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Denti's is a really good question, but a hard one to answer. 'Creepy' and 'disturbing' are much easier for me to identify than 'scary' or 'frightening', but they're also sort of the same thing. The incest material in Inferno of First Love I find really seriously creepy, and that's a narrative trope that's been worn into the ground. I was also seriously squirming through Family Life - watching a person disintegrate before your eyes is much more disturbing than almost any traditional shock - but you know about that already.

The murder at the end of Mahjong is really harrowing, an extremely effective, shocking use of violence. I'd describe that as 'horrifying' in a way I wouldn't the similarly effective uses of violence in The Terrorizer and A Brighter Summer Day.

Exaggerated torture stuff a la Miike is hard to watch, but it's pretty simplistic hot-button material. The only time it's actually worked to unnerve and disturb for me is in the much more restrained setting of Audition, but I came to that film with only the vaguest notion of what to expect, which certainly helped its effectiveness.

Yeah, I guess it comes down to what you're scared of. But I was hoping it wouldn't. I mean, there are certain things that most people fear (being buried alive, for example) that can be exploited in a film to instill fear in the audience. It seems that the most common of these fears (someone or thing suddenly and unexpectedly jumping out at you, for example) have been so over-exploited as to have lost their impact.

Audition, actually, did scare me. I had forgotten about that one. That final sequence was pretty intense.

It has been recently discussed in its own thread, but Brad Anderson's Session 9 is one of the only genuinely scary movies I have seen in the last 5 years or so.

I've always found Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer to be truly disturbing and horrifying more than almost any other film, except perhaps the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The ending especially, gets me every time.

Francis Mankiewicz's Les bons debarras (Good Riddeance). Nothing really supernatural, no typical violence, but whoever would thoink that something that seems like a neo-realist family drama could be so genuinely scary.

I suppose as an adult very few if any films have "frightened" me. I'm not a psychologist (ha) but I imagine this has to do with being "rational" and explaining away or emotionally displacing anything that is unpleasant or disturbing.

So, like Domino's example, the idea of nuclear war is probably the most terrifying notion I could encounter on film, but I don't react with a palpable fear, instead just a general unease and dread of the inevitable.

And something like In a Glass Cage or Salo, both of which I think are brilliant films, only really unnerve me in a moralistic "that's wrong" sort of way.

As an adult the only film that has operated on my fears in a totally irrational, inexplicable way has been Inland Empire.

Chuck & Buck

Don't Look Now always gets under my skin.

I forgot to mention Robert Mitchum's scream in Night of the Hunter, I find that noise to be the most genuinely scary thing I have ever heard.

And I remember watching Dr. Strangelove when I was twelve and literally shaking with fear during the montage of nuclear explosions. I had to watch the disclaimer at the beginning again just to put my mind at ease.

Lino wrote:White Chicks

(wasn't that scary?!)

Sorry to drag this quote back from the grave but I was flicking across channels the other night and saw a bit of this. All I can say it was one of the freakiest things I have ever seen. Seriously. I don't know if it'll haunt me like some of the best horror films I have ever seen (most of which have been mentioned) but it really is one to avoid at all costs. Absolutely despicable.

One of the films that haunts me often is Irreversible, not a horror but scenes in that film are truly horrifying, I had to fast forward the rape scene. Ironically it's not the 'big event' in that film that makes me shudder but the smaller moments, I guess it's like in action films when someone gets riddled with bullets and no one blinks, someone gets a papercut and the entire auditorium winces.

domino harvey wrote:Personally, the idea of nuclear war is the scariest thing to me, so something like the mushroom cloud scene in the Sum of All Fears was scarier than anything I'd ever seen in any horror movie

I haven't seen The Sum of All Fears but I remember watching Special Bulletin as a kid and it terrified me with its all too realistic portrayal of events spiraling out of control.

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:I've always found Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer to be truly disturbing and horrifying more than almost any other film, except perhaps the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The ending especially, gets me every time.

Its unremitting bleakness has prevented me from re-visiting it since I first saw it.

