The most terrifying films we've ever experienced

The article entitled; The most terrifying films we've ever experienced suggested the 9 films in the poll. You will note that there is a lot of them that are 20-40 years old.

The Vanishing (or Spoorloos) refers to the Dutch thriller from 1988. The same director shot a remake with bigger Hollywood actors in English 5 years later which was a critical bomb. I actually found it pretty frightening.

I have to admit that if I were making such a list, I would certainly include Se7en (1995) with Brad Pitt , Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey and the horrific cast of sins (PALEGAS).

Heidi Schanz (Sin of Pride or Vanity)
Gene Borkan (Sin of Avarice)
Cat Mueller (Sin of Lust)
(Sin of Envy)
Bob Mack (Sin of Gluttony)
(Sin of Anger)
Michael Reid MacKay (Sin of Sloth)

saligia==superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira and accidia

The list reflects the Yahoo! writer's generation. By the time they were old enough to watch, "The Exorcist", "The Thing" and, "Jaws" were already edited for T.V., or in the VHS bargin bin.

"Deliverance"?? Really??? What about "Psycho" or even, "Alien"

Evil Speak is a scary one. It can be found on YT, but you cannot buy it. It stars Cliff Howard, scary just looking at him, then he summons some dark force and kills a lot of people.

Some movies on that list would only be terrifying to little kids. It takes more to be terrifying to adults. I think films like The Day After and Contagion are waaaay scarier that any monster movie ever could be. I saw The Vanishing remake with Jeff Bridges when it came out and liked it, but not enough to see it again. I loved The Ring, but it was creepy more than terrifying. The first Saw movie was pretty darn suspenseful with a twist ending that had me thinking about it for days afterwards, but not so much terrifying I thought. Then the Saw sequels just went in another direction of violent spoofs of the first.

What frightens me is that people actually like to watch those movies.

Well, since Deliverance was the only one I experienced, that is the one I voted for. But I've seen scarier.

"Exorcist" is evil personified. I love good horror movies but this one scared me. I did see it in the theater and I was 22 years old. I tried to watch it again when I was 42 and couldn't get past the scene where Regan urinated in the living room. Other well-made horror films are fun scary but not the "Exorcist."

I loved "Jaws," and "Poltergeist" and a host of others. Those I can watch over again. Not "Exorcist."

Quote: FrankScoblete

"Exorcist" is evil personified. I love good horror movies but this one scared me. I did see it in the theater and I was 22 years old.

Interesting fact is that there are only 22 films in history that are believed to have sold over 80 million tickets at the box office (domestically). Only one of them has an R rating. The other 21 are either family films or historical dramas. I was too young to see it when it first came out, but I've read that people were horrified, but they couldn't stop talking about it.

I read that special effects were so crude 40 years ago that when Satan sends out an energy burst that throws Ellen Burstyn across the room, they tied a rope to her waist and pulled it really hard. Maybe the movie seemed so realistic, because the actors were really getting beat up while they were filming.

202,044,600 Gone with the Wind (historical drama)
178,119,600 Star Wars
142,415,400 The Sound of Music (historical drama)
141,854,300 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
135,474,500 Titanic (historical drama)
131,000,000 The Ten Commandments (historical drama)
128,078,800 Jaws
124,135,500 Doctor Zhivago (historical drama)
110,599,200 The Exorcist
109,000,000 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
99,917,300 101 Dalmatians
98,180,600 The Empire Strikes Back
98,000,000 Ben-Hur (historical drama)
97,255,300 Avatar
94,059,400 Return of the Jedi
90,312,100 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
89,146,400 The Lion King
89,142,900 The Sting
88,526,800 Raiders of the Lost Ark
87,075,400 Jurassic Park
85,576,700 The Graduate
83,043,500 Fantasia

Deliverance is a simple rape scene in a movie... its just that it wasn't women sitting thru the scene. So why is it even being considered as terrifying.

Quote: Fleastiff

Deliverance is a simple rape scene... So why is it even being considered as terrifying.

I'll let the author of the article answer:
For my money, the scariest films are the ones that portray events that could actually happen... Sadly, after braving this film, I'll never be able to look at a hillbilly the same way, and even a lovely little ditty like "Dueling Banjos" has forever lost its pluck. -- Adam Pockross (@adpoc)


In the broadest sense it is much more frightening movie if you can identify with the character. It was impossible to go into the ocean after seeing jaws without thinking about the opening sequence.