# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/21 "2013-10-21T20:21:04Z")
I don’t know about scariest, but one of the \*creepiest \*movies I’ve even seen was **Ju-on**. But it did scare the fuck out of me. Probably the horror movie that had the largest effect on me during my formative years was John Carpenter’s **The Thing**. Perfect blend of mystery, horror, and terror. Oh, I just remembered. A movie that scared me so much as a kid I actually wet the bed rather than risk getting up in the darkness was the remake of\*\* Invasion of the Body Snatchers\*\*. I was sure a pod duplicate was beneath my bed waiting to grab me if I decided to make a break for the bathroom. I think I was 10. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/22 "2013-10-21T20:36:12Z")
A few different times in my life: Invaders From Mars (1954 version) which I saw on TV alone at my grandparents’ house in the middle of the afternoon. I was maybe 8. The scariest parts had to do with not the aliens but the parents, who became monsters (but they were redeemed at the end). And then the ending where it all starts over again. Rear Window (also 1954 version) which I saw a little bit too young. The tension was more than I was prepared for, and the fall at the end was terrifying to me. Wait Until Dark - like everyone else in the theater, I jumped at that one point - you know the one. I was in college at the time I saw it, and I saw it on campus. Funny, but although lots of the young women in the audience screamed, all the guys I could see just hunkered down in their seats, as if to cover the backs of their necks (so did I). So macho. I can’t watch slasher films, they just gross me out (and I can’t seem to be sufficiently detached to think “it’s just a movie”). There’s one, however, that was a bit more subtle than most of them, I don’t remember the name of it, but it takes place in a hospital or insane asylum. Just things being slightly off, and vague shapes moving in the background. Creeped me right the hell out. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/23 "2013-10-21T20:54:04Z")
> [@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. I couldn’t decline, and I saw it at 7 That summer my parents took us to Daytona Beach, and put me on the SAME type of raft that the Kintner boy was on when he got chomped :eek::eek: ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/24 "2013-10-21T20:57:21Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 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. +1. The scene where George C. is reviewing the recording of the seance is pure awesomeness. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/25 "2013-10-21T21:14:44Z")
I forgot one: The Other, which I saw in my early 20’s. Mostly because I didn’t figure out the twist until they actually showed it, and the ending was really creepy. The baby in the barrel - ugh! Actually, now that I think about it, the most profoundly unsettling movie I can remember ever seeing, which weighed on my spirits for months, was the original Lord of the Flies. I was just slightly older than the boys in that movie, and I found it scary because it was so believable. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Breen11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Breen11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breen11)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/26 "2013-10-21T21:22:37Z")
_The Hills Have Eyes_ Not the scariest but for me its creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/27 "2013-10-21T21:44:42Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > For me, it was _The Shining_. Me too. I first saw The Shining at ten years old, and I still have the sort of visceral reaction to it that can only accompany something which frightened you as a child. Eighteen years later, I am _still_ irrationally scared of those twin girls in the hallway. If I come across an article on, say, Kubrick, I have to read it by slowly scrolling, just in case. If I’m surprised by a picture of that specific frame of the movie, I feel punched in the gut with fear. I have to shut my eyes and scroll back up, and I wont finish the article. No other movie has effected me this way. Clown from Poltergeist? Michael Meyers? Jason, Freddy, Alien, Leather face? I outgrew my fear of all of them. Twins in blue dresses? Total panic. ---
**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, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/28 "2013-10-21T22:34:05Z")
I’d be curious to know everyone’s age and/or particular spiritual beliefs that has posted in this thread. I’ve seen every movie mentioned so far and none of them have scared me at all. The Shining and Jaws probably came closest, but not really. Ghosts/spirits/supernatural entities/huge ass sharks don’t do it for me because I can fairly easily dismiss them as hogwash; don’t get me wrong, they make great entertainment, but scary? Not so much. The only movies that really disturb me are ones I can…relate to (although ‘relate’ isn’t really the right term). For instance, the scariest movies I have seen are probably: Irreversible, Martyrs, Hostel 2, A Serbian Film, Human Centipede, etc. Many would consider these “torture porn” and dismiss them offhandedly, but I find them more realistic, and thus scarier, than say a ghost that’s wreaking havoc on a family, a la Poltergeist or Amityville Horror. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/29 "2013-10-21T22:35:37Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > 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. BOOOY! Another shout for John Carpenter’s _ **The Thing** _. Great monster movie. I saw _ **Alien** _ when I was 11 or 12 and it gave me nightmares. I am not sure if it was the alien itself, the gore, or the suspense. Probably the suspense. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/30 "2013-10-21T22:43:49Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Invaders From Mars (1954 version) which I saw on TV alone at my grandparents’ house in the middle of the afternoon. I was maybe 8. The scariest parts had to do with not the aliens but the parents, who became monsters (but they were redeemed at the end). And then the ending where it all starts over again. Yep. It’s a primal fear – people you think you know becoming something else. I think it’s scarier than _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_. Maybe because I was also 8 or 9 when I saw it. Lots of movies have scared me while I was watching, but few have had any lasting impact outside the theater. After _Cult of the Cobra_, the bed covers had to be up around my neck. Still do, and it’s been 50+ years. +2 on _The Changeling_ for good old-fashioned chills. ---
**Author:** ![Kasper1014](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c89c15/32.png) [@Kasper1014](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kasper1014)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/31 "2013-10-21T22:47:09Z")
Changeling and Salem’s Lot. Both movies still give me the creeps when I think back on them. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/32 "2013-10-21T22:50:03Z")
**Psycho** certainly bothered me the first time I saw it. Must have been 1995 or so and…I know this is amazing, but I had absolutely no idea what the twist was. Seeing Norman in the dress at the end with that wild look on his face…was amazingly shocking and disturbing. I actually let out a brief shout of shock when it was revealed to be him. I was lucky to experience what audiences in 1960 must have experienced. It was amazing. I also have a fear of heights and saw Mission Impossible IV(Ghost protocol) on the Imax screen and when Cruise goes out on the exterior of Burj Khalif, both my wife and I freaked out in a fun way. Easily the best in the series and one of the more intense and scary sequences I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/33 "2013-10-21T22:50:29Z")
For me there are several contenders, but if I can pick just one it’s _Silence of the Lambs_. With lesser actors it might not have been as good, but Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster were superb, and deserved their Oscars. It’s a movie where when a guy is simply talking he’s so scary I’m creeped the heck out. I refer to when Hopkins was talking to Foster through the glass cell wall. _Shudder_. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/34 "2013-10-21T22:51:02Z")
Exorcist. ---
**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, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/35 "2013-10-21T23:01:58Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > “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. The man who was responsible for those movies died just a few weeks ago. He was about 90 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/36 "2013-10-21T23:03:00Z")
I saw Jaws when it eventually turned up in my wee town, aged seven or eight. The head in the boat thing is the most shocked I’ve ever been at the cinema. I had bad dreams whwre my bed blankets were the jaws of a shark for a while after. When Salem’s Lot was shown on British TV, that was a major topic in the playground the days after. Creepy rather than outright fright, but still. Brrr. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/37 "2013-10-21T23:52:36Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > The Exorcist for me as well. Couldn’t sleep after I saw that movie. Here’s my “Exorcist” story. I was in college, it was the weekend before Halloween, and both of my housemates were gone for the weekend. I don’t remember if it was a Friday or Saturday night but I had to work and got home around 11:30. They were showing “The Exorcist” as the midnight movie on campus, and I’d never seen it before, so I figured what the heck, I’d go see it all by myself. It was bad enough that that movie freaked me the hell out, but you know how early in the movie (before the full-blown possession stuff starts) they keep hearing scratching sounds coming from the attic? Well, I get home from the movie, I’m _trying_ to go to sleep, and I start hearing this scratching noise coming from somewhere. Scared the living crap out of me! It turns out it was my roommate’s cat scratching at my door because he was hungry or something, but jeezus… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/38 "2013-10-22T00:02:57Z")
Aliens II For some reason that one just crawled into my head. When we got to our car after the movie, I just had to check underneath… ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/39 "2013-10-22T00:06:47Z")
_Magic_ with Anthony Hopkins. Scared the bejeezus out of me when I was 9 or 10. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826/40 "2013-10-22T00:49:16Z")
_[The Haunting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_(1963_film))_, which I saw when I was in junior high school. I’d already read the book it was based on, Shirley Jackson’s _The Haunting of Hill House_, so I knew what to expect, but still… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-scariest-movie-youve-ever-seen/671826.md?page=3)