I for one have a very long list of films (American Werewolf in London, Scream, The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, Carrie, Hellraiser, Silence of the Lambs, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street...) which I consider to be very good as scary movies and yet not very scary as movies. Whereas, the most truly terrifying movies I have ever seen are: 7) The Descent There are a lot of people who complained that this claustrophobic movie about being trapped in a cave got less scary when it turned out that there were also monsters hunting the group. Not in the sense that the monster half wasn't scary, but in the sense that the first half was. 6) I Bury the Living In my mind, the only thing scarier than fleeing an evil murderer is finding out that you, a good person, are accidentally killing people, yet no one believes you even after the police force you to prove it. 5) Cabin in the Woods One of the few horror movies that was scarier for knowing more about the villains, rather than less, this was not a slasher about a mindless human-shaped animal hunting idiots that killed by doing something stupid. This is a movie where we see the protagonists doing something smart, coming close to surviving, and then the villains legitimately having prepared for that and killing the protagonists because the villains are smart, rather than because the victims are stupid. Normally, the movie playing in my head is one where the protagonists survive by doing something smarter than they really did, and where I would survive by doing the smarter thing. When I watched this movie, I could not think of a way out of what the villains had prepared, and there was no movie playing in my head where I could've done something to survive better than the protagonists did. 4) Ju-On I don't know if the curse is just using the images of it's first victims when it kills new ones, I don't know if it has actually warped the original victims into seeking new ones, and I have no idea where the house ends and the sidewalk begins. Oh, and the ghost-cat's voice coming out of the ghost-boy's mouth was seriously messed up. 3) The Thing (Carpenter) It's not just the not knowing who's human and who's an alien zombie monster that's scary, it's the knowing exactly who's a human and who's an alien but being completely wrong. 2) Audition Made by the David Lynch of J-Horror*, this movie has been banned from horror film conventions for forcing too many people - who are acclimated to horror movies - to throw up and/or pass out. *Seriously, Takashi Miike has credited David Lynch as a primary artistic influence. 1) The Bay I screamed during this movie. I don't scream during horror movies. When I was 12, I made the mistake of watching 80% of Night of the Living Dead, and I had trouble sleeping for weeks, after which I should've learned my lesson but insisted on seeing (what would amount to 30% of) The Cave in theaters. I had to go through the nightmares all over again not even 2 months after getting over the zombies, and if I had not seen those same movies more recently with absolutely no trouble, they would've been on my list too. But I have never screamed during horror movies. I screamed during this one. *** What about you guys?
The original Alien. I saw it when it was new in the theatre in 1979. I was 9. I didn't get, though in retrospect probably needed, therapy. John Carpenter's The Thing, 1982. I saw it new at the rec center at Bellow's AFS when I lived in Hawaii.
I watched The Exorcist when I was just a kid, and it scared the crap out of me. The Thing is up there as well.
As stupid as this sounds, I actually found The Woman in Black to be scary (the one with Daniel Radcliffe; not seen the original). I think it was partly because of the rating - 12A. Is that PG-13 in America? I can never be sure. Anyway, I was expecting something far lighter than what I watched, and I genuinely think it should be boosted up to a 15. I didn't find The Thing scary at all. The prequel sucked balls, but as much as I love the original, I only found it tense, not scary. Interesting fact: The Thing's musical score was nominated for a Razzie.
The original Alien was masterfully done. The timing was perfect, the shock factor always managed perfectly, moment by moment.
I think you mean The Descent. Probably the claustrophobic element that pervades it. Personally, I thought it was pretty cheesy, with the Blair Witch grainy-cam look and less than convincing creature design.
As an adult, I think what also made the scare factor work exceptionally well was the almost documentary style footage of the crew's interaction just before the nightmare ensues. Their conversations are very natural and real. No one is trying to stamp a buzz phrase. I can't say with any certainty that this was new in this film for this kind of film, but it makes for part of the realism, the shortening of esthetic distance the film gives. The follow-up tried to have this same dynamic, but it was marred by tragic 80's dialogue.
