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.

Master of Horror- Imprint Released 2005 Directed by Takashi Miike

Event Horizon has always been one of my favorite sci fi horror movies for a variety of non-specific reasons. That movie consistently scares and amuses me in just the right way. Your mileage may vary.

Evil Dead is brilliant and classic, though you may not be legitimately scared by it anymore.

Scream, likewise, is a brilliantly self-conscious movie that gets lost in its substandard progeny and the sub-genre of late '90s slasher films that it spawned. Scary Movie didn't have to rewrite anything they stole from Scream because Scream was itself a parody of movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th already. Again, it might not scare you, but it's worth a close watch.

Audition is an absolutely terrifying movie by Takashi Miike that I can't bring myself to watch again, because the first go around disturbed me so much. Go check it out!

I think it is funny when you are a child and see a movie, that movie could practically scare the crap out of you, but seeing the movie again when you are older it doesn’t effect you as much. I guess in that sense the memory of the movie is actually scarier than what is there on film.

I agree with the Vanishing (the Belgian (I think) version, not the Hollywood one) as being a real creepy one.

How about Rosemary's Baby and Ghost Story? they can be added to the list with the Shining and Exorcist/Omen style movies.

I don't find the Saw series, or slasher flicks to be scary at all. Just shocking. Same with the Descent - mostly an action flick along the lines of The Time Machine...

Mothman Prophecies....Indrid Cole

'wake up number 37'...

This isn't classic horror, but it creeped me out to where I cannot
watch it again.

Got to agree with some of the movies like Grudge, Ring- those have the same impact on me as Poltergeist. Phantoms has a good "what-if" to it that makes me watch it again. Event Horizon, definitely a rewatcher, but not for the thrill of getting pumped. 28 Days Later, enjoyed, the sequel doesn't exist in my opinion. Dog Soldiers I love to watch, love werewolves.

But this movie to this day I refuse to watch and have yet to finish: The Good Son.

Beat me to it, ring. I loved Mothman Prophecies! I always thought the name was Indrid Cold, I watch that to get those chills like Poltergeist.

Scary movies that change perspectives are powerful. Movies that make someone afraid of the dark and similiar. I wouldnt want to live next to a cemetary because of poltergeist.

CSFlim mentioned Jaws. I think that is an intersting area of horror becasue after seegin that there is always something in the back of my mind when I swim in the ocean becasue of that movie. Having said that I thought Open Water was scary.

Mirrors were never the same after the Prince of Darkness.

I can't find the name of it anywhere but I was forced to see this one about employees from some American company over in a foreign country... Serbia, Bosnia or Croatia... and their bus breaks down and all kinds of shit starts happening. That movie scared the beejaysus out of me. I had nightmares for weeks.

That one and 28 Days Later, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre for sheer bizarreness and good sense of creepy timing, Joshua, Silence of the Lambs, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Ichi the Killer was horrifying in its own right...

My all-time terrifying movie as a kid, I now know wasn't supposed to be a truly scary movie, but I had the hardest time watching The Princess Bride from all of my nightmares from Fright Night as a kid.

Sounds like Severance to me. That was a good one. Really good.

28 Days Later? I thought that was a sequel to Sandra Bullocks movie. ;)

Anyway, there are some good scary films listed so far. You have to see the original versions of The Eye, Ringu, and The Grudge. The American ones, haven't seen what they did to The Eye, but they just aren't as good.

One of the creepiest movies I've seen is Session 9.
The Hills Have Eyes is also scary and gory.
Pink Flamingos is scary too...but on a whole other level. :lol:

I'm more of a fan of cheesy, B-movies myself. If you want that, I highly recommend: Dr. Chopper, Andre the Butcher, and Dead and Breakfast (which is actually really good!). The first 2 are supposed to be scary, but are just incredibly bad. :lol:

Audition

Oldboy

And one of my favorites...

