The scariest moment I've ever seen has to be the appearance of the bum in Mulholland Drive. I'm generally not very easy to scare, but when I saw that I really jumped out of my seat. What makes it so scary is that it's taking place during daytime and something feels so off the whole time. It's almost as if you know it'll happen, but you don't want to believe it. Lynch really is the master of constructing such eerie moments. Still sends chills down my spine when I think of it.
Matija Ilic I watched that film on a laptop in bed and when that scene happened I immediately shut the laptop and didn’t finish the film for a week. It was so unexpected I didn’t want to know what happened next
Mulholland Drive is one of my all-time favourites and I have seen it about 10 times. The scene you mentioned still scares me so much that I get a sinking feeling only thinking about it. Great Great Great stuff.
I would think that Nosferatu would be fairly kid-friendly. There's no bad language, no sex, no nudity, and very little violence. If parents would feel comfortable letting their children watch a vampire flick, it seems that that would be the one.
I was about 10 years old when I saw The Wicker Man. I snuck downstairs to watch TV after my parents had gone to bed. I was captivated by it's music and affinity with nature. I didn't understand what was going on and when the big reveal happened I was left confused, excited and terrified. This triggered my ever increasing love for horror. Oh and that bit in Jaws where the head pops out of the hole in the sunken boat was the opitamy of a jump scare.
I used to do that! But I used to put films on I wasn’t allowed to watch. I only told my parents 30 years later recently and my mum was genuinely not happy.
We watched that in RE at school! They decided to fast forward the start and get straight to the bomb! I was terrified for days! Many years later as an adult I wondered if it was as scary as I remembered. I found it on RUclips and discovered: Yes. Yes it was!
We should start a Threads recovery group. That film has scared me for 20 years. I had nightmares and suffered from Threads induced depression. I am a lot better now but it took a decision I was not comfortable with. I watched it a lot. I watched it and watched it until its impact lessened with every watch. Now I find myself if we have a nuclear war I want to die and I fine with that. I only wish it will be quick. I can now see Threads and it does not scare me.
I watched that in our basement when it was shown on a public broadcasting station...and it was one of the few times I can say I was too young for it (11 or 12 in the mid-80s). “The Day After” couldn’t touch it.
Apparently when Threads was broadcast in the USA, the savage impact of the film and the realism of it's depiction was such that... Religious communities congregated at churches, prayed and lit candles. It was a weekday evening and it created a feeling of apocalypse
I'm 58 years old and I first saw Salem's Lot when I was 17. I watched it recently and it still scares me, particularly the vampire kids at the window!!
I remember watching Salem's Lot on TV down in our basement with the lights off. Unbeknown to me, my dog came down into the basement, and stood behind me. Because I was ignoring her, she barked/yelped at me. ... To this day, I still remember how that felt, and the mess I had to clean up.
I watched Lake Mungo other day after hearing how great this film was numerous times. I was so disappointed. It is not a bad film and I appreciate what it is trying to do but it ended and I said out loud to myself 'Is that it?'. I slept like a baby afterwards.
Robert Eggers has expressed interest in doing a modern retelling of Nosferatu, and after seeing both The Witch and The Lighthouse, i’d totally be down for whatever he wants to do with it. Robert Pattinson screaming in unbridled terror upon seeing the light was one of the most chilling moments I’ve had in a movie in ages.
Threads would be the scariest film I have seen, alongside the Descent and Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Truly a chilling portrayal of the aftermath of nuclear war.
@@beastman.330 It was for me, I had read the novelisation by Alan Dean Foster and had to see the film because I needed to see how they acheived the effects so I sort of knew what was coming and couldn't look at the screen! hahaha. The suspense was unbearable!
The scariest film I've ever seen is the 1984 nuclear war drama Threads. I first saw it in school in my second year modern studies class, which would make my about 13 years old at the time. I rewatched it recently and if anything, I found it more terrifying than than the first time around.
"Nice" that he put Vanishing (Spoorloos) on the first place. That film definitely deserves to be mentioned. Remember seeing it few years ago after I found out that Kubrick named it as the scarriest film he had ever seen. It's a pity that the film is almost forgotten nowadays.
The Descent is a film I have become obsessed with over time. Every so often I’ll rewatch it just to embrace that unsettled atmosphere and the feeling it leaves me with, and every time I do, I see new things. Recently I caught an early shot from the film where the characters are small and silhouetted and what you initially assume is one of them suddenly squats down revealing it’s one of the creatures. I also just have to say how great it is to have a film with an all-female lead cast where gender isn’t a narrative element.
"gender isn’t a narrative element" -- I thought the same back when I watched it. Since then, I've read analyses which posit that the all-female cast *does* have a narrative purpose, and that those cave beasts are a stand-in for the constant dread women feel in a world where they cannot move about without the fear of getting r4p3d.
I just watched The Vanishing because of this video and it did not disappoint... very disturbing ending to an excellent character-centered psychological thriller.
I was just about to post that, Kubrick said the reaosn he filmed the shining was because he never felt anyone did horror right, he obviously never saw ''the innocents' as it amps up the creepiness to 10, I'd say it was scarier than the shining, well definitely a better written book origin
Not a film but Ghost Watch on BBC in the 90s freaked me out as a child. It was portrayed as a standard bbc documentary - complete with celebs - but it really wasnt.
Indeed. I was about 10 or 11 when it was broadcast and I was completely taken in until the credits rolled. Judging by the number of complaints they received, lot of other people were too. I doubt any mainstream TV channel would have the nerve to do something like that these days.
Horrific. I was allowed to watch it as a kid as it came across like a fairly mild live ghost show and they turned it into this true to life, ghosts are real, everybody’s dead thing. I don’t think ever been as scared as I was then!
There's a Japanese saying that roughly translates to "What I thought was a ghost was just the grass." because the sound of it in the wind is so haunting.
Carnival of Souls is one of those films you switch the TV onto halfway through late one night, and spend the rest of the week with its images burnt into your mind. Unsettling.
As a teenager, I took a female classmate to watch “Audition” at our local arts cinema. That was the first and last film we saw together. My apologies Katy!
I went on a blind date to see Trainspotting with a Christian girl. I think the shitty blanket scene was the final straw. She didn't even speak to me afterwards. Just walked off. We met up again years later and ended up married. Ok that last bit is not true.
I watched Pulse (2001) a few months ago, lights out, minimized laptop window, half awake. There's something about films that urge your focus into dark spaces that really gives you the heebies.
The VVitch is most definitely is a horror film Robert Eggers will say too. It just might not have been the film it was quite advertised by. Not a conventional horror, but definitely part of the genre
"It's not a horror film, it's something that has much more to do with atmosphere" is such an absurd statement, and shows how far mainstream horror has fallen where people won't call it horror unless it's non-stop quiet quiet BANG!
That's nothing new, people have been deliberately avoiding having certain films be classed as Horror for decades. That being said, it felt like they just added a Witch to the movie for the sheer sake of having a Witch in the movie. The movie worked better without it.
Nothing has ever frightened me as much as the Child-Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That was, ostensibly, a kids movie. Who the hell decided that was a good idea?
100% agree. It was on tv the other day. I'm nearly 40 and it's still extremely creepy. I think it was because growing up you were warned about talking to strangers, offering you sweets.
The scene in the Exorcist 3 with the nurse, and the shears, and the big, quiet build up when you know something is going to happen and it still scares the crap out of you? Incredible.
For me it was the blurry background of the woman crawling on the ceiling above George C Scott. That movie had some great creepy moments. THAT is what makes a movie 'scary'. A movie that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, your skin crawl and a feeling of unease in the pit of your stomach. Gross out movies or slasher movies may be 'horror' but not necessarily 'scary'.
Eraserhead completely freaked me out. I saw it on Channel 4 when I was 14- I thought it was going to be an 80s slasher-type movie, and it was very, VERY different.
Oh, goodness, yes. I find I am simply unable to watch it. Utterly unmanned me the first time I saw it and have not been able to bring myself to watch the movie again because of it.
Oh, goodness, yes. I find I am simply unable to watch it. Utterly unmanned me the first time I saw it and have not been able to bring myself to watch the movie again because of it.
That scene stills gives me a chill and I’m not easily scared and find most horror movies easy to watch. I think because I was a kid when I saw it that it maybe takes me back to that time.
The scariest film moment that sticks in my mind is the Nazi face melting at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I would have been six or seven when I first saw it - I was so disturbed I didn't watch that scene again until I was in my twenties!
@@goodial Man that one is really wrong, especially the way it almost starts off playfully, like "Hey, will you get off me?" and turns so quickly! Plus the score is SO dark.
