I'm an oldie. Two of my all-time favorite scary/thriller movies were Rosemary's Baby and Psycho. I'm old enough to have seen both of them in the theatre and they were awesome!
I especially liked Rosemaary's Baby because it seems so incredibly plausible. The next door neighbor reminded me so much of a great-aunt of mine, I could easily see her in the role! It was a movie that didn't *try* to be scary, but the premise was quite believable. Acting, cinematography(sp), story... all 100% top notch.
And who can forget Psycho? I literally jumped in my seat at one point! Again, the acting and storyline were so believable. Alfred Hitchcock was a master storyweaver. Anyone remember Alfred Hitchcock Presents...? Superb!
These are two movies I can watch even now (actually, I did watch Rosemary's Baby just about 6 months ago), even knowing the outcome, and still get goosebumps. They have held up VERY well with time. Classics.
I am a horror FANATIC!! I've read so many horror novels, I can't even name them all. Clive Barker is an AWESOME writer. Cabal, The Hellbound Heart (what the Hellraiser movies were based off of) and the Books of Blood are all fantastic! Stephen King's IT was incredible and I love Pet Cemetary...Richard's Game too.
As for horror movies, you name it, I've seen it. In fact, I've seen so many horror movies and so many gorefests, that nothing really seems to bother me anymore. I think the last movie that really gave me the heeby jeebies, big time, was The Blair Witch Project. They really aren't coming out with any good horror movies anymore.
Though, I LOVED the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. That disturbed me a tiny bit. But, that's probably because the original is one of my favorite movies.
I saw Silent Hill about two weeks ago and wasn't impressed at all with it. There were a couple of good scenes, but I found myself looking at my watch through a good portion of the movie.
Hostel was pretty good. And I really want to see The Omen remake next month.
A really, really good movie that not too many people know about is Let's Scare Jessica to Death. It's pretty creepy...from the 70's.
I think the movie that always scared me the most (and is the reason clowns give me the creeps) is Stephen King's IT. Ugh!! I love it though.
Oh, I could go on and on and on and on!!
I hated the Grudge. My DH and I tried to watch Ju-On (the Japanese version) before we saw the remake. I tried watching it three times, but couldn't sit through it. I was totally bored. The americanized version was, albeit, better, but I still wasn't impressed.
The Exorcist didn't scare me the first couple of times that I watched it. But then I saw it in the movie theater when they re-released it and it really creepd me out!!
The Haunting (not the new one...the OLD black and white one) was really, really good.
I'm not a horror movie or book fan at all. Althought I am curious about it enough sometimes to rent a movie or watch it when it's on tv. But never in a movie theater.
Anyway I've always been scared by the movie Poltergeist. I seen it when I was young and wasn't able to sleep with my back to the closet for years! I still can't watch the whole thing at once.
I did watch on Bravo a series called 100 Scaryest Movie Moments (or something close to that.) http://www.bravotv.com/The_100_Scariest_Movie_Moments/ (The link has the top 100 movies they rated in order.) They interviewed a bunch of scary movie directors, writers, actors, etc. They all said that one of the scarest movies is a Japanese movie called "Audition". There is only about 2 characters in the movie and is very creepy. You might check that out. I'm not sure if the dialog is in English or Japanese. I don't think it really matters actually.
Scariest books for me is anything Bently Little writes...he has a knack for taking the perfectly normal and making it scary as H*LL....pick up his collection of short stories...I think its actually called The Collection but not sure but he is GOOD....
Scariest movie....the Grudge but even worse for me is Micheal Myers.....the Halloween movies...and Scream also......anything that has a hallway or room perfectly empty then they turn and the bad scary S.O.B is RIGHT there OMG that scares me to the point of shaking lol........thats hubbys favorite joke to pull on me too he will jump out from behind doors and stuff just to hear me scream or he will sneak up behind me while i am doing dishes or laundry.....grrr
I love reading Clive Barker too, in addition to Stephen King. It, the book, scared me when I was reading it. Love reading scarey books. Most of my scares are from when I was younger- Halloween was the scariest at the theater. Poltergeist- scared of things under the bed trying to grab me. Trilogy of Terror with 3 scary short films rolled into one. My mom shouldn't have but let me see Rosemary's Baby. When I think back, I remember how freaked out I was and I'm wondering if something under the computer is going to grab me. I had nightmares about the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz. Saw an all night scarey series of movies with my brother in his Gremlin at the drivein! How old am I?
