Movies that truly are frightening (1 Viewer)

[Jefferson Morris]

Polanski's Repulsion is a very frightening film, in my opinion. Like all good horror films, it takes time to build tension (in fact, the first half is almost boring), but then the payoff is truly chilling. If you've ever been creeped out at the prospect of an intruder being in your house... this one should get to you.

As for scariest movie ever, for me it's a toss-up between the aforementioned Alien and The Exorcist. In truth, Exorcist unsettled me more deeply (the possessed Regan is the most horrifying movie monster of all time, hands down - the only one I've ever had nightmares about), but Alien may actually be better executed, and less reliant on shock. Interestingly, Ridley Scott has pointed to Friedkin's film as a model he followed when making Alien.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[JohnRice]

Repulsion is a good one. In fact, in a certain way, it has several things in common with {Safe} and The Rapture, though in the case of Repulsion you literally see what is going on in the mind of the main character and in the others you just see their actions.

 

[Chris]

Yep. That's part of what I think makes those movies (to me) spooky

I think the prescence of WebMD and others influence that too.. people self-diagnose themselves with all sorts of things and drive themselves into psychosis. That's what made that movie truly scary to me, is that all it took was for one or two people to confirm this woman's worst fears without any real science and she became trapped, because they enabled her to go down that road.. it just tells us how reliant we are on others to fulfill what we want of them, and when we hear what we think we should - even when it's terrible things - we will often believe..

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I like Burnt Offerings and The Entity.

 

[Ernest Rister]

FILMS THAT ACTUALLY FRIGHTENED ME

Looking for Mr. Goodbar (if you've seen the whole thing, you'll know why)

Salem's Lot (those vampire kids scratching at the windows)

Halloween (the movie still works, even today)

The Exorcist (those flash-images of a white face while Damien dreams of his mother)

From Hell (I admire this movie quite a bit, more so with each viewing -- the scene towards the end with a certain white glove sneaking in through a broken window to undo the door lock...)

Jaws (saw this when I was six or seven years old - I've long since stopped being scared by the film, but to this day, I have nightmares about sharks)

 

[BarryS]

I've seen very few movies that I would say are truly frightening, however Gaspar Noé's Irreversible is certainly one of them.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Yes! This doesn't bother some people, but to this day, I simply have to look away from the screen before the face flashes up there. There's just something about it that freaks me out.

All it is is footage of some early makeup tests with Linda Blair's stand-in. Friedkin wisely abandoned this kabuki makeup-type concept in favor of the more visceral approach used for Regan. When it's a continuous shot, it's just a picture of someone in some rather silly looking pancake makeup. But when you only see it for a couple of frames at a time... brilliant.

--Jefferson Morris

P.S. The great thing about The Exorcist is that there's something in there to freak out everyone. If one thing doesn't unsettle you, another will. My best friend, for example, has no problem with the demonic face, but can't stomach that single shot late in the film in which Regan appears in the form of Karras' dead mother.

 

[Wayde_R]

Justin; I'm with you on Rosmary's Baby, that was a classic chiller.

Blaine; I'm with you on Changeling, that was creeped me out as a kid.

The movie that really really scared me as a youngster (I've never been this frightened by a movie before or since) was the 70's version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You know, the one with Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy. That mutated dog with the man face? OMG! I couldn't sleep for days.

 

[Ernest Rister]

That made me say "WTF?" -- it was Sutherland's scream at the end that got me... (shudder)

 

[ChrisDixon]

Funny, as I was reading this thread, I was thinking EXACTLY what the last two posters said (about the 70s version of Body Snatchers, and the scream at the end in partucular). I also remember being freaked out by the dog with the human face. The Changeling also scared me as a kid and I'm sure there were others. Unfortunately, as I've grown older, I am never scared by movies anymore. I never saw the Exorcist until I was an adult, and it really didn't do much for me. I miss being scared, but there are some scenes that are disturbing and stick in my head after.

The aforementioned last scene of Blair Witch and a few things in The Ring (and Ringu) were pretty memorable. Recently, I saw Last House on the Left for the first time. It has its flaws for sure, but the whole middle section of that movie is pretty intense. The scene where the girl walks into the pond was chilling. That movie is even more freaky if you watch the "making of" documentary that is on the DVD and learn that some things were more real than you might have thought. Put it this way, they would NEVER allow some of that stuff in a Hollywood film these days without fakery and effects.