The Descent was one of the best experiences I've ever had at the cinema. Multiple code violations by the whole audience just added to the fear frenzy that we were all enjoying.
Jacob's ladder..so many scenes that definitely got to me....some fleeting..some drawn out...a brilliant film.so disturbing to boot...I've never gripped a cinema seat so tightly in my life...Tim Robbins.just amazing imho.
Watching John Carpenter’s The Fog aged, approximately 9 years old. Love it now and still scares me - it’s chills were imprinted on my psyche. Same applies for Ridley Scott’s Alien 😂
I recommend Lake Mungo to anyone who does not want sleep for the mext week. THE most underrated horror film ive seen. Seriously go check it out youll thank me later
Gary's Review I love rec and it totally got to me when I first saw it, fast forward a few years and we visit the mother in law in Madrid and her apartment building is just like the one in the film! No sleep that night lol
“Jaws” scared the living crap out of me. I was eight and had no business in that theater. That scene where the severed head rolls into view in the hull of the ship. Jesus.
*"Buried"* is one of the best performance from Ryan Reynalds. And the ending_______ *"Eden Lake"* is a freaky film as well. The ending on that one______ooof!
I have only seen Audition once and that was almost 15 years ago. Scariest movie I've ever seen. The little sound clip you guys played here legitimately gave me goosebumps and some bad memories. Thanks guys. The Vanishing is also a fantastic pick. What a terrifying conclusion.
'The Changeling' (1980) with George C. Scott remains the most frightening film I've ever seen. Amazing not many people have heard of it. An absolutely chilling haunted house story that builds paralysing fear the more you become embroiled in the story... and the score is simply terrifying.
@Neil Henderson Absolutely!! The seance sequence was terrifying ....the way the medium scribbles the 'YES' and the frantic 'HELP', 'JOHN!'....utterly petrifying. The most disturbing is the thought of what kills Captain Dewitt, when his car is found upside down in the road, windscreen smashed and him with that hideous look on his face....
The nanny hanging herself in The Omen. I saw it when I was much too young. The expression on her face still gets to me. "This is all for you Damien". Moors scene in American Werewolf. Again, I was very young. In more recent years, only a few things here and there (parts of the Descent, Sadako jerkily climbing out of the well in the original Ring, a few moments in Blair Witch), but nothing like the things that get you as a kid. David Lynch can still manage a few freaking- yer-out moments though.
I think the one film that truly terrified me was United 93 - a completely unnerving, harrowing piece of cinema, a real life horror film with impending dread - the fact that you know beforehand everyone on that plane is going to die as the movie starts puts the fear front and centre.
I loved seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre up there. It's my favorite horror. I would only add that despite the name and the implied "butchery", there is almost no bloodshed whatsoever on screen. All the terror comes from the abrupt, inexplicable chaos that ensues. It is almost poetic in its self-contained senselessness and no other horror movie gets away with such a minimalist suspension of disbelief. It makes no sense until it makes complete sense and it explains nothing. Thoroughly original and memorable.
Dead Of Night (1945) always gets to me, especially the last segment. And I will never forget when I was a child, staying with my cousins who had gone to bed & watching the Legend Of Hell House on my own, in the dark, during a storm. Good lord that freaked me out.
'Dead Of Night' is a masterpiece. And brought to you by Ealing Films, who would later produce some of the greatest, and in some cases, darkest, film comedies ever made.
Actually it won me over too. Only ever seen it the once on release at a small crammed cinema in Edinburgh - everyone left shook. I needed large amounts of alcohol afterwards.
i always admire film makers that can do so much with a limited budget and the blair witch project is a perfect example of that . other films from a different genre set that are george miller with the original mad max and robert rodriguez with el mariachi, two films that are widely different to the blair witch project but all of them use creative techniques to create compelling movies with not alot of money.
SMERSH so glad to see some love for the original BWP. I think most people who dump on it had probably seen 4816 "found footage" movies before finally catching up to Blair Witch, lessening its iconic impact.
Especially when , like me, I go camping and not at family run sites but in the woods. The same year “The Sixth sense “, came out but , I thought it was second to Blair Witch.
@Thomas Wake I agree. The ending is a masterpiece in film making and properly underrated. I was so tense at the end of that movie I was practically stood up. The whole movie is underrated to be fair and really the only movie to ever have had me gripping my chair throughout and for those that slate Blair Witch don't have much imagination, we'll leave them to their jump scares.
By far the scariest film I've seen, and my favourite film of all time. The very final scene, foretold, being almost as chilling as *that* climax. An absolute masterclass in tension building, and like MK says about Babadook it's all the more powerful because you really care for the characters and the turmoil and torment they feel.
The vanishing has had a lasting effect on me also. I am unable to allow my wife to leave my side at petrol stations, airports, motorway services. Luckily she is very understanding of this.
As a child "salems lot" window scene. And reveal at end of "Dont look now". More recently "Pans Labyrinth" creature with eyeballs in its palms I mean WTF was that
Yes Salem's lot when I was a kid. While watching a particularly scary bit, I can't remember which bit, my brother in law who at the time was still just my sister's boyfriend, stuck his hand through the lounge window grabbing my shoulder making a "woooooo" noise! Have never forgiven him! Having seen the series again in more recent times I can't imagine ever being scared of it.
First time i saw Jacob's Ladder, more or less the whole film was scariest for me, but especially when he's in the tunnel after getting off the train and there's all these zombie or ghost-like people blankly staring out. Surprised that's not more recognised. The imagery and the 'what on earth is going on' aspect , i find much more frightening than something like 'Halloween', or even 'The Exorcist' where there's no mystery or confusion to it, it's just a question of buying in to the story, which, admittedly Friedkin does a good job of making you do.
Great list! Nosferatu is creepy as hell nearly 100 years later. I'm in the minority on The Descent. I thought was really suspenseful and atmospheric until the creatures showed up, then it just kind of fizzled out for me. I'm surprised The Border Lands and Session 9 didn't end up in your top ten.
I just commented on how Session 9 stands out in my memory as a film that truly left me creeped out, to the point that I was hesitant about going anywhere dark that evening. Few films do that, but Session 9 - if you get in the correct mindset and allow it to - will get under your skin.
"Threads" -- good choice. Nuclear apocalypse movie made during the height of the Cold War -- good luck sleeping anytime soon after viewing that one. Even its American counterpart "The Day After" had some chilling images of nuclear holocaust.
Threads is the most disturbing film ever made. I think it's how it goes from normality to utter unflinching apocalypse. That scene in the graveyard really gets me.
I went to Wismar in Germany last year I was walking on the docks and turned round and realised the gate that the vampire carries the coffin through when he leaves the ship was right in front of me,. Nosferatu was partly filmed in wismar and the streets and locations are still there and recognisable
@whatsleft100: Just when he thought he was safe in the inn! And the gleeful malevolence on her face when she reared up at the bottom of the bed! That was a change-underpants-immediately moment. Quite brilliant.
1) the Others 2) The woman in Black 3) Sinister- leaves you empty and unsettled 4) It (90's TV version- terrified me in an excited way as a child 5) The shining (of course)
The Shining without a doubt....and John Carpenters The fog! I think there is something about seeing scary movies as a teenager that means they never leave you! 👻👻👻
Who claimed that The Witch isn’t a real Horror movie!?! It is. Surely this is just another example of snooty critics deciding that any horror movie that elevates the genre is no longer considered a horror movie?
Gilbert, Im sorry, but its not 'that simple' simply because most horror is very formulaic or jump scare based, if not sequel rammed to the point of ridiculous and parodist, so I presume thats a big part of why you may see it that way, but - most people whom like Horror can probably agree that its not a genre that cares about critics for the most part. I take issue though with your prior sub comment (above) in which you express the distaste you felt that there was even a Witch at all..... (in a film called 'The Witch') ....and that your feeling is and I quote that said Witch somehow was unnecessary, and, if Im recalling your sentiment correctly, that 'they just added the Witch in seemingly just for the sake of it' So, it appears youre also a critic whom doesnt like horror...judging by your own critique above.... unless its abstract or metaphorical rather than straight up and literal. I say so because if you take out the Witch from 'The Witch' what you effectively would get is 'The Village' meets 'The Shining' but just on a familial scale - and we know that those 2 films have been done, with differing success in terms of reception and subsequent interpretation, and to my mind all that considered, this film did true horror, in its own way, it set its own horrific tone so unflinchingly well BECAUSE of the Witch - in the first 10 minutes, so that it then makes you know watching that anything can now happen from here on in, without a doubt, brutally understated, and in such a fashion it beats them both on reflection, imho, and does so *GASP* honestly. No gimmicky jump scares, no red herrings, but still hides a twist for the audience to comprehend later on at the end. Very clever, but it was a divisive movie as far as I can gather, but to me its a frank and faithful love letter to Horror and horror stories, in short a flawless masterpiece. So, I guess Im puzzled, puzzled as to wether you're a critic, or a fan, or just someone who isnt satisfied being either-or, and instead tries to be both depending on the comment to which youre responding to. I dont understand how such a contradiction of comments can originate from the same person on the same comment section about the same film.
