Horror or Scary Movies...

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. There was only one Dracula. Black and white - or maybe that was the telly. I would make sure the window was shut before I went to bed and make sure the sheet was pulled up high over my neck.

 

The original 'Hills Have Eyes' totally traumatized me as a kid. It took me months to get over that.

Other movies that scared me:
it's not a horror movie, but the monkeys in 'Wizard of Oz' freaked me out.
Close Encounters.
Jaws.

I watched a lot of scary movies, but those are the ones that come to mind that made me scared lying in bed at night. (or swimming in the ocean...even pools, really)

Seeing Altermoose's mention of ventriloquist's dummies made me remember the movie 'Magic' with Anthony Hopkins. My dad took me to see it...you go through the entire movie not knowing whether Hopkins is crazy or if the dummy is really killing people...then there is this really quick shot, so quick that you might miss it if you're not careful, when the dummy moves its head by itself...that moment petrified me.

 

I couldn't get through It or Chuckie when I was little. Also, Pee Wee's Big Adventure... the trucker scene and the nightmare about the clowns and the bike, totally... just... UGH.

Now, however, 90% of what I watch is horror movies. I can't get enough. Love, love, love.

 

The edited for television version of the Exorcist. Couldn't go in a dark room for weeks after.
The Thing-- I have a thing about morphing into monsters
Alien

 

Going with what is my preferred medium and era in many respects - Vintage Radio Shows.
These are both from the excellent series Hall of Fantasy from 1950 and 1952 according to the page I found on a google search.
I heard both of these originally when I was in the 10-13 year range.
He Who Follows Me - This one was memorable but not so scary. Better visuals and "setting the mood" than any television or film crew could have ever done though if you ask me.
The Shadow People - This show had me scared to walk down a dark hall for weeks afterwards. Another prime example of a story that still works much better on the radio stage than any of the visual mediums, and does a superb job of building terror.

 

The other film that totally traumatized me as a kid was Jaws. I had trouble getting into the bathtub after seeing that film. Of course, I was only about 7 when it came out.

 

The scariest movie I've seen in ages, one that you'd probably enjoy, is the Spanish flick The Orphanage.

Fucking terrifying.

 

I'll second Baraka's Poltergeist - I recall seeing it years later and not being anywhere near as scared (I would've been 12 or 13 when this came out).

The other one for me was Salems Lot (TV mini-series made in 1979). I don't remember much, except that I was scared!

 

for me it will always be poltergeist. that fucking clown under the bed scarred me for life, not to mention the tree breaking the window and reaching in the house and the bodies from the caskets in the swimming pool the lady couldn't get out of.

p.s. i've been really enjoying "Supernatural" on netflix streaming. it's typical tv fare when it comes to the acting, but the overlying story arc is entertaining and they go after just about every urban legend or ghost story you've ever thought of in it. + there's a million episodes.

 

2 of the strangest/ scariest I have ever seen were Angel Heart and Jacob's Ladder......

 

I loved to try and scare myself as a kid. I was really in to supernatural stuff so movies like The Exorcist, The Omen, Ouija Board etc. scared the hell out me. I was even in to old movies like The Haunting, Haunting of Hill House etc. These days I am big chicken and can't handle watching horror movies.

Of course as a teen I loved horror movies for an entirely different reason. Back then horror movies and boobs went hand in hand so I watched my fair share of them.

 

Jaws terrified me, I DO NOT go in the sea ---- EVER, it doesn't help that I can't swim.
The thing made me hysterical.
The birds creeped me out for months.
I can remember a tv series but not sure of the name, was a series or something, twilight zone or twilight place, with this mist stuff and people dissapearing into alternate realities, that scared me, I was sure never to walk into mist incase I popped out somewhere spooky.
I don't watch horror at all now, I am the one hiding behind a pillow, squeaking every now and again.

 

The Howling

Strangely enough... I watch all other manner of horror as a kid, and none of it bothered me... but... The Howling had me scared for a week, and I'll never watch it again. Doesn't make sense to me, but, hey, that's what I remember.

 

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things.

My parents took us to the drive-in to see this (the North East at the corner of Vic Park & Sheppard for you Toronto folks) and I was terrified. I think I sunk my fingernails a quarter inch deep into the plush-padded vinyl dashboard of our new Pontiac Catalina watching that.

I bet if I saw it again , it would be super cheesy.

 

Leto, I saw that film on VHS when I was a kid. It was very cheesy.

Drive-in theatres add to the creepy factor. I saw The Changeling (the one with George C. Scott) at a drive-in near Bracebridge, Ontario. That film totally creeped me out.