I watched Tideland today and my two-word reaction was (pardon my language), and I quote, “Jesus FUCK!”
It was tough to finish that movie, not because it was bad, but because my skin was just crawling. I really need to get to sleep sometime this afternoon so I can get to work tonight, but… uh, yeah.
I realize that “horror” is one of the IMDB designations for that movie, but it’s not the primary one and it’s certainly not what I’d normally think of as a horror movie.
I mean, ghosts and goblins and zombies and werewolves don’t freak me out at all. The sickening potential of a diseased human mind does it every time.
What are some other more-or-less believable movies that creep you out?
Alive (1993), the true story of a passenger plane that crashed in the high Andes in 1972. The crash itself is unnervingly realistic, and the desperation the passengers faced in that frozen wasteland, with numerous setbacks, was something that haunted me for days after seeing the movie.
The Vanishing (also known by its original Dutch title Spoorloos), is extremely creepy and unsettling, though it is not a traditional horror movie. I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to sleep well at night, but do NOT see the American remake, which has a totally different ending!
Again on the subject of plane crashes, the crash in Castaway was frighteningly realistic and preyed on one of my fears - that a crash will happen when I’m in the bathroom of a airplane. I have to block that scene out of my mind when I actually do use a plane loo.
AFAIK, Pan’s Labyrinth has been categorized “dark fantasy” rather than “horror”.
Genre classifications aside, it was genuinely terrifying in parts - and most of those parts were those that occurred in the real world, as opposed to the alternate world only Ofelia could see. I didn’t sleep well that night, or for a few nights afterward.
The Woman Chaser, based on a Charles Willeford novel, creeped me out. Patrick Warburton plays a used-car salesman who wants to make a movie. Using seduction & theft, he achieves his ambition. Then, things go bad…
Definitely a neo-noir with tons of black humor, but the actors play this one totally straight. I saw it on Sundance, in black & white. Apparently a VHS was released–in color. No DVD available. (Although I’m not sure I ever want to see it again.)
I just watched the movie this weekend and completely agree. His character made me squirm whenever I saw him, even though it’s difficult to put my finger on exactly why.
I’m surprised no one brought up Silence of the Lambs. That’s not a horror film, it’s supposed to be a crime movie. But the dark mind of Hannibal Lecter creeped me out for days.
I found Seconds to be quite creepy throughout. And the final scene, to me, is one of the most gripping non-horror horror scenes I know of — without there being a single drop of blood spilled.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has some good creepy dream-like sequences in it. (The guy with two backs to his head. The bookstore with disappearing titles.) The director and cinematographer did a good job of capturing the slippery weirdness of the dream world.
Seconded. Fantastic movie, and some day I may summon the courage to watch it again. Utterly, utterly bleak, and truly upsetting, especially if you’re half-prepared for a children’s fantasy movie with a couple of scary bits. I watched it with my wife, and after it was over we just went to bed in silence: we usually talk over a movie after we’ve seen it, but this one just left us numbed.
8mm is one of the few movies that have affected my life. I was so creeped out by porn after watching that movie that I gave it up for several years (this was as a high school boy). The scene at the end still enters my nightmares. I think it is technically a crime drama.