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I saw Mothman Prophecies in the theater late at night and was constantly looking over my shoulder on the way home.
One time I was riding my bike (i liked to ride my bike) and two geese flew at me from opposite sides of the street. I let out a primal scream that I have yet to replicate. Scary shit, those birds.
For me it's the exorcist. I later read the book and it scared the shit out of me too. My dad saw it in theaters in high school. He has a great story about him and his buddies and nobody said anything on the way home.
Rode my bike to see the 10:00 pm showing of the Ring in middle school. The ride home was the scariest moment of my life. That movie will always be scary to me. As Townster said earlier, the Birds is a scary old ass movie. I mean, seriously, birds just flying at you, trying to fuck you up? That is super scary. One time I was riding my bike (i liked to ride my bike) and two geese flew at me from opposite sides of the street. I let out a primal scream that I have yet to replicate. Scary shit, those birds.
They did a theatrical re-release of the Exorcist in 2000. Went to see it with a couple of friends (a buddy and his girlfriend) who were not movie buffs. I remember when the movie ended, we silently walked back to the car, before the chick finally broke down and was all upset talking about how she had never seen a movie like that before and was expecting a slasher movie like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Nothing new on the top, but for me:
The Exorcist (saw it about half lit at a drive-in on a Sunday night as a senior in high school...did a number on me; though I've watched it again since...not sure I will again, though)
The Omen (there were some black dudes sitting right in front of us who talked to the characters in the film the whole movie...highly entertaining)
The Ring
The Grudge
Impressionable outliers:
The Innocents (1961 b/w loosely based on Henry James' "Turn of the Screw")
The Sentinel (watched this in the CU theater in Tribble, and it bothered me)
I guess I need to check out Event Horizon? Missed that one somewhere...didn't know about it 'til reading this thread.
The Sentinel was solid. Watched it last year. I had The Innocents on my DVR for a while last year, but never got around to watching it.
Not particularly scary for 2013, but I watched the original 1959 "House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price last night. I forgot how creepy and good he was in all of the old scary movies. I'm sure the movie was terrifying when first released, but it was interesting to see how horror flicks have evolved over the years.
He was the main reason I decided to VOD the movie.Vincent Price was a legend.
Not particularly scary for 2013, but I watched the original 1959 "House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price last night. I forgot how creepy and good he was in all of the old scary movies. I'm sure the movie was terrifying when first released, but it was interesting to see how horror flicks have evolved over the years.
They have basically just become more gross. The best ones are still the ones that downplay the violence. Even the first Halloween has very little actual graphic violence, which is probably why it remains the high point for slasher movies. The first Alien has one jarring scene (for the time), but most of the violence is unseen. The Exorcist has very little violence. The Omen is an exception since it has that famous decapitation scene.
They have basically just become more gross. The best ones are still the ones that downplay the violence. Even the first Halloween has very little actual graphic violence, which is probably why it remains the high point for slasher movies. The first Alien has one jarring scene (for the time), but most of the violence is unseen. The Exorcist has very little violence. The Omen is an exception since it has that famous decapitation scene.
I'm not sure I agree with this. While not a bloody mess, the Exorcist used special effects for plenty of shock value. Rosemary's Baby was not understated. The Omen, as you mentioned was quite "gory". Jaws had tons of blood.
Special effects are easier now and tend to be used as a crutch for stories, but on the whole, horror films were probably more gory in the 1980's. The J-Horror influence has used gore more effectively than traditional American slasher flicks.