Horror Movies with Effects that Lasted

[Angel]

With my favorite holiday of all time coming up, I figured it'd be a good time to discuss something that most people have in common: what horror movies scared you, and how so? I know I've got a list, and I know others do too.  So, let's start rehashing terrifying memories!  (BTW, those creepy, messed-up Disney movie scenes are welcome here too. I dunno about you guys, but Mickey chopping up the broom in Fantasia still freaks me out a little. Gnnh...)

The Ring: The first horror movie to really make me scream and jump. Say what you will, but as a thirteen-year-old girl watching her first horror movie with her big brother (not to mention having the phone ring - for real - right when she's done watching the tape for the first time - only to discover it was my best friend who had no idea we were watching it and yelling at my brother for pulling a Becca on me), that movie scared the CRAP out of me. For a whole week, I was scared to turn on the TV. I would seriously be reaching out at arm's length and whimpering if I had to turn it on. And God forbid it ever went to static; I'd covermy face with my arms and shriek "TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF!" until someone changed the channel. And don't get me started on how much fun my brother had turning on a walkie-talkie outside my bedroom door so all I could hear was static.

The Exorcist: Watched it at my best friend's birthday party. Her mom had recommended it; she gave us the whole spiel about how people would have heart attacks in the theater. So we were dumb enough to watch it. The scene that got us all to finally scream was when she goes down the stairs backwards and there's blood running all over her face and she's making that weird screamy-hiss noise and then my friend jumped up, turned off the TV, and just kept saying, "I can't, I can't I can't watch this, I'm sorry guys, I can't, I can't, I gotta go talk to my - MOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!" Then she ran up the stairs. She was so scared she couldn't even speak; she just made a bunch of gestures and her mom said, "You saw the stair scene, didn't you?" We watched the rest of it in the morning. The other scene that scared us (besides the actual exorcism) was ... well, the scene that makes every girl watching it cross her legs and go quiet. Even picturing that scene makes me wince.

Psycho: Oh God, how much more can you say about this movie than what everyone says? Even though I knew how it had ended, those creepy images (especially when he smiles at the end...) stayed with me. For quite a few days, whenever I took a shower, I had to peek out every three minutes or so to make sure I was actually alone. It sounds stupid, but I know oa lot of other people did the same thing.

The Grudge: The only film that, at the time I saw it, actually beat The Ring. My friends and I saw the trailers and figured it was a cheap Ring rip-off. So we went to go see it. About twenty minutes in, it was pretty good - though we were stuck in a theater full of those jerks who laugh and kill the mood. So I went out to get some popcorn and a slushie. Before I could go back in the theater, I saw Kimi and Lauren walking out. They told me it was too scary and they were going to leave. I scoffed, saying there was no way it was THAT scary - we'd seen The Exorcist together, after all. It did weird me out a little that even Lauren was scared - she loves horror movies and has a strong stomach for them. I was still skeptical and said I'd meet them in Borders when it was over. They left, and I went back in.

Ten minutes later, I walked out of the theater, and went straight to Borders. According to Lauren, and what I remember, I was pale, shaking like a leaf, hugging my arms, staring at the ground, and gasping in shuddering breaths. I went straight to the manga aisle and found Lauren, who immediately started hugging me and going "Oh my God, are you okay??" All I could say in response was: "...The kid....was the cat..."

The Saw series: Screw M. Night Shyamalan, the first Saw movie had the best twist I've ever seen. I sat motionless in the basement after it was over, just processing everything that had gone on. It was like Fight Club, except I didn't need to watch it again to get it. And some of the traps still make me queasy: the needle pit, the actual sawing scene in the first movie, the twisting-limbs rack, and of course, the trap at the end of the fourth movie (major spoiler that I won't say).

Halloween: My mom told me this was her favorite horror movie, she also told me it was unwise to watch it alone in a dark basement at midnight. I still wish I'd listened to her. The Ring may have made me afraid to watch TV, and Psycho may have made me scared of the shower, but only Halloween scared me so badly that for the first time in eleven years, I had to sleep with the lights on. And considering what a masterpiece the movie is, I'm really not ashamed to admit that.

[superluser]

I used to get creeped out by everything.  Now, I'm basically creeped out by nothing.

So, for me, no effects lasted.

But three films had effects that I think hold up as well today as they did back then:

1.) John Carpenter's The Thing.  The effects in that were great, and really put you in the scene with the characters.
2.) Alien.  They looked real then.  They look real, now.
3.) The Stepford Wives.  Not the scene you're thinking of.  Unless you were thinking of the copyright notice.  A film about people who are replaced by emotionally dead robots that was produced by a pharmaceutical company.  I still get shivers thinking about it.

