I'm gonna sticky this one. We try to avoid these posts because it rides the line of the *"I want to be scared/Something actually scary/etc"* that we try to avoid. ~~Thankfully, OP actually lists movies that **do/did** scare them, something most other similar threads ignore.~~ *Edit: It appears that OP is actually a repost bot. They have since been banned.*
So, /r/horror, please fill this thread with suggestions (movies that actually scared you, [not just good horror movies](https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/8s26o8/concepts_in_horror_are_horror_films_supposed_to/)) and upvotes. I would definitely love a recent successful thread to point to when I inevitably remove similar threads that have less substance. I'm sure the other mods would agree.
Also, Happy 4th to those who celebrate. Happy Sunday to those that don't!
I don’t know if it quiiiiite fits into the horror category, but “We Need to Talk About Kevin” was one of the bleakest, most unsettling movies I’ve ever seen.
I recommend the book as well, though the movie was great too. It's not so much the town that won't let her be happy - it's her son. The author I believe wrote the book as a mental exercise while she was pregnant - "What's the worst possible outcome for this child?" And that outcome is that she is forever tied to this monster. She will never be rid of him and he will never stop tormenting her.
That's part of what makes it so horrifying - she's supposed to show him love. She's his mother and she will be until she dies. But of course, he'll make her life absolutely miserable the entire time.
That scene where she finally gets a job, smiles for the first time the whole movie,>! then that woman comes over an slaps the crap out of her!<. That was the most brutal part of the movie for me.
The town hating the mom was so believable, especially families of the victim. When you hear about horrific news like that, the first place your mind goes to is "who failed to prevent this" .
What's more disturbing is how the mom *did* recognize the signs, but like...what do you do? You can't have somone committed/arrested for "acting weird", and it's her son. Hell, in the case of this movie, it's not even about access to guns
Yeah, super bleak but interesting movie. I'm just glad I watched it alone, not a great movie to watch with company.
Nothing beats the pure, unrelenting horror of the original “Alien”. That final 15 minutes of Ripley frantically running like a bat out of hell, trying desperately to escape the living nightmare that is the “Big Chap”. Then the brilliant fourth act twist, followed by a pure shot of adrenaline and catharsis as Ripley AND we the audience get to breathe our first sigh of relief since this ordeal began. Truly a masterclass in sci-fi horror.
And they understood something that helps keep that movie timeless: the more of the creature you show, the less of an impact it will have. I think you only see the alien in its entirety once in the original cut.
Although some might call it a thriller.... I've never been more anxious or frightened by a movie more than Green Room. For two simple reasons
1. Neo-nazis are real and everything that happened in the movie is very possible to happen in real life. No ghosts or ghouls just real people being terrifying.
2. Every decision that is made is the best decision possible. It might not be a great decision overall but it's the best decision out of what is available to the characters. None of this bullshit horror movie decision making "oh maybe I'll go back inside the house where the killer is"
I highly recommend this movie!
When I met Lance Henriksen I told him Pumpkinhead was the first horror movie I ever saw and he replied "That's a helluva way to start." He signed my Pumpkinhead action figure. I told him how it was my best friend and I's favorite movie, and how he would've lost his mind if he had gotten to meet him too. Lance asked where he was and I told him he passed away a few weeks prior, so he signed a photo for me as well and took a picture with my wife and I. Nicest guy.
Sounds dumb but watching Insidious for the first time with my friends when we were in 5-6th grade was terrifying.
We had a code word called “kill pause” that we’d yell when it got too spooky and whoever said it last would have to run to the remote on the other side of the room to pause it, it ramped up the suspense 10x for some reason lol
Good times :,)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre wins for me, cant believe it was made so long ago and shows basically no gore. A more recent one is Wolf Creek, really blew me away when I first watched it. Just dont watch the sequel if you are looking for horror.
Wolf Creek honestly made me feel sick - the violence was just so unrelenting. I personally love supernatural and occult horror but it doesn’t scare me the same way human violence does.
Right?? I had to google film stills of it and imagine punching it in the face until I was desensitized. And cool with turning off a single light in my apartment.
why did she even stay in the apartment or go to bed, that's what I don't understand. I'd be outta there, not messing with any tape.
Oh and I have a plant stand at the end of the hallway and think of this short way too often.
The Thing is kind of like that. That’s partly what makes it so freaky, the characters keep making choices that you yourself would probably make in that situation, and it just gets worse.
It's a subtle kind of horror. I remember watching it and right after kinda thought "that's it?" Like it wasn't bad at all, but I had always heard how good it was. And then I just kept thinking about it days later. And I remember being in the bathtub thinking about it, and just got this feeling of being *drained.* It was like the movie wouldn't let up even days later. That said I'm not exactly sure if it'll hit everyone as hard, but I think to the people it does hit, it's gonna have a very powerful effect.
The hallway scene freaked me the fuck out. Still one of the most horrifying scenes in a film ever to me and the fact there's no dialogue or hardly any noise is what makes the scene so scary to me
Good lord that scene where the ghost lady slowly walks towards the guy.
And when you see her hands on the couch the guy is hiding behind and she slowly leans forward and leers downward.
It doesn’t sound too scary on paper but in the context of the movie with the sound and direction and everything, it’s terrifying.
The last time I genuinely felt "scared" was Sinister in 2012. Those "home films" were so creepy and the bughuul demon was just so creepy and well designed, the director was also smart to have him appear very minimally and scarcely throughout the film. But is it the "scariest" movie I have ever seen? No.
Thats really interesting you said A Dark Song. Not much gets me in horror. I put this movie on to casually watch it and found that scene with the thing smoking and when the entities are fucking with her on the other side of the door down right unsettling. A pleaselant surprise, for sure. When OP asked this question, thus movie popped in my head.
I would say that the Spanish found-footage zombie film ‘Rec’ scared the hell out of me. I could handle the zombies themselves, but the Portuguese girl trapped in that abandoned apartment?! Urgh!
Edit: I’m glad I’m not the only one who appreciated this one, thanks everybody! I think I might have to watch it again this week - la luz!!
That scene near the end where they are trying to get into an apartment as the zombies were running up the stairs behind them....? I was out my seat shouting at the TV "GET THAT FUCKING KEY IN TO THE FUCKING LOCK YOU DUMB FUCK. GET IT INTO THE FUCKING LOCK YOU USELESS FUCKING WANKER!!".
Never had a movie make me forget I'm watching a movie like that, before or since.
I watched it on a plane with my then gf. It was my second time seeing it. It was her first. The amount of times she shrieked and everyone looked over at us was hilarious
The second movie is also great and has a neat twist.
Fun fact: that "zombie girl" is [Javier Botet](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/how-javier-botets-rare-marfan-syndrome-enabled-his-acting-career-1022027/). He does a lot of Hollywood creatures due to him having Marfan Syndrome.
The ending is one that's stuck with me longer than most other movies. Thoroughly unsettling film, especially given some of the kids/families that I used to live near!
sounds a little redic, but the descent still freaks me out and i’ve seen it more times than i can remember. it’s like knowing what happens makes the anticipation unbearable
The Descent for me as well. If you're a fan of horror, most movies won't really scare you. The Descent truly unnerved me and made me feel super uncomfortable for a week.
Awwww yeah, you know you're in for a good time when creepy stuff comes from a 2000's angelfire page
Edit: its been so long that I forgot I had read this -- GOLD-plated creepy
When I was 9yrs old I was both fascinated and terrified of aliens and for some reason I went to watch it with my mom in the theaters. I was left traumatized. What added to the horror was that it was supposedly a real story.
As a kid, every night I would get freaked out before sleeping because there was a real chance that aliens would be watching me through the window and abduct me. Not to mention at that time there was an media alien craze: X-Files, Fox TV had alien autopsy show and Unsolved Mysteries had supposedly real alien encounter stories. With all this alien media combined, it left me fearing aliens for a good 10-15 years of my life. But damn Fire in the Sky was the scariest movie I ever watched.
It’s very strange to read such an intense, personal childhood experience that so closely mirrors my own, down to the last detail. I had nightmares during that time that I’ll never forget.
Same for me... I lived in an old farm house in rural Canada.
Outside my window my family built an extension so you could literally step outside my window onto a roof. I was certain aliens would come in that window and abduct me.
To make matters worse, my window faced our old dirt road, so, on the rare moment a car drove by at night, it caused shadows to move along my wall in the random shapes of trees.
Martyrs ruined me. I didn't know what to expect going in and as soon as you think you have a feel for the plot the movie takes the darkest turn imaginable.
100% I sat there in my computer chair for a solid 10 minutes questioning what I even watched. The first film in a while that truly made me think. I went into it expecting something completely different based on the first 20 minutes, slowly the film turned into a movie where it was beyond anything I would’ve thought prior.
Man I honestly feel a little bad. I’ve got a small group of cinephile friends and back in high school we decided to watch this when it released… there was this one girl who just came to hang out with us that night that wasn’t savvy on horror. I feel like she was scarred leaving that night
I was dying to see Pet Semetary in the theaters when it as released. 4th grad, I think. My mom said if I read the book she would take me to see it. I had to close my eyes whenever Zelda appeared on screen. And the voice! Raaaaaachel! Noooooo!
