Horror movies that are actually scary and not just gore/startles

[Reaper195]

I thought the [REC] movies were fucking terrifying. Well, not so much the third =, which seemed to go somewhat towards a dark comedy look. The Descent is a good one, too. Sequel not so much. There are a fair few Japanese horror films which are really good (And then get subpar American remakes, which try to keep the horror but remove the message of the movie), but decent horror movies that try to scare you are far and few between. A large amount of people seem to confuse horror with shock/surprise. Horror is supposed to scare the living christ out of you AFTER the movie has finished (Like [REC]2 did to me, with that scene where a dude gets dragged into a well of water in night vision, and then the well is gone and replaced by a hospital table when a light is turned on. Never have the lights off anywhere now), but now people seem to attribute horror to blood and guts everywhere, and jump scares, and then forgetting the movie once you finish it.

It seems that most horror movies nowadays are either just buckets of blood (Saw)

Personally, I never considered the Saw movies horror. More psychological thrillers. Particularly the first three when it was less about copious amounts of blood and more the squeamish factor (like the pit of needles in the second one).

 

[Diddy_Mao]

In the Mouth of Madness will always be at the top of my list for this type of horror.
It's dark, has a genuinely creepy story to it, more than a handful of good scares and doesn't rely to heavily on blood and gore.

The Mist is another one I absolutely love. The Mist succeeds for very much the same reason that Jaws succeeds. The monster(s) may be scary and act as the the primary cause of conflict. But the tension and horror comes from the fact that the movie takes the time to make you give a shit about the cast.

May Is this even a horror movie? I couldn't tell you for certain. I got it in the horror section, it's got some horrific elements to it...but certainly not in the same "Monsters eat faces" or "Crazed lunatic stabs teenagers" style that people may be used to. The first 2 acts play out like any number of indie film festival movies about socially awkward girls that I've seen...I don't even really want to give away the third act, but trust me, when this movie decides to take the gloves off things get horrifying right quick.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

The Mist is another one I absolutely love. The Mist succeeds for very much the same reason that Jaws succeeds. The monster(s) may be scary and act as the the primary cause of conflict. But the tension and horror comes from the fact that the movie takes the time to make you give a shit about the cast.

Honestly, I felt like the movie was trying to do the whole "the real monster is MAN!!!!!!" scenario. I felt like you could have completely removed the supernatural element of the movie and still have a pretty decent horror flick.

And jeez.... that ending. Gawd, I love Tom Jane. He really made that movie for me.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I freaked out while watching Quarantine but that may just be due to my being a coward and only having seen around 18 horror films...

 

[science girl]

The skeleton key! I dunno it just creeps me out.

Also a movie is which a woman was badly deformed in a fire and was hidden in the house and she crawled around in the vents to stare at her daughter who taught she was dead. I really wish i could remember the name of it!

 

[hazabaza1]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

they did... i belive it's called rec 2, but they threw religious supernatural shit in it

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

They've made two sequels...or are you being sarcastic?

NEVER ANY SEQUELS
EVER

THEY NEVER HAPPENED

 

[Baldur Moon]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

they did... i belive it's called rec 2, but they threw religious supernatural shit in it

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

They've made two sequels...or are you being sarcastic?

NEVER ANY SEQUELS
EVER

THEY NEVER HAPPENED

"Virus? Lol don't be silly, demon possession makes MUCH more sense"

 

[Baldur Moon]

The Thing was fantastic but not really scary. I was a lot more amused than scared throughout the movie(the whole spider head scene? God that was great...) The Strangers on the other hand... Now THAT movie did terrible things to my psyche especially since I live way out in the ass end of nowhere.

 

[JasonKaotic]

I've heard the Japanese versions of The Ring and The Grudge are really scary. I haven't seen them though.
Yeah, I haven't really seen any genuinely scary horror films at all. I suppose the closest thing I've seen would be Paranormal Activity 2 (if you watch it with the volume really high) or The Woman in Black. You'd think that one would be hard to take seriously with it having Daniel Radcliffe in, but it isn't actually that distracting. And it seems to actually know what it has to do to make the film scary, it just doesn't do it as well as it could. To me, anyway.

 

[Alcamonic]

I kinda liked the movie 'Shutter' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440803/.
Obviously the original Thai one, not that American remake.

