# Were there any horror or scary movies that actually scared you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604 "2003-11-27T18:37:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![shannablu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@shannablu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shannablu)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/61 "2003-11-30T16:47:30Z")
Although it really wouldn’t classify as a “horror” or “scary” movie, The Abyss scares the daylights out of me. Ever since coming close to drowning as a child, I have had a fear of it ever since. I can’t even watch the scene where Ed Harris’s charachter has to go down so far. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/62 "2003-11-30T19:03:07Z")
**An American Werewolf In London** I saw it in the theater when it first came out (I was 14, IIRC) and was scared silly by the dream-within-a-dream-Nazi sequence. After wandering around the mall for a while with my parents I realized that I’d lost my wallet (I’d just started carrying one and thought I was SO mature). We retraced our steps and figured that it was most likely in the theater. We talk them into letting me go back into the theater to find my wallet. The movie is playing again, and as I search for my wallet the dream-within-a-dream-Nazi sequence starts. I literally squat on the floor and look away from the screen with my hands over my ears until the scene ends. I still love that movie!🙂 **The Exorcist** creeps me out every time I watch it. Always. Second for **Prince of Darkness**. Something about the Devil actually getting that close to escaping, along with the creepy video/channeling dreams shots from the future really got under my skin. As an adult, I came home from **Blair Witch Project** and turned on all the lights in my house. I left them on all night. Yeah, I know, but something about it got to me that night. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/63 "2003-11-30T22:14:35Z")
Put me down as another vote for _Hellraiser_. And _Alien_. Both turned my blood to ice when I saw them. _The Howling_ kept me awake for weeks after I saw it, but I was fourteen and really impressionable. I remember when I was ten, I saw a cheapie _The Blob_ rip-off called _Caltiki: the Immortal Monster_ on some Saturday afternoon horror-flick program. There was a scene in that one where the monster rises out of a pool where a bunch of guys are standing around talking about scientific stuff and eats the flesh of one guy’s arm. Mucho creepy, when you’re ten. Then toward the end of the movie, the monster keeps doing this mitosis split, so there are dozens of them crawling around on the screen being a general hazard to the characters. It was a black and white, and I happened to own a black bean-bag chair. I would generally wake up several times during the night and eye the bean bag with suspicion for a few weeks after seeing that flick. Movies that make you afraid of the furniture in your own bedroom rock. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/64 "2003-12-01T02:26:03Z")
Oh, slight hijack, but one time when I was younger, my mother and I were watching, it was either Poltergeist or the Amityville Horror, I forget which, but my mother told me that I kept falling asleep and waking up, although I didn’t realize this because every time I fell asleep I would just dream that I was watching the movie. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/65 "2003-12-01T02:52:40Z")
Well, when I see a scary movie, it’s because I WANT to be scared. Saying “THAT wasn’t scary!” is as dopey to me as going to see a slapstick comedy and trying not to laugh. Best moments…Polanski’s _Repulsion_, when Catherine Deneuve closes the armoire door and there’s a MAN REFLECTED IN THE MIRROR as she does so. The bizarre zoom shot on the folded hands when Vera Miles is prowling around the house in _Psycho_. Both the scenes **Coldfire** refers to from _The Sixth Sense_. The first scene in the haunted wood in _Blair Witch Project_…“Rednecks aren’t this CREATIVE, man…” ---
**Author:** ![Intent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5e9695/32.png) [@Intent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intent)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/66 "2003-12-01T04:31:00Z")
It’s really quite sad, but most horror movies freak me out. not all the time freak out, but if i’m alone at night. It’s pathetic, so I avoid watching them. Except for jaws movies, I love all the jaws movies, and I have since I was a little kid. Although I do get kinda wierded out swimming in water that I can’t see through. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/67 "2003-12-01T04:57:07Z")