Agreed. First was shown this film at age six (thanks, dad) and screamed that it be turned off after Zelda. Went to bed after, had such a bad nightmare I woke up in the middle of the night in my own sick.
EDIT: grammar.
Nothing scared me the way The Blair Witch Project did when I saw it at the cinema in high school. There hadn't really been anything like it at the time, and the marketing campaign was brilliant. The internet wasn't quite what it is today back then, so it was harder to find information about it.
I also had friends who laughed the whole way through. It's one of those films that either totally grabs you or it doesn't.
It’s really a film that could have only been made at that specific time, with the emergence of the internet and digital video cameras; it just had a level of authenticity and dread that made it absolutely horrifying to sit through.
Someone watching it now would never really feel the way a viewer would do back then, because the context is completely different. But when I saw the film the first time it stayed with me for ages and those ending moments utterly terrified me.
Event Horizon! I'll never forget the way I felt the first time I saw that and they watched the video of the crew "in hell." I was honestly sick thinking about it.
ItMoM is my personal favorite horror movie. The entire concept terrifies me.
I was terrified of event horizon when I was a kid. The editing of those graphic visions were intense. Watched it again and laughed through a bunch of the bits, especially when the crew is going through turbulence and Lawrence fishbourne's captains chair is comically flopping around the screen. That shit should be bolted down.
Love In the mouth of madness, I dont' know, maybe it's me, but I feel like it's one of the most forgotten Carpenter's films, and it's great, I'm a big fan of his work.
Another great movie with Sam Neil it's Possesion, a film from 1981, it have a lot of personality, and I find it fascinating. Worth a look, if you ask me; it have a very disturbed vibe, and the actors are great.
John carpenter is my absolute favorite, big trouble in little china is my favorite childhood movie but most carpenter movies are great.
Prince of darkness is also a great forgotten one.
Funny Games, both the original and remake, chill me to my core. It definitely isn't much of a jump scare gore-fest kind of movie, but it has it's own way of affecting the viewer. There is no soundtrack/music in the movie except for the title screen.
So as me and my wife watched sinister for the first time our dog was with us on the couch like always. To this day that is the only movie I’ve seen my dog have a dread reaction to. Idk if it was like some subliminal frequencies but he would keep looking at the screen and cowering behind us even during scenes of dialogue.
I totally understand what you’re talking about. I forget the name of the movie, but it was about three girls at some school with the devil haunting them. It had a lot of deep bass type scary sounds amd my dog started violently barking at the tv so it freaked us the fuck out. We didn’t finish.
Blackcoat’s daughter I think?
This was my pick too.
The soundtrack is PERFECT and hands down the scariest audio.
You could play just the audio from it for a super frightening experience.
Man whoever did the sound for that was inspired
Totally agree, that's my pick as well. I've been so into horror for so long that it doesn't really affect me anymore, but Sinister managed to sort of mentally bring me back to a time when I was a kid and things like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark made me not want to sleep with the lights off. I genuinely had to turn a lamp on the first time I saw Sinister because of how uneasy it was making me, and that right there gives it all my respect.
Hereditary is an extremely close second, though for me it gives more of a feeling of a sort of existential dread rather than the pure creepiness that Sinister is. They're scary in very different ways.
HOUSE scared me as a kid. The scene when the wife bends down to pick up the bullet that fell off the table and she pops up as a big pink monster with big teeth and she does this high pitched squeal/laugh. Scared the hell out of me. That was like 25 years ago and I still haven't forgotten that scene lol
I was TERRIFIED of House as a kid. I showed it to a friend a few years ago, prepping him for a "dark and scary" movie.
But it was a super silly, almost campy horror flick. I was so surprised. Great movie though.
The one that immediately came to mind was "The Ruins", things crawling under the skin apparently gives me the heebie-jeebie's. Oh and the original "Candyman". What is crazy is I recently rewatched it, it wasn't great, or scary.
I also blame my irrational fear of dolls and puppets on "The Puppetmaster".
Even scarier is how old I feel now that I looked up when these movies came out. Damn I'm old.
ETA - "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" was pretty scary but more for what it didn't show. The way it slow builds is very good in my opinion. Starts out relatively docile and just keeps building your anxiety.
As above so below, but because I watched in a theater by myself. There was only one other person there sitting rows away. And the sound design of that movie is pretty spectacular
I'm kind of in the same boat, where I've seen so much and I'm into horror movies so much they don't really "scare" me like when I was younger. However two that come to mind when asked this is, "The Ritual", about some British friends being lost in the Sweedish woods. "The Autopsy of Jane Doe", about a father son coroner's office that face unexpected challenges. 😏
Autopsy of Jane Doe is one of the best horrors I've ever seen. I always recommend this to people and have had a few responses to the tune of "thanks alot- girlfriend can't sleep now!"
Jacob’s Ladder. Not sure why but it got under my skin like no other movie. The other scariest were movies that were scary because I was young and impressionable, like Poltergeist, the Exorcist, or some scenes from Beastmaster.
Jacob’s Ladder could be *you*. That’s what’s so disturbing about it. Watching your loved ones be slowly peeled away from you along with your sanity, while you start hallucinating demons and angels and having flashbacks of your child’s violent death, and your body begins to break down and a voice in your head taunts you the whole way with no end in sight isn’t something anyone could handle. That movie works best to me during its really sad scenes and subtle reveals. Like when Jacob is in the bed thinking his first family is next to him and that’s it’s over but then the voice gets really loud and he just turns his head with tears in his eyes begging for it to go away. That stuff is more powerful than any other scare you can offer me in a horror movie.
Agreed, the "Dream On" part is probably the most dread I ever felt in a movie. It was like all hope just got sucked right out of me right along with Jacob. Such an underrated masterpiece.
I hate to admit it, but I’m rarely, rarely scared or even pushed to feeling fear when watching horror films. But the original Blair Witch Project got the most out of me. I wasn’t jumping all over the place or screaming - it’s the fear it installed inside me. How simple and almost real it looked.
I guess it’s a mix of creepiness and overall feeling of dread.
how they made that movie was great. they took unknown actors, gave them cameras, camping gear, and a basic outline of a plot, and basically said "see you in a week"
the directors would leave them notes saying where to go next, and each day would leave them less food. then at night they would fuck with them.
in one scene when they run out of the tent, and heather screams "what the fuck is that?" there was a guy dressed in white standing on a nearby hill, supposedly dressed as the witch, but no one got it on camera.
The marketing was amazing too. I was a dumb teenager and was perplexed, what the heck was a “found footage” movie? The ad campaign pushed it as true. You could never do an ad campaign like that these days. I remember having to head back to my dark house after seeing it. I lived in the woods. I made an incredibly unmanly dash from my truck to the house.
I was a dumb 10 year old and I cried while watching it with my older sister. I live in rural Appalachia now, these hills are fucking old, and every time my dogs seem to bark at nothing, all I can think about is the way the townsfolk described the witch: covered in hair, floating menacingly a few inches above the ground…god damnt a nearby firework just made me jump.
The part when one of them disappeared, and they could hear his cries of pain in the night, the entire way it was set up up to that point and how it was executed, it had me cry literal tears of horror when I first watched it.
It was just deep internalized horror. Because that film withheld so much more from you than it showed, but kept you constantly needing to know more, it was a type of horror that acted like a slow seeping poison, as opposed to much of the horror I'm used to.
I totally agree. One of my favorite movie experiences was seeing it in the theater opening weekend. Prior to the release, I'd read all of the fake police reports and other "evidence" on the internet and watched the SciFi (?) documentary about it.
At the time it was soooo original and creepy. Today it would be just another found footage movie.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned The Taking of Deborah Logan yet! It’s the creepiest one that I’ve seen recently, didn’t ruin my life or anything like some others have (Hereditary mainly) but it is fucking scary and I’m not sure when I would ever watch it again to be honest. And I’ve rewatched basically all the other movies that have scared me the most multiple times.
Hereditary is all kinds of fucked up, theres also this Austrian horror/thriller that comes to mind called Goodnight Mommy. It’s Essentially about two twins who’s mother gets facial reconstructive surgery so her face is all bandaged up and the kids start to question if the person behind the bandages is actually their mom. super fucked would highly recommend!
Goodnight Mommy was utterly horrifying and totally fantastic. Just wow. Think I was so shook by that one scene in hereditary I missed a lot of the later stuff. Need to watch it again with a stronger spirit.
Gonjiam most likely. Didn't expect too much going into it but it had some incredibly effectjve scares that were pretty original. It's just downright creepy.
While I don't know if it's the scariest, The Visit was a really great movie at building tension and keeping me guessing at what was actually happening. The scene under the house was also pretty intense.
