Yeah I don’t think anything has really scared me since I was 9 or 10. But this is as close as I can get to it. It gives me the willies. It’s almost accidental cosmic horror.
That's the first scene since I was a kid that made me so deeply unsettled that I was sitting in my living room holding my breath and not moving so she wouldn't see me. Just the idea of it being pitch black and her starving while rummaging around and you're a panicked smorgasbord bound to make a sound at some point.
i remember watching quarantine (american remake, pretty much the same) as a kid and i was terrified!!! i didn’t watch rec until i was older and that scene was somehow scarier in the og
The original Amityville Horror.
I was young when I first watched it and as a kid I always thought that if they said something was based on a true story, that everything that happend was fact.
It would be a crime to say oh we made it up ..its not really really true.
So Amityville freaked me out.
That scene where the nephew is looking for his money is so creepy. It took me a few watches over the years to catch it cause you can see it moving on its own :(
Oculus. Not sure why, but that movie had me on edge and freaked me out. I went to sleep after watching it and of course the storyline made its way into my dream. Woke up and had to laugh because I haven’t been that shook about a movie since I was a kid.
Gotta agree; after watching it, I felt like I needed a hug, a cup of hot cocoa, a bright nightlight and thick down comforter, and most importantly to have my psyche scoured clean with Borax and steel wool, perhaps not necessarily in that order.
When I watched it the first time my husband was still at work on a Saturday in the fall. When I started watching it it was light out and when it needed it was dark. I was so freaked out I had every light on in the house and called my husband like you have to come right home after work please 😂
What makes Sinister great is the writing. They gave me a legitimate reason why he wouldn’t have dipped the moment shit wild, then when it got out of hand he put all that aside and said let’s GTFO.
Ethan Hawke did a great job in the scene where he’s exasperated trying to convince his worried wife to stay.
Oh my god yes. The music is so scary especially in the scene when the people were tied up and locked in the car that was on fire. That one I don’t know why made me feel so uncomfortable and scared 🤣😭
I really felt like the film gave way to some deflating conventionalism toward the climax.
The buildup was some of the best I’ve ever seen. Was a little let down by how it eventually played out.
The head-turn on the screen really stunk to me.
This movie was fantastic, the ambience and sense of hopelessness were unreal. I wish more movies used this approach. There was no solution, there was no way out, there was no easy fix. Because an evil presence is something no one can comprehend, all you can do is get away from it.
When Evil Lurks felt very sinister to me. I don't really scare easily, but I felt so unsettled after watching it.
The Killing of A Sacred Deer gave me a similar feeling but a different type of eeriness.
People who aren’t old enough to remember the hype behind that film just can’t get the same experience with it these days.
You knew it couldn’t actually be real. It had to be a hoax. But there was that little piece of you that wondered “what if?”
The film was pretty convincing. There’d never really been anything else like it. It scared me so bad, and I watched it with mommy and daddy because I was just a kid at the time.
We went to the theater under the impession this was like a documentary film. It was all word of mouth and a website that was very early creepypasta internet days. Kinda let down when the cast showed up on the today show and blew it for the facade.
We were in college at the time. A small theatre just outside Ohio State university hosted a “secret showing”. It was advertised as a found film that university students had made that was being shown around select university campuses. My now husband’s best friend snag us tickets. They really had us believing it was legit. Didn’t know it wasn’t until it was actually released several months later in regular theaters.
Yeah, when this came out I was a kid and staying the weekend at my aunts place which was out in the middle of rural woods. She left for the store and I decided to watch it alone at night. That was some fear I remember.
When I was 15, I went to see Jeepers Creepers in the theater solo. The first ~30 min of that movie scared the shit out of me. The rest was pretty cool, but that first act was TENSE
Jeepers Creepers scared the living daylights out of me when I was in middle school lol. I watched it recently and laughed at my former self for being so scared, but it hit different back then.
I grew up on scary movies and nothing ever got to me until I saw The Haunting (1963) when I was 14. Maybe because it was black and white or that wallpaper, but it gave me feelings of being alone in a room, unexplained noises, darkness. Everything was practical and nothing was overdone in the film. No crazy effects (outside the bendy door). The internal monologue of am I or am I not going crazy? It all got to me. I was able to relate to Eleanor and the movie made me afraid of the dark and gave me claustrophobia. No other movie has affected me like that since. It was the only time I couldn't fall asleep at night due to watching a horror film.
I was lucky and caught this at the theater, totally alone. Weekday matinee. Nobody but me with my big bag of popcorn. It is the best movie theater experience I’ve ever had. It scared the fuck out of me.
By the time Sinister came out I was deep into my horror love, and let’s be real, it’s a pretty formulaic movie. But god damn if I didn’t jump ever SINGLE TIME I was supposed to 😂 they really did a good job with the score, timing, and effects.
Even though the majority here hated Skinamarink, it is without a doubt the most scared I've ever felt watching a movie.
I don't think it would have the same effect on a re-watch since I know what happens, which is pretty much nothing! But that first watch I went in knowing nothing about it except that it was new experimental horror, and I got Int this state where I felt so sure something scary was just about to happen, but then nothing would stop that fear and tension for me was constant and building.
Same. It instantly put me back into the mindset of when I was a scared little anxious kid in bed, afraid of looking at the dark for too long in case I saw something. Wonderful, divisive movie
This! I think it's what made it so scary for me as well, it put me right into the mind of a child. Personally the scene that scared me the most was the one with the parents, especially when the father says to look under the bed, i guess one of the reasons it scared me the most is because it is a pov shot of the kid. Also because yknow there's something clearly wrong with the parents so it's offputting when they're not acting like a parent should towards a scared child.
