# Recommend some scary movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507 "2012-03-02T01:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/21 "2012-03-02T20:28:21Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > If you’re not one of those inexplicable people who eschews subtitles (strangely preponderant on this board, though it may be cultural), the original Japanese versions of _The Ring_ and _The Grudge_ are out of this world creepy. _Ringu_ is the first movie that ever actually made me shriek, and _Ju-On_ is quite staggeringly spooky. Even though I’ve seen both American remakes, the Japanese ones still get me good - especially _Ju-On_. I only saw the American version of _The Ring_, but the “make me shriek” parts didn’t necessarily do much for me. It was the “movie within a movie” – the actual contents of the videotape-that-causes-all-the-trouble – which I found inexplicably creepy and horrible. It’s not much explained (although parts of it make sense in terms of the movie, other parts don’t) which, of course, makes it _much more creepy_. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/22 "2012-03-02T20:44:05Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I’ve watched _The Changeling_ (George S. Scott) several times over the years, and it doesn’t get old, or less scary. A hearty second to that. The best traditional-type scary ghost story movie I know of. No gore, but plenty of chills! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/23 "2012-03-02T21:00:57Z")
I have seen a number of these suggestions, and some rank among my all-time faves. Session 9 Insidious Quarantine The Haunting In the Mouth of Madness The Blair Witch Project The Ring and The Grudge (both American and Japanese) Pan’s Labrynth The Others Just saw The Haunting in Connecticut (pretty good) Hide and Seek (pathetic) Case 39 (pathetic) Will seek out rec and rec2 Stir of Echoes Hope to catch Woman in Black in the theatre ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/24 "2012-03-03T01:07:48Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I recently saw a little indie horror flick that disturbed me greatly: [**Megan Is Missing**](http://www.meganismissing.com/). If you can make it through the first two-thirds, the final 22 minutes are a major gut-punch. I watched this tonight on Netflix streaming, and I honestly wish I hadn’t. I have a 12 year old daughter and the last 22 minutes were my worst fear shoved graphically in my face. I know you said it was disturbing, but it was disturbing in a way I hadn’t expected, so much so that it made me physically ill. Right now I feel as though I’ll never get some of those scenes out of my head. But yeah, the first two thirds were a turd. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/25 "2012-03-03T01:30:08Z")
**The Skeleton Key** is a pretty decent supernatural thriller with a good twist. One film you should avoid at all costs: **Dream House**. I made the mistake of watching it a few nights ago. It’s sort of a **Shining-The Others** mash-up that gives away all its momentum when the twist is revealed in the middle of the film, and things just get lamer and lamer. Apparently the director tried to get his name removed from the credits after the studio re-edited it, and the stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz refused to do any promotion. Can’t blame them. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/26 "2012-03-03T04:30:21Z")
[The Prophecy (1995)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114194/) Christopher Walken as the Angel of Death come to Earth to take the soul of a child that can end the War In Heaven. Bonus points for Viggo Mortensen (still relatively unknown back then) as the Devil. Almost upstages Walken. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/27 "2012-03-03T05:07:11Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > If you’re not one of those inexplicable people who eschews subtitles (strangely preponderant on this board, though it may be cultural), the original Japanese versions of _The Ring_ and _The Grudge_ are out of this world creepy. _Ringu_ is the first movie that ever actually made me shriek, and _Ju-On_ is quite staggeringly spooky. Even though I’ve seen both American remakes, the Japanese ones still get me good - especially _Ju-On_. I watched The Ring US version in the theater, and I have watched the original version on dvd, and I have to say that it almost turned me off horror forever. When I saw it, I was of the opinion that I’d seen the best and I literally stopped. Because if it got any scarier I probably couldn’t handle it. But. I’m a curious person. I watched the original Japanese Ring and original Ring 2 and Grudge and the original Grudge. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/28 "2012-03-03T15:39:20Z")
> [@Susie\_Derkins](#): > > I watched this tonight on Netflix streaming, and I honestly wish I hadn’t. I have a 12 year old daughter and the last 22 minutes were my worst fear shoved graphically in my face. I know you said it was disturbing, but it was disturbing in a way I hadn’t expected, so much so that it made me physically ill. Me too. That was horrific. I don’t know why I kept thinking something would redeem it in the end, but it certainly never happened. I thought the main girls, especially Amy, did a great job of acting like real teens though. I hope they didn’t have nightmares after filming that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/29 "2012-03-03T16:08:20Z")