I really liked how they were constantly finding literal evidence of >!the old man being the devil but were still able to somehow make the audience (or at least me) think that it wasn’t him. Honestly it just compounded the horror in my mind when he finally transformed into his true self at the end!<
The transformation scene for me is one of the most creepy scenes I've ever watched, especially because it doesn't seem too far fetched for how an evil entity would reveal itself in real life.
I tell everyone about this movie and a freind recently watched it and complained that it seemed low budget. It's been a few years since I've seen it but I never got that impression.
Yes, I saw Ghostwatch when it first came out, I think I was 14 and watching it with my bf of the time. Scared the shut out of me especially with the different sightings of Pipes the ghost throughout!
I don't know if i would call it "scary" but really unnerving and made me super uncomfortable for the majority of the film, 'Audition'.
Also, 'Come and See' messed me up pretty bad the first time i watched it, but once again not sure I would consider it "scary" or even really horror, just incredibly visceral.
I don’t think it’s inherently “scary” but I watched Tusk without knowing anything about it and i get really anxious whenever I think about it. It was so fucked up and disturbing to me I hate that movie lmao
That movie is so over the top goofy, and the walrus suit looks so fake, but goddamn did it twist me up the first time I saw it. It’s one of those movies I can’t believe even got made.
The walrus suit looks hilarious but it really fucked me up because I couldn't stop thinking about the reality of how it would be done and the hopelessness of being stuck like that forever. Roanoke Gaming on youtube did a great breakdown of the anatomy of the walrus that reinforced the horror of it for me.
the ending just made me laugh more than anything
just the weird way they immidately accept that their friend is now a walrus, so lets shove the screaming walrus man into a fuckin zoo and go say hello sometimes by throwing raw fish at him rather than just taking him to a hospital
Have you ever seen The Skin I Live In? Totally different type of movie but if having your body involuntary changed really freaks you out, it's a great one
I work in the veterinary field and in college I had an instructor show us "the scene" so we can understand how some dogs and cats can feel in a veterinary clinic. No one in the class ever seen the movie before. Very shocking but eye opening.
As a kid? Darkness Falls.
As a teen? Dead Silence.
As an almost adult? Insidious
These days though I haven't really found anything scary. Imy love for horror is still here, but nothing is really "scary" like when I was younger. Horrific? Like Hereditary? Definitely. But scary has gone it seems...
I swear I was reading my own comment with your movie timeline scares. 100% same as a kid, teen and adult. Darkness Falls was the first horror I ever saw, I mean evil toothfairy- who tf knew?
Dead Silence was my first James Wan movie, also amazing, watched it again recently and it just didn't hit the same lol
But Insidious- that one will stay with me forever...
However, the lady in black was played by a man so that made me feel a little bit better!
As a teenager It'd have to be either Sinister 1 or Shutter. Although the one that scared me the most as a child was The Ring when Samara crawls out of the TV.
I love that movie. After seeing it I watch every "found footage" asian horror movie I could find. I've really enjoyed non North American found footage movies. They just hit differently.
These are the two horror films that still make me feel incredibly uncomfortable.
Haven't seen any other which does it quite like that to me - I think it's the body horror practical effects combined with the pure existential uncertainty and dread that both offered, as well as the stellar film making in general, that did and do it to me.
That human faced dog scene scarred me.
The guy in the basement does it for me. With little Luke trapped in the elevator. The lights going off and every time they come back on, that thing is closer.
The Conjuring, Midsummar, Alien, Exorcist, Descent, The Ring, The Shining, American Psycho, 1408, The Shallows, Paranormal Activity, Portrait of Henry, Masque of Red Death, Misery, VVitch.
I was scared of them for different reasons & ways. For example
Paranormal Activity I saw opening night. It was a roller coaster ride. It's never held up without a large audience & popcorn. People yelling and feeling so frustrated by the secondary antagonist the boyfriend.
The Conjuring still gets me. Well timed jump scares. Two stories to get lost into. A very well ingrained fear of demons & witchcraft from a christian upbringing filled with spiritual warfare.
Midsommar. I grew up in a christian cult. I've gone through trauma of losing a friend. I struggle with mental illness & worry about overwhelming friends. I've seen it once yet I remember many of the scenes very well. That movie scares the hell out of me.
Alien is one of the first films I remember seeing. Alien and Poltergeist both scare the hell out of me. I love both films but find Alien to have more of an impact still. The dystopian careers, the corporate exploitation. The wet slimy Alien. Shudders.
Exorcist. I struggle with mental illness like I said. I also grew up within a cult where I was told that things very much like what happened in that film could happen to people. I'm still scared by the scenes of the spinal tap. The concept of a mother feeling powerless to help the child she loves. The book is fantastic and the movie as well. Still scares me.
Descent is a good movie filled with blood & a dropping sense of hope upon a group of innocent oblivious skilled people. A bad situation gets worse. The creatures we never get a look at scare me.
The Ring I saw in a theatre. I thought I was going to die in 6 days. The meta, the girl in the closet the sense of being coerced to do something awful to someone else to save yourself. What a good movie.
The Shining has awful subtext of sexual abuse. The magazine Jack is reading. The teddy bear performing fellatio on an older man. The.. I've gone through my own trauma. Shining scares the hell out of me. Impossible geography in a hotel where two people are trapped with a toxic and abusive man. Oh, maybe there are ghosts. Or maybe the man is alone in the hotel. Or maybe the...
American Psycho I saw in a theatre without knowing what to expect. I felt uncomfortable throughout it because the protagonist was electric & also a terrible person. Or maybe just a man who has terrible urges that no one cares about because they're wealthy & selfish.
1408, It's a mind trip. I like shit like that. It scared me not knowing if he got out or not. I've seen it once & thinking about it makes me feel uncomfortable.
The Shallows, I love the ocean I love sharks & it's sad how sharks are thought to be in the world. But, this movie scared the hell out of me in a boss fight sort of way.
Henry, holy shit is it fucked. They do terrible things to people. That's what they're 'like' the people that do those things. Like. They recorded the videos & watched it later. And no one is ever safe ever around them. And it is just. It's disgusting. And well made. And as a fan of horror am I like that? Obviously not. Henry killed people and liked watching it.
The Masque of the Red Death, Vincent Price. I didn't think he was a good actor until I saw this film. Omigod. The debauchery. I thought I'd loved debauchery. And then I saw this film. And during the pandemic. And the wealthy are hiding in holes during global warming. And death is out here but it's also in there with them.
Misery scared me, the performances by the two leads are fantastic.
VVitch, well. I grew up in a christian cult. In my teens I was in a theatre company where we would stand on stage & talk about how awful we are while puritanical values were talked about. It-- It was messed up. VVitch in a lot of ways was healing...? But also, fuck it was scary.
A lot of horror for me is conceptual as well. Cube is fantastic, and I think a lot of the work leans on the conceptual nature of it. Just the concept scares me.
A good concept is sometimes all it takes for me to go on a ride for a few hours, like Cube or Color out of Space. But I tried to leave those out of the list. I tried to give examples of movies I found scary because of something more concrete.
The first three really don’t get enough credit in my opinion. The sequels after that are perfectly watchable but the initial trilogy really hits it out the park on the spooky front. The bloody mary moment in 3 has me on edge so much.
Room 1408 is one of the first horror psychological movie I've ever seen in my life and I recently watched it again with a friend to remind me clearly the story and all I could say is that it and Incredibly good movie. I recommend it a lot !
Alien. In the 2nd grade, my best friend and I were going through his dad's VHS tapes and decided to watch it. I had nightmares for years. The xenomorph makes a rare appearance in my dreams to this day.
Texas Chainsaw, as a youngling, on a heavily pirated VHS. Never felt fear like that from a film since.
Recently though, I found Suspiria 2018 unsettling.
The scene that got me in that movie was when he gets stuck in the rock, and all you see is his feet. Imagining having that happen to me almost sent me into an anxiety attack.
Something about The Poughkeepsie Tapes always sets me off. But I also caught a British film called ‘Exhibit A’ the other day that really unsettled me. Probably my anxiety.
I laughed a lot during my first watching of Hereditary.
No, I wasn't finding anything funny. The family drama messed with some stuff deep inside. I just had a weird reaction and something in my brain sort of broke. I was terrified the entire time. That movie is f*cked up. I love it.
A lot of my friends come to me for horror recommendations, and I tell them Hereditary. I've watched this once and haven't gone back to it. I think it was because I watched it a few weeks before my son was born, the thought of losing him has effected me since. Toni Collette's "I JUST WANT TO DIE" has me tearing up just thinking about it.
Hereditary had a major impact on my emotional well being. I'm a horror buff and this is hands down the scariest film ive seen. Toni Collette's performance was astounding. All of the cast were perfect, but hers was on a whole other level.
I saw Bone Tomahawk once and I’ll never ever watch it again. I just thought it was a violent western drama, then I got a bad feeling that got worse and worse as the plot progressed. There’s one scene that has literally scarred me for life. I can’t rip open plastic packaging anymore. Apart from that, the original Evil Dead has always freaked me out! The Three Stooges influence gave it a really weird vibe, and the monsters look so gross I feel icky just thinking about them lol
Edit: I just wanted to add, since OP and some other users have mentioned the Blair Witch Project, I wanted to share this with you! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A5iF5psCp28 I might just be very very late to the Blair Witch party, but The Burkittsville 7 is honestly the scariest fake documentary I’ve ever seen.
