I love horror movies, but they don’t actually scare me. Okay, the original Amityville Horror & Jaws scared me when I first saw them, but I was little kid, so that doesn’t count.
But, generally speaking, the supernatural doesn’t scare me. What frightens me is REALITY. I have a somewhat morbid imagination, & a naturally pessimistic view of life. I’m Mr. Worst-Case-Scenario. So it’s the stuff that could possibly happen to me that I’m worried about. I can watch films about canniblistic zombies, vampires, werewolves, masked axe-murders, & dream demons all day. But give me a horrible situation, and I’m done.
There are some movies that I refuse to ever watch, just because I don’t even want to imagine being in that situation. To give you (yes, YOU) an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s 3 of them:
From Wikipedia: The film follows a group of women who embark on a caving expedition and become trapped underground. When a group of creatures begin attacking the women, they struggle to survive and escape the cave.
With that description, you can stop at “trapped underground.” You don’t even need to mention anything about a group of “creatures.” I’m already freaked out.
I’ve written before about how I’m slightly claustrophobic. A couple of weeks ago I went to a local mall, and it turned out it’s undergoing construction, so most of the parking lots were blocked off, & I ended up having to take an elevator to get in and out. It was just 2 floors, but I have to say that in those 40 seconds that it took for the elevator to go up & down, my mind must of imagined a dozen different ways in which I could end up trapped in that elevator (Earthquake? Massive power blackout? Fire?), & die of suffocation. I mean, I didn’t panic or anything, but I felt really uncomfortable.
So I just cannot watch a movie that involves people being trapped underground.
From Wikipedia: An epidemic causes most of the people in an unnamed city to go blind, resulting in the collapse of society. The film follows several people as they try to survive in a makeshift self-governed prison set up by the government as a quarantine area.
I am absolutely terrified of going blind. I don’t know how I would survive. I don’t even like being around blind people. I’m sorry, it just creeps me out. I sometimes wear glasses, that I don’t really need, when reading or at the computer, just to be on the safe side, and protect my eyesight. So, even though I love Julianne Moore, I passed on this film.
From Wikipedia: Joe Bonham (Bottoms), a young American soldier hit by a artillery shell on the last day of World War I, lies in a hospital bed. He is a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. He remains conscious and able to reason, however, rendering him a prisoner in his own body.
Need I say more? Really? Can you imagine any existence worse than that?
I first heard of this film years ago, when I heard the song, “ONE,” by the rock band Metallica. Loved the song, but didn’t really know what it was about, until a friend told me of this movie, which is based on a book. Then the lyrics made sense. It’s written from the viewpoint of the lead character.
I cant remember anything
Cant tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me
Now that the war is through with me
I’m waking up I cannot see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god,wake me
Back in the womb its much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But cant look forward to reveal
Look to the time when Ill live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god,wake me
Now the world is gone I’m just one
Oh god, help me, hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God help me
Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
There are two videos for this song. One just has the band performing the song in an empty auditorium, the other has the performance, but it’s intercut with scenes from the movie. I feel sick even watching the 2nd version of that music video, so there’s no way I could ever watch the actual movie.
And those are just some examples of what I consider to be SCARY MOVIES.
The movie that made the most impression on me was “House of Wax” staring Vincent Price. I first saw that movie on TV when I was about 5. I know it’s tame by today’s slasher standards, but to a 5 year old who had never seen anything scarier than Captain Kangaroo (and boy was he scary) it really impacted my life. Even today, I can’t really watch that movie without having all the lights on.
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I loved the original OMEN trilogy. Didn’t like the remake.
I remember some old Vincent Price movie that I saw years ago, where he cooked some man’s dogs, and forced him to eat them.
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When I was a child my dad let me watch Child’s Play with him. I had nightmares about that movie for a long time after. The part that affected me the most was when Chucky was lit on fire by the kid.
Watching that movie now it seems stupid but back then it scared the crap out of me.
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Chucky is definitely one of those series’ that jumped the shark. It went downhill after Bride of Chucky.
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I’m surprised they haven’t rebooted that franchise yet.
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Give ’em time. Hollywood will get around to it, eventually.
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I believe THE DESCENT is one of overall best horror films for a long long time! I haven’t seen anything scarier (even though Dog Soldiers and Dawn of the Dead remake were good action movies, and Ginger Snaps was a good “Coming of age” drama), but the scene when they first turn on the cam-corder and the crawler is standing right behind one of the characters was insanely creepy.
The minimalist way in which the film is shot and scored adds to this feeling of being trapped with no escape. Yes, extremely claustrophobic.
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Ya big wuss.
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@ Scary Mary: That sounds like I made the right decision by not seeing it.
@ Luthor: Shaddup you.
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I would have to say Nightmare on Elm Street the original scared me. The reason being is if you believe anything about dreams, it can just freak you out.
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I thought that the Descent was a nice change from the mainstream where women are running around half-naked. This movie is straight up horror and I like it!
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METALLICA KICKS ASS! I LOVE THAT SONG!
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The absolute scariest movie I saw when I was a child and saw the original House on Haunted Hill. As a kid, that movie did it for me!!
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Scariest movie ever for me would be without a doubt “The Exorcist”. I was somewhere around the age of 6 when my STUPID sitter thought it would be a good idea to let me and my 5 year old sister and 4 year old brother watch that movie. Then I went to my room to discover that I had an exact replica of her bedroom. My sister and brother and I all slept in her bedroom together for an entire month after watching that movie. The sitter got fired. LOL
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When I was younger, it was the Omen that scared me… however, there aren’t any movies these days that would scare me anymore… not like when I was a child
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I’m also a little claustraphobic, and the first 20 minutes or so of The Descent made me squirm. But once it gets away from being trapped underground and focuses more on them fighting the monsters, it’s much better.
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When I was 8 years old, I was at my Grandmother’s spending the weekend when it came on TV. I wasn’t supposed to watch it. But, she fell asleep and I watched it, anyway. About 1/2-way through it, the phone started ringing. Mammaw (that’s what I called her) didn’t wake up. (She had taken her nerve pill and was sleeping quite soundly)
I had to work up the nerve to go from the living room, across the long and darkened hallway, into the kitchen to answer the phone. It took me a while, but, the phone kept ringing and ringing. Finally, I flipped on all of the lights that I could reach and ran real quick to the phone.
When I said, “Hello,” I heard what sounded EXACTLY like Reagan say, “Sheli, I’m going to get you.” I screamed and went into shock. (I was only 8) I woke up with my Mammaw slapping me in the face (lightly) to “bring me back.”
The voice had been my uncle (more like my brother) calling from next door. I spent the next 2 years sleeping in the floor next to my Mom and Daddy’s bed!
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oh my goodness.
i used to fear being kidnapped. like hardcore. i couldn’t sleep at night.
i also used to fear that the house would catch on fire while i was sleeping and i would have to jump out my second story window. again, kept me up at night….
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Not a fan of scary movies @ all. I’d rather watch romantic comedies.
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I loved The Descent. There are some scary moments but the movie isn’t that scary. It’s not a ghost film..
There’s lots of action and its damn brutal.
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Some great scary movies mentioned here by everyone.
@ Crista: Year ago I read about a man who was killed in his bed while sleeping, after a bullet fell through his roof & hit. Apparently, someone fired a gun into the air, and that’s where it came down. I had trouble sleeping for a bit after that.
@ Aaron: I like romantic comedies, too.
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[…] avoid using an elevator if I can. The idea of being trapped in a contained space freaks me out. As I mentioned before, I refuse to watch the movie, The Descent, because it involves people being trapped in an […]
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