Truely Scarriest Horror Movies Ever?

[Darthjaye]

Recently, there was a tv special: 100 Scariest Horror Films of All Times. Several films mentioned here also appeared on the list. It was a fun show. I don't remember what station it was on, though.

AMC (American Movie Classics) channel ran it. I watched most of it piecemeal and it was was okay. didn't really agree with their list completely, but they are looking at it from a classics point of view. Thankfully, just about every movie that John Carpenter ever did was on it. He used to have such a handle on what was scarey cool. The Fog was soo creepy when I was a kid. Hopefully the remake will do it justice.

 

[Aeson]

The Watcher in the Woods. Scared the crap out of me when my 4th grade teacher showed it to us in class. I had nightmares for days. No other movie scared me.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I know I've seen this but for some reason it doesn't ring a bell. Can someone fill me in on what it's about? Give me spoilers - I don't mind.

Event Horizon came out in '97 and deal with a space craft (the Event Horizon) that disappeared seven years earlier and has no reappeared on the far side of Neptune, I believe. The ship was an experimental craft that could open a wormhole allowing for FTL travel...or that was the plan.

SPOILERS


SPOILERS


SPOILERS

Spoiler

The salvage crew that was sent out (with the chief engineer that designed the craft) gets a garbled message from which only "librate me (sp?)" can be heard. As the movie goes on, they find only 1 body (with his eyes clawed out), start seeing horrible images dealing with children, loved ones, old soldiers, etc. The really disturbing part was when they finally unscrambled the entire message (video and all). Well, the crew is mutliating each other, eating each other, raping each other, and so on (this flashes by extremely fast so you only get REALLY breif flashes of some terrible images...unless you give into morbid curiosity and play it in slo-mo...don't). Even though they never really come out and say it, it's pretty likely that when the ship opened the wormhole it went literally to Hell.

It's a good movie, but like others have said it's pretty disturbing in spots. It's one of the best sci-horror flicks to come out since Alien, IMO.

Kane

 

[Alzrius]

The last movie I watched that got under my skin was the remake of House on Haunted Hill. The story and final monster were cheesy as hell, but the way the doc was portrayed with his shifty movement of fast, then slow, then shaking was creepy to me.

Yeah...that really scared me too. Of course, I watched the movie at age 15, alone, in the dark, at night, so the entire thing really frightened me rather badly...I ended up turning on all the lights and staying up until dawn.

The end of the movie wasn't nearly as scary as the first half (or maybe first two-thirds), but that first part was enough that it still makes me shiver in the dark.

 

[Alzrius]

Spoiler

The salvage crew that was sent out (with the chief engineer that designed the craft) gets a garbled message from which only "librate me (sp?)" can be heard. As the movie goes on, they find only 1 body (with his eyes clawed out), start seeing horrible images dealing with children, loved ones, old soldiers, etc. The really disturbing part was when they finally unscrambled the entire message (video and all). Well, the crew is mutliating each other, eating each other, raping each other, and so on (this flashes by extremely fast so you only get REALLY breif flashes of some terrible images...unless you give into morbid curiosity and play it in slo-mo...don't). Even though they never really come out and say it, it's pretty likely that when the ship opened the wormhole it went literally to Hell.

I did the slo-mo watching for the House on Haunted Hill remake...and as with Event Horizon, I wish I hadn't.

About Event Horizon though:

Spoiler

The message they get from the crewman, the one who has torn out his eyes as he's sending the message, seems to say "save us", but when they get the entire thing, they realize it says "save yourselves". The ship, in its apparent journey to Hell and back, has started to become quasi-alive...and attacks the people aboard it with tenuous link to Hell it still seems to have. I'm making it sound cheesy, I know, but the movie seriously horrifies.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I remember watching Prince of Darkness when I was a kid and thinking it was really scary. About two years ago, however, I watched it again expecting it to be just as creepy as I remember, but instead found it to be incredibly slow, boring, and un-scary (although I'll admit that the ending did give me cold chills). Beware of liquid Satan!

Event Horizon was pretty bad despite the unique premise (a haunted house movie in space). Still, there were parts of it that spooked me a little, such as the video recordings of the previous residents who were driven insane, as well as the quick shots of the mutilated bodies.

The move Seven honestly disturbed me the first time I saw it, and to this day certain parts of it still make me shiver.

 

[James Heard]

The first two Halloween movies creep me out, not particularly from the movie but the music and the settings alone give me shivers. Creepshow wasn't particularly creepy at all to me, except the one scene with the roaches that just frags my brain.

 

[Szatany]

Spoiler

Even though they never really come out and say it, it's pretty likely that when the ship opened the wormhole it went literally to Hell.

Kane

Interesting, that makes EH a prequel to Doom
Anyway, best horrors IMO are:
John Carpenter's the Thing
Hellraiser 2
The Ring
Blob
any many others

There are also great scary scenes in movies that are not horrors, such as many scenes in Robocop 2 and the scene in the Fellowship of the Ring when Bilbo wants his ring back

 

[GlassJaw]

Interesting, that makes EH a prequel to Doom

That's the first thing I thought of too. Come to think of it, I think I've only seen bits and pieces of it. I need to watch it again - sounds cool (I'm a huge Doom fan).

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

It's been a long time since I've seen a truly scary movie. For me, a movie can't be scary unless I care about the characters -- I have to have some emotional involvement. Too many of the horror movies made anymore are focused soley on new and creative ways to kill people (not that I object -- it can be entertaining in a roller-coaster sort of way, it's just not scary). No effort goes into making plausible, likeable characters. Cabin Fever was a prime example of this -- when the characters are such jerks that you're looking forward to their demise, it's hard to be scared. Jeepers Creepers was the same way.

I still consider The Exorcist the be the scariest movie ever. It perfectly evoked feelings of hopelessness and fear of the unknown. You had three-dimensional characters and people who could act.