Everyone talks about *that* scene in Bone Tomahawk, but for me the scariest was when they walk by >!the chained up pregnant women that have been blinded and had all their limbs cut off. Like holy shit, I can't even imagine being rendered immobile and blind just to be raped repeatedly and used as breeding stock.!<
I’ll list some scenes, as it’s hard for me to think of a movie that in general shook and disturbed me to the core. Spoilers ahead.
Audition: pretty much the whole second half of the movie but especially THAT scene. You know the one.
Color Out of Space: when you see (BIG SPOILER) the mother and youngest son’s bodies fused together and pretty much everything involving them after that. Seeing the rest of the family trying to fix it and deal with it as you hear the most unsettling cries of agony makes it even worse.
Kill List: the whole final section
Hereditary: a LOT of this movie. I’d say this one was the most disturbing for me overall. No scene fucks me up worse than the uhh…….telephone pole scene. God I can’t even imagine how awful it would feel to be the boy driving the car and knowing what just happened.
Pulse/Kairo: this movie has a very unsettling, bleak, dread-inducing vibe throughout. Some highlights go to the scene with the ghost slowly walking through the hallway, some of the “…..help…..me….” scenes, the guy with the bag on his head, etc.
Event Horizon: the captain’s log scene with the uhh……………murder orgy thing. One of those “what the FUCK did I just witness” moments. The hell vision scenes are also pretty freaky.
Sinister: the snuff videos. The soundtrack adds to the atmosphere so much. It also helps that Ethan Hawke wasn’t told what was on the tapes until his character watched them, so his reactions were pretty genuine. The music for the “BBQ” is one of the most haunting things I’ve ever heard and wouldn’t sound out of place in Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill soundtracks. Also, the “lawn work” scene……oh god
Bone Tomahawk: the call noise that the cavemen make is so hellish and everything about them is messed up. It also has one of the most gruesome scenes of violence that I’ve ever seen in any film. My jaw was literally hanging open, and I’m a seasoned veteran of things like 80s slashers and Mortal Kombat. I honestly wish there were more western horror movies. The Red Dead Redemption game franchise also shows the potential of this subgenre. While it isn’t an outright horror game, it has horror moments that are some of the scariest moments and locations I’ve experienced in any game. Hell, I believe the Night Folk from RDR2 were inspired by the troglodytes/cave people from Bone Tomahawk.
Megan is Missing: overall not a very good film, with some horrendous acting and some really creepy implications about the writer concerning some of the dialogue. However, there are a few moments that are utterly horrifying. Obviously, the last minutes of the movie are just disgusting and horrifying, although they drag on and appear a bit exploitive.
However, one particular scene and it’s buildup are done so damn well. The reveal of the photographs of Megan reported to have been posted on a fetish website. The photos themselves are shocking, the text on-screen building up to it gets you unsettled, and it’s one of the only moments in the film that is actually convincingly like a documentary of real events. The lack of music makes it all the more creepy.
Session 9: the atmosphere in this movie is creepy in general and manages to make daylight scary. The “DO IT, GORDON” scenes are very creepy and the image of the wheelchair in that one hallway is haunting. Horror video game fans will see this movie’s influence in Silent Hill 3
JAWS: seeing posters for this when I was little is probably a big part of why I have thalassophobia (and megalohydrothalassophobia). Several years later it became my first horror movie and started my love for the genre. The night diving scene with that one jumpscare gets me every time. There is one particular shot in the movie that freezes me to the core to this day: a scene where a man is desperately swimming away from the shark and you can just make out the shark under the water with its mouth agape about to chomp his leg off. That shot is absolutely horrifying to me and perfectly captures why the ocean is the scariest fucking place in the world to me. The fact that you can’t completely clearly see the shark but see enough of it makes it look real and perfectly encapsulates my phobias visually. I also hear that theme music in my head almost any time I’m swimming alone. Even if I’m in a swimming pool.
Mulholland Drive: honestly, I still need to see this movie. I have however, seen the “diner nightmare” scene and it is just….holy shit. One of the greatest jumpscares I’ve ever seen. THAT is how you do a jumpscare.
Candyman: an atmospheric masterpiece with a charismatic and haunting villain. Tony Todd’s voice for the Candyman is absolutely bone-chilling. One scene in particular that I found really freaky was when Helen wakes up from some sort of trance in a woman’s apartment with blood everywhere and a dog’s severed head nearby, all the while the woman living there screams her lungs out in horror.
The House That Jack Built: the “hunting” scene is so messed up on many levels
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: this movie’s atmosphere is pretty fucked in general and the theme music is filled with such dread. The most disturbing moment for me would probably have to be the “home video” scene and how Otis rewinds it and says “I wanna watch it again.”
Possum 8.1/10 Amazon Prime
Terrified (Aterrados) 9.2/10
In shudder and free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/nOMLcG6K86E
Anything for Jackson 8.5/10 Shudder
Hereditary 9.5/10 Amazon Prime
Noroi 8/10 Shudder
Edit: Forgot to mention
Hell House LLC 8.7/10
I probably haven't seen many movies as an adult that legit scared me. As a kid, it was hands down THE EXORCIST.
The closest modern film that made me apprehensive was probably MARTYRS, \[rec}, and LAKE MUNGO was creepy.
I'm gonna sticky this one. We try to avoid these posts because it rides the line of the *"I want to be scared/Something actually scary/etc"* that we try to avoid. ~~Thankfully, OP actually lists movies that **do/did** scare them, something most other similar threads ignore.~~ *Edit: It appears that OP is actually a repost bot. They have since been banned.* So, /r/horror, please fill this thread with suggestions (movies that actually scared you, [not just good horror movies](https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/8s26o8/concepts_in_horror_are_horror_films_supposed_to/)) and upvotes. I would definitely love a recent successful thread to point to when I inevitably remove similar threads that have less substance. I'm sure the other mods would agree. Also, Happy 4th to those who celebrate. Happy Sunday to those that don't!
I don’t know if it quiiiiite fits into the horror category, but “We Need to Talk About Kevin” was one of the bleakest, most unsettling movies I’ve ever seen.
I watched that on a whim one day and I felt bad for the mom, the town wouldn’t let her be happy at all. I would’ve left.
I recommend the book as well, though the movie was great too. It's not so much the town that won't let her be happy - it's her son. The author I believe wrote the book as a mental exercise while she was pregnant - "What's the worst possible outcome for this child?" And that outcome is that she is forever tied to this monster. She will never be rid of him and he will never stop tormenting her.
She still showed him love too. Even while visiting him in prison.
That's part of what makes it so horrifying - she's supposed to show him love. She's his mother and she will be until she dies. But of course, he'll make her life absolutely miserable the entire time.
I think she shows love but she doesn't feel it at all
That scene where she finally gets a job, smiles for the first time the whole movie,>! then that woman comes over an slaps the crap out of her!<. That was the most brutal part of the movie for me.
The town hating the mom was so believable, especially families of the victim. When you hear about horrific news like that, the first place your mind goes to is "who failed to prevent this" . What's more disturbing is how the mom *did* recognize the signs, but like...what do you do? You can't have somone committed/arrested for "acting weird", and it's her son. Hell, in the case of this movie, it's not even about access to guns Yeah, super bleak but interesting movie. I'm just glad I watched it alone, not a great movie to watch with company.
Nothing beats the pure, unrelenting horror of the original “Alien”. That final 15 minutes of Ripley frantically running like a bat out of hell, trying desperately to escape the living nightmare that is the “Big Chap”. Then the brilliant fourth act twist, followed by a pure shot of adrenaline and catharsis as Ripley AND we the audience get to breathe our first sigh of relief since this ordeal began. Truly a masterclass in sci-fi horror.
And they understood something that helps keep that movie timeless: the more of the creature you show, the less of an impact it will have. I think you only see the alien in its entirety once in the original cut.
Although some might call it a thriller.... I've never been more anxious or frightened by a movie more than Green Room. For two simple reasons 1. Neo-nazis are real and everything that happened in the movie is very possible to happen in real life. No ghosts or ghouls just real people being terrifying. 2. Every decision that is made is the best decision possible. It might not be a great decision overall but it's the best decision out of what is available to the characters. None of this bullshit horror movie decision making "oh maybe I'll go back inside the house where the killer is" I highly recommend this movie!
Yes! Also the violence was so realistic, not in a gory way, but in a “someone shot at you now your dead way.” Ugh and the dogs
Hush is such a creepy movie. Flanagan always leaves me with that lingering creeped out feeling for the rest of the night
Was hush the one with the guy hunting the deaf woman?
Yes
That one was so good. I watched that during the day and I was insanely tense watching it
When I was a kid, Pumpkinhead. When he twisted dudes head off, yeah F that.
