Scariest. Movie. Ever.

[jynni]

deelight said:

Pet Semetary terrified me.

"Sometimes dead is better." (shudder)

Oh yes. I saw it when I was probably thirteen. I had a sleepover at a friends house and she was allowed to watch "R" rated movies. I was feeling rebellious so we popped it in. It's probably one of the only times in my life I was left wishing I listened to my parents.

I was terrified for weeks. I had to sleep with every single light in my room on. To make matters worse, I couldn't let on that I was scared because parents would question why and I'd have to admit that I had the beejezus scared out of me by a movie I wasn't allowed to watch. So I was staying up late, making sure my parents were in bed, then turning on all the lights. I would also wake up at least three times during the night in a cold sweat.

Between fear of the movie and fear of my parents finding out that I watched the movie combined with the lack of sleep and I was getting pretty nutty after awhile.

The Sixth Sense also scared the crap out of me. To this day I haven't watched some of the ghost scenes.

[GirlyGhoul]

Lots of folks have already mentioned the influence of Ed Gein on Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Psycho; Silence of the Lambs, etc. But there's a little known movie called Deranged which is pretty much the Ed Gein story but with the names changed. I got it because it came as a double feature on a DVD with Motel Hell. I watched it once and could never see it again. It was just too close to reality. And I'm not easily freaked out by movies.

That said, The Birds freaks me out a lot. Not so much even when the Birds are attacking, but when they're all just sitting around in masses waiting and clucking a little bit or rustling a feather here and there. THAT freaks me out! Because they've already wreaked so much havoc on the town and killed so many people-- but now they're just gonna take a little break- except no ones knows when they'll start up again with the pecking and the scratching and the gouging of the eyes! It's just so ominous and disturbing.

[emersende]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I couldn't even watch The Exorcist. I saw a preview of the spider-walking scene in the TV room in my old school's campus center. It was a half-mile walk back to my dorm through dark woods. I prayed while walking it, and left my light on every night for a week. (Incidentally, this was the movie Michael Jackson used to scare little boys so that they would sleep in his bed.)

[Deleted]

The Haunting (1963)

This absolutely terrifying movie always comes up on the list of the 10 scariest.

Stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. Directed by Robert Wise.

They didn't need to rely on special effects to make it scary - used a great cast, fine script, the house which looked scary, black and white film, odd angles of shooting, weird sounds, and great filmmaking.

This is one scary movie. When you see the remake (there is no comparison) , you can't help wondering "Why did they bother?"

[spider]

A bunch of us were watching Silence of the Lambs in a friends second floor room when another friend (who didn't know what we were watching) decided to scale the outside of the building and pop in through the window and startle us. Boy did that work well. He arrived right at the elevator scene too.

Despite that Scream scared me the worst of any movie I've ever seen. The Exorcist, The Shining, Pet Cemetary all left me cold but Scream scared me witless. Probably because I grew up in a similarly isolated house with lots of doors and windows you could climb in through. When we came out of the theatre I made my friends walk me to my car and check underneath it and in the backseat for knife weilding maniacs. Then I went home and slept with every light in the place on for about a week.

[ang]

The Exorcist tops my list - not the scary spider walk or anything to do with the possesion of Regan, but the scene where shes getting the lumbar puncture and various tests.
That actually had me crying in the theatre.

The whole thing was just crafted so well.

Also, because Ive had a 20 year fear of zombies/zombie movies that I decided to conquer so I could watch the brilliance that is Shaun of the Dead, Ive recently watched the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Not scary.
And Evil Dead? Even less scary.
These are the movies that would make me back out of the entire aisle at the video store a year ago.

I know I'm going to get complacent and rent Land of the Dead and end up rocking back and forth in the corner.

*edited because a lumber puncture isn't the same as a lumbar puncture.

[glitterbug]

I really freaked out at House on Haunted Hill (remake). It was just the way the "inmates" kind of juddered along, it's such a creepy movement.

I thought Jeepers Creepers was really jumpy too - just the bit where they're driving down the road and it all slows down and the Creeper turns and looks at them - that actually unnerved me some.

Looking at other choices mine seem kind of lame. Japanese horror films scare the bejesus out of me and they don't even show anything - it's all shadows and music!

[Deleted]

I really freaked out at House on Haunted Hill (remake). It was just the way the "inmates" kind of juddered along, it's such a creepy movement.

I can't stand that jittery movement. I think there was some in Jacob's Ladder, too, which is the reason I change the channel when I see that it's on.

[Deleted]

I'm also a big wimp about horror movies. One of the first ones I watched was Carrie, late at night after babysitting. I dozed off near the end, but woke up just as Sue places flowers(?) at the ruins of the house and freaked out when the hand came up and grabbed Sue.

I rent horror movies every few months, and then remember why I like horror novels (the visualization in my head avoids all the blood, which makes it easier on me.)

[keepittight]

When I was a kid, The Witches with Angelica Huston absolutely terrified me and traumatised for years. The bit where the witches all meet up and take off their wigs and shoes, and then he gets caught and then the baby gets thrown down the hill- oh, the HORROR. Seriously, traumatised for life. I used to lie in bed at night and imagine the Grand High Witch was outside my window, pointing at me *dies*.

Also, maybe I'm odd but the rabbit in Donnie Darko genuinely creeps me out. I think it's the voice.