# Horror Movies That Actually Scare You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 20, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126 "2025-10-20T15:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/41 "2025-10-20T22:09:08Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Poltergeist still scares the bejeebers out of me, although the special effects haven’t really held up. Same here, and agreed about the effects. The skeletons in the swimming pool didn’t bother me, but that clown… _shiver_. Also the scene with the steak, and the guy pulling chunks off his face. Still grosses me out, even though the effects are cheesy by modern standards. I think one of the things I found so creepy/scary about it was that it took place in a normal suburban house–one that looked like real, non-movie people could have lived in it. There was something about the feeling that something similar could happen in _my_ house. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/42 "2025-10-20T22:10:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The first one I knew nothing about, going into it, except that Guillermo del Toro is a genius. Holy goddamn shit. My wife and I went to the bar afterward, ordered shots of bourbon, and sat in stunned silence. Also I remember a lot of people took their kids to that movie having no idea what it was about. Can you imagine? Seeing that movie as a _child_? I didn’t have a kid at the time. I’m just deeply disturbed by depictions of, shall we say, man’s inhumanity to man. It didn’t help that I had just finished a college course on the Spanish Civil War, so I knew it wasn’t gonna be a happy ending. I’d like to think he really got the Best Picture Oscar for that movie and not the fish one. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/43 "2025-10-20T22:45:48Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > > The Haunting of Hill House 1963 (I think, IMDb search seems to be down at the moment > > The movie’s title (unlike the book) is just **The Haunting**. Make sure to watch the 1963 version, not the remake. IMDb is back up again, you are right of course. I was just perusing the cast list, and discovered it was Lois Maxwell (Moneypenny) as the wife. I hadn’t recognized her. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/44 "2025-10-20T22:50:46Z")
I got so scared of a Christopher Lee Dracula movie in 5th grade, that I haven’t watched any horror movies since… with one exception. My boss hosted an _Exorcist_ watching, but I walked out during the first reel, before I got _too_ scared. Hope _that_ doesn’t happen during your date. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/45 "2025-10-20T22:59:29Z")
> [@digs](#): > > My boss hosted an _Exorcist_ watching, but I walked out during the first reel, before I got _too_ scared. Speaking of movies that are hard to watch if you’re a parent… I’ve only seen it once, recently, and you can think of it as a creepy possession flick or you can think of it as an exploration of the hell that is having a sick child and not knowing how to help them. I think the best, worst, scariest movies operate at multiple levels. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/46 "2025-10-20T22:59:38Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > _Zodiac_ (2007) is based on the true story of the Zodiac killer in the 1960s and 70s in the San Francisco area. It has a really well done sense of dread, as you’d expect for the subject matter, and one scene in particular is creepy as hell. Not really a horror movie but I found it terrifying because it’s true. I concur. I think it is one of the most underrated films ever made. I was interested in seeing it because I lived in the Bay Area during some of the time Zodiac was active, but the film weaves together a very complex, dreadful and terrifying story in a masterful way. The acting is superb all around, and they even manage to interject some humor into the overall creepiness. If someone knows the story, they’ll be impressed at how accurate it is. If they don’t, they’ll be doubly disturbed by it. _Halloween_ scared the hell out of me when it first came out. Watched it on the big screen and it really got to me. But it’s pretty tame nowadays. In general, I’m not a fan of this genre, so I have little to offer except as noted above. ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/47 "2025-10-20T23:46:25Z")
I think it heavily depends on what scares you, and all the recommendations above are great horror movies. I’d like to throw in a couple recent good scares, - Smile 2 (the second one is leagues better than 1 IMO) - Talk to Me - Color out of Space - Alien Romulus - The Empty Man - The Invisible Man (2020) - Evil Dead (2013)/Evil Dead Rise Repeated a few I saw upthread to add emphasis. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/48 "2025-10-21T00:41:08Z")
