I went to a free showing with a minivan full of young 20-somethings after being invited by a friend with nightclub connections. The movie was completely unknown to any of us at the time. And it did get us all excited, though it is more of a creepy dread than scary. I remember the minivan part since he had taken all the seats out and we sat on the floor.
In hindsight, we were being willing led by an influencer to be bitten by viral outbreak monkeys.
A friend of mine owned a cabin in the woods surrounded by thick forest. He used to let me use it whenever I wanted and sometimes I would go up by myself just to decompress a little. On one trip, he mentioned that there was a copy of The Blair Witch Project up there and he said “Watch it in the dark and see how long it takes you to turn the lights on.” I laughed. I let myself buy into the whole “found footage never seen before” idea, even though I knew that wasn’t the case.
Long story short: I had the lights on in about 20-30 minutes. It really got to me. I’ve seen it since and kind of laughed at myself for getting so freaked out.
Jaws was still scarier to me though. Granted I was a little kid, AND I lived on Long Island at the time. We went to the beach all the time in summer, so it really hit close to home. In fact, I don’t think we went to the beach for the rest of that summer.
For me, the scariest movie I’ve ever seen was the German-language version of “Funny Games.” All the violence is off-camera, and it’s definitely a psychological thriller.
Coincidentally, I saw ‘Masters of Horror’ as I was browsing earlier this evening. I saw that Imprint was currently playing and I couldn’t not check it out.
At this late hour, I’ll just say thanks for the recommendation. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, even when I kind of wanted to. I saw it on Outersphere, which is part of my IP’s platform, and I only mention that because there was all kinds of blurring of the “unsavory images”.
I checked in during what I now think is an abortion scene. Enough was visible that I could see a semi-naked woman on her back and screaming, while someone(s) was doing something near her pelvic area.
I don’t want to say much more, except, it’s very trippy and is pulled off in a mostly competent way. I recommend it
Director Carl Theodor Dreyer, director of moody films such as The Passion of Joan of Arc, and Vampyr, once said, “Suppose you are sitting comfortably in a room, and then someone tells you there is a dead body in the next room. The room you are in changes.” He thought a great director was one who could capture that feeling in his films.
I saw it on Hoopla, the library streaming site. Everything was unblurred and the episode is presented as intended.
It’s certainly more than Showtime was asking for.
This is my favorite movie of all time. It’s not exactly an uplifting story, but for me the really depressing aspect lies in the incredibly rich and vivid portrayal of a 1978 San Francisco that no longer exists. It’s heartbreaking for that reason alone.
Pet Sematary(1989) sure I saw it first as a child, but still. It holds up. Sometimes death is better, indeed.
The movie that has scared me the most, by a long shot, is The Exorcist.
I grew up on mummy movies, werewolf movies, vampire movies and found them fascinating, tingly but not terrifying. I saw The Exorcist in the theater the first week it came out and I swear I thought I was going to have a heart attack right there in the theater. There have been other chilling movies (war games) but nothing has ever scared me like The Exorcist when I saw it the first time.
ETA: Just remembered Trilogy of Terror. That got the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
I used to swim in the gulf when I was a kid. Someone was always walking out with a hundred foot seine and bringing in sharks right from where we were swimming. I guess I was numb to them by the time Jaws came out. It just didn’t scare me.
Well, MY scariest movie was Dracula: Prince of Darkness.
Because I was a pre-teen and just had to keep up with my older friends and go along to a Christopher Lee movie.
The opening scene was well done. A man is murdered, then suspaended by the ankles over an open coffin. A quick slit of the throat and copious amounts of blood cascade into the coffin. Smoke roils out, followed by a gnarled hand.
Even then, I recognized that it was a quality movie, though I did have to tie my shoes during the scariest parts.
If we’re going back in time, I certainly have one. When I was 9 years old, my older neighbor friend and his mom took me to see “The Legend of Boggy Creek.” It was as far as I know my first scary movie in the theater, and it gave me nightmares for years, particularly the “I’m paralyzed and this thing is coming for me” variety.
I’m sure it’s a terrible movie and not particularly scary, but you know, take a nine-year-old to a movie like that and you’ve found your target audience.
Ditto. I don’t know how old I was, but younger than ten, and I already believed in the cryptid that was said to live in the neighborhood woods.
I haven’t seen the original but the MST3K treatment of Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues is an all-time favorite of mine.
When I was 6, I saw Twice-Told Tales, 3 horror stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, at the movie theater. I was so terrified, I was nearly crying, and had mild nightmares for a long time.
Ooh, I see I can rent it on Amazon.
Movies that actually scared me:
Here is my list of the best horror movies I know and many would be the scarier ones as well:
Great movie!
We’re at the end of Fail Safe again.
Still the scariest movie I’ve seen. I can only imagine how audiences in 1964 reacted. [NB: I was alive during the second half of the Cold War, so I can imagine a bit.]