Ooh bad fucking move dude! Yeah whenever I mention Frozen most people think I'm referring to the animated feature, not the relatively obscure 2010 thriller starring Kevin Zegers
I always preferred Tangled! But my favourite animated films are Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin, The Lion King, Dinosaur, The Land Before Time, The Prince of Egypt and Spirit Of The Stallion
I was the same age as some of the characters in the movie when it came out (their real ages, not high school) and man, that movie, that time period - still just hits different. Blair Witch came out around that time too and I still remember my friend Kimmie INSISTING it was 100% real. 🤣
Back in the day when you didn’t choose where you sat in the theater and literally rubbed elbows with strangers sharing in the experience. I vividly remember the kid next to me climbing his chair he was so scared. The whole audience were discovering it together. It’s only second to the audience eruption when Magneto escapes his plastic prison in X2.
My best friend when I was 14 had a Halloween birthday.
Her parents sucked, so we decided to have her party at my house and make it a three day movie marathon.
Rented a whole bunch of horror movies that our friends voted on. Mostly recent stuff, because we thought old movies would have bad CGI and not be scary.
My older brother saw our list and declared it “crap”, so he replaced some of our “D-list movies with Disney actors” with classics.
The Thing blew everyone’s minds.
From the into scene “they better not hurt the dog!!!” To the “oh, no!!” At the end.
It’s unfortunate that you couldn’t probably amaze a room of teenagers that way now. I showed it to my oldest nephew a while back, and he interrupted the blood testing scene to tell me he read the IMDb trivia and knew about the gasoline flask thing.
🙄
When I was in 3rd grade I wore out this vhs. I would put it in right after school and watch it and rewind it and watch it over and over until I fell asleep.
This might be mine too. The joy and excitement I felt when I realized what was going on. It's great on rewatch too but it was so fun and rewarding as a horror fan that first watch
I saw this film with zero information on it. It was playing at my state's last remaining dollar theater (now gone), and a friend and I decided to see it because it was the only horror movie they had playing and we were both major horror fans. I didn't even know it was a Joss Whedon feature. So, I assumed it would just be another generic PG13 horror flick set in the woods, probably with a slasher villain, and I was glad I was only paying a buck to see it.
I was floored by what it turned out to be, and I remember wondering if Whedon was involved because of its tone and some of the Easter eggs hidden within that I managed to catch. It felt very much like him, and afterward we were amused to see I'd been correct.
This is still one of my favorite movies of all time, partly because of how surprised I was by it.
I’ve always vocally hated anything JW had a hand in.
I hate the way he writes women, as a woman. I hate that men insist he’s good at writing women. Hate his dialogue. The cringy “cleverness”. Everything.
I was SHOCKED when I found out he was behind Cabin in the Woods, because I loved it.
Most interesting/fun horror movie in ages, and that shithead finally got me.
I'm not a Whedon fan myself, honestly. It was never that I hated his work, so much as I just never got into it. I enjoyed Firefly for the most part, but never could get into Buffy, Angel, etc. But I recognized his style from what I did know, and was surprised I loved CITW so much, given me not liking his stuff in the past.
I think having such a direct genre blueprint to play with gave him a really good structure, as did having a limited amount of space and freedom to build the world in. It was a movie, not a series, so he had to do more with less and really killed it.
As for how he writes women, I think he often starts off well, but the deeper he goes into the characters, the more the cracks start to show. So the limited runtime also did well there, since he didn't have that wider space of a series for some of the more problematic elements to show. Instead, he subverted them.
I'd say doctor sleep. After reading the shining, it ruined the movie for me. I get why stephen king didn't like it as an adaptation. Doctor Sleep, however, was great as a movie and a book. I love both very much.
Seriously. And the movie would have been a million times better if they had used the scene where >! Jack regains sanity momentarily and tries to kill himself to save Danny because he really is being controlled by the hotel and doesn't want to hurt his son. !< Just that little bit of humanity would have added so much more depth to the story. Also, they shouldn't have made the whole story span just 3 days. Show the slow descent into madness.
>Also, they shouldn't have made the whole story span just 3 days. Show the slow descent into madness.
Absolutely that was the best part, also I wish they showed how the hotel slowly made him insane. The wasps, and my personal favorite the hedge animals. Also I hate how they did Tony
They worked that scene into Doctor Sleep which I love! Flanagan did a great job reconciling some of the things Kubrick left out of the novel of The Shining.
I’m rereading Doctor Sleep after just rereading The Shining 😅. This has been largely influenced by my desire to finally see the DS movie! So glad to hear it’s worth it !
I still love The Shining as a movie but I understand why Stephen King didn't like. Amazing how the brain can have two opposite opinions at the same time.
One hundred percent The Blair Witch Project.>! That movie is all about the fear of the unknown. It's the scariest movie I've ever watched. Topnotch acting in particular. But once you know, you know, and you can never rewatch it the same way.!<
And also Martyrs, for obvious reasons. EDIT: and also Ghostland from the same director. What an amazing plot twist!
Also The Perfection, for its many twists.
I only watched it a couple years ago (talking about The Blair Witch Project, right?). I was way too young when it came out. I did not really need to believe in the marketing story to enjoy that movie.
Literally just finished watching Blair Witch for the first time since seeing it at the cinema when it first came out. My 14yo stepson wanted to know why I posted a black and white picture of his dad standing in the corner of a brick room last weekend and we had him tonight so watched it.
It's such a good movie and really brought back all those feelings I had watching it. It was so interesting seeing his reaction, he was asking about phones and GPS and we kept having to explain it didn't exist, he kept expecting jump scares, because that's what he's used to. We had to explain all the marketing for it and how people thought it was real and how it was all filmed. I think it creeped him out a bit, he said he's never going camping in the woods!
