Just Re-Watched the Scariest Movie in History

[frigidweirdo]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

I've seen scarier, but I don't watch scary movies, but I can't actually name the ones I've see that are scarier.

Then why haven't you named one?

I have a bad concentration problem, I never bother to even try remember the names of films. Sometimes I just get lucky.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Ridley Scott is one of the best Directors and Alien remains one of the best movies.

The Exorcist was only scary when it was first released.

 

[BULLDOG]

Texas Chain Saw Massacre did it for me, only I remember being more repulsed than scared. I had never seen a real blood and guts slasher before then,

 

[petro]

I see most are posting older movies seen during a younger age.
I find as I get older, scary movies are not as effective as I find it harder to suspend my disbelief on the premise of the plot.

The 2005 Wolf Creek I found to be creepy though. Since it was based on a true story, and the fear that the person helping you in the middle of nowhere is really up to nasty business.

 

[Pilot1]

"Psycho"

 

[WillMunny]

The sixth sense was scary....and of course the Exorcist .....

The Sixth Sense definitely had some bone-chilling moments. Like the "red tent" scene with the little girl ghost played by Mischa Barton. That definitely fucked me up a bit. It was Shyamalan's one real masterpiece of a movie.

 

[WillMunny]

Ridley Scott is one of the best Directors and Alien remains one of the best movies.

The Exorcist was only scary when it was first released.

I think one of the best things I can say about Alien's suspense-ambiance is that no matter how many times I see it, it never, ever gets easier to watch. Even though I know what's going to happen in every scene, Ridley Scott arranged it in such a way that it still is a major stress-case on my nerves every time I've seen Alien.

I enjoyed all 4 Alien movies, they were each fun and interesting in their own various ways, but the original Alien is the granddaddy suspense classic over all.

 

[WillMunny]

I see most are posting older movies seen during a younger age.
I find as I get older, scary movies are not as effective as I find it harder to suspend my disbelief on the premise of the plot.

The 2005 Wolf Creek I found to be creepy though. Since it was based on a true story, and the fear that the person helping you in the middle of nowhere is really up to nasty business.

I think that's because older horror movies are so much scarier than today's modern, neutered PG13 thrillers. Can you imagine today's "safe space" snowflake generation watching something as dark and deliberately, sneakingly stressful as Alien? I'm 45 and that movie's utter, grinding suspense punishes my nerves even to this day.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

I grew up on horror films, starting with King Kong (1933) at age four. Loved it.

I remember my Dad taking me to see "Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory" when I was seven. Busty college girls in lingerie being chased around by a hairy brute.

 

[WillMunny]

SCARIEST MOVIE? Ever? The thing, the John Carpenter version .I watched it twice. That was it, never again. It was so repellent. Good though in a horrible way.

I LOVED Carpenter's The Thing. It was filled with so many horrifying, creative, twisted nightmare images (courtesy of the ultimate FX genius Rob Bottin), it stuck with me for a long, long time. My only complaint about that John Carpenter masterpiece is that the ending felt a bit rushed and anti-climactic. But never mind that, it sure leaves some horrific images on the viewer's mind.

Remember the scene when that one guy's head separated from his body, sprouted a bunch of legs, and started scuttling around the room? That one human character said, "You've got to be fucking kidding me" before Kurt Russell let the "spider head" have it with the flamethrower.

 

[WillMunny]

I grew up on horror films, starting with King Kong (1933) at age four. Loved it.

I remember my Dad taking me to see "Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory" when I was seven. Busty college girls in lingerie being chased around by a hairy brute.

Amazing how much the woman on the right looks like Hilarious Hillary.

 

[Darkwind]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

I would have to go with "The Exorcist" followed by Carpenters "The Thing".

Alien was good for getting your date to sit in your lap....LOL....The girl I went to see that movie with damned near cost Me my arm from lack of blood, she had that tight a grip on Me.

 

[WillMunny]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

That would be my pick.

First R movie I saw as a kid. The notion of being literally nowhere trapped on a ship with a devastating life form added to the hopelessness of the characters situation.

I also remember the original War of the Worlds freaking me out about the age of 6 or 7.

The zombie or haunting movies never really scared me.

