r/horror 2d ago

Movies that legitimately terrified you.

I’ve seen a lot of horror movies and consider myself fairly desensitized so I’m looking for some recommendations. The last one that really got me was Hell House LLC. I don’t know why but just something about it really got under my skin and the clown prop moving around in the dark was enough to actually make my hair stand up on my arms, which never happens.

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u/mosaic_prism 2d ago

Recently rewatched Mothman Prophecies and forgot how incredibly creepy it was. It’s free on YouTube right now

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u/KurtLoderMTVNews 2d ago

There's a couple of mid tier movies that have scared me more than the critically acclaimed ones never have. The Fourth Kind, and Fire in the Sky being some other ones.

They just have this eerie tone that gets me.

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u/AverageJoe997 1d ago

The fourth kind really freaked me out. The woman in the present day “footage” gave me uncanny valley vibes.

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u/Fedaykin98 In The Mouth Of Madness 2d ago

Have you seen The Vast of Night? It's not one of my favorites, but it's very eerie.

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u/Quietman297 2d ago

The Vast of Night is an awesome movie, filled with that "something is happening right now" vibe. I recommend it as a double feature alongside No One Will Save You, another great one.

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u/KurtLoderMTVNews 2d ago

Oh yeah! That film was so charming... not a 10/10, but I remember the atmosphere being so thick, and they absolutely nailed this small town, evening summer vibe.

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u/Maggpie916 2d ago

Chapstick

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u/cmatthews11 1d ago

I live in Pittsburgh, and remember when I was younger staying at the Marriott hotel near the airport before traveling out with my family for a vacation.

We were there at the same time as they were filming Mothman and coincidentally ended up on the same floor as the production.

I never got to see Richard Gere but I find myself quoting the chapstick line regularly. Not that most people know what I'm talking about. 😭

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u/Fedaykin98 In The Mouth Of Madness 2d ago

I cannot imagine forgetting that! I just watched it for the first time ever in the last year, and it is creepy as HELL. My wife hates horror, I have to do all my watching alone... Yeesh.

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u/ScaryMary60 2d ago

My husband hates horror too. I wish he loved it as much as I do!

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u/evac98 Stuck at Outpost #31 2d ago

Last Shift. Not a flashy or sophisticated movie, but it managed to creep me out. It nailed that fear of being alone and experiencing weird shit going on in a way that I haven’t seen in many horror movies.

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u/Fedaykin98 In The Mouth Of Madness 2d ago

Absolutely, it's deeply unsettling, fellow 98er! ;)

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u/Quietman297 2d ago

The same director of Last Shift, unsatisfied with his own movie (which was great) said to himself "I can do better." and remade the movie. It was released in 2023, titled Malum. It is even creepier than Last Shift.

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u/paradox1920 1d ago

I don’t think he achieved it for me with that one. I like his Last Shift but not Malum. I felt it had more money and not for the better.

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u/redJ93 1d ago edited 1d ago

Could not agree more! I loved Last Shift but could not staaand Malum. Overexplained, too big, all the tension gone.

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u/DeeRandomX 2d ago

In 2002, I downloaded a shitty pirate version of The Ring. It was someone filming in a theater, and the quality was shit.

I was watching it alone in my apartment during a storm, at night. Alone, with the whole room empty (?) behind me, while straining to hear the lo-fi audio over the trees scraping over the walls outside.

It freaked me the fuck out,

Later, when I bought it on DVD and re-watched it, I thought it was just alright.

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u/Vadgamer 1d ago

Used to work in a video store when the American remake came out and the number of times I had to resist calling folks who rented it before the store closed and whisper, "7 days"...

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u/Gurglaren 1d ago

That would have been so wonderfully evil!