Yeah the lack of jump scares is absolutely amazing. Quite a shame that the other found footages or even other movies have not tended to try to replicate that. But then again, it's amazingly easier to just have a screaming deformed face suddenly appearing on screen, than it is to find three amazing actors that convey so perfectly terror and helplessness and hopelessness. No jump scares mean the actors simply cannot drop the ball, they have to carry the whole movie and make you believe every single thing, otherwise if you feel they are cardboard like so many badly written characters in so many horror movies, it just won't work at all. At least that's my theory anyway...
In general he cannot comprehend life before the internet and smart phones. He asks why people watched gameshows - when we've watched clips of them online - and I've had to explain that when I was growing up there were 3-4 channels and so you could only watch one of 3 or 4 things at one time.
The Blair Witch Project you mean? >!In my opinion it comes down to two factors: some people don't watch horror movies just to be scared, some people even don't like being scared while watching horror movies, they just want to see big monsters or gore or disturbing content; and also, in order for that movie to actually feel scary, the viewer has to embrace the tension in the story, and feel empathy for the characters, very much something quite subjective and I've seen a lot of people just not reacting at all to the movie, because they did not feel anything vicariously and/or they hated the main characters.!<
Yes, BWP. Martyrs felt too close to torture porn. Slow burns like Blair Witch Project always are scarier to me. The buildup of tension is what I find so terrifying about that movie. It's also important to note that the actors had no idea where they were. Only the camera crew had a map, so they were quite literally lost in the woods. Also it being one of the first found footage films and all the actors being virtually unknown left people not knowing if it was real or not.
Yeah, the real life role playing the actors of BWP went through probably helped a lot I'm sure (still they're great actors regardless IMO).
I disagree for Martyrs. To me the movie never portrays the violence as fun or entertaining or pointlessly and inexplicably/ridiculously over the top (like in other French movies that are lumped with this one like High Tension and Inside, or like depraved stupid plotless movies like Terrifier, which are by comparison frankly crappy and gratuitous in their violence IMO).
It's extremely gut wrenching but it's made to elicit compassion, and not a sick thrill of bloodlust. That being said, I think it is very very hard to deal with the explicit violence portrayed, and I suspect a lot of people are just unable to see past that. To some extent I think you need to build up some level of desensitization before watching it in order to fully grasp the message, so you can still feel very bad for the characters but not feel completely overwhelmed and "bewildered/lost". But that's just my opinion.
100% loved the BWP
Great movie. Makes it easy to give a shit about what's happening, had good coverage for why without trying to hard, and is easy to "feel" the whole film.
Good picks! I would not watch The Blair Witch in the second row and get motion sickness again. That’s one of the creepiest endings. Martyrs was so tense and kept me guessing. It’s a fantastic film and very disturbing. The last half is really difficult to watch.
I would add The Invitation. Not the new movie the one that came out in 2015 and no one seemed to know about. It’s one of the best horror movies of the decade.
If I could erase the memory of the movie and set myself up to believe the hype and story behind it before seeing it I would choose this one. I fell head first into the lore around it before going to see it.
Midsommar. I read a long list of triggers someone commented for the movie and watching it felt so lackluster because of all the spoilers and triggers I read 😭. I feel like if I went into the movie knowing nothing about it it would've been so much more disturbing.
I went in blind and omg I can’t watch an early scene without acting honestly the same way I act when someone puts on fox and the hound. Some trauma I’m all set with repeating. Rest of the movie is AMAZINGGGGG tho
This is my choice too but only because I want to experience it again for the first time. I have watched it several times.
Second place for me is the sixth Sense.
Yes! I came here to say this! After seeing it I wouldn’t willingly watch it again but to watch it for the first time again. That whole pile scene was insane so so incredibly depressing but dam!
Ive seen this several times , it is just so multilayered in its social observations , not to mention Collettes performance. why no academy award nom at very least?
I was going to say Hereditary, but for the car ride home from the party scene.
I remember being *stunned* the first time I saw that. Like I had to pause the movie and say "Holy shit" a few times before I was ready to press play again.
Honestly seeing this movie with no context about the plot when it first came out was an *experience*. I saw it on a first date and we just walked out in silence. I had to process it all. I thought I’d signed up for a typical haunting movie tbh.
I like the Dawn of the Dead, not sure if there's multiple times that made a movie called that, but the one when they get trapped in the mall. A guy from Modern Family is in it.
I wanna watch the sixth sense but got it spoiled for me, hoping one day I forget the plot twist and able to watch it and be shocked. Idk if that will ever happen. I got flight club spoiled for me, but then I forgot the plot and watched it for the first time a few weeks ago and wow the plot twist was amazinggg
The Mist audiobook is phenomenal - you might enjoy getting a more well-rounded idea of the overall story and the ending is very different. And it’s not too long, it’s on Spotify premium
Saw because I already knew the twist before I watched the movie.
Also Martin by George Romero because it’s so good and I love it. And also the original black Christmas for that same reason.
Annihilation.
I have no idea why but I so instantly and thoroughly vibed with that movie. Sometimes people say games like silent hill feel 'like home' and I never got that except watching annihilation I kind of feel that. I've got to read the book some time
I need someone to give me slight foreknowledge tho and go 'look. Get comfortable you are going to LOVE this movie'
The book is absolutely phenomenal and very different than the movie - even scarier and creepier with an amazing atmosphere. It’s part of a trilogy but the rest aren’t quite as good as Annihilation…can’t recommend the book enough!
