Was any movie ever TOO scary for you?
 

I guess everyone here enjoys being scared by a good horror movie - but was there ever a movie (in the horror/sci-fi genre only) that was TOO much for you to handle?

As I mentioned in another thread the other day, the first time I watched "Signs" I ran out of the room :o I am REALLY chicken when it comes to "greys"... however I have since then watched the entire movie a few times. I still find it absolutely terrifying, but I can watch it and enjoy it now.

The ONE movie I absolutely cannot stand to watch... I'll probably regret saying this :p It's "It Came From Outer Space". I know... probably not what you expected to see in a thread like this. Don't worry, I'm used to getting teased for it.

I HAVE watched the whole thing, I forced myself to do it twice as an adult because I really wanted to "get over it" - but I was so terrified that I felt physically ill and even vomited from fear.

I love spooky horror movie themes, but if I find an album and it has the theme from "It Came From Outer Space" on it, forget it... I won't even risk forgetting to skip the track.

I guess it's a trauma. When I was about 4 years old, the movie was shown on TV in 3D. My parents watched it in one living room, my grandparents in the other.

I hated the "eye monsters", but was particularly terrified of the theremin noises, and would scream my head off every time I heard it.

After watching most of the movie, I tried to "hide" from the sound, but could hear it all over the house, and no one would turn it down. Then my older brother "kindly" offered me to hide in his bedroom... his final words before he switched off the lights and locked me in the room alone was "they eyes are coming in through the window!!" :D

Since then, that damn theremin sound has haunted my nightmares.

I was able to enjoy and laugh at "Alien Trespass", even though it creeped me out... but "the real thing"? I never, ever ever EVER want to watch it again :D

What about the rest of you? Any traumas you would like to share? :D

When I was 13: The Exorcist. I walked out of the theatre.

Nope. No movie has ever been too scary, though the older I get I get more squeamish at the sight of blood.

When I was younger I walked out of the theatre on Jeeper Creepers, but since then there really have not been very many movies that I did that. I thought about walking out on Paranormal Activity 3 and Apollo 18, but I did not. I paused the Devil Inside the first time I watched it.

If the question is "ever", I guess I've been too scared to watch/finish numerous movies as a kid.

As an adult, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've turned movies off before. The first time I watch The Exorcist by myself I turned it off halfway through. Same with Ju-On. There was another Japanese flick that I turned off also, but I can't remember what it was called.

I go to some effort to allow myself to be immersed in a good horror film. Sometimes it works a bit too good.

I can kind of relate to that. The older I get, the more sensitive I get to realistic violence. And I think I feel more empathy for the characters as well. I've also developed an embarrasing tendency to cry during sad movies... I never did that when I was younger. I guess life experience does that to you.

When I was in grade school, I was up all night with nightmares after watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78). I've probably never been so scared in my life.

I had a similar experience after watching The Shining as a kid, but the memory is not quite as traumatic.

I had to close my eyes for a couple parts when I saw Watcher in the Woods in the theater, and it left me shaken afterwards.

I couldn't bring myself to see The Exorcist until probably somewhere around age 30. I remember a time in my 20s where I had it on in the other room while I was taping it. I was afraid to go in that room until the film was over, and I ended up never watching the tape.

These days, there's not too much that I can say will scare me too much, although there are certain things that I almost just don't want to see. Martyrs was a difficult watch, although ended up as one of my favorites (I believe the intent is to induce a state of numbness in the viewer, similar to the character's). I nearly had to fast forward the scene in Irreversible. I will probably never watch A Serbian Film.

Exactly. You develop empathy. I cry at sad movies too. Don't be embarressed. It just means you're human.

Here are a few films I won't watch again cause I found them too disturbing:

"Requiem for a Dream"
"A Clockwork Orange" (even though I love Kubrick)
"Henry: A Portrait of a Killer"
"Silent Night"
"Jennifer": Masters of Horror
"Imprint": Masters of Horror (Ironically I own both on DVD but won't watch again)
"The Last House on the Left"

Also if you want to check out some nutty disturbing stuff here's a list compiled on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/list/JrGAWfo8AUE/

A few years back, I was stoned and went to watch "Idle Hands" on DVD.
I'd seen it before, maybe even multiple times...even knowing the overall tone of the movie was heavily towards comedy, the opening scene kind've gave me something like a miniature panic attack and I hadda turn it off.

