# Movies You Were Freaked Out By/Are Too Scared To Watch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011 "2005-07-31T14:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/41 "2005-08-10T21:50:36Z")
I don’t really have any movies that freak me out to the point where I can’t watch any more, but my wife CAN NOT watch **Titanic**. I guess when she was younger, she had a recurring dream that she drowned in the third class passageways on the Titanic, and the scenes towards the end where the hallways start filling with water fill her with absolute terror, because it is exactly like it was in these dreams. I think it’s kind of odd, but I didn’t have those dreams. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/42 "2005-08-10T21:57:50Z")
I’m not a big fan of scary movies, but I’ve seen **The Exorcist** and **The Ring** and the various, stupid **Friday the 13th** ilk…but there’s one movie whose trailer totally freaked me out. **Session 9** Anyone see this? Is it as freaky as it looked? ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/43 "2005-08-10T22:20:56Z")
Another one for _The Day After_. Also, the 1970s version of _War of the Worlds_ left me afraid of freeway lampposts (of all the dumb things) for months afteward. Rexnervous, Session 9 isn’t all that freaky. It was interesting, and kind of creepy, but no big deal, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/44 "2005-08-10T22:49:02Z")
B]Blair Witch\*\* got to me, mind you, I watched it the afternoon that I was leaving for a 3-day hike :smack: **The Ring** bored me to tears, I was hoping Mulder & Scully would show up and solve things. I really want to see **Grave of the Fireflies** but cant bring myself to hire it, based on all the reviews I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/45 "2005-08-10T22:54:21Z")
The conception scene (with the accompanying weird dreams [the yacht, the papal visit, etc.]) in _Rosemary’s Baby_ is a creepy scene I love watching. Movies that scare to me watch: the original _Helter Skelter_ or any of the documentaries on Manson; documentaries on the Holocaust (especially those in color) literally make me grind my teeth and personally go kil… [remembers rules] beat up a 90 year old concentration camp guard. Atmosphere is wayyyy scarier to me than any scene with blood or fake vomit. I found _The Others_ (especially the end scenes) scary but _The Ring_ I had to take out of the DVD from shear boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/46 "2005-08-10T23:20:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The conception scene (with the accompanying weird dreams [the yacht, the papal visit, etc.]) in _Rosemary’s Baby_ is a creepy scene I love watching. I like this scene, too. I’m sure I’m a weirdo, but I found it kinda kinky. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/47 "2005-08-10T23:23:49Z")
> [@SisterCoyote](#): > > Rexnervous, Session 9 isn’t all that freaky. It was interesting, and kind of creepy, but no big deal, IMO. Cool. Since I don’t want to start another thread, I have one very vivid and frightening scene from an old (B&W) movie I saw when I was a kid. No other details except: There was someone (I’m guessing one of the stars of the movie, and female) upstairs in a bedroom, and something was climbing the stairs. All you could see was the shadow. For some reason, I believe the shadow was … well … elephantine, in that it had tusks, and was vaguely beast-shaped. Any help here? ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/48 "2005-08-10T23:28:18Z")
Just want to throw in another vote for The Ring - the way the girl comes out of the TV freaks the living daylights out of me. I never want to see that movie or its sequels ever again. The Grudge freaks me out too and even with Jason Behr in it I will never watch it again. The guys I went to the movies with that night thought it was hilarious and I hid behind my jumper. I don’t like Blair Witch either, I remember when I saw it I couldnt sleep that night even with the lights on. I don’t think I’ll ever go camping or backpacking either. ---
**Author:** ![StaberindeMk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@StaberindeMk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaberindeMk2)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/49 "2005-08-11T00:26:10Z")
I see several people have mentioned _The Day After_ and while that is a very good movie it pales in comparison to _Threads_ which I was genuinely shocked and disturbed by, something that The Day After didn’t manage despite the subject matter. Involving a nuclear attack on the UK it doesn’t end after the attack itself but continues to follow the progress of its main character decades into the post-apocalyptic future. Though it does have two scenes that stick in my memory: The first is when the little boy is uncomprehendingly watching the news reports of the rapidly worsening international situation and the second is when the people see the American missiles being launched, the look on their faces as they realise that the nuclear war has started and the Soviet missiles are at most 1/2 hour away is chilling… ---
