1. Alien (1979)
2. The Exorcist (1973)
3. Event Horizon (1997) The movie scared the hell out of me.
4. The Fourth Kind (2009)
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Are there any non-US posters here who think of Event Horizon as scary? I've heard time and time again about how scary EH is but, as far as I can remember, only ever from American's. Usually teens or those who were teens when they first saw it. I just wonder if there's some cultural thing which American's see in this film that I and/or others don't.
I was in my teens when I saw EH in theaters and it did scare me. Now when I watch it well it does not scare me at all, but I think that's because with this movie especially after you see it once then all the stuff that makes you jump and scares you does not have that same effect. Still to this day I love that movie and say it kicks ass. But I can not say about the cultural thing because I have no idea, maybe it is just a difference. I'll let the smart people figure that one out.
1. The Return of the Living Dead Why: This movie makes me afraid of dying. I don't wanna be a corpse. I love this movie, though.
2. John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness Why: This movie has always been unbelievably disturbing to me. The thing is - I haven't really watched it in a long, long, long time. It's probably something I could handle better now, but this is like the only horror movie I avoid. I saw it when I was a kid - but I saw LOTS of horror movies when I was a kid - and this has always been the one that's bugged me the most. There's just so much creepy stuff going on in this movie. It concerns the devil being trapped inside a canister with this liquid in it - I need to watch it again. Maybe it'll end up being not so scary - I dunno.
3. Creepshow 2 Why:The Raft. The second story in the movie. An oil slick that attacks a group of teenagers out in a lake on a raft -- the oil slick eats them. One of the most horrific things I have ever seen.
You know, I'm noticing that I seem to be very afraid of slimy, liquidy things so far. Interesting.
4. Hellbound: Hellraiser II Why: It doesn't scare me now, but it has - it has especially disturbed me. I would say it's probably one of my top 5 scariest movies - at least if I was recommending one to people who haven't been exposed to it.
5. Slumber Party Massacre Why: This is about an escaped serial killer who stalks some high school girls back to their house where they're throwing a slumber party for the night. He uses a drill for a weapon. The killer is one of the creepiest ever -- at least, until he talks in a certain scene near the end. That kinda kills it, but not totally. This movie has very scary music (although, I think a lot of people think it's silly.) It is, in my opinion, an underrated slasher. This killer just hangs around outside the house these girls are inside - and if anyone happens to go outside, they meet him and get killed. It creeps me out.
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Nothing else really bugs me. I'm not really scared by most horror films. At least, not anymore. But those were some movies that did scare me -- and I still think they'd scare other people pretty good.
When I was about 10 years old, I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time and it scared me enough that I couldn't sleep that night:
Another one from when I was younger, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, well one character, freaked me out A LOT, that I kept seeing him on my ceiling and behind the curtains when I was trying to sleep after watching it:
Judge Doom was the character, one of the most creepy characters I've come across, especially when he 'changes', yikes:
Ils/Them(big influence on The Strangers and scarier):
First half of Insidious, before it all got a bit silly:
Not a film, but a one off ghost reality television programme called Ghost Watch and it really really scared me at the time it was first shown because I didn't realise it was all a fake and it caused a lot of bother when it was first shown in 1992 because they made it out to be live and so on and viewers really thought things were happening:
An example of the show showing the sightings of the 'ghost', the first one with the curtain it the one that really made me have trouble sleeping:
It was quite scary at the time, before all these Paranormal Activity types and so on.
Hitchfan I would say that your five are a good shout for the "greatest" horror movies ever but not the top five "scariest" for me. Though I'm not quite sure I would define Silence of the Lambs as a horror exactly. More a psychological Thriller.
Some really messed up images and the whole industrial tone really gets under your skin
4.
It may be pretty dated to the point the contemporary fears don't really play but the unexplained and unstoppable zombie force creates a real sense of not only dread but a slow un-escapable build up of tension.
3.
Scary for the same reasons as NoTLD only the threat has been insanely increased so instead of slow tension building you're consistently on edge.
2.
Anyone, with ANY amount of claustrophobia can't help but have some reaction to the wonderfully constricted use of space.
1.
Again, like 28 Days Later but in a confined space with an intense POV experience in one of the most deftly used examples of the technique. An unbearable last scene with the night vision gets me every time
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It bored me to bits!