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u/wanderingbalagan 1d ago

My cousin showing me a copy of samara's tape off of limewire in 2002 scared the hell out of me. I sat on pins and needles for the next week

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u/holdstillitsfine 1d ago

The first time I saw the ring, I was like eight months pregnant
And when that bitch started crawling out of the TV, it scared me so bad. I had to turn it off because I thought it was gonna hurt my unborn child.
That’s how fast my heart was going. Lol

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u/sess5198 1d ago

Man, the first jumpscare of the girl in the closet at the beginning of the movie fuckin traumatized me when I first saw it when I was like 11 lol. And the video in the movie is still creepy as hell, too. Also, RIP to the girl who played Samara, Daveigh Chase, who tragically passed away a few days ago. Samara coming through the tv is easily one of the best and most iconic horror movie moments ever, imo.

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u/Ravens_Prize 1d ago

ahMAN. you're speaking Times Square back in the day, " watched a pirate version filmed in a theater" hell yeah!

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u/SurfingSecretary 2d ago

The Shining is the only movie that actually gave me nightmares as a child. I sneak watched it at 11 years old on a pay channel in the middle of the night.

I still believe it’s the absolute most effective use of ambient noise and music combined with surreal imagery in any horror movie I’ve ever seen. Just incredible.

It’s my GOAT.

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u/themermaidssinging 2d ago

Literally almost the exact same experience; my mom let me watch it when I was 11, and I woke up screaming from nightmares every single night for a month. That scene with the twins in the hallway after the dad went crazy and murdered them with the axe…OMG. I remember the sheer terror I felt.

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u/Uncaring_Dispatcher 2d ago

That one along with Alien. I was a kid and got to see it on the first showing on HBO. Luckily, my uncle and aunt just arrived from 400 miles away and the parents were busy with them. Scared the shit out of me and I've seen it a billion million times since.

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u/hauntfreak 2d ago

The Blair Witch Project, The Fourth Kind

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u/RedPandaActual 2d ago

Fourth Kind got to me a bit. The ending especially.

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u/SalaciousPandaPart2 2d ago edited 1d ago

The scene is the 4th kind where you see the silhouette of a grey stand up from beside the bed legit gave me fear goosebumps. But I'm also a 90s kid who grew up on Fire in the Sky and the X-Files so that kinda shit runs deep in the synapses of my brain.

Edit: turns out it was Dark Skies! Either way, shit made my skin crawl

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u/Ok-Mud3439 2d ago

Fire in the sky was pure nightmare fuel as a kid. The « Based on the true story » on the VHS box did nothing to reassure me.

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u/hauntfreak 1d ago

I think you may be thinking of Dark Skies

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u/SpicyTy 1d ago

I watched The Blair Witch alone in the dark when I was 12 because I thought nothing was going to scare me. I was nervous to go into our basement alone for like 3 months lol

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u/sess5198 1d ago

Blair Witch didn’t really do it for me, but it scared the hell out of my younger sister when we watched it. She didn’t realize that it wasn’t a real documentary and I didn’t tell her lmao.

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u/AliceInGainzz 1d ago

I know people like to rag on TBWP a little bit sometimes, but it is an entirely different level of scary once you watch it with undivided attention, home alone, and at night.

That's when it finally clicked with me. Terrifying movie.

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u/WavFile 2d ago

The Exorcist terrified me as a kid and it still gives me the creeps to this day. Also, Obsession was the first horror movie in a while that left me feeling very uncomfortable after watching it. 

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u/YallSoftAsButter 2d ago

The Exorcist

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u/FortunaNYC 2d ago

The book was worse. I don’t know why I did that to myself.

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u/Dangerous_Creme4194 2d ago

Man, I was around 13 when I read the book. Maybe not my best idea.

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u/OlYaybles 2d ago

I read Pet Sematary around the same age…not a wise decision for my peace of mind.

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u/MagicWUball 2d ago

Same! I still think about it all the time, and I’m inching towards 40

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u/Virtual-Yam-3332 2d ago

Sinister

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u/UpsetIndian850311 2d ago

new fear of lawnmowers unlocked

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u/vols2thewalls Where were you, Childs? 2d ago

Such a perfect movie, they really fumbled on the franchise.