A film that I find to be massively underrated is Session 9. The entirely film just has a perverse 'energy' to it, it works brilliantly as a psychological horror film. It left me more shaken than a lot of the more in your face horror films, certainly more so than mainstream horror films of the last 2 decades.
Barlow crashing into the Petrie's kitchen in Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot has stuck with me for decades. Reggie Nalder channels Max Shrek in that mini series.
It also wrecked the dad in that movie (his name escapes me, Ralph somethingorother?). He had to be airlifted by helicopter and flown to the hospital as they were out in the middle of nowhere. I think they must have left one of the takes in that movie because the way it butts him near the end.....just, ugghhh. I'm not a fan of goats at the best of times, let alone demonic ones.
"Event Horizon" - when they watch the video footage - and we see the captain with his hands out holding his eyes and saying ""Liberate me" ("Save me")" - yup made me stop at various times over the next few days as that image flashed across my vision..
1. Let the Right One In 2. Onibaba 3. Night of the Living Dead (original) 4. The Grudge (Japanese original) 5. The Babadook 6. Oculus 7. Marebito 8. Silence of the Lambs 9. The Phoughkeepsie Tapes 10. Island of Lost Souls (Original from the 30s)
I recommend the Vanishing to my mum and sister to watch, as I was bown away by it when I saw it. Neither of them have forgiven me as the end traumatized them. Sorry again but what a great film
Two stand out to me - the ending of the original The Fly which as an arachophobe makes me come out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. The other is The Woman in Black, the 1989 TV movie not the Hollywood remake. The feeling of abject terror I was left with by the idea that someone would intentionally isolate themselves with something so powerful and so malevolent has stayed with me since I saw it first when I was ten.
Can't believe it was only shown twice on TV due to distribution disputes 😢 luckily my mum taped it to terrify me and my friends for life 😂❤. It's now on dvd
There's a short Spanish silent film called La Cabina, which is on RUclips now, which I saw on the BBC about 30 years ago when I was about 10. It absolutely terrified me, and years later I found someone else with essentially the same experience, who had also seen it alone and been scarred by it.
For me the scariest movie was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I was disturbed for months after seeing it, and seriously thought that movies like that shouldn't be permitted. But now I can't remember what was so disturbing, and I'm afraid to watch it again.
The cinema verite aspect of "Henry" was brilliant. And Michael Rooker was not an actor -- he WAS Henry. You didn't feel as though you were watching a performance, but rather a documentary. And Tom Towles as Otis was the perfect creepy pervert. Watch it again and tell me that any other movie feels like this one.
I didn't find the film scary, I found it nihilistic and upsetting. I subsequently saw Man Bites Dog and thought that was much better, for while the content is equally as disturbing, the film asks a good question, namely how complicit are we in watching this?
@@panzram31614 Yes, that was a big part of what disturbed me so much. I remember thinking, Hold on, is this actually real? That was back in the early 90s, when this style was very unusual, so I imagine that today I could watch it and bracket the realism as a particular film technique. For many years after seeing this movie, I avoided most movies with a lot of violence or body horror. I didn't want to repeat what happened with Henry. But I've noticed my tolerance increasing lately. I just watched nearly all of Verhoeven's films, and the gore had little effect on me.
"Blair Witch Project" is my pick. It wasn't anything like I've ever seen before. "Mulholland Drive" is close second. The atmosphere made it just like being inside of someone's dream.
Was on a trip to Oxford when I was studying business at college. A girl I liked was on the trip and snuck off to see Alien in the afternoon. Scared me sh*tless! I had to catch up on the work the next day when I stopped shaking. I was only 16, don't even know why they let me in nothing about me looked 18! Don't know how this didn't make the list but as a film a great, as part of the horror genre surely an all time great. The girl? We never got close again after that her family moved abroad...
There is a before Alien and an after Alien. Before Alien, space was star wars cool, simple space with heros and villains, sci fi was awesome. After Alien, Star Wars was a lie, space was a terrifying place filled with unspeakable horrors. I love Alien to this day. And Star Wars.
I was so bored this film made me laugh out of nowhere in the cinema - then because I knew I shouldn't be laughing I literally couldn't stop myself and consequently I had to leave who I was with for 5 mins because I couldn't help it and couldn't care less what happened in the movie at that poont. Plus I didnt want to ruin anyones experience. To me its simply an awful and pointless film. Melodramatic and tried too hard. I still find it amazing people got scared watching it. Thats scary to me. Chilling....
@@phoebewoodhouse293 Not really but since you said it I will say.... well, arent you obvious. Read what you just replied to me - because what I said is just that - a subjective opinion. Your half mocking retort assuming any edginess whilst trying to be clever wasnt actually solicited or even correct. At all. Maybe its a pot kettle black thing, because sarcasm isnt any more becoming on you as you percieved edginess is on me. Subjective enough?
@@phoebewoodhouse293 Some people just have to be antagonistic about everything. They'll bait you in a long ass debate/argument, all cause they don't like your opinion on something.
Totally agree. There's so much so scary in that film. To this day I've never been able to fathom why the movie was called The Innocents,when The Turn of The Screw is such a superb title. Still, it doesn't take anything away from the film.
When does "tension" become "scare"? Towards the end of Nic Roeg's "Don't Look Now", there's a scene in which Donald Sutherland is chasing the "red girl" through the backstreets and canals of Venice. I found myself gripping my seat with white knuckles, literally. Oh! And this is why we need "Kermode Uncut" to return :-)
Absolutely terrifying and one of my favorite movies of all time. The first two times I watched it I had to get my mother to talk me down because I was so destroyed inside. I cried after the first time I watched it but haven't in further viewings. I've found that I get sick in the stomach now after I watch it. I think it is because it touches you in the worst place imaginable. Truly one of the scariest things ever put on film.
@@fabriccouch Thank you for sharing this. And, yes, it gets under your skin and lives there. Truly haunting. Constantly talk about it in my writing horror discussions.
I'm starting to realize that every time someone mentions a really, really wild Japanese film, they must be talking about something made by Takashi Miike.
I was born in 66 so as a young boy in the 70's I was occasionally allowed to stay up late to watch the hammer films. Dracula '1958' with Peter cushing and Christopher Lee scared the hell out of me. I wouldn't go to bed on my own for ages.
Happy days! Born '64, I'd beg my parents to let me stay up late on a Sat night (circa 1974, aged 10yrs old) for the Hammer dble bill on BBC2. 'Dracula: Prince of Darkness' (1966) did it for me - the butler suspends the fella over a stone tomb containing Dracula's ashes & slits his throat. Loved it & been hooked on horror ever since!
I remember The Entity scaring the bejesus out of me, also, the TV mini series Salem's Lot with David Soul, which I think was directed by the same guy as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he seemed to know what he was doing.
I think the ones that scared me the most were the ones I saw when I wasn't quite old enough to see them. Psycho, Black Narcissus, Night of the Demon, Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear. Next wave, Exorcist, Dawn of the Living Dead, TCM, Suspiria. Not so easily scared anymore, but I was nerve-wracked by The Ring and Audition.
I had forgotten about Black Narcissus. I saw that when I was really young (about 5 or 6) I don’t think my parents realised it would be disturbing! I still remember the woman with the scary eyes!
"Black Narcissus" is definitely a cinematic classic and feast for the eyes. The crazed Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) does not leave your memory very quickly!
@@cristinapolerina I think I was about 10 or so when I saw it. It also turned upside down my expectations about how films turned out. The lead male character did not rescue the damsel, nor end up with Deborah Kerr and live happily ever. And he looked so ridiculous in his shorts and bare legs on his donkey, when I was used to Westerns where Wayne or Flynn came riding in to save the day. But seeing Sister Ruth go mad without redemption really messed my innocence and naivety up. As Ron D said, Kathleen Byron's Ruth stays with you.
Personal one for me is "The Legend of Boggy Creek," about a Bigfoot-like creature in Fouke, Arkansas. At the time I lived about 20 miles from Fouke, and had to drive some dark country roads to get home after watching the movie. I was certain the Fouke Monster, as it was called, was going to run out of the shadows while I was driving home. At one point I took a corner too fast and went into a ditch. I damn near pissed myself trying to get back on the road!!!