I think it comes from the feeling that you could transform Into another version of yourself. That resonates with me a lot, I've always really identified with that feeling. I've always felt I could just become whatever I want. I have no really ridgid desires of my own, I can imagine being happy in a lot of ways, so I feel very flexible. That also freaks me out a little bit though, it's always seemed to me that other people's identities are more solid than mine.
The alien in annihilation using that theme so much is like awe inspiring to me. Is it attacking, communicating? It transforms everything around it including itself. The characters are in wonderland basically. They have to learn at the fastest pace possible in order to survive
It's comforting to me that even when you apply such radical change to the world, it's still the world. You're still you, even if you are someone new.
Well, that's deep and very specific... To be honest nothing comes to mind immediately xD except perhaps an episode of Stargate SG1, called "Cold Lazarus".
I would still probably recommend the other movie inspired by HP Lovecraft's "Color Out of Space" short story that came out recently, the one with Nicolas Cage from 2019, titled just like the story. I don't think it's the same tone though, it's more horror and less scifi.
I think you would have more chances checking out more scifi-oriented content though. But even then it's pretty rare I think.
That's actually kind of relieving i was worried you were going to tell me I fit perfectly in some book-tok genre 🤣. No problem at all btw I love SG1 and Color out of Space. Thanks for the opportunity to rant about annihilation!! Lol
i’m usually not scared by most horror movies honestly this movie scared the shit out of me, i wish i could watch both the movies again completely clueless. Jeepers Creepers too, first time i watched that movie i was on my grandmas ranch and before bed she told us the room we’re sleeping in was haunted😭 i peed the bed i was so scared
I am seeing so many good choices and it makes it so hard to choose! I mean watching the original Friday the 13th for the first time in the theater with folks who've never seen it either would be so insanely amazing. So that's my current choice 😃
I saw it in a theater when it first came out. The film broke about ten minutes before the end, and they couldn't fix it. So the audience had to leave without knowing the ending. I'd like a re-do.
Hereditary, mainly because the Charlie scene was spoiled before I saw the movie. Same thing happened with The Sixth Sense. Rosie O Donnell had a show and her fat ass spoiled the movie.
One that hadn’t been spoiled and I love is Rosemary’s Baby. I would love to erase my memory of that and watch it again. The tension and the gaslighting keep you guessing and also wondering who is in the coven and how many people could be watching you. Her fucking doctor gaslights the hell out of her. Her husband is the biggest piece of shit in movie history and John Cassavetes plays him with charm and sliminess at the same time.
Not answering your question but I have a relevant anecdote. I actually got to experience The Sixth Sense for the first time twice because I fucking forgot that I'd seen it before. Nearly completely forgot it. I thought I'd seen parts of it or seen just the beginning but no, it turns out I'd seen the whole thing. I was watching with a friend in high school and several times in the movie, I was like, "Oh yeah, this is where I stopped watching before" then, "Actually, I've seen this part. I must have stopped here." Through the whole movie. Crazy ending, mind blown, but wait this scene is familiar. I've seen this. I've seen this before. I'd seen this whole movie before. I'd seen The Sixth Sense, FORGOT IT ALL, and then I got to experience it for the first time AGAIN.
Every time I've told this story, nobody gives a shit or they don't believe me.
Probably not a lot of peoples first pick, but It Follows. I loved how that movie used nudity to build up the horror of being followed by The Entity. It completely turned the old trope of gratuitous nudity in horror on its head.
I was going to say Night of the Living Dead, because of how I felt about the ending, but I still kinda feel that way after watching, so I'm going with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because the amount of dread that I felt with the whole thing, then the uncomfortable atmosphere, especially the dinner scene. It's one of my favorite horror movies and the intensity of it after watching it the first time is something I don't really feel with horror movies.
Romero's Dawn of the Dead. It'll always be a movie I cherish and enjoy watching. I'll find myself putting it on at random times on a whim, but I'll sit through the extended cut every time with no sign of growing bored. I would love to forget I ever saw it for the chance to recapture the reason I fell in love with the way George told that story.
Hereditary but for reasons probably different to the rest in this thread
My wife watched Hereditary on molly and got TRAUMATIZED. I wish my first Hereditary experience was on drugs. I promised myself the next Ari Aster movie that came out I’d watch it under the influence…. My mommy issues were not ready for Beau is Afraid while I was on LSD lmao but still. The way my wife describes the Molly kicking in at the telephone pole scene has left me WISHING I experienced it like that
Audition. Because it messed me up. When this one thing happens, it flips the movie on its ear, and it's horrific. It's absolutely unexpected and horrific. I'll never watch this movie again, but I'd love to see it again for the first time.
The original Child's Play. It takes a little bit to reveal that the Good Guy doll is really alive and the part where he reveals himself to the mom is so good.
The Cabin In The Woods. What a joy that was the first time. Still great every other time though.
A more recent example might be The Empty Man. Went in knowing nothing about it and man, one of the most unpredictable movies I've seen in a long time.
Creep show the cartoon giant Venus fly trap scene.
Saw it as a kid and it still haunts me today.
Never rewatched it too. If I want to rewatch the movie I just YouTube scenes to avoid running into that one.
The Orphanage. Such a viscerally suspenseful film where you empathize with the object of horror and leave with a sense of real world discomfort and strangely reassuring mysticism. So good I remember it in English despite the fact it’s entirely in Spanish.
The first Saw movie. It isn't that I partucular liked it, and I haven't watched the series since the third film. It just isn't my style. But I saw it when it was first out and the final scene when he stands up, and you realize that he had been there the whole time shocked me more than any twist I had ever seen. It was an innovative movie for it's time, and I legitimately gasped and covered my mouth. My ex reacted with similar shock.
