View Full Version : Is a film ever going to scare me again?
Maybe years of movie going and the horrors of real life have desensitised me but i have gone over the horror movies in my collection and not been scared.
Recent releases like Jeepers Creepers 2 and Wrong Turn had their moments.
Wrong turn was like the best bits from one of the scariest x-files episode i ever saw. Beginning with them finding a baby buried by a baseball field. Leading to the discovery of an inbread family. But anyone who saw the film would have hoped for more. Paraphrasing the director of cabin fever. I don't beleive that these men living by basic desires would capture Eliza Dushku and tie her up and keep her as opposed to raping her.
I watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in preparation for Michael Bay's remake which he says is closer to the true story than Tobe Hooper's version and so not a remake. Anyway the film just didn't frighten me. Was it because i had seen it 3 years earlier and remembered the best bits or was it just not scary.
I now set my own challenge. Can someone suggest a film that will ***** me up or am i doomed to never be scared again?only two things in life are certain; death and taxes
Arch Stanton
28-09-2003, 22:09
Gigli's now showing...
The Bear
28-09-2003, 22:12
The only recent horror film to actually scare me if only for a small amount of time was The Eye.
Ringu
or
The Ring (if you can't be arsed with subtitles) :nono:
Davester
28-09-2003, 22:24
Originally posted by Arch Stanton
Gigli's now showing... :lol: :clap: or you could try glitter!
why don't you get an original release of the ring. The grainy picture certainly adds to the experience
Space Duck
28-09-2003, 22:25
My Little Eye had a shocking ending for me... wasn't more horrified as stunned... just ooooo
As for Wrong Turn, it was alot like the X-Files episode 'Home' but it had eliza dushku and its fair share of moments, for example, the chase among the tree tops... some of the death scenes in that are very much well thought out... I'll never look upon the Razor wire in Return To Castle wolfenstein in the same light again, thanks to that movie... got it on preorder from play!!! :thumbs:
But a movie that'll scare ya? The Jap version of 'The Ring'... Suspiria... Showgirls... Subspecies 2: Bloodstone?
only film that has made me scared is is Exorcist, they dont make them like they used to:oh-hum:
Space Duck
28-09-2003, 22:28
Forgot to mention.... Cabin Fever... the trailer made me jump big style in Freddy vs Jason :) so it gets a big thumbs up... must go and see that, despite its 15yness... :D
jonathan.e
28-09-2003, 22:36
Dark Water :eek:
zombieman
28-09-2003, 22:55
Kairo put poop in my pants. Its a genuinely unsettling movie!
A lot of films can make me jump but very few ever truly scare me. In fact the only ones that hit the spot are ghost stories. Recently only films like The Eye and Dark Water have managed to do so.
I thought Wrong Turn was quite good however it wasn't scary.
One bit that did spoil it was when they captured Eliza Dushku and took her back to their cabin. Every other person was killed on the spot. yet they decided just to tie her up
ltickett
28-09-2003, 23:45
I think it really depends on the setting/surrounding/atmosphere whatever you want to call it... Recently i've found quite a few making me jump/grit my teeth.. but I wouldn't really call it scared...
Tips: No lights! Big ass TV! Utter silence (other then the film obviously hehe... i.e. no popcorn, giggling 15yrolds e.t.c)
Films were; The Ring, Darkness Falls, Identity (I think!)
The woman in black is always a fav of mine canadian only release of the television play originally broadcast in the UK by the BBC (i think) very good victorian ghost story.
The Changling is also high up there on my list of scarey movies. But its a situation ive been in for donkeys years, The Exorcist scared me when i was young so it takes a lot now, im almost de-sensitized.
Uh, I don't think there is a movie now that could scare me, last time I was generally scared was *after* watching the original Friday the 13th, in an empty house with all the lights off at about 2 in the morning. The film was great, but the house (my parents, I was looking after it while they were on holiday) seemed v e r y spooky. I had to go and switch on all the lights and check all the door and windows were locked.
TBH, films stopped being scary when I started being interested in all the special effects used in films: Rob Bottin, Tom Savini, Dick Smith, Rick Baker. I collected magazines like Fangoria and CineFex. I had to watch a film twice once to marvel at the FX ( :dork: ) and the second time to enjoy the film.
Audition was pretty unsettling though.
my most scary list -
Rosemary's Baby
Don't look now
The Shining
The Thing
Alien
Cube
TRy these if u haven't already.
:)
Ringu isn't frightening at all, there's more scary images in ju-on.
