The Shining scared me when I was a kid. So did any movie starring Vincent Price.
Posted on 11/23/2004 9:31:31 PM PST by John Robertson
What's your favorite horror movie...and why? What fried your hair, and still makes it jump if you get a little too tired and you remember a sequence or two from something that scared the stuff out of you.
I've always dismissed horror movies as a waste of time, but the older I get, the more I realize they must serve some function--some cathartic function--because they are an enduring genre, and each generation likes to find its own favorite scary movies. Heard a commentator saying the other day, the reason the country is so preoccuppied with horror films right now is, it's a horror we can "handle," versus the real, terrorist kind of horror.
The Shining scared me when I was a kid. So did any movie starring Vincent Price.
I hear that is a dying business.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
The Exorcist --- 'Nuff said.
I didn't read the book but the movie was hysterical...she was a real kook!!!! "Salems Lot" was pretty scarey.
"It takes a Whole Lot of Critters to Make Farmer Vincent Fritters."
Bride of Frankenstein & original Dracula. Bela was GREAT!
"Ghost Story".........John Houseman, Douglas Fairbanks, Fred Astair and Melvin Douglas........(probably the last movie for most if not all of them).
After that come a bunch of good ones. Alien probably at the top, but followed by the original Nightmare on Elm Street, the original Salem's Lot (surprisingly good for a TV movie), the original The Thing (remake's good, too; just a different movie), not sure how to categorize Aliens but it's great... and a stack of others.
Dan
I vaguely remember that movie. I think it was called the Trilogy of Terror.
Yes, but only watch it when you're prepared never to do that again!
Dan
8^D
The original Exorcist w/Linda Blair. I watched in at a cousin's house alone in a dark basement ( converted to a family room ). I remember that I wouldn't even get off of the sofa to call anyone downstairs because I was afraid that the devil would "get me". I was 16 or so.
"The Haunting"! My favorite ghost movie, brilliantly directed by Robert Wise. And the book by Shirley Jackson is hair-raising!
I still get frightened by "King Kong" (the OLD version), and anything by Val Lewton & Jacques Tournier. Don't laugh, but "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" has a few good scares in it too!
I thought Hellraiser was disturbing.
That was a great movie. Romance, mystery, chuckles, chills... very cool.
Dan
The books are even better (there are two versions).
Love it.
I know this thread is about movies, but back in 1979 or '80 I was reading "The Shining" during a thunderstorm and got so scared I had to put the book down. The one and only time I ever had that reaction while reading.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was great. Any movie that has psycho hill-billies is bound to thrill. :)
I second Hellraiser. I'll add Night of the Living Dead, Army of Darkness, Alien and Alien 2, and Carpenter's, The Thing.
We had some adult friends who lived in the country when that movie came out. They landed up having to move to town to an apartment, freaked out the wife so bad. She wouldn't walk under an attic fan after seeing it.
I slept with the lights on for a year after seeing it, and LOL...I didn't really even see it. I sat thru all but the first 5 minutes with my head down. But the sounds were bad enough.
Becky
I STILL don't go into the water unless it is in a pool. I am 37...
"Carrie" was a pretty good scary movie. But you could walk out and laugh when it was over.
Becky
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.