# The scariest movie you've ever seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826 "2013-10-21T15:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/1 "2013-10-21T15:42:22Z")
For me, there are two: the version of “Gaslight” with Ingrid Bergman, and a “Christian” movie that came out in the early 1970s called “A Thief In The Night”. I started a thread about this on another website a couple years ago, and the most unexpected reply was “All The President’s Men”. ---
**Author:** ![chinchalinchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@chinchalinchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chinchalinchin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/2 "2013-10-21T16:03:25Z")
**Martyrs**. Hands down one of the best horror movies of the past decade and, in my opinion, ever. Words do it no justice. Warning, though: Not for the faint of heart. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/3 "2013-10-21T16:09:36Z")
**The Tell-Tale Heart.** I saw it in elementary school–I think it was a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/4 "2013-10-21T16:12:43Z")
**Idiocracy** , you can see it happening as we speak… This post brought to you by Carl’s Jr. and Brawndo, Brawndo, it has what plants crave… ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/5 "2013-10-21T16:13:53Z")
**Fail-Safe**. It was all too possible at the time. We don’t talk about tactical nukes anymore, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still there. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/6 "2013-10-21T17:41:38Z")
Movies don’t really scare me, but ‘The Exorcist’ came the closest when I first saw it as a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/7 "2013-10-21T17:43:38Z")
I thought The Descent was tense from the start. Then it really went to hell. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/8 "2013-10-21T17:46:31Z")
The Exorcist for me as well. Couldn’t sleep after I saw that movie. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/9 "2013-10-21T17:48:12Z")
_Silence of the Lambs_. Buffalo Bill was just real enough to be frightening, and then when we came home from the theater, there was a light on we didn’t remember leaving on. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/10 "2013-10-21T18:20:47Z")
[_The Mothman Prophecies_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265349/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). For some damn reason, the mothman was _the_ bogeyman of my childhood. There were a couple of contenders, but those were more of the monsterish variety, perhaps most importantly, entities with some clear definition and motives—vampires wanted to suck your blood, mummies were reanimated Egyptian kings, things that, even in their alienness, ultimately had some sort of a comprehensible nature. But the mothman, I think, was my first brush with Lovecraftean ‘cosmic horror’ that is not so much malignant, but merely impossibly other, utterly different. I don’t even know why, perhaps it was just the inherent ridiculousness of a ‘moth-man’ that hinted at a deeper and incredibly alien nature of which we can only perceive the merest glimpse. The film, which came much later, captures that aspect sufficiently well to make chills run down my spine even today. (And in some strange way, I must admit, this horror has become something I cherish.) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/11 "2013-10-21T18:34:48Z")
I have _The Changeling_ as my go-to scary movie. Not gory or shocking, but a deeply creepy and unsettling old-fashioned ghost story. Saw it when I was a young teen, and certain scenes gave me the horrors for weeks afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/12 "2013-10-21T18:40:12Z")
I suppose\*\*\* Jaws _ **and** _ Rear Window \*\*\*were the movies that scared me the most when I first saw them. Unless you count the flying monkeys in _ **The Wizard of Oz** _- granted, I was only 3 when I first saw them, but they terrified me. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/13 "2013-10-21T18:50:58Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > [_The Mothman Prophecies_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265349/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). For some damn reason, the mothman was _the_ bogeyman of my childhood. There were a couple of contenders, but those were more of the monsterish variety, perhaps most importantly, entities with some clear definition and motives—vampires wanted to suck your blood, mummies were reanimated Egyptian kings, things that, even in their alienness, ultimately had some sort of a comprehensible nature. But the mothman, I think, was my first brush with Lovecraftean ‘cosmic horror’ that is not so much malignant, but merely impossibly other, utterly different. I don’t even know why, perhaps it was just the inherent ridiculousness of a ‘moth-man’ that hinted at a deeper and incredibly alien nature of which we can only perceive the merest glimpse. > > The film, which came much later, captures that aspect sufficiently well to make chills run down my spine even today. (And in some strange way, I must admit, this horror has become something I cherish.) You didn’t grow up in the Point Pleasant area, did you? As for me… hmmm, I’d almost say “Black Sunday” (US title for “Mask of the Demon”) starring Barbara Steele as a witch/vampire returned centuries after being burned & having a mask nailed to her face back centuries ago. “A Thief In the Night” has cheap production values but more soul than any of the Left Behind films. ATITN & its three sequel were cobbled together by people who put their all into them because, by God, they believed the message & wanted to deliver a gut punch. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/14 "2013-10-21T18:59:46Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I suppose\*\*\* Jaws _ **and** _ Rear Window \*\*\*were the movies that scared me the most when I first saw them. My parents offered to take me with them when they went to see _Jaws_ in the theater. Somehow, even at 6 or 7, I knew to decline. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/15 "2013-10-21T19:05:04Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > My parents offered to take me with them when they went to see _Jaws_ in the theater. Somehow, even at 6 or 7, I knew to decline. Heh, I saw that movie when I was (checks) 9. My dad was working at the time at the Marine Biological Laboratories in - Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts. 😃 Made swimming lessons that summer … entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/16 "2013-10-21T19:29:04Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I thought The Descent was tense from the start. Then it really went to hell. Yessir. This movie was scary even before the CHUDS showed up. Truly one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/17 "2013-10-21T19:38:39Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > You didn’t grow up in the Point Pleasant area, did you? No, but I had (still have, really) a huge fascination with all things scary, creepy, and unexplained, so I had this series of (ultimately really crappy) booklets about ‘unexplained phenomena’ which featured the mothman, among the more routine creeps like el chupacabra, the Jersey devil, aliens, bigfoot etc. Mothman somehow hit a chord, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/18 "2013-10-21T19:39:24Z")
For me, it was _The Shining_. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/19 "2013-10-21T19:52:07Z")
I saw Phantasm as a sophomore in college. That was the only movie, to this point, that has caused me to have nightmares. I think it was the movie score. And the silver ball of doom. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/20 "2013-10-21T19:59:29Z")
A lot of movies scared me in the movies but only one TV movie (mini-series, really) scared the dickens out of me as an adult. Salem’s Lot. I do not remember details-- except for the child hovering at the second floor window asking his bestest friend to please let him in so they could play. Even though I know the whole mini-series spooked me, this scene still haunts me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826.md?page=2)