What Movie, Book or Television/Internet Presentation Scared the most Shit out of You?

[Loyd]

It is Halloweekend, after all.

For me, this is an easy call: The Shining. No, not Stanley Kubrick's VASTLY-overrated piece of celluloid shit, but the truly frightening novel by Stephen King. Without a doubt, the Maestro from Maine's best book!

But what of thee?

[Sneederbunk]

1. The Hot Zone.

[Laffy Kat]

7. Same author: The Cobra Event.

Oh. My. God. But The Hot Zone was scary as hell, too.

[OregonBlue]

2. At The Mountains of Madness by H P Lovecraft. I got such bad nightmares I

finally had to put it down and never finished it.

[jpak]

18. I have actually seen them

On my last expedition to Antarctica, the research vessel we we on was re-positioning to a new station.

I was working on the helo deck and looked up to see a very odd looking "cloud" over the land (we were in the Ross Sea).

It didn't seem right.

I went and got my binocs - and sure enough...

It was a Fata Morgana of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains - I could see the sun glinting off the the inland ice - and it dwarfed the local 10.000 foot coastal volcanoes....

My first thought was...

Tekeli-li!

It was the most astonishing thing I have ever seen.

[Kleveland]

3. The recent inaguration.

I am still having nightmares!

[DK504]

4. lol...House of Cards.

[Loyd]

24. First in Thread

I knew it was coming!

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. "Inside" (2007)

French horror film. Saw it about 10 years ago and couldn't sleep well for a week.

Truly terrifying.

Apparently there's an American remake coming soon, but I can't imagine it's nearly as frightening as the original.


Aside from that, movies and books don't really frighten me. I started reading Stephen King when I was 11, and even then I was never frightened.

[angstlessk]

6. Psycho...My mother's father died and we went to Falls Church for his wake & funeral.

My sister and I stayed at the motel alone during the wake thing at night (Irish, drinking, etc.) I was about 10 and sister was 12 (back then it was not a problem).

We went outside of the motel room, only to discover Psycho was playing at the movie theater across the street! We ran back into our room shaking!

[mopinko]

8. the astronaut's wife.

very underrated movie, imho.

[Chasstev365]

9. Bedtime for Bonzo

[underpants]

10. 3 but there are some funny parts

Halloween
The first time it was on network TV. My brother and I were watching it. At a commercial break we switched over to Dick Clark's Rocking Halloween. Rod Stewart did "Young Hearts (breath free tonight) to this day if I happen to hear that song I think of Mike Myers......and Jamie Lee Curtis

These two were when I was in the Army early 90's

Cape Fear with DeNiro
The scene where Nick Nolte hires some tough guys to take care of Max Cady and Cady takes their chain and pipes away from them and beats the crap out of THEM. I thought to myself "Good GOD!" Yeah it was a movie but it was a bad ass scene.

The Silence of the Lambs
This, like Cape Fear, I saw in a theater in "the field". Huge theater. Seated I'd say 1,000. ? All males. Military "tough" males.
The first scene where Clarice meets Lecter. When she turns and we see Hopkins for the first time. That look. How he was standing. I actually let out a "Holy Fuck!". I will never forget that.
Later in the movie when "Buffalo Bill" is dancing around, music blaring, silk robe, and then ..... he did "the tuck". The place went NUTS (pardon the expression). Hats flew in the air. Arms flailed. Soldiers literally ran out of the place up the aisles. I've never seen any reaction in a movie theater like that. Hilarious.

[NightWatcher]

11. When I went to work in govt Intel, they showed us the Falcon and the Snowman

It was their version of Scared Straight.

The Falcon and the Snowman was a story about a govt employee who starts selling secrets to the Russians and the two lead characters' lives go straight to shit.

[Glorfindel]

12. The short story "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood

It scared the living shit out of me. I spent many a sleepless night in my early teens waiting for something to grab hold of my feet and drag me out of bed. I still can't sleep with my feet uncovered.

[jpak]

15. De Fa go

BOO!