The bad guy in The Vanishing might be the most frightening character ever. His ordinariness and the methodical way he executes his horrible deeds gives me chills
I'm surprised Snowtown isn't on the list. Utterly terrifying and top tier disturbing film that I don't think I could ever watch again. An incredible film with off the chart acting.
For me, watching this classic, flawless movie late on a school night used to scare me to death and that movie is The Elephant Man. It was the only movie I watched through my fingers and the first movie ever to make me cry. For me it's the holy grail of film making as I truly believed it was shot in the 50s (I knew nothing about film back then and a credit to Lynch you might say) and for many years I had no idea what John Hurt looked like in real life until I was allowed to watch Alien for the first time. John Hurt was the first actor I admired because of his portrayal of Joseph Merrick and to this day that film is firmly cemented in my top 5 favourite movies.
10. Buried 0:52
9. Nosferatu 2:12
8. The Witch 4:34
7. The Descent 6:23
6. Audition 7:54
5. The Babadook 9:24
4. Onibaba 10:02
3. The Haunting 11:34
2. The Texas Chain Massacre 12:13
1. The Vanishing 13:14
Thank you so much
The scariest moment I've ever seen has to be the appearance of the bum in Mulholland Drive. I'm generally not very easy to scare, but when I saw that I really jumped out of my seat. What makes it so scary is that it's taking place during daytime and something feels so off the whole time. It's almost as if you know it'll happen, but you don't want to believe it. Lynch really is the master of constructing such eerie moments. Still sends chills down my spine when I think of it.
Matija Ilic I watched that film on a laptop in bed and when that scene happened I immediately shut the laptop and didn’t finish the film for a week. It was so unexpected I didn’t want to know what happened next
Agreed, well put. As you say it just feels 'off' and the sound design is certainly playing a part too.
Fantastic film
Mulholland Drive is one of my all-time favourites and I have seen it about 10 times. The scene you mentioned still scares me so much that I get a sinking feeling only thinking about it. Great Great Great stuff.
Totally agree. What really makes the scene is the whole build up in the restaurant and his telling of the dream before he leaves. Utter genius.
🙈 horrendous😅. Never seen anything like it.
10: Buried
9: Nosferatu
8: The Witch
7: The Descent
6: Audition
5: The Babadook
4: Onibaba
3: The Haunting (1963)
2: The Texas Chain Massacre (1974)
1: The Vanishing (1988)
Thank you. I had a hard time understanding what he said after 'Audition', and the next one, too.
What was scary about the Witch? I mean, it's all subjective...but the Witch?
Also, the best Nosferatu is the Werner Herzog version.
I remember watch6The Texas Chainsaw Massacre @ the drive in back in the 70's,it was wild
I've seen over half of those. Go me!
I was first exposed to Nosferatu as a kid also, but that's cause he'd show up in Spongebob for whatever reason lol.
*Lights flicker*
Nos-feratu!
Nosferatu smiles
I would think that Nosferatu would be fairly kid-friendly. There's no bad language, no sex, no nudity, and very little violence. If parents would feel comfortable letting their children watch a vampire flick, it seems that that would be the one.
Almost 100 years old, it's still one of the best films ever made horror or otherwise.
LMFAOOOO
Kirk Hammett of Metallica had the staircase scene playing at his horror movie poster exhibit
I was about 10 years old when I saw The Wicker Man. I snuck downstairs to watch TV after my parents had gone to bed. I was captivated by it's music and affinity with nature. I didn't understand what was going on and when the big reveal happened I was left confused, excited and terrified. This triggered my ever increasing love for horror. Oh and that bit in Jaws where the head pops out of the hole in the sunken boat was the opitamy of a jump scare.
I used to do that! But I used to put films on I wasn’t allowed to watch. I only told my parents 30 years later recently and my mum was genuinely not happy.
I laughed the whole way through it and got annoyed at the writer's ignorance of Celtic culture.
(late!) epitome!
Parp parp parp
I know it was released for television but Threads (1984) still gives me nightmares to this day.
We watched that in RE at school! They decided to fast forward the start and get straight to the bomb!
I was terrified for days! Many years later as an adult I wondered if it was as scary as I remembered. I found it on RUclips and discovered: Yes. Yes it was!
We should start a Threads recovery group. That film has scared me for 20 years. I had nightmares and suffered from Threads induced depression. I am a lot better now but it took a decision I was not comfortable with. I watched it a lot. I watched it and watched it until its impact lessened with every watch. Now I find myself if we have a nuclear war I want to die and I fine with that. I only wish it will be quick. I can now see Threads and it does not scare me.
I watched that in our basement when it was shown on a public broadcasting station...and it was one of the few times I can say I was too young for it (11 or 12 in the mid-80s).
“The Day After” couldn’t touch it.
Apparently when Threads was broadcast in the USA, the savage impact of the film and the realism of it's depiction was such that...
Religious communities congregated at churches, prayed and lit candles. It was a weekday evening and it created a feeling of apocalypse
@J. Melvin Did you see the error when Ruth's daughter was giving birth. I give you a hint - teeth !
I'm 58 years old and I first saw Salem's Lot when I was 17. I watched it recently and it still scares me, particularly the vampire kids at the window!!
Geoff Joffy couldn’t agree more, Tobe Hooper and Stephen King understand horror
@@MegaRockstar48 Yeah, sad Tobe's no longer with us. :(
Those eyes... 👀
I remember watching Salem's Lot on TV down in our basement with the lights off. Unbeknown to me, my dog came down into the basement, and stood behind me. Because I was ignoring her, she barked/yelped at me. ... To this day, I still remember how that felt, and the mess I had to clean up.
@@DadCanInJapan The dog was scared too.
Lake Mungo is a slow burn, but has an moment in it I will never forget
Yes, I assume you mean the phone footage of the encounter the girl has at Lake Mungo. I swore loudly at that moment.
The image on the phone, right?
Apart from that scene though, it's a pretty forgettable movie
I watched Lake Mungo other day after hearing how great this film was numerous times. I was so disappointed. It is not a bad film and I appreciate what it is trying to do but it ended and I said out loud to myself 'Is that it?'. I slept like a baby afterwards.
Horror is subjective. If you didn't find Lake Mungo scary then you didn't. But for me it got under my skin like very few films do.
You mean Sex and the City 2 didn't scare you?? If not, then it definitely scarred you.
I've never seen it, nor did I see the first one. I didn't care for the show.
I had the same reaction with Mama Mia!
@@ghenulo quite the sense of humor you have there
Superman 3, that scene where that woman turns into a robot, use to scared me as a kid.
Yes, that got me too.
Oh my god yes!! And now, the last time I saw it I just laughed hard at Superman whiskey drunk screaming in a kids face!
Yeah that freaked me out too
I was both scared and aroused by that scene.
Me too!
Robert Eggers has expressed interest in doing a modern retelling of Nosferatu, and after seeing both The Witch and The Lighthouse, i’d totally be down for whatever he wants to do with it. Robert Pattinson screaming in unbridled terror upon seeing the light was one of the most chilling moments I’ve had in a movie in ages.
yeah, Robert Eggers is one of the most promising directors out there right now, imo.
Nosferatu has been done to death. Nobody can top the Werner Herzog version, IMO.
Just leave it alone.. Too many directors ruin classic movies
It's on its way......Bill skarsgard as nosferatu
Trailer is out and it looks absolutely phenomenal. I haven't been this excited for a movie since Dune.
Threads would be the scariest film I have seen, alongside the Descent and Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Truly a chilling portrayal of the aftermath of nuclear war.
It cost £12.68 to rebuild Sheffield….
John Carpenter's The Thing. The idea that you can trust no one including yourself is terrifying.
Classic
It’s a work of art
The petri dish scene had me incoherent with terror
It's a good film but not scary.
@@beastman.330 It was for me, I had read the novelisation by Alan Dean Foster and had to see the film because I needed to see how they acheived the effects so I sort of knew what was coming and couldn't look at the screen! hahaha. The suspense was unbearable!
The scariest film I've ever seen is the 1984 nuclear war drama Threads. I first saw it in school in my second year modern studies class, which would make my about 13 years old at the time. I rewatched it recently and if anything, I found it more terrifying than than the first time around.
"Nice" that he put Vanishing (Spoorloos) on the first place. That film definitely deserves to be mentioned. Remember seeing it few years ago after I found out that Kubrick named it as the scarriest film he had ever seen. It's a pity that the film is almost forgotten nowadays.
Not by those of us who agree with Mark, it isn't!
It has been one of my top ten movies for many years, it's not an horror film though.
