Scariest movies you've seen as an adult, and why they were so scary?

[raccoon]

Here's mine:

-- THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/

-- SHOCK WAVES (1977) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076704/

-- THE THING (1982) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/

-- THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT(1999) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/


What do these movies have in common? (Other than the fact that they’re all horror movies).

--Isolation of the main character(s); nobody’s available to help.

--A nonhuman element (zombies, vampires, extraterrestrial life form, witch) threatens the character(s).

--All main characters die or lose their minds (SHOCK WAVES), or else it’s implied that they’re going to die (THE THING, LAST MAN ON EARTH).


To me, scariest of all was THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, because you never SAW what was threatening them.

[charlie and algernon]

1. Paranormal Activity gave me some good chills

Probably as a result of the fear of the unkown and the vulnerability you're in while sleeping.

The scene where the girlfriend gets up and stares at the boyfriend for 3 hours gives me chills just thinking about it.

[redqueen]

15. I think that would have been scary for me

if I hadn't been interrupted around 50 times while trying to watch it.

[charlie and algernon]

30. that sucks

lately I have had bad luck getting theaters that were talkative throughout the movie, but I did get lucky with Paranormal Activity, so I was able to get into it. I've actually started to cut back in my visits to the movie theater because so many now talk during the movie. :grr:

[jkhelgi]

2. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

yea, i absolutely agree with you about THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

[bif]

3. Cloverfield

I don't really watch horror flicks. But that one creeped me out.

[old mark]

4. First time I ever saw "Night Of The Living Dead" I was at home alone

smoking a bit of controlled substance. I had never heard of it before, but the old TV guide said," Low budget, but terrifying beyond belief." Had to watch it, couldn't believe how scarey it was...still one of my favorites of all time, cost less to make than the credit titles on most films. The original Romero film "The Crazies" was really scarey in a completely different way.


mark

[lunatica]

39. Agreed on the Night of the Living Dead

And the ending was a shock too!

[FedUpWithIt All]

5. The end of "Quarantine" scared me pretty good. n/t

[HopeHoops]

6. "Last House On The Left"

The scariest thing about it is that it is based (very closely) on a true story.

On Edit: I think there is a recent remake of this movie. I'm talking about the original, circa 1972.

[mitchum]

36. When I was in college, I had a roommate who watched that over and over again...

at a very loud volume.
I bet I can recite all of the dialogue.
It is a creepy film. Based on Ingmar Bergman's "The Virgin Spring"

[HopeHoops]

37. The blow job scene was justifiable.

At least she spit out the offending object.

[Highway61]

63. That was my answer as well

circa 1972....scared the hell out of me.

[LynneSin]

7. Hell the trailer for Paranormal Activities freaked me out

It's like the Blair Witch Project- never really see who the scary monster is. I don't like stuff like that

[Patiod]

55. Actually, we thought the movie was a let-down

but that was just us

[soleft]

8. Silence of the Lambs

The killer's lack of empathy for his victims. The objectification of women.

The fact that you kind of like Hannibal Lecter and root for him. It alligns you with the monster. Kind of like with Dexter.

[jmowreader]

9. Someone made me watch The Passion of the Christ

It's scary because someone actually believes two hours of absolute brutality is what it takes to lead people to God.

[RedCloud]

10. Two childhood movies I no longer fear!

The Monster that challenged the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRi23-r6p8

Can you imagine the real fear when you get home and your big sister grabs one of these:



and chases you around the house saying, "Klinker-goo, klinker-goo" the noise we thought the creature was making?

Or this movie

The Angry Red Planet with all kinds of cool info, such as Mars is only a few thousand miles from Earth!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTUFg-QLRk


And then their warning at the end for the people of Planet Earth to beware! They spoke in English! Yikes!!!!!!!!

[BlueIris]

11. The scariest non-"Exorcist" film I've seen is "The Mothman Prophecies."

Runner up: "30 Days of Night." Honorable mentions: "The Ring" and "28 Days Later."

Non-horror mention: "The White Ribbon." Which has the distinction of being one of two movies I've seen in the last decade that I've watched more than once in the theater. A warning to those who brave that one, however: it will keep you up that night.

[tigereye]

25. yes, that was quite scary as was Signs for similar reasons.

[BlueIris]

46. Oh, crap! I forgot "Signs."

I love "Signs."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Twilight.

