HORROR MOVIES 101

How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Yes, I meant both Rs.  How has watching a horror movie, any one, it doesn't matter what or when, so freaked you out that to this day you still can't deal with that subject?  Or what have you always felt strongly about that makes watching a particular scene in a movie hard or impossible ?

A lot of people I talked to had a life-long phobia of needles simply couldn't stand the hypo pit in Saw II; Psycho caused Janet Leigh to have a pathological fear of showers; It didn't help a girl whose father wrote to Hitchcock that because of his movie she wouldn't take showers and becaue of Les Diaboliques she wouldn't take baths (he responded to the effect of "go wash her in the ocean")...

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Phantasma-gore-ia:

How has watching a horror movie, any one, it doesn't matter what or when, so freaked you out that to this day you still can't deal with that subject?  Or what have you always felt strongly about that makes watching a particular scene in a movie hard or impossible ?

The one that I'm sure I'm not alone in: Jaws.

I literally am frightened of going into any body of water alone. Whether it be the pool in my backyard, any one of the lakes nearby, or the ocean. The times I have pushed myself to do so I honestly freaked the f**k out: shaking, crying and thrashing until I'm back on solid ground. I'm one of those persons that doesn't really dream or have nightmares, but when I do they all seem to involve Great White Sharks and scare me awake. Even watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel gets me to lift my feet off the ground and constantly look around for fear that something is going to bite me.

Completely irrational and horrible. I hate it.

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

God, all I saw was a documentary about sharks and jelly fish and wouldn't go into the Ocean, Jaws just reinforced that commitment even more.

Well, let's see, I won't go camping because I feel too vulnerable, l have to live in screaming distance of someone no matter what, I constantly look in my backseat before I get into my car, I walk very quickly at night and keep looking all around, sometimes I'm afraid to look out on my balcony at night becuase I think I will see someone standing there...nah, I don't think I've been affected that much...

Dr_Gor:

"Jaws" is a great choice. One of my favorite movies of all time and the one that I have seen more times than any other movie! (I lost track after about the 30th viewing!). A couple of years before "Jaws" came out I spent a summer with an aunt and uncle in Florida and they couldn't keep me out of the ocean! As a young teenager, I was an avid swimmer and part time lifeguard and, being from Colorado, I had never seen the ocean before and I LOVED it! I jumped in and started swimming around every chance I got. Of course I knew about sharks (I even bought a shark tooth necklace) and baracuda and rays etc. but that didn't deter me at all. Even after I was severly stung by jellyfish I couldn't wait to get back in the water! After seeing "Jaws" , however, I doubt that I will ever voluntarily go swimming in the ocean again! < GOR >

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Yay!  Someone else who has an irrational fear of the water!  Woo!  I'm not alone...*wipes brow*  Anyway, another water movie...well, short I guess you could call it...is from Creepshow 2.  "The Raft"...a Stephen King short story that scared the bejesus out of me.  I remember, after watching that story, peaking over the bed and making sure there were no black oily masses hiding around the edges of the frame.  Ha ha.  But, the funny part is that the bed I was on was a water bed.  How lame am I?  I think I got scared during Sphere, also, what with the giant squid laying eggs all over the place and poisonous jelly fish darting madly here and there...damn it.  I hate the water.

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Some people are so lucky! I love horror, but don't get too scared with watching them.  I've been unnerved a few times, but unfortunately never frightened despite trying!  I've definitely been disturbed by a few!  Some are clearly made for shock value, but scary, I wish!  My friends tell me I'm too jaded! LOL!

A few that actually unnerved me and almost got me that freaky rush...

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (the original)

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (it either worked for you or it didn't so laugh at me now if you wish, I'm glad it worked for me).

THEY COME FROM WITHIN (not during the movie, but it haunted me afterwards since it's parable with aids almost 20 years later is just damn uncanny).

THE BLACK CAT (Karloff/Lugosi version), the skinning scene blew my mind because I wasn't expecting something so graphic in a Universal film from way back then.

CURSE OF THE DEMON - It's played so well, even with the cynical attitude, it just works.

ISLAND OF TERROR - Not so much as an adult but this one unnerved me as a kid.  Peter Cushing trying to stop these growing creatures that sucked out your bones while you were alive.  Love the movie today, but spooked me a tad as a kid.

The other few that come to mind that came close were four faves of mine, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, ROSEMARY'S BABY and REPULSION.

As for Disturbed me (in a good way as in I liked it but still found it disturbing)...

NAKED BLOOD

CANNIBAL FEROX

THE BEYOND

SHEITAN

BUIO OMEGA

GIALLI IN VENICE

VIDEODROME

DAMNED IN VENICE (such a great disturbing and shocking ending!)

There's lots more, I'm just drawing a blank...

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

What did Open Water and OW2: Adrift do for you?

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

The first one was okay and I felt for the characters.  I never saw more than five minutes of the sequel (most people who know me know I'm not a fan of most sequels, a few, but not very many!).

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

Phantasma-gore-ia:

What did Open Water and OW2: Adrift do for you?

Open Water put the fear in me, alright. A scary on-the-water movie always makes me think about the Loch Ness Monster the next time I'm at the beach. I don't think about Nessie until I'm way out--until there's no way I could get back to shore in time if I saw him creep his serpentine head out of the water.

Didn't know the there was an Open Water 2, and I think the title ("Adrift") is funny. I came up with similarly redundant titles for the next three installments: Open Water 3: Floating. Open Water 4: On the Water. Open Water 5: Liquid!

fyi, there's a contest on the site regarding this thread's topic: Scarred for Life in the filmgaming group. You've tapped into a zeitgeist, phantasma-gore-ia!

Re:How has horror scarred (yes, scarred) you?

I don't frighten  very easy either. There are some movies that are so brutal or realistic such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and those home invasions. 

Curious to know if you are talking about, Vincent Cassel's Sheitan (2006).

I hate to say it but some of the new french horror such as Inside, I will never look at scissors the same again or even knitting needles!

But for scare tactic I would have to say movies like, A Tale of Two Sisters (2003). Nothing gorey just pyschological like most asian stuff.