# Movies that Scare you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789 "2010-10-29T17:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/41 "2010-10-30T13:28:53Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > I am always looking for scary movies to watch. I prefer the kind that make you so scared you don’t want to walk around the house without a baseball bat (and only then for an emergency). I will never ever, as long as I live, understand the mindset that equates this experience with “fun”. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/42 "2010-10-30T13:29:32Z")
_Bio-Dome_. I couldn’t sleep the night I watched it. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/43 "2010-10-30T13:36:10Z")
If you can put up with subtitles then I totally recommend a Korean movie called R Point. At first sight it appears to be a war movie about a S.Korean army detachment in Vietnam sent out to find a lost patrol, but it isn’t. It is very,very creepy and you get some very clever scares during the film. Also the ending is …unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/44 "2010-10-30T13:37:03Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I assume you mean [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/). And [not this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/)? They said “Aliens” and I assume they meant it. Alien was scarier, though. I actually think **Psycho** is one of the few movies that bothered me. I know this is amazing, but I did not know the twist about Normal and his mother being one and the same, so it scared me to death when you see him in the dress at the end. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/45 "2010-10-30T14:09:25Z")
When I was a kid, \*\*ET \*\*scared the shit out of me. For some reason I could watch \*\*Gremlins \*\*at that age and not get scared… but ET gave me nightmares. As an adult, the only movie I that mildly scared me was **Nosferatu**. Actually, a lot of silent movies have given me an eerie disposition, not just horror. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/46 "2010-10-30T14:13:48Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Count me in the second camp. I loved that scene. > > One movie that still scares me is 1980’s [The Changeling](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/). That is the only movie, before or since, that has ever made my husband jump in his seat. It gets a little hokey toward the end, but has some _very_ spooky moments, and is based on a [(supposedly) true story](http://www.hauntedcolorado.net/Denver_Haunts_2.html) that happened at the Henry Treat-Rogers Mansion in Denver (since torn down). This is one of my favorite “scary” movies. The seance scene (or more accurately, George C. reviewing the tapes later) totally makes this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/47 "2010-10-30T14:15:55Z")
Try Roman Polanski’s _Repulsion_. I recall the entire theater jumping in reaction to the scene with the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/48 "2010-10-30T14:41:27Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > The ceiling walker scene is in Exorcist 3, and is creepy as fuck. I was watching that with my now ex-hubbie, he had fallen asleep on the couch, and when that scene came on, I shook him violently and forced him to stay away for the rest of the move. > > The spiderwalk scene is from the original Exorcist. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-4f_NMUxcY) is a link to the scene, I think, because I’m too chicken to watch it and make sure it’s the right one. You are correct. And that was shuddery. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/49 "2010-10-30T21:26:48Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > They said “Aliens” and I assume they meant it. Alien was scarier, though. It was saying “original Aliens” that confused me, which is why I asked. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/50 "2010-10-30T21:31:28Z")
I’ve always thought “Poltergeist” was scary. I first saw it when I was 14 years old in the theater. For some reason, the somewhat cheesy “Fire in the Sky” about a supposedly “true” alien abduction account really creeped me out more than I thought it would when I saw it. The day I saw it, my friend and I went to his girlfriend’s family’s house to pick up something and I couldn’t stay in the car while he did it because I was creeped out. It was dusk. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/51 "2010-10-30T22:54:43Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > 1. _Wait Until Dark_ - Harry Roat, Jr. is one of the most terrifying characters ever written. Alan Arkin was chilling in the role, as was the local guy I saw in summer stock a couple of years ago. Yup. Love being scared by that movie. In a similar vein (vulnerable blind girl) is the deliciously scary \*\*See No Evil \*\*with Mia Farrow. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/52 "2010-10-31T03:29:28Z")
[Session 9](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/) does a really good job of building a creepy, foreboding atmosphere. Excellent cast, too. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/53 "2010-10-31T12:33:22Z")
I just turned on Session 9 a couple days ago (Netflix Watch Instantly has it), and then turned it back off because I’m too chicken to watch it again. A Tale of Two Sisters is difficult - it has a few of the scariest, creepiest scenes ever. But, the movie attempts to tie them together with a story that is not only boring and dumb, but really makes no sense whatsoever. The Orphanage is really creepy, but it’s so wrist-slittingly depressing and awful that I can’t recommend it. The Descent and Paranormal Activity both scared me a lot. I don’t know if PA would stand up to repeated viewings, but going in completely ignorant, it was extremely tense and creepy! ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/54 "2010-10-31T16:18:18Z")