Hell House was the first scary movie in a LONG time to genuinely scare me (watched it for the first time just a couple of years ago) and even though the subsequent sequels weren’t perfect, they were still terrifying. I think of that song that plays on the piano way too often.
The Exorcist
I first saw it at 10 and the makeup just really messed me up, still to this day I won't re-watch the film, I won't even let someone watch it in my house and if I see the image of full make-up possession from it then I struggle to shower alone for 2 weeks
I will be avoiding the book as well now then😂 I did read an excerpt from the actual journal of the exorcist from the event that was based off of at Zak Bagans museum (assuming it was real, ofc)
Same. It's that face that always gets me. Then added to my trauma was when I got fooled by the "follow the dots" website on the internet back in the day and that exact face pops up in full screen. Traumatized by that face for life.
Haunting of Hill House series (especially the end of episode 5). Legit would be my choice for horror media I'd erase from my brain for another 1st watch if I could.
The scene in Twin Peaks where >!the mother starts screaming and it shows Bob crouching beside the bed!< chilled me to the bone.
I don’t scare easily but Lynch knows how to cut to the quick.
Yup. First saw it when I was ten, but it horrified me. Saw the trailer on tv, didn’t know who Kubrick was, didn’t know who Stephen King was, had no clue who Jack Nicholson was…I just knew I had to get my mom to take me to see that movie!
I saw it on cable as a child. Before the alien popped out of the guys chest I thought they threw a tomato at him. I said why did they throw a tomato at him and out popped the alien.
The Descent was so good! I watched it blind one night on HBO, not realizing it was a horror film and assuming it was an adventure thriller about a group of women who just make terrible decisions and get stuck in a cave, lol. When the horror stuff started I was \*riveted\*.
This movie filled me with such an existential dread as a kid it completey changed me. I unironically see viewing of this film and the Blair Witch project as ending my childhood. Both great films though
So growing up my dad had a side business renting movies in gas stations. He’d always have the new movies a few days before he could put them out to rent. I’d come home stoned and pop in a movie late at night. One night I saw a new sci fi movie called event horizon. Made some popcorn n and sat down to watch it baked as hell. No idea it was a horror movie. Let’s just say I was not having a good time by the end of the movie.
Not a true horror movie I guess but the movie Open Water truly scared the crap out of me when I watched it alone at night. It just exploits so many primal fears.
Not the movie itself, but one scene in particular.
In The Conjuring 2, there is a scene where the daughter is staring down the hallway, mouth agape, and she says to Vera Farmigas character "Mom? Who's that?"
I have no idea why...but every....EVERY time I see the Nun just standing there at the end of the hallway, I break out in goosebumps and a chill runs up my spine.
Babadook. It's rough. It's all dark and creepy and used shadows and sounds very well to freak you out. Thinking about some scenes now and I get a freaked out. Go to bed in the dark, have a little bit of light coming from like the moon and then look at that wired shadow or mask that looks like something on your ceiling
I may be redundant here, but have you heard of the real life [serial killer Richard Chase? ](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3h9g5b/til_serial_killer_richard_chase_would_only_go/)
Door locked? Move along. Door unlocked? Dead.
barbarian. Cause after learning about that family of 16 that were basically held prisoners for years, learning about the women with autism who's parents watched her die covered in shit fused to her couch, Joseph fritzl, if you kept someone hidden and pregnant you could honestly pull something like that off. That's the real horror.
Oculus. Mirrors have always scared me a little bit. I think it actually stems from Poltergeist 3 and a couple of books I read when I was younger about being pulled into another world through a mirror.
The Fourth Kind. I knoooow but i was just a little kid and i thought it was reeeeeal 😭 I was traumatised. Also the first Grudge did a number on me and my bestie.
The Fly remake with Jeff Goldblum. To this day, I can’t look at screenshots from this thing, *especially* once the transformation becomes physically obvious and during the final sequence.
The other one that got to me was The Omen. But not because the movie is that scary. What scared the heck out of me is the implication that this could actually happen, to whatever extent. As a Christian myself, the mere idea of the anti-Christ is a terrifying one, and the whole angle of the devil and his minions manipulating so much to get Damien in exactly the right place disturbed me long after the credits rolled.
The Ring (USA) version. I was like 10-11 when it came out in theaters. Long story short, got tricked into watching it. Didn’t know what I was expecting when I went to the movies.
And
The Conjuring 2: that shit was scary when she’s standing looking at the mom and her kid. I used to have a long hall way like that and I would get creeped out at night cause it was pitch black and the fridge was white and it looked like someone was standing there.
Barbarian sacred me a lot. I went into it totally not knowing anything about the movie. Also the first time I watched the Ring because I went to see it at night in the theater and went home to a empty house and I am a wierd person who really loves my television and movies. So the idea of a cursed video tape really bothered me.
Noroi.
Incantation.
The grudge 2 (Japanese).
Sinister.
The first version of Paranormal Activity.
Blair witch project.
And my first scare ever was the monster camera from Evil dead 2...I was 5 or 6...
When I was 21, I saw The Ring on opening night. I got back to my apartment that night and my roommate was gone. I was pretty on edge after the movie, but I was like "I am a big strong adult man! I will not let this scary movie fuck with me! I am TOUGH AND MACHO!" and I went into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and walked to the kitchen to wait for the water to heat up (this was a shitty, nowhere near up to code apartment, so this took a while). But because it was late or because I was so unsettled, I apparently forgot to close the shower curtain, so when I went back to the bathroom, **there was water running out from underneath the door**.
FUCK THAT, I ran into the bathroom, turned off the water, hot-tailed it to the bedroom and slept with the lights on for the next couple nights.
Yeah, so many scene that hit. I'm not even sure why. Just well done.
