If you’re not bothered by subtitles, I suggest you give Ringu a try if you can find it. It’s the Japanese movie that the The Ring is based on.
It’s totally bloodless. It relies on more of a “creepiness” to scare the audience. It’s a little campy, at least when viewed from my American perspective, but well done. It didn’t scare the shit out of me like “leave the lights on at night” scared, but it did give me a few heart stopping moments. The movie did a good job of slowly building tension throughout the movie, playing off of audience perceptions of what a scary movie should be, sort of like The Others in that respect, and climaxing into a few GASP OH MY GOD NO moments. All in all a good skin crawler worth the couple of bucks you’d spend to rent it… assuming you can find it.
Regarding Blair Witch Project, I found it scary. Certain parts of that movie just creeped me the hell out. The little stick men, the piles of rocks. God, the witch clawing at the tent while the students were huddled inside. The little kid handprints on the wall of the shack… yeesh. That’s exactly the sort of thing that scares me in movies.
Sorry, had to snicker at this one. Did you check out the DVD extras? Many, many CGI effects. I doubt there was a single outdoor shot that wasn’t a multi-layer CGI effects shot. I believe ALL of that pervasive fog was CGI, for one thing.
But, I know what you meant, you meant “overt” CGI. Just thought I’d clarify.
And I, too, greatly enjoyed The Blair Witch Project. It’s a love-or-hate movie; if you buy the premise, you’ll like it.
I am going to put in another vote for SESSION 9. I just finished watching it and it really freaked me out. It probably doesn’t help that the hospital it took place in is 15 minutes from my best friends house, either way a really good psychological suspense movie.
I gotta put in my vote for The Mothman Prophecies. Very loosely based on a true story, with a sound track and content that will chill you to the core. No blood or guts, just sheer tension. The voice of Indrid will turn your blood to ice. I was afraid to look out my window after watching this movie. Just watch it correctly - turn off all your lights and crank it up. Having a Dolby Digital 5.1 system helps too.