_Pet Cemetery_, that part where Pascow goes from the doorway to face to face with the father…I still have brain scars. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/55 "2010-10-31T17:41:02Z")
[The Crazies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455407/) is a pretty good recent horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/56 "2010-10-31T17:50:23Z")
> [@Caprese](#): > > Count me in the second camp. I loved that scene. > > One movie that still scares me is 1980’s [The Changeling](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080516/). That is the only movie, before or since, that has ever made my husband jump in his seat. It gets a little hokey toward the end, but has some _very_ spooky moments, and is based on a [(supposedly) true story](http://www.hauntedcolorado.net/Denver_Haunts_2.html) that happened at the Henry Treat-Rogers Mansion in Denver (since torn down). I was going to mention that one. In order for me it’s: [ol] [li]The Shining (Room 237 – eek!)[/li][li]The Changeling (that damn ball bouncing down the stairs)[/li][li]Poltergeist (!%^^# clown!!!)[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/57 "2010-10-31T18:15:50Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > And check out the Spanish movie **REC**. It’s a low budget “found footage” shaky-cam type movie, but–unlike BWP–stuff actually happens. The final scene really freaked me out! (BTW, I have not seen the American shot-by-shot remake–_Quarantine_–or the sequel to the Spanish movie, **REC 2** ) This is what I came in to recommend. I haven’t seen the sequel or remake either, but the original is absolutely fantastic. Yes, it’s a ‘found footage’ film, which has been a bit overdone, but this is the pinnacle of the sub-genre, imo. A great film, with some genuinely scary moments that don’t rely strictly on things jumping out at you (although there are some of those, as well). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/58 "2010-10-31T18:27:12Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > _Wait Until Dark_ - Harry Roat, Jr. is one of the most terrifying characters ever written. Alan Arkin was chilling in the role, as was the local guy I saw in summer stock a couple of years ago. The scene where Roat jumps out is one of the scariest ever. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/59 "2010-11-01T03:02:05Z")
I think you need to be a child when you watch some of these for the first time to find them scary. Like **Poltergeist** , which terrified me as a little kid (I mean _little_, as in almost five) - seeing it again as an adult I realized it’s more silly than scary. And I saw The **Changeling** for the first time last year. It wasn’t remotely scary or even creepy. I think we project some of our eight-years-old and hiding our eyes-ness into deciding what older movies are scary. Ditto for the frequently recommended **Jacob’s Ladder** , and either version of **The Fog** , or **Jaws** , or…seeing them only as adult probably striped them a lot of their scare potential. Though I can’t think of the last movie I’ve seen as an adult that scared me, either, and I’ve seen most of the movies recommended here. **The Ring** and **El Orfanato** were really good movies, though (and **Paranormal Activity** and **Let The Right One In** were pretty boring). ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789/60 "2010-11-01T03:32:32Z")
The problem with TV and/or movies is that sooner or later you have to show “the bear,” (i.e. the scary monster or other fear provoker) whatever the bear may be in your story. The bear will scare the crap out of little kids, but generally at that point adults will find the bear either humorous or transparently artificial. Atmospherics such as Twin Peaks (which I saw and was scared by at the young age of 36-ish) work better on adults, but sooner or later they have to pay off, i.e. show the bear, or people will find that their fear peters out over time. This whole phenomenon was described by Stephen King in his excellent treatise on horror fiction of all kinds, _Danse Macabre_. He says that if you show a hundred foot tall bug on the screen, the audience will scream, but they’ll also feel a bit relieved, thinking “Well, yeah, but it could have been a THOUSAND foot bug!” Your imagination is always going to be able to conjure up scarier things than anything they can show you. For example, in King’s book _The Stand_, I found Randall Flagg very scary from start to finish. In the mini-series **The Stand** (whose screenplay King also wrote), I was afraid of Flagg until he morphed into his supposed 'true form," which just looked artifical and silly to me. In the book, King never really showed the bear, which left it to our terrible imagination. On the other hand, film and TV are hot mediums. When it comes to intense emotions, film and TV draw you in much more viscerally than books. Many a death or touching scene has had me in tears in a film or TV show, yet didn’t have the same affect in print. But that’s based on the feeling we share with the characters on screen, not the scariness of the fear-provoker, if you will. Visual mediums can draw you in even more effectively than books, but it’s all over after the initial shock of the reveal. But books can detail the reveal pretty closely and it still won’t match up to your imagination, so you remain scared all the way through. There are a few movies that go with the book-style, like The House on Haunted Hill. The scariest thing they show in the movie is a physically impossible door with Something behind or causing it. It’s a very scary movie, but probably wasn’t all that satisfactory to the audience, because ultimately they want to see the bear, the pay-off. A book can show the bear, but in our minds, we generally substitue something even more terrifying in our minds. With TV and film, all the imagination goes away once the initial startle is over and we’ve seen what we’ve been afraid of all along. It’s an odd little paradox. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-scare-you/558789.md?page=4)