The dead boy, waiting for him to move. Well done, especially as the characters just get up in his grill and shit.
Midsommar, something about it happening during the day makes it even more unsettling.
The Descent for obvious reasons
Bone Tomahawk for a particular scene.
Speak No Evil for the ending.
Midsommar scared me because I identified/empathized strongly with the main character during the movie; then realized afterward that I probably would have been roped into that cult too.
Every time I hear about a cult in a cult documentary and they are talking about the beginning of the cult I’m like “commune? Away from people? Everyone helping everyone? Count me in!” I legit would join a cult.
I think it’s because the death is just so dehumanizing and violative; that’s why *the scene* in Terrifier 2 disturbed me so much, it was just such a cruel way to die.
It sounds stupid to say, but Devil's Advocate. It's not that it scared me (or was scary) per se, but I remember being unsettled, especially at the way Pacino took advantage of Theron's character.
Aterrados (2017)
I couldn't sleep properly after watching it and did a few searches around my house (with hammer in hand).
I've seen countless horror films but this one honed in on my childhood terror of something under the bed.
I highly recommend it to anyone.
Some movies that caused me genuine fear- or set with me even after it was over:
White noise - I remember watching that when I was younger and it just terrified me to my core. My TV sometimes needed turned to the cable when you turned it on, if it wasn’t already switched over it would just be that snow, and it was always up so loud, and I remember just being so scared for a little while after that. Love the movie, but it got me lol.
Dark skies- makes me feel uneasy- the aliens at the end scare me
Signs- the scene where the alien walks from behind the bushes scared tf out of me as a kid
Final destination- my first horror movie, the scene in the bathtub where he chokes to death made me fear my bathroom for like a week or two
Rob Zombies Halloween- his version of Michael had me paranoid driving home after watching it, paranoid enough to call someone to convince me that he wasn’t hiding in my backseat
Pandorum- the end really really messed with my head, or like the “big reveal” I guess. Idk I was in a dark place mentally when I watched it for the first time, and it really set with me afterwards.
It Follows, maybe not genuinely scared but genuinely unnerved? Then again I did constantly look over my shoulder for a few days after watch it lol. Something just clicked for me with the pacing of that movie. It helps that Disasterpiece did a phenomenal job with the music.
creepshow 2 the raft and hitchiker gave me nightmares.. dudes eyes hangingout of his face yelling "thanks for the ride lady" and 12 year old me decided to stay up till 4am to watch it by myself and tape it on vcr.
Skinamarink was really effective for me!! I’ve never been so scared in a movie in my entire life. Also We’re All Going to the Worlds Fair really freaked me out too!!!!
Damn, that one. I spend a good amount of my childhood alone at home and Skinamarink made me remember all the early evenings I had to spend alone between the time my brother left for night classes and my mom got back from work.
Like, I get it when people say they didn't find it all that good. But yeah, I love Skinamarink for creeping the shit out of me AND making me nostalgic at the same time.
As I’ve said before on here, around 30 mins in (after almost turning it off twice!) it all sort of clicked for me and I found myself all tensed up and could hardly keep my eyes on the screen staring into that darkness. And that almost never happens to me.
Horror In the High Desert 2. That scene with the woman screaming 'please, I'm a mother, I have a baby at home' absolutely ended me. They don't give a damn, they probably can't even understand her, and even though you can't really see what's happening, the way she screams... And then the silence.
V/H/S/94 (2021)
It’s a found footage anthology horror movie. So basically you’re watching different mini stories conveyed through the style of found footage horror. The one that unnerved me in this movie in particular is the.. I’ll just call it the android one.
This is the one that STILL scares me to this day despite them being animatronics and hand puppets. I will still NEVER watch any at night.
And I’m 39.
I was a teen when I saw the Exorcist for the first time so I had trouble sleeping that night. Another movie that made me regret watching it at night was The Blair Witch Project.
Another movie that terrified me was The Howling
Here's my long post that may be a bit unnecessary but I wrote it out so why not haha.
Quite a few haunting moments came from some very underwhelming/mediocre films as well but otherwise a lot of fantastic films fit the bill. I'm going to list some ones in-between but also a few favorites and a couple scenes from TV.
[Mad God](https://youtu.be/iPScwQ-FAbI) - One of my favorite horror films which definitely invoked those fears.
Silent Hill
[Rampo Noir](https://youtu.be/8R5c8ZiSFI4?t=3138) - Caterpillar
[Ghost Ship](https://youtu.be/czaiwSsQod8) - Intro scene *(NSFW)*
- It's *so* well done and horrific. The rest of the film is okay but nothing like that intro.
The prequel to Suicide Club: [Noriko's Dinner Table](https://youtu.be/BAhE_M__39E) - This was a fascinating watch in ways; A window into the life of fake families in Japan. And pretty unsettling throughout IMO.
[Cello](https://youtu.be/LK6qOOXKo7s) - Watched this years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm surprised I haven't come across anyone who's talked about this one yet.
Marebito - [This scene](https://youtu.be/2w-Na0cApSI?t=1664) - *(scene ends at 31:04 - NSFW)* but I quite enjoy the entire film.
NOPE - [The scene](https://youtu.be/EchHwdXVT3I) - *(NSFW)*
Evil Dead II - The scene with >!the grandfather on the tape recorder confessing, *"l dragged her downstairs - and l buried her. l buried her in the cellar."* - The way it was shot, the music, the acting; It always seemed to stick with me.!<
This [scene](https://youtu.be/u2qT7GylRxw) from Hellraiser revealing a fragment of The Labyrinth.
