Most Terrifying Moments in Film

[MacGuffin]

I was pretty young then, in my teens. When I found out it wasn't a documentary I was like HAHAHAHAH. I remember sitting in the theater and being so bored.

It was like watching my high school friends make a film project.

I couldn't get into Paranormal Activity either.

Now that one scared me a couple of times. It was creepy as hell too.

I prefer atmosphere to scares though. Being startled is a cheap thrill.

 

[Thalassa]

Now that one scared me a couple of times. It was creepy as hell too.

I prefer atmosphere to scares though. Being startled is a cheap thrill.

I love atmosphere. That's why I love really aesthetic horror, like The Omen and The Shining. I also like some old Italian horror, like Suspiria. Beautiful, beautiful film work. I also found The Zodiac (with Jake Gyllenhaal) extremely compelling and it creeped me out for a whole day afterward because I just kept thinking that it was based on a true story and I was a woman living alone.

I do like some visceral horror, though. Like Rob Zombie films or the French film L'intereriur.


My taste is horror is actually pretty sophisticated I tend to eschew torture porn, and I can't get into crap like the re-makes of House of Wax or the newer Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

That hand-held cam shit just looks stupid to me, though. I can't stop thinking, "this isn't real. This is so lame."

It's also why I don't like the Fantasy genre.

It's about my suspension of disbelief and whatever can trigger it. I guess it has to be fairly elaborate.

 

[Thalassa]

OOOH...ooh..another good atmospheric horror film that is creepy...Alice, Sweet Alice. From the 70's.

 

[LeftKick]

In grade school,maybe 8 or 9 yrs old,we had to watch the bus safety films. The one we watched had a girl falling under the back tires of a bus,and slowly getting run over. I can still see it.

First movie moment that had me frightened was the scene from Indian Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark near the beginning when the guy gets run through with the spears that come out of the wall.

I couldn't watch George Clooney getting his fingernails pulled off in Syriana either.

 

[kyuuei]

I cannot fathom anyone being scared of the Blair Witch Project. It was so disappointing to me. I was like...omg...are you fucking serious?

Things that contributed to how scary it was:
1. I thought it was real when I saw it. ( I know I know.. I was a kid. )
2. It felt real to me.

I've always been a big fan of ARGs (Alternate reality games), ever since that movie. When I first watched it, the whole time I complained. "Follow the river! Stop stopping! Grr!!" The dolls set the tone a bit, and I found the forest chase scene a bit scary.. but nothing was truly terrifying until the house. You can't watch it like some punk walking into a house.. *you're* walking into the house.

The small tiny hand prints on the walls.. They made my skin crawl. And, the panic right as she was hit in the head and fell-a bit scary.. But the guy. That large guy, totally competent and capable at one point in time, standing obediently in the corner like a child punished by their parents. The imagination it took to imagine something dastardly enough to get that guy to stand there without even flinching--like he'd already long given up on life by then--it was so scary. They never showed this witch.. they left it entirely up to you. That information, thats all you have to go on.

It goes against everything in human nature, to stand there the way that man was. That.. concept. Was terrifying to me. Maybe I put too much into it all.

I wonder if what scares us is very personal, or some people are more easily absorbed into things that obviously aren't real.

This may be true as well. I don't need something to be real at all for it to be scary--I tend to empathize with characters in films and shows very easily, and I can place myself right into their shoes most of the time. I felt Paranormal activity was a pretty scary movie as well, being as I believe in demons existing.. whereas someone who doesnt believe in the paranormal might have found the entire thing boring shadows and baby powder.

I should've also put Scary Movie on the list. It was scary because people thought it was funny.

That movie was pretty scary..

 

[Thalassa]

This may be true as well. I don't need something to be real at all for it to be scary--I tend to empathize with characters in films and shows very easily, and I can place myself right into their shoes most of the time. I felt Paranormal activity was a pretty scary movie as well, being as I believe in demons existing.. whereas someone who doesnt believe in the paranormal might have found the entire thing boring shadows and baby powder.

This is actually one of the reasons why I began suspecting I was a sensor. I kept thinking, you know, even when I was a teenager I never liked anything that couldn't be traced back to reality. I entirely lost interest in any subject in high school that can't be traced back to real life (my real life) or being "useful"...hence I hate Algebra and Chemistry and even ancient history though I like modern history...because ancient history seems so ridiculous and inapplicable, as long as I have a broad overview of what went on, we all know (well all of us who are realistic) that we don't want to go back to a time when people died at an average age of 30, and there weren't creature comforts. How ...icky. I find ancient history pretty boring and icky, like I wouldn't want to BE there. It's all about being there for me, if I do not want I can't accept it.

But I need atmosphere - and by atmosphere I mean music, visual art, effects...I need the sensory input...or if it's drier I need something gritty and real. Like yeah, this could really happen. I can learn from this. This might be important to know in life.

And I used to talk to my ESFJ ex about stuff like this (he can't stand fantasy, either, or Disney movies, or things that seem too "unreal"...we both agreed it was childish, in our similar perceptions at the time)...I do understand that people can learn abstract concepts from very unrealistic films...I mean, I love stuff like Twin Peaks that merges fantasy and reality.

But there has to be some level of reality there, something I can relate to, or something I really believe in.

 

[Unkindloving]

The part in Ferngully when Hexxus further materializes himself using the toxins and pollution produced by that tree chopping machine, meanwhile Tim Curry's ominous presence and melodic singing just completely set a tone that completely sent chills up my spine.

With this admission I'm sure I've backslid about 5 notches, coming dangerously close to broaching the pussy category on the marm-o-meter of film masculinity.


EDIT:...Implying I wasn't there already.

Sliiiiime beneath me.. Sliiime up above.. Ooh you'll feel my ah ah ah.... Toxic Looooove
One of my favorite animated movie villains, but I think it's just because Tim Curry should voice villains always.

You didn't get this feeling when you saw Tone Loc as that lizard?

I definitely did :shudders:

Or you know what.. the entirety of Fern Gully 2 was pretty horrifying. So much so that I couldn't even make it through half of it

 

[The Ü™]

I definitely did :shudders:

Or you know what.. the entirety of Fern Gully 2 was pretty horrifying. So much so that I couldn't even make it through half of it

The first one was like that too.

 

[kyuuei]

But there has to be some level of reality there, something I can relate to, or something I really believe in.

:3 Definitely, we are opposites in this respect. I like things reality based--but.. to me.. I live in reality everyday. I love it, and to watch it on tv seems... silly to me. Like I should BE there, doing it, instead of watching it. While Im not saying I dont enjoy anything reality based, I definitely do, its not a requirement at all to relate to something.

Curiosity, have you ever seen Wolf Creek? I wonder if that'd be a high quality scary movie for you.. It was based loosely on events that actually took place.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_(film)

 

[The Ü™]

I always thought the end credits for the Scream movies were a bit creepy (though not terrifying) when they list the cast members accompanied by an eerie image of the deceased character they played, smiling in slow motion. I know a lot of movies do this, but they're not nearly as eerie.

 

[Unkindloving]

The first one was like that too.

It was herb-y, yes, but nowhere near as terrifying as the second. I am a bit of a sequel-threequel-etc queen, and Fern Gully 2 was more unbearable to me than any B-horror-sequel-etc I've seen.