The clown doll scene from "Poltergeist" The Rocking chair/ red eye scene from "Amityville" The entirety of "The Exorcist." The book actually had me peeking over my shower curtain as a grown man looking for a crab-crawling possessed girl.
Child's Play. I was only eleven then so I don't know if it would be as scary now, but you know what? I'm not going to find out.
The Tenant totally creeped me out. I was twelve and watched it on cable. Him finding the tooth in the wall is my kind of scary - so bizarre. Not many films scare me but sometimes I find a moment in a movie that be more frightening than the entire thing. For instance - My brother loves the creep factor in Jeepers Creepers when they catch the creature tossing bodies down the chute. The rest from that point, he says, kinda went down hill. But what made the scene so cool is that it happened in broad daylight. For me certain parts of the Shining I found totally scary. And Jaws, that score alone is nerve jangling!
Black Swan. But that's because I DON'T watch horrors, I do not like horrors (well, I love horror elements but they give me nightmares so I no longer watch them - it's just not worth it) and I scare super easy. I found bloody World War Z scary (again, went in without knowing it was a zombie movie...) Anyway, I ended up watching Black Swan because it completely escaped me that it was a psychological and body horror. I thought it was just some tragedy Having said that, thought it was beautifully done. Would never watch it again Weirdly enough, I also watched Saw 2 and regretted it for the rest of my life but I wouldn't classify it as scary. It's just horrific, but that's not the same as horror I feel.
I don’t really watch horror movies. I think the last one I saw that really qualifies is the first Silent Hill movie. It scared the bejeezus out of me, but then again I’m not really acclimated to that type of movie. And I watched it with my sister; we kind of fed off each other’s fear, seeing each other cringe or look away or yell at the characters on the screen. I think what originally put me off horror movies was the time that I snuck back downstairs after my mom had put me to bed, because I wanted to watch the movie she put in. It was Critters. I was six. It was a bad idea.
The answer is none. I'm a weirdo since I generally laugh my ass off through most movies generally considered to be horror/shocker/psychological thriller.
The Ring. I saw it on TV when I was eleven. I had recurring dreams for the next week that involved her climbing out of the well to come and get me through my TV. They stopped when I covered my TV with a blanket.
Oh Critters! I watched it when I was 9 or 10 and laughed my head off, I absolutely loved it and didn't find it scary at all. And then one night I dreamt about them coming to get me, trying to ram through the bathroom door cus I'd locked myself in. Ever since then, I stopped watching Critters. Now I find them terrifying. I dreamt of them one more time, but the second time I think my mind was trying to protect me or something - I never saw them. The whole dream was about me knowing they were coming, and hiding in the bathroom, peeping out through the gap and seeing my sister and my cousin there completely oblivious to the coming danger and me thinking I should tell them but I didn't wanna go out. The shot of a million critters condensed into a giant flaming ball and barging down the garage door is still funny though. When they rolled over a man and left a bare skeleton behind a second later is not...
Some of you may think I'm lame for this, but the first Paranormal Activity ruined me. Lmfao. To be fair, I watched it when my parents had left me in the house for a week during a holiday they went on. So I was completely isolated. I watched it at like 2am by myself, on a 50 inch flat screen. How scary a film is, depends on the circumstances in which you watch them. Anyone can watch a scary film in broad day light with three of their friends.
It also depends on whether you want to be scared. Even if you're alone at night watching a scary film, you can quite easily laugh about certain things if you don't want to be scared. But if you want to scream, then you'll pick up on the strange camera angles, weird noises, and so on. Simply as that.
Well the original Jurassic Park terrified me as a kid! It was just so big and loud because we saw it in theaters, and I was so little. I grew out of that quickly though lol. As for scary movies. Here are some that scared me when I first saw them, no particular order: Stay Alive (2006) Dead Silence (2007) The Conjuring (2013) The Haunting (1999) The Ring (2002) The Grudge (2004) The only ones that still scare me a bit are The Conjuring and Stay Alive. Ha!