Is a film ever going to scare me again?
Pearl Harbor 2:The Return
Originally posted by dunctay
The woman in black is always a fav of mine canadian only release of the television play originally broadcast in the UK by the BBC (i think) very good victorian ghost story.
The Changling is also high up there on my list of scarey movies. But its a situation ive been in for donkeys years, The Exorcist scared me when i was young so it takes a lot now, im almost de-sensitized.
Hey they were the same three I was going to suggest!:thumbs:
And Ringu and Dark Water are nice slow creepy horrors until the excellent, excellent endings! Terrifying!:eek:
copperbird31
29-09-2003, 11:24
I found Blair Witch very unsettling.
The Changeling is the only film that really truly scared me when I first saw it many years ago. Even now it still raises the hairs and goosebumps especially the wet ball bouncing down the stairs! :eek:
After seeing Scream on opening night with my best friend, we had to walk back to the carpark via a very long, unlit pathway by the side of the Thames. It was close to midnight. We were paranoid and scared ourselves silly :lol:
But not much actually scares me anymore. Most horror films I just find entertaining. I've seen nearly all the above and haven't found any of them to be scary. Some disturbing, yes. But then so are a lot of CSI episodes.
Space Duck
29-09-2003, 19:34
For some reason the opening scene to 'Darkness Falls' gave me the wiggins... I don't know why but when I first watched it in a pitch black room, Surround Sound turned up... it just..... :help:
Alien is the scariest film I've ever seen. It's not just the images you're seeing, but the claustrophobic atmosphere that the film delivers, the likes of which I've never seen done as well in any other film.
It's true what they say, they don't make em like that anymore.
Vinyl-Pants
29-09-2003, 22:38
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) - the only film to ever truely scare me (although I was young) but even re-watching it recently I found it more scary than any of the others bandied around on this thread like Ringu and Audition for instance...definately one of the best and most memorable endings to a film ever!
Rollo Tomassi
29-09-2003, 23:24
I guess it really depends on what you mean by 'scared'. Some films are labelled as being scary when really they just make you jump, whereas others are unsettling or even downright disturbing. It's the films that make you feel scared after you've finished watching that are the scariest of all ;)
Originally posted by copperbird31
I found Blair Witch very unsettling.
Me too... I think that film in particular received bad reviews from many people simply because they expected something different, i.e. to be scared ******** rather than unsettled. I suppose when it was hyped-up as "the scariest film ever", it's not that surprising really.
bruce-leroy
30-09-2003, 00:17
I'll add Audition to the Japanese/Asian horrors which have been thus far mentioned. :thumbs:
"Kiri, kiri, kiri..." :eek:
sharp_circle
30-09-2003, 03:46
Originally posted by HBK757
Alien is the scariest film I've ever seen. It's not just the images you're seeing, but the claustrophobic atmosphere that the film delivers, the likes of which I've never seen done as well in any other film.
It's true what they say, they don't make em like that anymore.
Yeah I'd agree with that - it was very un-nerving - I'n fact I might watch it now :)
jonathan.e
30-09-2003, 07:19
Originally posted by copperbird31
I found Blair Witch very unsettling.
Agreed. The last 10 minutes of it are as terrifying as anything I’ve ever seen.
Also agree with Blair Witch
And the last 10 mins, watched it about 1am, and the last scene scared the crap out of me, not jumping, ans frighting, but just there is my mind going over and over.
Those films really freak me out, one's that play with your mind
dtsrules
30-09-2003, 08:01
Agree on Blair Witch, for some reason it's the only film that i got goosebumps watching. No replay value but the last 10 minutes did it for me.
My Little Eye - i found the ending to be shocking and it is something you think about for a few days after.
i enjoyed 'wrong turn', not the scariest film ever made but an enjoyable horror film
A Warning to the Curious (http://www.bfi.org.uk/videocat/more/awarning/) is bound to terrify the life out of anyone on a dark, stormy night with the wind howling and a coal fire glowing.
Panavision
30-09-2003, 10:07
Omen is quite unsettling.
Squirrel God
30-09-2003, 10:40
joobeez,
Do you have 5.1?
I think that, as a viewer, you have to allow yourself to be scared. The last recent film which really got to me was "Session 9" because of the unremittingly sinister atmosphere and the increasingly unnerving tapes. Great use of sound and fantastic location shooting. Rather like a contemporary version of an M.R.James story in fact.
I also found "Frailty" to be oddly disturbing, particularly when thinking about it afterwards.