[Glorfindel]

22. Yes...

It still scares me! "Oh, my feet, my burning feet of fire! Oh, this speed and fiery height!"

[secondwind]

13. Last House on the Left. And The Exorcist.

[IcyPeas]

21. Exorcist for me too

I still can't listen to Tubular Bells.

Last House scared me to death too, but in a different way.

[RainCaster]

26. The Excorcist for me as well

But it was the book and not the movie. Tubular Bells is OK with me.

[Skittles]

14. the original The Haunting (1963)

no real special effects, no gore, just spooky as hell

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. It was very scary to me when I was a kid

When that door was bending as it was being pushed. Yikes!

[longship]

28. Truly a scary film. (Trailer)

First, the trailer:

I saw it at the Great Lakes Theater on Grand River Ave. in NW Detroit when I was about 15. It was a two mile ride each way on my bicycle to get to and from the theater. I went with a friend. It was a Friday night showing, so it was after 10PM when I rode home alone in the dark. DAMN! I was spooked 😳 on that ride. Had trouble sleeping for several days.

I recently got it from NetFlix and rewatched it. It's still damned scary.

Better yet, read the original novel, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Above all, avoid the absolutely horrible 1990's remake. Not worth a viewing IMHO.

[jpak]

16. The original Night of the Living Dead

Saw it on Halloween Night my freshman year in college.

I knew about it from Newsweek articles when it came out (a few years before) - but it never showed up in any local theaters.

It was a rowdy drunk college crowd when it started.

Then the laughs stopped.

Then the silence set in.

Then the screaming began.

On the way out, all I saw were terrified couples clinging to each other.

I didn't sleep for a week - even though I was in a dorm - and not my parent's very isolated farmhouse...

[Blindingly apparent]

19. Peter Straubs Ghost Story

Scared me so bad, I broke my ankle. I had fallen asleep while reading it;woke with a start; and remember thinking I had to hide; jumped up and broke anklet

[Irish_Dem]

20. Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window. nt

[kwassa]

23. Television, CNN, November 8, 2016. Election results.

I am still traumatized.

[Loyd]

38. Sorry

Kleveland beat ya to it!

[Tikki]

25. 1975 I was reading "Salem's Lot"....

but as I'd read it, I threw that book across the room a half dozen times
because i'd get to a point and it scared me too much to keep reading.

I did finish the book and it is still one of my favorite Stephen King novels.

Tikki

[bdtrppr6]

29. i had similar experience with that one

mine was '77-78 in Southern Illinois middle of winter. i was 10. huge ice storm knocked out power for over a week. we were staying with grandparents with gas stove and coal furnace, big old creepy fucking house. Salem's Lot was the only book I could find that intrigued me. i still wish that it had not.

read for about 2 days by candle and flashlight before getting too freaked out. still remember that book vividly and totally flashback when there are ice storms even now and i'm almost fucking 50.

[Stryst]

27. Star Trek: The Next Generation

"Where Silence has Lease", the one with the cloud that wanted to kill the crew in various ways to understand death. As a kid, the face really freaked me out, and even as an adult on rewatch I still find it somewhat disquieting.

[Orrex]

36. The way that the entity killed that poor redshirt!

Until that time, I don't think that I'd seen a more horrifying death on tv. I seem to recall that he grabbed his head and keeled over with a sort of whimpering gurgle, as though the entity had triggered a violent aneurysm or something.

The character seemed legit terrified, and I think that's what really got me about it.

[Stryst]

37. ST:tNG had some DARK stuff

Like when Picard and Riker have to burn that admiral with the parasite? Or the stomach needling from the clones? I've watched every season of American Horror Story, and some of the stuff in tNG is right up there.

[defacto7]

30. Black Swan

That warped me psychologically for life.

[bagelsforbreakfast]

31. For frightened despite seeing/knowing it was coming...

1.) The kid's voice in THE EXCORCIST
2.) Reading Salem's Lot when the Vampires get going
and as a kid
3.) The original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS when I came in on the movie not knowing what it was and a few minutes late...
4.) WEREWOLF of LONDON with Henry Hull - in some tower as the moon comes out and the werewolf is about to strike.
5.) The original FRANKENSTEIN when Karloff is first shown...

