Agreed. I thought it was going to be a science fiction flick, and then they turned it into a horror movie. The guy suspended on multiple hooks disturbed me more than anything else.
I don't believe reading this will ruin your enjoyment of the book. There are no twists or major plot points revealed by this. If this were a movie, it would not be out of place in the trailer.
As an adult, The Orphanage probably affected me most as far as trouble getting to sleep. Something about the nature of the "truth" that's revealed toward the end just...
It's a sad, tragic, slowly-creeping kind of "oh-god-not-that" horror, where your horror-AT-the-situation lingers longer than the immediate "OH-SHIT-DUCK!" horror-IN-the-situation that's the core of most scary movies.
That being said, my first experience with a horror movie was watching The Ring, alone, ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, when I was 13. So, that was a full week of abject terror that can't really be topped by anything else, considering its circumstances.
For me, it's the staircase. The staircase, those first thumping sounds and what they mean, and the AMOUNT OF TIME the answer is just sitting there, alone, waiting to be found.
Also, the connections to Peter Pan are incredibly fun/awful/but really, fun. :D
I watched the miniseries as a child and had trouble going into the bathroom by myself for ages after that. I was convinced Pennywise was going to bite me on the ass or slither up from the bathtub drain. Gives me heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
Okay, this may sound dumb but for it would have to be The Conjuring. I only say that because some of my friends just thought it was really good, not necessarily super scary. However, it scared the shit out of me. It was the perfect environment though, because my friend had a 60" plasma and surround sound, so everything felt way too real. There was this entire sense of dread mixed in with a completely unyielding atmosphere that really just made it terrifying. The jump scares were good, but it was the buildup to those jump scares that really horrified me. Upon subsequent viewings, I do get a little scared, but mostly I just get really into it and watch it. Nothing will beat that first viewing for me.
Some other horror movies that completely terrified me were, [REC], The Descent, Insidious, and The Strangers.
"'Salem's Lot" is the only book I've read where, in a well-lit room, I've found myself repeatedly closing the book to collect and calm myself. It's been many years. I wonder if it would have the same effect?
Helter Skelter...either the book or the movie. Watch the movie at 2 or 3 in the morning and see the last frame of the film. Those events actually happened.
The Ring. The American version. On the advice of a then boyfriend I watched it in a room with the door closed and the lights off. Couldn't sleep for a week. And when I did it was with the lights off and phone unplugged. Now, anytime I see any creepy little girl with her bangs in front of her face, I have to turn off the movie or change the channel.
Oddly, the Japanese version wasn't nearly as frightening to me. In fact, I found Sadako a sympathetic figure, as opposed to Samara who is just evil incarnate.
Recently I read all of the manga for Gakkou Gurashi, and it was fucking intense. Every page was full of adrenaline, and I worried for the characters. I was either on the edge of my seat, or scared as fuck. One of the best horror manga I've ever read. If you like to get your adrenaline pumping, while also scaring the fuck out of yourself, try reading it.
I just watched The Babadook a few days ago. It was by far the scariest movie I've seen in a while. definitely stayed up watching sponge bob a few hours after!
These were the source of 80% of my childhood nightmares. The remaining 20% went to the movie version of Stephen King's Thinner and my mom hesitantly explaining to six year-old me that bodies rot inside coffins in the ground after we die.
Whenever these kinds of questions come up on the internet, I always look for this comic. I think it's safe to say it's the most scared I've been in my entire life.
In terms of movies, I've watched most of the "big name" horror movies: The Ring (meh), The Grudge (1 was great, the rest were terrible), the Saw movies (starts off great and declines), Event Horizon (deserves its reputation), The Conjuring (best horror movie I've seen in the past 3 years), The Babadook (really cool movie)... but nothing, NOTHING has come close to beating Rec for me.
Rec was made in 2007, and is a Portuguese foreign film. I'm not big on foreign films, as I often feel the subtitles distract from the immersion, but DAMN this movie was good. I've never been as legitimately scared of a movie as I was when watching Rec. It's short (only like 80-90 minutes) and technically falls into the zombie plague category, but to everyone reading this: do yourself a favour. I can't explain why it's as good as it is, and the Hollywood remake (Quarantine) was terrible imo, but the original... man. An absolute gem.
