Subtlety is god. I think the Exorcist III is probably the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. There is of course that one hallway seen…every time I watch it, I know it’s coming and it still gets me.
Some just ideas overall are disturbing. Take the movie Blood, about a girl who is genetically engineered so her blood gets people high. She’s kept strapped to a chair for that sole purpose…that’s pretty damned creepy.
I don’t know if I’d consider Ichi scary, just hard to watch at parts. Miike definately outdid himself with Audition, though. The setup for that movie is brilliant. Half the people don’t make it through the first half, because nothing horrifying is throwing itself in their face. The other half of the people can’t sit through the last 20 mins, because…well, for those of you who’ve seen it, I’m sure you know.
I think I saw one of the most brutal death scenes I’ve ever seen in Argentos Sleepless. Not considered one of his best, but I really think he was upset about something when he made that one! The flashback scene of the death of the main characters mother is just…repulsive. I love it!
You know, something perverse happens to me whenever someone posts a link and says something like “For the love of all that is right and holy, do not click on this link”. Yup. You guessed it. I gotta click on the link.
Now I’m off to ebay to see if I can get a good price on brain bleach.
:eek:
Yeah - I’ve seen the movie twice and I still clicked that link. I’m somewhat masochistic when it comes to things that scare me. I KNOW that picture freaks me out, I KNOW that the image will be burned into my retinas, but I looked at it anyway.
I also googled the “whatswrong.sfw” posted by fontor. I hate myself
Hey badbadrubberpiggy, I have to tell you, I was getting in an argument with someone the other day and for no earthly reason I called them a “Bad Rubber Piggy!”
Well, that ground the conversation to a complete halt, as he gave me a “WTF?” look. Luckily we’re good enough friends so he knows I’m weird.
Y’know, I googled that, and didn’t get it at first. Thought surely I wasn’t getting to the right thing. Then, after reading your post. I went back. That is some baaaaaaad shit!
And it is an awful movie. Zombie flicks are, by their very nature, awful. There’s a reason that none of them have ever won an oscar. There’s a reason you never recognize the actors in them. The fact the Lawrence Olivier never appeared in a zombie flick.
But anyway, I liked that particular one. Consistantly creepy throughout, but with just enough humor to make it palatable. And with a great pseudo-feminist twist, to boot!
On the subject of slow-moving zombies – who cares how slow they are when they surround the house? You ain’t goin’ anywhere!
This is one of the reasons I liked the remake, though. The woman suddenly realized that “Hey, you can just walk past them. They’re slow!” I also liked how she transformed from frumpy homely librarian into kickass babe with gun. Only in Hollywood!
Ringu is just… weird. It’s not particularly scary (it lacks all of the atmosphere of Ring) and goes into way more detail about the whole video thing (there’s all this stuff about psychics that totally turned me off). But I think there were some things that were done better, like the girl coming out of the TV
But there are some freaky moments and if nothing else it’s interesting to see the difference between the two movies. It’s worth a rental.
One thing that gets me, and I see it more in books than film, is when a person sees or expierences the world in a different way than everyone else.
My name is Billy Pilgram and I have become unstuck in time.
There is a monster on the wing of this plane!
A sentence like that will send chills through me.
Cole in The Sixth Sense has this problem. People will think he is crazy but he is not crazy.
He really sees stuff that other people don’t.
I guess it is kind of a Cassandra thing. 12 Monkeys and The Fisher King are great at this.
Also, if it is done very well, and it usually isn’t, when a character can not tell the difference between dream life and waking life. That gets me. HP Lovecraft is good for that.
First off, I should say that I’m very offended by the blatant anti-zombie prejudice that’s being perpetuated in this thread. FYI, we prefer the term “differently deceased.”
And I forgot about Ringu – I thought it was a good movie, although I liked the remake movie, and more “memorable” than actually “scary.” But there’s one scene that really unnerved me, and when I think about it I get the chills.
I guess I should put a spoiler since some people haven’t seen it:
It’s when the protagonist’s ex-husband shows up in the reflection on the TV screen with the handkerchief covering his face, pointing to the videotape. That was a hell of a lot creepier than Sadako crawling out of the TV, and creepier than anything in the remake, even the body in the closet. Even though it wasn’t a jump-out-and-scare-you moment, and even though it was a helpful ghost instead of a vengeful one.
(And even though it was more misogynistic than the remake, implying that the woman was too stupid to figure it out without the help of her dead husband.)
I found the sexual overtones disturbing. The German is lying on top of the soldier, who is babbling like a girl, and is crooning to him in a hoarse whisper as he penetrates him with the knife. It was like a rape.
I think you have read WAY too much Freud. That was a rather touching scene, two opposing soldiers but really they’re just boys. Even though he was an enemy he was trying to soothe him into death in the only way he knew how. It had me in tears.
I love horror movies, but I rarely find them scary at all. Sure, there are lots of “jump shots” that surprise and scare you as you watch the movie - but those kind of scenes rarely if ever come back to haunt you later.
Things that do scare me though, is for example this ‘neo-japanese’ style of horror - I’m talking about Ringu, Grudge, Dark Water etc. The “weird dead people moving in weird ways” and “scary ass white faced ghosts jumping at you from behind” etc etc.
Ringu and the Grudge had a few really scary scenes, but there’s only one movie recently that has done any serious damage to my sleep, and that is Dark Water - directed by the same guy who made the original Ringu. That movie freaked me out to such a degree I was quite astonished myself. (They are remaking it this year I see - hopefully they can retain the creepiness)
Also, the beginning (say first 10-15 minutes) of Jeepers Creepers is terribly scary. I hated the rest of the movie, but the mood in the beginning where they are lurking around that house and the hole in the yard is just pure torture!!
There are also some older Dario Argento stuff that has the possibility to scare on a high level. Deep Red and Phenomena for example.
The Tourist Trap. That movie scared the hell out of me when I was a kid! Especially the part where the old guy had the girl strapped to a table in his basement and he was applying plaster to her face. She whimpered and cried while he sadistically gave her a play-by-play of what he was doing: “Now I’ll cover your eyes – you will never see again. Your skin should be burning by now…” All of this while her friends were tied to a post and forced to watch the whole thing helplessly. Disturbing stuff.
To me, one of the most disturbing scenes ever is the opening sequence of Scream. Drew Barrymore goes from happily puttering about to shrieking hysteria within a matter of minutes as she’s tormented by threatening phone calls. The tension ratchets up as she slowly realizes this isn’t a prank call, she’s in real danger. She’s alone, helpless, confused, scared, and doesn’t know what to do. Finally, as she’s being murdered in the yard, she sees her mother, who is just coming home. She tries to scream to her for help but can only sqeak out a feeble “Mommy…” before she dies. So close, but so far. Terrifying and devastating at the same time. Who hasn’t had nightmares like that – wanting to scream or call out to somebody but not being able to?