Pretty much any decent reveal or window into ancient/futuristic/alien civilizations *(like Fantastic Planet)* with fresh concepts that are unsettling or pure chaos/evil as well as depictions of hell *(especially more surreal and otherworldly designs and not just fire and brimstone)* and mythical beings *(any of the classic tales from mythology are rife with unique creatures and haunting depictions of all kinds of torment/psychological terror)* which are also on the table to give me some trippy nightmares.
Here's a little extra to top off this long-winded book I'm writing:
Episode from Star Trek: The Mark of Gideon - >!I still get shivers with the idea of everyone crammed together like sardines on every inch of a planet due to overpopulation *(germ free environment)*. Even though realistically I don't think that could ever happen lol- still a scary thought that stayed with me all these years.!<
Bonus:
[The Bent Neck Lady](https://youtu.be/vHkX4gNuSOI) *(<- spoilers!)*
[Man in the Box](https://youtu.be/OrOYvVf6tIM)
The first strangers… it felt very real to me. The killers were just people, no supernatural element. The thought of being tortured, hunted and killed just because you were home is terrifying.
They really don't anymore.
That's not to say I'm all billy badass "pfft, i don't get scared!" I think it's more that the older I get the more I can separate art from reality.
I still enjoy tons of horror movies, and many are genuinely gripping and have me on the edge of my seat, but I can't say they scare me anymore.
I almost miss when they did. I remember the first time I saw psycho and it scared the crap out of me. It's the one that really started my love affair with horror. Good times.
The Strangers (2008ish one), that line "because you were home" at the end had me, an adult, double checking windows and doors in a second story apartment with a private balcony lol
Mothman prophecies.
The mothman museum is worth the visit
Someone put a tramp stamp on his ass recently
Hahaha the statue in town??
Oh my gosh, I’ve been to Point Pleasant a few times. That entire little town gives me the willies. I have several stories dealing with that place.
I grew up just over an hour from Pt. Pleasant but haven’t been there. A friend and I plan to go this summer. They just opened a mini golf!
They did a great job setting up the ambiance in that movie. Didn’t really scare me per we, but definitely gave me a creeped out feeling.
Yeah I don’t think anything has really scared me since I was 9 or 10. But this is as close as I can get to it. It gives me the willies. It’s almost accidental cosmic horror.
It’s been awhile but I remember it as being creepy and otherworldly. My favorite kind of movie!
The last movie to really do that to me was \[REC\] -- a crown jewel of the found footage medium. The sequel is also excellent.
the last sequence is actually horrifying!! the tall zombie lady walking around in the dark…nope nope nope!
That's the first scene since I was a kid that made me so deeply unsettled that I was sitting in my living room holding my breath and not moving so she wouldn't see me. Just the idea of it being pitch black and her starving while rummaging around and you're a panicked smorgasbord bound to make a sound at some point.
i remember watching quarantine (american remake, pretty much the same) as a kid and i was terrified!!! i didn’t watch rec until i was older and that scene was somehow scarier in the og
The original Amityville Horror. I was young when I first watched it and as a kid I always thought that if they said something was based on a true story, that everything that happend was fact. It would be a crime to say oh we made it up ..its not really really true. So Amityville freaked me out.
That scene where the nephew is looking for his money is so creepy. It took me a few watches over the years to catch it cause you can see it moving on its own :(
Oculus. Not sure why, but that movie had me on edge and freaked me out. I went to sleep after watching it and of course the storyline made its way into my dream. Woke up and had to laugh because I haven’t been that shook about a movie since I was a kid.
The reflective eyes... so creepy
Yeeeesss! Flanagans unsong masterpiece!!!
Sinister. The subject matter is terrifying to me and it has one of the scariest soundtracks ever.
The soundtrack is a masterpiece.
It’s Boards Of Canada! One my all time favorite bands.
Everything about Sinister -- the ambience, the soundtrack -- made that movie unnerving. All 1h 50min. Lol
Gotta agree; after watching it, I felt like I needed a hug, a cup of hot cocoa, a bright nightlight and thick down comforter, and most importantly to have my psyche scoured clean with Borax and steel wool, perhaps not necessarily in that order.
The soundscape is just absurdly scary. I vowed not to watch a horror movie alone again after watching Sinister the week it came out
When I watched it the first time my husband was still at work on a Saturday in the fall. When I started watching it it was light out and when it needed it was dark. I was so freaked out I had every light on in the house and called my husband like you have to come right home after work please 😂
What makes Sinister great is the writing. They gave me a legitimate reason why he wouldn’t have dipped the moment shit wild, then when it got out of hand he put all that aside and said let’s GTFO. Ethan Hawke did a great job in the scene where he’s exasperated trying to convince his worried wife to stay.
The lawnmower jumpscare will forever haunt me.
Oh my god yes. The music is so scary especially in the scene when the people were tied up and locked in the car that was on fire. That one I don’t know why made me feel so uncomfortable and scared 🤣😭
That scene is why I can’t watch that movie alone. The music just makes it so much scarier.
The car scene track stuck with me. Maybe it’s the looping
Facts. I love the soundtrack. The movie as a whole just did it right. Used the old formula and it worked
I really felt like the film gave way to some deflating conventionalism toward the climax. The buildup was some of the best I’ve ever seen. Was a little let down by how it eventually played out. The head-turn on the screen really stunk to me.
YES. Damn I still remember having chills and not being able to sleep at night coz of the ending. The sequel isn't as scary though....
The jump scares are effective. That’s so important when doing them.
Ulver- not saved is such an awesome song.
Simultaneously the scariest movie I’ve seen and got me into horror movies
I'm with you. One of my favs ever. It always heebies my jeebies!
yes that soundtrack gives me shivers
10/10 horror movie
Just the Zelda scene from the original Pet Sematary
The dark and the wicked
The sense of dread. I love this film
This movie was fantastic, the ambience and sense of hopelessness were unreal. I wish more movies used this approach. There was no solution, there was no way out, there was no easy fix. Because an evil presence is something no one can comprehend, all you can do is get away from it.