I recently watched some Japanese films and I just wonder what they're thinking when they make them. I want to see Audition. I love the feeling of getting freaked out/creeped out/scared.
Yes, Willie Wonka! Don't you remember that part (in the old one with Gene Wilder) where they're riding in that boat in the chocolate factory and it's dark and he's "singing" about "we don't know which way we're going..." And he gets louder and louder? Creeeepy
For me the scariest movie I've seen in a while has to be The Hills Have Eyes. Two reasons. 1) The whole nulcear testing and mutations really happen. 2) We go camping in the desert like in the movie all the time. Thank goodness it's summer now and camping season is months away.
As far as books, all Stephen Kings stuff. I really liked Pet Cemetary, Langoliers, The Girl who Loved Tom Gordron, a few others. But then I started reading Salem's Lot and I couldn't even finish it because I got too scared. I switched to chick lit after that!
Ok, I'm weird, because movies don't scare me. I love Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and though no one probably knows him, Robert Heinlein. But I just don't scare. I pick either scarey movies or something where something gets blown to bits. Not the average "chick", I don't go in for chick flicks. IE: I've seen all the Lethal Weapons at least a half dozen times each, all Die Hards at least a full dozen times each, and all the terminators quite a few times each as well. I can't resist a Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwartzenegger film. I remember eating a sandwich when they chopped off Jason's head in Friday the 13th while my brother was about to puke. It wasn't the scene I was laughing at, but the effect it had on him. Ok...we were kids. LOL
But for some reason, and I think it is linked to the raging hormones, ever since I watched The Boogeyman while around 7 months pregnant, I often get this idea that something is going to come out from under my bed or from the closet and grab me. Man, I really gotta finish nursing and get these danged hormones under control.
Yes, Willie Wonka! Don't you remember that part (in the old one with Gene Wilder) where they're riding in that boat in the chocolate factory and it's dark and he's "singing" about "we don't know which way we're going..." And he gets louder and louder? Creeeepy
Phantasm! That movie from the late 70s with the little flying boxes? We had just moved to Nebraska and I had my first introduction to locusts. Those boxes that sucked out brains sound just like locusts!
I love Stephen King - have read and re-read just about everything of his. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of hanging out in the hammock during the summer, reading SK, eating sunflower seeds and drinking mountain dew. In fact, I can't read certain SK without seeds, even today! I love the way he takes ordinary every day things and makes them terrifying.
The older versions of Stephen Kings movies tripped me out as a teen - Salem's Lot, the Shining, Cujo (Don't ever see that one in a drive -in, after partaking of hallucanogenics!)
As an older teen I used to love to go to theaters where the Nightmare on Elm Street movies were playing. You know, after a while, that absolutely NOTHING is going to happen while the music is playing. I had great fun sitting behind giggly teenage girls who were terrified, and as the music builds to a crecendo, reach forward and scrape the sides of the neck lightly with my fingernails. Hooooo Boy! I got soaked with pop more than once and invited to never return to several theaters!
Salem's Lot always got to me. When the vampire's are flying above the window and tapping at it to let them in. I can't watch that movie.
I remember watching that when I was younger and it scared the out of me! Same part you are talking about!!! I also liked Nightmare on Elm Street and It by Stephen King.
There really hasn't been any real good scary ones out recently.
I LOVE scary books and scary movies! The scarier the better IMO!!!
the only movies that scared me when I was little was the Wizzard of Oz and those flying monkies! We have apartments below the house and they have those erie orange lights and they shine up from below and threw our trees and when the trees would blow it would make it look like the flying monkies were outside my window (from the shadows on the wall).
Return to Oz is even worse with the Wheelers and all the witches heads
Oh my gosh I remebered another that scared me..lol. zelda off of pet sematary freaked me out so bad - good thing I have scary thing proof blankets. The little boy off of that movie too, with the scalpel, I watched it one night when hubby was at work, I was fine until very blonde 3 year old son came in my room in the middle of the night, touched my leg and said mommy. Thank God Maternal instinct was there cause I almost kicked him across the room. Scared me so bad I swear I slept with one eye open for a week.
he will jump out from behind doors and stuff just to hear me scream or he will sneak up behind me while i am doing dishes or laundry.....grrr
out of me! Same part you are talking about!!! 
I also liked Nightmare on Elm Street and It by Stephen King.
and all the witches heads
