# what is the scariest movie ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839 "2001-09-15T17:22:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/1 "2001-09-15T17:22:01Z")
i want to know because my sister made a claim that nothing could scare her. she even watched _The House On Haunted Hill_ without nightmares or anything more than a mild case of the jitters, while it left me with nightmares for a week and difficuly sleeping for two. as far as i’ve seen, “tHoHH” is the scariest ever, but i just know she can be scared. so, what is the scariest movie that exists? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/2 "2001-09-15T17:30:43Z")
This is the same type of claim a I can’t hear, taste or smell anything. If you sister is unable to become emotionally involved in a truly scary movie this is more of a personality issue with her than a failure of a scary movie. To be scared by a movie requires the ability to suspend belief and be engrossed in the movie. If anything, an “intensely” scary movie is just to seem siller to her than a mildly scary movie. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/3 "2001-09-15T17:33:19Z")
For me, its a tie between “Alien” and “The Exorcist”. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/4 "2001-09-15T17:46:32Z")
I was going to say “Night of the Living Dead, no question” but then I saw the vote for Alien. Now I can’t decide. Probably still Living Dead, though Alien was really good. Also John Carpenter’s version of The Thing. ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/5 "2001-09-15T17:48:18Z")
i guess… it still just really bugs me, because she seems to really get into movies. they just don’t scare her… ---
**Author:** ![skaffen\_amiskaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d26b3c/32.png) [@skaffen\_amiskaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skaffen_amiskaw)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/6 "2001-09-15T21:11:31Z")
The Blair Witch Project. i’ve seen it twice, its scary as hell. the sheer psychological terror of it is, simply, brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/7 "2001-09-15T21:39:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skaffen\_amiskaw \* > \*\*The Blair Witch Project. i’ve seen it twice, its scary as hell. the sheer psychological terror of it is, simply, brilliant. \*\* I know this is a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I agree. “The Blair Witch Project” scared the crud out of me. ---
**Author:** ![struuter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@struuter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struuter)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/8 "2001-09-15T21:47:57Z")
Everything scares me. ‘Silence of the Lambs’ ‘The Exorcist’ ‘The Shining’ especially the tv version. ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ or was it just ‘The Haunting’? The black and white version makes me shudder to think about. My husband adds ‘Salem’s Lot’ ‘Alien’ ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/9 "2001-09-15T21:51:59Z")
I had the same reaction the Night of the Living Dead as I did to the Blair Witch Project: it scared me despite myself. During BWP I was pissed off at all the characters (“No, you stupid \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*! Don’t do that! God, you’re such a stupid \*\*\*\*!”) but still so scared. NotLD, I was watching it thinking “This is so hokey!” but it still scared me so bad I couldn’t even watch it all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/10 "2001-09-15T22:21:01Z")
I am SO glad I’m not the only one here who was scared pale by The Blair Witch Project. Oh, MAN, what a movie. That being said, I don’t think it’s quite the same if you aren’t in the theater. Bummer, because I saw it twice (in the theater) and was terrified both times. :eek: Now I have it on video and it still scares me, but it also makes me depressed. Maybe it’s the parent-of-a-teenager at work in me. I also have to go with my favorite stand-by, The Exorcist 3 (or III, whatever). For sheer creepiness, I think you just can’t beat the selective mute in the asylum. It’s based on Legion, which is the _real_ sequel to The Exorcist (don’t know where TE2 came from, but I was not impressed). Legion, btw, is also my favorite nominee for “scariest book I ever read.” It’s the only book I can’t read by myself at night. I LOVE this kind of stuff… ~karol ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/11 "2001-09-15T22:43:17Z")
_The Blair Witch Project_ was quite unsettling. Perhaps the popularity of slagging it is waning–I was rather surprised to see no one do so yet. However, I don’t think it would hold up to a second viewing, at least for me. I’ll second _Exorcist III_. Good film to watch alone, all lights off, very late in the night. John Carpenter’s _Prince of Darkness_ also deserves a mention, another movie where a great deal of the creepiness comes from the score. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/12 "2001-09-15T23:09:37Z")
Well, I found the new version of HOHH to be both very good, and very disturbing. Similarly with \*\*The Haunting **(the orginal was The Haunting of Hill House, which is confusing since both use some version of haunt and hill) it was scarier than its orginal too. However, neither movie was \*\* really** scary. The scariest movie I can think of, besides polerguist which might be less scary 20 years older, is **In The Mouth Of Madness** which scared the hell out of me. Maybe it’s because I write, but non-writers said it’s scary to them too. Oh, I found the Blair Witch Project scarier than I thought I would too, but not nearly as much as In The Mouth of Madness . ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/13 "2001-09-16T00:20:39Z")
