Horror: Anyone ever lost sleep or been truly afraid? (vs, crime, drama)
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I've loved horror movies since a child. I guess I've watched so many and read so many Stephen King books that nothing really bothers me. However, I watched The Conjuring last year and that actually did make the hair on my neck stand up. First time ever.
Me too. Then I watched it a second time & it just wasn't the same, it didn't scare me the second time.
THE EXORCIST for me. I am almost 40 and it is the only one I won't watch alone. I also read both it and the sequel, LEGION...William Peter Blatty can write some disturbing stuff.
A brief digression...it is funny that what scares us is so personal. I have heard people who laugh at THE EXCORCIST tell me SILENCE OF THE LAMBS terrifies them. I actually laughed at that movie when he had his famous line about eating a guys liver with some fava beans. Being a reasonably tough male who used to wrestle and has worked security handcuffing people, Anthony Hopkins is just not a credible threat to me. But Linda Blair levitating and vomiting pea soup...now she scares me!
The original BLACK CHRISMAS, because I can identify with the female characters, and the psycho in that is almost inhuman both in the depth of his insanity and by the fact that a lot of the time he appears as a disembodied voice on the phone. By the by, Black CHRISTMAS is the only movie in history pulled from a TV broadcast for being too scary.
When I was a kid, HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, and the SHINING got to me. But they seem like harmless good fun now. Same with the garden trowel scene from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and the little flying kids from Salem's Lot.
The Original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is still somewhat disturbing because I really get its thematic vibe...modern American capitalism turning people into butchers and animals. I don't necessarily agree, but I find it a well made piece of art, and that chainsaw is damned scary!
I found MARTIN to be a very disturbing de-construction of the vampire myth...really about how we romanticize rape and murder. And like a lot of movies of that era, it is more disturbing because the production values are so low, and consequently it looks like real life. I wouldn't say that this one is scary per se, but very disturbing. It hit that nerve with me.
Someone in one of these threads mentioned DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW. Yeah, I can still remember the abject terror at the end when "Bubba" looks down at the little girl. Like some of the others, it is not quite the same now that I and a middle aged man, but its still a cut way above (and for a TV movie none-the-less!) and there are nice little touches throughout like gruesome, but non-bloody deaths, and a very creepy soundtrack.
I once saw a short production of THE LOTTERY, and it is just as effective as in print. There was a scene in a very gory zombie flick called DEAD AND BURIED that captured something of that same kind of madness of an ordinary situation turning against you fast and dramatically when a bunch of seemingly normal townsfolk beat a guy up real bad and burn him alive for seemingly no reason.
Last edited by cachibatches; 06-05-2014 at 10:47 PM..
I love suspense and horror films (the latter without too much gore, especially if it seems gratuitous). A lot of people say, "I won't be able to sleep after this," or "That movie kept me up at night," or "I'll have to sleep with the light on," etc.
Other than "The Exorcist," which I've seen probably three times in my life and each time felt profoundly disturbed, as in "Stop watching this; some things are just too evil and I can't take it" and since age 11 when I saw "Jaws" in the theater and was literally afraid to get in the bathtub for months afterward, nothing has scared me to the extent that I couldn't sleep. (Maybe "Jaws," now that I think about it -- I wouldn't even go near the ocean for years and am still uncomfortable being around large bodies of water.)
Which horror movies have affected you like this, if any?
EXORCIST!!! I am Catholic! I looove ANYTHING horror/scary. But this freaking movie made me had nightmares for months! Made me not watch scary movies for awhile!
2nd is the EVil Dead. Again coz of the possession scenes. So was surprsied to know they categorized this movie as comedy?!! Whaaaaaaaa? I sure wasn't laughing anytime in the movie.
I've loved horror movies since a child. I guess I've watched so many and read so many Stephen King books that nothing really bothers me. However, I watched The Conjuring last year and that actually did make the hair on my neck stand up. First time ever.
Same here, read mystery/suspense/horror at a very young age. Just tonight I almost watched "The Conjuring" but something else came up; admittedly, I'm a little afraid to approach that because of the subject matter, demons, etc.
I forgot to mention two others besides "The Exorcist" and "Jaws" that I just can't watch anymore: "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" absolutely horrifies me because it happened, and I've been to Fall River and that house and it's all just very dark. Everything about it. "Psycho" also got to me with the mother-personality switch; not so much the shower scene, because that was just gore, shock, etc.
I think I'm more frightened of psychological horror and that which can occur in real life. That means
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Bamford: This British documentary about the making of the original Omen in the 1970's will probably psyche you out even further.
you're likely right! I'll have to test myself on that one!
JZA: I also saw "The Entity" at about age 15, and though I've seen it since, it's never been easy to watch. That same year I saw the first "Amityville Horror" with Margot Kidder, and it was scary then, but I don't think it would affect me now.