I think what still can get me is a film that is gritty, real, and unglamorized. That's what I liked about Blair Witch and Last House. They were both as far away from Hollywood as you can get.

Chris

 

[Ernest Rister]

Last House on the Left is a borderline snuff film. I recognize its impact as a work of cinema, but damned if I'm ever going to sit through something that sick again.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

I'd second AUDITION - that's one that'll stay with you - and I'd add THE INNOCENTS (woman across the lake !) and DON'T LOOK NOW, which is another one that gets creepier in retrospect. The first half of LOST HIGHWAY's pretty disturbing too.

 

[eekrat]

Night of the Living Dead...scared me so much as a kid watching on TV that I still can't watch it as an adult.

 

[Justin_D]

Please forgive me:

I thought The Exorcist was hilarious. I saw it when I was about 14 (I'm 17 today) oddly enough, for a school project (we were supposed to watch scary movies, so I went all out ) Before I could see it, my mom had to make the point that it was made in the 70's, and was revolutionary for its time, not to mention she had to sleep with the lights on for a week. So I'm watching the movie, with my mind in the 1970's. Then the girl busts out with this vulger language. Bahahahahahah! I couldn't stop giggling throughout the whole film! I was hardly even able to concentrate on the plot! This (1970's), as far as I was concerned at 14, was when most families were, for the most part, like the TV families. Perfect in most ways. And she starts cursing and bringing up sexual inuendos, and it shocked me so much I couldn't stop laughing!

Please tell me I'm not the only one.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I also highly recommend "Audition". Not a traditional horror flick, but absolutely horrifying. And brilliant. One of the best movies I've seen in the last five years.

A far lessor movie and one that I don't quite recommend in toto, but one that nonetheless achieves a truly chilling atmosphere and offers up at least two or three positively shocking scenes is "Suicide Club". It sorta falls apart by the end, though in an interesting way, but not before it's had a chance to really get into your head and shake you up good. Not for the squeamish.

EDIT: And from the first scene to the last, I still find "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as terrifying as any flick.

EDIT: (Yes, Justin, "the Exorcist" definitely induces giggle-fits in me, too! Some scenes are almost as broad and over-the-top as a Benny Hill sketch. But in a good way! I still love that movie, just for slightly different reasons than I used to...).

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Justin_D wrote (post #54):


Most families were never like American tv families, not in any decade.

And, yes, The Exorcist (1974) was a shock-for-shock's sake production, one of the earliest "gross-out" films from the Hollywood "majors". It made "gross-out" legit. (Can't wait to see what they do with the (inevitable) re-make.)

I can see how that would be laughable.

 

[TonyD]

the only movie that literally scared me out of my seat was the first friday the 13th movie at the very end when everyone thinks it's over.
people were actually walking out of the theater becqause they thought it was over.
but it wasnt.

jaws scared me enough that i wouldnt go in the water for awhile.
i spent the entire summer at the shore
when i was a kid, every year.
so not going in the water was a bad thing.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark was the scariest movie i ever saw.
it was made for tv i think.
horror flick starring Kim Darby has to be the creepiest movie ever made for the Small Screen. It revolves around a young couple, a house they inherit, the bricked up fireplace that's apparently a direct portal to hell and the shrivel-headed pint-size demons that are unleashed after said fireplace is open. You don't see too much of these tiny demons, you mainly hear them whispering.

to this day i am not very good when the house is totally dark due to that movie.
a couple that arent scary but are supposed to be.

the excorcist just always seemed silly to me

blair witch project. boring, one of the worst movies i ever saw.

shining. was too over the top goofy to me.
i hate nicholson in this.

 

[Chris]

BTW, as I pointed out "Pee Wee" I want to point out another one that still occassionally gets me:

In "The Dark Crystal" when Fizgig jumps out of a log at them, it shocked me bad the first time.

The surprise element sometimes is seriously frightening.

I know, people are posting hacker/slasher/terror films, but when I think of single moments in films that scared me, it's often moments where I did not in any way expect something scary to happen, and it did. The surprise element of it all can really whip you around

 

[Steve_AS]

Dark basements have never seemed the same.

"Ssssally! SSSALLLY!"

I really hope this gets released on DVD some day.

'Bad Ronald' was also kind of creepy, though not nearly as scary.

 

[mike_frontier]

If you like Imports. check out Darkwaters and The Eye.

Two great flicks that can't be missed.