In a funny way, I sort of thought of Alien as the ultimate "haunted house" movie but transferred to a spaceship and dealing with a sci-fi monster instead of traditional ghost themes. But no matter how you perceive it, it was Ridley Scott at his absolute best.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

Recommended - The recent film "The VVitch". Authentic and creepy. Delivers what it advertises.

 

[petro]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

That would be my pick.

First R movie I saw as a kid. The notion of being literally nowhere trapped on a ship with a devastating life form added to the hopelessness of the characters situation.

I also remember the original War of the Worlds freaking me out about the age of 6 or 7.

The zombie or haunting movies never really scared me.

In a funny way, I sort of thought of Alien as the ultimate "haunted house" movie but transferred to a spaceship and dealing with a sci-fi monster instead of traditional ghost themes. But no matter how you perceive it, it was Ridley Scott at his absolute best.

As a child growing up with the space race I found movies about horrifying lifeforms more believable than traditional ghost stories.
While the later Alien sequels were entertaining, none compared to that first movie.

 

[Darkwind]

Recommended - The recent film "The VVitch". Authentic and creepy. Delivers what it advertises.

I haven't seen it, but I hear that this one is pretty damn terrifying.

 

[rightwinger]

Aliens was scarier

 

[WillMunny]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

That would be my pick.

First R movie I saw as a kid. The notion of being literally nowhere trapped on a ship with a devastating life form added to the hopelessness of the characters situation.

I also remember the original War of the Worlds freaking me out about the age of 6 or 7.

The zombie or haunting movies never really scared me.

In a funny way, I sort of thought of Alien as the ultimate "haunted house" movie but transferred to a spaceship and dealing with a sci-fi monster instead of traditional ghost themes. But no matter how you perceive it, it was Ridley Scott at his absolute best.

As a child growing up with the space race I found movies about horrifying lifeforms more believable than traditional ghost stories.
While the later Alien sequels were entertaining, none compared to that first movie.

Absolutely, simply because there's a more scientific physiological basis for the chest-bursting xenomorphs than ghosts and that gives the aliens a more gritty sense of physical reality. I agree with you that Alien itself was the masterpiece best, trend-setter of the franchise, but the 3 sequels did have their fun, memorable moments. I even really liked the most underrated, unfairly hated sequel in history, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien Resurrection. It was such a deliberately insane, whacked-out, nutty, crazy entry in the Alien franchise, I had a lot of fun watching it on that basis alone. That was certainly the most over-the-top, blood-and-guts movie in the series. And Sigourney Weaver looked sooooo sexy-dynamite-HOT for being almost 50 at the time and dressed in tight leather....YOWZA! You cannot name a more fuckable 48-year-old woman than Sigourney Weaver at the time.

 

[rightwinger]

Silence of the Lambs

 

[WillMunny]

Alien, of course. It was on the BBCrap a few hours ago. My god, I've never seen a movie that could build up such a dark, cold-blooded, mysterious atmosphere. And be able to gradually ratchet up the suspense to such an extreme level, it was almost physically difficult to watch. I'm making this thread because it's been a whole bunch of years since I last watched "Alien" and I had forgotten just how fucking GOOD this grim masterpiece was. And it doesn't even look like a 40-year-old movie at all; it's productions values are just as polished today as they were back in '79.

Can anyone name me anything more nerve-racking, pressure-filled scary in a movie than the sequence near the end when Ripley was outracing the ship's self-destruct clock to get to the escape pod?

I went to the DC premiere of ALIEN. The only part that scared the crap out of me was when Dallas, Ripley and Ash were searching for the facehugger after it let go of Kane.

In the film a wastebasket tipped over, loudly. I jumped. So did everyone else.

During later viewings, I watched for the scene, and laughed when the audience jumped en masse. Was funny.

I liked the suspense in the scene when Ripley discovers that the company sent the crew to retrieve the lifeform at their expense and Ash tries to kill her. We then find out Ash is a company droid to help that happen. Added to the hopelessness.
Or the scene trying to get to the lifeboat before the ship went nuke, and she hears the others dying over the intercom.
I was young when I saw the movie, so it really stuck. Not to mention seeing Ripley in her undies.

To this day Parker & Lambert's death throes are still freaky and grotesque to listen to...as Ripley heard them die over the intercom with a more and more terrified look on her face.