One of the most suspenseful, scary movies I saw as I was growing up and surprisingly held up very well when I watched it not long ago (though it is an older movie)
is

The Window a 1949 film in which a young boy who likes to tell tall tales witnesses a murder by some of his neighbors and the neighbors see him. No one will believe what he saw... and the neighbors are trying to get to him to keep him quiet...!!! It starred Bobby Driscoll who actually won a special accademy award for his performance.

I think the original Alien had some great scares in it. When you first see it and the alien bursts out of the stomach.. that is a Jump you don't forget.

When I was growing up a lot of things were wonderfully freaky--but they would not do a thing for grown-ups watching them today.

For instance the scene where the boy watching from his window sees his parents SUCKED into the Ground gave many many kids nightmares (INVADERS FROM MARS). Or the image of that guy who rushed to mirror, unbuttoned his shirt and saw coming out of his collar bone.. an EYE !!!! EEEK.. It was from The Manster. The corpse at the top of the stairs in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was a great shock (back then). And it's still pretty creepy when the daughter comes back to life and attacks her parents with a garden spade!!!!

A lot of very well done low budget movies like Halloween or Hills Have Eyes have been copied and ripped off so many many times that for many it is nearly impossible to comprehend how they scared anyone. But they did.

More recently, Sixth Sense, Both verstions of the first Ringu (Japanese and American--Ringu) the ghost story with Nicole Kiddman--The Others, The Audition, were effective, engrossing and very well done. Romero's newest Land of the Dead has some good moments by the way.
I thought.

I WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON UR STORY.
THE LITTLE GIRL THAT PLAYED IN THAT MOVIE , WAS LINDA BLAIR , AND SHE DID NOT DIE AS A MATTER OF FACT SHE IS NOW THE HOST OF (THE SCARIEST PLACES ON EARTH).
LINDA BLAIR ALSO PLAYED IN THE SECOND MOVIE.
SHE IS ALIVE AND WELL AS OF TODAY.
JUST THOUGHT I WOULD LET YOU KNOW.

Various movies have scared me different degrees at different times. The Exorcist scared the crap out of me when I first saw it, as did Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Alien. I thought Ju-on: The Grudge was really scary but that the remake kind of blew. The Tall Man from the Phantasm series is incredibly creepy and those movies have some moments that I think are genuinely chilling. Cannibal Holocaust and Last House on The Left are possibly the two most disturbing movies I've ever seen, for their different reasons, but while I could say Cannibal Holocaust might be all right for the curious, I would never recommend Last House to anyone.

Oh yeah, and Nightmare on Elm Street has always really creeped me out. Just the idea of some demon invading your dreams is totally freaky. Heh, I made myself watch the first one when I was living by myself one summer just to get over being freaked out by a movie I had never even seen! I'm glad I did because I'm in love with the series now. That was probably the only time I've been so scared by the idea of a movie that I had to force myself to watch it.

I can definitely tell you what horror movie series isn't scary in the slightest bit...The Ring. I've seen The Ring that released in 2002 maybe ten or more times already without flinching once. Or ever feeling creeped out by the movie. The Ring is another one of those movies where I hear how some people think it's the scariest thing you'll ever see, and then I end up wondering why. I can watch that movie from beginning to end and go through it like I were watching a harmless comedy. Only, there's nothing to laugh at but the idea that anyone would ever be unnerved while experiencing the film.

I went and rented The Ring Two this week, since there was nothing else on the rental list I was interested in (or could think of that I might want to watch). Yet again, I'm stunned at how tame the movie turned out to be. I remember the commercials for The Ring Two claiming the second one to be even scarier than the first. The first wasn't scary at all, so I couldn't imagine The Ring Two being too much more frightening, if even at an insignificant spec. Predictably, the movie did nothing to me at all. In fact, the second one was probably less eerie than the first, if you were to weigh them on an official horror scale to balance the measurement of terror embedded within the two movies.

that John Carpenter's in the Mouth of Madness freaks me out every single time I see it. I've seen a LOT of horror movies (it's my main genre) and that one, well, is freaky!

Dario Argento's 1977 film "Suspiria" makes "The Exorcist" look like a love story and "The Shining" look like a sunday school field trip to the ice cream parlor."Suspiria" is the scariest film ever.

I did see Event Horizon once..I refuse to watch it again. Most of it was just a bit bizare, but a few scenes were really freaky.

I haven't seen all of The Shining, but I did read the book. Loved that so will see the movie sometime.