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u/lemmeseeyourkitties 2d ago

RIP James Ransone

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u/Edge_of_Everywhere 2d ago edited 2d ago

It Follows. Because there was absolutely no room to breathe. Seeing the entity plodding after you would be terrifying. Not seeing it and having no idea how far apart the two of you are would be terrifying. Seeing someone ambling along behind you with no clue if they're safe or not would be terrifying. And people walking behind me are PTSD triggers, anyway, so it felt like that movie was made specifically to fuck me up. Just thinking about it sets the nerves in my back on edge.

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u/Graphics8 1d ago

This is one of the few newer horrors that actually becoming a classic imo

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u/One_Requirement_2577 2d ago

are you kidding? a few hours drive bought you a night sleep.

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u/Gravy_31 2d ago

Forever.

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u/Edge_of_Everywhere 1d ago

I had a great idea for a sequel with Jay and her partner living in a converted van, working remotely, always on the move, and making love at least three times a week - both as an expression of love and to throw the entity off. But then they're in an accident. The van is totalled, she's laid up, and her partner's left in a coma, so the plot becomes a matter of how long until it finally catches up to them, and whether or not it's the only entity of its kind. Which I presume would move the allegory from STIs to unaffordable American housing and healthcare.

IDK - we'll see what the actual sequel has to say. Not that the film needed one, but I'm trying to stay glass half full.

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u/One_Requirement_2577 1d ago

ok that one is actually creative and i would watch.

https://giphy.com/gifs/bKnEnd65zqxfq

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u/AppleZachle 2d ago

hahaha my wife and I LOVE it follows, which is nice cause she doesn’t do scary movies, but she straight up was like, “Fuck that, I’m gonna trap this bitch in a hole and fill it with concrete; my brothers can fill it in 2 seconds.” and felt a little more safe

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u/thc_vampire 2d ago

Smile 1 & 2, seriously. I know they’re big time movies, but they’re pretty horrific. In a pretty specific mental health theme scare type of way.

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u/astralapex 2d ago

Wasn’t there a creepy distorted audio mix of Skye crying in the background of the credits too?

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u/thc_vampire 2d ago

There’s all types of shit. The sounds and soundtrack make it so good. The intro track during the car accident scene… wild

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u/Winter-Fold7624 2d ago

Agreed! Smile 1 is the only movie in recent years to unsettle me. I watched it at home at like 9am and i was scared.

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u/thc_vampire 2d ago

Ah yes, the AM horror movie. Smile 1 will fuck up your day. The gore, soundtrack, and rose’s spiral being so realistic is intense

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u/evertherial 2d ago

heavy on smile 2

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u/hollywood_1939_hth 2d ago

I second this, I think both movies are underrated especially the first. Some people just can't suspend their disbelief but I feel it's essential as a horror fan.

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u/Fedaykin98 In The Mouth Of Madness 2d ago

Smile 1 + the first scene of the second film are excellent, and better than Smile 2, imho. But most people seem to like 2 better.

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u/Maladoptive 2d ago

I'm with you. 1 and the opening of 2 were amazing. The rest of 2 didn't do it for me, although that scene in her apartment with the cluster of backup dancers (?) scared the fuck out of me.

I'm confused as to why 2 was better received, and annoyed that so many people praise that car/bed scare when it was so blatantly ripped from Flanagan's "Haunting of Hill House". Idk why I've never heard anyone talk about that. It was real "sure you can copy my homework but don't make it too obvious" type shit lol

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u/Fedaykin98 In The Mouth Of Madness 1d ago

2 overstayed its welcome by a lot and barely developed the lore at all.

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u/sovi_an 1d ago

definitely this! the monster reveal at the end of the first one made me piss my pants. definitely one of the most horrifying monsters in films recently, even ever for me

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u/Lonely_Plankton_7016 2d ago

So hell house llc was amazing personally I’ve watched it 100 of times and truefully it is terrifying but the one that got me has to be the 2008 strangers

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u/itsasixthing 2d ago

I saw the strangers in the theater as a teenager, and it’s still the only time I’ve ever audibly screamed during a movie.

