MOVIES SCARY ENOUGH TO MAKE A GROWN MAN AFRAID OF THE DARK

[Dick]

You're gonna have to be really candid to reply to this post. Name the movie/movies that left you so unsettled that walking home from a theater alone and at night after viewing it/them would have been (or actually was) a traumatic experience. My choices are:
HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959 version, having seen it at age 9.)
PSYCHO (1960 - saw this with a friend at age 14 as the last half of a re-issue double bill with STALAG 17 and didn't sleep a wink.)
THE HAUNTING (1963. I was thirteen. Just about wet myself.)
ALIEN. I was an adult, for God's sake, but it took me days to shake it!

[RoboDad]

I would have to agree with these. Like I always say, the best horror is what occurs in your own imagination, as these movies all demonstrate. That's the horror that keeps me awake at night, not the shock and gore of Freddy Krueger or Jason.

I suppose, to a lesser degree, The Sixth Sense should be added to the list. I didn't really stay awake, but, let's just say I didn't venture out of bed once I was in.

Robo

JAWS-Saw this at as kid at a friend's house. A friend with a pool. At night. "Hey, let's go swimming..."

THE SHINING-This one had me creeped out for a few years until I read the original novel. Now Kubrik's version seems almost tame...

PSYCHO 2-Saw this one in my early teens on Halloween with a full moon! Very scary and tense watching, not so much afterward. Same goes for parts of STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT. The Borg are frightening if costumed and filmed properly, but needles into your neck?! That's not something you want to think about. It doesn't bother me to watch it now, but any movie can become tension filled on a full bladder...
But for the kind of terror Dick's talking about, it's not the tv movie, it's the book-Stephen King's IT. After reading IT...I uh, well, I can't really look down a drain anymore...
AB

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Oh Dear God! It's Growing BIGGER!!!

For me, and this is easy to admit, it was Prince of Darkness. This movie really
scaired me. On the way home, I was shaking so bad, we had to stop a friends house so I could gain my composure. I have never been so afraid of a movie.

j

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Fast MOPARS, faster computers,
And high performance home theater!
"Thank you for your cooperation."

When I was young (about 12) I snuck in to see The Exorcist at a local double feature along with American Werewolf in London & I had nightmares for quite a while about seeing the little girl with her Grinning demon face staring at me from the foot of my bed......brrrr.
As an adult nothing really gets to me any more......until.
I got The Texas Chainsaw Massacre DVD after at least 15 years since seeing it the first time(I didn't think it was scary at all as a kid, being into splatter movies at the time) but as you grow older your perception of things changes and the movie sent chills up my spine. But it wasn't until a week later when I was walking along a country road near my wifes uncles house deep in the country that I got a scare...I was going to a store about two 1/2 miles from his house when I heard a generator in the distance & I got a BIG flashback to you know what!DEEP COUNTRY/GENERATOR/ALONG A DESERTED ROAD! As I walked I saw a guy along the fence line & he looked at me...HE LOOKED JUST LIKE THE HITCH-HIKER! shit!
Well I didn't end up as a slab o'ribbs but it was funny how I,for a second, had more chills then I ever get from todays "scary" movies......don't trust country BBQ's as much since the movie either!

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-Dougpirana
"all right you primitive screw heads Listen up! "



[This message has been edited by dougpirana (edited 03-27-2000).]

Only one film alone possesses the power to make a grown man afraid of the dark:


THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

No, really...I watched this thing for the first time when I was nineteen years old, and let me tell you....

For those of you who haven't seen it, most of what you've heard isn't true. There's very little bloodshed on screen, there's no nudity, there's really nothing specific about the movie that would justify all the controversy. It's just that it's so unsettling...so terryifying. Seriously, when I watched this for the first time, home from college on winter break, in the living room of my parents' house, I kept my finger on the on/off button so I could turn it off if my parrents entered the room...it was like I was watching a snuff film or something.

[Will Munney]

I would agree with most of the above, especially TCM, Exorcist, Shining, and Prince of Darkness, and I would add two more:

Rosemary's Baby: It's a very slow build and kind of predictable, but the execution is pulled off so well, it definitely works.

The Omen: The music alone freaks me out.

[Taxi]

The two that stick in my mind to this day: Jaws and Alien.

I remember for weeks I'd sleep in a ball after watching Jaws, I was so afraid that if I let my feet dangle over the edge of the bed, that the shark would bite them off. (I was young...) It's amazing how every noise in the dark sounds just like a shark when you're 10.

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Taxi
DVDFile.Com Moderator

It's Amazing how a small simple little movie about a guy with a chainsaw can scare the living shit out of anyone that sees it. Texas Chainsaw Massacre STILL scares the shit out of me and I've seen it more than fifty times. It is the only horror movie that reminds me of a really bad nightmare that you just can't wake up to get away and when you do you feel so violated. I love it.

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See What's New at 8-Track Productions

[Sid]

Stephen King's IT and Poltergeist 2 were the only movies to ever scare me, and they scared the shit outta me

read the book for "the exorcist". i've read almost everything that stephen king has written, but nothing got to me like william peter blatty's exorcist. i didn't want to read this book without other ppl in the room.

