"Top 3 Horror Flix?" Topic

I don't mean the ones that were campy or humorous, like "the Lost Boys" for example (good though it may have been). I'm talking about those movies that made you run up your power bill because you were too cacked up to cut off the lights at night!

Here are mine:

3: The Shining. Jack Nicholson really creeped me out.
2: The Amityville Horror. Scary stuff!
and at Number 1:
The Exorcist. Still one of the scariest flicks ever made.

1. Alien (the first one was more horror than sci fi)
2. Silver Bullet

Those were the ones that came to mind

1. Alien
2. The Exorcist
3. Tie – The Changeling (w/ George C. Scott) and The Uninvited (w/ Ray Milland)

All 3 of them gave me the wiggins. First time I saw Alien, it was on a 10" or so black and white TV, across the room, with all the lights on, while I was paying half attention (doing homework or something) – STILL scared the bejeezus out of me. The Exorcist is the same sort of thing – one of the few horror movies that stuck with me for a while (unpleasantly) after the fact. The Changeling and The Uninvited – neither is really all that scary, in the modern sense, but there's something about them.

The Shining is also extremely creepy, but it was so damned depressing I could not watch it (the book is even worse) – so it doesn't make the cut.

Doug

Premature Burial creeped me out when I was a kid.
The Exorcist did it when I was an adult.
I don't remember another movie that had such an effect on me, but the concept of "The Wicker Man" is uber-nasty to me & seems remotely plausible which makes it truly horrific.

Anything with Mel Gibson scares the y out of me!

Scanners – I saw about two mintes of this film when I was six and the images haunted me for years. I didn't see the full film until I was 15, and about halfway through it suddenly remember having seen a scene before and realized where the nightmare came from.

Poltergeist – Saw this when I was seven or so, again only a few minutes of it, the scene where the guy eats the steak and maggots appear on it, then he runs into the bathroom and claws his face off. Nightmares for years.

Note that I wasn't allowed to watch either of these movies, and saw both of these scenes the same way: I was staying at a babysitter's house overnight and woke up, came down stairs, and stood quietly in the back of the room until someone noticed me (probably because I shrieked in terror).

Gremlins – Made my mom take me to see this when it was first in theaters. Made her take me out of the theater half-way though, not too long after the gremlins show up. The idea of cute little Gizmo turning into this horrific nightmare creature was really, really disturbing to my eight year old mind.

But I haven't really been scared by a movie since I turned 9 or so.

ETA: Wait, that's not true. I first saw Evil Dead (the first one, not the more comedic Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn) when I was 16 or 17, on USA Up All Night. Even with commercial breaks and other things going on, that movie creeped me right out. It's the girl with the blank eyes and the high pitched giggle. Freeeeeaky.

I'd have to say Exorcist three tops my list, with Exorcist 1 behind it and the Sixth Sense after that.

Exorcist 3 is that good? I've never seen it – 2 was such a let down I just assumed 3 would be crap.

Doug

Seeing the Exorcist as a kid back in the 70s gave me a night terror or two.
The first Friday the 13th on HBO as a 12yr old. I jumpped allot! Now i laugh at it.

Lugosi's "Dracula"
Karloff's "Frankenstein" and "Mummy"

1 – Dawn of the Dead (Romero)

2 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre

3 – The Thing/Alien (can't decide)

A top 3 is really hard!

Best first 15 minutes of any horror movie; Dawn of the Dead, the remake

3. Poltergeist. As a kid, it terrified me.
2. Mirrors. I really like this kind of movie.
1. The Grudge. Scariest movie I can remember seeing.

There's just something about those Japanese horror movies breaking the rules that scares me.

I agree with you ArchiducCharles. The remake of The Thing needs to be in my top three.

Mark

The Ring
The Others

1. Night of the living dead(orig.)
because it started a genre that now transcends the theatre into books, games, miniatures and conventions. The Zombie
rules because of George.
2. The Shining
This movie was perfect, the snow, the hotel, the maze, the horrifying music and of course dear old Jack.
3. Halloween(rob zombie vers.)
just plain hateful n nasty like rob does them!