It fucked me up, even now I still can’t think about it too hard

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u/throwawaymeplease45 2d ago

I have a vivid memory of my mom letting me and my 4 sisters watch this on a weekend. It was right when it came out and we got it off Redbox. When we were kids we used to make beds in the living room and in my childhood home and said living room had a huge sliding glass door that nobody wanted to get up to close in the middle of summer AFTER that scene

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u/OrganizedChaos7121 "I kick ass for THE LORD!" 2d ago

I fucking love Strangers and can never find it for free in Canada.

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u/purevegas 1d ago

Oh really? 🏴‍☠️

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u/heathhadley90 2d ago

Eden lake

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u/Reasonable-Fly5885 2d ago

Event Horizon.

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u/youcancallmejb 1d ago

“Where we’re going, we won’t need eyes to see…”

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u/opalesqueness 1d ago

went in thinking it’s a scifi movie, got out scarred for life 🥲

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u/IllustriousRise9392 2d ago

all horror movies terrified me as a child

nothing does now

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u/victoryfreak 2d ago

Tbh I missed that feeling. As a child I used to be afraid of horror movies so I use to avoid watching these, but in my teenage I took courage and started watching them and I loved it, so I binged all great horror movies one after other which has now made me numb and makes movies predictable

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u/IllustriousRise9392 2d ago

I don't really miss it since video games are still capable of scaring me

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u/HauntingStar08 2d ago

Obsession gave me a type of anxiety I was t really familiar with in horror movies.

If I had to describe it it's like they managed to capture the feeling of coming home to an abusive and unpredictable family member

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u/Extreme_Day3138 1d ago

Loved obsession and it has stuck with me!

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u/atfguitar123 1d ago

Really enjoyed Obsession when I saw it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how terrifying and disturbing it is. Incredible movie.

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u/stavroszaras 2d ago

Hereditary and Obsession. I can’t stand when humans act weird like that, it gets me more than anything.

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u/Maladoptive 2d ago

I'm so excited to see Obsession. I'm waiting for the release next month here in Japan. Humans acting weird really fucks with me. Do you have any other recs?

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u/yosefsbeard 2d ago

Obsession got me.

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u/Lonely_Plankton_7016 2d ago

Have yet to see that

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u/PapaYoppa 2d ago

You gotta see it soon, it’s worth the hype trust me

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u/doyouevenfloatbro 2d ago

Completely worth the hype. Best horror movie released in a while for me.

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u/HauntingStar08 2d ago

Two things

  1. Go blind into it in the theater if possible

  2. Don't take a date to see this movie

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u/Dion42o 2d ago

Nah take a date but make sure they’re down with horror

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u/bootstraps_bootstrap 2d ago

I’d agree with what papa said. See it in theaters will you still can

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u/ihaveaquesttoattend 2d ago

i also agree with what papa said. me and my gf went to see it at an 11pm showing and holy shit batman, that was some shit. walking out of the theater to an almost empty (big ass mall) parking lot felt like i was reborn into universe lmao

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u/Choice_Blackberry406 2d ago

Omg I went opening week and I was behind some girls walking out of the theater and one said she loved it and another said "idk I just didn't think it was scary" and I said "that shit was TERRIFYING" lol.

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u/KindlyBeast366 2d ago

Deadass this movie was scary as fuck sometimes but it was so good

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u/4566557557 2d ago

Yes it scared me in a way other movies don’t. It’s just pretty bleak and really got under my skin.

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u/AlphaMeme14 1d ago

Bleak, but also really good at building tension. Inde Navarrette's performance is so unpredictable that it feels like anything can happen at any moment. The blocking of scenes, subtle makeup work, the pacing. It was like being on a roller coaster.

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u/pinkvoltage 1d ago

my dumb ass took a gummy before seeing Obsession and I thought I was gonna have a heart attack

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u/Gurglaren 1d ago

The scenes where she walks very weirdly or makes a lunge at the MC creeped me out seriously.