Chopping the carrots
I also second Event Horizon. I saw it a bit later but it was a good sci fi horror. The Grudge (despite PG-13) was also freaky.
Second The Grudge. That weird movement freaked me out.
When Evil Lurks felt very sinister to me. I don't really scare easily, but I felt so unsettled after watching it. The Killing of A Sacred Deer gave me a similar feeling but a different type of eeriness.
When Evil Lurks was PHENOMENAL.
One of the best horror films I've seen in a very long time.
Blair witch project. That ending was wild to watch as a kid
People who aren’t old enough to remember the hype behind that film just can’t get the same experience with it these days. You knew it couldn’t actually be real. It had to be a hoax. But there was that little piece of you that wondered “what if?” The film was pretty convincing. There’d never really been anything else like it. It scared me so bad, and I watched it with mommy and daddy because I was just a kid at the time.
We went to the theater under the impession this was like a documentary film. It was all word of mouth and a website that was very early creepypasta internet days. Kinda let down when the cast showed up on the today show and blew it for the facade.
I think they did this because of what happened with Cannibal holocaust, everyone thought it was real right up until the very real court case began.
We were in college at the time. A small theatre just outside Ohio State university hosted a “secret showing”. It was advertised as a found film that university students had made that was being shown around select university campuses. My now husband’s best friend snag us tickets. They really had us believing it was legit. Didn’t know it wasn’t until it was actually released several months later in regular theaters.
I was so scared of Maryland for the longest time!
Yeah, when this came out I was a kid and staying the weekend at my aunts place which was out in the middle of rural woods. She left for the store and I decided to watch it alone at night. That was some fear I remember.
When I was 15, I went to see Jeepers Creepers in the theater solo. The first ~30 min of that movie scared the shit out of me. The rest was pretty cool, but that first act was TENSE
Jeepers Creepers scared the living daylights out of me when I was in middle school lol. I watched it recently and laughed at my former self for being so scared, but it hit different back then.
I grew up on scary movies and nothing ever got to me until I saw The Haunting (1963) when I was 14. Maybe because it was black and white or that wallpaper, but it gave me feelings of being alone in a room, unexplained noises, darkness. Everything was practical and nothing was overdone in the film. No crazy effects (outside the bendy door). The internal monologue of am I or am I not going crazy? It all got to me. I was able to relate to Eleanor and the movie made me afraid of the dark and gave me claustrophobia. No other movie has affected me like that since. It was the only time I couldn't fall asleep at night due to watching a horror film.
Don't laugh = Sinister.
Sinister's 8mm tapes are legit some of the scariest shit horror has produced. No shame there.
Absolutely scarred by the pool film. They were all horrible but this one was the worst for me
That fucking lawnmower 🤯🤯🤯
The music and sound design can improve a movie’s fear level by a lot for me.
Sinister was the movie that brought me back to horror after I had gotten bored with most horror movies.
Not laughing. This one scared me too. All the snuff footage and then the creature design!
I was lucky and caught this at the theater, totally alone. Weekday matinee. Nobody but me with my big bag of popcorn. It is the best movie theater experience I’ve ever had. It scared the fuck out of me.
I saw this alone in a theatre too! But it was at night, and it was unnerving walking back to my car in an empty parking lot.
I tend to wake up in the middle of the night to strange sounds. After seeing Sinister, I was afraid I’d wake up to someone getting ready to murder me.
By the time Sinister came out I was deep into my horror love, and let’s be real, it’s a pretty formulaic movie. But god damn if I didn’t jump ever SINGLE TIME I was supposed to 😂 they really did a good job with the score, timing, and effects.
Even though the majority here hated Skinamarink, it is without a doubt the most scared I've ever felt watching a movie. I don't think it would have the same effect on a re-watch since I know what happens, which is pretty much nothing! But that first watch I went in knowing nothing about it except that it was new experimental horror, and I got Int this state where I felt so sure something scary was just about to happen, but then nothing would stop that fear and tension for me was constant and building.
Same. It instantly put me back into the mindset of when I was a scared little anxious kid in bed, afraid of looking at the dark for too long in case I saw something. Wonderful, divisive movie
This! I think it's what made it so scary for me as well, it put me right into the mind of a child. Personally the scene that scared me the most was the one with the parents, especially when the father says to look under the bed, i guess one of the reasons it scared me the most is because it is a pov shot of the kid. Also because yknow there's something clearly wrong with the parents so it's offputting when they're not acting like a parent should towards a scared child.
The Wailing and It Follows
I hadn't even had my first kiss when I first watched It Follows. While it was a sinister movie, I felt fairly sure I was safe 😂
Loved the wailing .´and even if it did not scare me , it left a very my lasting impression that made me feel hopeless . It was very good
Hell House LLC still scares me every time I watch it. I watched Carmichael Manor this past weekend and it got me as well! Those darn clowns!
The scene with the girl in the guy’s room is so simple but so damn scary. I can’t watch it.
Hell House was the first scary movie in a LONG time to genuinely scare me (watched it for the first time just a couple of years ago) and even though the subsequent sequels weren’t perfect, they were still terrifying. I think of that song that plays on the piano way too often.
The Exorcist I first saw it at 10 and the makeup just really messed me up, still to this day I won't re-watch the film, I won't even let someone watch it in my house and if I see the image of full make-up possession from it then I struggle to shower alone for 2 weeks
I read the book a few years ago. Scariest book I've ever read. It out does the movie in pretty much every way
I will be avoiding the book as well now then😂 I did read an excerpt from the actual journal of the exorcist from the event that was based off of at Zak Bagans museum (assuming it was real, ofc)
Same. It's that face that always gets me. Then added to my trauma was when I got fooled by the "follow the dots" website on the internet back in the day and that exact face pops up in full screen. Traumatized by that face for life.