~erik

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my dvdtracker page
thebeerdawg@yahoo.com

[Disc-Flipper]

Certain scenes in these movies freaked me out...

"The Exorcist"
That flash-frame demon face in the dream.
The priest's painted face and demonic eyes.
The defiled statue in the church.
The fighting dogs in the desert in front of the demon statue.

"The Exorcist III"
The white sheeted figure in the long hospital hallway scene.
The statue with the missing head.
The little Jesus statue opening its eyes.
The low-bass rumbling and scowling sound effects.
The crucified boy rising out of the floor with a painted statue head.
The dream in Heaven, when everything things start to speed up, and the head starts thumping.
The songbird that stops singing.

"The Amityville Horror"
The red eyes at the window.
The voice that says "Get out!"
The pig at the window as they're driving away.
That black goo under the basement floor the father falls into.
The red room under the basement stairs.

"Amityville II: The Possession"
The hand coming out of the wall of the basement room.
The pan-around to Sonny's demonic face.
The ghost of the sister at the front door.

"Alice Sweet Alice"
The photograph of the dead girl's burned face.

"American Werewolf in London"
The hospital bed in the forest.

"The Shining"
Those two girls in the hallway.
The cacking woman from the bathtub.
The gentleman and the dog-man in the room.
The previous owner with a blown-off head, raising his glass to Wendy.

[This message has been edited by Disc-Flipper (edited 03-27-2000).]

[RegniL]

my choices:

the exorcist:
by far the scariest movie..
the thought of the devil taking over my body scares the sh*t out of me!

the sixth sense:
walking ghosts!!! didn't scare me as much as the exorcist, but still pretty scary

fire in the sky:
this movie freaked me out....

well, that's all.. i can't remember anything else.. all the other movies just gave me a bit of a scare, but i was fine as soon as the movie finished.

Akh. Don't Look Now.

[manigrasso]

Here's a combination scary movie/guilty pleasure I'd buy in a heartbeat on DVD...Problem is, I', not sure of the name (remember kids, the mind is the first thing to go).

I'm PRETTY SURE it's called "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." I'm also PRETTY SURE it was a tv-movie about a couple who inherits a house that inhabits these three little demons that speak in these evil little whispers. The wife, who is none too stable to begin with, understandably gets freaked out by these little dudes, who, if memory serves, looked like the the musicians in the Star Wars Catina Scene, if they had been horribly burned in a gas fire. I also remember their implied attack on William "Uncle Charly" Demarest after he tried to warn the new homeowners...

"...you tried to tell, you tried to tell..."
"I Didn't tell 'em anything! I just *WARNED* 'em, that's all."

"You told you told you told"

I believe it's a cut to the exterior of the house, followed by a scream.

I apologize for the spottinesss of this account. It's one of those movies I caught twice on WPIX-11 New York, and I was very young. But I also remember sitting there with ablanket over my head, watching the movie through the spaces between my fingers...and the movie was on during a Sunday afternoon, and it was still bright daylight. I really want to find this movie.

Manigrasso

Sorry to bear bad news Manigrasso, but according to the Internet Movie Database, "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" isn't on VHS or DVD. Here's a link to its page http://us.imdb.com/Title?0069992
Hope it shows up on late night on a TV station near you soon...
AB

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Oh Dear God! It's Growing BIGGER!!!

[brian]

What i read about the exorcist scared me, but after watching the movie, it actually seemed tame. THe part that made me squirm was the blood squirting out of Reagans neck during testing, but other than that, this movie is just plain vulgar(i really didnt like this movie that much). The sixth sense creeps me out though. It may be tame, but it just seemed to freak me out, to the point where the last things i would be thinking about at night were the ghosts in the movie.

[RegniL]

i just bought the sixth sense on dvd..
watched it again... not scary at all anymore.. the second time isn't scary..
but it still is an interesting movie... i found myself feeling more sympathy for all the characters....

i guess the only movie that will send chills down my spine time and time again is the exorcist

How about those Bill and Ted adventure movies i think those are the scariest movies ive ever seen!

Quark!

I'm with you Brian. I think you had to see the Exorcist when it came out for it to have the terrifying impact it apparently has on so many folks. To me, it was just a bad film...
But hey, whatever keeps you up nights right?

Speaking of which, did anyone else find the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the bad boys turning into donkeys in Pinocchio to be an *extremely* good reason to be suspicious of "family friendly" movies when you were a kid?

Good God, what was Disney thinking??? I'm okay with Chitty as an adult, but I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Pinocchio.

"You will let me know when those donkeys stop screaming, won't you Clarice?"-Unlikely 'Silence of the Lambs' early draft

AB

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Oh Dear God! It's Growing BIGGER!!!

[This message has been edited by ambushbug (edited 03-29-2000).]

Of course, growing up in tract housing and seeing POLTERGEIST doesn't make for peaceful nights of slumber either
AB


[This message has been edited by ambushbug (edited 03-29-2000).]

