Can anyone suggest some genuinely scary horror movies?

Really not a fair question. Different things scare different people. I've seen Exorcist & Texas Chainsaw thrown up repeatedly, and honestly, at the time I saw them, meh. Honestly, the only movies I can say honestly "scared" me (and bear in mind, I was a kid when I saw both of them, of course I also saw Exorcist & TCM as a kid, so...), Son of the Blob (checked the crapper for weeks after seeing that), and the 1974 It's Alive...those little creeps could be anywhere...I was looking under seats as I left the theater. As I say, you have to go with what scares or entertains you. I'm not particularly "scared" of zombies, but I eat zombie movies for breakfast. Right now I'm on an H. P. Lovecraft kick, more inter dimensional horror.

I really think "scary" is subjective and it DOES matter the generation that you grew up in to appreciate the really good stuff. You can tell that you grew up in the 90s because you singled out reality tv-ish horror movies as ones that really scared you. The fact that you didn't like the Shining furthermore proves my point in case... you expect the film to do the hard work for you... I'm not saying that I am any better or worse than you.. just the taste is different. I definitely prefer creepy to gore anyday. That being said, thanks for your list.

1.) Halloween
2.) Halloween 2 (1981)
3.) Amityville Horror
4.) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
5.) Phantasm
6.) Hellraiser I/II
7.) The Funhouse
8.) Poltergeist
9.) Ringu
10.) The Grudge

this might not be for everyone, but i recommend "the last will and testament of rosalind leigh" if you're into suspense and gloomy horror.

If you start sitting around the campfire, telling scary stories -- change our names!

This is hard for me because I did not find this scary at all.
If you liked this and found it scary and subtle:
Burnt Offerings (old but similar sort of)
the Innkeepers (also by this director)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Dream House (2011)
Mama (2013)
House at the End of the Street (2012)
The Uninvited (2009)
Skeleton Key
Insidious 2
Let the Right one In
Sinister
Fingerprints (2006)

Not sure if subtle:
the Conjuring
Silent Hill
1408 (2007)
Ghost Ship

I don't find any Horror genuinely scary and neither do you if you din't like the Ring (which I do like). I have to do things like watch them alone in my creepy basement at night while everyone is asleep with the windows open etc. Based on that:

Not too subtle but:
Trick R Treat
Scream
Pet Sematary


Heard good things and want to see:
Oculus
Rec.
Inside
V/H/S




[purple]Always be yourself... Unless yo

The Road (2009)

Wer (2013)

Black Water (2007)

You're Next

Stir of Echoes

28 Days Later

Funny Games (US)

Secret Window

Mama

Them (Ils)

Wait Until Dark

Rope

Oculus

Absentia

Tales from the Hood

Europa Report

Signs

The Sixth Sense

Purge 2: Anarchy

Cache

Eden Lake

The Others

The Bay

Melancholia

The House of the Devil

Not sure if there are any genuinely scary horror movies but Candyman got to me pretty good when I was a kid.

For more recent stuff I'd watch Oculus (2013), Kill List (2011), Bedevilled (2010), The Revenant (2009), Antichrist (2009), Taxidermia (2006), Lunacy (2005) and Session 9 (2001).

90s: Funny Games, Tesis, Dead Alive, Jacob's Ladder, Cemetery Man

80s: Videodrome, The Dead Zone, Re-Animator, The Fly, Evil Dead II,
Angel Heart, Naked Lunch

Half of these are horror/comedy but oh well. If I could recommend you a film that'd make you *beep* yourself I would... The House of the Devil is not really that great (nice effort though) but Kill List and Angel Heart share some similar themes.

I've see a lot of interesting replies over the past couple years... ya just have to go through them (preferably around Halloween-time!!)

Maybe I missed it but I don't think anyone mentioned Dario Argento, an Italian master of horror. Check out Suspiria as an example.

Also, an underrated one by George Romero is 'Martin' -- a sort of modernized take on vampirism, but sooo much better than Twilight, ect (not like that's very hard).

Anyone who calls The Shining boring is either trolling, trying to make themselves look superior (and failing) or just has terrible taste. Sure different strokes, etc, but c'mon.