wait… i would like to get a confirmation of something i saw channel-surfing once… i only saw the end, but i think this might be Night of the Living Dead… if it is, i will show it to her… it ends, at the very last little bit, with some people sitting in a treehouse or something, and then a (nuclear?) artillery shell is launched at this town, and boom. then, apperently later, it pans underground a graveyard to show some guy buried there, laughing an evil cackling laugh of insanity. than it winds into a song and the credits start with a ‘slam’ like effect. is that the end of NotLD? if so, i will go rent it, it seemed scary to me, and i only saw the trailing five minutes of it… also, i will go get In the Mouth of Madness if i can find it. but eh… i want to scare HER, not ME, so the ones with scary music would need me to run off and hide under a blanket. **struuter** ’s description of herself is steel-willled brave compared to me. i am _ **really** _ scare-able. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/14 "2001-09-16T01:45:38Z")
If you want to seriously creep someone out, get a copy of “Spoorloos”, English name “The Vanishing”. This is the original Dutch version. Nothing I have ever seen on film can come close to matching the final scene of that movie. The German movie “Funny Games” has the scariest serial killer story ever recorded on film. Hannibal Lecter is a piker next to these clean-cut young German men. “Woman in the Dunes” is a Japanese movie about a man held captive by a psychotic woman, and blows “Misery” off the screen. “The Birds” has, for my money, many of the most effective scenes of terror in any American movie. The scene in the upstairs bedroom creeps me out after a dozen viewings. If none of these affects your sister, she may not be capable of being scared by a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/15 "2001-09-16T01:55:46Z")
_Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band_. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/16 "2001-09-16T01:59:53Z")
No idea what that was, **saepiroth** , but _Night of the Living Dead_ ain’t it–the original is well worth seeing, however. One of the umpty non-Romero sequels, perhaps–one of the “Return of…” ones ended with zombietown getting nuked (which wasn’t as good of a solution as you might think), but I recall no cackling guy. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/17 "2001-09-16T02:02:52Z")
The original black and white continues to be the scaries movie in my opinion. Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness is a great one 🙂 But no, my vote unanimously goes for Night of the Living Dead, I have nightmares every time I watch it. But oh-- I watch it! The only thing that scares me more is the PS video game [“Silent Hill.”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=77161) ---
**Author:** ![Jekeira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@Jekeira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jekeira)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/18 "2001-09-16T02:17:29Z")
**The Shining.** Kubrik version. I think that movie is terrifying, definitely the most frightening I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s because I was only about twelve when I saw it, but that movie ruined Jack Nicholson for me as an actor forever. I cannot watch a movie with him in it without waiting for him to grab an axe and start killing people. And as a romantic lead, like in **As Good As It Gets**? Helen, noooo! I found **Blair Witch Project** clever and rather creepy, but not really frightening. Oh, another movie that frightened me to death: **Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory** , with Gene Wilder. The part where the kid floats up and almost goes into the fan gave me nightmares for years - I still will not sleep under a ceiling fan. I’m not sure how impressed your sister would be, **saepiroth**. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/19 "2001-09-16T02:17:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by saepiroth \* > \*\*wait… i would like to get a confirmation of something i saw channel-surfing once… > > i only saw the end, but i think this might be Night of the Living Dead… if it is, i will show it to her… > > it ends, at the very last little bit, with some people sitting in a treehouse or something, and then a (nuclear?) artillery shell is launched at this town, and boom. > then, apperently later, it pans underground a graveyard to show some guy buried there, laughing an evil cackling laugh of insanity. > than it winds into a song and the credits start with a ‘slam’ like effect. > > is that the end of NotLD? if so, i will go rent it, it seemed scary to me, and i only saw the trailing five minutes of it…\*\* You saw the tail end of _Return of the Living Dead_. Also there seems to be a bit of confusion regarding two movies, understandable since the remakes came out at about the same time. The original versions are both in B&W BTW. _The Haunting_ is the adaptation of _The Haunting of Hill House_ by Shirley Jackson. Of the two film versions, the first one (1961 ?) by Robert Wise is, IMNSHO, simply the **best** haunted house film ever. _The House on Haunted Hill_ is a remake of the 1958 William Castle movie. The original is so-so and the remake is the same. Oh, and another vote for _In the Mouth of Madness_. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2001, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839/20 "2001-09-16T04:01:12Z")
Only one movie in my lifetime has actually succeeded in giving me nightmares, and that is **The Exoricst**. Saw it for the first time when I was 13. I was up late and was having a hard time sleeping. Went downstairs and turned on the tube. That movie was starting, and although I had heard of it, I really didn’t see what the fuss was all about durinng the movie’s first thirty minutes or so. Let’s just say that this movie is not an insomnia cure. Although it didn’t give me nightmares, I will absolutely refuse to see **Arachnaphobia**. Snakes don’t concern me, and neither do heights, but I will admit to being absolutely creeped out by spiders. Unnatural things. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scariest-movie-ever/81839.md?page=2)