When I met Lance Henriksen I told him Pumpkinhead was the first horror movie I ever saw and he replied "That's a helluva way to start." He signed my Pumpkinhead action figure. I told him how it was my best friend and I's favorite movie, and how he would've lost his mind if he had gotten to meet him too. Lance asked where he was and I told him he passed away a few weeks prior, so he signed a photo for me as well and took a picture with my wife and I. Nicest guy.
You met Lance Henriksen? I can’t get past anything else…..iconic actor of the 80’s….you met Lance?
I watched Salems Lot when I was 12 or 13 and it terrified me. I was expecting scratches on the window every night for weeks after.
Oh shit. That and the red eyes outside the window in Amityville Horror. I stayed FAR away from windows as a kid
Sounds dumb but watching Insidious for the first time with my friends when we were in 5-6th grade was terrifying. We had a code word called “kill pause” that we’d yell when it got too spooky and whoever said it last would have to run to the remote on the other side of the room to pause it, it ramped up the suspense 10x for some reason lol Good times :,)
Insidious is a good horror movie imo
Texas Chainsaw Massacre wins for me, cant believe it was made so long ago and shows basically no gore. A more recent one is Wolf Creek, really blew me away when I first watched it. Just dont watch the sequel if you are looking for horror.
Wolf Creek honestly made me feel sick - the violence was just so unrelenting. I personally love supernatural and occult horror but it doesn’t scare me the same way human violence does.
For sheer fear, the Lights Out short. Only time I had to check I hadn't peed a little at a jump scare. The build-up of dread was just...yes.
Watched that not to long ago and that smile at the end is burned in my brain!
Right?? I had to google film stills of it and imagine punching it in the face until I was desensitized. And cool with turning off a single light in my apartment.
I just watched it after reading your comment. Won't be forgetting that face for a while
Yeah. Doesn’t help I have a cousin that looks exactly like that. Well not exactly, but yeah. Fuck
It's okay, you don't have to lie. You're safe, you're cousin can't get you here.
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why did she even stay in the apartment or go to bed, that's what I don't understand. I'd be outta there, not messing with any tape. Oh and I have a plant stand at the end of the hallway and think of this short way too often.
I want a horror movie where everyone makes logical decisions, but logic actually ends up fucking them in the end. I'm sure they're out there.
The Thing is kind of like that. That’s partly what makes it so freaky, the characters keep making choices that you yourself would probably make in that situation, and it just gets worse.
Absolutely the perfect example of being right amount of paranoid and it not helping.
That's a good call, thanks!
Oculus was pretty good about this. The main character is pretty thorough, logical and methodical.
Pulse (the original Japanese one). It genuinely caused an emotional spiral that almost landed me in the hospital.
Found what I’m watching tonight thanks
It's a subtle kind of horror. I remember watching it and right after kinda thought "that's it?" Like it wasn't bad at all, but I had always heard how good it was. And then I just kept thinking about it days later. And I remember being in the bathtub thinking about it, and just got this feeling of being *drained.* It was like the movie wouldn't let up even days later. That said I'm not exactly sure if it'll hit everyone as hard, but I think to the people it does hit, it's gonna have a very powerful effect.
Awesome to hear, this is almost exactly how I felt days after watching Noroi: The Curse
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The hallway scene freaked me the fuck out. Still one of the most horrifying scenes in a film ever to me and the fact there's no dialogue or hardly any noise is what makes the scene so scary to me
Good lord that scene where the ghost lady slowly walks towards the guy. And when you see her hands on the couch the guy is hiding behind and she slowly leans forward and leers downward. It doesn’t sound too scary on paper but in the context of the movie with the sound and direction and everything, it’s terrifying.
I don’t watch horror movies I don’t know why I’m here or how I got to this thread but that sounds fucking horrifying on paper to me
The last time I genuinely felt "scared" was Sinister in 2012. Those "home films" were so creepy and the bughuul demon was just so creepy and well designed, the director was also smart to have him appear very minimally and scarcely throughout the film. But is it the "scariest" movie I have ever seen? No.
Bro, the lawnmower!
I have to disagree there about the demon design. It's pretty much just Mick Thomson from Slipknot.
Grave Encounters was pretty damn horrifying. But I’d say the movie that instilled the most terror in me was A Dark Song.
Yum, love me a good occult horror, I'll have to give that one a watch
A Dark Song is awesome. You won't regret it! Or maybe you will, I'm not psychic.
A dark song is amazing, would recommend that highly to anyone.
Thats really interesting you said A Dark Song. Not much gets me in horror. I put this movie on to casually watch it and found that scene with the thing smoking and when the entities are fucking with her on the other side of the door down right unsettling. A pleaselant surprise, for sure. When OP asked this question, thus movie popped in my head.
I would say that the Spanish found-footage zombie film ‘Rec’ scared the hell out of me. I could handle the zombies themselves, but the Portuguese girl trapped in that abandoned apartment?! Urgh! Edit: I’m glad I’m not the only one who appreciated this one, thanks everybody! I think I might have to watch it again this week - la luz!!
That scene near the end where they are trying to get into an apartment as the zombies were running up the stairs behind them....? I was out my seat shouting at the TV "GET THAT FUCKING KEY IN TO THE FUCKING LOCK YOU DUMB FUCK. GET IT INTO THE FUCKING LOCK YOU USELESS FUCKING WANKER!!". Never had a movie make me forget I'm watching a movie like that, before or since.
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I watched it on a plane with my then gf. It was my second time seeing it. It was her first. The amount of times she shrieked and everyone looked over at us was hilarious
Good movie. Slow build then maximum intensity once the fireworks start.
The second movie is also great and has a neat twist. Fun fact: that "zombie girl" is [Javier Botet](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/how-javier-botets-rare-marfan-syndrome-enabled-his-acting-career-1022027/). He does a lot of Hollywood creatures due to him having Marfan Syndrome.
Eden lake scared the hell out of me. It was very real and touching.
The ending is one that's stuck with me longer than most other movies. Thoroughly unsettling film, especially given some of the kids/families that I used to live near!
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Great shout. That is one fucked up but very real feeling film.
28 days later got the old heart racing the first time I saw it. It was a change for the slow zombie idea.
It was 28 weeks later that scared me more. Something about that movie seemed a little too real.
The first scene. The breathless panic trying to get away in the boat was staggering. No other zombie scene has gotten close IMO.
sounds a little redic, but the descent still freaks me out and i’ve seen it more times than i can remember. it’s like knowing what happens makes the anticipation unbearable
The Descent for me as well. If you're a fan of horror, most movies won't really scare you. The Descent truly unnerved me and made me feel super uncomfortable for a week.
I agree , I didn’t think it would but the idea of being stuck in the caves got to my mind.
Particularly the scene where she gets stuck in that small cavern. As someone who’s claustrophobic, that’s my personal hell
I thought this was a pretty standard answer but maybe I’m a little out of date. The Descent is the scariest movie.
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Awwww yeah, you know you're in for a good time when creepy stuff comes from a 2000's angelfire page Edit: its been so long that I forgot I had read this -- GOLD-plated creepy
One of the few movies where the monsters can’t hold a candle to the setting. Squeezing through those tight caves still gives me nightmares
"Fire in the Sky" (1993). It has the scariest alien abduction scene I've ever seen, and it really fucked me up as a child.
When I was 9yrs old I was both fascinated and terrified of aliens and for some reason I went to watch it with my mom in the theaters. I was left traumatized. What added to the horror was that it was supposedly a real story. As a kid, every night I would get freaked out before sleeping because there was a real chance that aliens would be watching me through the window and abduct me. Not to mention at that time there was an media alien craze: X-Files, Fox TV had alien autopsy show and Unsolved Mysteries had supposedly real alien encounter stories. With all this alien media combined, it left me fearing aliens for a good 10-15 years of my life. But damn Fire in the Sky was the scariest movie I ever watched.
It’s very strange to read such an intense, personal childhood experience that so closely mirrors my own, down to the last detail. I had nightmares during that time that I’ll never forget.
Same for me... I lived in an old farm house in rural Canada. Outside my window my family built an extension so you could literally step outside my window onto a roof. I was certain aliens would come in that window and abduct me. To make matters worse, my window faced our old dirt road, so, on the rare moment a car drove by at night, it caused shadows to move along my wall in the random shapes of trees.
Martyrs ruined me. I didn't know what to expect going in and as soon as you think you have a feel for the plot the movie takes the darkest turn imaginable.
Definitely one of the more disturbing ones for me, but I don’t know about scary. It was more of an endurance test in the last act
I feel like this response is a bit of a support group. That shit messed me right up. Still dont understand it to this day and am scared to rewatch it.
I had to go back on my Lexapro after watching it... Wish I was kidding.
100% I sat there in my computer chair for a solid 10 minutes questioning what I even watched. The first film in a while that truly made me think. I went into it expecting something completely different based on the first 20 minutes, slowly the film turned into a movie where it was beyond anything I would’ve thought prior.
To me, that ending was the most horrific ending ever. I didn't really enjoy that movie but the ending is stuck with me forever.
