The most frightening motion pictures?

Snowdrop · Mar 2, 2011

flat-top said:
The Exorcist has some of the most frightening images ever, and worse yet, when those deleted scenes that were released decades later. Has anyone ever seen the "spiderwalk"?? Just the most disturbing thing ever. The primative special effects make it more troubling.

Yes!! That scene of her walking down the stairs was incredibly disturbing and I agree that the bad 70's special effects did somehow make everything worse!

Neophyte - Aghh! How could I have forgotten 'It'?! That movie combined two of my least favorite things - spiders and clowns!

Atomic Age · Mar 2, 2011

The Andromeda Strain (1971) Scientifically accurate to this day. Scary, scary movie!

Walk East on Beacon (1952) A fictionalized account (the names were changed) of a real FBI case outlining communist infiltration into the United States. Specifically the Manhattan Project.

Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995) A fascinating documentary using declassified footage of U.S. atomic testing. Beautiful and frightening at the same time.

Doug

Lincsong · Mar 2, 2011

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder.

Nazarin · Mar 2, 2011

Eraserhead by David Lynch. The film is so surreal and disturbing that it makes me shiver.

Anthony K · Mar 2, 2011

Snowdrop said:
'Poltergeist II' - I know, I know, not REALLY a great movie, but I will say that Julian Beck, the actor who played the scary preacher, literally gave me nightmares for WEEKS!

That guy still scares me. When Kane walks up to the screen door and says over and over, "let me in, let me in." It always gets me. I remember the first time I saw it, I was a kid, in a motel room in California during a trip down there. That scene has been stuck in my subconscience since then.

When I was kid, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger scared me to death. Now I just find him to be amusing. The last movie to give me the creeps was Paranormal Activity, I went and saw it and the whole audience, including myself was scared by the end. The hairs were still standing on my arms an hour after seeing it. The sequel, there was a couple of scenes that got me, but nothing like the original. It really takes a lot for a movie to scare me nowadays.

Lily Powers · Mar 2, 2011

I know this film isn't great in the realm of cinema, but When A Stranger Calls (1979) was so scary to me. The babysitter alone in the house with the sleeping kids... the sinister, threatening telephone calls that kept coming... the call back from the operator to tell the babysitter that the calls are coming from inside the house... Everyone in the theatre knew that, but is was still so suspenseful and scary, and it was so much fun to be scared that way!

Amy Jeanne · Mar 2, 2011

scottyrocks said:
The Day After (1983), a TV movie about life after just after a nuclear explosion. Probably the most frightening movie Ive ever seen.

I agree with this. I saw clips of it when it first came out (I was a kid) and it scared the daylights out of me! In 1991 we watched it in school and it wasn't so scary. I'd like to see it now, though....

Undertow · Mar 2, 2011

Audition 1999
Silence of the Lambs 1991
The Exorcist 1973
Cannibal 2005
Man Bites Dog 1992

Dan'l · Mar 2, 2011

The Exorcist (1973)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
and a movie called Ssss, not sure of the date (early 70s?) a mad scientist turning people into snakes.

I saw all three of these movies when I was young and they really played head games with me for while.

Atomic Age · Mar 3, 2011

I saw the first Night Stalker TV movie with Darren McGavin when I was about 6 years old. Scared the crap out of me and I didn't want to be by myself for weeks!

Doug

Miss Golightly · Mar 3, 2011

Wolf Creek
The Descent
Se7en

Miss Golightly · Mar 3, 2011

I was nearly forgetting this little gem:

Ils (Them) - this film terrified me - the tension did not let up till the very end - I would recommend it heartily.

Fletch · Mar 3, 2011

The scene where David Hedison is forced to reveal himself as The Fly (1958) is still horripilating, even after 50 plus years. Even tho he's just wearing a gorilla fur mask with two shiny gold-painted eyes on. The "reveal" is very carefully built-up-to, and The Fly face used only sparingly.

What's even more creepy is that The Fly can write. Hell, even think.

Cigarband · Mar 3, 2011

Fury 1936 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027652/
The Ox-Bow Incident 1943 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036244/
Seconds 1966 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060955/

scotrace · Mar 3, 2011

Ghost Story - final film for many screen legends (Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr)and a good fright.
The Hills Have Eyes - original version. Camping family eaten by genetic screwups in the hills of nowhere.
Magic - very early film for Anthony Hopkins. An unbalanced ventriloquist allows his dummy inside his head.
The Sixth Sense - Seriously. Yipes.
The Ring is fairly scary.
The first Saw film was creepy. Number 2 ok. The rest, not so much.
The silent Nosferatu gives me the willies.

And I have to agree on Sex & The City II. Horrifying from first frame to last.

ukali1066 · Mar 3, 2011

Four very well made British ghost stories... A warning to the curious, The Signal-man, Whistle and I'll come to you and The woman in black....

Miss Golightly · Mar 3, 2011

ukali1066 said:
Whistle and I'll come to you

Do you mean the John Hurt version that was on a few weeks ago? I really enjoyed it - very eerie.....

thor · Mar 4, 2011

Miss Golightly, I totally agree that "The Descent" is one of the most frightening films ever!

"Jaws" and "The Exorcist" round out my top 3.

thor · Mar 4, 2011

....and honorable mention to "The Thing" with Kurt Russell. Very creepy!

dhermann1 · Mar 4, 2011

I have never been more scared by a movie than I was when I saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when I was 5 years old. It was in a movie theater, big screen, and when the evil witch came on, I ducked under the seat.
Likewise, almost as scary, and about the same age, was the scene in Pinocchio of the boys who had been turned into donkeys.
There were some very dark shadows in the mind of Walt Disney!

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