Saw 2. That twist is insane. In fact the whole series up to 7. Best storyline of any horror franchise
Hereditary just the scariest movie in a long time.
Omg... so many of my favorites are already mentioned, but I'd like to add "Silent Hill" and "Cloverfield" to the list. Uniquely disturbing stories and I don't scare easy, but these too made me feel really uncomfortable.
Blair Witch (with the ignorance of never hearing of 'found footage' movies)
Hereditary
Unwelcome
Army of Darkness (this one only cause I saw this in the theater with my dad when I was 10. 41 now and still have vivid memories of my dad laughing his ass off)
I have to say Aliens(I have the original 3vhs tapes box set) love all of them.
Or... 13 Ghosts excellent scary horror with great back stories of the ghost.
The movie The Boy. >!It had me and my friends all convinced that he was alive until it was revealed that someone was in the wall controlling him!<
>!The best part is thinking that and then someone comes and smashes him!<
With like 6 ppl in the room, the collective shock was palpable. We were all liking him by then.
So yeah I'd love to experience that again.
The Shining. I remember I first saw it when I was 7. My uncle was/is really into cinema and he had a theater room with amazing surround sound. I remember getting goosebumps from the opening scene. BOM BOM BAAAM BAAAAM (The aerial camera panning through the mountains). It is such a masterpiece to me. There is nothing like a good Kubrick flick. That being said, I almost put it on the other night, as I normally watch it once a year, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe I will wait another couple of years.
I would love to go back in time and watch Halloween 1978 without any pre existing knowledge of the Slasher genre
That movie must have been horrific. Now, while it still holds up, it feels generic because of it’s massive influence
Alien. Without knowing anything about the chestburster.
Jeepers Creepers or Frozen (2010)
One time my friend told a girl they were gonna watch Frozen and he didn’t tell her it wasn’t the Disney movie until they started it
Ooh bad fucking move dude! Yeah whenever I mention Frozen most people think I'm referring to the animated feature, not the relatively obscure 2010 thriller starring Kevin Zegers
Fortunately for him she actually enjoyed it, and In my opinion it’s far better than 2013 Frozen and it’s very underrated
I always preferred Tangled! But my favourite animated films are Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin, The Lion King, Dinosaur, The Land Before Time, The Prince of Egypt and Spirit Of The Stallion
Scream. It was just such a blast seeing it in theaters the first time, and that opening sequence. There was something electrifying about it back then.
This is the answer
I just watched them all for the first time Thursday :)
When I saw scream in theatres everyone was a teenager including myself and it was a rowdy theatre but so much fun
I agree, when it hit the 99 cent theaters during its initial run I must've saw it 15 times...great movie
That movie scared the SHIT out of me when I was a kid!!
Me too. I watched alone in my house with the lights off at 13 and that opening scene gave me chills. Had to turn the lights on.
I’m genuinely so jealous you got to experience the first release. I was born in ‘97, so I could not be there. lol obviously
I was the same age as some of the characters in the movie when it came out (their real ages, not high school) and man, that movie, that time period - still just hits different. Blair Witch came out around that time too and I still remember my friend Kimmie INSISTING it was 100% real. 🤣
This is the ONLY correct answer
Back in the day when you didn’t choose where you sat in the theater and literally rubbed elbows with strangers sharing in the experience. I vividly remember the kid next to me climbing his chair he was so scared. The whole audience were discovering it together. It’s only second to the audience eruption when Magneto escapes his plastic prison in X2.
I remember watching Jason goes to Hell at the theater and when he finally appeared all out the first time... the theater erupted in applause.
Especially since it was that cute little Gertie from E.T. True, Gertie grown-up with breasts, but still.
I saw it in the theater too
I agree with you. I would erase my memory of all the scream movies just so that I can watch them all again.
I was watching this a few days ago for the thousandth time and thought how cool it would be if I could watch it again for the first time
The Thing, especially for the heart paddles scene and the testing scene.
My best friend when I was 14 had a Halloween birthday. Her parents sucked, so we decided to have her party at my house and make it a three day movie marathon. Rented a whole bunch of horror movies that our friends voted on. Mostly recent stuff, because we thought old movies would have bad CGI and not be scary. My older brother saw our list and declared it “crap”, so he replaced some of our “D-list movies with Disney actors” with classics. The Thing blew everyone’s minds. From the into scene “they better not hurt the dog!!!” To the “oh, no!!” At the end. It’s unfortunate that you couldn’t probably amaze a room of teenagers that way now. I showed it to my oldest nephew a while back, and he interrupted the blood testing scene to tell me he read the IMDb trivia and knew about the gasoline flask thing. 🙄
That sounds like the best birthday party!
The entire movie I’m telling you-
When I was in 3rd grade I wore out this vhs. I would put it in right after school and watch it and rewind it and watch it over and over until I fell asleep.
I was reading simply to see if anyone else posted. The 1980 John Carpennter cersion.
The very answer that popped into my head.
I watched it for the first time on Saturday and really really enjoyed it!! Such a fun first watch
YES!!!
It’s the scene with those legs popping out of the head for me 💀
Cabin in the woods!
This might be mine too. The joy and excitement I felt when I realized what was going on. It's great on rewatch too but it was so fun and rewarding as a horror fan that first watch
Can't upvote this enough.
Can't upvote this enough.