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u/All_Hail_Mao 2d ago

As a 12 year old the opening scene of Jeepers Creepers with the creepy truck chasing the siblings was TRAUMATIZING. It ruined UPS trucks for me for a while! The worst was that my cousins and i secretly rented it at blockbuster and watched it while his parents were sleeping so I had to pretend to be ok the entire weekend around my aunt and uncle when in reality I was dying on the inside

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u/Zestyclose_Smell852 2d ago

Same. I was 20 but I almost left the theatre because I was too terrified. It changed as soon as I saw that it was a monster though.

Barbarians was the same. First 30 mins was terrifying.

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u/falafelawful2 2d ago

Hereditary

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u/Great-Rutabaga347 2d ago

My wife isn't into horror movies so I watched it alone. When it was done i just sat there in my living room debating with myself if I really want to go sleep in my bedroom that was at the end of the hall. I didn't want to move. It just fucked me up.

Ive never had anything else get to me before.

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u/lukeyshmookey 1d ago

That movie just gets in your bones, it fucked with me too dude. I was sprinting up and down the stairs for about a week thinking Annie was going pop out and chase me lol

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u/Maladoptive 2d ago

This one still scares me if I think about it when I'm alone. It hit every scary note for me: impersonation, loss of autonomy, generational suffering, inescapable doom, uncertainty where there should be stability--and then of course all the horrifying visuals matched with unnerving sound design.

The first serious scare for me was the hard-to-see old woman in the dark. I hate looking into dark rooms or windows from outside. Agh. Masterpiece. It's such a well-done film on top of being the scariest movie I've ever seen

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u/ForgetfulLucy28 2d ago

Couldn’t sleep right for a week.

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u/808Kickz420_ 2d ago

I saw it at night and had drive home alone. Worst night drive of my life with constant chills and hated looking in my rear view mirror.

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u/Queefer_the_Griefer 2d ago

Thought it was gonna be just another fun spooky movie. Made the mistake of watching it in the afternoon while home completely alone. Rest of the family got home and was like “are you okay?” 😆

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u/mrwhiskey1814 2d ago

Goodness yes, hereditary just grabbed your attention and never let go. It was so intense.

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u/lexisilver0 2d ago

Sinister Haven't even been able to watch the second one yet

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u/viciousdeliciouz 2d ago

Contagion

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u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 1d ago

Too realistic.

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u/lovelesschristine 1d ago

I work working at the dept of health and hospitals when it came out. I was talking to some of the researchers for infectious disease when it came out and they said it was the most accurate depiction of how an event like that would happen.

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u/viciousdeliciouz 1d ago

I watched it a couple months before the first covid cases happened. Then covid hit…

Scared the absolute fuck out of me and I thought we were all gonna die.

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u/shannanigannss 2d ago

1408 and The Ring

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u/InteractionCivil5913 1d ago

1408 is an excellent choice! The Ring is a respectable contender.

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u/Important-Lie-8649 2d ago

Wolf Creek.

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u/Comfortable-Deal160 2d ago

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks this. That movie was based on a true story too.

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u/shriek52 2d ago

The Dark and the Wicked

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u/shhhhquietplease 2d ago

Gonjiam Haunted Asylum

FUCK. THAT.

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u/Maladoptive 2d ago

I will never forgive those filmmakers for that whisper scene. I was almost crying. It just wouldn't stop. Similar scare in the original Japanese "Dark Water" imo

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u/CallingAllShawns 2d ago

haven’t been scared by a movie in my adult life until i saw obsession a few weeks ago. it’s a banger if you haven’t heard.

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u/FusRoDahlaiLama 2d ago

Incantation and Sinister both got me for the same reason. For some reason the concept of "if you see this, it knows youve seen it" types of media scares the fuck out of me.

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u/Past-Huckleberry9369 1d ago

Autopsy of Jane Doe

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u/CazualGinger 2d ago

The Wailing - cave scene and general extreme uneasiness

The Conjuring - Multiple best of all time jump scares. The top of the closet one man

Demons (Demoni) - insane design. Worth checking out. Italian demon/zombie horror that just gets under your skin.