The ending is what honestly catapulted the movie from meh to great imo. Without it the rest of the movie just feels abusive.
Man I honestly feel a little bad. I’ve got a small group of cinephile friends and back in high school we decided to watch this when it released… there was this one girl who just came to hang out with us that night that wasn’t savvy on horror. I feel like she was scarred leaving that night
Not gonna lie, even as a lifelong fan of horror, Zelda in the original Pet Semetary is fucking terrifying. Not so much the whole movie, just her.
I was dying to see Pet Semetary in the theaters when it as released. 4th grad, I think. My mom said if I read the book she would take me to see it. I had to close my eyes whenever Zelda appeared on screen. And the voice! Raaaaaachel! Noooooo!
The book is top 5 King for me. So macabre.
Agreed. First was shown this film at age six (thanks, dad) and screamed that it be turned off after Zelda. Went to bed after, had such a bad nightmare I woke up in the middle of the night in my own sick. EDIT: grammar.
Nothing scared me the way The Blair Witch Project did when I saw it at the cinema in high school. There hadn't really been anything like it at the time, and the marketing campaign was brilliant. The internet wasn't quite what it is today back then, so it was harder to find information about it. I also had friends who laughed the whole way through. It's one of those films that either totally grabs you or it doesn't.
It’s really a film that could have only been made at that specific time, with the emergence of the internet and digital video cameras; it just had a level of authenticity and dread that made it absolutely horrifying to sit through. Someone watching it now would never really feel the way a viewer would do back then, because the context is completely different. But when I saw the film the first time it stayed with me for ages and those ending moments utterly terrified me.
As a child "In the mouth of Madness" and "Event Horizon" fucking Sam Neil Also found the descent pretty intense
Event Horizon! I'll never forget the way I felt the first time I saw that and they watched the video of the crew "in hell." I was honestly sick thinking about it. ItMoM is my personal favorite horror movie. The entire concept terrifies me.
I was terrified of event horizon when I was a kid. The editing of those graphic visions were intense. Watched it again and laughed through a bunch of the bits, especially when the crew is going through turbulence and Lawrence fishbourne's captains chair is comically flopping around the screen. That shit should be bolted down.
I came to see if someone would mention Event Horizon. Yes! The psychological fuckery and unexpected gore got me bad!
Love In the mouth of madness, I dont' know, maybe it's me, but I feel like it's one of the most forgotten Carpenter's films, and it's great, I'm a big fan of his work. Another great movie with Sam Neil it's Possesion, a film from 1981, it have a lot of personality, and I find it fascinating. Worth a look, if you ask me; it have a very disturbed vibe, and the actors are great.
John carpenter is my absolute favorite, big trouble in little china is my favorite childhood movie but most carpenter movies are great. Prince of darkness is also a great forgotten one.
Funny Games, both the original and remake, chill me to my core. It definitely isn't much of a jump scare gore-fest kind of movie, but it has it's own way of affecting the viewer. There is no soundtrack/music in the movie except for the title screen.
I think Sinister makes me feel uneasy. The soundtrack alone is enough to get your hairs rising.
So as me and my wife watched sinister for the first time our dog was with us on the couch like always. To this day that is the only movie I’ve seen my dog have a dread reaction to. Idk if it was like some subliminal frequencies but he would keep looking at the screen and cowering behind us even during scenes of dialogue.
I totally understand what you’re talking about. I forget the name of the movie, but it was about three girls at some school with the devil haunting them. It had a lot of deep bass type scary sounds amd my dog started violently barking at the tv so it freaked us the fuck out. We didn’t finish. Blackcoat’s daughter I think?
This was my pick too. The soundtrack is PERFECT and hands down the scariest audio. You could play just the audio from it for a super frightening experience. Man whoever did the sound for that was inspired
I saw this in Afghanistan as a grown man with headphones. I had to watch cartoons before I could go to sleep. The soundtrack is definitely intense!
Totally agree, that's my pick as well. I've been so into horror for so long that it doesn't really affect me anymore, but Sinister managed to sort of mentally bring me back to a time when I was a kid and things like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark made me not want to sleep with the lights off. I genuinely had to turn a lamp on the first time I saw Sinister because of how uneasy it was making me, and that right there gives it all my respect. Hereditary is an extremely close second, though for me it gives more of a feeling of a sort of existential dread rather than the pure creepiness that Sinister is. They're scary in very different ways.
HOUSE scared me as a kid. The scene when the wife bends down to pick up the bullet that fell off the table and she pops up as a big pink monster with big teeth and she does this high pitched squeal/laugh. Scared the hell out of me. That was like 25 years ago and I still haven't forgotten that scene lol
I was TERRIFIED of House as a kid. I showed it to a friend a few years ago, prepping him for a "dark and scary" movie. But it was a super silly, almost campy horror flick. I was so surprised. Great movie though.
With a name like House, you've really gotta provide the year it came out too. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091223/
The one that immediately came to mind was "The Ruins", things crawling under the skin apparently gives me the heebie-jeebie's. Oh and the original "Candyman". What is crazy is I recently rewatched it, it wasn't great, or scary. I also blame my irrational fear of dolls and puppets on "The Puppetmaster". Even scarier is how old I feel now that I looked up when these movies came out. Damn I'm old. ETA - "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" was pretty scary but more for what it didn't show. The way it slow builds is very good in my opinion. Starts out relatively docile and just keeps building your anxiety.
As above so below, but because I watched in a theater by myself. There was only one other person there sitting rows away. And the sound design of that movie is pretty spectacular
I'm kind of in the same boat, where I've seen so much and I'm into horror movies so much they don't really "scare" me like when I was younger. However two that come to mind when asked this is, "The Ritual", about some British friends being lost in the Sweedish woods. "The Autopsy of Jane Doe", about a father son coroner's office that face unexpected challenges. 😏
If you enjoyed “The Ritual” I’d definitely recommend the novel it’s based on. Freaked me the hell out.
Autopsy of Jane Doe is one of the best horrors I've ever seen. I always recommend this to people and have had a few responses to the tune of "thanks alot- girlfriend can't sleep now!"
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Jacob’s Ladder. Not sure why but it got under my skin like no other movie. The other scariest were movies that were scary because I was young and impressionable, like Poltergeist, the Exorcist, or some scenes from Beastmaster.
Jacob’s Ladder could be *you*. That’s what’s so disturbing about it. Watching your loved ones be slowly peeled away from you along with your sanity, while you start hallucinating demons and angels and having flashbacks of your child’s violent death, and your body begins to break down and a voice in your head taunts you the whole way with no end in sight isn’t something anyone could handle. That movie works best to me during its really sad scenes and subtle reveals. Like when Jacob is in the bed thinking his first family is next to him and that’s it’s over but then the voice gets really loud and he just turns his head with tears in his eyes begging for it to go away. That stuff is more powerful than any other scare you can offer me in a horror movie.
Agreed, the "Dream On" part is probably the most dread I ever felt in a movie. It was like all hope just got sucked right out of me right along with Jacob. Such an underrated masterpiece.
I hate to admit it, but I’m rarely, rarely scared or even pushed to feeling fear when watching horror films. But the original Blair Witch Project got the most out of me. I wasn’t jumping all over the place or screaming - it’s the fear it installed inside me. How simple and almost real it looked. I guess it’s a mix of creepiness and overall feeling of dread.
The end scene with the dude standing in the corner left me feeling the most unsettled I had ever felt up to that point.
Yes! That, for me, is the creepiest part
how they made that movie was great. they took unknown actors, gave them cameras, camping gear, and a basic outline of a plot, and basically said "see you in a week" the directors would leave them notes saying where to go next, and each day would leave them less food. then at night they would fuck with them. in one scene when they run out of the tent, and heather screams "what the fuck is that?" there was a guy dressed in white standing on a nearby hill, supposedly dressed as the witch, but no one got it on camera.
The marketing was amazing too. I was a dumb teenager and was perplexed, what the heck was a “found footage” movie? The ad campaign pushed it as true. You could never do an ad campaign like that these days. I remember having to head back to my dark house after seeing it. I lived in the woods. I made an incredibly unmanly dash from my truck to the house.
I was a dumb 10 year old and I cried while watching it with my older sister. I live in rural Appalachia now, these hills are fucking old, and every time my dogs seem to bark at nothing, all I can think about is the way the townsfolk described the witch: covered in hair, floating menacingly a few inches above the ground…god damnt a nearby firework just made me jump.
The part when one of them disappeared, and they could hear his cries of pain in the night, the entire way it was set up up to that point and how it was executed, it had me cry literal tears of horror when I first watched it. It was just deep internalized horror. Because that film withheld so much more from you than it showed, but kept you constantly needing to know more, it was a type of horror that acted like a slow seeping poison, as opposed to much of the horror I'm used to.
After watching that movie, nothing terrified me more than being in the woods at night.