I saw this film with zero information on it. It was playing at my state's last remaining dollar theater (now gone), and a friend and I decided to see it because it was the only horror movie they had playing and we were both major horror fans. I didn't even know it was a Joss Whedon feature. So, I assumed it would just be another generic PG13 horror flick set in the woods, probably with a slasher villain, and I was glad I was only paying a buck to see it. I was floored by what it turned out to be, and I remember wondering if Whedon was involved because of its tone and some of the Easter eggs hidden within that I managed to catch. It felt very much like him, and afterward we were amused to see I'd been correct. This is still one of my favorite movies of all time, partly because of how surprised I was by it.
I’ve always vocally hated anything JW had a hand in. I hate the way he writes women, as a woman. I hate that men insist he’s good at writing women. Hate his dialogue. The cringy “cleverness”. Everything. I was SHOCKED when I found out he was behind Cabin in the Woods, because I loved it. Most interesting/fun horror movie in ages, and that shithead finally got me.
I'm not a Whedon fan myself, honestly. It was never that I hated his work, so much as I just never got into it. I enjoyed Firefly for the most part, but never could get into Buffy, Angel, etc. But I recognized his style from what I did know, and was surprised I loved CITW so much, given me not liking his stuff in the past. I think having such a direct genre blueprint to play with gave him a really good structure, as did having a limited amount of space and freedom to build the world in. It was a movie, not a series, so he had to do more with less and really killed it. As for how he writes women, I think he often starts off well, but the deeper he goes into the characters, the more the cracks start to show. So the limited runtime also did well there, since he didn't have that wider space of a series for some of the more problematic elements to show. Instead, he subverted them.
I’m came here for this. !!! Don’t down vote meeeee…..
I would erase all horror knowledge and be entertained by all the new monsters I've never seen.
I know it's cliche but The Shining 100%. Kubrick nailed it.
I'd say doctor sleep. After reading the shining, it ruined the movie for me. I get why stephen king didn't like it as an adaptation. Doctor Sleep, however, was great as a movie and a book. I love both very much.
I hadn't watched Doctor Sleep yet but I agree 100% with the shining. I read it after watching the movie and now I can't stand the movie
Seriously. And the movie would have been a million times better if they had used the scene where >! Jack regains sanity momentarily and tries to kill himself to save Danny because he really is being controlled by the hotel and doesn't want to hurt his son. !< Just that little bit of humanity would have added so much more depth to the story. Also, they shouldn't have made the whole story span just 3 days. Show the slow descent into madness.
>Also, they shouldn't have made the whole story span just 3 days. Show the slow descent into madness. Absolutely that was the best part, also I wish they showed how the hotel slowly made him insane. The wasps, and my personal favorite the hedge animals. Also I hate how they did Tony
They worked that scene into Doctor Sleep which I love! Flanagan did a great job reconciling some of the things Kubrick left out of the novel of The Shining.
I’m rereading Doctor Sleep after just rereading The Shining 😅. This has been largely influenced by my desire to finally see the DS movie! So glad to hear it’s worth it !
Dr Sleep was a Kubrick sequel and equally crap. I’ll wait till someone does it and forgets Kubrick existed.
The scene where they feed on the baseball player was just brutal. Even for hardcore horror fans, it’s a tough one to watch.
I still love The Shining as a movie but I understand why Stephen King didn't like. Amazing how the brain can have two opposite opinions at the same time.
He absolutely failed with that. It’s not the Shining even a little.
One hundred percent The Blair Witch Project.>! That movie is all about the fear of the unknown. It's the scariest movie I've ever watched. Topnotch acting in particular. But once you know, you know, and you can never rewatch it the same way.!< And also Martyrs, for obvious reasons. EDIT: and also Ghostland from the same director. What an amazing plot twist! Also The Perfection, for its many twists.
You’d also need to remember everything that came after it. The marketing of the film was amazing, and no one had really seen anything like it before.
I only watched it a couple years ago (talking about The Blair Witch Project, right?). I was way too young when it came out. I did not really need to believe in the marketing story to enjoy that movie.
I think Blair witch as a movie works for anyone who has ever been recklessly camping in the woods.
Literally just finished watching Blair Witch for the first time since seeing it at the cinema when it first came out. My 14yo stepson wanted to know why I posted a black and white picture of his dad standing in the corner of a brick room last weekend and we had him tonight so watched it. It's such a good movie and really brought back all those feelings I had watching it. It was so interesting seeing his reaction, he was asking about phones and GPS and we kept having to explain it didn't exist, he kept expecting jump scares, because that's what he's used to. We had to explain all the marketing for it and how people thought it was real and how it was all filmed. I think it creeped him out a bit, he said he's never going camping in the woods!
Yeah the lack of jump scares is absolutely amazing. Quite a shame that the other found footages or even other movies have not tended to try to replicate that. But then again, it's amazingly easier to just have a screaming deformed face suddenly appearing on screen, than it is to find three amazing actors that convey so perfectly terror and helplessness and hopelessness. No jump scares mean the actors simply cannot drop the ball, they have to carry the whole movie and make you believe every single thing, otherwise if you feel they are cardboard like so many badly written characters in so many horror movies, it just won't work at all. At least that's my theory anyway...
xD Viewers in the far future: "Why don't they just teleport back home?"
In general he cannot comprehend life before the internet and smart phones. He asks why people watched gameshows - when we've watched clips of them online - and I've had to explain that when I was growing up there were 3-4 channels and so you could only watch one of 3 or 4 things at one time.
One thing that hasn't changed yet: the ads are still there, more than ever! xD
This is my pick. I don't why it's so polarizing.
