Scariest Movie

Okay folks, it's the Halloween season and lots of folks are up for a good old fashion freakout. So tell me your pick(s) for scariest movie of all time. Not your favorite horror movie. But the one you find the scariest.

I like horror flicks, and I like being scared now and then. But one that pretty much screws with my head every time I watch it is Event Horizon. If I find the time I'll do a retro review of it for my Halloween episode coming up. It's so jacked up I actually can't recommend it to very many people at all. But nothing else comes close when it comes to freaking me out.

I don't get scared easily and i'm also not a fan of horror movies so there isn't many movies that i find scary so I'm going to say the old end times movie "A thief in the night" on because I saw that movie when I was really young (like 7) and it gave me nightmares. but I don't find the movie scary now

I didn't find myself all that scared during Event Horizon, so perhaps I'll have to watch it again soon. (hulu?)

As for scariest movie for me, the original Halloween. Michael Meyers was the scariest only because he was so quiet, and seemed to be ever present in the background, always watching and hiding until time to strike. All other Halloweens do not count.

Event Horizon on Amazon Instant Video. Lets see how scary this is.

Drew.Rub wrote:I didn't find myself all that scared during Event Horizon,

Me neither. I seem to remember a reviewer saying "as soon as the ship went to hell... so did the movie"  

Event Horizon reminded me of a Hellraiser-type of film. Really jacked-up to be sure. But for me, I really scary movie is The Grudge! Really it's just one scene . . . when that girl hides under her covers and "the grudge" gets her from UNDER THE COVERS.

That's NOT supposed to happen, man. Nothing is supposed to violate the security of "under the covers." That's MESSED up!

I found EH to be more gore-factor than scare-factor.

Haven't seen the Grudge (or The Ring) in quite awhile. As I recall, those were really creepy-scary. might have to watch again to see if that still holds true for me.

Drew.Rub wrote:I didn't find myself all that scared during Event Horizon, so perhaps I'll have to watch it again soon.  (hulu?)  

If I review this one I plan to mention this, but this movie, like many other horror flicks, should only be watched on a home theater with good high and low range and cranked up to simulate the theater experience. The sound mix and dynamic levels set the tone and maintain tension, so if you don't have it cranked enough for the jump scares to get you, you likely won't be uneasy and emotionally in the right place for the disturbing "non-jump" scares. I found this to be the case when I watched it about a year ago, during the day, with the volume at a moderate level. A very different experience. Compare that to the first time I saw it in theaters, when the movie was being marketed as more sci-fi suspense (heavy on sci-fi) and so the experience took me by surprise.

Sorry you guys missed out on the crazy messed up experience I had(through multiple viewings). I love sci-fi horror flicks and this was truly one of a kind for me.

A lot of what Paeter describes is what really sunk the experience of Event Horizon home. Went in expecting to see a sci-fi suspense thriller, and was utterly shocked that it was an out-and-out horror film. The pscyhological aspects of everyone being haunted by their nightmares is backed up by the shock of the grotesque imagery that jumps out at the individual characters. Then there's that wonderful gem, "Hell is only a word. The reality is much worse," and he doesn't leave it at that: "Here, let me show you!!!" And it didn't matter what faith members of the original crew believed in, they physically entered a realm that was a horrific, waking nightmare, and catch glimpses of how they impaled and tore themselves and each other apart. Absolutely frightening.

Movies like The Grudge and The Ring still managed to leave an impression on me, too, though. I think it's that eerie sense of something that has the shape of what was once human, but is moving in a way that is soooo alien to anything we've seen. And there is no escape from those things, they are patient and relentless, and you have no way of knowing how fast they might be at any given moment. Surprisingly intense for a couple of PG-13 movies.

I don't really like Horror movies so my pick will probably sound pretty lame, but The Sixth Sense freaked me out. Especially the scene where he sees the ghost with her wrists slit open.

I own John Carpenter's The Thing, but haven't got around to watching it yet (not sure if that is a horror movie or just a monster movie.) Movies about the paranormal get to me more so than zombie/monster type movies.

DNArington wrote:

I own John Carpenter's The Thing, but haven't got around to watching it yet (not sure if that is a horror movie or just a monster movie.)

More monster than horror in my book. And in my humble opinion, the best monster movie ever made. But don't let that raise your expectations too high. It may look very dated to some. Either way, I hope you enjoy it! Wish I could be there to watch you watch it!

I have a certain fondness for Something Wicked This Way Comes, a Disney adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086336/

cleireac wrote:I have a certain fondness for Something Wicked This Way Comes, a Disney adaptation of the Ray Bradbury story.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086336/

Oh dude, YES! That movie is CREEEEPY disturbing!

There are many movies that I find to be enjoyable horror films, but there are really only two films that have kept me up at night.

In the Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter takes the idea that we create our own reality to its logical conclusion. The real monsters in the film aren't chthonic entities from outside of reality, but the cumulative expression of humanity as a whole. If there is evil in the world, it's because it comes from me.

Night of the Living Dead - In 1968, George Romero expressed a nihilistic view of the universe with absolute clarity, and in a way that emphasized the message rather than the medium. This is a cerebral film whose first and final victim is hope.

mindspike wrote:There are many movies that I find to be enjoyable horror films, but there are really only two films that have kept me up at night.

In the Mouth of Madness - John Carpenter takes the idea that we create our own reality to its logical conclusion. The real monsters in the film aren't chthonic entities from outside of reality, but the cumulative expression of humanity as a whole. If there is evil in the world, it's because it comes from me.

That is a veeery creepy movie. And another with Sam Neil! (Wonder what that's all about?) I had never looked at it from the angle you described before but that makes a lot of sense. I need to give this one another go sometime.

Alien and Jaws. Both get heavy rotation compared to any other movie in my collection, both are movies I have seen in the double digits, both are movies that still are effective even today.

Even thought both are, frankly, pretty dated.

I saw Jaws and found it kind of boring honestly. I can see objectively that it is a good movie, but I just didn't really get into it.

I saw Jaws in the theater as a kid, and I was scared enough to keep my legs tucked underneath me on top of the seat. I'm not sure why this made me feel more secure. I guess I was avoiding the posture of dangling my legs in the water

My scariest recent movie was probably The Ring (I saw the American version first, so I find it scarier), but before that I might have said The Haunting (the original black & white version; not the goofy remake)