Generally speaking though, nothing has made me shy away...even as a child, I didn't mind being scared of things. I'd just watch on, fascinated and a little petrified...being a child of the 80's and otherwise horror enthusiast not a lot these days gets to me, if it can actually scare me or make me feel on-edge, by God I'll stay glued to it, because that's a fucking rarity.


I think you'd like "Man bites dog" and "A Serbian film".

I've never turned off a movie or been unable to watch it.

That said, when I saw Jaws as a little kid (6-7 years old) I was always wondering if a Shark was going to get me. Even when I got up a night in my house to go to the bathroom I always thought he might jump through the floor or the toilet.

Occasionally certain movies will hit me a certain way and creep me out. When I watched Sinister a few months ago the atmosphere gave me the creeps and even though I guessed what was going to happen all throughout the movie, it still made me uncomfortable and made it tough to watch.

I used to be really into Gore and Realism but as has been mentioned I guess I have also gained empathy as I've aged, and I now find it hard to watch unless it is Comedic in nature. Dead Alive is over the top and doesn't bother me but watching the guys ankle snap in Saw III bothers me something awful.

Torture also bothers me now. Probably 15-20 years ago I first watched Salo: The 120 Days Of Sodom and the torture sequence at the end was fairly hard to watch. I don't know if I could watch it now. I watched a movie last year called Boy Meets Girl (1994). That was probably the closest I came to turning off a movie.

I saw "A Serbian Film" on that list I posted and actually interested in seeing it, at least once, LOL! And I've heard of "Man bites Dog" I'll def check them out.

@RealDealBlues..

I hear ya! Torture films, violence against women, violence against children, it doesn't sit well with me. However, horror/thriller genre is supposed to evoke a certain amount of negative emotions in us. So, I do respect a film-makers decisions. I'll just watch it once is all.

As for gore, I agree. As I got older wasn't much into it. I like the less is more approach. Example: "Scarface", never see the chainsaw actually cut anything in the shower, but we know what's happening.

"Jaws", haha! Love it! Actually one of my top five favorite movies of all time. Can't go in the ocean to this day without having that thought, that something just might swim up and bite me on the ass!

"Sinister" great film, totally creepy. I think that and "Insidious" are the only two ghost stories/films that come close to "Poltergeist".

When I was that age, I was terrified that the creature from the black lagoon would suddenly stick his hand up from the toilet :D As a child there were many movies that had that effect on me, but up until a certain limit it was kind of cool to be scared... I sometimes wish I could watch scary movies with the eyes of a child again.

When I watch a horror movie, I always hope to be scared. That rarely happens after all these years of watching hundreds of horror movies, but I'm always hopeful. But there is a fun way to be scared, and an unpleasant way. It's like going on rides at amusement parks, you might enjoy one type of ride, but another one is too much of a challenge.

I can relate to that, but that's not really because I'm SCARED - it's just unpleasant in a way that I don't enjoy. I CAN watch such a movie, and it won't scar me forever, but I just don't enjoy it. I relate in a different way to the character's pain than I did when I was younger. I guess some of the reason is that I suffer from strong muscle/joint pain and am slowly losing mobilty, so stuff like breaking bones and severed limbs is now something that truly disturbs me.

That being said, I still love gore, but I was always into the more unrealistic stuff anyway... I've always been like that with horror movies in general.I'm not at all pointing my finger at people who enjoy realistic horror, it's just my personal preference, and that type of movies have very little to do with why I fell in love with the horror genre.

I watched "A Serbian Film" once, and I honestly wish I hadn't. It didn't scare me - but I absolutely won't ever watch it again. Call me a boring old woman if you want to LOL

Ahh, I smile every time I see someone who DOESN'T think that "Insidious" was crap :D I loved that movie, I really did... "Sinister" didn't do much for me, but I think I might have been in the wrong mood to watch it, I remember being very distracted.

One of these days I will have to give "Jaws" another chance too. I watched it as a kid and it didn't impress me at all then, but I saw a little clip from it on youtube recently and actually thought it was pretty scary, so I think I might feel differently about it now.