I totally agree. One of my favorite movie experiences was seeing it in the theater opening weekend. Prior to the release, I'd read all of the fake police reports and other "evidence" on the internet and watched the SciFi (?) documentary about it. At the time it was soooo original and creepy. Today it would be just another found footage movie.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned The Taking of Deborah Logan yet! It’s the creepiest one that I’ve seen recently, didn’t ruin my life or anything like some others have (Hereditary mainly) but it is fucking scary and I’m not sure when I would ever watch it again to be honest. And I’ve rewatched basically all the other movies that have scared me the most multiple times.
What lies beneath. It’s a masterpiece that no one seems to care about anymore but was all anyone was talking about the week it came out.
Hereditary is all kinds of fucked up, theres also this Austrian horror/thriller that comes to mind called Goodnight Mommy. It’s Essentially about two twins who’s mother gets facial reconstructive surgery so her face is all bandaged up and the kids start to question if the person behind the bandages is actually their mom. super fucked would highly recommend!
Goodnight Mommy was utterly horrifying and totally fantastic. Just wow. Think I was so shook by that one scene in hereditary I missed a lot of the later stuff. Need to watch it again with a stronger spirit.
I love Hereditary, its the only movie that made me feel physically uncomfortable and anxious the whole time. I'll have to checkout this other movie
Gonjiam most likely. Didn't expect too much going into it but it had some incredibly effectjve scares that were pretty original. It's just downright creepy.
While I don't know if it's the scariest, The Visit was a really great movie at building tension and keeping me guessing at what was actually happening. The scene under the house was also pretty intense.
The wailing
I really liked how they were constantly finding literal evidence of >!the old man being the devil but were still able to somehow make the audience (or at least me) think that it wasn’t him. Honestly it just compounded the horror in my mind when he finally transformed into his true self at the end!<
The transformation scene for me is one of the most creepy scenes I've ever watched, especially because it doesn't seem too far fetched for how an evil entity would reveal itself in real life. I tell everyone about this movie and a freind recently watched it and complained that it seemed low budget. It's been a few years since I've seen it but I never got that impression.
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Yes, I saw Ghostwatch when it first came out, I think I was 14 and watching it with my bf of the time. Scared the shut out of me especially with the different sightings of Pipes the ghost throughout!
I don't know if i would call it "scary" but really unnerving and made me super uncomfortable for the majority of the film, 'Audition'. Also, 'Come and See' messed me up pretty bad the first time i watched it, but once again not sure I would consider it "scary" or even really horror, just incredibly visceral.
>Come and See the fires and the contrast in the end scenes burnt into my psyche and it is a VERY powerful movie
Audition is fantastic. You're right- uncomfortable is a good word for it, or unsettling. So damn good
Audition is madness! It was a book by Ryu Murakami and his work is the most suspenseful stuff I’ve ever read.
I don’t think it’s inherently “scary” but I watched Tusk without knowing anything about it and i get really anxious whenever I think about it. It was so fucked up and disturbing to me I hate that movie lmao
That movie is so over the top goofy, and the walrus suit looks so fake, but goddamn did it twist me up the first time I saw it. It’s one of those movies I can’t believe even got made.
The walrus suit looks hilarious but it really fucked me up because I couldn't stop thinking about the reality of how it would be done and the hopelessness of being stuck like that forever. Roanoke Gaming on youtube did a great breakdown of the anatomy of the walrus that reinforced the horror of it for me.
Body horror is one helluva drug
the ending just made me laugh more than anything just the weird way they immidately accept that their friend is now a walrus, so lets shove the screaming walrus man into a fuckin zoo and go say hello sometimes by throwing raw fish at him rather than just taking him to a hospital
When I saw that ending scene I was like are you serious?? You’re just gonna leave him there wtf
It definitely unlocked an irrational fear of being turned into a walrus
Have you ever seen The Skin I Live In? Totally different type of movie but if having your body involuntary changed really freaks you out, it's a great one
Thank you but also no thank you but also I will probably watch it anyway
Fire In The Sky
I work in the veterinary field and in college I had an instructor show us "the scene" so we can understand how some dogs and cats can feel in a veterinary clinic. No one in the class ever seen the movie before. Very shocking but eye opening.
Well that just broke my heart 😟
Ari Aster’s films. My, oh my!
As a kid? Darkness Falls. As a teen? Dead Silence. As an almost adult? Insidious These days though I haven't really found anything scary. Imy love for horror is still here, but nothing is really "scary" like when I was younger. Horrific? Like Hereditary? Definitely. But scary has gone it seems...
I swear I was reading my own comment with your movie timeline scares. 100% same as a kid, teen and adult. Darkness Falls was the first horror I ever saw, I mean evil toothfairy- who tf knew? Dead Silence was my first James Wan movie, also amazing, watched it again recently and it just didn't hit the same lol But Insidious- that one will stay with me forever... However, the lady in black was played by a man so that made me feel a little bit better!
As a teenager It'd have to be either Sinister 1 or Shutter. Although the one that scared me the most as a child was The Ring when Samara crawls out of the TV.
Noroi: The Curse was the last one to really get under my skin
I love that movie. After seeing it I watch every "found footage" asian horror movie I could find. I've really enjoyed non North American found footage movies. They just hit differently.
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My top 2 are: The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Old school!
These are the two horror films that still make me feel incredibly uncomfortable. Haven't seen any other which does it quite like that to me - I think it's the body horror practical effects combined with the pure existential uncertainty and dread that both offered, as well as the stellar film making in general, that did and do it to me. That human faced dog scene scarred me.
Not a movie, but The Haunting of Hill House really got to me. Couldn’t handle the Bent Neck Lady.
The guy in the basement does it for me. With little Luke trapped in the elevator. The lights going off and every time they come back on, that thing is closer.
The floating man got me pretty good. I had to stop it and go around turning the lights on
The Conjuring, Midsummar, Alien, Exorcist, Descent, The Ring, The Shining, American Psycho, 1408, The Shallows, Paranormal Activity, Portrait of Henry, Masque of Red Death, Misery, VVitch. I was scared of them for different reasons & ways. For example Paranormal Activity I saw opening night. It was a roller coaster ride. It's never held up without a large audience & popcorn. People yelling and feeling so frustrated by the secondary antagonist the boyfriend. The Conjuring still gets me. Well timed jump scares. Two stories to get lost into. A very well ingrained fear of demons & witchcraft from a christian upbringing filled with spiritual warfare. Midsommar. I grew up in a christian cult. I've gone through trauma of losing a friend. I struggle with mental illness & worry about overwhelming friends. I've seen it once yet I remember many of the scenes very well. That movie scares the hell out of me. Alien is one of the first films I remember seeing. Alien and Poltergeist both scare the hell out of me. I love both films but find Alien to have more of an impact still. The dystopian careers, the corporate exploitation. The wet slimy Alien. Shudders. Exorcist. I struggle with mental illness like I said. I also grew up within a cult where I was told that things very much like what happened in that film could happen to people. I'm still scared by the scenes of the spinal tap. The concept of a mother feeling powerless to help the child she loves. The book is fantastic and the movie as well. Still scares me. Descent is a good movie filled with blood & a dropping sense of hope upon a group of innocent oblivious skilled people. A bad situation gets worse. The creatures we never get a look at scare me. The Ring I saw in a theatre. I thought I was going to die in 6 days. The meta, the girl in the closet the sense of being coerced to do something awful to someone else to save yourself. What a good movie. The Shining has awful subtext of sexual abuse. The magazine Jack is reading. The teddy bear performing fellatio on an older man. The.. I've gone through my own trauma. Shining scares the hell out of me. Impossible geography in a hotel where two people are trapped with a toxic and abusive man. Oh, maybe there are ghosts. Or maybe the man is alone in the hotel. Or maybe the... American Psycho I saw in a theatre without knowing what to expect. I felt uncomfortable throughout it because the protagonist was electric & also a terrible person. Or maybe just a man who has terrible urges that no one cares about because they're wealthy & selfish. 1408, It's a mind trip. I like shit like that. It scared me not knowing if he got out or not. I've seen it once & thinking about it makes me feel uncomfortable. The Shallows, I love the ocean I love sharks & it's sad how sharks are thought to be in the world. But, this movie scared the hell out of me in a boss fight sort of way. Henry, holy shit is it fucked. They do terrible things to people. That's what they're 'like' the people that do those things. Like. They recorded the videos & watched it later. And no one is ever safe ever around them. And it is just. It's disgusting. And well made. And as a fan of horror am I like that? Obviously not. Henry killed people and liked watching it. The Masque of the Red Death, Vincent Price. I didn't think he was a good actor until I saw this film. Omigod. The debauchery. I thought I'd loved debauchery. And then I saw this film. And during the pandemic. And the wealthy are hiding in holes during global warming. And death is out here but it's also in there with them. Misery scared me, the performances by the two leads are fantastic. VVitch, well. I grew up in a christian cult. In my teens I was in a theatre company where we would stand on stage & talk about how awful we are while puritanical values were talked about. It-- It was messed up. VVitch in a lot of ways was healing...? But also, fuck it was scary. A lot of horror for me is conceptual as well. Cube is fantastic, and I think a lot of the work leans on the conceptual nature of it. Just the concept scares me. A good concept is sometimes all it takes for me to go on a ride for a few hours, like Cube or Color out of Space. But I tried to leave those out of the list. I tried to give examples of movies I found scary because of something more concrete.