**Author:** ![thejake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@thejake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thejake)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/50 "2005-08-11T02:08:22Z")
Another for **The Ring**. By itself it isn’t that scary (although I have no desire to see it again…) but it was somewhat accentuated by my friend’s brother bursting through the door every little while and screaming bloody murder. I have a friend who has a bet that I will never be able to watch **The Exorcist** without screaming. I refuse to watch because I know I couldn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/51 "2005-08-11T03:51:51Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I just hated the idiots that went camping in \* The Blair Witch Project\*. Follow the damn creek downstream, it will eventually take you to civilization! I just thought they deserved to die for being stupid in the wilderness, and I’m no outdoorsman. I would have been more satisfied with it if they had starved to death. But they did follow the creek downstream. The reason it didn’t work for them was because they were under a spell. That said, the idea of starving to death is always disturbing to me. But what I did think was stupid was the guy who stood in the corner, in the last shot. Why cooperate, for cryin’ out loud? Run, find a heavy object, fight with your fists and feet, whatever. You might still end up dead, but anything’s better than just staring at the wall **waiting** to be killed. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/52 "2005-08-11T05:25:28Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > No kidding, _Blair Witch_ freaked me out six ways to Sunday, for sure. I don’t think I slept at all the night after I saw it, and I did that annoying thing where I made Mr. Del get up about twenty times during the night to check if various doors and windows were locked. I would have checked them myself, except I was petrified with fear and frozen to the bed. > > The strange thing (to me at least) is that intellectually, I don’t think it’s a particularly good movie. When I parse it out, nothing about the film should make it as creepy as it seems to me. I remember there was a thread on the Blair Witch here on the SDMB at the time. One poster (can’t remember her name) posted after she came back from watching it - said that she didn’t see what all the fuss was about, scary film but not terrifying, etc., and she was going to bed. Next post from her was at about 4 a.m. her time - she said she took it all back, hadn’t been able to sleep, couldn’t get the movie out of her head, and was just waiting for the sun to come up. I never saw it, but it seemed to me from various comments that it was a movie that had the power to make you scare yourself. Those are the best horror movies, since you’re fighting your own imagination. Getting back to the OP: _Titus_ starring Anthony Hopkins. I love ol’Will’s plays, and greatly admire Hopkins, but that’s one movie that I just couldn’t take. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/53 "2005-08-11T06:32:46Z")
I feel jealous. I have a hard time being scared by movies. In fact, if a movie gives me a creepy feeling, that gives it a leg up in my view(it can still be a good movie without doing so). I remember I was scared by Superman 3 as a kid. The part where the woman gets assimilated freaked me out as a child. Nightmare on Elm Street 2 or 3 freaked me out as well. But now… ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/54 "2005-08-11T13:09:38Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > But they did follow the creek downstream. The reason it didn’t work for them was because they were under a spell. That said, the idea of starving to death is always disturbing to me. > > But what I did think was stupid was the guy who stood in the corner, in the last shot. Why cooperate, for cryin’ out loud? Run, find a heavy object, fight with your fists and feet, whatever. You might still end up dead, but anything’s better than just staring at the wall **waiting** to be killed. That’s just it though! It’s the whole sorcerer thing where you are not in control enough to be able to run or fight. CREEPY. Like those dreams where you are trying to run but you can only go rreeeeaaaaalllllyyyy sloooooooowwww and that thing that’s chasing you is comingsofast!!! Yeah - the last scene for Blair Witch was creepy - although I think I could watch it again. But I can NOT watch the **Exorcist** or \*\*Salem’s Lot \*\* again. The whole dead kid scratching at the window scene - uh uh - no way. And although I LOVE the shining, the woman in the bathtub scene is a definite hide your eyes until it’s over thing. Eeeeewwwwww. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/55 "2005-08-11T13:40:11Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > But what I did think was stupid was the guy who stood in the corner, in the last shot. Why cooperate, for cryin’ out loud? Run, find a heavy object, fight with your fists and feet, whatever. You might still end up dead, but anything’s better than just staring at the wall **waiting** to be killed. Assuming you’re not being sarcastic, you DO remember the beginning of the movie where they interviewed the townspeople, right? Remember the one guy talking about the child murderer who would kill two children at a time by leading them into a room, and making one stand in the corner so they couldn’t see him kill the other one? He was under a _spelllllllllllll_ ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/56 "2005-08-11T13:44:59Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > Assuming you’re not being sarcastic, No, I’m not. Why would you think I am? > [@](#): > > you DO remember the beginning of the movie where they interviewed the townspeople, right? Remember the one guy talking about the child murderer who would kill two children at a time by leading them into a room, and making one stand in the corner so they couldn’t see him kill the other one? Yes, I do remember that. > [@](#): > > He was under a _spelllllllllllll_ Not sure what you mean by that. All I was saying is that if someone’s determined to kill you, there’s no reason to cooperate with them. They’re not going to suddenly say, “Okay, you jumped through all the hoops; now you can go.” Might as well run, fight, resist any way you can. Unless you were saying that the guy standing in the corner was under a spell that prevented him from doing anything other than what he was told. ---
**Author:** ![Bimble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Bimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bimble)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/57 "2005-08-11T13:59:41Z")
Wierdly (though not for me) - **Mars Attacks** … I have an absolute screaming phobia about human skulls. Seriously!! They. Freak. Me. OUT!!! So within one minute of the film, I was having the biggest panic attack imaginable!! 😃 Ohmigods! Show me a human skull and I’ll show you a woman going from 0-to-sonic-boom-over-the-horizon in the time it takes you to blink your eye… (Bizarrely, my “hobby” is palaeontology… I’m happier than a pig in poo staring at Extinct Beastie skulls, but human ones?? EeeEEEEeeeEEEEeeek!!!) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/58 "2005-08-11T14:03:09Z")
> [@Mr. Roboto](#): > > One of the “Mando” movies of the sixties, (Mando Cane…Mando Bolardo) > > There is a disturbing vignette, whereupon, a Svengali type swami lies a young lady down on a table and hypnotizes her. He then goes to a cabinet and returns with a small pairing knife and then cuts the girls arm just below the elbow. He returns to the cabinet with a larger knife and makes a much larger incision and the victim awakens. He re- hypnotizes her, lies her and her bloody arm backdown on the table top and returns to the cabinet. He retrieves a saw and manually saws the girls arm off. > > Absolutely Horrible… I think you mean “Mondo” the movie you cite tho I’m pretty sure is H.G. Lewis’s THE WIZARD OF GORE A friend from church _!L!_ introduced me to Mondo Cane, Wizard of Gore, Pink Flamingos, Make Them Die Slowly, and glorious, glorious Eraserhead! I returned the favor with A Clockwork Orange, Re-Animator, and Wild At Heart. Alas, he & his wife had moved by the time Naked Lunch came out. ---
**Author:** ![dare\_devil007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@dare\_devil007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dare_devil007)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/59 "2005-08-11T14:04:22Z")
> [@Bimble](#): > > Wierdly (though not for me) - **Mars Attacks** … > > I have an absolute screaming phobia about human skulls. Seriously!! > > They. > > Freak. > > Me. > > OUT!!! > > So within one minute of the film, I was having the biggest panic attack imaginable!! > > 😃 > > Ohmigods! Show me a human skull and I’ll show you a woman going from 0-to-sonic-boom-over-the-horizon in the time it takes you to blink your eye… > > (Bizarrely, my “hobby” is palaeontology… I’m happier than a pig in poo staring at Extinct Beastie skulls, but human ones?? EeeEEEEeeeEEEEeeek!!!) The human skulls freaked you out? The aliens freaked me out in that movie! There was something about their strangely shaped and sized heads that just irked me…I went to a wax museum in Niagara Falls that had wax figures of famous movie characters and they had one of an alien from **Mars Attacks**. I nearly jumped out of my skin because it was right behind me and I hadn’t known until I turned around. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011/60 "2005-08-11T22:09:54Z")
> [@Crab Rangoon](#): > > \*\*Salem’s Lot \*\* … The whole dead kid scratching at the window scene - Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I forgot about that one. That one literally freaked out everybody between 30 and 42 when they were kids. A non-supernatural movie I can’t watch because it freaks me out and fills me with rage is _Sybil_. The scenes of childhood abuse I just can’t take (though it’s amazing that after all she endured as a kid she still turned out to be good people). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-were-freaked-out-by-are-too-scared-to-watch/315011.md?page=4)