Originally posted by dunctay
The woman in black is always a fav of mine canadian only release of the television play originally broadcast in the UK by the BBC (i think) very good victorian ghost story.
I'll second that. This is always the one that pops into my head when I think 'proper scary'
Go see it at the theatre (Fortune, Covent Garden) if you get the chance....utterly petrifying :help:
Behemoth
30-09-2003, 12:18
The original EVIL DEAD is still very scary to me, especially if you watch it in a dark room with the volume cranked up.
Originally posted by Jimbo
Go see it at the theatre (Fortune, Covent Garden) if you get the chance....utterly petrifying :help:
About the scariest, most unnerving thing I have ever seen!:clap:
Originally posted by Squirrel God
joobeez,
Do you have 5.1?
yup i do and love listening to the opening of saving private ryan or the shoot out in heat
Michael Mackenzie
30-09-2003, 15:50
I don't think I've ever seen a film that has actually genuinely scared me. Made me feel uneasy, sure, but unfortunately I'm not the type of person that gets so lost in the movie that I think it's real. People always claim that The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever. Replace "scariest" with "funniest" and you'd be a lot nearer the mark.
Originally posted by Whiggles
People always claim that The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever. Replace "scariest" with "funniest" and you'd be a lot nearer the mark.
Watch it, that's fighting talk in my house!! If you look past the dated effects (which few people can) then it is to my mind the best horror film ever made.
Squirrel God
30-09-2003, 16:50
Originally posted by joobeez
yup i do and love listening to the opening of saving private ryan or the shoot out in heat
Ah okay. Reason I asked is that horror films are so much better with 5.1 and the deep bass and surround effects are where most of the 'scares' come from in films these days. I'm rarely 'creeped out' by a movie, but good 5.1 will often make me jump off the sofa and hit my head on the ceiling :D I almost had a heart attack during 'Darkness Falls' :eek:
ian_davies
30-09-2003, 16:52
Hmmmm, The Exorcist is pretty damn boring IMO. Although, it does hold the title of being the only film to really TERRIFY me. No, not the Regan posession scenes. But those two subliminal frames of the demonic face. I'd seen that image on a website 6 months prior, and it had freaked me out then. So watching that film, and then seeing that horrific face just scared the hell out of me.
The Shining is a film that never fails to scare me. Those twins... <shudder> And I'll agree about Blair Witch. Those last 10 minutes are incredibly intense.
Michael Mackenzie
30-09-2003, 16:54
Originally posted by James45
Watch it, that's fighting talk in my house!! If you look past the dated effects (which few people can) then it is to my mind the best horror film ever made. Honestly, I don't have a problem with the effects. I think old-style effects are far more likely to be creepy than modern CGI. I just thought some of it was a little too funny -- the girl's head swiveling round, masturbating with a crucifix, and the whole "The power of Christ compels you!" scene. Each to his own though.
the head spinning round bit is silly, the masturbation bit is just :gag: and the "power of christ compels you" has had the mickey taken out of it in so many comedies since.
it's all the other bits I like so much:D I think a lot of it is so scary because the performances are so believable, some amazing acting in that film.
About the scariest, most unnerving thing I have ever seen!:clap:
Went to see this at the Fortune yesterday.
A good play, but not scary/unnerving/frightening
homerjhandley
05-08-2007, 15:50
wolf creek is disturbing, worth a watch if you can.
andybhoy
05-08-2007, 15:54
Now that's what I call ressurecting a thread (and without reading the thread, no idea what film you're even commenting on :lol: )
wolf creek is disturbing, worth a watch if you can.
I found wolf creek hilarious, mostly because I hated all the annoying tossers in that film with the exception of John Jarrets killer who was brilliant and more entertaining than anything else in that film.
Nicky Ray
05-08-2007, 21:25
Somebody has mentioned that Thai horror film Shutter is a good bet for a scare.
I'm not normally jumpy in films, but watched Vacancy recently and that made me let out a little poop at one point! (not the greatest of films mind you, but watchable - just about)
Rip Curl
05-08-2007, 21:32
No film scares me, or even comes close to unsetteling me.
I have seen far worse in real life.
Film makes me laugh though! :)
only film that has made me scared is is Exorcist, they dont make them like they used to:oh-hum:
I agree mate, everytime people ask me i always give the same reply. Sure modern horror films can make me jump but they dont really scare me. I think the reason parlty lies in having seen so many horror movies since the advent of dvd i've kind of become desenzotized to them.
bruce-leroy
06-08-2007, 08:15
I thought the scariest thing in Exorcist was the needle scene.
