What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?

[caj]

Parents burned me out very early on horror, so most of it doesn't affect me.

But non-horror things can scare the heck out of me. For instance, I had trouble sleeping for weeks or months after Andromeda Strain. Kept having dreams of everybody's blood turning to dust and dying all around me.

Believe it or not, I had nightmares for weeks after seeing Titanic. I kept dreaming of being in a lifeboat and hearing people screaming and falling to their death. I guess because it was an actual historical event that it affected me so much. I wasn't a big fan of the sappy love story but the actual sinking of the ship really had an affect on me. It was years before I could watch that movie again.

[Sacred Knight]

Carrie. More specifically Margaret White. Piper Laurie nailed her character so good, she scared the crap out of me.

[caj]

Poltergeist, when I was a kid. I couldn't sleep after that one.

Today, the Paranormal Activity Saga. I watch them in the night, alone in a big house, no lights, dolby digital surround and concentrated. I still jump from the sofa.

Signs was great, too.

Still love Poltergeist. I remember going to the theatre to see that when it came out. Definitely still scary - it's held up very well.

The Paranormal Activity movies (the first three anyway) really played head games with me. I had to sleep with the lights on after seeing the first one.

Signs is still one of my favorite scary movies. As someone else said on here, that scene with the birthday party when we see the alien - boy did I jump at that one.

[bob fett]

I gotta say 8mm is one for sure.Incredibly disturbing.

[babyblob]

The Night of the Living Dead remake with Tony Todd scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. To this day I still cant watch it before I sleep.

[XPac]

I might actually go with Jaws. For most horror movies, the effects of it pretty much end once I step out of the theater. But as a kid at least, I genuinely got scared to go into the water. For overall effect, that one takes the cake for me.

[Cyke]

Ghostbusters made me fearless towards most supernatural movies, so I'm thankful for that.

So with that said, more tangible horror movies (like slashers or body horror flicks) tend to get me. The Thing and Creepshow(s) still get me to this day. Also, non-horror movies and shows that still have a lot of bone-breaking in them (Netflix's Punisher being a more recent example) scare the hell out of me.

Hell, Dante's Peak isn't a horror movie, but it had several scenes that kept me up at night. The acid, the broken leg, etc.

Also, Cliffhanger is one of those movies with a great intro and everything goes downhill (pun not intended) from there.

[Jackalope89]

When I was little? Pinocchio. Kids being turned into donkeys, trapped for the rest of their lives? A man eating whale? And a wooden pupped that comes to life? Yeah, I avoided it for a LONG time afterwards.

Come to think of it, my aversion towards dolls may stem from that film.

Never much cared for horror films in general. Usually they go for cheap jump scares (especially more modern day). And ones that hit the more supernatural elements, I find myself more intrigued than scared. Often going, "I wish I could see something like that for myself".

[Godzilla2099]

The two movies that scared me when I was a kid?

1. Poltergeist: I literally started watching the movie when the dude ripped his face off. Yeah, I couldn't watch horror movies for years because of that one

2. The Rescuers: Dark Movie with a two kids being chased by a crazy chic in the bayou with a shottie.

[GozertheGozarian]

As a kid, I walked into the room while my parents were watching The Shining right as Nicholson puts his head through the door. Sent me running back to the bedroom.

Adult me? In the Mouth of Madness too three tries to get through.

[Michael Watkins]

The Huggabunch movie. as someone who was raised on 80s horror movies i've always found it scarier when something is unintentionally creepy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssz3ZsRJOrE

[Jim Kelly]

I always think of movies I saw as a little kid that gave me nightmares--THE WIZARD OF OZ, PINOCCHIO, THE BIRDS, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE. But, the movies that really shook me were the made for TV movies that I saw when I was a teen, where the point of the movie was to show teens how bad the world could get if you weren't careful. I'm thinking of TV movies from the 1970s like GO ASK ALICE, starring William Shatner. And other movies like that. I remember there was one about a family that had a teen-age son who made their lives hell and there was nothing they could do to control him. These movies really worried me as a teen, because it seemed like with one wrong move any of us could end up like that. And there were movies about mental illness, too. In high school they made us read I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN about a teen who had schizophrenia and I think that was made into a TV movie. And there was SYBIL starring Sally Field. It's like the adult world was conspiring to turn teen-agers into nervous wrecks. Adolescence was hell.

[gorosaurus]

ISLAND OF TERROR with Peter Cushing scared me as a kid. Starfish-looking mutants sucked the marrow out of people and left them as boneless bags of flesh. They could drop out of trees onto people. Great movie, rarely shown on TV anymore.

[caj]

I remember seeing a movie as a child called 'Are You Afraid Of The Dark". It was about this woman and her husband who are restoring an old house and they release these creatures from the boarded up fireplace. The woman keeps seeing these little creatures all over the house but no one believes her. In the end, the creatures finally drag her down into the basement with them. I was terrified for weeks after seeing that movie.

[WillieMorgan]

I'd have to say that it's still the original Halloween from 1978. I saw it some time in the early 80's at an age where I really shouldn't have been watching it. It scared the living daylights out of me in a way that no 'supernatural' horror film ever could.

I've always preferred horror novels though. No Stephen King movie adaptation has come close to his original novels for me.