Yeah "Insidious" was pretty good, it does get a little wacky at the end. But I love Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson as the paranormal investigators. The best horror/thrillers are the ones that have a sense of humor about themselves. And I am totally looking forward to the sequel:

www.imdb.com/title/tt2226417/

I mean can the creators of "Saw" do wrong? Even "Dead Silence" wasn't that bad.

And I am really looking forward to "The Conjuring". Think it's the first film to depict The Warrens, which I think is really interesting.

The Devil Rides out - especially the part with the Goat of Mendes kept me awake for days. I was a little younger at the time.

heh

So I saw the original Halloween for the first time when I was in college (19 or 20?) - It was playing in one of the lecture halls on campus... Uhm... It scared me so much that I thought I was going to wet myself. :o I had to leave.

I can't remember when I watched Alien and Aliens for the first time but those REALLY scared me (maybe I was in middle school?)

Oh and I saw Blair Witch Project in the theater (junior year in high school) - My parents were away for the weekend and I was too scared to sleep in my home by myself. :o

I also forgot to mention earlier that I play the Theremin...lol. I've got 2 different ones and occasionally I've used one in different bands over the years. If I ever play a show one day and see someone run out of the room I'll assume it was you...:D

Most 80s slashers keep me awake at night.

Haha, nah I won't, not as long as you don't play those five evil notes :D I actually like the instrument, and strangely enough I love the theme of the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still", even though it's pretty close to the "outer space" theme. I've actually considered buying a theremin for some time :)

Ha! I'm surprised by the number of people who have walked out of/stopped watching horror films. I guess that's the highest compliment you can pay to a horror film. Unless you left cos it's shit, obviously.
I tend to be more affected after watching a horror film than during it. When I was a kid I used to be scared sometimes watching certain movies but I would be able to cope. Afterwards however, when it's 2am and your in bed and hear a strange noise downstairs - well that's another matter!

Ghost movies scares me to the point that I gotta watch them during the day with lots of ppl in the house but I still get scared....I don't even like ghost reenactments on paranormal shows lol. These are the only movies that stick with me after I watch them especially when I'm trying to sleep and my brain decides it wants to remember the creepy old lady from Dead Silence....

All good ones! I remember when "Blair Witch" first came out. Film, eh...marketing campaign though was brilliant. I think I was a junior in college and remember thinking to myself "Holy crap! I remember when that story came out in the news when i was in High School!" Power of suggestion...wow. Was going to college in Central Jersey, and a bunch of us drove to NYC to see it in SoHo cause it wasn't playing anywhere in Jersey. When we got there all screenings were sold out an couldn't get in to see it. Finally saw it a couple months later and was like, "That's it??!!" Liked the phony-documentary that was on The Sci-Fi channel better. But it was a very original and cool film experiment!

That was my reaction too... I loved the "documentary", and was really disappointed when I finally saw the movie. But definitely the best marketing campaign ever! Sometimes, I think giving people too high expectations can really ruin a movie in the long run, though. It sells tickets NOW, but there will be a lot of "hate" towards the movie later.

Totally, that's why there was never a 3rd installment. Think I actually have that documentary somewhere on VHS. But Blair Witch did launch a whole genre of it's own. Most of them are bad, but I thought "Quarantine" based on "REC", "VHS", "Cloverfield" (after the monster finally attacks) weren't bad and obviously "Paranormal Activity 1 & 3" (2 and 4 are kind of sucky) are all pretty good. Funny thing about Paranormal Activity though, when that was released, I was "Blair Witch" in a house? Damn! Why didn't I think of that, lol!

I really don't like Paranormal Activity, to be honest... and I love paranormal horror, but it just isn't scary - for me, that is. But I loved REC, that was very very well done and pretty creepy too.

Never saw a movie that was too scary for me. Subjective assessment as to how to determine what's too scary. I never stopped watching a movie because it too scary, nor hide my eyes. I just don't do that.

But yes, I've been effected by scary movies. I saw Jaws at the theatre when I was 6 years old. Personally, I wouldn't take a 6 year old to see Jaws, or anything like it. Makes we wonder what they were thinking. Anyway, that night, I was afraid to let my feet hand off my bed, as I had the feeling Jaws would bit my legs.