Ringu 2. Just one particular thing, it lasts about five seconds and it happens in the background, too. But I still can’t get the image out of my mind. It’s that insane grinning doctor, slowly edging into the pool while hugging some electric device. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/68 "2003-12-01T05:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptEgo \* > \*\*Oddly enough I can think of 3 films that actually had me pretty creeped out (both back when I was a young-un). > > First off, I have distinct memories of the 1979 Frank Langella _Dracula_ which really got to me because of the Bug eating loon in the asylum. Of course it helped that I was watching it alone in my room where (for some reason I cannot remember) the television was temporarily being stored. A lesson kids…having a TV in your own room isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. > \*\* You should have seen Langella do it in the live Theater - brrrrrrrrr! I don’t remember now if it was Broadway or not, but he could **use** that cape, let me tell you! Very scary at the time. Movies that were scary? The Ring scares the hell out of me. It doesn’t diminish by seeing it over again either. The Amityville Horror. The Exorcist. A Nightmare on Elm Street. These were all very scary at the time, though Freddy wouldn’t do it for me now. Testament. I don’t think that’s technically horror but it was scary as hell during the cold war. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/69 "2003-12-01T05:15:47Z")
Pilot, I wasn’t afraid of Blair Witch right away, I left the theater saying “Damn it! That wasn’t scary and I wanted it to be, what a dumb ending!” Then it ended up haunting me for weeks on end. I like a movie that keeps scaring me that way. Well, except The Ring, that was too much. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/70 "2003-12-01T07:07:13Z")
**Session 9** still disturbs me and I watched it over a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/71 "2003-12-01T07:22:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > **Another _TFTD_ was one where this girl moved into a boarding house and a tiny monster that the boarding house owner had created lived in her closet. I don’t even remember if it ever did anything to her, but the monster itself creeped me out.** No question, creepiest **Tales From The Darkside** EVER. The episode was called “Inside The Closet”. The closet in question was a tiny door, maybe two feet high, and it was locked. But sometimes it opened on its own…and the monster inside was the landlord’s malformed daughter! When I saw that episode (in full daylight, mind you), I made frequent trips to the kitchen where my mom was, because I couldn’t stand to see what was happening. ---
**Author:** ![cheesepickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@cheesepickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheesepickles)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/72 "2003-12-01T07:47:25Z")
There are several movies and things that have creeped me out but they’re not all horror. One of the times i was freaked out of my skin was watching 8MM with Nicholas Cage. The scene where he sneaks into Machine’s house and this crazy industrial musis is playing was incredibly claustrophobic and intense for me. That whole movie had such an intense sinister vibe. Another movie was Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer. This movie could have been infinitely more effective if it wasn’t so garishly graphic and didn’t descend into B-movie theatrics. But the banal realism of the movie gives some scenes a potent edge. Does anyone remember the ‘Tales from the Crypt’ episode with Jeffrey Tambor and Demi Moore? Tambor is repulsively creepy as a dripping fat slob who finally goes wacko after Moore cruelly berates him. I thought that character rocked. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/73 "2003-12-01T08:18:10Z")
**BrandyFine** that movie (_Blair Witch_) had the “creep up on you” creepiness maxed out. The next day I talked to a girlfriend of mine about the movie. Her comment was “Why the hell did they show that guy taking a leak at the end?” “Ummmm”, as I try to figure out what she is talking about…“You mean at the VERY end? The guy facing the wall?” Her:“Yeah, what was that all about?” Me: “Well, he was forced to stand in the corner…because there actually WAS a witch, and it forced everyone to stand in the corner.” Her: “Well, I didn’t get that at all. What a stupid movie.” Me:“OK” TBWP still creeps me out: I consider a great job of film-making. ---
**Author:** ![RahRahMah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@RahRahMah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RahRahMah)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/74 "2003-12-01T08:38:31Z")
Sixth Sence. I’m the only person I know who was scared by this movie. It’s the atmosphere, and the idea that this can be very very REAL. Real people, who died real deaths. You know how the kid says “You know that shivery feeling you get sometimes when you’re alone? That’s them. They’re EVERYWHERE”(paraphrase). Think about that for a minute. Have YOU ever had that feeling? I have… Heh, I remember watching IT last Halloween and laughing my ass right off. But then one night about a month ago I was walking home in the dark and I walked past a burbling sewer grate. I swear to holy Jesus that it sounded like people were talking down there. I nearly burst into tears and I ran all the way home. But I’m 17 so make of that what you will. And thank you! I’m not the only child who was frightened at the mere picture of Pinhead. There was a big poster of him in our local video store. I would try my damndest not to look and end up staring and freaking out. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/75 "2003-12-01T09:18:14Z")