 

[Aprilgold]

All the classic horror movies, even back when Bella Lagosy [I can never get his last name right, so I just spelled it the way it is pronounced] was in the biz and Karnoff? You know, Frankenstein? All those do a great job at what your asking and don't have a lot of gore in them if any. However they are pretty dated so you have to be the type of person to look past that.

Other then that, the starters of the Slasher genre really did manage to set up great atmospheres and the gore was pretty balanced. Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing all are very good and are a great horror films.

You guys are absolutely right to correct me - the John Carpenter Thing is itself a remake. I always refer to it as "the original," but it isn't.

I always thought that was neat trivia just to add on to your thought. Also, I freakin love your avatar.

For the love of god I can't remember the movie title, however I'll describe it, in details, so spoiler alert.

Spoiler

These guys and girl(s) end up in a cornfield where this demon-like ghost guy possesses dead people's bodies and dresses their heads up with potato sack with eyes and stitched, like scarecrows, he can only possess one at a time, and he puts knives on his fingers like freddy crougar

I saw it on sci fi.

For what was obviously a rather low budget film, it was fucking tense and scary as all hell.

I believe the movie your looking for is on Netflix and since I have to say it, its Krueger, not Crougar.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

I enjoyed the sequel. I did however watch them in the wrong order, so my expectations weren't as high as they might have been. The American remake on the other hand...

 

[Mangod]

"The Thing" (Carpenter's 1982 version). Gory as all hell, but the gore isn't what's scary. The tension the movie builds, the feeling of being isolated, alone and surrounded by people who at any moment might turn out to be a monster from beyond the stars... Honestly, everyone should see this one.

I'd also recommend "Jaws". Yes, it's not a straight up horror movie, but it manages to be very, VERY scary if you're seeing it the first time.

Hitchcocks "The Birds" is also something I'd highly recommend. After I saw it the first time, I spent a whole week jumping at the cries of birds whenever I walked outside... wasn't easy going to buy milk that week, I tell you.

 

[Basement Cat]

A very old classic that'll have you wriggling in your chair within the first five minutes is Night of the Living Dead.

And I'll throw a vote in for The Ring.

Has anyone seen The Ring 2? Thumbs Up/Down on it?

Captcha: silver bells

Satan Claus is coming!

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

they did... i belive it's called rec 2, but they threw religious supernatural shit in it

Nope, didn't happen. LALALALALALALA...

On-topic, while it is gory, The Descent is quite scary for reasons other than the gore. Again, good thing they didn't ruin it with a sequel.

Oh, and the original "The Omen" is some freaky ass shit.

Is "Psycho" too obvious? I don't care, I'm still saying it. Any movie that can still hold up 50+ years later has got to get some points.

Finally, if you enjoy slashers, I recommend the original "Black Christmas". Not the piece of shit remake, the original. Came out in 1974.

It seems that most horror movies nowadays are either just buckets of blood (Saw)

Personally, I never considered the Saw movies horror. More psychological thrillers. Particularly the first three when it was less about copious amounts of blood and more the squeamish factor (like the pit of needles in the second one).

Gah, the pit of needles...for me, that is one of the top 5 hardest to watch traps in the films (granted, I haven't seen part VI).

 

[SadakoMoose]

Ghostwatch.
You need to see Ghostwatch.

 

[BenefitEvil]

Rose Mary's baby pretty much tops the list for me. Its a slow decent into madness with just the perfect atmosphere. For me the best part is the audience is left just as much in the dark as Rose Mary its just icing on the cake.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

For the love of god I can't remember the movie title, however I'll describe it, in details, so spoiler alert.

Spoiler

These guys and girl(s) end up in a cornfield where this demon-like ghost guy possesses dead people's bodies and dresses their heads up with potato sack with eyes and stitched, like scarecrows, he can only possess one at a time, and he puts knives on his fingers like freddy crougar

I saw it on sci fi.

For what was obviously a rather low budget film, it was fucking tense and scary as all hell.

Pre or post SyFy (why would you call yourself that?) rebranding?

 

[RipRoaringWaterfowl]

While it might not be the scariest movie, Cabin in The Woods is an excellent deconstruction of the cliches of the genre, and it and it's main characters are at least halfway interesting.

And if you really want to be distrubed, unsettled, and otherwise scared and in a way you might not be accostumed to, theres always Triumph of The Will, my pick for the scariest movie of all time.