I saw it on youtube recently
@@jajdude is it the full movie or clips?
@@blackgold63 full movie and the subtitles were decent
The Descent is a film I have become obsessed with over time. Every so often I’ll rewatch it just to embrace that unsettled atmosphere and the feeling it leaves me with, and every time I do, I see new things. Recently I caught an early shot from the film where the characters are small and silhouetted and what you initially assume is one of them suddenly squats down revealing it’s one of the creatures.
I also just have to say how great it is to have a film with an all-female lead cast where gender isn’t a narrative element.
"gender isn’t a narrative element" -- I thought the same back when I watched it. Since then, I've read analyses which posit that the all-female cast *does* have a narrative purpose, and that those cave beasts are a stand-in for the constant dread women feel in a world where they cannot move about without the fear of getting r4p3d.
I just watched The Vanishing because of this video and it did not disappoint... very disturbing ending to an excellent character-centered psychological thriller.
I'd stick a vote in for 'The Innocents' like 'The Haunting' what it suggests more than what it does lingers in the mind long after the end.
Yes that was actually " the turn of the screw" there has been a few versions over the years.
Recent one with Michelle Dockery was good.
I was just about to post that, Kubrick said the reaosn he filmed the shining was because he never felt anyone did horror right, he obviously never saw ''the innocents' as it amps up the creepiness to 10, I'd say it was scarier than the shining, well definitely a better written book origin
Not a film but Ghost Watch on BBC in the 90s freaked me out as a child. It was portrayed as a standard bbc documentary - complete with celebs - but it really wasnt.
Yes and the double take Pipes scene unforgettable.
Indeed. I was about 10 or 11 when it was broadcast and I was completely taken in until the credits rolled. Judging by the number of complaints they received, lot of other people were too. I doubt any mainstream TV channel would have the nerve to do something like that these days.
oh my god yes this freaked me out so bad.i realised the other day i was 7 when i watched it.feel mad at my dad for letting me watch it at that age.
Horrific. I was allowed to watch it as a kid as it came across like a fairly mild live ghost show and they turned it into this true to life, ghosts are real, everybody’s dead thing. I don’t think ever been as scared as I was then!
This show was so scary!!! Remember lots of friends not at school the next day as they didnt sleep that night!
There's a Japanese saying that roughly translates to "What I thought was a ghost was just the grass." because the sound of it in the wind is so haunting.
Carnival of Souls is one of those films you switch the TV onto halfway through late one night, and spend the rest of the week with its images burnt into your mind. Unsettling.
Ha when I was a little kid I used to watch that film over and over and over again good shid
When I first saw Carnival of Souls , it seemed as if the movie kept switching from a dream state to a nightmare and back and forth until the end.
Brilliant film. You can see davi lynch influence.
The dream in a dream sequence in American werewolf in London. Werewolf Nazis.
That's a cheap jump scare, but it does work.
Managed to sneak a watch of that film when I was about 13 and this scene scared the absolute crap out of me 🤓
As a teenager, I took a female classmate to watch “Audition” at our local arts cinema. That was the first and last film we saw together. My apologies Katy!
I went on a blind date to see Trainspotting with a Christian girl. I think the shitty blanket scene was the final straw. She didn't even speak to me afterwards. Just walked off.
We met up again years later and ended up married.
Ok that last bit is not true.
@@Lacking_something Damn
Audition is a truly horrific movie
@@Lacking_something the blanket scene? she missed quite a lot of truly horrible stuff then
Toy Story 2, surely!
I watched Pulse (2001) a few months ago, lights out, minimized laptop window, half awake. There's something about films that urge your focus into dark spaces that really gives you the heebies.
The VVitch is most definitely is a horror film
Robert Eggers will say too.
It just might not have been the film it was quite advertised by. Not a conventional horror, but definitely part of the genre
Perfect soundtrack too.
"It's not a horror film, it's something that has much more to do with atmosphere" is such an absurd statement, and shows how far mainstream horror has fallen where people won't call it horror unless it's non-stop quiet quiet BANG!
@@neildunford241 the soundtracks's creepy af
The Ver Vitch?
That's nothing new, people have been deliberately avoiding having certain films be classed as Horror for decades. That being said, it felt like they just added a Witch to the movie for the sheer sake of having a Witch in the movie. The movie worked better without it.
“We got a brief clip of the film”
Shows the end of the movie!
Nothing has ever frightened me as much as the Child-Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That was, ostensibly, a kids movie. Who the hell decided that was a good idea?
100% agree. It was on tv the other day. I'm nearly 40 and it's still extremely creepy. I think it was because growing up you were warned about talking to strangers, offering you sweets.
yep that face was terrifying
don't forget that mindfuckery in willy wonka, with the train,
Totally agree... creeps me out to this day!
I mean creepy as it is it adds to the movie and especially its memorability doesn't it? I think it was a good idea anyway.
The scene in the Exorcist 3 with the nurse, and the shears, and the big, quiet build up when you know something is going to happen and it still scares the crap out of you? Incredible.
Rob Talbot Amazing scene. Minutes it lasts.
An incredible third installment! Unmissable! ✌️💥😱😷💚
It’s the scariest part of any movie I’ve ever seen still to this day. Very underrated movie.
For me it was the blurry background of the woman crawling on the ceiling above George C Scott. That movie had some great creepy moments. THAT is what makes a movie 'scary'. A movie that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, your skin crawl and a feeling of unease in the pit of your stomach. Gross out movies or slasher movies may be 'horror' but not necessarily 'scary'.
So right. It’s a really good movie. Not quite the atmosphere of the exorcist but genuinely creepy.
The thing. Whenever I've done a first aid course and practice chest compressions I still think about that scene!
Yeah that's a classic. Norris' chest opens up
Eraserhead completely freaked me out. I saw it on Channel 4 when I was 14- I thought it was going to be an 80s slasher-type movie, and it was very, VERY different.
The Wheelers in Return To Oz would get an mention from me, terrifying creatures.
Definitely. Return To Oz was a very creepy film. Both myself, and my wife love it though.
I used to find the bit where all the heads are in the cabinets screaming "DOOOOOOOOOROOOOOOTHY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!"
@@GavinLawrence747 Yes, definitely. It was miles better than the first film.
Yep! I saw it in the cinema back in 1985! Ha Ha! Great show!...✌️💥💚😷
Not a horror, but the "Bite the curb" scene in American History X really freaked me out
Oh, goodness, yes. I find I am simply unable to watch it. Utterly unmanned me the first time I saw it and have not been able to bring myself to watch the movie again because of it.
Oh, goodness, yes. I find I am simply unable to watch it. Utterly unmanned me the first time I saw it and have not been able to bring myself to watch the movie again because of it.
Yes, I've only ever seen it once and will only ever see it once. It's the fact you hear his teeth on the curb...
You know it's coming but you don't want to watch it because it's absolutely brutal but you do find yourself watching it.
@Bob Beelze wow Bob! You sound like a real man! 😂
As a kid, the window scratching scene from 'Salems Lot'. Obviously more of a TV movie, but still pretty scary for a young kid.
That scene stills gives me a chill and I’m not easily scared and find most horror movies easy to watch. I think because I was a kid when I saw it that it maybe takes me back to that time.
I was scared by this film as a kid...as an adult though I found it more amusing than scary
A masterpiece of a film,, no film scared me more or since,,, im 40 now😅
The last 30 mins of Hereditary messed me up
Edan Carr that movie is a solid 9
I actually thought the last 30 minutes was the least terrifying thing about the film. The supernatural stuff takes a backseat to the domestic tension.
Holden uch gie yir carpet sweeper a break iye
@asdf asdfq Stick to the wrong turn franchise, passive spectator. You have absolutely no taste, you have no right to be in a cinema.
@@holden6104 based
Kermode Uncut is no more eh? This seems rather familiar in that case.
The scariest film moment that sticks in my mind is the Nazi face melting at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I would have been six or seven when I first saw it - I was so disturbed I didn't watch that scene again until I was in my twenties!
I'm 29 and I recently tried to watch the scene from King Kong again, where these giant bugs attack ... I still can't watch it! XD
@@goodial Man that one is really wrong, especially the way it almost starts off playfully, like "Hey, will you get off me?" and turns so quickly! Plus the score is SO dark.
It was on tv the other day and they don't cut anything out for day time watching. Watching it as an adult now it all still seems quite brutal 😂
I was about the same age when I saw that at the cinema. I sobbed with fear at that point and didnt sleep well for a long time after
Didn’t scare me. Thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen. Might still be.
The Descent was one of the best experiences I've ever had at the cinema. Multiple code violations by the whole audience just added to the fear frenzy that we were all enjoying.
