Scariest horror film or book.

timthumbni

Saying as Halloween is coming up what is the scariest film or book you have watched/read?

I can barely watch any horror film with ghosts/possession etc as it freaks me out. I have recently been reading a few hp lovecraft stories and even they made me uneasy.

To kick off a film that really scared me was The Entity. And a book called if I remember correctly Ghost House.

wazky

I think the older films are more scary then modern equivalents, even if by today's standard the quality was poor without CGI etc. Just something about the likes of the Omen and The Shining etc that is spooky.

GLaDOS

Favourite horror book is probably Stephen King's It. Absolute masterpiece imo, the movie isn't worth a mention in comparison.

hidinginthebush

This will have the hair standing on the back of your neck!

Great book also called Dark Matter that scared the bejaysus out of me, but I couldn't put it down at the same time. Highly recommended! Nice and short too, you'll probably start it one evening, read til 4 am, get too scared, and finish it the next morning in the safety of daylight

dmc17

Have a look at 'The Changeling' from 1980. Older horror films definitely seem to have a better atmosphere about them.

Donkey Oaty

The Irish Government guide to surviving nuclear war absolutely terrified me when I read it as a kid.

Copy here: http://imgur.com/gallery/Zp2JE/

Archeron

There is a movie called 13 ghosts. The film itself isn't great, but the ghosts in it are my favourites of any movie, monstrous yokes.

MJ23

The Shining. Brilliant book and film.

gg2

Salem's Lot (book) terrified me... Also I loved reading Dracula, wasn't particularly scared reading it, but it did give me terrible nightmares.

I tend not to watch horror movies as I'm a total ****ebag but the ad for The Exorcist made my tummy flip and my knees weak to the point I couldn't change the channel, I just had to pretend it wasn't on. Granted I was about 8 at the time but it left a huge mark! Will never be able to watch that film.

timthumbni

wazky wrote: »

I think the older films are more scary then modern equivalents, even if by today's standard the quality was poor without CGI etc. Just something about the likes of the Omen and The Shining etc that is spooky.

Jaysus. The omen scared the lamps out of me when I was younger. I'm not even religious but any demonic films do my head in. The men where the nanny hangs herself and those bloody dogs will stick in my mind for all eternity.

CrinkElite

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788391/

This should have a higher imdb score. It's just so off-putting and creepy.

gg2

CrinkElite wrote: »

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1788391/

This should have a higher imdb score. It's just so off-putting and creepy.

Couldn't watch it til the end. The scene with the child pornographer was horribly graffic... Seemed like a great movie though

Teyla Emmagan

Salem's Lot and IT also terrified the life out of me as a teenager. He also has a really good anthology of short stories from 1979, Night Shift I think. I also love Lovecraft and MR James.

I have seen about a thousand horror movies but most of them were forgotten about immediately. Only the odd ones leaves an impression, normally stuff with the devil in them! The old Catholic upbringing I guess :-)

K.Flyer

The Devil Rides Out (1968)
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0062885/

Probably not the most scariest movie ever, but definatley up there with some of the best considering CGI was not around in the 60's.

timthumbni

hidinginthebush wrote: »

This will have the hair standing on the back of your neck!

Great book also called Dark Matter that scared the bejaysus out of me, but I couldn't put it down at the same time. Highly recommended! Nice and short too, you'll probably start it one evening, read til 4 am, get too scared, and finish it the next morning in the safety of daylight

I read the Ted the caver story and you are right. The hairs did stand up on my neck. There was another story called the dionaea house which also really scared me. I know these things are made up but they were done really well.

I have a fascination with horror stories even though I don't sleep right for weeks after. The new film the conjuring is supposed to be pretty scarey too. The actress out of the orphan is in it and I quite like her. The orphan was a great movie and I was so glad at the ending. (Don't want to spoil anyone's viewing but I would have disturbed if it had ended differently)

I will check out dark matter though even from the description I don't think I would enjoy it. (As in it would petrify me lol)

timthumbni

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Favourite horror book is probably Stephen King's It. Absolute masterpiece imo, the movie isn't worth a mention in comparison.

Hey kid, want a balloon?

UCDVet

MTV's 16 and pregnant....that is some terrifying stuff.

IT is an incredible book, one of the best I've ever read. As horrors go it's right up there.

Must read it again actually.

Canis Lupus

Most of Kings old stuff is great although to my shame I've never read It.... Something I now intend to rectify as soon as I get home. Need a break from orc n elves type stuff.

gg2

I love Stephen King but always felt It just didn't live up to the hype. I got very bored coming to the end of it..

The Backwards Man

Another King adaptation for me, The Mist.