OMG it had fucking vampires and shit.

[LeftinOH]

13. "The Mist" (2007); it still bothers me.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. I agree....

....talk about your downer endings.

[charlie and algernon]

32. oh God yeah

I couldn't move for a few minutes after I saw that ending. Took me awhile to process what I just saw.

[proteus_lives]

50. So depressing.

The king short-story version was actually more upbeat.

[KamaAina]

14. Fahrenheit 9/11

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[GaYellowDawg]

61. + infinity

I've never left a theater so mad and scared.

[guitar man]

16. Fahrenheit 911

Scary because it's all true :scared:

[BeachBaby]

17. I have four.

The Blair Witch Project - like you said, you couldn't see what was watching them. Furthermore, the way it was filmed, it felt like I was with them.

The Exorcist - not sure why, but I'm guessing it's residual fear from my religious upbringing.

The Mothman Prophecy - again, couldn't see exactly what was screwing around with all these people. I've read the story about it, and it didn't calm me down. :P

Silence of the Lambs - for obvious reasons. :)

[redqueen]

19. Haven't seen any that really scared me.

I scare very easily, and I get spooked all the time... but after seeing The Exorcist, nothing else I've seen as an adult comes anywhere close.

[mitchum]

20. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (for the home invasion scene)

nicely done

[Stuart G]

21. What humans can do to other humans.. Night and Fog

Night and Fog....Nuit et brouillard...French , English subtitles...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048434/

Horrific and frightening on a gut level so real, cause it was, and these are pictures of it.

[cemaphonic]

22. "Repulsion" comes to mind

Not jump-out-of-your-seat scary, but deeply, deeply unsettling.

"Eraserhead" along the same lines.

[blogslut]

23. I saw the Exorcist a the Cinema when I was thirteen.

I had read the book beforehand and it scared the shit out of me. The movie didn't.

As an adult, I'm not much of a horror fan and therefore I haven't seen a lot of films that would be categorized as scary. Every once in a while I'll choose to watch that genre because of an interesting plot or performer or because the movie is a classic.

What often scares me are violent cruelties that I didn't expect. Two things that come to mind are the bloodcurdling scream of the prostitute on tape in Klute and the wine bottle-beating by the Captain Vidal character in Pan's Labyrinth. Images like that stay with me and continue to scare me whenever I recall them.

[tigereye]

24. Salvador - because it was too true to life and so frighteningly violent

Psycho- because psychological intensity and element of surprise overtook the lack of gore. I didn't sleep well for 2 nights after seeing it way back when.


The Tenant- so psychologically scary and creepy, because of the way that he delineated the development of madness.




edited to add Signs - because you didn't know what was coming and when it came, it was so much more scary.

And Seven - because of the horror of the calm madness of Kevin Spacey - he still creeps me out.

[Alexander]

26. Hour Of The Wolf - Ingmar Bergman film starring Max von Sydow in 1968.

It is horrifying in every sense of the word. You really just have to see it.

[JCMach1]

27. The Ring creeped me out

and little does...

[kimi]

31. Yeah, The Ring for me too

What was weirder was that night I was going downstairs, had the upstairs hall light on and could see into the dark kitchen, and there were two glowing red eyes staring at me. Gave me some real chills, thinking of that movie. It turned out to be one of the cats, but I've never seen her eyes do that in the dark before, or since.

That memory still creeps me out.

Blair Witch too - some of it was filmed in Montgomery County MD, near where I live. I think that has a bit to do with why it's so scary to me.

[Krakowiak]

48. I watched the Ring my first night in Port Townsend.....

A portion of the movie was filmed out there, totally unbeknownst to me at the time. I was in a tiny cabin out in the woods by myself, watching this movie that had the same ferry that I had arrived on earlier in the afternoon, and of course, the surrounding scenery looked all too familiar.

That was a long night.

[JCMach1]

53. Double Yikes!!!

[lazarus]

28. Blair Witch and Alien

Alien just scared the crap out of me. Terrifying film. As was Blair Witch.

[lunatica]

41. Alien was very scary

The last part where she's in the escape ship and the alien suddenly moves till the end was scary as hell!

[ceile]

29. I can think of a few

The Descent was scary on two levels: one being trapped under ground and the other being the creepy man eating things down there with you.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/
There is also a novel with the same tilte that is simiar and worth a read.

