Welcome to a spooky edition of the Friday Question, coming to you live on Halloween 2007.
Many, many moons ago, before we were married, Jina and I watched The Shining on All Hallows Eve and it scared the living crap out of us. She couldn’t really watch it, but I was glued sickly to the screen and Jack Nicholson’s deepening madness and the kid chanting “red rum” over and over, which still brings chills to my bones.
I’ve never been a big scary movie guy, in fact, most people will tell you I’m a big wimp and sometimes even fast forward through a scary part in a movie.
Yes, I do that.
I recently tried to watch The Descent and 1408 on my own, with little lighting going on in the house, and I ended up watching the movies a lot FASTER than the actual length…
Regardless of my fear of them, I have a fascination with scary movies, especially good ones.
The Ring was awesomely terrifying, especially because our phone rang in the middle of watching the movie and it was from a pay phone. Scared the utter crap out of me. Finished the movie weeks later.
But some of my favorites are The Sixth Sense and Saw. I loved Saw…I didn’t realize what it would be like, and the ending blew my mind. Just like The Sixth Sense.
So today’s special, Halloween edition of the Friday Question is this:
What’s your all-time favorite scary movie?ÂÂÂ
I expect great answers and reasons behind them!
Nice that you watched “The Shining”. I had meant to do the same, having never seen it, but didnt get around to it. I suspect my fiancee Erin would watch it through her fingers like Gina.
I’m not a big scary movie guy, but have recently enjoyed The Ring, The Skeleton Key and a rewatch of Silence of the Lambs. Not sure I have a favorite though.
I have a strange attraction to scary movies, too, and most of them don’t bother me. However, “Poltergeist” is the one that I remember being the freakiest, most likely due to the fact my father let me watch it when I was five. Scared the sleep out of me.
The only other movie (so far) that got to me a little in my adult years was “White Noise”. I had to make sure I shut the speakers off on the computer, and made sure the radio was off before getting some sleep there for awhile after watching that one.
1408 really wasn’t scary Mike, I promise. Favorites would probably be The Ring, The Labyrinth (creeped me out as a kid) and any kind of psychological thriller (just not torture or cannibal ones, too much for me.) The one movie I will never ever watch and can’t even think about it? Arachnophobia. You would probably have to take me to the hospital.
The Shining pretty much ended my scary movie watching.
Hmmm… decisions, decisions…How can I choose? I’m a BIG horror movie buff. (Just did a post on my blog of my top 13 vampire flicks.)
I just watched “The Descent” not that long ago myself and it was pretty scary.
Things that really push my fear buttons are ghosts and haunted houses (like “Poltergeist” or the “Others”), when people are possessed or go crazy (like the “Shinning”) because you can’t reason with them, and when the movie effectively plays on common human phobias, like fear of the dark, clausterphobia (“the Descent”).
One movie that scared me so bad, it made me physically sick to my stomach and left a bad feeling that hung with me for hours afterwards, like I was going crazy myself, was the movie “Session 9″. It’s an independent film about a hazardous materials crew of 5 guys who are hired to remove asbestos from an abandoned old mental hospital. The movie is definitely a psychological thriller, but it’s a slow burn that gains momentum and turns into an all-out horrorfest by the end. What also helps ramp up the fear factor (other than the awesome script and acting) is that it was actually filmed on location in the abandoned Danvers State Insane Asylum. You couldn’t build sets this freaky…
Session 9 is awesomely scary – that movie starts you off with a knot in your stomach from the opening and then slowly builds it up all the way to the end until you are just left feeling a little sick afterwards – absolutely fantastically movie.
The Shinning is top-notch – what a great movie.
Seven was really good as well – one of my favorites.
I always say that a good scary movie ought to give you nightmares and if it does not do that to me, then I don’t give it high marks. One that ranks way up on the top of my list for nightmares (every time I watch it) is Manhunter (the original from the 80′s). This was the first movie in the Hannibal Lecture trilogy. It was re-made again after Silence of the Lambs and I did not think that the re-make was as good.
Holy crap, I loved Arachnophobia!!!
1408 was scary Nicky!!!!
Session 9…now my sick inner battle wants to watch that, but is also terrified
I’d rather not have nightmares, thank you very much