Oh, and Attack of the the Eye Creatures is exactly as scary today as it was when it first came out.  The giant zippers are just as noticeable, too.

[Zina]

The Ring is my all time favorite horror movie. I've seen it a ridiculous amount of times, and each time it still scares me.

Other than that, I remember being terrified of Psycho and The Shining when I first saw them. Parts of The Shining still freak me out. Something about wandering around a big giant hotel all alone is incredibly unsettling to me.

Recently I saw Them(or was it They?) it's a French horror film. I had to drive home alone afterwards. I did not have a good time with that.

[superluser]

Recently I saw Them(or was it They?) it's a French horror film.

Looks like the French title is Ils, which is translated as Them for the English-speaking audience.

I'd like to point out that this film is not the same as Them!, which stars Leonard Nimoy.  The only way that that one could frighten you is if you're terrified of giant ants.

[Janus Whitefurr]

Horror movies in general scare the pants off me. Psychological (Ringu, The Grudge) more than visceral (slashers). It's the suspense, really. If there's a significant suspenseful buildup in anything, be it to a joke scene or an actual danger scene, I pretty much wither and die. It's not the violence that gets me, it's the waiting and the suspense and the imaginative thought that there's something out there in the dark waiting and watching

[Rakala]

The scariest movie of all time I've seen was It.  I saw it when I was 8. I haven't seen any other horror movies since.

[Turnsky]

The scariest movie of all time I've seen was It.  I saw it when I was 8. I haven't seen any other horror movies since.

pfft.. it was an evil space clown..

i don't watch many scary movies these days.. (i did like The Thing, though) but scary games, are another matter...

[Alondro]

The scariest movie ever:  The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Tim Curry in drag... I've been emotionally scarred ever since.  After I saw that movie my mind was warped so horribly I became a furry...  NUFF SAID!!!   

[Turnsky]

The scariest movie ever:  The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Tim Curry in drag... I've been emotionally scarred ever since.  After I saw that movie my mind was warped so horribly I became a furry...  NUFF SAID!!!   

i've seen worse..

Try hugo weaving in drag. 

[Amber Williams]

Watership Down.

[Azlan]

Nothing scares me... grosses me out, yes, but scare no.  Suspenseful movies are far superior to slashers for being scary, and nothing beats black & white for suspense.  Bad costumes and effects, but a noticeable higher bar for suspense then color.

[Darkmoon]

John Carpenter's The Thing.

Quoted for truth.

Also, the original Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Good flicks.

[superluser]

Watership Down.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but one of the most traumatic films (not exactly a horror film) I've ever seen is When the Wind Blows.  It's in a similar sort of ``Ooh!  It's an animated film from a children's author!'' vein.

Yeah.  An apocalyptic animated film about how the British government has doomed the country in the case of nuclear attack.  It's pretty traumatizing all the way through, but this bit near the end is really difficult to watch, though still pretty indicative of the trauma of the rest of the film.

[Mao]

Event Horizon messed me up after watching it the first time as far as movies go, though it didn't help that I was tired and alone.  When I was 9 years old 'It' was pretty bad too but I sat through it and it wasn't a problem again.

[Kipiru]

For all pf you who are searching for a movie to bring you back the sense of fear look up "Rec". It made me afraid of the dark again(for two days only, but still)

here is a link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/

[Rakala]

The scariest movie of all time I've seen was It.  I saw it when I was 8. I haven't seen any other horror movies since.

pfft.. it was an evil space clown..

i don't watch many scary movies these days.. (i did like The Thing, though) but scary games, are another matter...

To be fair I haven't watched it again since the first time I saw it so I'm not really sure how scary it actually was.

[Alondro]

Watership Down.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but one of the most traumatic films (not exactly a horror film) I've ever seen is When the Wind Blows.  It's in a similar sort of ``Ooh!  It's an animated film from a children's author!'' vein.

Yeah.  An apocalyptic animated film about how the British government has doomed the country in the case of nuclear attack.  It's pretty traumatizing all the way through, but this bit near the end is really difficult to watch, though still pretty indicative of the trauma of the rest of the film.

I saw both of those films when I was still a kid.

I thought Watership Down was great, if a bit slow-moving at times. 

And as for When the Wind Blows, it pretty easy for me to sum up the emotional impact:  Oh look, they're drinking the fallout-contaminated rain.  Well, I know where this is going.

