Top 5 Movies That Scared the Hell Out of Me
Oct 3, 2009 by Ross MillerIt’s October, the month where our thoughts turn to Halloween and scary movies – here’s one list of films that scared the heck out of one of our writers.
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3. [REC] (2007)
![[REC]](http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/rec-still.jpg)
Anyone who’s read Screen Rant for a while will probably know that I was scared to no end by the Spanish language “in-camera” horror, [REC]. Ever since news of the sequel came out (which picks up mere minutes after the events of the first) I’ve been letting anyone know who’ll listen that the first is one to make the effort to seek out and watch. It really is a frightening film, one that I thankfully managed to see for the first time when it came out in theaters… in the dark… with surround sound… and hardly anyone else in the theater.
Going just by the plot description, it may seem like any other of the millions of zombie films out there (okay, like 28 Days Later, they’re TECHNICALLY not zombies, but do we really wanna’ split hairs?), but give it a chance and you’ll see it trumps most of those. The pace is put it up to an eleven from about the 20-minute mark onwards (there’s some lead up that allows us to actually CARE of the characters that are about to head into horror mayhem – shock horror!), and it never lets up until the credits role. There’s moment after moment after moment of jump scares, skillfully done gore (it’s enough to get the point across but doesn’t go overboard) and “gets under your skin” moments that stay with you long after the film ends. The performances, particularly from the lead actress, are very convincing that they’re actually scared (so many horror movies are unbelievable because they lack that authenticity).
Scariest Scene/Moment: Like pretty much ALL of the films on this list, there are so many “scariest moments” to be found (a couple that come to mind is when one of the firemen falls down the middle of the stairs, and when the little infected girl bites someone out of nowhere), but I simply HAVE to give it to the last 5-10 minutes when the lights go out and the night-vision of the camera gets turned on. Other recent movies (such as 28 Weeks Later and another certain “creature feature” that’s also on this list) have used night-vision for horror effect but none quite so well done as with [REC]. Just what is in that room with the last two remaining non-infected? It’s hard to tell when all you have is a greenish vision to see with, but what it hints at is truly horrific.
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2. The Shining (1980)
Probably the technically BEST horror film I’ve ever seen (and subsequently on this list), Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a haunting, truly terrifying movie that features some of the most iconic horror moments, dialogue and imagery of all time. Differing WILDLY from Stephen King’s original book (so much so that it prompted King, who disliked what Kubrick did with his story, to make his own, VASTLY inferior TV mini-series in the late ’90s), Kubrick turns King’s story into much more of an ambiguous and dream-like one than it originally was.
Everything from the Steadicam floating through the hallways and rooms of The Overlook Hotel, to the strange and terrifying visions, make The Shining one of the all time greats of the genre. Jack Nicholson, in one of his best roles, gives a fantastically chilling performance as Jack Torrance; Shelley Duvall is convincingly terrified as his wife Wendy; and Danny Lloyd as little Danny is the perfect “horror survivor child.” One of the few films to literally have me laying awake at night still thinking about so many of the scary moments it has.
Scariest Scene/Moment: The blood flowing from the elevator, Jack following Danny in the snowy maze and the beautiful woman suddenly turning old all come to mind as highlights, but I think there’s no question the greatest scary moment from The Shining, and maybe any OTHER horror, is Jack chopping his way through the bathroom door with that axe. On the other side is a terrified Wendy, with nothing but a knife to protect herself, and with every chop of that axe and the closer Jack gets to getting through, the scarier it becomes (Duvall’s convincing scared performance doesn’t hurt). Finally, Jack breaks enough through the door to get his face through, and he says those famous horror words – “Heeeeeeerrrees Johnny!” Classic and horrific.
Click to continue on to the number 1 movie that scared the hell out of me…
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the ring, hellraisers & aliens were VERY scary!!
Anyone that hasn’t seen “Midnight Meat Train” should rent it or buy it yesterday,,,
Best horror film in years,,, Clive Barker’s best film, better then Hellraiser!
@790
i loved midnight meat train… I was actually watching it last night but i never found it scary… Just purely awesome.
Yeah it wasn’t scary it was intense. Just thought I’d mention it Jago.
When I see horror films these days they have to have more then Zombies and throw away lines like, “Nut up or shut up!”
Don’t be fooled by the title, “Midnight Meat Train” has one hell of a story and a mind blowing ending.
@790
Warning Possible Spoiler!!!
Or better said mind blowing start…lol… I love that movie.
i guess i will have to rent that one.
Exorcist!!!
Watched it when I was 15 in boarding school along with about 20 deeply religious guys. After the movie, honest to god, I could hear a few guys praying in the middle of the night.
Funnily enough I was the one who chose what we were gonna hire that day.
I have put alot of thought into my child about whatmovies actuall scared and came up with this.
5. Nightmare on elm street.(the blood pooring out of the bed)
4. friday the 13th (when he kills them while lying under the bed and sticking the spear through the bed and then through there neck)
3.hellraiser( always had a thing with pinhead, he was just creeepy)
2. jaws( I lived on a beach and would never go much deeper than waist deep, with out being uber paranoid0
1. pet cemetery ( gage coming out and slicing the achilles tendon and biting his neck, i was like nine when i snuck it from my dad [stephen king fanboy] and watched it. slept on the couch for weeks because i would not go near a bed that gage could hide under.