Freaks

Nekromantik 2. It features a man stabbing himself while sporting a huge boner. During his bout of self-piquerism... his ejaculate goes from pearly white to crimson red.

I only know this because the horror movie club I attend forces newbies to watch it.

They was a pretty interesting film. It didn't really scare the crap out of me, but it kept me interested until the end.
If they had stuck with the original cyberpunk theme, it would have been kickass. I'm a big fan of cyberpunk :thumbsup: Some of the best books I have ever read were cyberpunk :D

Ok, maybe it was just me, but Silent Hill was one of the most boring films I've ever seen. I can't believe I sat through half of it.

:orly: Sure....

I was surprised to see this thread resurrected, these are some great suggestions, thanks--I think its time to check out Takashi Miike, I've heard nothing but good stuff about his films.

I didn't see this thread the first time, but to this day the scariest movie I have ever seen is The Changeling.

It's a 1980 movie with George C Scott living in an old mansion after the death of his family.

It's not scary in a "BOO! HERE'S A SLASHER!" sense, but rather in a "oh god this is freaking me out I can't look" sense...

El Orfantato (The Orphanage)... a 2007 Spanish film, but in theaters in the US right now. It's just... awesome.

I think this every time I watch it. Yet, I watch it every time it's on a movie channel. I add stupid into the mix and laugh at myself for enduring it again. I can't explain it. :lol:

Thank God it wasn't just me. Everyone else who was watching it at the time thought it was brilliant. I remember thinking that the next time they came over, I should sit them in front of a freshly painted wall and leave them to it.

I think this falls under that same phenomenon where we will watch a movie when it is on TV with all the editing and commercials yet we own the movie...

Wouldn't make sense to put the movie in the player and watch it? Yes, yes it would. Are you going to? No, no I wont.

Les Diaboliques, a 1955 French movie. Oh man, that one scene...*shivers* Curtains blowing from the wind in the night never looked scarier.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Scary. To me, at least, scarier than The Exorcist (the other great possession movie, and very scary itself), because it was much more accurate in its portrayal of the genuine characteristics of possession.

The Sixth Sense. Amazing film. First time I saw it I was totally scared. Brilliant. Too bad M. Night Shamayalan kind of shot his whole creative wad on it, though.

The Amityville Horror. Pretty f'ing scary.

But I have to admit-- my first thought was also The Ring! I almost jumped into my girlfriend's lap when we went to see it. Scared the crap out of me.

Exorcism of Emily Rose scares the piss out of me.

I just watched The Abandoned yesterday and that one too scares me. It isn't one of those that makes me afraid of the dark but it did give me the shakes in the dark.


Right now I am composing a list of movies that remind to be scared of the dark, the afterlife, and the unknown. I am glad that I am not resurrecting this thread too much.

Session 9. Pretty much the only movie to freak me the fuck out. It was like the hospital scene in The Exorcist III (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it) in feature length form.

Rob Zombie's "interpretation" of Halloween.
And the oddest thing is that I think the cut version is actually better than the uncut version.

...and a note on The Decent; the first movie to ever make me scream out loud..

I've gotta suggest Ju-on as well, the japanese version of the Grudge. Apparently it is/was difficult to find in the US though.

Gonna check out Session 9 pretty soon, I'm curious :)

I found Frailty to be very scary and disturbing. I can't help but watch it every time I see it run again though. :crazy:

...spice world.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ide...8L._AA280_.jpg

but seriously. check out cannibal holocaust, a classic!

or suicide club.

It's been a while, but here's a new one. Rec. If you can track it down, set yourself up in a dark room and watch it. There's a Hollywood rip-off coming this October called Quarantine, but if you ask me, the trailer looks too... I don't know. It doesn't look as real as Rec.