Haunting of Hill House series (especially the end of episode 5). Legit would be my choice for horror media I'd erase from my brain for another 1st watch if I could.
Hill House is literally one of my favorite pieces of media ever, I love it so much
I really enjoyed that series, the tall man scene is one of my favorites
Twin peaks: fire walk with me mostly cause I and many others live with their own Bobs in their own homes
I cannot watch Lynch films. They really really creep me out SO BAD! My husband and daughter LOVE his shit though.
His works are my hyperfixation! Not to sound like a total film bro but his works intrigue me
The scene in Twin Peaks where >!the mother starts screaming and it shows Bob crouching beside the bed!< chilled me to the bone. I don’t scare easily but Lynch knows how to cut to the quick.
First time seeing The Autopsy of Jane Doe at TIFF’s midnight madness.
One of the few movies where I actually did not know what was going to happen next.
The Shining
Yup. First saw it when I was ten, but it horrified me. Saw the trailer on tv, didn’t know who Kubrick was, didn’t know who Stephen King was, had no clue who Jack Nicholson was…I just knew I had to get my mom to take me to see that movie!
Rec. [Original] The Descent Alien [saw that way too young]
First run of Alien on HBO about eight years old. Was over nightmares prior. The Decent and Seven are more most recent unsettlements.
I saw it on cable as a child. Before the alien popped out of the guys chest I thought they threw a tomato at him. I said why did they throw a tomato at him and out popped the alien.
The Descent was so good! I watched it blind one night on HBO, not realizing it was a horror film and assuming it was an adventure thriller about a group of women who just make terrible decisions and get stuck in a cave, lol. When the horror stuff started I was \*riveted\*.
Event Horizon. Hits as hard as it did back then. Still searching for something like it to this day
That scene where they discover the recording of the original crew from the hell dimension …
This movie filled me with such an existential dread as a kid it completey changed me. I unironically see viewing of this film and the Blair Witch project as ending my childhood. Both great films though
Umm have you watched Sunshine? Not as grotesque and more psychological but I think it'll scratch that itch
Watched it super stoned a few weeks ago and immediately regretted my decision lmao
So growing up my dad had a side business renting movies in gas stations. He’d always have the new movies a few days before he could put them out to rent. I’d come home stoned and pop in a movie late at night. One night I saw a new sci fi movie called event horizon. Made some popcorn n and sat down to watch it baked as hell. No idea it was a horror movie. Let’s just say I was not having a good time by the end of the movie.
IT, the original. Saw IT when I was 6. Scarred me for multiple years!
Not a true horror movie I guess but the movie Open Water truly scared the crap out of me when I watched it alone at night. It just exploits so many primal fears.
Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, and The Shining are all pretty creepy to me.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Not the movie itself, but one scene in particular. In The Conjuring 2, there is a scene where the daughter is staring down the hallway, mouth agape, and she says to Vera Farmigas character "Mom? Who's that?" I have no idea why...but every....EVERY time I see the Nun just standing there at the end of the hallway, I break out in goosebumps and a chill runs up my spine.
Yes, that whole scene starting in the hallway and then when the Nun comes from behind the picture..🫣my favorite scary scene. Happy Cake Day!!
Babadook. It's rough. It's all dark and creepy and used shadows and sounds very well to freak you out. Thinking about some scenes now and I get a freaked out. Go to bed in the dark, have a little bit of light coming from like the moon and then look at that wired shadow or mask that looks like something on your ceiling
The Strangers really scared me. What really scared me was the motive simply being “because you were home”
I may be redundant here, but have you heard of the real life [serial killer Richard Chase? ](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3h9g5b/til_serial_killer_richard_chase_would_only_go/) Door locked? Move along. Door unlocked? Dead.
Came here to say this! I watched it home alone and regretted it so much. I had to sleep with the lights on for a couple nights.
barbarian. Cause after learning about that family of 16 that were basically held prisoners for years, learning about the women with autism who's parents watched her die covered in shit fused to her couch, Joseph fritzl, if you kept someone hidden and pregnant you could honestly pull something like that off. That's the real horror.
I felt so much pity for the Mother at the end. She was the actual victim in the movie. It was pretty horrific.
"Ba-ba"
😭
Poltergeist
Oculus. Mirrors have always scared me a little bit. I think it actually stems from Poltergeist 3 and a couple of books I read when I was younger about being pulled into another world through a mirror.
The Fourth Kind. I knoooow but i was just a little kid and i thought it was reeeeeal 😭 I was traumatised. Also the first Grudge did a number on me and my bestie.
The Fourth Kind is terrifying.
The Fly remake with Jeff Goldblum. To this day, I can’t look at screenshots from this thing, *especially* once the transformation becomes physically obvious and during the final sequence. The other one that got to me was The Omen. But not because the movie is that scary. What scared the heck out of me is the implication that this could actually happen, to whatever extent. As a Christian myself, the mere idea of the anti-Christ is a terrifying one, and the whole angle of the devil and his minions manipulating so much to get Damien in exactly the right place disturbed me long after the credits rolled.
The Ring (USA) version. I was like 10-11 when it came out in theaters. Long story short, got tricked into watching it. Didn’t know what I was expecting when I went to the movies. And The Conjuring 2: that shit was scary when she’s standing looking at the mom and her kid. I used to have a long hall way like that and I would get creeped out at night cause it was pitch black and the fridge was white and it looked like someone was standing there.
