Horror movie suggestions

Well, not D&D or medieval by any means, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Exorcist (the original)

One of the greatest horror movies, no doubt. The 70s in general were a great decade for horror movies. The Exorcist, Dawn of the Dead, TCM, Halloween, The Omen, just to name a few.

Raunalyn said:

Well, not D&D or medieval by any means, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Exorcist (the original)

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I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.

Imaculata said:

I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws.

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What's scary about Jaws?
Yep, I guess, everyone reacts differently on different kinds of 'horror'. E.g. imho, one of the best horror movies of all time is Roman Polanski's 'Rosemary's Baby'. But I know quite a few people who feel it's just plain boring.

Imaculata said:

I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.

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Part of the horror was due to the billing that the book and movie were 'based on a true story.' Over the years we've become rather jaded with various forms of 'slasher porn' horror, which isn't really horror at all.

Imaculata said:

I've never understood all the praise and appeal of The Exorcist. It is okay, but not really scary. It's not nearly on the level of Alien, or Jaws. But maybe that's because the topic of the movie is just inherently not scary to me.

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That's a good question. For those of us (like myself) who were brought up in a very strict religious family (I'm a recovering Catholic), this movie was terrifying. It was the fact that it was billed that it was based on a true story, added to the fact that I was pretty young when I first saw it...yeah, gave me nightmares for *years*

I showed it to my oldest daughter (she's much like me now...completely agnostic), and she said that yeah, it was pretty scary at certain parts, but she didn't see why it was one of the scariest movies ever made. Personally, I think it was the build up, getting to know the family and characters, and then the sudden flashes of the demonic face that you just barely see, the slow building terror as the daughter begins to change...

Movies like this affect different people in different ways, I suppose.

Conjuring
Ghost Story

Jhaelen said:

What's scary about Jaws?

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..As far as horror movies go, Jaws has had the greatest impact upon society in general. It continues to terrify entire generations of folks into staying out of the water.

was said:

..As far as horror movies go, Jaws has had the greatest impact upon society in general. It continues to terrify entire generations of folks into staying out of the water.

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Yeah, well, I guess in order to have that effect you'd have to have watched it at the time it was released. At the time I watched the movie it was very clear to me that the movie wasn't realistic in its portrayal of the shark. But you're right that movie has given sharks a really bad reputation in many people's minds.

However, when movies were still new, people got scared out of their minds by close-ups of insects. People also outright panicked after listening to Orwell's radio broadcast 'War of the Worlds'. Neither is something I consider to belong in the horror genre.

Anyway, I think it's still clear that people react differently to different kinds of horror movies.
E.g.
- I was bored to tears by 'The Blair Witch Project' and generally dislike found footage movies.
- I was scared after watching the original 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movie, though. But none of the superficially similar movies from the 'Friday the 13th' or 'Halloween' franchise felt frightening to me. The important difference being the idea of being attacked in your dreams.
- Brian de Palma's 'Carrie' was really shocking to me mostly because of the sudden change to violence and the use of split-screens.
- 'Event Horizon' was another movie that I found quite tense, even though it's a sci-fi setting. 'Alien' on the other hand is a movie that I considered my favorite movie for a long time, but never thought of it as a horror movie.
- Oh, and 'Eden Lake' was also pretty terrifying because of the realistic outset and the relentless but still somehow believable escalation.

I think all of these movies were 'scary' (or not 'scary') to me for different reasons.

The Blair Witch Project has to be seen in the proper context. It wasn't just one of the first found footage movies, but it was surrounded by a huge viral marketing campaign, that was probably way more interesting than the movie itself.

There's no way to repeat that wave of excitement. Back then it was a new thing, and now it has been done to death. Watching Blair Witch now is not the same as watching it back then, after having experienced everything leading up to it.