I really like Sixth Sense and The Others. Stir of Echos is very good too. Not really horror in my opinion, but very suspenseful.

Suspiria has, and will remain on my list (as well as a few other Argento films), but not as THE scariest. The Little Girl Down the Lane is on there also. Hell, I'd even have The Haunting (1963) up there but none of them freaked me out on an emotional and psychological level as much as a little film out of Austria called Funny Games did.

*shutter*

the movie that scared me the most was the exorcist. however it has no effect on me now. a few other good horrors include, the ring, poltergeist, owmen, carrie, saw (best ending ever). horror is my favourite genre of movie. unfortunatly none of them seem to scare me n e more if anyone knows of an extreamly scary movie reply it to me.

I have always been a huge fan of the horror genre, the funny thing is that I have never seen a film that has truly frightened or disturbed me (at least not since puberty!). I keep searching. I am going to try some of the suggestions here for my Halloween Sunday night.

I did want to mention a film I saw in the late 80's early 90's called 'Paperhouse', I think it may have been a foreign film. There were some scary and disturbing scenes in that movie and a good storyline.

Ok, so I was easily frightened as a kid. Horror movies still get me, even half watching them on TV with commercials.

But as a kid, the one thing that freaked me out the most was Marley'd ghost showing up in the George C. Scott version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. That would make me stay awake at night for months afterward. And we're talking early high school here.

No, I'm probably better off staying away from the horror genre.

Mark

Remember though, its very easy not to find films scary if u dont have the atmosphere right. When the lights are off and the TV is flickering away and the window is open, i always find a guaranteed shiver down my spine.

I love horror films. I love the rush that you get after when you're lying in bed and jumpin at every noise. The first proper film i saw was It by stephen king and, holy crap, i couldnt sleep in my own room...next week, trying to look hard, i watched candy man and that was really scary as we watched it in my friends MASSIVE draughty old house where you can imagine things happening. BLair Witch, i watched whilst working up in Scotland, near the craigvinean forest and then played hide and seek in the wood, the Amytiville Horror, really scary as the curtain was blowing in the wind and i thought i could hear whispers...

you can't expect the films to do it all alone. you have to build up some of the atmosphere.

The scariest movie ever, for real is Celery stick warrior. This was the scariest movie I have ever seen. From the scene with the Polar bear eating the guy alive and the scene with the rhinosaurus driving around a john deere tractor in a feild with a star lit sky and a half moon. this was the scariest movie ever in the world. And the scene when the guy is hiding under the corn stocks looking out with a flame thrower. You have to see this movie everyone, it makes Exercist look like nothing.

thats not scary at all.

exorcism of emily rose is scary

i say that they should make more scary moviesin the thaeters i want 2 go 2 the theaters and see a scary movie cuz i love scary movies but theres no scary movies in yet thats why i say that they should make more scary movies in the theaters but i mean scary cuz they make movies and there not scary lke saw 2 wasnt scary and they said it was horror. i love goin 2 the movies with my friends and stuff and we all like sacry movies maybe if they made more scary 1s theyll win more money i say they should make good movies really good movies. cuz i really want 2 go 2 the movies and get scared i love getting scared.THEY SHOLD MAKE GOOD MOVIES ESPECIALLY SCARY 1S AND BASE ON TRUE STORY IS EVEN BETTER LOL. JUST NOT SCARY 2 DEATH LOL

If you want a really frightening movie-watch the Grudge, preferrably the original Japanese version:Ju-on.
I, too, was bored a long time after seeing The Others(good movie, but not an extreme fright)Final Destination(not scary, just sick)and Cube(very good, but not scary, just bloody)The Ring(not very scary). Then I watched The Shining and thought I had reached the outer borders of scariness. I was so wrong. When The Grudge came,I immediately watched it on tv( oops, late in the evening)
and then I knew. The Grudge is the border. The story, but especially the flickering short images on screen you see, of horrible beings, sick mutilations and impossible events.. It really is the most frightening movie ever. When I watched the Exorcist, I laughed my *** off. Is this the so horrifying movie that everyone speaks of?? LOL.

Watch the Grudge. You'll like the part in which the sister of the guy who used to live in the house gets a visit from the demonic entity. Bell rings..she's on 16th floor, he's down at ground level. She pushes the door opening button..two seconds later,her front door bell rings. She don't trust it,looks through the eyehole, oh its him, phew,opens the door- NO ONE. now thats real fright.