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, it is streaming on Netflix. Ok, I know the OP said no slasher flicks, but this is a slasher film the way Evil Dead is a zombie film (speaking of has the OP seen the Evil Dead Movies?). It is a mockumentery about a world where the classic slasher movie character’s are real, and a group of college kids are making a doc about an up and coming slasher killer. It’s fantastic. A funny, wonderful deconstruction of the genre that manages to be totally scary at the same time. Also, not very gory. Good good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/30 "2012-03-04T15:52:23Z")
My friend Sarah tells me _the Woman in Black_ is so scary she cried from fear. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/31 "2012-03-04T16:12:14Z")
While I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, I was terrified by [Sisters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070698/), directed by Brian DePalma. It also features Charles Durning, Barnard Hughes and Olympia Dukakis (in addition to starring Margot Kidder in a dual role). ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/32 "2012-03-04T16:25:17Z")
Sisters is creepy and weird and all kinds of awesome. Not really scary, but awesome. Good suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/33 "2012-03-04T16:35:40Z")
I thought **Let the Right One In** and the American remake **Let Me In** we’re fantastic. Also, I know you said no gore/torture flicks, but **Hard Candy** with Ellen Page deserves a mention. Not so much gory as mind-fuckery. The less you know about this one, the better. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/34 "2012-03-04T19:23:46Z")
Two scary movies which stayed with me were The Orphanage and Wolf Creek. My sister had nightmares about Eden Lake, but that might be because, unusually so for horrors, its quite possible in the UK… We tend not to have summer camps and hockey masks, so US generic horror is kind of removed… ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/35 "2012-03-04T21:02:05Z")
Watched **Quarantine** again last night. Really good one. Still scary. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/36 "2012-03-04T22:49:21Z")
Go stream “Red, White, and Blue” and “Dead End.” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/37 "2012-03-04T23:15:53Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > It was the “movie within a movie” – the actual contents of the videotape-that-causes-all-the-trouble – which I found inexplicably creepy and horrible. It’s not much explained (although parts of it make sense in terms of the movie, other parts don’t) which, of course, makes it _much more creepy_. I’ve got to try to watch the American version all the way through some time (I tried, but just couldn’t make it through)…I’m trying to figure out how the plot proceeded without explaining the imagery in the tape - both the Japanese and Korean versions (the latter is titled Ring Virus if you want to check it out), figuring out what it all meant was how they found Sadako/Eun-Suh. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/38 "2012-03-05T05:34:53Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’ve got to try to watch the American version all the way through some time (I tried, but just couldn’t make it through)…I’m trying to figure out how the plot proceeded without explaining the imagery in the tape - both the Japanese and Korean versions (the latter is titled Ring Virus if you want to check it out), figuring out what it all meant was how they found Sadako/Eun-Suh. Well there is various detective work based on the video in the film but I think they delved further into the nitty gritty of the back story in the US sequel. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/39 "2012-03-05T21:41:22Z")
I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten this overlooked little gem, [Triangle.](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1212111-triangle/) See if you can rent or stream it. It was available on Netflix last year when I saw it on a whim. Paranormal, trippy, eerie and very satisfying. The kind of movie I rewatched the next day, to see how all the strings tied together. It’s not really a “slasher” film so much as the marketing might make it appear. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507/40 "2012-03-26T19:18:21Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten this overlooked little gem, [Triangle.](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1212111-triangle/) > > See if you can rent or stream it. It was available on Netflix last year when I saw it on a whim. Paranormal, trippy, eerie and very satisfying. The kind of movie I rewatched the next day, to see how all the strings tied together. It’s not really a “slasher” film so much as the marketing might make it appear. I bought Triangle in the Blockbuster going-out-of-business sale, but haven’t watched it yet. Will get to that this weekend. Last night I watched **[rec]**. It was what **Quarantine** was based on. **Quarantine** was a faithful remake, and a great film, but **[rec]** was just a little bit better. It added a little something in penthouse apartment. the silhouette zombie zero coming to life when she heard the noise was creepy as all git-out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-scary-movies/614507.md?page=3)