Favorite horror movies/Scariest movie you've ever seen?

I was a fan of the movie Clownhouse. But after I found out what the director Victor Salva (also known for the Jeepers Creepers franchise) did to one of the child actors, it’s hard to watch without thinking of it. There is some strong metaphorical symbolism.

This doesn't really count as a movie, but I'm really into the Backrooms internet story, and this video was great (and definitely scary at times imo)

After experiencing the horrors of real life, no movies are scary to me. They are all silly unless attempts at making documentaries.

The Conjuring series.

The Thing
Alien
The Shining/Doctor Sleep
Longlegs
Rosemary's Baby
A Clockwork Orange
Baghead
Talk To Me

I have never been a big movie guy in general, and have probably only seen 4 that could really count as horror: The Shining, Get Out, and the first two A Quiet Place movies. Out of those, I enjoyed the Quiet Place movies the best probably. I didn’t really get The Shining, didn’t find it that scary, just really bizarre

TZ75 wrote:I can’t believe I forgot Halloween III “Season of the Witch”. 

Although it didn’t feature Michael Myers, it had a very dark and scary feeling to it. Definitely gave me the creeps!

How'd I forget that too?? It's a great movie. I feel if it wasn't tied to the Halloween franchise and just called "Season of the Witch" it would've done a lot better. Underrated for sure.

I also forgot to mention The Exorcist 3, one of my favorites.

The exorcist freaked me out when I was younger. Still get freaked out to some degree if I see it and I don’t get scared easily.

TZ75 wrote:

Superjuice wrote:Phantasm might be my all-time favorite movie of any genre. Looks like the other guys are on the same vibe.

Some others:
Night of the Creeps
Night of the Comet
Deep Red
Silver Bullet
Creepshow
Sleepaway Camp
Suspiria
Phantasm II is cool too, but different than original, more like 80's machismo

Scariest movie I've ever seen is Black Christmas.  2nd Friday is very scary as well.  Night of the Living Dead spooked me out as a teen.

Death Valley has the scariest ending I've ever seen and has Peter Billingsly as the protagonist.  You know, the Christmas Story kid, Ralphie.

Night of the Comet is great!  It captured the 80’s vibe perfectly. 

I also like Death Valley! 

It appears that we have similar taste.

Good 80's vibes from the Stranger Things series (esp. season 1)

There was a very creepy horror-thriller called "The Other" from 1972 that was about a young twin boy who turns out to be the very definition of evil.   It has some seriously disturbing scenes.

I believe Thomas Tryon wrote that story. Very creepy indeed.

Constantine wrote:There was a very creepy horror-thriller called "The Other" from 1972 that was about a young twin boy who turns out to be the very definition of evil.   It has some seriously disturbing scenes.

Is this available anywhere? Streaming services?

Ammocas wrote:

Is this available anywhere? Streaming  services?

Hmm, I don't see it streaming anywhere.   It can be watched on You Tube, but some of the transfers are from VHS and are not ideal, but I haven't looked at all of them.  There is a DVD on Amazon but it's pricey and I'd recommend seeing it for free first.

^Thanks buddy!

The scariest horror film I've seen is one many seem to roll their eyes at and I don't think any have mentioned here - "Paranormal Activity".
I never saw it in the cinema, rather on DVD in my bedroom lying on my bed late at night, which was rather like watching "Jaws" while floating on a raft in he middle of the Pacific. After finishing the film, for a while too scared to get up, and it was ages before I saw the sequels.  And when I did, it was in the daylight.  People have offered their sarcastic, "Ooh, how scary, a door or sheet is moving by itself", but that's the point.  It's a basic thing that isn't supposed to happen.  That kind of thing freaks me out.

And to show I'm not just a novice horror viewer, some of my other favourites are...

"Night Of The Living Dead" (original)
"Halloween" (original)
"The Exorcist"
"Dawn Of The Dead" (original, although the remake is good too, as is "Sean Of The Dead")
"An American Werewolf In London"
"Rosemary's Baby"
"Carrie"
"Night Of The Creeps"
"It's Alive"
"Dolls"
Also found footage films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Home Movie".
And also pretty much every slasher film I've been able to find ("Friday The 13th" series, "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "Sleepaway Camp", etc).
I would also add the older classics like "Nosferatu" (silent and 1970s remake), "Frankenstein", "Freaks", "Cat People" (the original), "The Body Snatcher", "Dead Of Night" and many others.
Then there are the sickening ones where I think to myself, "Did I really need to watch that?  Am I going too far?"

TheDoctor394 wrote:The scariest horror film I've seen is one many seem to roll their eyes at and I don't think any have mentioned here - "Paranormal Activity".
I never saw it in the cinema, rather on DVD in my bedroom lying on my bed late at night, which was rather like watching "Jaws" while floating on a raft in he middle of the Pacific. After finishing the film, for a while too scared to get up, and it was ages before I saw the sequels.  And when I did, it was in the daylight.  People have offered their sarcastic, "Ooh, how scary, a door or sheet is moving by itself", but that's the point.  It's a basic thing that isn't supposed to happen.  That kind of thing freaks me out.

