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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every hetero male who ever wants to have a monogamous marriage should watch this.
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.
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.
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.
look no further. …. There is a stinking loud remake, avoid that 