[Comatose Sphagetti]

32. Jesus Camp

Most disturbing documentary I've ever seen.

[John1956PA]

33. "Don't Look Now" (1973)

Director Nicholas Roeg provided suspense, startling images and creepy background sounds in bringing this short story by Daphne du Maurier's to the screen. Also, he layered the plot to suggest the workings of multiple evil-doers with sinister motives. The production is a collaboration of international talent. It holds a special appeal to viewers who appreciate Italian cinema.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. The original King Kong

It was first shown in 1933, but there were later theater releases, One of my aunts took me to movies a lot, and we saw King Kong when I was about 5.
The scene where Kong is first seen approaching the natives' stockade, and the camera moves in for a close up of his face, and then his eyes fill the screen.
I shrieked, and ducked below the seatback in front of me.
I spent the rest of the movie peeking between my fingers.
Same aunt took me to see Fantasia, so she has been forgiven.

Also will not read any Stephen King books..he is too creepy.

[Initech]

35. Donald Trump's inauguration.

Still scary!!!!

[hunter]

39. I've said it before here on DU, "The Big Chill."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Chill_%28film%29

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085244/

I'm not kidding.



I was an odd young man when I first saw it, I can't remember if it was before or after the second time I'd been "asked" to take a mental health break from college (the implied threat being permanent expulsion), but I was still sane enough to know that if I ever had to be one of those poor doomed people in that movie, please dear God, let it be the dead guy. Maybe I could have an alien burst out of my chest too.

Fortunately I never became one of those people, and I'm obviously not the dead guy or I wouldn't be posting here unless they've got wifi in the afterlife. I know I'm not in hell because one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met, perhaps sensing my distress, just appeared to comfort me. Or maybe she's just hungry. Either way, doesn't matter. She's still a sweet dog and there's none of them in hell.

I once had a girlfriend who thought Eraserhead would be a great date movie. Better that than "The Big Chill." I later broke up with her by jumping out of her moving car in Berkeley, marking the pavement with skid marks of my tears, skin, and blood, but I still think "The Big Chill" left deeper scars. It must have hit me at a moment I might have become a person like that, not the dead guy. I chose another path, not to be assimilated, yet no Brazil fade to white (still among my favorite movies), or a Blue Velvet mechanical robin either, so maybe it was a good thing and I'm privileged to live in a magical place.

[Loyd]

41. Realization of Mortality?

That's something we ALL deal with! But maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

[hunter]

42. Nah, I grew up in a 99%+ white affluent community.

I'm white too, but I was a misfit, and a bit queer. My parents were not so affluent as the parents of my peers. We lived where we did for my parent's day jobs.

My parents fled into the wilderness almost the day after my dad retired and they are now full time artists living mostly on my dad's pension and my mom's Social Security.

All but one of my siblings fled white affluent U.S.A. too. My sibling who remains is the sort of highly eccentric artist that it probably doesn't matter where he is, since his universe follows wherever he hangs his hat. If he was a mathematician he'd be Paul Erdos except he's got his own house that's fully paid for, and he builds motorcycles. For a time in his youth he was a high power executive until he started answering two-o'clock in the morning urgent phone calls with "Is anyone going to die? No? Why are you calling me now?"

Very Important People don't want to hear that when they've got their knickers in a knot and can't sleep, even when it's about something trivial.

Myself, I'd already blown several opportunities to be assimilated by the affluent white people's club, including an especially lucrative military contract my girlfriend tried to drag me into. I would have felt much the same if the software I'd written was as applicable to the insurance industry. The historic peace churches reject both military and insurance, which is part of my heritage, and coincidentally the two largest industries in my home town.

I suppose I saw, in young Hunter's usual off-his-meds state, The Big Chill as a morality play about the banality of evil.

[mainstreetonce]

40. Rosemary's baby

I had no idea.....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

43. Eraserhead.

[crazycatlady]

44. 11/08/2016