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jca2's avatar

What are some of your favorite scary movies?

Asked by jca2 (16892points) October 9th, 2023

I’m taking my daughter to see “The Shining” today at a local theater. It’s only showing for about a week. I know it’s not a traditional scary movie, it’s a psychological thriller, but when I was a teenager and saw it for the first time, I found it quite scary. It’s creepy, and Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are great in their roles, and the hotel is so creepy. My daughter has never seen it. I’d seen it when it first came out, in the theater, but since then I’ve seen bits and pieces but on the small screen, at home.

I also liked The Exorcist.

How about you? Do you have any favorite horror movies or scary movies?

Lately I try to avoid horror movies because they’re just too scary.

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28 Answers

elbanditoroso's avatar

The Shining was at the top of my list.

Deliverance (Burt Reynolds)

Portions of Basic Instinct (Sharon Stone with a knife…)

The Birds (original, with Tippi Hedren) – Hitchcock movie

Those are the ones that immediately pop to mind.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

Arsenic and Old Lace
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

I avoid scary movies.

canidmajor's avatar

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (Bette Davis and Joan Crawford) will “yikes” you guys right out. And Ms Davis again in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte might just keep you awake for a bit.
(Linking to IMDB is a problem for me today, they are worth looking up)

kevbo1's avatar

I don’t really have expertise or interest in the zombie movie genre, but I think Train to Busan is an excellent zombie movie.

Zaku's avatar

Jaws (1975)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Alien
The Thing (1982)
The Exorcist
The Shining
Duel (1971)
Psycho

More sci-fi action than scary movie, but great:
Aliens
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2
Predator

Not so scary, but great:
North By Northwest
Charade
Rear Window (1954)

More comedy than scary:
The Ladykillers (1955)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
Shaun of the Dead

filmfann's avatar

Jaws
Psycho
Cloverfield
The Blair Witch Project
Dracula (1931-Browning)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Mummy (1999)
Day Of The Triffids (1981)
Alien
Aliens
The Birds

smudges's avatar

The ones that scared the bejeezus out of me were The Shining, The Birds(saw it when young) and The Blair freakin’ Witch Project. When I was reading the book version of The Shining, I should have put my book in the freezer many times. There were times I couldn’t even read it in the daytime!

There are many others that I like. I don’t like the cheap thrill ones – the kind that make you jump just because they can. After my racing heart calms down and I quit swearing, I usually laugh at them. Love psychological thrillers!

elbanditoroso's avatar

North by Northwest – best two scenes in the movie:

1) the very end, last scene, reeking with sexual innuendo -> the train racing full speed into the tunnel.

2) climbing down Washington’s nose.

KNOWITALL's avatar

Halloween
Nightmare on Elm Street
Hellraiser is my favorite.
I like Hostel and off beat horror too.

mazingerz88's avatar

Not a favorite but a great horror film. The hellish real time movie called “The Trump Show : The Maggoty Case of the Bloated Orange Douchebag”

mazingerz88's avatar

Oh btw, favorites…

Fright Night

Night Life ( from the 1980s )
( you have to be a real “obscure horror film” aficionado to know and appreciate this one )

The Ring

The Exorcist

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

An Inconvenient Truth.

LuckyGuy's avatar

The Crawling Eye or The Trollenberg Terror 1958. (Two names for the same movie.)

I saw that as a kid and it scared me so much I wanted to nail all the windows shut.

canidmajor's avatar

Omigod, @LuckyGuy, I remember The Crawling Eye! Nightmare fuel, for sure!!

filmfann's avatar

@smudges Did you read Doctor Sleep? I enjoyed that too!

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

The Blob was scary when I was a child.

Caravanfan's avatar

The Shining is one of the greatest movies ever made.

There are so many different types of horror that it’s hard to rank. The most recent great horror movie I’ve seen is El Orfanato.

mazingerz88's avatar

Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere. Scary.

smudges's avatar

@filmfann No, but I will now!

mazingerz88's avatar

@Caravanfan The Orphanage? If that’s the one that film was creepy enough but has a huge plot hole.

jca2's avatar

Another creepy one is The Others with Nicole Kidman. It’s not scary like stabbing people-type of scary but it’s creepy and you can’t quite figure out what’s going on until the end.

mazingerz88's avatar

^^Love that film. Glad that it came out when they still shoot using actual film.

smudges's avatar

ooh ooh ooh! “The Strangers” with Liv Tyler. Even having seen it several times and knowing what’s going to happen it scares me! Can’t watch at night.

rockfan's avatar

Some of my favorites:

The Babadook
The Orphanage
The Exorcist
The Conjuring
Barbarian
Rosemary’s Baby
The Devil’s Backbone
The Innocents
Les Diaboliques (1955)
The Haunting (1963)
Alien
The Thing (1982)
The Ring (2002)
Eyes Without a Face
Black Christmas (1974)

filmfann's avatar

The Thing is terrific! Wish I listed that!

kruger_d's avatar

Poltergeist (the original)
Scream
The Ring
The Mothman Prophecies
Us

mazingerz88's avatar

^^Mothman Prophecies never fails to give me serious creepy paranoia each time I see it. Great directorial job and cinematography!

smudges's avatar

“Get Out”

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