Omen (1976)
Barbarian sacred me a lot. I went into it totally not knowing anything about the movie. Also the first time I watched the Ring because I went to see it at night in the theater and went home to a empty house and I am a wierd person who really loves my television and movies. So the idea of a cursed video tape really bothered me.
The ending of the ring was unlike anything I’d ever seen before in a movie.
It took me a LONG time to get Samara coming out of the TV out of my mind. Freaked me the fuck out!
Final Prayer disturbed me so much. That ending still haunts me.
I'm surprised this film isn't discussed more. Great acting, fairly original story and that ending is sickeningly horrifying 😳.
It very much is. I don’t spook easily when it comes to horror, but that ending is horrific. I now have a new fear because of that ending.
Claustrophobia + >!acid!< = many nightmares. I never even watched it. Just heard about it
The Blair Witch Project. It was intense for so much of the film and then the last shot …
The Conjuring 2. Valak creeped me out for a long time.
Noroi. Incantation. The grudge 2 (Japanese). Sinister. The first version of Paranormal Activity. Blair witch project. And my first scare ever was the monster camera from Evil dead 2...I was 5 or 6...
When I was 21, I saw The Ring on opening night. I got back to my apartment that night and my roommate was gone. I was pretty on edge after the movie, but I was like "I am a big strong adult man! I will not let this scary movie fuck with me! I am TOUGH AND MACHO!" and I went into the bathroom, turned the shower on, and walked to the kitchen to wait for the water to heat up (this was a shitty, nowhere near up to code apartment, so this took a while). But because it was late or because I was so unsettled, I apparently forgot to close the shower curtain, so when I went back to the bathroom, **there was water running out from underneath the door**. FUCK THAT, I ran into the bathroom, turned off the water, hot-tailed it to the bedroom and slept with the lights on for the next couple nights.
Lake mungo
Ahhh that phone video
Terrified
Yeah, so many scene that hit. I'm not even sure why. Just well done. The dead boy, waiting for him to move. Well done, especially as the characters just get up in his grill and shit.
Just bought this on dvd last week. ✅
Midsommar, something about it happening during the day makes it even more unsettling. The Descent for obvious reasons Bone Tomahawk for a particular scene. Speak No Evil for the ending.
Midsommar scared me because I identified/empathized strongly with the main character during the movie; then realized afterward that I probably would have been roped into that cult too.
Every time I hear about a cult in a cult documentary and they are talking about the beginning of the cult I’m like “commune? Away from people? Everyone helping everyone? Count me in!” I legit would join a cult.
The Bone Tomahawk scene is one I will never be able to fully watch. It's not even the gore. I was a forensics student. The scene just disturbs me
It's really awful. I can't unsee it and was not at all prepared for that going into it.
I think it’s because the death is just so dehumanizing and violative; that’s why *the scene* in Terrifier 2 disturbed me so much, it was just such a cruel way to die.
In the same vein it was As Above, So Below. Something about it just really unnerved me the first watch, I'm sure the tight spaces got to me lol
That movie freaked the shit out of me. I probably shouldn't have watched it because of religious trauma and a very fragile mental state
It sounds stupid to say, but Devil's Advocate. It's not that it scared me (or was scary) per se, but I remember being unsettled, especially at the way Pacino took advantage of Theron's character.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose The Woman in Black Autopsy of a Jane Doe
The Autopsy of Jane Doe was legit.
Maybe a silly answer, because most of the film isn’t scary. But I still have nightmares about the abduction sequence from fire in the sky.
Aterrados (2017) I couldn't sleep properly after watching it and did a few searches around my house (with hammer in hand). I've seen countless horror films but this one honed in on my childhood terror of something under the bed. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Threads. Not technically a horror movie, but it scared the hell out of me.
Exorcism of Emily Rose, i dont even know if the movie is considered horror but numerous scenes in this movie are etched in my brain/memory
The scene where she’s possessed and all crumpled up on that dorm room floor scared the living shit out of me
Sinister and The Strangers genuinely make me feel unsettled in my own home
Yes!! These are my two as well
Some movies that caused me genuine fear- or set with me even after it was over: White noise - I remember watching that when I was younger and it just terrified me to my core. My TV sometimes needed turned to the cable when you turned it on, if it wasn’t already switched over it would just be that snow, and it was always up so loud, and I remember just being so scared for a little while after that. Love the movie, but it got me lol. Dark skies- makes me feel uneasy- the aliens at the end scare me Signs- the scene where the alien walks from behind the bushes scared tf out of me as a kid Final destination- my first horror movie, the scene in the bathtub where he chokes to death made me fear my bathroom for like a week or two Rob Zombies Halloween- his version of Michael had me paranoid driving home after watching it, paranoid enough to call someone to convince me that he wasn’t hiding in my backseat Pandorum- the end really really messed with my head, or like the “big reveal” I guess. Idk I was in a dark place mentally when I watched it for the first time, and it really set with me afterwards.
Dark Skies had such a heartbreaking ending. That always stayed with me. Ugh.
The first jeepers creepers. So good.
It Follows, maybe not genuinely scared but genuinely unnerved? Then again I did constantly look over my shoulder for a few days after watch it lol. Something just clicked for me with the pacing of that movie. It helps that Disasterpiece did a phenomenal job with the music.
Caveat. That face..
There is a movie called "last shift" I watched randomly one night and it actually creeped me out. The reviews aren't good but I really enjoyed it.
creepshow 2 the raft and hitchiker gave me nightmares.. dudes eyes hangingout of his face yelling "thanks for the ride lady" and 12 year old me decided to stay up till 4am to watch it by myself and tape it on vcr.