Don't make fun of me... but the Blair Witch Project. That movie turned me off from scary movies forever. I watched it as a young kid... at night.. alone.
I was scared shitless. I didn't even finish it but I couldn't. I haven't really watched any scary/horror movies since. That movie was absolutely terrifying at the time, especially when you thought it was real
Back when in the old days, the movie The Birds, scared me especially when all hell broke loose and they were pecking eyes out and little kids running for they're lives. The first time I saw the unedited version of the black and white Night of the living dead, little girl zombie, taking out her mother with a small spade....holy crap!! The first Halloween at the movie theater messed me up too! So innocent back then.......................
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When I was younger I watched "Event Horizon". To this day I cannot watch that movie, its terrible.
I watched this for the first time a few months ago. I had NO idea that is was a horror movie, I thought it was just gonna be a sci-fi.
What did you think?
Ultimately I liked it. But while I was watching I was like, "What? What's going on? What's happening? OH GOD! NO!"
I felt the exact same way, the damn movie was not labeled as horror!
Agreed. I thought it was going to be a science fiction flick, and then they turned it into a horror movie. The guy suspended on multiple hooks disturbed me more than anything else.
This film is arguably the quintessential Sci-Fi-Horror movie.
Also, it stands perfectly fine on both the Sci-Fi front and the Horror one. Great film!
If you are into the warhammer 40k franchise, rewatch the movie and imagine that it is a depiction of the humanity's first encounter with the Warp.
It is better that way.
Same here. Disturbing disturbing movie... I watched it four the soundtrack (Orbital) and got more than I had bargained for
Certainly one of the scariest movies I've ever watched. Watched it the first time by myself.... at 2 am.
This was playing on TV while I was was home alone and WAY too young to watch it. I couldn't sleep for days.
House of Leaves is a very creepy book -- eyes darting to and fro cuz' you never know ?¿
The part when all the doors start shutting and you have to flip every page really got to me.
Ever heard of spoiled alert?
I don't believe reading this will ruin your enjoyment of the book. There are no twists or major plot points revealed by this. If this were a movie, it would not be out of place in the trailer.
Looks weird and interesting! Saved for future spooks.
The Shining. Low on gore, but very high on creepy atmosphere.
I worked the graveyard shift 3 years in a hotel. Weird things happen in hotels. Knowing that makes the movie even scarier.
Fun fact: I live not too far from The Stanley Hotel where they filmed the movie. They've really capitalized on it.
I've worked night shifts too. I never noticed weird things until I worked days. Since then, it's followed me into the nights as well.
We're always getting calls from the elevator. We don't answer those anymore.
As an adult, The Orphanage probably affected me most as far as trouble getting to sleep. Something about the nature of the "truth" that's revealed toward the end just...
It's a sad, tragic, slowly-creeping kind of "oh-god-not-that" horror, where your horror-AT-the-situation lingers longer than the immediate "OH-SHIT-DUCK!" horror-IN-the-situation that's the core of most scary movies.
That being said, my first experience with a horror movie was watching The Ring, alone, ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, when I was 13. So, that was a full week of abject terror that can't really be topped by anything else, considering its circumstances.
Agreed - it was just equal parts horrifying and heartbreaking. It's one of those movies that just haunts you for a long, long time afterwards.
That's exactly it -- the heartbreak. It's awful. (And wonderful, since it's a safe way to experience that heartbreak!)
El Orfanato was indeed something! The suspense in that scene when the medium is walking through the house, followed by camera. Wow :).
For me, it's the staircase. The staircase, those first thumping sounds and what they mean, and the AMOUNT OF TIME the answer is just sitting there, alone, waiting to be found.
Also, the connections to Peter Pan are incredibly fun/awful/but really, fun. :D
Yup, the staircase scene did it for me. I couldn't sleep that night.
Also high-five, fellow English major! :D
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Okay, this may sound dumb but for it would have to be The Conjuring. I only say that because some of my friends just thought it was really good, not necessarily super scary. However, it scared the shit out of me. It was the perfect environment though, because my friend had a 60" plasma and surround sound, so everything felt way too real. There was this entire sense of dread mixed in with a completely unyielding atmosphere that really just made it terrifying. The jump scares were good, but it was the buildup to those jump scares that really horrified me. Upon subsequent viewings, I do get a little scared, but mostly I just get really into it and watch it. Nothing will beat that first viewing for me.