And to show I'm not just a novice horror viewer, some of my other favourites are...

"Night Of The Living Dead" (original)
"Halloween" (original)
"The Exorcist"
"Dawn Of The Dead" (original, although the remake is good too, as is "Sean Of The Dead")
"An American Werewolf In London"
"Rosemary's Baby"
"Carrie"
"Night Of The Creeps"
"It's Alive"
"Dolls"
Also found footage films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Home Movie".
And also pretty much every slasher film I've been able to find ("Friday The 13th" series, "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "Sleepaway Camp", etc).
I would also add the older classics like "Nosferatu" (silent and 1970s remake), "Frankenstein", "Freaks", "Cat People" (the original), "The Body Snatcher", "Dead Of Night" and many others.
Then there are the sickening ones where I think to myself, "Did I really need to watch that?  Am I going too far?"

The most sickening movie I've seen is an Asian movie called The Sadness... Just... Wow.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13872248/

Watch at your own risk!

I remember seeing a trailer for that one.  It looked... intense.  But dang, I glanced through the "parental guide" for it on IMDB and that's gonna be a hard pass for me!

I would think any parental guides would frown on all horror flicks

Kerrick wrote:I remember seeing a trailer for that one.  It looked... intense.  But dang, I glanced through the "parental guide" for it on IMDB and that's gonna be a hard pass for me!

One of the rare cases where I had a hard time even getting through the guide lol... agree, def not ever watching that lol

oldschooldoom wrote:I would think any parental guides would frown on all horror flicks

Based on the description, this one goes way beyond typical horror movie territory. More like those “torture porn” movies that are just messed up for the sake of being messed up

seth wrote:

oldschooldoom wrote:I would think any parental guides would frown on all horror flicks

Based on the description, this one goes way beyond typical horror movie territory. More like those “torture porn” movies that are just messed up for the sake of being messed up

Agreed.  Horror is my favorite genre but this one sounds just sick and twisted to be as depraved as possible.  No thank you!

Regarding torture porn and really extreme sadistic horror, there is a lot of it out there and I recommend staying away from it.   I went through a short period where curiosity got the better of me and I looked into some of it and there's rarely if ever anything redeeming in it.  It's mostly very depressing and nihilistic, and is largely an attempt to bludgeon it's audience with shocking, sick, and depraved images.

I remembered another movie I like, a made-for-TV horror-thriller from 1972 called "The Screaming Woman" starring Olivia de Havilland.  It moves slowly but there was some very creepy scenes and good suspense throughout.  And the ending is great.

There were some awesome made-for-TV horror-thrillers back then.  Some of the more famous ones are "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" starring Kim Darby and "Crowhaven Farm" starring Hope Lange.   Very creepy movies that are memorable.

Constantine wrote:Regarding torture porn and really extreme sadistic horror, there is a lot of it out there and I recommend staying away from it.   I went through a short period where curiosity got the better of me and I looked into some of it and there's rarely if ever anything redeeming in it.  It's mostly very depressing and nihilistic, and is largely an attempt to bludgeon it's audience with shocking, sick, and depraved images.

I remember when I thought that's what all horror was like lol

Has anyone seen Funny Games?  It's sort of an anti-torture-porn flick that on its surface is quite suspenseful and intense, though almost all of the violence is off-screen.  But its deeper meaning is much more than your typical home-invasion story.  I've never had a movie get under my skin in such a way; it's one of the only movies I'd call "brilliant" and really affected how I perceive violence in film.  I recommend going into it blind and not watching any trailers or reading about it beforehand, though be warned that it's not a pleasant watch.  (It does have some violence and language, but zero sex/nudity though a woman is shown in her underwear in a non-sexual way IIRC.)

The director remade it into an English-language version with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts.  Apparently it's a shot-for-shot remake of his own movie made 10 years prior.  I've only seen the English version.

Kerrick wrote:Has anyone seen Funny Games?  It's sort of an anti-torture-porn flick that on its surface is quite suspenseful and intense, though almost all of the violence is off-screen.  But its deeper meaning is much more than your typical home-invasion story.  I've never had a movie get under my skin in such a way; it's one of the only movies I'd call "brilliant" and really affected how I perceive violence in film.  I recommend going into it blind and not watching any trailers or reading about it beforehand, though be warned that it's not a pleasant watch.  (It does have some violence and language, but zero sex/nudity though a woman is shown in her underwear in a non-sexual way IIRC.)

The director remade it into an English-language version with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts.  Apparently it's a shot-for-shot remake of his own movie made 10 years prior.  I've only seen the English version.

I've seen the original, although "cheating" a bit, as I watched in on YouTube in more than one installment, as I found it too hard to bear in one go.  I thought it was very compelling, especially one striking scene near the end, but I don't think I could go through it again.  I've seen far more explicit films that I can handle much easier.