It gave me one of the best scares I've had in a long, long time. And trust me... that's no understatement.

recently I saw Dead Birds...not a bad film, somewhat scary.

you might want to try Repulsion w/ Catherine Deneve as the lead. very effective head trip movie B&W. I'd say 8-9 out of 10.

maybe 100 (1000?) days of sodom...about Italin Nazis.

seems like there should be a new category of movie for sick-o torture type things. I can't say my reaction to that type of thing is scared as much as disgusted or just grossed out. it seems easier to to do than a real good scare that makes you look a few times before you turn out the lights for a few weeks after.

"the Mist" written by Stephen King and Directed by the same person that did Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile was one of the best movies I have seen overall in a long time. As far as suspense it kept me on the edge the whole way. It is one of the situations that just keeps getting dreadfully worse. Another thing I liked about it was the CGI wasnt over done but complimented over excellent use of robotics like "The Thing".

If you read the book it may not be as suspensful. I had not, but was expecting some type of rip off of The Fog. It was nothing like I thought, the story is simple yet very cool. IMO

A small 10 minute sample:

We're headed into Halloween season now, so I figure this thread should get a bit of a bump. I'm putting together a list for this Halloween of decent movies. Here's what I've got so far:
28 Days Later - probably the best zombie film of my generation
Alien - classic, perfect, sublime horror
The Exorcist - not quite as scary as it was when I was a boy, but still really great
Cloverfield - I'm not sure if this is going to be a classic yet, but it was really cool
Hannibal Rising - it's more it a character piece on Lecter, but it manages to be scary
The Mist - scared the shit out of me. I didn't think movies could do that anymore
The Thing - the scariest movie to show the monster? probably
Sunshine - the first 2/3 of the film isn't horror, but the end sure is

The Mist....was scary? Seriously?

Wow.

It was like watching a Sci-Fi movie rather than horror. It wasn't bad, but it was nowhere near The Shining or The Others, for example. Even 1408 was more intense.

Speaking of scary movies, don't watch Quarantine. Waste of your life. The audience was laughing throughout the movie at the "scary" scenes.

It could have been my unbelievably low expectations, but I really, really enjoyed it. Also, the coupling of the madly religious woman, the skeptic, and the monstrous situation made for a really engaging atmosphere.

The madly religious woman made me angry. A movie that invokes genuine emotion from me is good. I just disagree with the scary part.

I agree with LoganSnake in both regards: The Mist made me angry more than anything else, which is something that not many movies have done - the suspense was there, but not really the horror aspect; and Quarantine is garbage - Look for "Rec", which is the original Spanish movie, and much scarier IMO.

She was the scary part. Seriously. While the movie monsters were interesting, it was what happened inside the store that was really the horror movie. King demonstrated a frightening truth about humanity: the moment we're faced with something we don't understand we can devolve into superstition and ignorance. All of the wonderful knowledge and wisdom we so cherish can be lost. It's a dialogue about one of the more disconcerting aspects of humanity.

BTW, I rewound and watched that lady get shot a good dozen times.

That sums it up for me exactly. I thought it was a great and suspenseful movie. Movies in general don't scare me anymore, this one did.

It's not intended to be horror, but the film "Gerry" scared me in a "this could happen so easily" way. Granted, it's a bit self-indulgent on the director's part, but it's an amazingly restrained film where almost everything is left unsaid

Brief plot summary:

Spoiler: Two friends (Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) stop at a roadside wilderness trail in the middle of nowhere Utah. They lose the path they're on and can't find their way back to the car.

I really didn't like Zombie's Halloween. I just found it too dark and half the time I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on (not in a good suspensefull type of way).

Where's the Romero love? Night of the Living Dead is a bit dated but still has it's damn scary moments. Dawn of the Dead? Damn it's still good.
Day had potential, but just lacked the budget to do what Romero wanted and Land, well the less said the better.

But NotLD and Dawn, wow.

Man, I was wondering when someone was going to say it. Such a good, scary flick. Very little gore, but constant tension, cranking up to the powerful ending. (But that may just be the Catholic in me).

Not to spoil too much, but one of Mia Farrow's scenes towards the end made me literally jump. When a forty-year-old movie can do that to a horror buff like me, it's one to watch.