Well, one could argue that Space and Time were being warped in that section of the woods. Pariculary when at the end they stumbled across what was supposed to be Rustin Parr’s house, despite the fact it had long since burned down.
They are, and I did think that, while not lovecraft inspired, the old gent would have appreciated it if he could get past the swearing.
Farenheit 9-11 :eek:
Blair Witch, The Ring and The Grudge all scared me when they first came out. Of the three, I’d have to say that Blair Witch scared me most because I saw it during the Sundance Film Festival when it was first released and there was no hype about it yet. It had the look of a documentary.
The last good movie scare I had was watching an .avi of John Carpenter’s The Thing alone after dark with about 2 feet of snow on the ground. With my dog. And the wind blowing audibly outside.
Jacob’s Ladder creeped the hell out of me. It was the stuff of nightmares.
:rolleyes:
Then you would enjoy (on a fright level) The Bad Seed (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/). (Except for the ending, which I’m sure was added as a concession to popular moral sensibilities.)
I nominate the 1963 original The Haunting. Alone with the lights out it’s very very scary.
You can also turn the lights on and enjoy the thinly-veiled sexual interplay among the characters. The dialogue is witty and lots of fun.
Lovecraft fans and RPG players should like it, as the plot bears a strong resemblance to a CoC adventure.
Hey, you can buy into Moore’s spin on the events or not, but you can’t tell yourself, “It’s only a movie . . . it’s only a movie . . .” The events are real and scary and you still have to live with them when you leave the theater.
The Lost Continent (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063240/) terrified me, gave me nightmares about carnivorous seaweed, and made me afraid to swim in the ocean. But then, I saw it when I was five. In hindsight, it really belongs in “The really most bad most god awful movies ever made thread.” – http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=310662
Actually, I could indeed tell myself “it’s only a movie,” as much of it was straight fiction.
While I don’t consider it a super scary film, I think the creatures from Hellraiser are genuinely creepy. Pinhead is one screwed up dude.
There’s a scene where one of the creatures puts his fingers in the heroine’s mouth to gag her. I always thought that was extremely butch.
As iconic horror characters go, the Hellraisers beat Jason, Michael and Freddy all to hell (and Chucky too).
boofuu, I, too, was traumatized by E.T. My well-meaning parents took me to see the delightful family film when I was 3 or 4, and until adulthood I had to leave the room or quickly turn the TV off whenever E.T. appeared on screen. The voice was ghastly, the alien form disgusting, and I’m still revolted by:
E.T.'s death scene and turning white, and the military/containment invasion of the home
However! Now that I’m all growed up, Arlington Road is the most horrifying film I’ve seen. I saw it in Arlington, because my friend said, “Oh, this one takes place here, I don’t know anything about it, but what the heck.”
Holy shit! :eek:
Signs also gave me nightmares for weeks afterwards, but I know I am mostly alone in that. I have a deep phobia of aliens. Maybe it’s my parents’ fault.
Yep. I’ve seen it. Good choice. There was actually a made for TV remake in the 80’s that had the girl surviving. The lightning strike in the original was kind of corny and obvious but followed the norms for what was expected at the time.
This thread has me wondering about non-believers’ reactions to horror, fantasy, etc. that involves supernatural. (IIRC, in this thread, the OP, Diogenes and myself have registered as distinctly in this category – if I’ve missed others, feel free to chime in. Everyone’s thoughts are appreciated).
What distinguishes works that make us roll our eyes from works that make us ponder things?
I find some episodes of the old Twilight Zone TV series thought-provoking to this day. But only two of them are definitely absent any supernatural (the one where the soldier finds himself in a town with no people, and the one where the man makes a bet that he can keep silent for a year.) I personally consider others to be pretty much devoid of the things beyond nature – i.e., The Midnight Sun postulates the earth changing its orbit, which is very unlikely to happen, but doesn’t really involve the supernatural.
I don’t want to hijack this thread too much, so if there’s sufficient interest I will start a new one. Thanks,
The scariest movie I’ve ever seen was Poltergeist. I had nightmares for 2 years after seeing it. However, I was four when I saw it…
As an adult the only three geniuinely scary movies I’ve seen are In The Mouth of Madness, Phantoms, and, strangely enough, the seemingly disliked at IMDB Boogeyman. (And Rose Red was scary right up until it feel apart the last hour) I’ve probably seen every non-Freddy/Jason/Mike Myers horror movie at the video store released in the past year or three with the exception of Saw and May too. (Speaking of May, is it really bloody? In comparison to Dawn of the Dead, HoHH or Thirteen Ghosts? Horror good, buckets of blood bad). I’d award the creepy as hell, if not quite scary, award to The Ring, The Other and Bunny Lake Is Missing. Creepy is underated.
Exactly - except I guess I’ve always been too jaded because, with one exception, “horror” movies have never scare me beyond some mild anticipation or mild creep factor while watching. Only one movie has ever freaked me out on a deep level that made me still a little scared when it’s over and I’m home alone, and still does with each repeated viewing. And that movie?
I judge all horror movies by The Shining - and not one has lived up to really up to it. I keep waiting, and watching, and hoping, but am always disappointed. And I’ve seen just about every movie mentioned in this thread a couple others that weren’t (Audition, for one).
The last segment of Trilogy of Terror, with Karen Black being chased by the Zuni devil doll, left me sleeping with the light on that night… and I was twenty five at the time…
F. U. Shakespeare, I’m a non-believer, and it’s an interesting question. I don’t find The Exorcist scary because I didn’t believe it’s realistic. I can’t really suspend my atheism long enough to believe in demons, ancient curses, after death experiences, ghosts, or haunted houses. For me there’s not even an element of “Wouldn’t it be cool, if?” My response is always, “No, it’s clearly not possible.”
To scare me, it has to fit what I believe to be real. Take Pet Sematary. It’s not the cats or the climactic ending that scare me (which I watch with sort of a detached interest), it’s the physical deformities of Tasha Yar.
Are there some people who don’t find Arlington Road or Se7en scary because they don’t believe in a hopelessly bleak society? I think it’s feasible.
I was freaked the First time I saw Tobe Hoopers Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The image of the corpse propped up on the tombstone with the whining sound of the old flash bulbs going off and dying still gives me the heebie jeebies to this day.
I wasn’t too chuffed with the remake even though it had better production values it just seemed mean spirited and well inferior.
The original Halloween still holds a fond place for me not for the final confrontation but the daytime stalking which is still creepy.
The Thing is also a favorite. The idea of total isolation and paranoia works.
Yeah, that was pretty messed up. I’ve never watched the entire thing in one sitting.
It rubs the lotion on its skin and puts it in the basket …
I couldn’t handle 5 minutes of Hannibal, either.