What is the scariest horror movie? | Poal: Say what you want.

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For me, now, I do not find any films to be scary at all anymore. Despite that I rarely watch any movies at all, I do try a 'scary' movie now and then to see if they're any good. Some do turn out to be decent, but only for their stories or plots; they're not scary at all, or even mildly suspenseful most of the time.

However, in the past I have seen a few movies that were scary to me.

Stephen King's IT I saw the original Stephen King's IT when I was a kid and it terrified me to the point of causing nightmares for a few nights. Seeing it the first time again years later as an adult still had some scariness to it, but not like when I was a kid. I can watch that now if I wanted to without it being scary at all.

I was a kid at the time, so noting that I had not read the book already before seeing the movie likely isn't needed, but still noting that I had not read it first.

Fear of the Dark (2003) In ~2003 I saw a lowish-budget movie called "Fear of the Dark" (the 2003 one). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308252/

I thought it was decent. Genuinely suspenseful scenes to me at that time. I wouldn't find it scary at all now, but it was good then.

Minor info about the film and an aspect of it that added to it being scary to me, not exactly spoilery: Plot info:

Why an aspect of it was particularly scary to me:

Phantoms (1998) Phantoms was based on the novel by Dean Koontz. I also had not read the book prior to seeing the movie. I found the movie to be genuinely creepy through much of it back when I first saw it in 1998.

At that time, Ben Affleck was not much more than a random actor I had seen in a few other things when I saw this. This was before his later film roles and life exploits.

Rose McGowan was also just some actress to me who had also played Titum, er, Tatum in Scream a couple years prior and this was before her later life exploits with Marilyn Manson.

Definitely not scary at all to me anymore.

The Thing (1982) Yeah, was scary as hell to me back when I first saw it in my teens. It's still suspenseful and creepy to me now, but not scary. Just a really good movie. Just like the scene(s) in Phantoms with the dog's back moving/rippling, the scene with the dogs in The Thing still makes me very uncomfortable.

Otherwise, I've seen some 'scary' movies that were alright, but the only real 'scares' in them were jump scares.

One film like that was "Apartment 143": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757742/

It had an obvious jump scare set up to happen and I knew it was coming, but the nature of the scene setup made me unsure which direction on the screen the scare would happen from and the nature of what I would see. As it still caused me to jump, I guess they did an alright job with it.

There are some movies that were scary and suspenseful at the time they came out when I watched them, but are complete jokes to me now.

e.g. The Ring Saw The Ring and later discovered that it was a remake of a Japanese horror film called Ringu. At that time it was also the start (or the catalyst) for all of the Japanese horror films being remade and 'Westernized' as shitty knockoffs and all of the tropes that came from that. Scary movies all started to revolve around having some pale-skinned Asian contortionist with oily black hair and crazy eyes climbing around on walls or doing supernatural things. This also fed back into that being what Japan and Korea started to produce because that was what Western studios produce and they think Western audiences like and want that in horror movies.

e.g. The Blair Witch Project Yes, The Blair Witch Project. Watched it alone and in the dark when it came out for rent. It was at a time when movies were still capable of being scary for me. Of course even thinking of that movie now makes me chuckle in my head a bit. That film also caused the whole "shakycam" craze that has destroyed movies and also completely stalled the development of any other kind of filming techniques.

If any specific movies are to blame for the destruction of the horror genre, it would be The Ring for causing themes of horror films to being limited to basically the same type of creature/character, and Blair Witch for causing the filming technique used in horror films to basically being shakycam.

For me, now, I do not find any films to be scary at all anymore. Despite that I rarely watch any movies at all, I do try a 'scary' movie now and then to see if they're any good. Some do turn out to be decent, but only for their stories or plots; they're not scary at all, or even mildly suspenseful most of the time. However, in the past I have seen a few movies that were scary to me. --- >**Stephen King's IT** >I saw the original Stephen King's IT when I was a kid and it terrified me to the point of causing nightmares for a few nights. Seeing it the first time again years later as an adult still had some scariness to it, but not like when I was a kid. I can watch that now if I wanted to without it being scary at all. > >I was a kid at the time, so noting that I had not read the book already before seeing the movie likely isn't needed, but still noting that I had not read it first. --- >**Fear of the Dark (2003)** >In ~2003 I saw a lowish-budget movie called "Fear of the Dark" (the 2003 one). >https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308252/ > >I thought it was decent. Genuinely suspenseful scenes to me at that time. I wouldn't find it scary at all now, but it was good then. > >Minor info about the film and an aspect of it that added to it being scary to me, not exactly spoilery: >Plot info: [It is about a kid that is terrorized by something in the dark in his house, but nobody believes him when he tells them about the evil.](#spoiler) > >Why an aspect of it was particularly scary to me: [The kid is terrified of the dark basement and I also had a dark and scary basement. Scenes involving it resonated well for me even though I was an adult as it brought back those feelings from when I was a kid.](#spoiler) --- >**Phantoms (1998)** >Phantoms was based on the novel by Dean Koontz. I also had not read the book prior to seeing the movie. I found the movie to be genuinely creepy through much of it back when I first saw it in 1998. > >At that time, Ben Affleck was not much more than a random actor I had seen in a few other things when I saw this. This was before his later film roles and life exploits. > >Rose McGowan was also just some actress to me who had also played Titum, er, Tatum in Scream a couple years prior and this was before her later life exploits with Marilyn Manson. > >Definitely not scary at all to me anymore. --- >**The Thing (1982)** >Yeah, was scary as hell to me back when I first saw it in my teens. It's still suspenseful and creepy to me now, but not scary. Just a really good movie. Just like the scene(s) in Phantoms with the dog's back moving/rippling, the scene with the dogs in The Thing still makes me very uncomfortable. --- Otherwise, I've seen some 'scary' movies that were alright, but the only real 'scares' in them were jump scares. One film like that was "Apartment 143": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757742/ It had an obvious jump scare set up to happen and I knew it was coming, but the nature of the scene setup made me unsure which direction on the screen the scare would happen from and the nature of what I would see. As it still caused me to jump, I guess they did an alright job with it. --- There are some movies that were scary and suspenseful at the time they came out when I watched them, but are complete jokes to me now. e.g. The Ring Saw The Ring and later discovered that it was a remake of a Japanese horror film called Ringu. At that time it was also the start (or the catalyst) for all of the Japanese horror films being remade and 'Westernized' as shitty knockoffs and all of the tropes that came from that. Scary movies all started to revolve around having some pale-skinned Asian contortionist with oily black hair and crazy eyes climbing around on walls or doing supernatural things. This also fed back into that being what Japan and Korea started to produce because that was what Western studios produce and they think Western audiences like and want that in horror movies. e.g. The Blair Witch Project Yes, The Blair Witch Project. Watched it alone and in the dark when it came out for rent. It was at a time when movies were still capable of being scary for me. Of course even thinking of that movie now makes me chuckle in my head a bit. That film also caused the whole "shakycam" craze that has destroyed movies and also completely stalled the development of any other kind of filming techniques. If any specific movies are to blame for the destruction of the horror genre, it would be The Ring for causing themes of horror films to being limited to basically the same type of creature/character, and Blair Witch for causing the filming technique used in horror films to basically being shakycam.

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