**Tales From the Darkside** ’s “Inside the Closet,” big ten-four. I still remember seeing that one as a tyke and being so creeped out I felt nauseated and, in general, like I’d been gut-punched. It was a great episode to see when you were eleven years old with a powerful imagination! Non-movie-wise, but related to the above, I read Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman” short story, about a closet-dwelling monster who relentlessly pursued this one poor bastard round the country killing his kids in the dead of night–leaving a swampy mucky trail leading from the cradle of the crime back to the closet with the door just barely ajar–when I was nine or so. The Tales episode was sort of the seismic aftershock to that main earthquake event. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/76 "2003-12-01T10:42:16Z")
In order of scary: **Alien** **Ringu 2** - Japanese **Ringu** - Japanese and honourable mention, not for terror but for very scary thoughts to Fritz Lang’s **Metropolis** ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/77 "2003-12-01T15:43:03Z")
_Day of the Dead_ got to me, partly because of the circumstances: at a late showing I was literally the only person in the theater. I started out in a middle row, but then moved up closer to the exit. _Session 9_ affected me, mostly because of the genuinely creepy setting. (If they’d had a big budget, I don’t think they could have built a spookier set than the actual abandoned mental hospital they used.) Also, the scene where The man is talking on a clearly broken cell phone to his dead wife, crying and telling her how much he wants to come home was horrifying just for the depth of hopelessness and pathos in it. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/78 "2003-12-01T18:12:35Z")
A few spring to mind (some already mentioned): _The Exorcist_. The first time I saw this, I was around 16 or 17 years old. It was the midnight feature on the local ABC affiliate, so it was cut to pieces. And it still scared the crap out of me. _The Blair Witch Project_. My wife made fun of me for being scared by that movie; to her, it was basically a jerky home movie with almost no story. But dear God in heaven, when the “children” are laughing and the tent walls are shaking … _The Sixth Sense_. I have never jumped as high in a movie theatre as I did when the boy is in the bathroom and the woman walks past the door. _Halloween._ The original slasher flick. The music alone is enough to give me the shivers. And not a movie, and certainly one that shouldn’t be included if I hope to retain any respectability around here, but what the hey … The _Night Stalker_ episode, “Chopper.” The one about a headless motorcyclist who chops off people’s heads. I saw it when I was about six, and I didn’t sleep well for _weeks_. A couple of years ago, I read a synopsis of the _Night Stalker_ series, and the author mentioned that “Chopper” is generally considered to be one of the worst episodes ever. You couldn’t prove it by me. ---
**Author:** ![eeclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/49beb7/32.png) [@eeclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eeclem)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/79 "2003-12-01T19:00:30Z")
the first time i watched **Seven** i was freaked out. the second time i watched **Seven** i was freaked out. and i’ve never been able to watch **The Cell**. i saw a couple of minutes of it when my roommate rented it and couldn’t handle it. ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604/80 "2003-12-01T19:02:45Z")
I watched _Tales from the Darkside_ when I was a kid, and only one of them really stands out as having scared me. A couple had one of their fathers living with them, and they had come to rely on the disability check he received each month. When he died, they found another man who was willing to pose as the father so they could continue getting the checks. Sounded like a great deal for him (I think he was homeless) until he got there and found out that the father was a double amputee below the knees. The last scene was the young man coming toward him with a power saw. Pretty cheesy and predictable, but I was young and had (still have) a particular horror about amputation. Also, my dad was a carpenter, and I was scared to death of his power saws. For movies, I would have to say _The Shining_, _The Ring_, and _28 Days Later_ are the scariest that come to mind right off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-horror-or-scary-movies-that-actually-scared-you/215604.md?page=5)