Scariest movie you've seen?

Gilly said:
Such as?

Don't say Ringu or the Grudge, they're turgid nonsense.
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It really is a matter of a opinion so its impossible to argue over. I watched Aliens when I was a kid and it didnt bother me one bit, I can watch it now on my own in the dark and love it for what it is but it doesnt scare me in the slightest. The Grudge on the other hand scared the pants off me
 
As in generally scary/creepy and jumpy and scarier than Alien(s):

- Ring (original) and Ju-Onwere definitely scary
- Dark Water
- Arachnophobia was definitely scary and ticked the right boxes
- The Thing (original)
- Event Horizon
- Amityville Horror
- Nightmare on Elm Street (original)
- Stephen King's IT
- Moth man Prphecies
- Se7en
- Saw (1st movie)
- 'Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters)' (2003) (I'm re-watching this)
- Audition
- Rec
 
Rec was OK, but not scary. Slightly jumpy at the end would be all. The rest I disagree wholly with. Arachnophobia and ******* are laughable proposals. Ringu didn't even scare my jittery ex.

Haven't seen Audition or Janghwa.
 
Gilly said:
Rec was OK, but not scary. Slightly jumpy at the end would be all. The rest I disagree wholly with. Arachnophobia and ******* are laughable proposals. Ringu didn't even scare my jittery ex.

Haven't seen Audition or Janghwa.
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I have to say I agree with you that most of Khaaan's list isn't scary. In fact the only two on that list I would agree with are Audition and [rec], and even [rec] is pushing it. I would recommend you see Audition if only because it manages to be a beautifully done Japanese horror with none of the cliches.

The main reasons why horror films don't work these days is because they don't touch nerves with their audience members anymore. Sure, we all don't want to be killed by serial killers, but only in the same way that we don't want to fall under a cement lorry. It's not a personal fear. Personal fears and trepidations come from things linked to your past or things which you feel could very really happen to you, and this makes it hard for directors. For instance, I have a huge fear of being stalked in my own home so the French film Ils scared me witless. My girlfriend, who is more or less completely jaded when it comes to horror and extreme cinema [she was pretty bored throughout A Serbian Film], found Paranormal Activity petrifying and has slept with her light on throughout the last year because she's that scared of ghosts.

A good film director will make his audience scared by making a film frightening enough without it having to touch personal nerves. The way this works mostly is by not showing the audience what something is, where it is, or where it will be next, just that it is hazardous. The audience has to be in a state of abandonment.

In light of that, I would recommend to you two other films, The Orphanage and the Thai version of Shutter. Both are very well made, the latter being a film related to ghosts being in the immediate vicinity but only noticeable after a photographic exposure.
 
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Lysander said:
I have to say I agree with you that most of Khaaan's list isn't scary. In fact the only two on that list I would agree with are Audition and [rec], and even [rec] is pushing it. I would recommend you see Audition if only because it manages to be a beautifully done Japanese horror with none of the cliches.

...

In light of that, I would recommend to you two other films, The Orphanage and the Thai version of Shutter. Both are very well made, the latter being a film related to ghosts being in the immediate vicinity but only noticeable after a photographic exposure.
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Noted :)

It has to be said, I don't hold Aliens up as the best horror ever made, just that of the ones I've seen since none have lived up to it, and none have scared me whatsoever.

I'm fairly open-minded about what films I watch. I'd rather watch subbed than dubbed foreign flicks, but that's about it.
 
Gilly said:
Noted :)

It has to be said, I don't hold Aliens up as the best horror ever made, just that of the ones I've seen since none have lived up to it, and none have scared me whatsoever.

I'm fairly open-minded about what films I watch. I'd rather watch subbed than dubbed foreign flicks, but that's about it.
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No-one in their right mind would watch dubbed films [the Spanish do it all the time!].

When you see a film you don't expect to be great - and it turns out to be really really great - it's very hard for anything to live up to it. I sat down to watch Irreversible one night, not knowing what to expect, and I was floored. Completely floored. No other film has had the effect on me that that did.

When I sit down to watch a film I want to know as little about it as possible. The more people tell me it's really amazing, or really scary, the less amazing or scary it will end up being. This is one of the reasons why people seem to dislike the Blair Witch project so much, they were told it was "the scariest film ever" and of course it's not going to be. But I love it to pieces. It's an amazing piece of filmmaking. It is scary? No. It is atmospheric? By God, yes. And this is where it succeeds to masterfully.
 
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Well this just shows how subjective horror films are, obviously there are more scarier films I have seen than the ones I jotted above but even still some people don't think most of those are scary.
 
Khaaan! said:
Well this just shows how subjective horror films are, obviously there are more scarier films I have seen than the ones I jotted above but even still some people don't think most of those are scary.
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Exactly. Horrors are very subjective. Incredibly. No-one is 'right' about whether a film is scary or not, but some films do scare people more than others.
 
Actually out of all the I've seen so far, A nightmare on Elm Street made me have toe biggest single jump. It's a different horror movie.. Not like the rest of them but can't explain why
 
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