Most frightening film ever made

I’m not keen on films that are just nasty for the sake of it, I don’t see the point as I’m not entertained by them, but I have seen films where there’s been a degree of horror or disquieting scenes, like Alien, or Event Horizon, and the one that disturbed me the most was Pan’s Labyrinth. I never want to see it again, for one particular scene.

Texas chainsaw massacre
Hellraiser
Alien
Snowtown (not a horror but based on reality and utterly hellish)
Kill list
Audition

Not sure it’s THE scariest, but Event Horizon has to be up there?

Creep – the London Underground one. Proper old school frights in that one

Event Horizon is great. So much that I keep starting to watch it again on Prime and then only get 10 minutes in.

Because I know what’s coming and it will never be as good as when I first watched it.

I don’t watch that much horror but Texas Chainsaw Massacre stands out for sheer visceral scariness.

And the fact that it probably defined a sub-genre is to it’s credit.

The Exorcist was amazing too.

I do enjoy some of the more knowing, meta horror films, but the ones that really stand out are when they do something new and play it straight.

I agree with the floating kid in Salem’s lot.
My parents made me watch it on a 12 volt tv in a tent, in a thunder storm. I crapped myself.
I still believe in vampires.
When I grow up maybe I will be one

The Vanishing
Arlington Road

Neither “horror”/“jumpy” traditional scary but none the less disturbing in there own way.

First one I thought of has already been mentioned twice!! The Salem’s lot floating vampire kid…

A function of my age at the time of watching I’m sure but its the scene that lingers…

Surely it’s Jaws?
I saw it when I was ten and have spent the last forty years too scared to go back in the water

Dog Soldiers messed up night rides for me for a while years ago.

Funny games, original haneke one, as above.

Another one to add to the Jaws list here…

Watched it at far too young an age, left me nervous about swimming around the UK coast and terrified of the sea on family hols around the Mediterranean in the mid to late 80s.

The most frightening film will be the one about how the British population tried to survive a virus using ‘common sense’.

The Yellow Submarine still gives me recurring nightmares, 40yrs after I saw it.
I ain’t afraid of no ghost, but true stories like Wolf Creek and psychological thrillers scare me witless for weeks. I’ve not watched any for a while, what with randoms turning up at my door (see cctv thread)

Mama Mia was deeply disturbing and caused me significant mental trauma.

Salem’s lot scared the living shit out of me when I was a kid. Had dreams that I was a junior floating vampire for years afterwards. Truly menacing. Walked into the casino scene where Jo pesci gets beaten almost to death and and buried alive, whilst on a lot of acid. Not good.

+1 for Salem’s Lot – the one with David Soul. Scared the shit out of me when i was a kid. The floating brother at the window with the eyes… Also when he’s trying to kill the thing in it’s coffin when it suddenly wakes up, again the eyes.

Absolutely agree with Jaws, scarred for life. Can only swim when I can see the ground.

Can’t see the point of horror films, I avoid at pretty much all cost, and don’t think I’ve missed anything.

I’ve watched a few of the older films mentioned, don’t watch that many now, but during lockdown I watched 28 days later which was ok. A couple of weeks later I tried the 2nd one, 28 weeks later, I think it’s the only film I’ve thought f*** this! and stopped watching, the scene where the infected get into the crowd locked in the military base is so gory I had to give up on it!

The Thing 1982. John Carpenter. Fantastically shot horror, not gory as such just really really scary. The husky scene is terrifying. The blood testing scene is even more terrifying. Great film.

Not a fan of modern OTT gorefest horror (unless it’s done in a Sam Raimi style) and don’t watch a lot of horror generally as my wife isn’t a fan at all (Woman In Black proper freaked her out).

So, as an outlier, the one film that has still left an impression on me is The Serpent And The Rainbow. Saw it in the cinema and can’t really remember any details of the film, just (still) an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia, paranoia and sweatiness.

The Thing 1982.

Thingu 2012

I’ve yet to see it, but Come and See apparently stays with you for a long while after viewing. Anyone seen it?

After watching this I never used a public telephone ever again…

The only film that’s given me nightmares is Irréversible. It’s not a horror film, but it is horrific – I do not recommend it.

The Yellow Submarine still gives me recurring nightmares

I watched it one Christmas in the dark with all the bright lights on the Christmas tree twinkling away. When it finished I went through to the dining room for tea which was polony, chips and peas with HP sauce. This was some 45 years ago but I still vividly remember feeling really, really sad looking at the drab brown plate of food. Gawd it made me sad 🙁

It’s more about your state of mind when you watched it than the actual content. For me, ‘The Shining’ on a tiny telly in a dark room with a load of nervous teenagers. Even the sudden ‘screen going black’ moments between the scenes had me jumping out of my skin.

Wierdly I found JFK really scary when I watched it as a teenager, not the film per se but the implication that “dark forces” could do what they wanted, up to killing a president and get away with it. It filled me with a kind of existential dread for a while after.

Alien and The Shining have to be up there though, they a both just brilliantly constructed films with a sense of creeping fear woven into everything in the film from the set design to the music.

Scariest trad horror for me was probably “The Descent” lots of jump scares and a brilliantly scary overall idea.

I don’t care for horror/gore, personally. The most disturbing films are those where you can relate to the situational peril or violence. Jaws is one of those films.

Event Horizon terrified me as a young teenager and it’s still unsettling.

The original Nightmare on Elm street gave me nightmares but I rewatched it last year and it’s laughably bad really.

I believe Hereditary is terrifying but I havent seen it???

La Cabina is a 45 minute thrill ride. Loved it.

Watched Midsommar last night. Made Eden Lake look like an episode of Rainbow. Truly disturbing and frankly awful in places. Loved it.

Funny Games. Both versions are very good and terrifying.

I’m glad everyone is mentioning event horizon. Great film.

Excorcist is great but its not scary. However being able to play tubular bells on the piano is excellent for winding people up in empty theatres.

It’s more about your state of mind when you watched it than the actual content. For me, ‘The Shining’ on a tiny telly in a dark room with a load of nervous teenagers. Even the sudden ‘screen going black’ moments between the scenes had me jumping out of my skin.

There was a fantastic contribution to one of Danny Baker’s shows from a listener who was watching it late at night, alone – after enjoying some wacky baccy.

His name was Lloyd and he was severely traumatised by this bit…

Frozen.

I’m struggling to think of many ‘scary’ films. But I can detach the screen from reality so will feel tense or excited or get jump-scares or what have you, but actually “scared” not so much.

Video games on the other hand… I played the demo of Resident Evil 5 (I think?), you’re trying to escape from a creepy old house and there’s things like a bedroom full of mannequins, you turn away and turn back and they’ve moved. The ending I got, I got the back door open and then the maniac in the house grabbed me, I about soiled myself. People play the full game on VR; two words, second word “that.”

The other one that gave me the willies was Alien Isolation. Wandering around a derelict spaceship or similar, spent like an hour and a half quietly shitting myself, didn’t see a single alien.

Excorcist is great but its not scary. However being able to play tubular bells on the piano is excellent for winding people up in empty theatres.

You take a piano to the cinema?

Another Salems lot vote here.

Also The Road that really preyed on my mind for months for some reason, never watched it since

Yeah video games definitely trump films in their ability to actively scare you.

I had to stop playing “Silent Hill” at one point as it just got too scary and weird

The other one that gave me the willies was Alien Isolation

It loses a bit of it power once you have a more of a handle on the Alien’s behavior, but you never feel entirely comfortable. Its definitely the only game where I’ve ever hidden terrified in a locker.

Chopper

Not really horror, but I remember being very tense for about 1 1/2 hours.