The scariest movie of all time?

[DocLathropBrown]

What's your pick?

Mine's down to three choices: 1963's The Haunting, 1981's The Evil Dead and 1982's The Thing.

All three still scare the sh*t out of me. If I can't watch it alone at night, that tells me all I need to know.

[The Laughing Fish]

The original Terminator used to scare me sh!+less, and depress me too. The score in that film really captured the mood and terror that was going on.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Mine are quite pathetic but I still get a kick out of them:

Stephen King's IT really gave me the creeps when it was fresh back in the nineties. It's spoilt by the giant spider at the climax (which as a kid I confess I totally bought! lol). But Tim Curry makes up for it all with that creepy face of his and especially his voice. I think the movie improved on some of the lamer horror moments seen in the novel, Pennywise coming out of tight drainpipes in showers and sewers just looked so wrong and scary (double when he's dragging a poor stupid bully to his death with him). At the same time just as in the book the friendship story is very moving and it has that feeling of all the "team movies". Rather like a demented horror incarnation of "The Breakfast Club". Casts of characters coming together to face the horror which makes the movie slightly more bearable in it's creepier moments. 

The other one for me is "Arachnophobia" (coincedently made the same year as IT, what the heck was goin on in 1990 man!). And written by our own Bat movie scribe Wesley Strick. You really need my fear to be impressed by this one though. Small spiders bear me no irk, even should they be poisonous. You can squish them right? But when their large and hairy with rather sharp fangs and an aggressive killer instinct attitude (and a tendency to leap alarmingly at grown humans like Jeff Daniels) it really gives you the shivers. It also has excellent comedy moments which I love but the mood always gets spoiled when the giant creepy crawlies crash the scenes (not so much their smaller hench-arachnids).

My favorite horror scene is in the original Alien when Brett goes in search of Jones the cat. Cliched or not it's atmosphere is spooky. Dripping water, deep dark chamber and rattling, dangling chains. Shot from Brett's POV it's excruciating watching it in the dark alone when he glimpses up into the shadows without any music whatsoever. Even in the director's cut actually seeing the Alien dangling from a chain curled up is fascinating and slightly creepy even though it's ruins the original's surprise. And how did they get Jones' reaction to seeing Brett yanked up to his death? That cat should've got a "Best Pet Reaction" award at the Oscars for that closeup lol

[gordonblu]

I think Alien (1979) is a textbook case in how a good film sets up the scares. The early pacing is almost excruciatingly slow and deliberate, for example the scene Cobblepot4Mayor mentioned, It is dragged on so long, I couldn't wait for the alien to get him. It was so nerve-wracking. Compare to later in the film, once Ash's true nature is revealed the thrills come fast and furious. It is a truly well made monster flick.

If you watch the commentary , they reveal that the best way to get reactions out of Jonesy the cat was to reveal another unknown (to Jonesy anyway) cat, or a dog and he would throw a fit.

[The Laughing Fish]

I think Alien (1979) is a textbook case in how a good film sets up the scares. The early pacing is almost excruciatingly slow and deliberate, for example the scene Cobblepot4Mayor mentioned, It is dragged on so long, I couldn't wait for the alien to get him. It was so nerve-wracking. Compare to later in the film, once Ash's true nature is revealed the thrills come fast and furious. It is a truly well made monster flick.

If you watch the commentary , they reveal that the best way to get reactions out of Jonesy the cat was to reveal another unknown (to Jonesy anyway) cat, or a dog and he would throw a fit.

Alien did feel like a true horror film. I noticed how the creature in the original used stealth to attack its victims whereas in the James Cameron sequel they came across as brainless parasites. And Terminator did feel like a slasher movie at times, albeit with using guns instead of knives.

[riddler]

Friday the 13th parts 2-4
The original terminator scared me quite a bit as a kid. The second film i found more cool but the first one especially the ending with the metal terminator scared me.

The original jaws was scary but only for occasional viewings (although I guess the same could be said for all horror).

The haunting was definitely freaky.

I realize ghostbusters doesn't qualify but I found parts terrifying at parts. Kind of cool that I like it for different reasons now; As a kid I found it cool and scary at parts, now I find it hilarious. For instance the beginning ghost in the library and Dana possessed were terrifying for me as a child but now I realize how hilarious Bill murray was in those scenes.

[Cobblepot4Mayor]

Friday the 13th parts 2-4
The original terminator scared me quite a bit as a kid. The second film i found more cool but the first one especially the ending with the metal terminator scared me.

The original jaws was scary but only for occasional viewings (although I guess the same could be said for all horror).

The haunting was definitely freaky.

I realize ghostbusters doesn't qualify but I found parts terrifying at parts. Kind of cool that I like it for different reasons now; As a kid I found it cool and scary at parts, now I find it hilarious. For instance the beginning ghost in the library and Dana possessed were terrifying for me as a child but now I realize how hilarious Bill murray was in those scenes.

Your quite right about Ghostbusters. At the age of four I found the scene with the Ghost Nanny in Ghostbusters II creepy lol How pathetic eh? I mean it's only Peter Macnicol in drag for lordy's sake! But apparently it's a scene that often gets referred to by fans at how much it freaked them out at a very young age. I think it's up there with Vera Webster getting turned into a robot in Superman III (and that looked freakin painful to me as a kid) as being a scary moment that wasn't meant to be too traumatising. In fact the second Ghostbusters is so much more creepy for me because of Vigo with that demonic makeup he has at the end and the deep creepy voice. The decapitated heads in the subway. The electrified murderers the Scoleri Brothers. The bathtub of mood slime. The fur coat of gerbil-like critters. And again Janosz with those spooky light up eyes in Dana's apartment block.

