This is a judgement free zone, Skinamarink is a perfectly acceptable answer
Edit: we're getting pretty decent participation so I'll selfishly ask, what's your scariest demon slash possession slash exorcism movie? I seen them most!
Hard to answer. When I was young, I saw this alien abduction movie called Fire in the Sky and it fucked me up for a long time. I don't get scared the way I used to. Hereditary was profoundly disturbing in a way I hadn't felt in a long time, but I don't know if I would call it scary.
Fire in the Sky
That movie fucked me up as a kid too, brutal. Had me scared of aliens for years.
I've never seen Fire in the Sky. I've seen part of the alien abduction scene, and I never plan to finish watching that scene or the movie. That movie would be an absolute top for scariest movie, although it might be because of my severe needlephobia.
Fire in the Sky
That scene where he looks down to see what his hands are in fucked me up as a kid
I love It Follows, it spooked me on my first watch and it's really well done. It was totally marketed wrong, it looked stupid so I skipped it when it came out, wasn't until years later I saw it and loved it.
It's weird, I don't like watching horror movies or playing horror games because it stresses me the fuck out, even though I actually love horror movies and horror games. Just like, reviews, explanations, clips, monster and costume design, effects. Love reading written horror and listening to audio horror too, doesn't have the same stress level.
Hm, this is hard. I didn't think Midsommar was that scary (disturbing, disgusting, uncomfortable but not scary, not terrifying) but I was pretty freaked out by the opening triple murder-suicide. I found parts of Hereditary pretty scary, and others parts disturbing, but by the end I was more invested in the weird demon/witch lore than I was frightened.
One of the most intense reactions I've ever had to a movie was actually Uncut Gems. There was a moment, sitting in the theater, where I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack (and I am not a person who has panic attacks. I had one as a little kid, but never since).
I think I might have to go with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
When I watched it with my mom (my rewatch) like 20mins from the end she paused the movie and demanded me to tell her how it ended because it's so stress-inducing.
So true about uncut gems. Had me buzzing when the movie was finished, possibly also had the most intense reaction ever to that
Def not the scariest movie ever but VVitch perfectly captured that silent, empty, endless forest feeling that's not quite fear but is something very close to it. Having spent a good amount of time in northern climate forests in winter that feeling persists in daylight and this is one of the few movies that captured the vibe while sitting at home.
First watched it with some friends on a projector in a storage pole-barn out in the sticks and it definitely felt a little spooky leaving the place at like 2am
I used to go camping in the same area that they filmed VVitch, it was a lot of fun when i started noticing clearings that i've portaged through.
I didn't enjoy the VVitch. I really appreciate the attention to detail and craft that went in to it, it's beautiful, but a certain event early in the movie made it obvious to me how things were going to turn out and it felt the same way someone spoiling a thriller or a mystery movie would. After something like that only one narrative path is possible, which killed the suspense for me.
That’s fair enough - I wasn’t really concerned with the course of the narrative to the point where seeing the ‘twist’ coming would ruin it for me, more so I enjoyed the atmosphere and character tension. Completely understand where you’re coming from though
I totally get you, too. I read a few articles on thelengths they went to to get the period just right. Like so much attention to detail!
Watched that one on Cytube on Halloween once, scared me pretty good but not enough to fuck me up long term. I recommend it.
Classic. "Where we're going we don't need eyes to see"
I love Sam Neil as a villain. He's great in Daybreakers, too.
I hope Pee-Wee Herman understands the collective trauma he unleashed on all of us with that
Only movie to genuinely scare me to screaming was a ocean documentary I watched on the big I max theater when I was 5. The view of a huge jellyfish from below looking up at the stingers was horrifying to me as a young child. Now all I feel from horror movies is suspense and tension, or occasionally disgust at shit like needles into eyes.
I think Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the dinner scene is the one that has made me feel the most tense and stressed out.
As for actual fear I think it would have to be some film that plays on a phobia of mine, like spiders, or tornadoes/whirlwinds. But since Im so aware of how scared I get due to those phobias I simply never watch any films that are known for either thing.
Edit: Actually upon retrospect I think fear would have to be any film that includes basically a situation where someone gets trapped in a body that is absolutely certainly fucked for the rest of their life. Like the scene for Looper comes to mind right away.
Anything like that just really opens a huge pit in my stomach, I almost cant handle it.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the dinner scene
The next generation? :chefs-kiss: immaculate fuckin film
Gore and body horror and whatnot ain't shit, that's honestly just a good time cheering for the effects artists. Jump scares are just annoying. What really gets me is crushing stress and dread.
So basically I will never ever be watching Skinamarink
This is a bad answer, but the movie that really made an impression on me was Blair Witch Project. The final scene did it for me image wise. Imprinted on my impressionable teenage brain.
Blair Witch Project is really well executed for what it is and what they had to work with, though its also enhanced for me because I have experience with stupidly getting lost in the woods for no reason and walking in circles for like an hour as a kid.
That's a fine answer. Blair Witch was very fresh and a huge break-out success.
Maybe a silly answer but Signs. The music does a lot of the work but fuck that movie always gets my adrenaline going on certain scenes.
Looking back it had a lot more going on than i appreciated at the time. Shyamalan has cool ideas. The execution isn't always there but the novelty, i think, makes up for it.
He really gets the whole "this is a realistic but interesting character" angle correct 8mo
I think Skinamarink might be the answer. If not that, then the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
For me I think Skinamarink was the most dreadful film, in the most literal sense.
There are some scary moments and one in particular, but the overall feeling is overwhelming dread and exhaustion.
The kind of vibe you're describing is similar to how I think the Ari Aster horror movies work, you get so emotionally drained and tired from the constant misery and stress the characters are dealing with and that, I think, makes it harder to put up walls and make light of the scary parts.
Skinsmarink seems like it'd do that really well but I read the description and while I might have watched it five years ago ever since I became a parent I just can't handle kids being subjected to that level of trauma. I cried during Onward lol
Yeah I definitely would not recommend if you struggle with children being subjected to trauma, its very rough.
Yeah I think that's right. I do think there's a kind of scary that is not related to acute "scary moments" though. Like it's possible that the ever deepening :doomjak: feeling is a more perverse type of scary than just a series of scary moments. In fact I think that deep, unsettling feeling that sinks in when the full sense of severity becomes clear is much scarier than a bunch of classic scary moments.
It's kind of the same with Texas Chainsaw Massacre honestly, like that movie doesn't have a ton of "scary moments" either, it's much more about the summation of watching the protagonists desperately exist in this demented environment.