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Cachibatches: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS...I actually laughed at that movie when he had his famous line about eating a guys liver with some fava beans....Anthony Hopkins is just not a credible threat to me. But Linda Blair levitating and vomiting pea soup...now she scares me!
Same here. That scene was silly to me, but when she got in Buffalo Bill's house and suddenly realized where she was, and even before that - watching him "go about his day" - freaked me out.
Isn't it weird -- I didn't like "The Strangers" or "Paranormal Activity" AT ALL! I thought they were both really awful. I think I felt bored -- they seemed to drag on and on. Also never have liked zombie, gore, vampire or werewolf movies (though "The Howling" was very good).
As far as I can recall, I've been very uncomfortable, uneasy, about a few of these films/some other scenes, but not really to the point at which I couldn't sleep...though they do remain in my mind and I think of them but usually forget about it. BUT if I watched any of those four (Exorcist, Lizzie Borden, Jaws, Psycho) today, alone, they would really, really bother me and likely keep me awake.
[quote=bellakin123;35108287][quote=nmg63;35050694] Well that didn't work out when they decided to see Night of the Living Dead! Everyone fell asleep except me! I remember peering over the backseat to see the movie! I was six! I wound between my parents staring at the door and window, just waiting for some Zombie to appear! I stayed up all night!
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Was that the original black and white one? I remember my sister telling me one of her dates with her husband was at the drive in and they saw Night of the Living Dead. I laughed at the '80's remake but when I saw the original--it truly frightened me.
Yes it was! I've never watched completely the remakes and sequels! They show them on SyFy sometimes and I try to, but they're so silly and rather boring!
For a silly yet rather effective zombie comedy I love Shaun of the Dead!
This British documentary about the making of the original Omen in the 1970's will probably psyche you out even further.
Oh, my. I watched that, and without giving too much away, there were some definite, almost unbelievable "sad coincidences," shall we say, before, during, and after making that movie. I'd never heard about this.
That's why I won't bring this particular brand of horror into my home anymore. I just feel like it's an invitation.
Same here, read mystery/suspense/horror at a very young age. Just tonight I almost watched "The Conjuring" but something else came up; admittedly, I'm a little afraid to approach that because of the subject matter, demons, etc.
I forgot to mention two others besides "The Exorcist" and "Jaws" that I just can't watch anymore: "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" absolutely horrifies me because it happened, and I've been to Fall River and that house and it's all just very dark. Everything about it. "Psycho" also got to me with the mother-personality switch; not so much the shower scene, because that was just gore, shock, etc.
I think I'm more frightened of psychological horror and that which can occur in real life. That means
you're likely right! I'll have to test myself on that one!
JZA: I also saw "The Entity" at about age 15, and though I've seen it since, it's never been easy to watch. That same year I saw the first "Amityville Horror" with Margot Kidder, and it was scary then, but I don't think it would affect me now.
Same here. That scene was silly to me, but when she got in Buffalo Bill's house and suddenly realized where she was, and even before that - watching him "go about his day" - freaked me out.
Isn't it weird -- I didn't like "The Strangers" or "Paranormal Activity" AT ALL! I thought they were both really awful. I think I felt bored -- they seemed to drag on and on. Also never have liked zombie, gore, vampire or werewolf movies (though "The Howling" was very good).
As far as I can recall, I've been very uncomfortable, uneasy, about a few of these films/some other scenes, but not really to the point at which I couldn't sleep...though they do remain in my mind and I think of them but usually forget about it. BUT if I watched any of those four (Exorcist, Lizzie Borden, Jaws, Psycho) today, alone, they would really, really bother me and likely keep me awake.
The Strangers lost me when the guy got the gun and backed himself up against a wall- which should have been the end of the movie. Then they came up with a stupid contrivance to keep the movie going. I hated that scene, and whereas I didn't turn it off, I really didn't pay attention after and don't remember anything else about it.
The Amityville horror was a fun scare as a kid but is pretty much a comical these days since the case is pretty much regarded as a textbook hoax.
The Entity is a tough...here is a case in which massive numbers of witnesses corroborate an impossible sounding and very disturbing story. I am rational explanation type, but this, more than any other "paranormal" case, is difficult to explain away.
I though that the first paranormal activity was about as a good as the found footage sub genre gets...its just not a very good sub genre. they got progressively worst and the last was terminally boring.
Oh, my. I watched that, and without giving too much away, there were some definite, almost unbelievable "sad coincidences," shall we say, before, during, and after making that movie. I'd never heard about this.
That's why I won't bring this particular brand of horror into my home anymore. I just feel like it's an invitation.
I originally watched it on British TV - some of the events that occurred were beyond mere coincidence and actually did make you wonder whether dark forces were at work.
Only lost sleep over 1 movie and it was when I was like 10 or 11, that was The Poltergeist.
A few movies did leave me unsettled, though!
The Ring, The Conjuring, The Fourth Kind, The Others...I think that's it. Exorcist and Paranormal Activity and even Blair Witch Project bored me to tears.
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