Went to see this at the Fortune yesterday.
A good play, but not scary/unnerving/frightening
I don't rate the movie. I think it's rather silly in all honesty.
Modern horror films are ruined these days by their use of music. You can almost always predict when the next "Jump" scene is going to arrive just by listening to the music which ruins any tension the scene may have.
LeftHandedGuitarist
06-08-2007, 09:42
These days, I find scares much less prevalent in horror films (the Alien movies still get to me though). What I do find more scary these days are people and characters. An actor's performance can really disturb or send shivers down me. Notably:
- Viggo Mortensen in A History Of Violence. There's a moment (when the bad guys come to his house) where he walks out to meet them where you can see he has suddenly changed completely and I found him a genuinely scary character in that moment. The expression on his face, the way he walks, all tells you that he's reverted to a former self and is going to cause some serious harm to these guys.
- The captain (can't remember his name) from Pan's Labyrinth. A really horrible, unpleasant man who is scary because you don't know what he's going to do next. You can tell his temper is always on the verge of just snapping, and he's a person you really would never want to meet.
Blair Witch did genuinely scare the living crap out of me though. I thought it worked on every level. I watched it with my sister, we were home alone with all the lights turned off. When the film ended, neither of us could summon up the courage to move!
i found The Others really creepy.
What? That's a lasses flick!
'tis good though :)
Nicky Ray
06-08-2007, 16:59
i found The Others really creepy.
So did I. Even though I think it was only a 12! :thumbs:
Maybe years of movie going and the horrors of real life have desensitised me but i have gone over the horror movies in my collection and not been scared.
Recent releases like Jeepers Creepers 2 and Wrong Turn had their moments.
Wrong turn was like the best bits from one of the scariest x-files episode i ever saw. Beginning with them finding a baby buried by a baseball field. Leading to the discovery of an inbread family. But anyone who saw the film would have hoped for more. Paraphrasing the director of cabin fever. I don't beleive that these men living by basic desires would capture Eliza Dushku and tie her up and keep her as opposed to raping her.
I watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in preparation for Michael Bay's remake which he says is closer to the true story than Tobe Hooper's version and so not a remake. Anyway the film just didn't frighten me. Was it because i had seen it 3 years earlier and remembered the best bits or was it just not scary.
I now set my own challenge. Can someone suggest a film that will ***** me up or am i doomed to never be scared again?
I understand where you're coming from.
Between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Alien (1979) and The Blair Witch Project (1999), there have been very few genuinely frightening movies that are able to shake its audience out of any sense of security and allow them to be totally immersed in an environment of pure terror.
Saw (2004) came close with its added psychological element that allowed for an audience to live vicariously through the emotions of the on-screen victims, but it failed at being able to create a genuinely accumulating sense of foreboding whose presence becomes almost unbearable to the audience. In a way, the torture sequences functioned as elongated 'horror catharsis', without raking up the sense of ever-increasing tension that the three masterworks mentioned at the outset were able to create.
I suspect that we will see more superlatively crafted horror films in the future but, as with all great films, they will most likely come few and far between.
I'm a major horror buff but the last film that truly frightened me was David Lynch's Inland Empire. Mind you I saw it in an almost empty cinema - but there is a nightscene where Laura Dern is walking towards the camera; she has this weird expression on her face and that combined with Lynch's excellent use of sound just gave me the chills big time.
A Star Trek film with ghosts in could be quite a scary film.
A Star Trek film with ghosts in could be quite a scary film.
Wasn't there a Next Gen episode like that?
No, not Cause and Effect. ANOTHER one :lol:
I'm a major horror buff but the last film that truly frightened me was David Lynch's Inland Empire. Mind you I saw it in an almost empty cinema - but there is a nightscene where Laura Dern is walking towards the camera; she has this weird expression on her face and that combined with Lynch's excellent use of sound just gave me the chills big time.
I've already mentioned it before in another thread but the last time I was genuinely freaked out by a movie was the scene in Lynch's Lost Highway where the camera slowly wanders around a dark room in deep shadow & combined with the fantastic sound, you're expecting something Really nasty to jump out, but of course nothing does but it sure was tense waiting for it! :notworthy
I really wish Lynch would do a full-on, balls-out Horror movie.
joconnor
06-08-2007, 19:55
A Star Trek film with ghosts in could be quite a scary film.
:D
vBulletin® v3.7.0, Copyright ©2000-2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.