In search of really scary movies
 

As an avid watcher and lover of a good horror film, I find that its just not that easy lately to find something legitimately scary. I see a lot of slasher films and many films that seem to border on camp.
Can any recommend a good horror film? Bearing in mind, that The Shining is probably the best one out there to date (in my opinion).

I really enjoyed the director's cut of The Exorcist. Now that I'm an atheist, though, it has less of an impact on me. Nosferatu, though obviously dated at 85 years old, is still quite haunting. Se7en was really amazing, though I dunno if it's super scary. Alien is my all time favorite scary film because it was perfect.

Wait, do you mean The Exorcist? or is there another movie that I should know about? As for the rest you listed, seen them and agree with your assessment.

Did you see Shadow of the Vampire? I thought it was a brilliant take on the making of Nosferatu. Thanks Will.

Good luck finding any quality in recent horror flics. They seem to be getting worse and worse. I like horror movies that are gory and disturbing, as few things truly "scare" me, so I tend to gravitate towards zombie movies. Even movies like The Descent, which should be right up my ally, do little to offer any really good scares.

So anyway, if by some chance you haven't seen it, I would suggest the original Night of The Living Dead. I couldn't finish watching that movie the first 5 tries, as the last 15 minutes always had me shaking under a blanket as a kid.

And if you are a fan of disturbing movies, like Se7en, you should try Audition by Takashi Miike. I also found Event Horizon fairly disturbing when I first saw it as a teenager, but the effect didn't last for the replays.

Identity was a good mind screw movie, so was the Saw series and Insomnia.

Some of my favorites:

Last House on the Left
Near Dark
Jacob's Ladder
Angel Heart
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
28 Days Later
The Descent

Ah, I forgot about this one. Quite good considering how recently it was made. I'm worried because they're working on a sequel that might just suck.

28 Days Later is a personal favorite, but I think it's more sci-fi and edgy than it is horror... but that could just be me.

I agree that The Shining was just about the best horror movie ever made. The Exorcist (especially the director's cut) is next on the list. From there, I think The Omen(s) were close, but not really the same caliber as the first two. Recent ones seem to just be about making you jump out of your chair. If I'm going to bother with a horror flick, I prefer to go home with the lingering thoughts that lead to nightmares, thank you.

The Descent was interesting for it's feminist subtext, but weak. I won't even comment on all the movies like Scream or the gory chainsaw massacre sub-genre. The only recent movie that has chilled my bones was The Ring. I didn't even go see the Grudge after that because I was not about to have a repeat of the six weeks where I went to sleep with the lights on and draped a towel over my TV.



....Oh god, I wish I hadn't thought of that again. Now I'll never get to sleep!

Funny how these things are, SC, but I found The Descent to be terrifying...and The Ring and the Grudge? eh, didn't move me...

28 Days Later is very scary.

I would also recommend The Gift with Cate Blanchet. It was written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton and wow, was it well crafted. It always seems to slip under the radar whenever horror films are discussed.
Thanks for the suggestions so far, I'm making my list.

The British TV station Channel 4 recently did a 100 Greatest Scary Moments poll/clip compilation show. Top 10 are:
1. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
3. Jaws
4. Alien
5. Blair Witch Project
6. Ring (1998)
7. Halloween
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9. The Omen
10. Nightmare on Elm Street

you can get 11-100 here: http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfea..._100-91_1.html

The Decent was scary. It might be the only movie I have seen in a long time that I would actually call scary.

Hmm... no one mentioned 'Carrie'. When that movie came out and I went to see it, I had nightmares for weeks....

the vanishing (the original 1988 version)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0096163/

much depends on what you find to be scary. most slasher films bore me. demonic possession doesn't do anythign for me one way or another. nor the antichrist. but claustrophobia--that freaks me out. and this is as claustrophobic a film as i have seen.

Does suspense count?

There's a french movie that I've been dying to see called "With a Friend Like Harry..." that's supposed to be great.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216800/

Also, how about Stephen King's Misery, starring Kathy Bates and James Caan.

Poltergeist is pretty scary I think. I was also strangely disturbed by Event Horizon

Great movie - another one that got a "Hollywood Ending" in the remake.

some were mentionned but I'll say em again:

The descent - good to see ppl actually fighting back against the attackers.
The shinning - not that scary but it's so well made!
The ring - not scary but more creepy.
28 days later - it was good for a zombie scare.
The exorcist - not too scary anymore but it is if you set the mood.

any american made horror with teenagers are usually crap so I stay clear of those.