Just for the ending alone.

timthumbni

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Salem's Lot and IT also terrified the life out of me as a teenager. He also has a really good anthology of short stories from 1979, Night Shift I think. I also love Lovecraft and MR James.

I have seen about a thousand horror movies but most of them were forgotten about immediately. Only the odd ones leaves an impression, normally stuff with the devil in them! The old Catholic upbringing I guess :-)

I can assure you I had an old protestant upbringing and anything with the devil in it scares the bejaysus out of me as well. Lol.

Out of interest any of the lovecraft books you recommend. I've the whole collection on kindle but have only read the tomb and the call of Cthulhu so far. I have to admit I'm quite impressed by the words he uses even though he seems to be a complete racist.

timthumbni

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Another King adaptation for me, The Mist.

Just for the ending alone.

Is the ending in the book the same as the film. I know a lot of people hated the ending in the film but I though it was great. Very very sad. I'm surprised that they went with it in Hollywood as I know americans don't like endings like this.

cml387

Let me be the first to mention "Let the right one in".

The book is superb, I believe the Swedish film is also excellent (ignore the American remake).

I saw Salem's Lot recently and it still stands out as a really well done adaptation of the book, in fact better than the book imo.


But the Exorcist is the winner. I watched it again recently up to the pont where Regan walks downstairs in a most peculiar way. I had to stop there.

kunst nugget

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Another King adaptation for me, The Mist.

Just for the ending alone.

The Mist was a brilliant movie the whole way through but the ending had me well shook afterwards.

I just watched the Conjuring and I'm not afraid to say I squealed like a little bitch during a fair bit of it. Way better than a lot of the guff out there like Insidious and Sinister - two promising films that turned into utter tripe in their second halves.

In terms of hardcore horror movies I'd probably recommend some of the recent French horror movies like Inside and Martyrs.

The Kill List was a quality one as well.

Also check out Rec as well.

timthumbni

timthumbni wrote: »

Is the ending in the book the same as the film. I know a lot of people hated the ending in the film but I though it was great. Very very sad. I'm surprised that they went with it in Hollywood as I know americans don't like endings like this.

And btw I really love the music in the mist at the jaw dropping ending. Anyone know what it is?

dixiedan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/


The Haunting (1963 version)

The Backwards Man

timthumbni wrote: »

Is the ending in the book the same as the film. I know a lot of people hated the ending in the film but I though it was great. Very very sad. I'm surprised that they went with it in Hollywood as I know americans don't like endings like this.

Long time since I read the short story tbh, I think it was more open-ended though. Must get a read of it again.

cml387

timthumbni wrote: »

I can assure you I had an old protestant upbringing and anything with the devil in it scares the bejaysus out of me as well. Lol.

Out of interest any of the lovecraft books you recommend. I've the whole collection on kindle but have only read the tomb and the call of Cthulhu so far. I have to admit I'm quite impressed by the words he uses even though he seems to be a complete racist.

At The Mountains Of Madness. OK it's still the same Elder beings stuff but he builds up the story very well and the setting up in Arctic is original.

ottostreet

Martyrs is ****ing horrible.

In terms of Ghosts/demons/possession, try Noroi! Terrifying!

The ending of Noroi is one of the most memorable horror scenes I've ever seen. Goddamn I want to watch it now.

Pumpkinseeds

The Masque of the Red Death comes to mind, creepy creepy film. The old ones are classics

The_Kew_Tour

A Serbian Film.

You wont be right in the head for quite some time if you see it.

My advice is dont do it.

timthumbni

ottostreet wrote: »

Martyrs is ****ing horrible.

In terms of Ghosts/demons/possession, try Noroi! Terrifying!

I've read about martyrs but haven't worked up the stomach to watch it yet. 2 others are salo and a Serbian tale. Thought I don't think these films are scary as such they are supposed to be hard to watch. Agin I haven't seen them only read about them.

Cosmicfox

The book 'Let the right one in' I don't know if you'd say it was scary but there are some very horrible moments in it, especially when it comes to describing Eli's creepy guardian.

The Swedish movie was alright, but it wasn't as good as the book since it left a good bit out. I've not seen the American one.

Teyla Emmagan

timthumbni wrote: »

I can assure you I had an old protestant upbringing and anything with the devil in it scares the bejaysus out of me as well. Lol.

Out of interest any of the lovecraft books you recommend. I've the whole collection on kindle but have only read the tomb and the call of Cthulhu so far. I have to admit I'm quite impressed by the words he uses even though he seems to be a complete racist.

The first one I ever read I guess, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The Mountains of Madness is also really good. I like them because they are so archaic, and the imagery is so evocative.