What are "code violations"?
@@CC3GROUNDZEROright..? Were they cussing? Were they drinking ?smoking reefer?
Jacob's ladder..so many scenes that definitely got to me....some fleeting..some drawn out...a brilliant film.so disturbing to boot...I've never gripped a cinema seat so tightly in my life...Tim Robbins.just amazing imho.
Agree completely, why is it so disturbing? I think it’s Tim Robins brilliant performance.
Watching John Carpenter’s The Fog aged, approximately 9 years old. Love it now and still scares me - it’s chills were imprinted on my psyche. Same applies for Ridley Scott’s Alien 😂
I recommend Lake Mungo to anyone who does not want sleep for the mext week. THE most underrated horror film ive seen. Seriously go check it out youll thank me later
Andre Fick yep, with you on that. More people should watch this
Totally love Lake Mungo...its the origin of my nickname "mungie" lol
Most scared I've been watching a film is probably Rec. I was completely immersed the entire time, the last 20 minutes... I still have nightmares.
Gary's Review I love rec and it totally got to me when I first saw it, fast forward a few years and we visit the mother in law in Madrid and her apartment building is just like the one in the film! No sleep that night lol
Funk O'Matic good list!
It's so intense!
“Jaws” scared the living crap out of me. I was eight and had no business in that theater. That scene where the severed head rolls into view in the hull of the ship. Jesus.
Was 11. Same effect.
I've seen that movie about 12 times. I know the scene's coming. I know what's going to happen. It still makes me jump.
I still don’t swim in the sea and I’m sure it had the same effect on many people. 😬
I loved the Witch, I think it’s very underrated as a horror film.
Very. Loved it too.
Really? I think it is highly overrated. A movie that tried to mush 3 different plots into one narrative and did a poor job of it.
@@guibox3 Edgy!
I thought it was like watching paint dry......and just as scary.
*"Buried"* is one of the best performance from Ryan Reynalds. And the ending_______
*"Eden Lake"* is a freaky film as well. The ending on that one______ooof!
Good shout with Eden Lake. Tense film.
Stayed with me for a long time.
I have only seen Audition once and that was almost 15 years ago. Scariest movie I've ever seen. The little sound clip you guys played here legitimately gave me goosebumps and some bad memories. Thanks guys. The Vanishing is also a fantastic pick. What a terrifying conclusion.
I’ve never seen it, could you explain what’s happening in that audio clip?
@@georgeclayton kiri kiri kiri kiri....
The Transformers Franchise
@Shrek Wazowski if one likes that sort of thing.. I gave up after that. Never watched the sequels. Movies made in a vacuum.
Shrek Wazowski
If you think the CGI film was the FIRST one...
Bumblebee was unexpectedly great.
'The Changeling' (1980) with George C. Scott remains the most frightening film I've ever seen. Amazing not many people have heard of it. An absolutely chilling haunted house story that builds paralysing fear the more you become embroiled in the story... and the score is simply terrifying.
Love that film. I suppose it might have got greater recognition if not for The Shining coming out the same year.
@@jajdude How 'The Shining' has garnered this reputation I will never understand. Dont get me wrong, it's a good film...but frightening?? Never.
My wife !oves that film. Creepy wheelchair!
@Neil Henderson Absolutely!! The seance sequence was terrifying ....the way the medium scribbles the 'YES' and the frantic 'HELP', 'JOHN!'....utterly petrifying.
The most disturbing is the thought of what kills Captain Dewitt, when his car is found upside down in the road, windscreen smashed and him with that hideous look on his face....
The little ball bouncing down the stairs is a moment
The nanny hanging herself in The Omen. I saw it when I was much too young. The expression on her face still gets to me. "This is all for you Damien".
Moors scene in American Werewolf. Again, I was very young.
In more recent years, only a few things here and there (parts of the Descent, Sadako jerkily climbing out of the well in the original Ring, a few moments in Blair Witch), but nothing like the things that get you as a kid.
David Lynch can still manage a few freaking- yer-out moments though.
totally agree with those Omen and American Werewolf scenes... saw them both when I was about 7!
This Omen scene frightened me too! That film put me off dogs for life.
Haha, love the inclusion of "that aren't the Exorcist" 😅
Honestly could always hear him talk about that movie
"The Audition' Japanese film scared me.
I think the one film that truly terrified me was United 93 - a completely unnerving, harrowing piece of cinema, a real life horror film with impending dread - the fact that you know beforehand everyone on that plane is going to die as the movie starts puts the fear front and centre.
I loved seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre up there. It's my favorite horror. I would only add that despite the name and the implied "butchery", there is almost no bloodshed whatsoever on screen. All the terror comes from the abrupt, inexplicable chaos that ensues. It is almost poetic in its self-contained senselessness and no other horror movie gets away with such a minimalist suspension of disbelief. It makes no sense until it makes complete sense and it explains nothing. Thoroughly original and memorable.
concernedspectator The dinner table scene is one of the most crazy things ever in a horror film.
@@leonwatson79 I know right. A total breakdown of sanity. It would have been so easy to mess that sequence up
I remember thinking Frailty starring Bill Paxton was pretty creepy
Also, I know it's not a classic but Sinister scared the crap out of me
Dead Of Night (1945) always gets to me, especially the last segment. And I will never forget when I was a child, staying with my cousins who had gone to bed & watching the Legend Of Hell House on my own, in the dark, during a storm. Good lord that freaked me out.
Room for one more inside, sir?
'Dead Of Night' is a masterpiece. And brought to you by Ealing Films, who would later produce some of the greatest, and in some cases, darkest, film comedies ever made.
I thought the Blair witch project was scary the first time I'd seen it.
Actually it won me over too. Only ever seen it the once on release at a small crammed cinema in Edinburgh - everyone left shook. I needed large amounts of alcohol afterwards.
i always admire film makers that can do so much with a limited budget and the blair witch project is a perfect example of that . other films from a different genre set that are george miller with the original mad max and robert rodriguez with el mariachi, two films that are widely different to the blair witch project but all of them use creative techniques to create compelling movies with not alot of money.
SMERSH so glad to see some love for the original BWP. I think most people who dump on it had probably seen 4816 "found footage" movies before finally catching up to Blair Witch, lessening its iconic impact.
Especially when , like me, I go camping and not at family run sites but in the woods. The same year “The Sixth sense “, came out but , I thought it was second to Blair Witch.
@Thomas Wake I agree. The ending is a masterpiece in film making and properly underrated. I was so tense at the end of that movie I was practically stood up. The whole movie is underrated to be fair and really the only movie to ever have had me gripping my chair throughout and for those that slate Blair Witch don't have much imagination, we'll leave them to their jump scares.
The reveal ending of Don't Look Now froze my blood more than any other movie moment.
By far the scariest film I've seen, and my favourite film of all time. The very final scene, foretold, being almost as chilling as *that* climax. An absolute masterclass in tension building, and like MK says about Babadook it's all the more powerful because you really care for the characters and the turmoil and torment they feel.
The vanishing has had a lasting effect on me also. I am unable to allow my wife to leave my side at petrol stations, airports, motorway services. Luckily she is very understanding of this.
As a child "salems lot" window scene. And reveal at end of "Dont look now". More recently "Pans Labyrinth" creature with eyeballs in its palms I mean WTF was that
Yes Salem's lot when I was a kid.
While watching a particularly scary bit, I can't remember which bit, my brother in law who at the time was still just my sister's boyfriend, stuck his hand through the lounge window grabbing my shoulder making a "woooooo" noise!
Have never forgiven him!
Having seen the series again in more recent times I can't imagine ever being scared of it.
Yeah that window scene scared me bad as a kid. it was such a long drawn out scene too.
Sales lot window scene still terrifies me
First time i saw Jacob's Ladder, more or less the whole film was scariest for me, but especially when he's in the tunnel after getting off the train and there's all these zombie or ghost-like people blankly staring out. Surprised that's not more recognised. The imagery and the 'what on earth is going on' aspect , i find much more frightening than something like 'Halloween', or even 'The Exorcist' where there's no mystery or confusion to it, it's just a question of buying in to the story, which, admittedly Friedkin does a good job of making you do.
Yeah Jacobs ladder. Great shout! That goes beyond scary to completely disturbing for me.
Great list! Nosferatu is creepy as hell nearly 100 years later. I'm in the minority on The Descent. I thought was really suspenseful and atmospheric until the creatures showed up, then it just kind of fizzled out for me. I'm surprised The Border Lands and Session 9 didn't end up in your top ten.