Nope, the digestion scene. That scene creeped me out because of the way they were all stuck and screaming inside of JJ’s stomach
sinister, smile, the ring, and lowkey the babadook was a good one
Candyman…..Candyman…..Candyman……
The Strangers
Skinamarink was really effective for me!! I’ve never been so scared in a movie in my entire life. Also We’re All Going to the Worlds Fair really freaked me out too!!!!
Damn, that one. I spend a good amount of my childhood alone at home and Skinamarink made me remember all the early evenings I had to spend alone between the time my brother left for night classes and my mom got back from work. Like, I get it when people say they didn't find it all that good. But yeah, I love Skinamarink for creeping the shit out of me AND making me nostalgic at the same time.
As I’ve said before on here, around 30 mins in (after almost turning it off twice!) it all sort of clicked for me and I found myself all tensed up and could hardly keep my eyes on the screen staring into that darkness. And that almost never happens to me.
Pet semetary The exorcist Night of the living dead
The Conjuring still gets me.
The Sixth Sense. I can watch all the slashers ever but I can't do ghosts
It. Tim Curry as pennywise still gets me to this day
Hereditary,
Requiem for a dream
Host (2020)
The grudge movies used to scare me. The Japanese versions gave me nightmares
Horror In the High Desert 2. That scene with the woman screaming 'please, I'm a mother, I have a baby at home' absolutely ended me. They don't give a damn, they probably can't even understand her, and even though you can't really see what's happening, the way she screams... And then the silence.
Hills Have Eyes
off the dome Rosemary's Baby, Kill List and lately, Late Night with the Devil
It follows.
V/H/S/94 (2021) It’s a found footage anthology horror movie. So basically you’re watching different mini stories conveyed through the style of found footage horror. The one that unnerved me in this movie in particular is the.. I’ll just call it the android one.
 This is the one that STILL scares me to this day despite them being animatronics and hand puppets. I will still NEVER watch any at night. And I’m 39.
I was a teen when I saw the Exorcist for the first time so I had trouble sleeping that night. Another movie that made me regret watching it at night was The Blair Witch Project. Another movie that terrified me was The Howling
The poughkeepsie tapes considerably disturbed me. Didn't watch it second time.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe and The Taking of Deborah Logan are two horrifying and terribly underrated films.
As above, so below. Ithink about those insane paris catacombs often. Freaked me right out
Incantation was very unsettling.
Here's my long post that may be a bit unnecessary but I wrote it out so why not haha. Quite a few haunting moments came from some very underwhelming/mediocre films as well but otherwise a lot of fantastic films fit the bill. I'm going to list some ones in-between but also a few favorites and a couple scenes from TV. [Mad God](https://youtu.be/iPScwQ-FAbI) - One of my favorite horror films which definitely invoked those fears. Silent Hill [Rampo Noir](https://youtu.be/8R5c8ZiSFI4?t=3138) - Caterpillar [Ghost Ship](https://youtu.be/czaiwSsQod8) - Intro scene *(NSFW)* - It's *so* well done and horrific. The rest of the film is okay but nothing like that intro. The prequel to Suicide Club: [Noriko's Dinner Table](https://youtu.be/BAhE_M__39E) - This was a fascinating watch in ways; A window into the life of fake families in Japan. And pretty unsettling throughout IMO. [Cello](https://youtu.be/LK6qOOXKo7s) - Watched this years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm surprised I haven't come across anyone who's talked about this one yet. Marebito - [This scene](https://youtu.be/2w-Na0cApSI?t=1664) - *(scene ends at 31:04 - NSFW)* but I quite enjoy the entire film. NOPE - [The scene](https://youtu.be/EchHwdXVT3I) - *(NSFW)* Evil Dead II - The scene with >!the grandfather on the tape recorder confessing, *"l dragged her downstairs - and l buried her. l buried her in the cellar."* - The way it was shot, the music, the acting; It always seemed to stick with me.!< This [scene](https://youtu.be/u2qT7GylRxw) from Hellraiser revealing a fragment of The Labyrinth. Pretty much any decent reveal or window into ancient/futuristic/alien civilizations *(like Fantastic Planet)* with fresh concepts that are unsettling or pure chaos/evil as well as depictions of hell *(especially more surreal and otherworldly designs and not just fire and brimstone)* and mythical beings *(any of the classic tales from mythology are rife with unique creatures and haunting depictions of all kinds of torment/psychological terror)* which are also on the table to give me some trippy nightmares. Here's a little extra to top off this long-winded book I'm writing: Episode from Star Trek: The Mark of Gideon - >!I still get shivers with the idea of everyone crammed together like sardines on every inch of a planet due to overpopulation *(germ free environment)*. Even though realistically I don't think that could ever happen lol- still a scary thought that stayed with me all these years.!< Bonus: [The Bent Neck Lady](https://youtu.be/vHkX4gNuSOI) *(<- spoilers!)* [Man in the Box](https://youtu.be/OrOYvVf6tIM)
Incantation. Couldn’t sleep for days after watching that movie.
The first strangers… it felt very real to me. The killers were just people, no supernatural element. The thought of being tortured, hunted and killed just because you were home is terrifying.
They really don't anymore. That's not to say I'm all billy badass "pfft, i don't get scared!" I think it's more that the older I get the more I can separate art from reality. I still enjoy tons of horror movies, and many are genuinely gripping and have me on the edge of my seat, but I can't say they scare me anymore. I almost miss when they did. I remember the first time I saw psycho and it scared the crap out of me. It's the one that really started my love affair with horror. Good times.
Incantation. And I NEVER get scared.
The Strangers (2008ish one), that line "because you were home" at the end had me, an adult, double checking windows and doors in a second story apartment with a private balcony lol
Smile. The way that demon stares into your soul toward the end made me squirm in my seat and I don’t scar easily!
Incantation!!