Audition is as messed up as they come
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235198/

[Biker13]

34. Audition!

Your comment says it all! Scared the HELL out of me!

Biker's Old Lady

[Mad_Dem_X]

33. "The Ring"

I tend to like movies that are more psychologically intense. "Silence of the Lambs" is another good one. The kind of movie that fucks with your head, long after you've seen it.

[XemaSab]

35. Yes, some of the films on this list are pretty freaky

The Shining is the only really scary film I've seen that I would add to the list.

[lunatica]

38. The Sixth Sense

It actually made me jump in fright a couple of times. But that only works when you watch it the first time because after that you know the ghosts are nice.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

40. Prince of Darkness.

It's a schlocky John Carpenter horror film but it scared the bejeebers out of me.

[AllenVanAllen]

42. Bill Maher's Religulous

Not a horror movie but it scared me nevertheless. When the state of the understanding of science is what it is in America, we have something to truly fear.

If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife, for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers. If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was. We learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That's it. Grow up or die. - Bill Maher

[name not needed]

43. Jesus Camp.

I shouldn't have to explain this one.

[hippywife]

44. The scariest movies to me are

the ones that could really happen. That's why I avoid seeing them.

I didn't see Blair Witch until all the hype had been going on for some time. I thought it was kinda boring.

[madamesilverspurs]

45. "Camp FEMA"

An alleged 'documentary' about how the Obama (aka Hitler) government is planning to round up loyal patriots and put them in concentration camps. This thing is being shown on PBS a part of their fund drive, and the teabaggers and 9-12ers are loving it. Ick. Yucky. Ew. And scary because the wingers will be using it as a source of 'facts'.

-

[Lindsey]

47. I didn't know much about The Blair Which Project and I watched

it on one of the cable channels. I thought it was really happening so it really did scare the crap out of me. I'm not much of a horror movie fan so I don't watch a lot of them but others that come to mind are The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, I thought The Mist sucked until the final scene and then I freaked out. I've heard The Ring and Paranormal Activity are really intense so I'll probably rent them at some point.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

49. The Ring was gooooooooooooooooooooood

Supposedly the new flick "Paranormal Activity" is bad ass as well..

[raccoon]

54. How's that again?

"This thing is being shown on PBS a part of their fund drive,"

[proteus_lives]

51. Oh, I love The Thing.

The short-story, '50s movie version and the John Carpenter masterpiece.

Isolation is a key factor in horror.

[nomorenomore08]

52. "Jacob's Ladder"

The hospital/hell scene is the very definition of horrifying. And the whole movie maintains a nightmarish sense of instability and ambiguity.

"Suspiria" - Once again, atmosphere and more atmosphere. The actual gore scenes, gruesome as they are, are secondary to the overpowering feeling of dread.

Those are the only two I could think of that haven't already been mentioned. But "The Thing," "Henry," "Audition," and "The Exorcist" are all way up there as well.

I'm taking "scariest" to mean "most frightening," mind you. "Most disturbing" would've been a very different, and much longer, list.

[av8rdave]

59. Jacobs Ladder is one of my all time favorite films

Great call!

[Oceansaway]

56. "Them" and "The House of Wax"....n/t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

57. An American Crime

could not sleep that night.

Based on a true story that shocked the nation in 1965, the film recounts one of the most shocking crimes ever committed against a single victim. Sylvia and Jennie Fae Likens, the two daughters of traveling carnival workers are left for an extended stay at the Indianapolis (3850 E. New York St. is hardly suburban, nor was it in 1965, by any stretch of the imagination.) home of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski and her six children. Times are tough, and Gertrude's financial needs cause her to make this arrangement before realizing how the burden will push her unstable nature to a breaking point. What transpires in the next three months is both riveting and horrific, leaving one child dead and the rest scarred for life.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0802948/

[PassingFair]

58. Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer

Because it was so matter-of-fact.

Banal.

[frogmarch]

60. The Thing

I saw the original The Thing when I was a kid, and it scared me A LOT. James Arness played the creature in that one.

The 1982 The Thing scared me even more.

[Bertha Venation]

62. The Silence of The Lambs.

Scary because - well, damn. Just look at it. I was terrified of Hannibal Lecter. Buffalo Bill was a piker compared to him.