I saw The Exorcist on TV as a kid. Not sure how old I was (when it was televised) but I'm guessing I was 8-10 (was televised in US between 75-81). That scared me, and left me jumpy a few days.

Carrie!!!!!
 

I must say I watched Carrie when I was about 8 years old, I went to the bathroom on myself it spooked me out to the point where I could'nt even go anywhere alone. I actually hated all the remakes the storyline sucked. Nothing will ever be like the original not even this newest one that will be out soon. One of the greatest horror films of ALLLLLL times in my book!

I've never even bothered watching any of the remakes, to be honest - I thought there was only one of them, by the way.

I was around the same age when I watched Carrie, and I can't say I was scared by it - but I was the victim of pretty extreme bullying at the time, and I think that influenced the way I felt about the movie.

I have a seriously bad irrational fear of clowns, so just based on the visual alone, I've never been able to sit through It or Killjoy without having a panic attack. I'm not really very embarrassed by that, it's something that I've just learned to deal with in my life.

I am, however, VERY embarrassed that after watching The Fourth Kind two years ago, I made the guy I was dating at the time wait outside the bathroom for me. Because I was that scared.

Don't be jealous of my courage, guys...

Sorry to hear that, that's awful. But I do have to say the original Carrie does give me the creeps. Did see the trailer for the "Carrie" re-make at "The Conjuring" and it does look pretty good, I mean Julianne Moore and Chloë Grace Moretz are awesome!

Seriously, bullying is the real horror.

Clowns freak me out too, when I saw Poltergeist as a kid, I couldn't have any sort of clown pics, dolls, etc. in my room & still don't. And 4th Kind was a little freaky. Aliens, they creep me out dudes. There's no escape.

Haunted Houses? No problem...walk out the frigging house.

Serial Killers? No problem...they're human, u have a fighting chance.

Zombies? No Problem...crack them in the head as hard as u can.

Vampires? No problem...jam a pointy stick in their chest.

Werewolves? No problem...they don't exist.

Aliens? PROBLEM!!!!!...You can't run, you can't hide, they have way too advanced technology, they can beam you up through an f'ing brick wall, stick a probe up your butt and you will have no recollection of those events whatsoever, kind of like a hard night of drinking.

Your reasoning behind not being afraid of Werewolves is that they don't exist? So does that mean you believe Vampires and Zombies exist because you gave actual reasons for not being afraid?

Lots of people are afraid of clowns... both of my parents did, which made is SO much fun to watch "IT" with them :D My mom has always been easy to scare, but my dad? Nah, nothing scared him... except for clowns :D

I loved clowns as a kid, and my parents had a hard time with the clown stuff in my bedroom. Later on, after watching "IT", I got into evil clowns... I didn't really think about it at the time, but as cruel as it sounds I think my parents fear of that particular monster was probably part of the reason why :D

Aliens is my weak spot too! Not the big ones, though... it's the little grey ones that I REALLY don't want to meet! The thing with aliens is... whether or not you actually believe in aliens or not, no one can say for absoutely sure that they're not out there. In fact for many of us, it seems more logical to assume that we're not the only planet in the entire universe with intelligent life.

And it's not really any comfort to tell yourself that they're "probably not that different from us", is it? Because we all know what we would probably do if we landed on a strange planet and encountered a strange looking creature... we would shoot it, or perhaps experiment on it... and if we couldn't find a way to communicate with it, or it seemed to be less intelligent than us, it would be "dinner".

The Grey aliens are our friends...it's the Reptilians you have to look out for.

Exactly! I've always gone back and forth with being a true believer in aliens, but I've always been terrified by the thought, and it's always been because I know that humans would mess with them if given the opportunity.

There was this segment in the movie Cartoon Noir that put animations over real recordings of people talking about their "abductions" that sent me over the edge. I don't think it was even meant to disturb but that stuff gives me the willies so bad.

I have always been able to explain the aliens thing. I can't explain why I can't deal with clowns. There is nothing else off-limits. I can watch just about any dismemberment or disembowelment without so much as a flinch, but if there's a clown on the screen, I'm done.

Except the last scene with the clown in Zombieland. Sweet, sweet relief.