Some other horror movies that completely terrified me were, [REC], The Descent, Insidious, and The Strangers.
TBH those Chucky movies scared the hell out me when I was young. I slept with the lights on for few days.
Why did you have to remind me about that movie. Also, isn't there a new one coming soon?
Yeah they came up with a low budget straight-to-home version in 2013 (which didn't bother to see), now they are making another one.
when I was little it was "IT"
"'Salem's Lot" is the only book I've read where, in a well-lit room, I've found myself repeatedly closing the book to collect and calm myself. It's been many years. I wonder if it would have the same effect?
Gage, man! That was a rough rollercoaster. From happy, to sad, to terrified in just a few pages!
The scene where the father imagines taking Gage and just running away from his life. He loved that boy so much.
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Helter Skelter...either the book or the movie. Watch the movie at 2 or 3 in the morning and see the last frame of the film. Those events actually happened.
The Ring. The American version. On the advice of a then boyfriend I watched it in a room with the door closed and the lights off. Couldn't sleep for a week. And when I did it was with the lights off and phone unplugged. Now, anytime I see any creepy little girl with her bangs in front of her face, I have to turn off the movie or change the channel.
Oddly, the Japanese version wasn't nearly as frightening to me. In fact, I found Sadako a sympathetic figure, as opposed to Samara who is just evil incarnate.
Recently I read all of the manga for Gakkou Gurashi, and it was fucking intense. Every page was full of adrenaline, and I worried for the characters. I was either on the edge of my seat, or scared as fuck. One of the best horror manga I've ever read. If you like to get your adrenaline pumping, while also scaring the fuck out of yourself, try reading it.
Sandkings....Yup,last horror piece I watched on The Outer Limits I think it was.
Not a film or a book, but a TV programme. The 1968 BBC adaptation of M.R. James 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad'.
I'm going to have to say Open Water. The situation of that movie is.. Unsettling to say the least.
I just watched The Babadook a few days ago. It was by far the scariest movie I've seen in a while. definitely stayed up watching sponge bob a few hours after!
Anyone remember these scary ass kids books?
These were the source of 80% of my childhood nightmares. The remaining 20% went to the movie version of Stephen King's Thinner and my mom hesitantly explaining to six year-old me that bodies rot inside coffins in the ground after we die.
I gotta' say that Martyrs is a most disconcerting horror flik -- The Conjuring made me feel uneasy too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_(film)
Shutter - the original Thai movie, not the watered-down C-list American remake.
I watched it in the Philippines late at night, in the middle of monsoon season. Terrifying.
Whenever these kinds of questions come up on the internet, I always look for this comic. I think it's safe to say it's the most scared I've been in my entire life.
In terms of movies, I've watched most of the "big name" horror movies: The Ring (meh), The Grudge (1 was great, the rest were terrible), the Saw movies (starts off great and declines), Event Horizon (deserves its reputation), The Conjuring (best horror movie I've seen in the past 3 years), The Babadook (really cool movie)... but nothing, NOTHING has come close to beating Rec for me.
Rec was made in 2007, and is a Portuguese foreign film. I'm not big on foreign films, as I often feel the subtitles distract from the immersion, but DAMN this movie was good. I've never been as legitimately scared of a movie as I was when watching Rec. It's short (only like 80-90 minutes) and technically falls into the zombie plague category, but to everyone reading this: do yourself a favour. I can't explain why it's as good as it is, and the Hollywood remake (Quarantine) was terrible imo, but the original... man. An absolute gem.
Don't make fun of me... but the Blair Witch Project. That movie turned me off from scary movies forever. I watched it as a young kid... at night.. alone.
I was scared shitless. I didn't even finish it but I couldn't. I haven't really watched any scary/horror movies since. That movie was absolutely terrifying at the time, especially when you thought it was real
Back when in the old days, the movie The Birds, scared me especially when all hell broke loose and they were pecking eyes out and little kids running for they're lives. The first time I saw the unedited version of the black and white Night of the living dead, little girl zombie, taking out her mother with a small spade....holy crap!! The first Halloween at the movie theater messed me up too! So innocent back then.......................
Dark Water. I'm still afraid of little faceless Japanese girls in yellow raincoats
As far as recent horror movies: Absentia.