But Terminator 2 I thought was always more frightening. The T-1000 was insane. I remember being quite freaked at all his running scenes tearing after John Connor (in those days I was riding a sh*tty BMX bike myself, not a super fast motorcycle like his). So that was pretty spooky. What made that sequel so much more frightening though was the T-1000 relied on his stabbing weapons to kill. There is something more excruciating about getting knifed like that than being blasted by The Terminator's Uzi 9mm. The scene with Todd Voight holds up I think. I look at it today and it appears slightly comical how he stabs him off camera. But as a kid it freaked me out when you see just what damage he's done to him.

[riddler]

Friday the 13th parts 2-4
The original terminator scared me quite a bit as a kid. The second film i found more cool but the first one especially the ending with the metal terminator scared me.

The original jaws was scary but only for occasional viewings (although I guess the same could be said for all horror).

The haunting was definitely freaky.

I realize ghostbusters doesn't qualify but I found parts terrifying at parts. Kind of cool that I like it for different reasons now; As a kid I found it cool and scary at parts, now I find it hilarious. For instance the beginning ghost in the library and Dana possessed were terrifying for me as a child but now I realize how hilarious Bill murray was in those scenes.

Your quite right about Ghostbusters. At the age of four I found the scene with the Ghost Nanny in Ghostbusters II creepy lol How pathetic eh? I mean it's only Peter Macnicol in drag for lordy's sake! But apparently it's a scene that often gets referred to by fans at how much it freaked them out at a very young age. I think it's up there with Vera Webster getting turned into a robot in Superman III (and that looked freakin painful to me as a kid) as being a scary moment that wasn't meant to be too traumatising. In fact the second Ghostbusters is so much more creepy for me because of Vigo with that demonic makeup he has at the end and the deep creepy voice. The decapitated heads in the subway. The electrified murderers the Scoleri Brothers. The bathtub of mood slime. The fur coat of gerbil-like critters. And again Janosz with those spooky light up eyes in Dana's apartment block.

But Terminator 2 I thought was always more frightening. The T-1000 was insane. I remember being quite freaked at all his running scenes tearing after John Connor (in those days I was riding a sh*tty BMX bike myself, not a super fast motorcycle like his). So that was pretty spooky. What made that sequel so much more frightening though was the T-1000 relied on his stabbing weapons to kill. There is something more excruciating about getting knifed like that than being blasted by The Terminator's Uzi 9mm. The scene with Todd Voight holds up I think. I look at it today and it appears slightly comical how he stabs him off camera. But as a kid it freaked me out when you see just what damage he's done to him.

I do think T2 was the better film but the first terminator was scarier IMO. No terminator on their side and all the attack scenes were at night.

You're right the second ghostbusters was far more frightening including Vigo. Especially the scene when he immobalizes them. The scolari brothers were infinitely scarier than slimer. Even the scene of the ghost jogger was mildly frightening. Vigo was far scarier than the marshmallow man or Gozer.

[Silver Nemesis]

Jump scares or gross out scenes aren't enough to make a film truly terrifying for me. Underlying ideas are what makes something frightening, even if you're only subconsciously aware of them when you're watching the film. For example, there's something very unsettling about the Freudian imagery in Alien (1979). The suspense sequences and feeling of claustrophobia all contribute to the atmosphere of unease, but arguably what makes the film so disturbing on a psychological and emotional level is that it's a movie about interspecies rape. The notion of the human body – male or female – being violated in such a horrendous manner is profoundly unsettling.

The Exorcist (1973) is another movie that deals with disturbing ideas; in this case the concept of transcendent evil against which there's no earthly defence. The very premise of a seemingly omnipotent malevolence taking possession of a child and forcing her to say and do such horrible things to herself and the people around her is deeply disturbing. Like a lot of people, I first saw this movie when I was a teenager and came away feeling disappointed. I didn't find it remotely frightening or interesting. It wasn't until I re-evaluated the movie as an adult that I became susceptible to its impact. As a grownup, I find it frightening in a way I couldn't have when I was less mature. There are very few films that become scarier the older you get, but this is one of them. The novel is even more disturbing than the film, but overall I prefer the adaptation over the book. And although it has its detractors, I find it to be a thoughtful, intelligent film with tremendous resonance that haunts you long after seeing it. So for me at least, The Exorcist is probably the most frightening film ever made.

But there's definitely something to be said for the subtle classics than manage to send a shiver down your spine without actually showing anything: The Haunting (1963), The Changeling (1980) and The Blair Witch Project (1999) to name but three. Those movies rely entirely on strong performances, spooky atmosphere and engrossing mythologies to draw you in and chill you.

Your quite right about Ghostbusters. At the age of four I found the scene with the Ghost Nanny in Ghostbusters II creepy lol How pathetic eh?

Not pathetic at all. Fear, like humour, requires context. If a movie is unremittingly tense right the way through, individual moments of tension lose their potency. But if you have an intense moment come out of nowhere in an otherwise family-friendly movie, it packs far more of a punch. That's why so many people cite scenes from Disney movies as the ones that scared them most growing up. I'll bet I'm not the only kid who had nightmares after seeing this guy:

[greggbray]

Wow, my list mirrors the OP.   


The Haunting wins out for me though.  Have to watch it every Halloween night, post-celebration.  It's tradition.