[Dominik Pfleghaar]

ambushbug,

funny you should mention it, I was just about to nominate Poltergeist. I was about 11 or so when I saw this flick for the first time and it scared the living shits outa me (especially the scene where all the rotten corpses show up in the swimming pool).

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Unca Dom, DDS-088
dvdfile.com administrator
dominikpfleghaar@netscape.net

[brian]

Now that you guys reminded me of Poltergeist, the part that freaks me out in that movie is the toy clown. I used to be be scared of things like that when i was younger, and i used to act like robbie by throwing a blanket or jacket over the thing that i was scared of. Every time i see the clown choke robby it makes me shudder. Poltergeist is one of my favorite movies, i wish there was a special edition of this masterpiece.(Luckily i got my dvd for free in one of those buy 4 get 1 free offers)

[Taxi]

Yes, ditto on the toy clown scene. Totally freaks me out every time.

I wanted to second my vote for the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well. That guy still gives me the creeps.

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Taxi
DVDFile.Com Moderator

When I was young the essence draining scene from Dark Crystal gave me the creeps, the way the podlings eyes went white & they're faces went gaunt....brrrrr. THIS IS A KIDS MOVIE, MAN!

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-Dougpirana
"all right you primitive screw heads Listen up! "

[TheMovieKid]

"Night Of The Living Dead" ... I saw this a few years ago, good god, gave me nightmares for weeks. I can never watch this film at night (same thing with "Dawn of the Dead") ... good thing I watched "NOTLD" during the day.

BTW, I'm talking about the 1968 version, not the crappy 1990 version.

ALIEN scared the crap out of me for a looong time. Every time I got heartburn, I worried. I saw THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and totally freaked. The way that guy casually killed was just too much for me. THE EXORCIST is the only film I think depicts 'true evil'. I can't think of another flick where a twelve year old girl is so horribly violated. Yeesh.

[gachamann]

This movie wasn't as widely viewed as most mentioned already, but does anyone remember "Caller in the House?"

Brrr! I'm a 26 year old male now, though I was probably 14 at the time I saw it on video. This is where the famous line came from that goes, "Why haven't you checked on the baby?" or something. I think it was from the late 70s. Anyway, that movie gave me more creeps than any other I've seen. Didn't help that I lived in a two-story house like in the movie, either

If I have to give a popular answer, though, it would definitely have to be Alien. The scene where Dallas crawls through the air ducts made me keep thelights on for a couple days after

[indiephantom]

Gach, you are actually referring to WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, which has some great chilling moments. I also like the first part of the sequel WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK...when the guy is at the door asking to come in. It's very real and scary at the same time.

THE EXORCIST is the only movie I find totally scary from beginning to end. I like a lot of horror films, but don't get scared by many. Often stuff from when you're younger seems not so scary now. I love THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, but it doesn't scare me. I find it to be more an amusing social commentary than a scarefest.

THE SHINING, HALLOWEEN and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET all have moments that genuinely frightened me when I first saw them.

[LBPound23]

CUJO comes to mind as a film that frightened me very much.
Also, THE SHINING was sort of scary, but it was ruined for me as I had to watch it interupted. With a break in the suspense, it just didnt frighten me in the way I though it would.

[Sykes]

The Innocents, 1961. Like The Haunting, a classic early '60s spook-fest, but much scarier, better directed, and eerie.

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"Editing is the foundation of the film art." --V.I. Pudovkin.

The first 20 mins of both WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK will scare the hell out of any grown man or women. Just thinking of it years later makes me worry about turning out the lights tonight.

[Rejemy]

Any movie with that damn leering stuffed monkey clapping his cymbals together. Freaky!

I thought "Sixth Sense" was severely over rated, not the best scary movie I've ever seen. There was one part where I jumped though..I'd have to watch it again to remember which one it was..I remember there was a real loud noise and a woman's figure shows up on the screen at the same time. The scariest movie I've ever watched was "Exorcist"..Along with "Jaws" and "Alien". Just the horror of watching a person ripped to shreds is enough! Another one that I watched when I was about 11 years old was "The Evil Dead", which nobody here has mentioned. Those demons are wicked!!!!

[brian]

Originally posted by Rejemy:
Any movie with that damn leering stuffed monkey clapping his cymbals together. Freaky!

Close Encounters of the third kind? Poltergeist 2?

I guess it is freaky...

[SplbrgWlms]

I thought that THE SIXTH SENSE was supposed to be a psy thriller. Not a horror movie.

-Josh

[Damian]

In my opinion, nothing was scarier then The Exorcist. NOTHING! (at least to me) I wasn't able to watch that movie until way late into my teens.
Sixth Sense had some suspenseful scenes, but nothing that made you sit there and bite your nails. I actually thought Stir of Echoes with Kevin Bacon was a better movie. Scarier as well in comparision to The Sixth Sense.


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-Damian

[brian]

I never found the exorcist scary, sure it had suspense, and it was shocking, but none of it scared me.

I just laughed at the Exorcist! Nothing has really scared me yet. The 6th Sense made me jump a couple of times, but I've not yet been spooked by anything. Except when I was about 10 and I saw Gremlins for the first time. They're awfully vicious, and could be behind your couch. I made a slow journey to bed that night!