Glad you mentioned this one. If you like creepy imagery (like I do), this one is tough to beat. Even more disturbing than The Shining, IMO. Seriously, that scene where he looked around the corner and saw that guy's head shaking scared the crap out of me. And I had nightmares about those weird looking dudes in the subway. Great movie. That's really my favorite kind of horror movie. The movies with the disturbing scenes that just make you kind of uneasy. It's really hard to find movies that do this though. Seems like everything's already been done and there's really nothing original out there anymore. Know any more out there that compare to JL? I'd like to check them out.
I love a good horror movie although I am not big on the slasher/someone is chasing me type movie which means movies like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween are ones that really don't do much for me. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is about the only one of those type of movies that I found somewhat scary and that was more because of the atmosphere. To me, movies that deal with ghosts and haunted houses and disturbing visuals (what ima was talking about above) as well as just general foreboding type atmospheres get me scared. That is why I love The Shining so much - great music and such a great foreboding atmosphere. You just have this feeling of uneasiness the whole movie. That is what a great horror movie should do to you, IMO. I also loved The Ring and I'll also mention Alien. A highly underrated movie that will mess with your mind and has great atmospherics (if that is such a word) is "The Others" with Nicole Kidman. If you like "The Shining" and "The Ring", you'll like this movie.
Check out Pulse (Japanese version). Also called Kairo, I think. It's a quiet, slow moving movie. But it has some seriously disturbing images, I thought. I also thought Dark Water (again, Japanese version) was pretty scary when I first saw it ... but I don't think it held up as well with repeat viewings. And I agree with you. Somewhat surreal and nightmarish is the scariest type of movie for me, but there just don't seem to be that many of them.
The Ring. It's like everyone screamed in the cinema when that thing crawl out. And the well scene. Silent Hill. The movie didn't dissapoint, just like the game. The creepy nurse, the town where you can never leave... my kind of horror story. The Mist. The Others. This is a classic for haunted house. It's tough to pick one, but I'll go with Silent Hill, where I'll feel completely helpless if put the situation.
I think that movie is more of like a psychological thriller with a twist than a horror movie... If it's classified as a horror it's one of the wimpiest movies of the bunch..
Agree on The Mist but then it was directed by the same guy who did The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile in Frank Darabont. That guy was born to make Stephen King stories into great movies.
I saw the Exorcist as a child and Im still kind of pissed my older sisters didnt tell me it was a scary movie.
LOL, my sister is still pissed at me for taking her to see it. (actually, my parents were more pissed. they had to sleep with her for a couple of nights until she got the movie out of her system)
Good call. And while we're on movies that scared the crap out of us as kids, also Children of the Corn.
For those of you who are into horror, there's actually a pretty cool series you can get on Netflix called Masters of Horror. It's a bunch of hour-long episodes and each one has a different guest director. For the most part, they're pretty cheesy, but there are a few that are spectacular. One is called Jennifer, and the other one is Cigarette Burns. Actually, a couple of falls ago, NBA actually bought up the series, renamed it Fear Itself, and started airing new episodes. That was a pretty cool little miniseries they had.
IMO, most of these have been pretty disappointing. But Cigarette Burns was good, and Imprint was probably the most disturbing thing I've seen in years (too bad the acting was bad - it would have been the best episode by far).
I was 6 when I first saw The Shining...I thought Jack Nicholson was in my closet every night at bedtime for years...Still hard to watch today. By far the scariest for me. Poltergeist would be my #2
