Just me, but I think all of those movies are boring in a way. They all try too hard to be brutal and disturbing and intentionally distasteful and offensive. I don’t find myself scared or disturbed by watching them, but I do find the experience unpleasant enough that I have to question what kind of people would want to sit through these films more than once or even own them. They’re not fun films by design. I’ll take Suspiria or Halloween, thanks.
Some of these are hybrid horror/science fiction. ‘The Thing” (1982) ‘Alien’(1979) ‘The Haunting” (1960) ‘The Exorcist’ (1975) ‘Jaws” (1975) The Haunting of Hill House (2018) (Mini-series) ‘Oculus’ ‘Saw’ ‘Re-Animator” ‘The Hidden” ‘The Exorcist III” ‘The Omen” ‘Insidious” ‘Night of the Living Dead” (original) ‘Dawn of the Dead” (both the original and the remake with Ving Rhames) ‘The Shining”(Kubrick) The Vanishing (the original not the American remake) For me it’s a combination of things for great horror-sure visceral shocks play a role, disturbing stuff but also character as well. You need to identify with the characters for the film to truly resonate. For example, “The Shining” has a creep factor but the horror emanates not just from the hotel and the creepy stuff there but also in seeing Jack slowly unravel further into insanity. Granted, if Nicholson hadn’t played it the way he did (were pretty sure he’s on the road to insanity to begin with), I think it would have had more power having him going from a good dad who isn’tabusive or crazy to one that is but it still works even if it is that rare horror movie that is clinical and glacial with typical Kubrick detachment.
The Shining. Something about this film connected with me and other boys in my age group. I have never seen another film that understands what truly is horrifying more than this one: a dad who might hurt you and your mom, an alcoholic dad, being shut off from the "normal" world, having seizures, parents with severe marital problems, the fear of being alone, and who or what might be behind the door and what they might do to you. The Shining hits on those themes and more. There is no safe space in this film. Brutality is everywhere!
the hedge maze chase is still frightening to this day! the snow, the cold, the Dad...what a horrible combo...now I have to watch the movie again!
House on Haunted Hill is still one of my favorites. Saw it around age 5 or 6 on TV and it scared me half to death!
me too...my friends and I always watched it whenever it came on TV back then! it was so damn scary!!!! we loved it...another favorite was She Demons! I was thrilled to finally get a great copy of HOHH!
I liked THE SHINING too when I first saw it on HBO, but as an adult at the time, was more into the fact that it was a Kubrick film and I was appreciating it from that film-making angle. I never really found it very scary.
I've never seen Martyrs, from description it sounds like a bit too much. But wasn't the whole torture horror started by Americans, because both Hostel and Saw came before it, I saw both of those
Scariest horror movie : The downward spiral that we seem to be in...oh wait that's REAL life in 2021. 1. Original Texas Chainsaw..... not scary...but disturbing....only watched it once.....not going back.... 2. Conjuring 2 ...... Another one that makes your skin tingle..... 3. Nightmare on Elm St. ...Before he became a clown, The ' dark' Freddy scared the hell out of us on the big screen in 1984 ! Soooo many more too....
Whatever you do, do not watch the American remake of Matyrs. It is terrible and doesn't even appear to make sense unless you've seen the original and therefore know what's going on (although they change things here and there but not for the better - I seem to recall that the powerful bleak ending to the original becomes a blink and you'll miss it throwaway line in the remake). Tres poor.
Hands down "The Exorcist" Freddy, Jason and the like...meh...they don't move me at all, now when it comes to things that involve the big D' that's whole different story
Im not that big into horror anymore, but here are a few favorites: The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre- Still eerie and disturbing The Shining- A classic thriller The Conjouring- I remember seeing interviews with the paranormal investigators when they were still alive. I never knew they made a movie about them until a few years ago. It was scary, have yet to see the second one The first Saw Movie- A fresh take on horror movies The Exorcist-Still scary after all these years The Ring- Awesome foreign horror flick, a nice contrast to the American horror films.
I think The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby might be scary if I was at all religious or brought up that way but I wasn’t. Same goes with The Wicker Man which is categorized as a horror movie except the main character is a turd and the community is a place that I would actually like to live, lol.
I saw it at the movies..some of the scenes were scary on the big screen...the madman chase through the Hedge maze in the snow freaked me out...and of course the "Here's Johnny" scene...
I don’t think I’ve been scared by a movie since I was 10 years old but I occasionally find things that’s disturbing & unsettling. Examples would be Hereditary & The Witch. The TV show Evil fits that category too cause it can go from slightly humorous & silly to pitch black in the blink of an eye. Good writing and a touch of humour can go a long way & Drag Me To Hell might be a good example of that done well.
I was thinking along the same lines as other folks on here. At 54, nothing is really ' Scary ' the way it was when you were sitting in a dark theater at 15. The term ' scary' now has been replaced by ' unsettling'..... Movies where people jump out from behind doors and such are just silly. What ' scares' me now are the ' creepy' movies where the situation could be off the nightly news. ' Incident in a Ghostland' or even ' Orphan' come to mind. They won't make you jump out of your seat for a second, but will scare you in a more cerebral way which to me is much more effective !!
