think either would work very well as a written piece. For both, the cinematic camera work did a lot. "Don't Breathe" was one of the more nerve wracking movies I saw that I think would work as a very good book. It has a very nice sense of progression, I see the exact same progression I use in my own horror stories where you think things can't get worse, but then they do, over and over again. Also, since multiple people said The Shining, and you said you may watch these, I'm positive that ALL of the people here are referring to Stanley Kubrick's version, not the remake. The remake is closer to the book, but in my opinion that's not always a good thing. They're different mediums and they require different things. The pace of an effective horror book is different than the pace of a good horror movie, and they things that creep you out to read are different than the things that creep you out to see. Thats why most Stephen King fans think the book is by far the best. Kubrick's interpretation is great, and the movie that was more literal is the worst, despite King himself having the opposite opinion.
I’d say most foreign horror films are pretty disturbing. The beginning of Suicide Club still crops up in my mind every now and then whenever I think of disturbing horror. It’s not exactly a stellar movie objectively speaking, but still.
The Uninvited, 1944, is a classic ghost film that had some genuinely creepy moments, and astonishing special effects for its time. The Haunting, 1963, is another classic film with exceedingly creepy moments and effects.
A little background first. In the early eighties I was working in a chemical plant. The process produced chemicals for use in hospital labs. The product I was involved with was used in a test for blood sugar. It started by brewing "beer." This was done in large tanks that were about eight feet around and about forty feet high. They were outdoors, and there was an open shed around them with two platforms built around the tanks with access from an elevator. I worked there on the second shift, and my job involved adding ingredients like sugar and yeast to the tops of the tanks, and taking readings. One Monday night I had to take the elevator up to the top platform several times. The elevator door opened to the view of a large harvest moon. The previous Saturday night I had seen American Werewolf in London. It freaked me out every time the elevator door opened.
I've seen A LOT of horror movies. The most disturbing ones are often not really scary, just messed up. So, I'll make three lists for you, to differentiate what kind of a horror I'm talking about: Scariest: - The Lighthouse - The Wailing - As Above, So Below - The Descent (Only with the original ending, though. I heard the American version is much tamer) - Eraserhead (or any David Lynch film, really. Technically their not horrors, but they creep me out) - Martyrs - V/H/S - Us - The Killing of a Sacred Deer - The Holy Mountain - Annihilation - The Ritual - Suicide Club - Raw - Creep - Begotten - One Missed Call (This one's here only because of nostalgia, It was the first horror movie I got scared of. Also, don't watch the garbage American version.) Generally good/Emotional but not really scary: - Train to Busan - The Eye (Actually one of my fav movies of all time) - The Cabin in The Woods - Evil Dead (every movie from this series, really) - Ichi the Killer - The House that Jack Built - A Tale of Two Sisters - King of Thorn (Though not everyone thinks it's a horror) - First two Hellraiser movies - First Candyman movie - The Witch (This one is almost in the "scary" territory) - 28 days later - Every single "Living Dead" movie - Lights Out - Dark Water (Japanese original) - First two "Ju-on" movies - The Ring (Japanese original) - The Last House on the Left (Remake, I don't like the original) - The Hills Have Eyes (Again, Remake, the original is boring as hell) - Every single "Scream" movie - Drag Me To Hell - 30 Days of Night - The "Insidious" series - Some of the "Conjuring" movies - Let the Right One In - The Fly (80's version) - The Invisible Man (2010's remake) - Tetsuo: The Iron Man Pure exploitation goodness (Completely over the top acid trips): - Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack - Uzumaki (The manga's actually legitimately creepy, but the movie is corny as hell) - Pretty much every big slasher franchise (Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc) - Slither - I Spit on Your Grave - House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects - Planet Terror - Mandy - Braindead - Krampus - All "Final Destination" movies - Every "Wrong Turn" movie - The Ruins - All "Hostel" movies - All "Cabin Fever" movies - Black Sheep - Zombeavers - Cannibal Holocaust - All "Hatchet" movies - Tusk - The Green Inferno - Legion - The Lords of Salem - A Serbian Film - The Human Centipede - I've Seen The Devil The Most Disturbing Horror Movies (Don't actually check these out. But since You've used the word "disturbing" I felt obliged to include them) - Salo or 120 days of Sodom - Shoujo Tsubaki - "The Vomit Gore" trilogy - Nekromantik 1 and 2 - Life and Death of a P*rno Gang - Snuff 102 - August Underground trilogy - Melancholy of an Angel - Viva La Muerte - Subconscious Cruelty - Every "Guinea Pig' movie - The Death king - Where the Dead Go to Die - The Last Horror Movie - Philosophy of a Knife - Tumbling Doll of Flesh - Mai-chan's Daily Life - Women's Flesh My Red Guts - Eating Razors - Ostermontag - The Gateway Meat - Emancipation I'd advise you not to limit yourself to only watching "good" and "scary" horror movies. Sometimes you can get cool ideas from watching complete failures, and sometimes they might be one scene in an otherwise boring horror movie that'll inspire you. Hope at least one of the titles I wrote down will help you in your search for inspiration
I don't really scare easily, but I still watch the occasional creepy flick. The only one that truly freaked me out was The Thing. Can't say enough about the effects, and it's made so easy for the viewer to hop into the MC's shoes. Feel the same fear and uncertainty as he did. I don't think there will be another one like it. HM to the first time I saw Blair Witch, which I saw mentioned above. It doesn't have the same effect now, knowing what happens and everything.
While I don’t like the found footage conceit, I do like Blair Witch’s use of hints and fleeting glimpses. So many horror movies today, at least American ones, rely excessively on special effects and exposition. Actually the latter is probably the worst part. Netflix’s Haunting of Hill House series had some wonderfully creepy moments in the beginning that were hollowed out and ruined by the need to explain everything, often with lame monologues.
I really liked "Talk To Me," which is out now in theaters (now being Aug 2023, for future readers). There are a couple of scenes that are just stomach turning. The premise is that these stupid Aussie kids get ahold of an artifact that allows them to conjure the dead. They of course use it for Tik Tok shenanigans. There is an extreme price to pay if you don't follow the rules of the spirit conjuring. Very solid acting and some scenes of harrowing horror. Spoiler: Best scene Best scene is when the girl asks the spirit to show her where the possessed's soul is residing so that she can help him. Holy crap. Made me want to jump up and run to church. Like something out of Event Horizon.
I was going to say Martyrs, too. Actually, it was the only movie I was going to recommend here because this one is in a class of scary and disturbing of its own. And I'm not sure that this one is so well known as others. But, man, well done and very fucked up! Watch Martyrs even if you take nothing else from this list. WARNING: VERY DISTURBING!!!
Probably Stephen King’s “Misery.” (The psychopathic woman reminds me of my ex-girlfriend, who passed away several years ago.)