Borderlands (incidentally on TV last night much to my delight) is scary, especially the last 15 minutes - terrifying
I just commented on how Session 9 stands out in my memory as a film that truly left me creeped out, to the point that I was hesitant about going anywhere dark that evening. Few films do that, but Session 9 - if you get in the correct mindset and allow it to - will get under your skin.
Watership Down
Threads
"Threads" -- good choice. Nuclear apocalypse movie made during the height of the Cold War -- good luck sleeping anytime soon after viewing that one. Even its American counterpart "The Day After" had some chilling images of nuclear holocaust.
Threads!! Horrid!
Threads is absolutely terrifying
When I think of Watership Down I also think of Plague Dogs
Threads is the most disturbing film ever made. I think it's how it goes from normality to utter unflinching apocalypse. That scene in the graveyard really gets me.
Even looking at photos from Murnau's "Nosferatu" traumatised me, never mind watching the film. "The Woman in Black" TV adaptation was very effective!
I went to Wismar in Germany last year
I was walking on the docks and turned round and realised the gate that the vampire carries the coffin through when he leaves the ship was right in front of me,.
Nosferatu was partly filmed in wismar and the streets and locations are still there and recognisable
Looking forward to getting the ITV version of Woman In Black - finally released on DVD now.
Yes the bedroom scene !
@whatsleft100: Just when he thought he was safe in the inn! And the gleeful malevolence on her face when she reared up at the bottom of the bed! That was a change-underpants-immediately moment. Quite brilliant.
The ventriloquist segment of "Dead of Night", especially the final moment in the asylum. Stayed with me for weeks afterwards (as a ten year old)...
Great film dead of night
"Can't stop me, Maxwell. You're finished.
FINISHED!"
I was lucky enough to see Nosferatu at a screening with a live pianist. It's such a good film with wonderful imagery and creepy acting
I envy you. Only on home video/DVD have I seen it.
Me too, in London!
I saw the movie at my local arthouse cinema with a small audience. It was watched in silence, and given a huge round of applause at the end. Perfect.
1) the Others
2) The woman in Black
3) Sinister- leaves you empty and unsettled
4) It (90's TV version- terrified me in an excited way as a child
5) The shining (of course)
Hands down the scariest film I’ve ever seen is still “Deliverance”.
Thought Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me wouldve made the list, Bob played by Frank Silva is a great horror creation
Totally agree
Crazy movie that loll
100%. What a film that was. I was not ready for how scary it was either.
The Shining without a doubt....and John Carpenters The fog! I think there is something about seeing scary movies as a teenager that means they never leave you! 👻👻👻
I agree. I saw both of these as a child and they scared the witts out of my and still do.
Who claimed that The Witch isn’t a real Horror movie!?! It is. Surely this is just another example of snooty critics deciding that any horror movie that elevates the genre is no longer considered a horror movie?
Not enough jump scares? Definitely is a horror.
Most critics don't like Horror as a genre, it's that simple.
Gilbert, Im sorry, but its not 'that simple' simply because most horror is very formulaic or jump scare based, if not sequel rammed to the point of ridiculous and parodist, so I presume thats a big part of why you may see it that way, but - most people whom like Horror can probably agree that its not a genre that cares about critics for the most part. I take issue though with your prior sub comment (above) in which you express the distaste you felt that there was even a Witch at all..... (in a film called 'The Witch') ....and that your feeling is and I quote that said Witch somehow was unnecessary, and, if Im recalling your sentiment correctly, that 'they just added the Witch in seemingly just for the sake of it' So, it appears youre also a critic whom doesnt like horror...judging by your own critique above.... unless its abstract or metaphorical rather than straight up and literal. I say so because if you take out the Witch from 'The Witch' what you effectively would get is 'The Village' meets 'The Shining' but just on a familial scale - and we know that those 2 films have been done, with differing success in terms of reception and subsequent interpretation, and to my mind all that considered, this film did true horror, in its own way, it set its own horrific tone so unflinchingly well BECAUSE of the Witch - in the first 10 minutes, so that it then makes you know watching that anything can now happen from here on in, without a doubt, brutally understated, and in such a fashion it beats them both on reflection, imho, and does so *GASP* honestly. No gimmicky jump scares, no red herrings, but still hides a twist for the audience to comprehend later on at the end. Very clever, but it was a divisive movie as far as I can gather, but to me its a frank and faithful love letter to Horror and horror stories, in short a flawless masterpiece. So, I guess Im puzzled, puzzled as to wether you're a critic, or a fan, or just someone who isnt satisfied being either-or, and instead tries to be both depending on the comment to which youre responding to. I dont understand how such a contradiction of comments can originate from the same person on the same comment section about the same film.
A film that I find to be massively underrated is Session 9. The entirely film just has a perverse 'energy' to it, it works brilliantly as a psychological horror film. It left me more shaken than a lot of the more in your face horror films, certainly more so than mainstream horror films of the last 2 decades.
Barlow crashing into the Petrie's kitchen in Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot has stuck with me for decades. Reggie Nalder channels Max Shrek in that mini series.
The goat in The Witch had some human quality that was disturbing.
It also wrecked the dad in that movie (his name escapes me, Ralph somethingorother?). He had to be airlifted by helicopter and flown to the hospital as they were out in the middle of nowhere. I think they must have left one of the takes in that movie because the way it butts him near the end.....just, ugghhh. I'm not a fan of goats at the best of times, let alone demonic ones.
"Event Horizon" - when they watch the video footage - and we see the captain with his hands out holding his eyes and saying ""Liberate me" ("Save me")" - yup made me stop at various times over the next few days as that image flashed across my vision..
I watched it in the cinema and this scene had me getting nauseous from the sheer horror of it.
The speeded-up visions of hell are bad enough, but if you slow them down… well just don’t!
10. Buried (2010) 0:53
9. Nosferatu (1922) 2:18
8. The Witch (2015) 4:33
7. The Descent (2005) 6:19
6. Audition (1999) 8:00
5. The Babadook (2014) 9:26
4. Onibaba (1964) 10:02
3. The Haunting (1963) 11:38
2. The Texas Chain Massacre (1974) 12:13
1. The Vanishing (1988) 13:17
thanks, but Audition seems to be from 1999. looks like there's an obscure documentary, also called 'Audition', from 2009
@@casperowens2482 Good catch! Thank you! (I updated it)
1. Let the Right One In
2. Onibaba
3. Night of the Living Dead (original)
4. The Grudge (Japanese original)
5. The Babadook
6. Oculus
7. Marebito
8. Silence of the Lambs
9. The Phoughkeepsie Tapes
10. Island of Lost Souls (Original from the 30s)
Love a bit of Kermode and Mayo, they compliment each other really well
I recommend the Vanishing to my mum and sister to watch, as I was bown away by it when I saw it. Neither of them have forgiven me as the end traumatized them. Sorry again but what a great film
THE RETURN OF KERMODE UNCUT HYPE
Just in case you weren't aware, he does a lot of these features in his Kermode on Film podcast!
Hereditary, the ending of this movie, is so twisted, it really freaked me out. Very hard to watch.
Brilliant!..😷💚💥✌️😱
Two stand out to me - the ending of the original The Fly which as an arachophobe makes me come out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. The other is The Woman in Black, the 1989 TV movie not the Hollywood remake. The feeling of abject terror I was left with by the idea that someone would intentionally isolate themselves with something so powerful and so malevolent has stayed with me since I saw it first when I was ten.
The woman in black scared my daughter so much, I had to walk her home. And she has a black belt or two in martial arts!
Can't believe it was only shown twice on TV due to distribution disputes 😢 luckily my mum taped it to terrify me and my friends for life 😂❤. It's now on dvd
Ringu (1998) for me.
When Sadako comes out of that TV, is one of the scariest moments ever filmed.
@lonestar6709: Thankfully that scene has been parodied so often it should take the edge off. Well… I did say SHOULD…
There's a short Spanish silent film called La Cabina, which is on RUclips now, which I saw on the BBC about 30 years ago when I was about 10. It absolutely terrified me, and years later I found someone else with essentially the same experience, who had also seen it alone and been scarred by it.
i watched it as kid and found it on here a few years back,that unexpected ending terrified me
For me the scariest movie was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I was disturbed for months after seeing it, and seriously thought that movies like that shouldn't be permitted. But now I can't remember what was so disturbing, and I'm afraid to watch it again.
The cinema verite aspect of "Henry" was brilliant. And Michael Rooker was not an actor -- he WAS Henry. You didn't feel as though you were watching a performance, but rather a documentary. And Tom Towles as Otis was the perfect creepy pervert. Watch it again and tell me that any other movie feels like this one.
