Is the Exorcist the scariest movie?

[Zemo]

Mine as a kid was Rosemary's baby, The Exorcist, the Omen and the Shinning(I was a teen then) but great movie.

[mego73]

You ought to check out The Innocents

The scariest movies for me, are the one that are high on atmosphere and low on SPFX.

The original The Haunting, for example, is still scary and it shows you absolutely nothing. They remade it with many FX scenes...and it was hardly scary. It was "hey look at the CG ghost...so fake..."

[bgrimm77]

In my opinion the scariest horror film made to date is the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. not for shock,or even gore....because there really isn't any. its just how Tobey Hooper had his actors portray utter madness. to me the desent into pure insanity along with an inbread family that is absolutely nuts to me is scary

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

Scariest movie as a kid was The THING (watched it at the drive-in). Had trouble touching my dogs belly for days. David Cronenberg' "Shivers" scared the hell out of me and I slept with my legs so tight together it was a wonder any blood made it to my nards! I didnt get to see the Shining until years later but I do remember the commercial freaked me, bad. Dawn of the Dead, Hellraiser and the Howling were my favorite teen horror movies and scared me. Cant remember when I first watched the Exorcist but it was later along with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Last movies that horrified me were The Decent, Dawn of the Dead remake, and the Mist. I think it was because I watched them in the theater and they had more impact. I can guarantee I was exhausted after seeing Dawn of the Dead. Bought the DVD as soon as it came out.
I still watch the Shining, Dawn of the Dead, The Howling, and The Mist any time I see them on the TV.

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

The Exorcist is definitely in my top five of scary movies, I still love it. The weird thing about another favorite, when I saw Texas Chain Saw Massacre at thirteen it was scary, but not THAT scary. Again at age twenty-eight, it scared the crap outta me. I think the fact that most of the movie was filmed in daylight instead of all in the dark is also really creepy.
I was born in '72 so I can only imagine what something like The Exorcist must have been like for the time.

My aunt must have been in her early 20s when she watched it at the theater and had to move back home for a couple of weeks! Yeah, I bet it was really disturbing when it first was released.

[bettyrocker01]

Exorcist is in my top 5 for sure.

Surprised to see a lot of scared Omen fans though, didn't think much of it as a kid or adult.

What scared me as a child was The Shining, Rosemary's Baby and Let's Scare Jessica to Death and The Sentinel

[glimpy]

Yes. Personally, i love the Hammer films, and International.

[glimpy]

alot of "Made for TV" 70's movies scared me.

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

EXORCIST is definitely up there, for me. I think SILENCE OF THE LAMBS packs a pretty good punch, too THE SHINING scared the crap out of me as a kid. I find it hard to remember now my first reaction to a movie. I remember thinking THE SIXTH SENSE being pretty frightening. It had a quality to it, like you didn't know what was going to happen next. The ghosts were just there. I know a lot of people are hung up on the twist at the end and a lot of M. Night haters, so I don't know.

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

Oh, and also...I think that you have to be honest and say how scared you were WHEN YOU WATCHED the movie, not afterward when you got to think about plot holes or production values or whatever, but that visceral feeling. I remember PARANORMAL ACTIVITY scaring the crap out of me when I watched it. BLAIR WITCH, too. Afterward, when I thought about it, not so much. Not classic movies, but scary as I remember them.

[Hector]

Human Centipede 1 & 2 are the creepiest and nastiest horror movies I've ever seen, lol.

[bgrimm77]

For me the premise was scary, but in my opinion the scariest movie ever is a tie between Deranged (the 1st movie made about Ed Gein) and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also loosely based on Gein) not for gore but just the depiction of human depravity and decent into madness. truly creepy. Then of course there is always Halloween!!

[Starroid Raiders Dagon]

Human Centipede 1 & 2 are the creepiest and nastiest horror movies I've ever seen, lol.

That guy in the second one........just awesome. My sister loves horror films and knows about both of these but wont watch either as she doesn't think she can stomach them.

[Hector]

That's why they are great...they are highly disturbing...lol.

Who said horror movies have to be nice and neat?

[Hector]

That guy in the second one........just awesome.

That dude gets my vote as the creepiest and most disturbing movie character of all times, he should be a horror icon, lol.