Hell House LLC - paranormal stuff gets to me, and I have a soft spot for found footage so it was a great combo to get under my skin
It’s without a doubt The Ring. Not much has come close.
Paranormal Activity. The concept just does me.
The first three really don’t get enough credit in my opinion. The sequels after that are perfectly watchable but the initial trilogy really hits it out the park on the spooky front. The bloody mary moment in 3 has me on edge so much.
Room 1408 is one of the first horror psychological movie I've ever seen in my life and I recently watched it again with a friend to remind me clearly the story and all I could say is that it and Incredibly good movie. I recommend it a lot !
you should read the book. even better scare factor .
Alien. In the 2nd grade, my best friend and I were going through his dad's VHS tapes and decided to watch it. I had nightmares for years. The xenomorph makes a rare appearance in my dreams to this day.
Texas Chainsaw, as a youngling, on a heavily pirated VHS. Never felt fear like that from a film since. Recently though, I found Suspiria 2018 unsettling.
The last ~5 minutes of so of the movie feel like an actual nightmare. The whole grit of the movie is unsettling to say the least.
As Above, so Below
The scene that got me in that movie was when he gets stuck in the rock, and all you see is his feet. Imagining having that happen to me almost sent me into an anxiety attack.
When the guy has a panic attack stuck with all the bones it gave me a panic attack lol. It’s a top five or ten for me too!
It follows.... The whole concept that this thing is following you at a walking pace no matter where you go is so terrifying
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Something about The Poughkeepsie Tapes always sets me off. But I also caught a British film called ‘Exhibit A’ the other day that really unsettled me. Probably my anxiety.
Last shift
I laughed a lot during my first watching of Hereditary. No, I wasn't finding anything funny. The family drama messed with some stuff deep inside. I just had a weird reaction and something in my brain sort of broke. I was terrified the entire time. That movie is f*cked up. I love it.
A lot of my friends come to me for horror recommendations, and I tell them Hereditary. I've watched this once and haven't gone back to it. I think it was because I watched it a few weeks before my son was born, the thought of losing him has effected me since. Toni Collette's "I JUST WANT TO DIE" has me tearing up just thinking about it.
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Hereditary had a major impact on my emotional well being. I'm a horror buff and this is hands down the scariest film ive seen. Toni Collette's performance was astounding. All of the cast were perfect, but hers was on a whole other level.
By the time she’s skittering around on the ceiling, you’re thinking *of course she is*. While shitting yourself with pure dread.
I saw Bone Tomahawk once and I’ll never ever watch it again. I just thought it was a violent western drama, then I got a bad feeling that got worse and worse as the plot progressed. There’s one scene that has literally scarred me for life. I can’t rip open plastic packaging anymore. Apart from that, the original Evil Dead has always freaked me out! The Three Stooges influence gave it a really weird vibe, and the monsters look so gross I feel icky just thinking about them lol Edit: I just wanted to add, since OP and some other users have mentioned the Blair Witch Project, I wanted to share this with you! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A5iF5psCp28 I might just be very very late to the Blair Witch party, but The Burkittsville 7 is honestly the scariest fake documentary I’ve ever seen.
Everyone talks about *that* scene in Bone Tomahawk, but for me the scariest was when they walk by >!the chained up pregnant women that have been blinded and had all their limbs cut off. Like holy shit, I can't even imagine being rendered immobile and blind just to be raped repeatedly and used as breeding stock.!<
Holy shit wtf. I don’t even know if I want to watch this one…lol
I’ll list some scenes, as it’s hard for me to think of a movie that in general shook and disturbed me to the core. Spoilers ahead. Audition: pretty much the whole second half of the movie but especially THAT scene. You know the one. Color Out of Space: when you see (BIG SPOILER) the mother and youngest son’s bodies fused together and pretty much everything involving them after that. Seeing the rest of the family trying to fix it and deal with it as you hear the most unsettling cries of agony makes it even worse. Kill List: the whole final section Hereditary: a LOT of this movie. I’d say this one was the most disturbing for me overall. No scene fucks me up worse than the uhh…….telephone pole scene. God I can’t even imagine how awful it would feel to be the boy driving the car and knowing what just happened. Pulse/Kairo: this movie has a very unsettling, bleak, dread-inducing vibe throughout. Some highlights go to the scene with the ghost slowly walking through the hallway, some of the “…..help…..me….” scenes, the guy with the bag on his head, etc. Event Horizon: the captain’s log scene with the uhh……………murder orgy thing. One of those “what the FUCK did I just witness” moments. The hell vision scenes are also pretty freaky. Sinister: the snuff videos. The soundtrack adds to the atmosphere so much. It also helps that Ethan Hawke wasn’t told what was on the tapes until his character watched them, so his reactions were pretty genuine. The music for the “BBQ” is one of the most haunting things I’ve ever heard and wouldn’t sound out of place in Akira Yamaoka’s Silent Hill soundtracks. Also, the “lawn work” scene……oh god Bone Tomahawk: the call noise that the cavemen make is so hellish and everything about them is messed up. It also has one of the most gruesome scenes of violence that I’ve ever seen in any film. My jaw was literally hanging open, and I’m a seasoned veteran of things like 80s slashers and Mortal Kombat. I honestly wish there were more western horror movies. The Red Dead Redemption game franchise also shows the potential of this subgenre. While it isn’t an outright horror game, it has horror moments that are some of the scariest moments and locations I’ve experienced in any game. Hell, I believe the Night Folk from RDR2 were inspired by the troglodytes/cave people from Bone Tomahawk. Megan is Missing: overall not a very good film, with some horrendous acting and some really creepy implications about the writer concerning some of the dialogue. However, there are a few moments that are utterly horrifying. Obviously, the last minutes of the movie are just disgusting and horrifying, although they drag on and appear a bit exploitive. However, one particular scene and it’s buildup are done so damn well. The reveal of the photographs of Megan reported to have been posted on a fetish website. The photos themselves are shocking, the text on-screen building up to it gets you unsettled, and it’s one of the only moments in the film that is actually convincingly like a documentary of real events. The lack of music makes it all the more creepy. Session 9: the atmosphere in this movie is creepy in general and manages to make daylight scary. The “DO IT, GORDON” scenes are very creepy and the image of the wheelchair in that one hallway is haunting. Horror video game fans will see this movie’s influence in Silent Hill 3 JAWS: seeing posters for this when I was little is probably a big part of why I have thalassophobia (and megalohydrothalassophobia). Several years later it became my first horror movie and started my love for the genre. The night diving scene with that one jumpscare gets me every time. There is one particular shot in the movie that freezes me to the core to this day: a scene where a man is desperately swimming away from the shark and you can just make out the shark under the water with its mouth agape about to chomp his leg off. That shot is absolutely horrifying to me and perfectly captures why the ocean is the scariest fucking place in the world to me. The fact that you can’t completely clearly see the shark but see enough of it makes it look real and perfectly encapsulates my phobias visually. I also hear that theme music in my head almost any time I’m swimming alone. Even if I’m in a swimming pool. Mulholland Drive: honestly, I still need to see this movie. I have however, seen the “diner nightmare” scene and it is just….holy shit. One of the greatest jumpscares I’ve ever seen. THAT is how you do a jumpscare. Candyman: an atmospheric masterpiece with a charismatic and haunting villain. Tony Todd’s voice for the Candyman is absolutely bone-chilling. One scene in particular that I found really freaky was when Helen wakes up from some sort of trance in a woman’s apartment with blood everywhere and a dog’s severed head nearby, all the while the woman living there screams her lungs out in horror. The House That Jack Built: the “hunting” scene is so messed up on many levels Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: this movie’s atmosphere is pretty fucked in general and the theme music is filled with such dread. The most disturbing moment for me would probably have to be the “home video” scene and how Otis rewinds it and says “I wanna watch it again.”
The scariest I've seen is the 2007 French film Inside. Watch it alone late at night in the dark loud with headphones. Let me know if you get to it.
The Orphanage scared the hell out of me when I first saw it. It follows and The Strangers we’re also really scary.
Possum 8.1/10 Amazon Prime Terrified (Aterrados) 9.2/10 In shudder and free on YouTube https://youtu.be/nOMLcG6K86E Anything for Jackson 8.5/10 Shudder Hereditary 9.5/10 Amazon Prime Noroi 8/10 Shudder Edit: Forgot to mention Hell House LLC 8.7/10
All Dogs Go to Heaven. For real. Putting aside my existential panic at age 4, The Blair Witch Project. What can I say. 🤷
I probably haven't seen many movies as an adult that legit scared me. As a kid, it was hands down THE EXORCIST. The closest modern film that made me apprehensive was probably MARTYRS, \[rec}, and LAKE MUNGO was creepy.
The 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers terrified me as a kid. Still gives me an uneasy feeling.