David Banner morphing into Lou Ferrigno's Hulk scared me more than any horror film did as a child.

The horrific moments in films that left most of an impression on me would have to be either Eraserhead or Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

I saw both of them at an impressionable age and remember after seeing Eraserhead being in tears but amazed and wanting to talk about the experience with my parents. After getting the "why the hell were you watching it if it was going to mess you up this badly" argument from my parents while I was trying to articulate the way I was feeling ("It was horrible, but brilliant - so harrowing and sad but that doesn't mean it is a bad film") I knew I wasn't going to be able to discuss it with them! It was a big turning point for me though in realising that I could have a traumatic but simultaneously amazing experience watching a film! It is the only film I'm not sure I could watch again though!

Tetsuo: The Iron Man stuck with me for the grimy, off-kilter world it created. I find that kind of world much more disturbing than just a simply disgusting gore film - the idea that you can be taken over or transformed in some way, or have your consciousness trapped inside a malfunctioning body I find particularly frightening.

Everything about the film, from the performances to the stylisation and editing to the music felt overpowering, so much so that even the drill penis didn't throw me out of the film with its comicality! I've kept my copy of the film recorded from the television, for sentimental reasons but also because I found the juxtaposition of this black and white extreme film with the cosy advert break in the middle of it completely absurd but also a strangely fascinating jolt as the two hegemonies were almost fighting each other for control of the viewer's mind! (thinking back to our discussion on the Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake that commercial break would be my own example of doing fascinating unintentional violence to an original film if I were ever to remake Tetsuo!)

I 'like' and rewatch Tetsuo II much more but the original film is the one that had the more significant effect on me, if that makes any sense!

Forgot to give a shout out to Twin Peaks. BOB is still one of the screen's scariest creations, especially the way he is depicted in the Lynch-directed episodes.

A couple of films that instilled me with a sense of dread:

The last section of Ruiz's City of Pirates, when things become unglued and awful forces awaken. Even at the time, I had only the sketchiest idea of what was going on (no chance of explaining it now!), but this is close to the disorientation that is so unnerving in some of Lynch's work. In this case, however, the film builds to a miasmic climax and just ends. The closest analogy I can think of is a filmed version of Yeats' 'The Second Coming'. Of course, twenty years later the film might just look quaint.

Alan Clarke's Elephant. This couples seeping dread with a visceral feeling of panic. Although the film was made for TV, and theoretically I can understand how it's much more effective being beamed into people's homes, the big screen impact is so much greater: the horror is inescapable - you're stuck in a relentless loop. It's all tension and all release, and after half an hour you're emotionally drained.

Dawn of the Dead used to freak me out when I was younger along with The Birds. I also remember when I was a kid trying not to look at the cover art for Fulci's Zombie. It had that Conquistador zombie on the cover and the caption read "We are Going to Eat You!" Also for some strange reason Koyaanisqatsi bothered me for a long time.

I think we're all operating under different definitions of what it means to be scared by a film-- for me, I'm using the definition that to be scared by a film rather than held in suspense or dread &c is that the emotional response carries over after the film. Once the movie is done, if you still feel that a demon might possess you or Freddy waits for you in your sleep, then you've been scared by the film. If you just feel uneasy or nervous or spooked/shocked by a dramatic event in the film without that dread carrying over after the film is done, I don't think that film has scared you.

True horror for me is leaving a film disturbed and unsettled.

Session 9, The Shining, BUG

Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere!!

I walked out of the theater after seeing bug more unsettled that I have ever felt, it was an amazing film.

domino harvey wrote:I think we're all operating under different definitions of what it means to be scared by a film-- for me, I'm using the definition that to be scared by a film rather than held in suspense or dread &c is that the emotional response carries over after the film. Once the movie is done, if you still feel that a demon might possess you or Freddy waits for you in your sleep, then you've been scared by the film. If you just feel uneasy or nervous or spooked/shocked by a dramatic event in the film without that dread carrying over after the film is done, I don't think that film has scared you.