4. Trick r treat-honorable mention, an awesome Halloween movie.

I love Japanese horror as well, Captain. Horror is different to them. Notice how hollywood keeps ripping off their horror flicks. Too bad they cant just make their own better.

The Mephisto Waltz.
The Exorcist.
Friday the 13, because the first girl that died, knew her killer.

Not in order, but:

The Thing (Carpenter)

Dog Soldiers

Alien

Too brain dead from a hell week at work to come up with a top 3 list right now. That and I seem to watch way too much horror to remember them all right now too. BUT, for me it seems the asian horror films are the scariest. Both Japanese and Korean. Just the way they do them. Take the time to build the tension and the mood. Alot of the US films now days just seem to be about special effects and camera shock. No real fear there.

Off the top of my head ….Tale of Two Sisters and Shutter were both creepy.Ju-Rie was creepy too in the way they started with the end of the movie and then went backwards with the scences till the begining.

Hellraiser IV: Bloodline
1408
The Frighteners

Night of the Living Dead

Alien

The Thing (John Carpenter version)

Secondary list of pre-1960 black and white (the horror movies that freaked me out as a kid)

Tarantula

Them

Godzilla (the original Japanese version – sans Raymond Burr)

#1 – Jaws. That movie wacked me out for years. Saw it in the theater at 8 after begging my mom to take me (she did it as a "I told you so"). I was really into sharks so even covering my eyes I had a really good idea of what was happening and freaked myself out even worse. Then after managing to stay in the theater through it, scared to death, and getting home my buddy calls asking if I want to go see it!

#2 – Probably The Exorcist but I saw that years after it came out so it wasn't as scary as it would have been at the time.

#3 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (original). It was different than the other slasher movies and was freaky. More on the "woah" factor than scary.

You know, I'd totally forgotten about Carpenter's "The Thing" – that is a really good one, and will certainly give you a nice case of the creeps. Best thing Carpenter ever did.

Doug

"First time I saw Alien, it was on a 10" or so black and white TV"

10" black and white TV? Now that is scary :)

JC The Thing is a good one…

Night Of The Living Dead (original)

The Haunting (1963)

Henry, Portrait Of A Serial Killer (maybe not technically a 'horror' movie but after watching it I changed a lot of casual habits, like picking up hitchhikers).

Second Tier:
Let's Scare Jessica To Death (helped sponsor my fear of swimming in deep water)

Carnival Of Souls (those dancing spooks haunted me all through childhood)

Seconds (again, maybe not a 'horror' movie but it was upsetting enough to keep me awake long past my normal bedtime)

The Descent
Alien
American Werewolf in London (when I was 10 years old!)

The Human Centipede looks like its going to cause a few nightmare though!

It's not one of my 'Top 3' but last night we watched 'Lake Mungo' and it was the first movie in a long time to leave me with the creeps afterward as I'm alone in a big empty house at night.
Certainly not to everyone's tastes because, well, nothing happens… and it's done in a 'documentary' style (no shakey cam though).
It's got that right mix of sadness and mystery that always get to me.

1 "Paranormal Activity". Can't sleep with my door open now. The part with the OIJIE board sucked but the rest of it was creepy.Watch all 3 endings…

2 "Excorsist"

3 "Evita"

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything as scary as Polanski's "Repulsion", a 1965 black and white starring Catherine Deneuve as a unbalanced young girl left alone in an apartment in London.

"Alien" was sure scary the first time I saw it.

"I Was a Teenage Werewolf" made me scared of the dark and of werewolves for a while there as a boy. Seems silly now. I think I was 8, it was on the TV.

10" black and white TV? Now that is scary :)

Hey, I had my very own TV in my own room … I was livin' large back in the day.

Doug

When I was 11 years old I saw the movie "Ghost Story." I sat up in bed reading comic books all night long for a week, bursting to pee, but not daring to go to the bathroom.

The first Hellraiser frightened the crap out of me when I was a teeny-bopper.

I can't believe no one had Psycho on their list. I love that movie, but it had me spooked when I was younger.

I'll be made fun of for this one. The made-for-TV movie IT made me so paranoid that I was afraid to turn around.

Also love the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, even the newer one. Although, that may have something to do with Jessica Beil running around in those jeans the whole time.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark

When a Stranger comes Calling

Children of the Corn