Scariest horror film or book.

timthumbni · 20-10-2013 02:16PM #1

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 · 20-10-2013 02:20PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:21PM

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

hidinginthebush · 20-10-2013 02:23PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:27PM

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

Donkey Oaty · 20-10-2013 02:28PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:28PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:30PM

The Shining. Brilliant book and film.

gg2 · 20-10-2013 02:32PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:33PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:35PM

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

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

gg2 · 20-10-2013 02:37PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:42PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:44PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:46PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:51PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:53PM

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

20-10-2013 02:53PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:55PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:56PM

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 · 20-10-2013 02:57PM

Another King adaptation for me, The Mist.

Just for the ending alone.

timthumbni · 20-10-2013 02:57PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:02PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:03PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:04PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:05PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:06PM

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

The Haunting (1963 version)

The Backwards Man · 20-10-2013 03:08PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:10PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:16PM

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 · 20-10-2013 03:18PM

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

Scariest horror film or book.

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