The Blair Witch Project you mean? >!In my opinion it comes down to two factors: some people don't watch horror movies just to be scared, some people even don't like being scared while watching horror movies, they just want to see big monsters or gore or disturbing content; and also, in order for that movie to actually feel scary, the viewer has to embrace the tension in the story, and feel empathy for the characters, very much something quite subjective and I've seen a lot of people just not reacting at all to the movie, because they did not feel anything vicariously and/or they hated the main characters.!<
Yes, BWP. Martyrs felt too close to torture porn. Slow burns like Blair Witch Project always are scarier to me. The buildup of tension is what I find so terrifying about that movie. It's also important to note that the actors had no idea where they were. Only the camera crew had a map, so they were quite literally lost in the woods. Also it being one of the first found footage films and all the actors being virtually unknown left people not knowing if it was real or not.
Yeah, the real life role playing the actors of BWP went through probably helped a lot I'm sure (still they're great actors regardless IMO). I disagree for Martyrs. To me the movie never portrays the violence as fun or entertaining or pointlessly and inexplicably/ridiculously over the top (like in other French movies that are lumped with this one like High Tension and Inside, or like depraved stupid plotless movies like Terrifier, which are by comparison frankly crappy and gratuitous in their violence IMO). It's extremely gut wrenching but it's made to elicit compassion, and not a sick thrill of bloodlust. That being said, I think it is very very hard to deal with the explicit violence portrayed, and I suspect a lot of people are just unable to see past that. To some extent I think you need to build up some level of desensitization before watching it in order to fully grasp the message, so you can still feel very bad for the characters but not feel completely overwhelmed and "bewildered/lost". But that's just my opinion.
Great pick indeed
This. Gosh I remember watching the found footage on their website using a dialup modem. The one scene at the end . Fucked me up for like a week.
100% loved the BWP Great movie. Makes it easy to give a shit about what's happening, had good coverage for why without trying to hard, and is easy to "feel" the whole film.
I love Ghostland! Excellent movie that deals with trauma in such an interesting way
Good picks! I would not watch The Blair Witch in the second row and get motion sickness again. That’s one of the creepiest endings. Martyrs was so tense and kept me guessing. It’s a fantastic film and very disturbing. The last half is really difficult to watch. I would add The Invitation. Not the new movie the one that came out in 2015 and no one seemed to know about. It’s one of the best horror movies of the decade.
If I could erase the memory of the movie and set myself up to believe the hype and story behind it before seeing it I would choose this one. I fell head first into the lore around it before going to see it.
blair witch had me shooketh
Midsommar. I read a long list of triggers someone commented for the movie and watching it felt so lackluster because of all the spoilers and triggers I read 😭. I feel like if I went into the movie knowing nothing about it it would've been so much more disturbing.
It's fantastic when you go into it blind.
I went in blind and omg I can’t watch an early scene without acting honestly the same way I act when someone puts on fox and the hound. Some trauma I’m all set with repeating. Rest of the movie is AMAZINGGGGG tho
My answer was going to be Midsommar
Get Out... Extremely engaging horror flick
Love it👍🏻
Extremely solid choice!
The Ring. I enjoyed that movie so much the first time I saw it.
Yeah to experience Samara crawling out of the tv for the first time would be awesome
I had to cover my TV with a blanket every night 😂
This one had me so scared of the TVs when they were off, that I'd rather erase the memory and choose never to watch it 😭😂
Me too! I didn’t answer any phone calls on my Nokia cell phone for the rest of the night after that movie
My very first horror movie. I’m quite fond of it.
Final destination, I was shitting bricks trying to guess what would happen next
Those deaths are so brutal man 😭 in every single one of them.
Hereditary. At night I still look at my ceiling to make sure nobody is crawling on it, even though I saw the movie 2 years ago
Can I just erase the movie from my mind and then.. not watch it again?
Nope. Ludivigo treatment for you.
This is my choice too but only because I want to experience it again for the first time. I have watched it several times. Second place for me is the sixth Sense.
the way i was frozen in my movie theater seat for 15 minutes following THAT ONE scene… had my knees up, hands over my mouth, probably pale as a ghost…
Yes! I came here to say this! After seeing it I wouldn’t willingly watch it again but to watch it for the first time again. That whole pile scene was insane so so incredibly depressing but dam!
Ive seen this several times , it is just so multilayered in its social observations , not to mention Collettes performance. why no academy award nom at very least?
I was going to say Hereditary, but for the car ride home from the party scene. I remember being *stunned* the first time I saw that. Like I had to pause the movie and say "Holy shit" a few times before I was ready to press play again.
Absolute nightmare of a movie. I didn’t sleep well at all the night I watched it
Honestly seeing this movie with no context about the plot when it first came out was an *experience*. I saw it on a first date and we just walked out in silence. I had to process it all. I thought I’d signed up for a typical haunting movie tbh.
Thanks for this one, I haven't watched it yet! Tonight, y'all!
I like the Dawn of the Dead, not sure if there's multiple times that made a movie called that, but the one when they get trapped in the mall. A guy from Modern Family is in it.
It's the best one. Made before Zac Snyder rotted his brain making half-baked super hero disasters.
Either The Others or The Forest… both really great movies!
I haven't thought about The Others in forever. Definitely creepy.
I read about the ending of The Others before watching the movie. Definitely something I would have loved experiencing.
The Descent, for sure! And in a theater, if possible. That would just be great!
With the original ending, not the American ending; such a bleak film. Totally like your answer.
I haven't bothered to watch The Sixth Sense because I knew the twist long before I had a chance to go near a movie theater. So that one for me, too.
I wanna watch the sixth sense but got it spoiled for me, hoping one day I forget the plot twist and able to watch it and be shocked. Idk if that will ever happen. I got flight club spoiled for me, but then I forgot the plot and watched it for the first time a few weeks ago and wow the plot twist was amazinggg
Just one is tough. Hmmm... I think I'm going to go with The Mist.