I never got emotional about fiction.  I was way too logical as a child.  Then I realized how boring that was.  Now Bambi makes me cry.   

There's no way ta win I tell ya!

[Angel]

Nothing scares me... grosses me out, yes, but scare no.  Suspenseful movies are far superior to slashers for being scary, and nothing beats black & white for suspense.  Bad costumes and effects, but a noticeable higher bar for suspense then color.

Not sure about that. Night of the Living Dead was okay, but it was a little too slow-paced for my liking. 28 Weeks Later, though, that was a nice twist on the classic zombie film. And it made me wish I'd brought a flashlight - I had to walk home from a neighbor's house in the dark.

[Noone]

I think the only horror movie that has ever left a lasting impression on me is "Manos, the Hands of Fate.", and in the worst way possible too. It's not that the movie was scary, it's that it was so poorly done it's almost comical. There is practically no plot, the dialog is poorly done, and so is the acting. One of it's peaks of it's hideousness is when the big bad evil guy decides to kill one of his minions(Torgo), and he does so by waving a pipe in front of his face, I *wish* I was joking, he just waves a pipe in front of him and stares, and then Torgo just dies. The funny thing is that that Torgo is back alive in a few scenes anyways, which makes me wonder what was going through the producer's head when he was making this. It also should be noted that the beginning scene is just about 30 minutes of driving, little to no dialog, no plot or character development, just driving. It's truly a terrible piece of work and subsequently raised the opinions I had about every other movie I had ever seen.

[superluser]

I think the only horror movie that has ever left a lasting impression on me is "Manos, the Hands of Fate.", and in the worst way possible too.

You've seen the MST3K version, right?

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

He worships it :p

[Rakala]

HIDE! IT'S THE TORGO-WALKING THEME!

[Myxini]

the sledgehammer scene in Misery, I had to turn it off as soon as I realized what was about to happen.  I'm not that fond of horror movies in general, but most of them are unrealistic enough that you feel safely insulated from anything like that ever happening in real life.  but that was just too real.

[Turnsky]

the sledgehammer scene in Misery, I had to turn it off as soon as I realized what was about to happen.  I'm not that fond of horror movies in general, but most of them are unrealistic enough that you feel safely insulated from anything like that ever happening in real life.  but that was just too real.

Cathy bates wanted to be like the book, and use an Axe instead of the hammer.

[Darkmoon]

Night of the Living Dead was okay, but it was a little too slow-paced for my liking.

I prefer the 90's Night of the Living Dead. I know I'm in the minority there, but I thought it was a better movie.

As for 28 Days Later, it's a great flick, but it's not a zombie flick. A key difference is the fact that these aren't rotting corpses, but rage infected humans that can starve to death and die.

[Alkarii]

Here's a weird one for ya:  when I was a kid, like, four or so, I HATED that one scene in Dumbo where he gets drunk and starts having that Pink Floyd hallucination about pink elephants.  Dunno why that creeped me out.

But as far as real horror films... I was laughing my ass off at the Child's Play movies when I was three.  At that time, I wasn't aware of how stupid it was, but still...

[King Of Hearts]

Would Silence of the Lambs count as horror?

Its the first and only time that my eyes blacked out and I was losing my breath when watching a movie. Wasn't as scary the second time I watched it but the fear I had in my chest at the time is simply something I cannot forget for the rest of my life.

It was the escape scene... just one scene... one very powerful scene.

[Brunhidden]

if silence of the lambs counts the movie 'seven' has to, despite people telling me its not a 'horror' movie.

i personally like horror movies with less effects, more suspense. your imagination suspends a lot of your thought just to make you more scared, unlike movies like 'saw' where from what ive heard you essentially watch people forced to preform dental surgery on themselves.

however despite my previous paragraph i feel like i would be beatten here if i stated that 'arachnophobia', which had virtually no special effects, was one of my favorite scary movies



ill stick with 'tremors', it has good but limited effects that allow suspence to do most of the work and yet flavors it with a bit of random humor too

[Sunblink]

Watership Down.

Agreed. Great movie, but holy shit, it traumatized me.

Also, I haven't seen the movie in its entirety, but I watched the "barbed wire maze" scene in Saw. That was horrific. I also saw the needle pit scene in Saw II, which was very horrifying on a psychological level. Poor Amanda.

[Darkmoon]

The Saw movies are overrated. It's like the director wanted to make Se7en, but didn't have a good enough script, so he threw extra gore in instead.