Lots of good suggestions here.
I found Sinister to be downright scary.
I watch a bunch of these and that one got me just as The Conjuring and The Exercist did.
The Exorcist is the scariest movie I've ever seen. It was a cultural phenomenon upon its release, really nothing else quite like it. The acting was superb and the film was cut together very well IMHO. The possession/exorcism scenes may even be superceded by a realistic depiction of cerebral angiography which some critics felt was excessive (please, it's a horror film, it's all about excess). Here's the scene for those who haven't seen the movie. Record it, project it on your garage door on a loop for Halloween. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okd4ISkI8mg
Exorcist III may also have given us the single best horror scene of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5OGQr3xdfM
Last edited by CameronBlue; 10-26-2019 at 11:39 PM. Reason: Also, as someone noted upthread: Duke football 2019
Lots of good suggestions here.
I found Sinister to be downright scary.
I watch a bunch of these and that one got me just as The Conjuring and The Exercist did.
Scary:
The Shining
The Exorcist
Alien
The Omen
Rosemary's Baby
Insidious
The Ring
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Conjuring
The Babadok
Jaws (scary, not seasonally appropriate IMO)
*Please do not watch The Witch... it was just awful DO NOT WATCH, no point*
Funny, not too scary:
Evil Dead II
The Lost Boys
Beetlejuice
Campy 80s stuff that I like because they tried really hard and has sentimental value:
Hellraiser
First eight Friday the 13th movies
All ANOES movies except #2
Child's Play
Candyman
Hard at work making beautiful things.
Do Gigli, From Justin to Kelly, Battlefield Earth, Green Lantern and Catwoman belong on this thread? They were truly scary, but not anyone's favorite.
We watched The Conjuring last night and really enjoyed it. Made us both jump a couple of times. I didn't realize it has spun out several movies that take place in the same horror universe...additional Conjurings, Annabelle, The Nun, etc. Pretty interesting. Also went down the true story worm hole.
The possession/speaking in tongues thing has always interested me. I dated a girl in high school who's family was way backwoods TN. The grandma of the family had a series of mental breakdowns and would sometimes go into trances and speak in strange languages or talk about things that nobody understood like the "seven old spirits" (if memory serves). Her entire body would go rigid and her legs would shoot out in front of her and lock into place so that no one could push them down. Over the years, they had tape recorded her sessions and my girlfriend's father had some at their house. She let me listen to one of them and it wasn't psychotic yelling or anything, more a very odd croak talking about very odd things. Anyway, I don't think she was "possessed" and that there is some medical basis for whatever her condition was but damn if it wasn't creepy and could easily be thought of as being possessed.
Could somebody please explain to me the appeal of horror movies? I've never quite understood why people enjoy these. I don't remember ever seeing a horror movie that I enjoyed (granted, I haven't made an effort to see them because they don't appeal to me).
What's the reason you watch horror movies?
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
My mom has always hated horror movies, and as such basically refused to rent them for us to watch as kids. That, coupled with a ban on all R rated movies severely limited what I was allowed to see. So, as a teenage boy, every Halloween I naturally wanted to watch whatever "edited for television" horror movies I could get my hands on every Halloween. And I loved every minute of it.
I think today I personally enjoy Horror because I like being scared when I know nothing is real. It's kind of akin to watching a sport on TV - you don't know what's going to happen or how it will end, and that's exciting. I don't like slasher movies as much as monster/supernatural thrillers (Evil Dead, Aliens, The Ring, The Grudge, etc.). But a well done slasher that keeps you guessing like Scream is great. I stink at figuring out who the killer is tho.
"There can BE only one."
Because movies about death by diabetes take too long and my back won't abide roller coasters anymore?
Demons and ghosts and monsters have been around in our stories as long as humans have been able to tell them, they're how we explained a lot of things we didn't understand. So, I think we're wired for it. We tell stories about every aspect of the human experience - love, war, success, redemption, etc - so why not fear? And, I'm only partly joking about the diabetes and the roller coasters. We obviously self-titillate in a number of ways. Watching a scary movie seems no different to me than a good work out, doing a drug, mountain biking, etc. Just another way to activate our internal stimulants.
When my children are of age, I plan to show them all the horror movies because the best ones are mostly warnings to teenagers not to have sex in cars. Or campgrounds. Or ever.
Depends how you define "horror" I guess. A true "horror film" by my definition conjures up images of the B-movie slasher films from the 60s with thin scripts and little subtext and sophomoric humor...and no they are not appealing. They're just frequently gross to no real lasting effect.
"Horror" films that tread in the territory of spirituality, life after death, good and evil (or Good and Evil), etc etc...have the advantage that most humans have a macabre fascination about such themes--you know, the whole "what happens after you die" thing. In the hands of a capable director and screenwriter such films tend to have a lot of meat on the bone. The Exorcist, Poltergeist and others fall into that category for my money. They're not horror films but they have the potential to be a LOT more disturbing.
William Friedkin who directed The Exorcist called his film a "theological thriller". When it premiered in 1973 I was a teenager. I had heard of exorcisms but really knew nothing about the ritual. Being pretty involved in the Episcopal Church at the time I went to the opening weekend curious about the differences between Episcopalian and Catholic doctrine. I got a whole lot more than I bargained for; the film left me scared to fall asleep for about 5 months. Today it's my favorite film in the genre, in large measure because it's so well crafted.
Last edited by CameronBlue; 10-29-2019 at 01:44 AM.
After watching the Haunting (original, not the stupid remake), I didn't sleep much for a couple of days. It did not show a single ghost, but the sounds were enough to keep the covers over your head. Scariest flic ever in my estimation..
Bet lots of our younger folks haven't seen it. Here's a trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeAzGxWlEcg
We all have our Boogeyman. By the way, I love that Gieco commercial where they say, "When you're in a horror movie you do stupid things." "Can't we just get in the running car?" "Are you crazy? Let's hide behind the wall of chainsaws" "Smart." The look on the killer's face is priceless.
We did watch Midsommar. I like that the director (who I didn't realize until after viewing also did Hereditary) called it a break-up film. Uncanny that the director was also able to replicate my first time (I kid, I kid...). You're right, no real jump scares but the combination of the constant daylight and chipper Swedes really made what happened a very unsettling experience. I guess the director did a lot of study of different pagan practices and incorporated those into the film so they had some historical basis. Even the situation of the poor bloke in the chicken coop was based on some Viking practices, from what I understand.
Interesting stuff.
It may never be a movie, but I'm about to read Linwood Barclay's new book Elevator Pitch in which people enter elevators in Manhattan and many bad things happen...who doesn't love elevator terror? Right up my alley.
I recall the joyous moment when I turned in my last paper in grad school, prepared to celebrate at length, and got stuck with two pals in an elevator for a couple of hours before they could pry us loose.
This book just came out, so M Night could not have gotten his scary mitts on it yet.
As far as atypical (i.e. non Halloweenish) scary movies go (and I admit, CGI stuff just doesn't scare me very much) I have to go with Midnight Express, the true story of an American who endures (barely) and then escapes from a Turkish prison.
Scared the crap out of me. 1978...