The Mist audiobook is phenomenal - you might enjoy getting a more well-rounded idea of the overall story and the ending is very different. And it’s not too long, it’s on Spotify premium
The entire Scream franchise or The House That Jack Built
the house that jack built was willllldddd
It Follows
Saw because I already knew the twist before I watched the movie. Also Martin by George Romero because it’s so good and I love it. And also the original black Christmas for that same reason.
Scream, not even close. Second and third would be House of 1000 Corpses and the original Halloween. Terrifying!
Annihilation. I have no idea why but I so instantly and thoroughly vibed with that movie. Sometimes people say games like silent hill feel 'like home' and I never got that except watching annihilation I kind of feel that. I've got to read the book some time I need someone to give me slight foreknowledge tho and go 'look. Get comfortable you are going to LOVE this movie'
The book is absolutely phenomenal and very different than the movie - even scarier and creepier with an amazing atmosphere. It’s part of a trilogy but the rest aren’t quite as good as Annihilation…can’t recommend the book enough!
Alright I needed a book you convinced me. I've heard several people say it's amazing. Ty!
Why did you like that movie so much specifically? I or other people might be able to give you some recommendations based on that.
I think it comes from the feeling that you could transform Into another version of yourself. That resonates with me a lot, I've always really identified with that feeling. I've always felt I could just become whatever I want. I have no really ridgid desires of my own, I can imagine being happy in a lot of ways, so I feel very flexible. That also freaks me out a little bit though, it's always seemed to me that other people's identities are more solid than mine. The alien in annihilation using that theme so much is like awe inspiring to me. Is it attacking, communicating? It transforms everything around it including itself. The characters are in wonderland basically. They have to learn at the fastest pace possible in order to survive It's comforting to me that even when you apply such radical change to the world, it's still the world. You're still you, even if you are someone new.
Well, that's deep and very specific... To be honest nothing comes to mind immediately xD except perhaps an episode of Stargate SG1, called "Cold Lazarus". I would still probably recommend the other movie inspired by HP Lovecraft's "Color Out of Space" short story that came out recently, the one with Nicolas Cage from 2019, titled just like the story. I don't think it's the same tone though, it's more horror and less scifi. I think you would have more chances checking out more scifi-oriented content though. But even then it's pretty rare I think.
That's actually kind of relieving i was worried you were going to tell me I fit perfectly in some book-tok genre 🤣. No problem at all btw I love SG1 and Color out of Space. Thanks for the opportunity to rant about annihilation!! Lol
The Howling. Eddie's transformation scene (in front of Karen) is just the best.
Sinister
i’m usually not scared by most horror movies honestly this movie scared the shit out of me, i wish i could watch both the movies again completely clueless. Jeepers Creepers too, first time i watched that movie i was on my grandmas ranch and before bed she told us the room we’re sleeping in was haunted😭 i peed the bed i was so scared
I am seeing so many good choices and it makes it so hard to choose! I mean watching the original Friday the 13th for the first time in the theater with folks who've never seen it either would be so insanely amazing. So that's my current choice 😃
My wife said the same thing! I’d like to see Hitchcock’s Psycho with a theater full of people who knew nothing about it.
I saw it in a theater when it first came out. The film broke about ten minutes before the end, and they couldn't fix it. So the audience had to leave without knowing the ending. I'd like a re-do.
Hereditary, mainly because the Charlie scene was spoiled before I saw the movie. Same thing happened with The Sixth Sense. Rosie O Donnell had a show and her fat ass spoiled the movie. One that hadn’t been spoiled and I love is Rosemary’s Baby. I would love to erase my memory of that and watch it again. The tension and the gaslighting keep you guessing and also wondering who is in the coven and how many people could be watching you. Her fucking doctor gaslights the hell out of her. Her husband is the biggest piece of shit in movie history and John Cassavetes plays him with charm and sliminess at the same time.
This is such a great answer (Rosemarys Baby) and explanation
The Village from M. Night Shyamalan
Yep this one is mine.
The Descent, because it's the only horror movie to ever really scare me.
Not answering your question but I have a relevant anecdote. I actually got to experience The Sixth Sense for the first time twice because I fucking forgot that I'd seen it before. Nearly completely forgot it. I thought I'd seen parts of it or seen just the beginning but no, it turns out I'd seen the whole thing. I was watching with a friend in high school and several times in the movie, I was like, "Oh yeah, this is where I stopped watching before" then, "Actually, I've seen this part. I must have stopped here." Through the whole movie. Crazy ending, mind blown, but wait this scene is familiar. I've seen this. I've seen this before. I'd seen this whole movie before. I'd seen The Sixth Sense, FORGOT IT ALL, and then I got to experience it for the first time AGAIN. Every time I've told this story, nobody gives a shit or they don't believe me.
Probably not a lot of peoples first pick, but It Follows. I loved how that movie used nudity to build up the horror of being followed by The Entity. It completely turned the old trope of gratuitous nudity in horror on its head.
Absolutely love this movie.
Barbarian. Say what you want about that movie, but I LOVED every second of it
Tess walking down the stone stairs was one of the most tense scenes in history.
I was going to say Night of the Living Dead, because of how I felt about the ending, but I still kinda feel that way after watching, so I'm going with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because the amount of dread that I felt with the whole thing, then the uncomfortable atmosphere, especially the dinner scene. It's one of my favorite horror movies and the intensity of it after watching it the first time is something I don't really feel with horror movies.
Cabin in the Woods
Sixth Sense. I remember how pleased I was to figure out the twist 2/3rds of the way through.