Last night I watched _The Substance_, followed by the original _Carrie_. The former was just gross, but Carrie was the first movie that gave me a good jump scare when I saw it on its first release in the theater. Last night I wasn’t as scared, but admired the build-up and the implied psychological horror that Sue is going to have to live with the rest of her life. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > The Silence of the Lambs is probably my all time favorite movie, but I wouldn’t call it particularly _scary_. I saw Silence in the theater by myself at an afternoon matinee. Maybe the movie wasn’t scary, but I caught myself checking my surroundings and under cars as I walked back to my car in the parking ramp. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/49 "2025-10-21T01:41:01Z")
Carrie 1976 The ending in the cemetery scared the hell out of me. But, the entire idea of a woman with that kind of repressed energy is extremely scary. Carrie is a walking Napalm bomb. Nightmare on Elm Street 1984, Everyone has to sleep. It is impossible to hide from Freddy Krueger for very long. Strength or training doesn’t matter. A black belt in Karate couldn’t defend themselves in the dream world. That’s very scary. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/50 "2025-10-21T01:55:09Z")
We watched half or so of American Werewolf in London before we walked out. I think the final straw was one jump-scare scene where we knew the dead friend was gonna show up in the mirror, and he did, then the guy woke up and the friend was still there. I’ve never been a fan of horror movies anyway. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/51 "2025-10-21T02:17:37Z")
I suspect these movies will be scarier for the OP if the scares aren’t revealed right in the recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/52 "2025-10-21T02:31:45Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > The big exception for me was **The Exorcist**. The Exorcist was creepy-scary to me, but I hadn’t even turned 21 when I saw it. After I grew up I found horror movies much less horrifying. . . until I saw **Fatal Attraction** I know, it isn’t a “horror” movie, it’s a “thriller.” But Alex scared the crap out of grown-up me. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/53 "2025-10-21T03:57:53Z")
**Jaws** ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/54 "2025-10-21T06:11:05Z")
I absolutely love a good scary movie that scares the ever-lovin’ heebee jeebies out of me, but the problem is that most are too silly. But there have been some good ones! I’ll +1 for the original _ **Alien** _. Remember its tag line? In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream. A good movie. Be sure to watch it in the dark. Also a +1 for _ **Predator** _. Be sure to watch it on a hi-def big TV, also in a dark room. Nobody has yet mentioned _ **Veronica** _ [Verónica (2017 Spanish film), subtitles], based on the true case of 17 year old Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro. The case is known as The Haunted Vallecas Case because it occurred in the District of Vallecas in Madrid. Anyway that one was pretty scary. I just watched it last week. It’s available on Netflix. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > **Fatal Attraction** > > I know, it isn’t a “horror” movie, it’s a “thriller.” But Alex scared the crap out of grown-up me. Every hetero male who ever wants to have a monogamous marriage should watch this. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/55 "2025-10-21T07:51:34Z")
When I was a kid **The Watcher in the Woods** scared me. It is not a horror movie but much of **Signs** scared me. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/56 "2025-10-21T11:46:31Z")
A more recent one I’m surprised no one has mentioned yet is Jordan Peele’s Us. That one gave me nightmares. It’s social commentary, but it’s straight-up horror as well. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/57 "2025-10-21T12:25:59Z")
When _An American Werewolf in London_ was first released, a friend and I went to see the afternoon matinee. He had to leave about halfway through as well. Later, he told me that he could handle the jump scares and violence, but the sudden switching between horror and humor was very unsettling. That was sort of a new thing in movies at the time. BTW, I still cry at the end every time I watch it. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/58 "2025-10-21T13:15:54Z")
I grew up as a child of the 80s watching all sorts of horror and slasher films. And if there is one film that stands out to me it is _Psycho_ (1960). Why? Norman Bates. He is not some over the top character spouting wisecracks. He is not a supernatural being. He is just a man. He could be your boss, your neighbor, or your relative. It just left me with unease and sense of dread that maybe I know someone who is insane behind closed doors. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/59 "2025-10-21T13:36:25Z")
The Haunting (1963) . 🎤 look no further. …. There is a stinking loud remake, avoid that 💩 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126/60 "2025-10-21T13:54:26Z")
_The Prophecy_ (1995) with Christopher Walken and Viggo Mortensen [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-movies-that-actually-scare-you/1024126.md?page=4)