MovieChat Forums > V/H/S (2012) Discussion > Scariest movie that you've seen?

Scariest movie that you've seen?

posted 12 years ago by SamAndJoon
203 replies | jump to latest

Ok, I liked this movie. It had some pretty creepy parts despite some bad acting/writing... but it got me to wondering, what do other people consider the scariest movie they've ever seen? I really want something SCARY..that'll keep you up at night... so tired of watching semi-scary movies that you forget as soon as the lights are out. Just looking for some good, recently made horror movies..like in the past 10-15 years... because I've seen a lot of old stuff and that stuff is great. Any recommendations?

Personally I dig Rosemary's Baby...The Exorcist... Halloween.....Texas Chainsaw Massacre... the stuff that has scared me the most unfortunately hasn't been straight horror movies (the T-1000 in Terminator 2, Predator, Alien, Martyrs...) so I'm kinda wondering where all the good, recent horror is at?

{Never can say goodbye...R.I.P MJ}

[–] DeusExKatrina 12 years ago

No other movie has ever scared me half as much as Paranormal Activity 2. Although I admit it hasn't been as scary on subsequent viewings.

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"Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the antidote to shame."

[–] MrOneTwo 12 years ago

I see all the people here talking about scary...but it really comes down to who you are...some people like cheap scares and jumpy stuff, others are afraid of monsters and what not, and for me the true horror are the psychological ones that messes with your mind, it really makes you create your own scary moments, that being said...I haven't seen anything that really scares me, I will mention that session 9 is one of those movies you really think about after, also martyrs.

[–] LoPanKnows 12 years ago

Before I get hammered for this post, I have to state that I am a MAJOR horror film fanatic. I collect horror items, I follow horror news, I support most horror film efforts, I go to conventions, blah blah blahblahblah...

The word "Scariest" is thrown around way too much. After a certain age, is there such thing as scary? I would say no. After, say 18 years of age, are you really "scared" of a movie? No. At least not me, and I'm not trying to sound like a prick either. The last time I was really scared because of a movie, scared as in felt fear outside of the theater because of the film, was when I saw Blair Witch Project at the drive-in, and I was in 7th grade. Now, movies can make you JUMP! and you can define that as "scary", but it doesn't really mean scary now does it? If you say: "Wow that was f'n scary!", do you mean that the movie made you jump, or that you are scared to go home and turn out the lights because that movie was scary? To me, there are no movies that scare me, however there are many movies that scare (JUMP!) me. So, therefore I rate movies upon jump scares now-a-days. That's just the way it is.

If what you mean by "Scariest movie that you've seen" is what movie made you jump the most? Then for me it would have to be [REC] or Paranormal Activity 2.

[–] DeusExKatrina 12 years ago

As an adult it gets harder and harder to scare me but the really good horror films, the top-shelf A+ films can still do it. Being scared and creeped out is the fun of horror movies for me, if I couldn't be scared anymore then I wouldn't watch horror movies anymore.

Do any films make me literally scared for my life, as in: I think there's actually ghosts coming to get me? Of course not. But that was never true when I was a kid, either. Maybe when someone is like 3 years old they might think a monster exists because they saw it in a film, but for the most part that option's not on the table even when we're kids.

So my ability to be scared today isn't any different than when I was 15. It's more wizened by the years, so it's harder to achieve, the more horror films I watch the less those same kinds of images can get under my skin, but the scares I get today are coming from the exact same place, the exact same mechanics, as the scares I got as a kid. All it takes now is more originality and more craft.

It's all psychological. A truly exceptional horror film will have such strong atmosphere, such evocative imagery that it gets inside your head and you might be looking over your shoulder on the drive home or having a quick second thought before you go down that pitch black hallway. Even though there's no real danger, the mind can play tricks on you. That may not be how it is for you any longer, but perhaps that has less to do with you being an adult, and more to do with you being a horror fanatic: the more you experience that stuff, the less effectual it can be. I don't think being an adult is generally a mitigating factor in scares, a lot of us adults watch horror movies BECAUSE they're scary.

I don't count jump scares at all. That's more akin to be startled, not scared. A lot of the "scariest" jump scares aren't even from ghosts, monsters, killers, they're usually gags where one of the characters will play a joke on another, with amiable intentions (e.g. jumping out of the closet with a mask on).

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"Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the antidote to shame."

[–] teen_titans008 12 years ago

I'm surprised no one has said "The Dark Crystal" yet.

I know its just a children's film, but actually watch it. The Skesis are really creepy. ):

Runner up is "Human Centipede." Even though I don't know if that qualifies because it's so messed up. ):

[–] LordManhammer 9 years ago

As an adult, one thing that does continue to scare me is the threat of sexual assault, because I know it might actually happen to me (unlike poltergeists, ghosts, etc.). Even the scene in V/H/S with the guys grabbing a woman in the parking ramp in order to get a video of her breasts is scary, because I know things like that actually happen, and I can feel a little bit of what it would be like to be attacked like that.

Even in hokey movies, there is something gut-churning about rape that makes these scenes scary, like in the awful Asylum film 100 Ghost Street when an invisible ghost attacks a woman.

__ __ __
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"--Pres. Merkin Muffley

[–] hugebuscemifan 12 years ago

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Funny Games!!

[–] armanmarok 12 years ago

Maybe because it's the most boring horror movie in existence?

[–] DfromKJD_DTH 12 years ago

I don't get scared by movies much. Although, this list will seem kinda long, but given the time frames in between each of these films came out and/or when I saw them.