I didn't find the film scary, I found it nihilistic and upsetting. I subsequently saw Man Bites Dog and thought that was much better, for while the content is equally as disturbing, the film asks a good question, namely how complicit are we in watching this?
@@panzram31614 Yes, that was a big part of what disturbed me so much. I remember thinking, Hold on, is this actually real? That was back in the early 90s, when this style was very unusual, so I imagine that today I could watch it and bracket the realism as a particular film technique.
For many years after seeing this movie, I avoided most movies with a lot of violence or body horror. I didn't want to repeat what happened with Henry. But I've noticed my tolerance increasing lately. I just watched nearly all of Verhoeven's films, and the gore had little effect on me.
@@themagus517 Man Bites Dog sounds interesting. I'll look for it.
The home invasion with the family is the most disturbing I think -- that's stuck with me for a long time.
Agree with you about The Vanishing, Being claustrophobic myself the devastating ending left an indelible imprint on my brain.
"Blair Witch Project" is my pick. It wasn't anything like I've ever seen before.
"Mulholland Drive" is close second. The atmosphere made it just like being inside of someone's dream.
Alien.....the whole movie is just scary as hell and obviously John Hurt and the dinner scene leaves nothing to the imagination
Was on a trip to Oxford when I was studying business at college. A girl I liked was on the trip and snuck off to see Alien in the afternoon. Scared me sh*tless! I had to catch up on the work the next day when I stopped shaking. I was only 16, don't even know why they let me in nothing about me looked 18! Don't know how this didn't make the list but as a film a great, as part of the horror genre surely an all time great. The girl? We never got close again after that her family moved abroad...
Yeah, blood splashing on anyone and then the obvious puppet running away: A funny moment in an otherwise boring movie.
There is a before Alien and an after Alien. Before Alien, space was star wars cool, simple space with heros and villains, sci fi was awesome. After Alien, Star Wars was a lie, space was a terrifying place filled with unspeakable horrors. I love Alien to this day. And Star Wars.
@@ghenulo Not into cinema then? Maybe the fast and furious 29 is more your thing.
I've never since been able to be in a dark warehouse/disused building without a strong sense that the Alien is off in a corner.
Hereditary...when Toni Collette bangs her head against the attic door like a jackhammer...chills!!!!
LOL!
I was so bored this film made me laugh out of nowhere in the cinema - then because I knew I shouldn't be laughing I literally couldn't stop myself and consequently I had to leave who I was with for 5 mins because I couldn't help it and couldn't care less what happened in the movie at that poont. Plus I didnt want to ruin anyones experience. To me its simply an awful and pointless film. Melodramatic and tried too hard. I still find it amazing people got scared watching it. Thats scary to me. Chilling....
Mike O'Keeffe aren’t you edgy? Film is subjective.
@@phoebewoodhouse293 Not really but since you said it I will say.... well, arent you obvious. Read what you just replied to me - because what I said is just that - a subjective opinion.
Your half mocking retort assuming any edginess whilst trying to be clever wasnt actually solicited or even correct.
At all.
Maybe its a pot kettle black thing, because sarcasm isnt any more becoming on you as you percieved edginess is on me.
Subjective enough?
@@phoebewoodhouse293 Some people just have to be antagonistic about everything. They'll bait you in a long ass debate/argument, all cause they don't like your opinion on something.
The Innocents/Turn of the Screw. I saw it recently and it still gave me chills!
Totally agree. There's so much so scary in that film. To this day I've never been able to fathom why the movie was called The Innocents,when The Turn of The Screw is such a superb title. Still, it doesn't take anything away from the film.
That brilliant freeview channel Talking Pictures showed it the other night!
When does "tension" become "scare"? Towards the end of Nic Roeg's "Don't Look Now", there's a scene in which Donald Sutherland is chasing the "red girl" through the backstreets and canals of Venice. I found myself gripping my seat with white knuckles, literally.
Oh! And this is why we need "Kermode Uncut" to return :-)
Yeah I place that ending just under "The Vanishing", it has that same unconscionable, yet nightmarish quality.
_Session 9_ remains in my top three films that truly scared me. Under-appreciated horror movie.
Rarely mentioned, but absolutely brilliant film. That scene where the kid is being chased (?) through the tunnel...
Absolutely terrifying and one of my favorite movies of all time. The first two times I watched it I had to get my mother to talk me down because I was so destroyed inside. I cried after the first time I watched it but haven't in further viewings. I've found that I get sick in the stomach now after I watch it. I think it is because it touches you in the worst place imaginable. Truly one of the scariest things ever put on film.
@@fabriccouch Thank you for sharing this. And, yes, it gets under your skin and lives there. Truly haunting. Constantly talk about it in my writing horror discussions.
I'm starting to realize that every time someone mentions a really, really wild Japanese film, they must be talking about something made by Takashi Miike.
I was born in 66 so as a young boy in the 70's I was occasionally allowed to stay up late to watch the hammer films. Dracula '1958' with Peter cushing and Christopher Lee scared the hell out of me. I wouldn't go to bed on my own for ages.
Happy days! Born '64, I'd beg my parents to let me stay up late on a Sat night (circa 1974, aged 10yrs old) for the Hammer dble bill on BBC2.
'Dracula: Prince of Darkness' (1966) did it for me - the butler suspends the fella over a stone tomb containing Dracula's ashes & slits his throat. Loved it & been hooked on horror ever since!
I remember The Entity scaring the bejesus out of me, also, the TV mini series Salem's Lot with David Soul, which I think was directed by the same guy as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he seemed to know what he was doing.
Stuart Whibley . Salems lot (the original) was superb.
Yup, the entity scared the
Bejesus out of me.
I think the ones that scared me the most were the ones I saw when I wasn't quite old enough to see them. Psycho, Black Narcissus, Night of the Demon, Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear. Next wave, Exorcist, Dawn of the Living Dead, TCM, Suspiria. Not so easily scared anymore, but I was nerve-wracked by The Ring and Audition.
I had forgotten about Black Narcissus. I saw that when I was really young (about 5 or 6) I don’t think my parents realised it would be disturbing! I still remember the woman with the scary eyes!
"Black Narcissus" is definitely a cinematic classic and feast for the eyes. The crazed Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) does not leave your memory very quickly!
@@cristinapolerina I think I was about 10 or so when I saw it. It also turned upside down my expectations about how films turned out. The lead male character did not rescue the damsel, nor end up with Deborah Kerr and live happily ever. And he looked so ridiculous in his shorts and bare legs on his donkey, when I was used to Westerns where Wayne or Flynn came riding in to save the day. But seeing Sister Ruth go mad without redemption really messed my innocence and naivety up. As Ron D said, Kathleen Byron's Ruth stays with you.
TCM?
Personal one for me is "The Legend of Boggy Creek," about a Bigfoot-like creature in Fouke, Arkansas. At the time I lived about 20 miles from Fouke, and had to drive some dark country roads to get home after watching the movie. I was certain the Fouke Monster, as it was called, was going to run out of the shadows while I was driving home. At one point I took a corner too fast and went into a ditch. I damn near pissed myself trying to get back on the road!!!
I found out about the film from watching Finding Bigfoot
That's one of my favorite films. The cinematography is beautiful, and really establishes an eerie mood and atmosphere.
Yeah man that scared the sht out of me as a kid watched when a was a bit older though and thought it was rubbish
The Descent is up there as one of my favourite films horror or otherwise
It's my favourite too. Dog Soldiers is also brilliant, fine mix of comedy and horror....
@@alex_n8863 dog soldiers is epic. Watched it in the very front row of the cinema. Some major jump scares!
I'm sorry, but you just can't describe The Descent as "up there".
The bad guy in The Vanishing might be the most frightening character ever. His ordinariness and the methodical way he executes his horrible deeds gives me chills
I'm surprised Snowtown isn't on the list. Utterly terrifying and top tier disturbing film that I don't think I could ever watch again. An incredible film with off the chart acting.
For me, watching this classic, flawless movie late on a school night used to scare me to death and that movie is The Elephant Man. It was the only movie I watched through my fingers and the first movie ever to make me cry. For me it's the holy grail of film making as I truly believed it was shot in the 50s (I knew nothing about film back then and a credit to Lynch you might say) and for many years I had no idea what John Hurt looked like in real life until I was allowed to watch Alien for the first time. John Hurt was the first actor I admired because of his portrayal of Joseph Merrick and to this day that film is firmly cemented in my top 5 favourite movies.
De Toro’s “The Devils Backbone” is highly recommended
I was expecting the leaving the tent scene in A Field In England to be included.
My own list would include The Shining, Rec, The Ring, Audition.
Ringu - the US remake was an absolute joke.
Good shout on AFIE!
That scene made me panic