Scariest Movie In Your Opinion

[Trish]

Alfred Hitchcock "The Birds"

[WS]

Hmm, I don't find that one scary - but it is very tense and it is superbly filmed! A shot by shot analysis of it is amazing!  I think it is scarier when Grant's inside that house with Martin Landau!

[Angharad]

I was a little kid when I saw "Invaders from Mars," a sci-fi movie told from the perspective of a 10-year-old boy, David, who awakens during a thunderstorm to see a flying saucer descend to Earth and bury itself in the desert behind his house.

In the morning, David's father goes to check out his story, and returns strangely different and, yet, the same. One by one all the people who had protected and cared for the boy go to the desert and come back changed, but no one will believe him. Long story short, David finally finds some allies who discover that mind-controlling aliens are behind the "kidnappings"--which are far greater in number than anyone expected--and the saucer behind his house is the vanguard of an invasion. 

The story is awash in creepy psychological jolts. The scariest part to me as a kid (besides the whole betrayal and abandonment bit) was that as the final battle is being fought, the outcome of which is uncertain, David awakes to find that he'd been dreaming. As he tries to return to sleep after being comforted by his parents, a thunderstorm rattles his windows and he sees a flying saucer land in the desert, just like in his "dream."

Or was it a premonition?

Eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!!! 

[WS]

I love all those body Snatcher type movies! They really are creepy!

Has anyone seen the Conjuring yet? I haven't had time, but when I spoke with Lili Taylor about it, she said it would be really good! They were working hard for quality sets and props!

[Doug62]

I think you description is better than the movie; I'm going to have to watch this one over again.

[Johnnieboy]

Why I'd have to say the movie I starred in, "The Shining" The scene where I poked my head out the door and uttered those fateful words, "Here's Johnnie" even freaked myself out!

[Snagg]

"Scary" movies never scare me, because I can see the manipulation at work before the "scare" ever arrives - I'm talking about crummy slasher movies, cheap monster movies and badly-made "suspense" movies - The kind where you can spot the bad guy about three seconds after his or her allegedly-wholesome character is introduced.

Another mark of a bad "scary" movie is the way you can tell that a "BOO !" moment is about due, simply by how long it's been since the LAST one. Does the plot seem to have ground to a halt ? Do you feel as though the story is so threadbare that the director needs to deliver a shock, just to keep you awake ? Oh, look - Here's a guy jumping out of the shadows, waving a knife or something.

Very few scary movies are smart enough, or have a strong enough premise, to not need those kinds of tricks. One of the very few I can think of that still manages to enthrall and disturb, even though I've seen it a dozen times, is "The Silence Of The Lambs" - Because it's central concept is the unnerving one that even those we trust with our innermost fears and confidences, the supposedly most respectable and professional, can be....Unreliable.

Hannibal Lecter was scary not because he was a cannibal, but because he was deceptively calm, cultured and - scariest of all - so analytical. Even after his true nature is revealed, you realize that even in the most polite and controlled conditions, no matter how carefully you try and parse or control what information you give him, you can not stop him from mentally dissecting and evaluating you - The cannibalism that might occur afterwards is almost irrelevant; A mere manifestation of what Lecter had already been doing to your psyche all along.

And you almost felt as if, if you'd said whatever it was that set him off, that it was your fault, for not being more careful about what you revealed - Because, after all, it was you who'd granted him access in the first place..

It suggests that a person's most valued and treasured beliefs and concepts can become nothing but cold meat in the hands of a skilled butcher; And Lecter's eerie composure reminds the audience that anybody they pass on the street could be a seriously crazy person, just going on about their affairs - Until the smallest slight or most innocent quirk pulls their trigger.

[Johnnieboy]

I suddenly have a craving for chianti and fava beans.

[Angharad]

I totally agree, Snagg. 

When asked what scares me, I always say, "people."

[Kathryn K]

I saw the Conjuring and I thought It was good and scary.

I would include The Exorcist has a really scary movie

[carrie cavanaugh]

The Exorcist.  I was still in Catholic school when I saw it, I slept with the light on for 2 weeks.  I still cannot watch it.

[Snagg]

I'd already been kicked out of catholic school about four years earlier. I watched "The Exorcist" and was amazed by two things: The special effects, and how expertly it pushed the buttons of catholics.

It REALLY knew how to freak you folks out, and didn't hesitate to do so; Friedkin and Blatty must have been catholics, at least once, to target their scares so precisely.

Anyway...Here's an idea I've put out several times, but never heard any replies on: I think that Father Karras was the demon's target all along, and it used Regan to get at him; What could be a more irresistible target for a coup-counting demon than a priest ? Especially one that looked like an easy target, as Karras was wavering in his faith ? (Not coincidentally, another thing that terrifies the devout.)

Why else was Karras' death the climax of the movie ? It didn't end when Merrin was killed, so the demon wasn't just about murdering priests - Karras' death, in particular, was supposed to mean something important. After all, after Karras' suicide - Where'd Pazuzu go ? The story never explains why the demon didn't just skip back up the stairs and re-possess (sic) Regan. Nope - Karras' sacrifice somehow stopped Pazuzu in it's tracks.

Was it just so depressed and miserable after losing Karras that it scuttled off with it's tail between it's legs ? Or is it (in my opinion), the moment where "The Exorcist" fails, because it ignores it's own intelligent, carefully-constructed religious-skeptic storyline and succumbs to it's own superstition-based dread and lack of logic ?

[carrie cavanaugh]

That's interesting because I also thought that he was after the priest.... Being kicked out of Catholic school, you must of did something awful.