These are some films that have successfully got under my skin in a creepy way or made me actually jump in a way that it was worth something instead of just a loud startling noise (in no particular order):

The Ring (remake)
The Descent
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake - I love the original but it's nowhere near as terrifying as the remake's sense of dread)
Poltergeist
Body Snatchers (the 90s version on a military base... I've only seen it as a kid but the scene with the mother on the bed scared the hell out of me - I'm sure if I watched it now, I'd feel really silly)
Paranormal Activity 3 (I absolutely loathe the first 2 but this one worked very well)
The Orphanage
The Thing ('82)
Halloween (the original, obviously)
The Exorcist (the subliminal splices get me every time)
And the scariest movie EVER.... don't laugh......... SIGNS.

The disturbing footage scene was the one and ONLY time while watching a movie that I wanted to close my eyes to not see what's coming but I kept them pried open in utter fear of what was to come next, and when the shock came, it damn near gave me a heart attack and then to make it even worse, they played it AGAIN. AHHH.

Update: Totally forgot to mention JAWS. I'm still apprehensive about swimming in the ocean...

[–] Friggin_Lahey 12 years ago

As far as creepy movies go, I really enjoyed Insidious and Jacob's Ladder.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Soundchaser2013 12 years ago

I have to ask all horror movie buffs , because you simply can't please everyone no matter how inventive one may try, there will always be someone who says "it wasn't scary", or "I laughed throughout the whole movie". What is it that makes a movie scary?, what makes the hairs on the back of your neck stick up? or every so often taking a peek behind yourself while intently watching a film even though you know you're alone. Sometime a person will laugh/smirk in fear of the unknown.
Here is my personal list (not particularly in any order), just to name a few.
Psycho
The Exorcist
30 Days Of Night
Phantasm
The Changling
Hellraiser
Candyman
Night Of The Living Dead
Descent
Halloween
Grave Encounters
Midnight Meat Train
The Shining
The Ring
There are quite a few foreign films that I didn't name that should be on this list as well.
I myself wasn't to impressed with A Tale Of Two Sisters, but that's just my opinion, and we all know what they say about that.

[–] xsparkishx 12 years ago

My ultimate Halloween costume is a 30 Days of Night vampire. Once I get the necessary funds, I am going ALL. OUT.

~The World is Changed because YOU are made of Ivory and Gold.~

[–] Stay_away_from_the_Metropol 12 years ago

Where The Dead Go To Die (2012)

[–] xsparkishx 12 years ago

I super dig that people have listed The Thing! The Thing doesn't scare me, but it's just... so so so so so soooo good.

As far as my scariest, it will always be 'Poltergeist'. Only recently have I been able to sleep after watching it. Another movie that surprisingly freaks the ever loving crap out of me is 'Cloverfield'. It's not even the monster that scares me, but the parasites(the whole exploding thing is ridiculously disturbing for me). I also couldn't sleep after seeing 'Paranormal Activity 2', but it loses it's scare factor after multiple viewings. Still, the scene where the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen all fly open is genius.

I've heard 'Funny Games'(both original and remake) is chilling, as well.

Oh... and 'Se7en' is scary without being scary...? After I first saw it, I thought Kevin Spacey was going to sneak into my house and kill me for being lazy.

~The World is Changed because YOU are made of Ivory and Gold.~

[–] armanmarok 12 years ago

The scariest horror movie I've ever seen is The Innocents (1961).

And I disagree saying anything watched over 18 is not scary. I watch The Innocents, Schock, and The Haunting when I was 23, all of them scared me. Especially The Innocents.

[–] LSDnSideBurns 12 years ago

John Carpenter's The Thing

First time I saw it I was about 16.

Late at night...

Alone, in my room...

Some of the transformations scared the bloody hell out of me. Unparalleled creature and makeup effects that have yet to be matched to this day. There's just this pervasive, underlying sense of dread through the whole thing. Paranoia. Isolation.

When the doc goes in with the defibrillator... I can honestly say I did NOT see that coming.

One of my top favorite movies of all time. Not just top horror movies, top movies. Period.

[–] armanmarok 12 years ago

Same here, The Innocents is also in my top 10 movies ever.

[–] Ethereal717 12 years ago

The movie is far from scary at all in fact The best stories from the movie were

Tuesday the 17th and 10/31/98 because they were very different the last one was the best I feel .I have no idea why people say that this is the scariest movie ever .There nothing scary about it at all .

[–] armanmarok 12 years ago

You're talking about V/H/S? I haven't seen it, so I cannot comment on it.

But, I'll admit that it's rare for today's horror to actually scare me. The only 6 modern era horror movies to scare me were Dark Water (2002), Dead End (2003), The Tales of Two Sisters (2003), Shutter (2004), House of The Devil (2009), and Confessions (2010), other than that: no.

From the acclaimed remake like the Ring, The Grudge, The Woman In Black, or the successful original like Irreversible, Martyrs, Inside, Ils, The Strangers, Paranormal Activity, and the so called hidden gem like Eden Lake & Funny Games, they all bore me to death due to repetitive storyline, unending cliches, and reused endings you can see a mile away. I think scaring people with the use of Hitchcockian Tension, Bavaesque Tension, Argentoesque Tension, or Subtle Revelation can be considered a lost art these days.

[–] enicholson 8 years ago

The Innocents is a great film. The Others and films like it wouldn't have been possible without The Innocents. The short novel on which it's based, "The Turn of the Screw", is one of the great written works of gothic horror.