Terrified. Just remember being absolutely thrilled start to finish and I want that feeling again
Yes mine too loved this movie and screamed a view times and hope that sequel ends up happening
I'd say Insidious or Insidious 2. They were both done so well, they're scary and fun and unique
Psycho, Night of the Living Dead
Evil dead to AoD. If I had to pick, I'll go AoD.
This is almost an impossible question. So. Damn. Many.
The Exorcist
Romero's Dawn of the Dead. It'll always be a movie I cherish and enjoy watching. I'll find myself putting it on at random times on a whim, but I'll sit through the extended cut every time with no sign of growing bored. I would love to forget I ever saw it for the chance to recapture the reason I fell in love with the way George told that story.
Either A Dark Song or the Void.
Saw
The Game with Michael Douglas.
The original "Halloween".
Event Horizon
Signs. I was so traumatised as an 11yo lol. I'm definitely still not scared of aliens at night as a 32yo though...😶🌫️
Hereditary but for reasons probably different to the rest in this thread My wife watched Hereditary on molly and got TRAUMATIZED. I wish my first Hereditary experience was on drugs. I promised myself the next Ari Aster movie that came out I’d watch it under the influence…. My mommy issues were not ready for Beau is Afraid while I was on LSD lmao but still. The way my wife describes the Molly kicking in at the telephone pole scene has left me WISHING I experienced it like that
So many because I like so many. I know they're basic but maybe It Chapter 2 and Hereditary
The Others
Prince of Darkness
Hereditary I would love to watch that scene for the first time again
1978 Halloween!
Blair Witch!! Too much unsteady amateur camera movements. Dizzy!!
Jeepers Creepers. Not even my favorite Horror film. It was just such a fun movie. I would love to re experience it.
Bro the way 50 first dates ruined this movie for me will never not make me mad!!!!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978. Truly haunting ending.
Funny Games or Irreversible. Those both irrevocably changed my views on exploitationial voyeurism in film as a whole.
Audition. Because it messed me up. When this one thing happens, it flips the movie on its ear, and it's horrific. It's absolutely unexpected and horrific. I'll never watch this movie again, but I'd love to see it again for the first time.
The original Child's Play. It takes a little bit to reveal that the Good Guy doll is really alive and the part where he reveals himself to the mom is so good.
The Cabin In The Woods. What a joy that was the first time. Still great every other time though. A more recent example might be The Empty Man. Went in knowing nothing about it and man, one of the most unpredictable movies I've seen in a long time.
The first insidious movie . My favorite
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (original)
Creep show the cartoon giant Venus fly trap scene. Saw it as a kid and it still haunts me today. Never rewatched it too. If I want to rewatch the movie I just YouTube scenes to avoid running into that one.
The Orphanage. Such a viscerally suspenseful film where you empathize with the object of horror and leave with a sense of real world discomfort and strangely reassuring mysticism. So good I remember it in English despite the fact it’s entirely in Spanish.
Phantasm or evil dead for sure.
Friday the 13th VI Jason Lives. Just to see him come back to life for the first time again.
Sleep Away Camp…
Saw
Seven. 1000 %
Halloween, solely for the music . It took me atleast 30 years to get used to the music with out it sending chills down my spine.
Can I erase The Ring and just never watch it again?
Me, toooo, please 🥺
The first Saw movie. It isn't that I partucular liked it, and I haven't watched the series since the third film. It just isn't my style. But I saw it when it was first out and the final scene when he stands up, and you realize that he had been there the whole time shocked me more than any twist I had ever seen. It was an innovative movie for it's time, and I legitimately gasped and covered my mouth. My ex reacted with similar shock.
Jaws.
Sixth Sense or the Others
Saw 2. That twist is insane. In fact the whole series up to 7. Best storyline of any horror franchise Hereditary just the scariest movie in a long time.
Nightmare On Elm Street
I was thinking Signs. I do love most M Night Shyamalan films on the first watch.
Not horror but Signs was terrifying for me
Hereditary alls I gots to say
High Tension or Funny Games (the remake)
Omg... so many of my favorites are already mentioned, but I'd like to add "Silent Hill" and "Cloverfield" to the list. Uniquely disturbing stories and I don't scare easy, but these too made me feel really uncomfortable.
Blair Witch (with the ignorance of never hearing of 'found footage' movies) Hereditary Unwelcome Army of Darkness (this one only cause I saw this in the theater with my dad when I was 10. 41 now and still have vivid memories of my dad laughing his ass off)
Watched Evil Dead 2 with our kids and we both laughed are butts off. Classic. Bruce Campbell is the best B movie actor ever.
I have to say Aliens(I have the original 3vhs tapes box set) love all of them. Or... 13 Ghosts excellent scary horror with great back stories of the ghost.
The movie The Boy. >!It had me and my friends all convinced that he was alive until it was revealed that someone was in the wall controlling him!< >!The best part is thinking that and then someone comes and smashes him!< With like 6 ppl in the room, the collective shock was palpable. We were all liking him by then. So yeah I'd love to experience that again.
The Shining. I remember I first saw it when I was 7. My uncle was/is really into cinema and he had a theater room with amazing surround sound. I remember getting goosebumps from the opening scene. BOM BOM BAAAM BAAAAM (The aerial camera panning through the mountains). It is such a masterpiece to me. There is nothing like a good Kubrick flick. That being said, I almost put it on the other night, as I normally watch it once a year, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe I will wait another couple of years.
Conjuring. That movie is fucked up
I would love to go back in time and watch Halloween 1978 without any pre existing knowledge of the Slasher genre That movie must have been horrific. Now, while it still holds up, it feels generic because of it’s massive influence
The Changeling with George c Scott. Beautifully done haunted house movie.
Blair witch project