The Haunting of Hill House (Robert Wise, 1962). NOT the shitty-ass remake of 1999. The original scares the absolute life out of you precisely because the characters can't see what's after them.

One that I'm a bit surprised hasn't been mentioned yet was Scream - not so much the sequels, but I thought the original was fantastic. It was probably one of the key movie successes that moved us away from the terrible Jason and Freddie villians....

Yeah, trilogy movie like scream could be more exciting..
I could suggest a horror movie like Dead Silence. I just watched the preview
and it it looks like scary. :paranoid:

But I''m waiting for the movie of Stellan Skarsgård called WAZ.
I'm so confuse of this movie because of the equation corpses: ‘wz = Cov (w.z).
That equation was put on the man's corpses. Ohhh, gonna see for updates of
that movie..

:orly:

"What Lies Beneath" was suspenseful as hell. I also really liked "28 Days Later" and "The Ring."

Most scary movies end up being stupid but those ones did scare the shit out of me.

A Tale of Two Sisters was pretty unnerving.

The Others is a pretty good flick that sets up the scary atmosphere instead of just making shit jump out at you. I found it very scary.

28 Days Later is a movie I wish I had never seen as it was the worst movie I have seen in recent memory (aside from Ghosts of Mars).

The Descent was pretty good as well as Identity. The Amityville Horror (new version) was pretty decent and had its moments. I cannot recommend the original as my girlfriend and I both fell asleep to it.

Dark Water isn't too bad either, but the scary moments are pretty weak when compared to other horror movies.

Well I could add in the lists of my horror movie The Hills have Eyes and the Dead Silence..

That would probably complete my selection.. I forgot the WAZ movie by Tom Shankland..

http://www.stellanonline.com/waz.html

That link could help you about the WAZ movie...

Recently Shallow Ground and Switchblade Romance, this has another title also. They werent bad for modern horror.

Ha ha the first thing I thought of was "The Shining." It really is the scariest movie I've ever seen in my entire life, literally, even now.

I don't watch many scary movies because they have a good to suck ratio bad enough to skip the entire genre. I have heard that The Descent is getting really good reviews though.

28 Days Later is a horror movie? :confused: I didn't know I was supposed to be scared during that movie.

The Descent was okay, but I found it to be more creepy than scary.

Movies like Saw should not even be classified as horror. They are just movies with too much gore and a few scenes where something flashes on the screen while a really loud sound plays simultaneously. Startling people is easy, really scaring them (ala The Shining) is not.

The fear from that movie comes from the knowledge that any bicycle courier can become an elite commando capable of defeating an entire platoon of soldiers, if you threaten his girlfriend. Spooky.

silent hill was pretty good, but if ya want somethimng really scary, ya got to play the games Silent hill, Fatal Frame(my personal fav horror game/movie ever)
and clock tower, movies havnt been really good recently

To be fair, he did have a zombie helping him out.

Asian horror movies ROCK!!!
The Grudge
The Ring
The Eye
The Host
hmmm....they sound kinda alike

Thanks so much....I'm working my way through the list.

Off the top of my head:

The Exorcist
The Audition
Frailty (the only PG-13 film that ever scared me)

These films were scary when I saw them in the theater - but probably don't hold any surprises today because everyone knows about them...
Alien
Evil Dead
Nightmare on Elm Street (only the first one)
Blue Velvet
Cape Fear (more than just suspense ... it scared me)

Currently watching Silent Hill. It is certainly rather spooky! :paranoid:

I have to agree with "What Lies Beneath". Loved that movie and it spooked me for a few days.
Some others that are pretty good are:
Dog Soldiers
skeleton Key
Wrong Turn

i can't believe it wasn't mention. CUBE.

I'm surprised that Rosemary's Baby (1968) has not been mentioned. It is a great horror movie. Very, very disturbing.

It was directed by Roman Polanski. It stars Mia Farrow. Ruth Gordon won a best supporting actress oscar for her performance. The screenplay was nominated for an oscar as well.

Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho
I thought Anthony Perkins was freaky and scary.

Now you've got me hooked!

As for my 2 cents, I'm not sure if it is a really good scary movie because I don't think I saw it in its entirety, or even the faintest idea of the plot, but what about "Children of the Corn"? Or another movie along similar lines that has the kids with glowing eyes reading people's minds. I find that scary.