Yeah, but such a reaction is near impossible for most adults. I think that our awareness both of the relative silliness of supernatural stories and the human capacity for violence and depravity (in other words, they ain't showing us anything we don't already know exists) basically immunizes us from being frightened in the same way we're capable of as children, which is probably why so many modern horror films rely on abrupt thrills and cheap shocks rather than trying to create something that burrows further under the audience's skin.

(spoilers for Audition and Mulholland Dr., for those that care)
I'm personally most drawn to horror films that are able to incorporate a human element into them. Much is made about Audition's first hour or so -- the long, slow fuse before the ending's wild explosion. But it really isn't the sudden rug-pull that it's made out to be -- he creates a palpable atmosphere with subtle hints as to what's to come, and does a great job of creating a sense of mystery around the girl. The climax itself is difficult to watch, but one of the reasons it's so compelling is because of the pervading sense of sadness surrounding the girl which greatly enhances the reaction from the torture. It's one thing for a dimestore cine-psychopath to saw off a victim's foot, it's quite another for a truly troubled and perhaps tragic figure to be sawing off a man's foot under her perverse belief that it'll mean he can't leave her, as Miike explained was his interpretation of that aspect of the torture. The final sequence is remarkable, as the lead character stares out at the dying girl, his foot lying beside him and needles sticking out of his eyes, with an expression that suggests he feels more sorry for her than he does for himself. Granted, this notion of humanizing a serial killer or sociopath can lead to some really awful films filled with shallow, pat psychology, but a gifted filmmaker can avoid that. Miike doesn't sentimentalize the character and he doesn't attempt to completely explain her. He's more interested in lending her actions and the torture scene an undercurrent of poetic melancholy. This combination of truly graphic and disturbing on-screen horror mixed with a sad poignancy is a concoction that elicits a strong and complex reaction from the viewer (or it did this viewer, anyway).

Lynch's films operate in a similar way, I think, such as the end of Mulholland Dr. where the old couple, possible symbols of Diane's innocence upon first arriving in Hollywood, drive her to commit suicide. The smoke from the gun swallows her up and fills the room and lightning continually crashes down and illuminates everything, as if she were descending into hell or something. It then cuts to the shot of a happy Diane (right after that Jitterbug contest) and Rita superimposed over the Hollywood skyline with that beautiful Badalementi score swelling up, the juxtaposition of it with the horror of the prior scene evoking everything she had (or dreamed she had/would have) and everything she lost. These are the types of "horror" films I find most powerful, where human emotion and terror are blended together, creating an effect more memorable than would be possible for either element on its own. It's horror with a sense of sadness permeating throughout it. Not really scary, but haunting in a way that strangles up my mind for days after viewing.

I'm sort of hard to please with horror movies. I like Signs, because the various alien scenes never fail to scare me, but overall it feels really pointless. I love The Shining, because it's just such a tremendously good film, and a piece of art, but it utterly fails to scare me. The Ring is really good, although the backlash has made it unpopular. It's a good balance of story, scary, and mood. Then there's David Lynch, whose Inland Empire gave me nightmares (but if the moon isn't blue and the planets aren't aligned and if the north star isn't in my rising house then I'm not in the mood to watch it), and Lost Highway (which is so damn convoluted), and Eraserhead, which is fucking terrifying in all the right ways. The Thing is fantastic in every aspect, as well is The Fly. Body horror really gets to me.

Am I the only person who's so picky about being scared? There's something about horror movies that makes it hard for me to really get into them. It's such a tricky genre.

Magic Hate Ball wrote:I like Signs, because the various alien scenes never fail to scare me

I'm glad you mention this film, which I do not like as a whole, but which contains one scene that I found more firghtening than any other I have ever seen on film (yes, that's impressive--too bad the rest of the film sucked). It's the scene when they're watching a news broadcast on TV and a clip is shown of what is supposed to be actual footage from some birthday party in Brazil. It's this wobbly camera that is at first unconcerned about anything but the cake, but then screams start penetrating the air and the cameraman/woman wobbles over to th window just to catch a fleeting glimpse of some tall humanoid figure walk past. So fucking creepy.

