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I would say that the most terrified I've ever been in any film is in 'Henry' where the titular character explains a childhood trauma to an amused party. He tells them about how his mother abused him and his poor father, and then admits to having killed her. We believe that these two characters are heading for some kind of cathartic or revelatory experience, that this is the first step in breaking the protective shell of Henry. Then he ebbs. He changes a detail obliviously, and when the listener points it out to him, he is mildly jarred. He forgets how he killed his mother, and with what. We are then able to cleary see that, without anything else being said, that there is not only no hope for Henry to 'reform', but that the woman he is talking to is going to be killed, by him. Chilling.

Heh...boobies. Never mind the geyser of blood from the bed!

But there weren't any boobs in NoES at all!

Not even Tina's? Actually I think you are right...well anyway one more reason to go back and watch it for the nth time!!

Wife "Ugh you're watching this AGAIN? Why?"
Me "Checking for boobs..."

I'm gonna watch The Exorcist again. I do so every few years and in between i keep forgetting just how great it really is.
Thanks for the push!
Rob

Images don't really scare me. I like movies like The Exorcist, but am no longer really frightened by them. What terrifies me are movies that DON'T show what's going on. The Haunting is a great example...watching that alone with the lights out...not something I wanna go through again.

Blair Witch, when I was in college, freaked me out. We watched it off campus at a friend's house which was located just on the edge of some woods. The atmosphere heightened what was already a scary movie.

Recently, 1408 got under my skin. The scene where John Cusack steps out on the ledge to climb to a nearby window and then the camera pulls back and he is seemingly miles from the window just freaked me out.

28 Days Later, the way that movie was shot made it seem so plausible

Gorgeous movie. You can definitely see that it was the same director/DP on Slumdog Millionaire.
I don't find that one too scary- but when I first saw it the zombies were pretty frightening because they were fast for once!

When I was 12 I read Stephen King's It ... the book was far more terrifying to me than any movie ever could, but I eventually browbeat my parents into letting me watch the movie on my 13th birthday. I got forty minutes in and started picturing terrifying scenes from the book that I imagined would be in the film. I couldn't keep watching.

Later when I finally did watch the entire movie, I was old enough to appreciate just how damned campy it really was. There's a reason it shows up regularly on Lifetime, with all the eighties TV washups and the bizarrely terrible special effects. Chalk it up under films that should have been unbelievably horrifying but which fell flat because of TV restrictions and budget restraint.

Now Stephen King's "The Stand" held up much better on the screen, though King's unbelievably weak ending to the book came through in the movie and led to an equally big letdown.

I don't remember the last time I was terrified by a movie, which is kind of surprising considering how much of a wimp I used to be. I used to take strategic "bathroom breaks" during the tense moments of every X-Files episode.

ed_metal_head: I completely agree with you re: the Haunting. That's one terrifying movie! The Exorcist also did it, especially the dream sequence and the subliminal stuff. I used to be absolutely terrified of The Changeling, but I haven't seen it in a long while. Suspiria is probably the only gory-type horror film that actually makes me wince. That opening sequence is so incredibly well-orchestrated! I'd also like to make a shout-out to The Prince of Darkness, which has the best jump!-scare since Carrie and really creepy dreams.

And, yeah, the Hottie and the Nottie was pretty traumatizing.

Would agree with some of the great choices,

I always plug Descent to my students, saying, if you want a good scary film, watch this at home with your lights turned off.

Scary!

Also, Parts of Signs, also got to me, not saying the entire film is good, but parts gave me bone chilling shivers.

The original Halloween, still resonates with me too.

Cheers,

Wade

The only movie to ever terrify was actually a movie trailer. When I was 4 I went to see a movie (Whose title escapes me now) with my grandmother and a trailer for Mars Attacks! popped up. I don't think I got that it was a joke because those aliens stopped me from sleeping for weeks. Especially the one disguised as a human. For awhile I was concerned that anyone I met could end up being an alien out to get me.

Now Mars Attacks! is one of my favorite bad movies. Weird how these things end up, isn't it?

The only movie that creeped me out was The Cell...and I have no idea why...

Sorry Rob, I never responded. Yeah, we finished it the next morning. Turned out the phone call was my wife on her lunch break just wanting to see how I was doing. It was funny though, because I refused to pick up the phone. So he did, and when he heard silence on the other line (for a second my wife forgot he was staying with us), he flipped out.

Shoah

The Exorcist.

That film made me nauseous.

Totally agree with everyone on The Exorcist. Watched it at a mate's place and was too scared to drive home by myself afterward.

Wolf Creek took me a few goes to watch. I get totally freaked out by any scenes where someone is running or trying to hide from a baddie. I always say that I would rather just curl up into a ball and let them get me rather than be that scared.

I also had a great time with Black Water, which was a scary, well made, budget version of Rogue. They used real crocs rather than a big CGI monster. Having seen crocs close up on a tour not unlike to the one depicted in Rogue, they really are that horribly aggressive and frightening. Oh, and Open Water and Jaws. Pretty much don't like the idea of getting eaten.

The Strangers creeped me out too. I thought Liv Tyler was sensational.

I am currently too wussy to attempt Funny Games, as my sister told me she had to stop it for a breather and she is not scared of any movies.

Blair Witch scared the bejeezus out of me when it came out.
Don't Look Now gave me nightmares for a while....that final scene with Sutherland....wow.

Nowadays, as far as gore goes, I am completely desensitized. I have a friend who made me sit down to watch August Underground's Mordum. After that, as anyone who has seen it will know, everything else becomes children's programming.