Truely Scarriest Horror Movies Ever?

[danbuter]

For me it's either Jaws or The Shining.

 

[barsoomcore]

Jaws scared the bejeesus out of me when I saw it on TV for the first time (the network television premiere, I think it was). I couldn't sleep that night and I still have a shark thing. Took me weeks to work up the courage to watch Open Water

The Blob (the orginal Steve McQueen picture) also did for me as a kid. Ew.

Night of the Living Dead (I'm pretty sure there was never a remake) and Dawn of the Dead really freaked me out.

Alien, for sure. That was a MUST-see picture when I was in Grade Six (Five?). We were all desperate to sneak into the theatre and see it.

John Carpenter's The Thing has a lot of good "Holy Crap" moments.

Um, am I the only one who thought Event Horizon was completely stupid and dull? Not quite, I see. But I don't get how anyone could think that bit of silliness was scary.

I saw Audition at the Vancouver Film Fest years ago. It was okay. I like Miike Takashi's films better.

A Tale of Two Sisters didn't maintain its tension real well -- but the first half IS very creepy.

 

[Zym]

Hmmm too many hard choices....

Clive Barkers Lord of Illusions ... IMO a truly underrated flick... the imagery and story I find fascinating and unnerving. Particularly with the gospel classic "While the Blood runs warm in your veins" is playing...too sweet. I will admit a fondness for much of Barker's work...

"I was born to murder the world"

Night of the Living Dead (the original, tho the remake is decent and I like it as well) ... first saw this when I was around 6 and it still stands the test of time.

"Their coming to get you B..a..r..b..a..r..a.."

Evil Dead ... Another true classic I feel, something about the blend of horror and humor was just perfect.

"...It got into my hand and it went bad. So, I chopped it off"

So many I truly love, but they strike to the bone atm.

Note: Also a strong nod to odd and rare flicks like Begotten and 120 Days of Sodom...truely...just...over the top.

Sorry for any misquotes, but didn't check their exactness.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Shining
The Ring
Alien

Those are my top three. When Alien or The Shining comes on telly I really don't want to watch them. They are too scary.

The American version of The Ring is in my opinion better than the Japanese one. This is mainly because the Japanese version is set in a universe with a lot of supernatural stuff going on. The "videotape curse" is just one supernatural thing among many. In the American version it's like the world we (at least I) live in where magic is impossible. Yet the videotape exists.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Count me as one of the people who found Event Horizon laughably bad, and not scary at all.

Six Million Years to Earth (I think that's the title -- one of the Alan Quatermain movies) is scary in a Lovecraftian intellectual horror way.

 

[Rackhir]

Six Million Years to Earth (I think that's the title -- one of the Alan Quatermain movies) is scary in a Lovecraftian intellectual horror way.

I believe you are thinking of Quatermass and the Pit (1967) aka "Five Million Years to Earth". Alan Quartermain was a Edgar Rice Burrough's character IIRC? Your proto-Indiana Jones type

 

[Darthjaye]

Alan Quartermain was a Edgar Rice Burrough's character IIRC? Your proto-Indiana Jones type

Nope, H. Rider Haggard was the author of every Allan Quartermain book written so far. Used to like the corny movies that were made from them.

 

[Qlippoth]

Six Million Years to Earth (I think that's the title -- one of the Alan Quatermain movies) is scary in a Lovecraftian intellectual horror way.

That's indeed Quatermass and the Pit. It's one of the better Hammer films--very low-budget, but surprisingly effective. The effects may not be all that great, but I'd agree with the Lovecraftian feel.

 

[Mordane76]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Stephen King's It. Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown is still unnerving to this day, and was absolutely terrifying when I was younger.

The American version of The Ring scared my wife and I so bad we couldn't sleep without having the TV on (and thus on a channel we controlled) for about two weeks. We still refer to any channel with static on it as "The Ring Channel" and change the channel immediately. The Japanese version was... eh, but we watched it second, so maybe it would have been scarier if we had watched it first.

I haven't seen Ju'on yet, but we did watch The Grudge, and were not truly terrified by it.

 

[Kanegrundar]

IT was good until the attack of the stupid-looking claymation spider. Ruined the feel of the entire movie, IMO.

Kane