Magic Hate Ball wrote: I love The Shining, because it's just such a tremendously good film, and a piece of art, but it utterly fails to scare me.

You should read zedz's recent appraisal of the film in the 80s thread (List Project)

denti alligator wrote:

Magic Hate Ball wrote:I like Signs, because the various alien scenes never fail to scare me

I'm glad you mention this film, which I do not like as a whole, but which contains one scene that I found more firghtening than any other I have ever seen on film (yes, that's impressive--too bad the rest of the film sucked). It's the scene when they're watching a news broadcast on TV and a clip is shown of what is supposed to be actual footage from some birthday party in Brazil. It's this wobbly camera that is at first unconcerned about anything but the cake, but then screams start penetrating the air and the cameraman/woman wobbles over to th window just to catch a fleeting glimpse of some tall humanoid figure walk past. So fucking creepy.

The pantry scene that immediately follows is also really good. The audience is presented with solid evidence of aliens just as Gibson goes bumbling into one. The knife bit is just impossibly suspenseful. It irritates me that Shyamalan is so intent on writing his own material. If he directed good scripts, I'm sure his projects would be incredible. But we get stuck with Mark Wahlberg running away from wind.

George Sluizer's original Spoorloos (The Vanishing) from 1988 - not its Hollywood remake by the same director - is the movie that left me the most upset in the last decade. I watched it on DVD in the dead of night and couldn't find sleep until dawn broke. It is not a horror film stricto sensu but the deep fear it brings up is of the most horrible kind.

denti alligator wrote:

Magic Hate Ball wrote: I love The Shining, because it's just such a tremendously good film, and a piece of art, but it utterly fails to scare me.

You should read zedz's recent appraisal of the film in the 80s thread (List Project)

Parade rainer.

I often find it interesting to hear which films have truly scared people. The answers can sometimes be pretty surprising.
Lately I have found myself more affected by non-horror films with maybe one frightning scene in them. Audition would have done it for me if its reputation hadn't reached me before the movie did. That being said, I remember being genuinely unnerved by body horror films like the already mentioned The Fly and Tetsuo.

Klaylock wrote:I often find it interesting to hear which films have truly scared people. The answers can sometimes be pretty surprising.
Lately I have found myself more affected by non-horror films with maybe one frightning scene in them. Audition would have done it for me if its reputation hadn't reached me before the movie did. That being said, I remember being genuinely unnerved by body horror films like the already mentioned The Fly and Tetsuo.

Body horror does me in. It seems to have become a sort of signature of (female) auteures in post-New Wave cinema: Catherine Breillat's brilliant corpus, Chantal Akerman's Je, Tu, Il, Elle, Agnes Varda's Vagabond, Claire Denis's Trouble Every Day, and most recently Marina de Van's In My Skin.

A few other "serious" horror titles that I didn't spot in my skim of this thread which jumped my nerves and have kept them twitching:

George Romero's Martin: definitive downbeat vampire realism
Bigas Luna's Anguish: literally hypnotic, eye heart mommy madness
Andrzej Zulawski's Szamanka (and also Possession): Europe's drama of fidelity is its martial arts
Leos Carax's Pola X: writer's block
and classically: all of Val Lewton's productions.

The Woman in Black.

A British made for tv film. It isn't filmed with the same panache as The Innocents or The Haunting (films which it takes scenes and ideas from wholesale), but it ramps up the tension using clever sound design and location shooting to create a sense of unease and a feeling of isolation. It caused me many sleepless nights when it was first broadcast and still got under my skin when recently revisiting it.
Bears more than a passing resemblence to any one of a number of MR James stories but does them all proud.

A Warning To The Curious.

Another British made for tv ghost story (this time based on an MR James short story). Features a surprisingly sympathetic Peter Vaughan as the protagonist of the title who digs in the wrong place.

Both will make you think twice about staying in hotels in sleepy British towns.