Oooh the movie that scared the crap to stay in my body was ” Candy Man”… I was only able to use the bathroom in places like the theater and walmart and such. Places where other people where in the bathroom as well because my bathroom looked just like the one the protagonist had in the movie… Same color even( not the crap, the bathroom).
In The Mouth of Madness terrifies me in the same way the shining does, watching Sam Neill’s descent into true insanity. Kinda like his performance in Event Horizon.
If anyone wants to watch a truly unsettling movie that you will never ever in your entire life forget, search for a movie called Possession, it stars a very young Sam Neill, and the plot well… I couldnt even begin to explain it. It isnt easy to find uncut except from Canada and France. Look for it.
the ring
I also loved The Descent. It was chilly even before the creatures and to this day I’ve never seen a more chilling movie. It’s a shame the American ending was different to the European one, the latter is the one i watched and it was exactly like my worst nightmare.
Saw “Trick r Treat” this morning ( came out today) and it was pretty cool… Had a couple of jumpscares that got me as well too.
The best thing about The Descent is becoming one with the darkness.
I have to
disagreestrongly disagree with Robb saying that the Mick Garris directed mini-series of The Shining is “vastly inferior”. Sure, I like Stanley Kubrick’s version too, but the miniseries from the 90′s is better than what Robb implies.As to my five, I have to go from five to one.
5. When I was young i caught an edited for TV version of Joe Dante’s Pirhana…I had a few nightmares over the opening scene where that fish eye flutters, then the guy says “stop tickling down there”. Then the mutant fish munch him up and then his girlfriend. It’s not the fact that they were fish food; it was the fact that they had “the appetizer” first, y’know? And then it was munching on the old man’s ankles…and the chewing on the river raft. Years pass, I realize how much I loved the corny film.
4. Chloë Sevigny’s acid bath in 1998′s noir thriller “Palmetto”
3. Angus Scrimm throwing kiddies in a giant meat grinder in “Mindwarp” (1992)
2. The Satanic ritual/conspiracy at the end of Janet Greek’s 1988 film “Spellbinder” (Dude’s heart is not just broken, it is cut out by the woman he wanted to rescue; his best friend is also part of the coven )
1. I’m so tempted to say Batman & Robin ALL OF IT. But that’s an easy target, so I’ll go with an unlikely choice. Patrick Muldoon getting his brains sucked out by the Brain Bug in 1997′s “Starship Troopers”.
Notice that, understandably, The Exorcist is on most people’s list. Well I certainly recommend the book by William Peter Blatty. Absolutely terrifying. I’ve read all my books at least three times, bar that one. And I’m in no rush to again.
And I’m 36.
@John “Kahless” Taylor
I am glad to know that others find the TV “Salem’s Lot” from the 70s scary. I was probably 6 or 7 years old when I walked into my dad’s studio (he was an artist) and he had it on a little black and white TV in there while he was working on a painting.
It was the “Look at me, teacher.” scene. It gave me nightmares for like a week. My dad rushed me out of the room when he saw me in the doorway. I didn’t see the film in its entirety until high school. I now own it and it is a favorite.
It still scares the CRAP out of me to this day. And I am 25.
1st time i saw the original amityville horror (@ a young age)
for like 2 weeks after i saw it i refuzed to look windows at night afraid id see glowing red eyes peers through the windows at me.
Lol
other than that nothing really frightend me.
i’ve got to much Vulcan in me.
oh and ‘Arachnophobia’
i hate Spiders!
This is a tough list there are plenty of good scares or great moments. So like many I have to define my movies by a fear or dread that lasted days and by whether I am still spooked at the prospect of watching them again. In no particular order:
The Exorcist
Hellraiser
In The Mouth Of Madness
Night Of The Living Dead
The Ring
Anyone remeber Prince Of Darkness by John Carpenter? That movie is creepy and gets an honerable mention in my book.
The Shining
Saw
The Ring Two (in my opinion scarier than the first)
1.Exorcist
2.Evil Dead
3.Ring
4.Jeepers Creepers
5.Bramstokers “Dracula” by Francis Ford Coppola
Oh yeah, “The Others” was pretty scary too!Lol!
Horror movies ,scary films are not my type of movies to watch , but i have seen a few ( in my younger days)here is my list:
Exorcit: i couldnt sleep hardly a wink for atleast a week
nightmare on elm street: those claws
Alien: the cheast bursting scene OMFG
Fantasia: ( i know disney ) but as a kid it scared the pee out of me, when the devil/monster came over the mountains, still wont watch it now
Halloween: for no good reason just a scry ass movie still
Saw a vampire movie when I was 10 – didnt sleep properly for 6 months. My older sister came towards me in the back yard one night, with a dressing gown over her head, arms out and hissing. I fell over, nearly fainted, then grabbed a shovel and came close to knocking her head off, at which point she revealed her true (and very scary) self. I think the movie was “Vampire Lovers”. I seem to remember signifcant cleavage being shown as well.
oh yes, the missery.. it an abnormal movie, yet, drawn me to something scary-thrill feeling..
and the REC #1 is really get under ur skin.. #2 is so boring.. and strange..
Great post. I’m a fan of the Clive Barker – Hellraiser series myself.