8 hours ago
10
Return to Oz
My parents took me to see it in the theatre, under the impression that it would be appropriate for a seven-year-old. Princess Mombi’s macabre wardrobe of disembodied heads; the psychopathic laughter of the “wheelers”, with all four limbs ending in squeaky wheels; Nicol Williamson’s sinister, vicious Nome King – all are permanent fixtures in my unconscious hall of famous terrors. And Fairuza Balk’s Dorothy is eerie to match, a perfect uncanny heroine for a truly twisted “children’s” film. gradeoneirony
Jaws
I remember seeing it at the cinema with a gaggle of kids sitting on the seats in front of me. I think it was supposed to be some kind of birthday treat for them, but when the head came bobbing out of the sunken boat the screaming, wailing youngsters had to be ushered quickly out of the theatre as several were clearly traumatised to the point of needing professional help. marcus60
The Blair Witch Project
Was fortunate to stumble into it before it became an overhyped cliche but I was a MESS for hours afterwards. Simple premise, no fancy cinema tricks or CGI or gore. You barely saw anything. cavelier5
People seem to either love it or hate it, but I found The Blair Witch Project truly unsettling. I’m one of those people who finds suggestion far more scary than explicitness, and that movie has it in spades. Jackanapes
Wolf Creek
Oh dear god, I still have PTSD from watching Wolf Creek nearly 20 years ago. It is brilliantly awful. “You’re just a head on a stick” has to be one of the best horror one-liners of all time. soultrumpet
There’s a really unwholesome feel to it. As someone who used to hitchhike in those parts of the world, it certainly put the wind up me. You are far beyond any help in these incredibly remote places. StrangeBrew
A Nightmare on Elm Street
It terrified me for years. I was already a very anxious child, as I didn’t know then I had ADHD. I was too scared to tell my parents for fear of getting in trouble. I remember months of lying in bed, heart pounding, thinking Freddy Krueger was under my bed. I forced myself to watch it again when I was 13, and “cured” myself, although there are still times now, at 47, when I wake up for a wee in the night and get an irrational fear on the way back to bed. I do like watching and reading stuff that terrifies me – must be the dopamine hit afterwards! Grumblebucket
Angel Heart
The “twist”, if intended as such, is clearly signposted from the start. But what troubles me about it is the drip-drip of information about the ritual that led to the current state of Mickey Rourke’s character. The closest we ever get to seeing it is a slow pan to a hotel room window and the muffled sounds on the other side, but we’re given just enough to imagine how terrible what’s happening in there must be. Glider
Hellraiser
Saw it when I was a kid and was disturbing on so many levels, not least the weird American dubbing. But a horror movie will live or die based on the villain and there has never been anything before or since like Hellraiser. I cannot even bring myself to call him by his colloquial name lest it earn his disapproval. Horrifying yet magnificent and the very opposite of the bland or cartoonish monsters populating the genre in the 80s. He never needed the cheap exploitative so-called jumpscares where a startle response gets passed off as something frightening. He need not even step out of the shadows. It is enough to hear that voice. KarisFraMauro
Candyman
Watched it at far too young an age and it properly scared me. Didn’t look in a mirror unless someone was with me for weeks, maybe months after. DrabWilly
Halloween
It’s that combination of the music (still creeps me out just imagining it) and the way the masked Michael Myers seems to just appear silently as if from nowhere. Watched it on my own as a teenager, then went out on my milk round at 4am in the dark – bad mistake! groundedgeologist
Halloween is such a fascinating film that shows how evoking fear is about simple psychological “he’s behind you!” tricks. But why does Laurie go back inside and hide, trapping herself in a closet rather than stay outside? This film is like a microcosm of 1970s America and its values … the nuclear family’s dark side, and Laurie is the emerging retreat from that culture: the clever, rational young woman who outplays it. bruyere
Sinister
Properly unsettling throughout and has some really disturbing scenes that leave just about enough to the imagination. 11LFO11
Dead of Night
Watching Dead of Night as a kid (when I really should have been in bed) frightened the bejesus out of me – the ventriloquist’s doll story is utterly terrifying. Set the benchmark for all doll-based stories to have come after it. OutOfTheirMinds
Carrie
Carrie’s hand coming up out of the grave and grabbing her friend while she laid flowers, obviously. The jumpscare that defined jumpscares. donalbain
Free Solo
Obviously, you know he survived or there wouldn’t have been a film, but the thought of clinging by my fingertips to a perpendicular rock face thousands of feet high with no ropes is terrifying. I could well understand the cameraman filming from the valley floor who had to stop watching. SackTheJuggler
The Haunting
You don’t see anything gory or obvious, it is all psychological horror using special effects, but it gave me nightmares when I saw it when I was 12 or 13. The soundtrack helps create the frightening atmosphere. CaroleB999