Under best horror book ever, I am also going to nominate Matheson's 'I am Legend'. The protagonist is so tormented, and lonely. It's a brilliant, but really sad, book.

Green Hornet

In terms of books, The Red Room by HG Wells leaves you thinking. It's more of a gothic short story than horror and focussed on the power of suggestion as opposed to horror.

As I noted in another similar thread, Salem's Lot scared the hell out of me for months when I saw it back in 1980 or so. Tobe Hooper did a great job on that and the film exuded creepy atmosphere right through. For once, the film was better than the book.....which was also very good. I'd imagine the film probably looks dated now though.

Khannie

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Favourite horror book is probably Stephen King's It. Absolute masterpiece imo, the movie isn't worth a mention in comparison.

I had to stop reading this because I read at night and it is sufficiently disturbing in the first 100 pages that you wouldn't want to be reading it last thing at night.

GLaDOS

Mountains of Madness is a classic. I also loved The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

bohsboy

I know its recent enough and CGI'd to feck, but 30 Days of Night I thought was a decent effort.

kunst nugget

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

A Serbian Film.

You wont be right in the head for quite some time if you see it.

My advice is dont do it.

I watched it and felt completely dirty afterwards. The weird thing about it is how amazingly well made it was. But it's just not worth watching for the way it makes you feel.

gg2

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

A Serbian Film.

You wont be right in the head for quite some time if you see it.

My advice is dont do it.

Just read its wiki page. Feel sick

krudler

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

A Serbian Film.

You wont be right in the head for quite some time if you see it.

My advice is dont do it.

Terrible film, and not because of its subject matter, it's just laughably bad

Gamayun

timthumbni wrote: »

I've read about martyrs but haven't worked up the stomach to watch it yet. 2 others are salo and a Serbian tale. Thought I don't think these films are scary as such they are supposed to be hard to watch. Agin I haven't seen them only read about them.

Salò does not live up to the hype, it's more weird/psychological/mildly shocking than scary, very fake looking in parts too. Martyrs and A Serbian Film make it look like Finding Nemo.

The Innocents (1961) is a good old school chiller, eerie without the need for loud noises or things jumping at you.

canadianwoman

The Fog (1980 version)

House on Haunted Hill (1999 remake)

For a laugh watch the 1959 version of HoHH with Vincent Price.

The Conjuring (2013) .....very spine tingling

timthumbni

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Mountains of Madness is a classic. I also loved The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

I'm going to check these out as a few posts have mentioned the mountains of madness. I have to admit that although the call of Cthulhu didn't scare me at the time I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it. Lol.

I quite like his style of writing. I also had to use the kindle dictionary a few times to clarify a few of the words he uses. If nothing else he would certainly make you more literate. Hard to do now as txt speak has turned a lot of people (myself included) into idiots.

Temptamperu

MJ23 wrote: »

The Shining. Brilliant book and film.

Dr Sleep is even better :cool:

A Brad Maddox Guy

I like horror films but rarely find them all that scary, particularly newer ones. The Omen, The Exorcist and Halloween are probably my favourites as well as Alien, The Thing and Poltergeist (though that isn't really scary). I love Let The Right One In but I also wouldn't find it too scary either - The American remake is good considering most American remakes are terrible in my opinion but the setting just didn't feel right. There's a Spanish film called [Rec] which I think is really good as well.

Never really read any horror books. Must give Stephen King's It a try going by this.

Also gonna give a mention to video games; horror games can be much more effective than films when it comes to scaring you since you're so involved in the story or set-piece. Games like Dead Space, The Last of Us, some Resident Evil games, Silent Hill, Slender, Amnesia all have quite a lot of 'sh*t the pants' moments.

handlemaster

The three little pigs

rossie1977

The Mist and REC are easily two of the best recent efforts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZdRW7-M5w

eire-kp

I remember watching Event Horizon a few years ago and it was pretty creepy.

GLaDOS

timthumbni wrote: »

I'm going to check these out as a few posts have mentioned the mountains of madness. I have to admit that although the call of Cthulhu didn't scare me at the time I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it. Lol.

I quite like his style of writing. I also had to use the kindle dictionary a few times to clarify a few of the words he uses. If nothing else he would certainly make you more literate. Hard to do now as txt speak has turned a lot of people (myself included) into idiots.

I think the beauty of Lovecraft is that he leaves a lot of the horror to your imagination, he merely nudges it in the right direction. Very subtle writer when he needs to be, with an astounding ability to create an atmosphere.

If you like Lovecraft's stuff, I'd recommend The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allen Poe. His only full length novel. As you probably know, Poe was a huge influence of Lovecraft.