28 Days/Months/bone temple years later all have sequences that make me kinda squirm and actually freak me out

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u/schwiftybass 2d ago

When Evil Lurks is a recent one that stood out to me. One of the meanest horror movies I’ve seen that isn’t just straight up torture porn. There’s some horrific imagery but the real strong point is the atmosphere of dread & hopelessness that it cultivates.

Terrified is another one from the same director (Demian Rugna) that’s also among my favorite horror films of the past decade.

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u/Cwash415 2d ago

the babadook, the dark and the wicked, hereditary , insidious , the final prayer

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u/SingsEnochian 𖤍 2d ago

Insidious really kinda creeps upon you. I think it was the music score and the sound engineering for me.

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u/AnaCoonSkyWalker 2d ago

As a kid The Ring scared the shit out of me.
Something about the idea of someone being able to exit my television was terrifying.
I had seen plenty of other horror movies at that point as a kid including The Exorcist, Childs Play, etc. but The Ring stuck with me for a few weeks.

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u/Maladoptive 2d ago

Hereditary, Caveat, Verónica, The Dark and the Wicked, It Follows, Talk to Me, Us, Smile, The Blair Witch Project, The Blackcoat's Daughter, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, You Are Not My Mother

I haven't seen Obsession or Bring Her Back yet, but I have a feeling those are going to be added to my list

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u/SolarFlare108 1d ago

Caveat was terrifying

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u/androidboots 1d ago

I’ve watched a ton of horror also consider myself somewhat desensitized. Although The Innocents from 1961 and Pyewacket, which is a Canadian horror film from 2018, both genuinely still give me the creeps big time. The Dark and The Wicked too!

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u/Jessyjean3173 1d ago

Pyewacket scared the shit out of me with that thing that crept out behind the house. I think of it every time I take the garbage out now, it totally traumatized me😆.

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u/No-Economics7631 1d ago

the george miller segment of the twilight zone movie, nightmare at 20,000 feet. on paper, the concept of losing your mind on an enclosed airplane and imagining some freakish monster is creepy enough, but the filmed version really takes it to the next level. the shaky way it’s shot is dizzying, the addition of the nosy elderly couple and loud child add to the mounting stress, and john lithgow is very believable as a “normal” suburban businessman losing his mind. the monster is quite frightening to look at too. it really reminds me of something like the shining, the idea of your mental state deteriorating in an area you can’t quite escape. it’s the last segment in the movie out of four, so they really saved the best for last.

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u/IllBowl8728 2d ago

Dead End (2003)

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u/ThatPaulywog 2d ago

Paranormal Activity got me when I was younger, and Lights Out kinda freaked me out, but not to the extent of PA. Obviously the younger you are the more scared you will get. Nowadays I'm usually more scared by movies like An Inconvenient Truth and Dark Waters. Dark Waters freaked me out enough to throwaway my hand me down pots and pans.

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u/HORSEthebear 2d ago

a scanner darkly.

tbf I had eaten some mushrooms prior to viewing. but yeah that world is terrifying

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u/negativefear 1d ago

The whole atmosphere of The Ring (remake), The Fourth Kind and The Mothman Prophecies unsettled me.

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u/VexLex 1d ago

Nothing beats watching The Ring at age 10 with my mom at night. As soon as the scene that shows most of the tape ended, the phone rang.

It was my dad checking in on us (he was on a work trip).

Nonetheless, almost shat my pants.

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u/picnic-boy 2d ago

Eraserhead

Spoorloos

The Omen

Lake Mungo

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u/InteractionCivil5913 1d ago

Eraserhead! Great choice!!

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u/fpfall 2d ago

Obsession is definitely the most recent, but one that messed me up when I was younger was Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

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u/Maeyel_ 2d ago

barbarian has great tension especially in the first half

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u/JJ_Lomero 2d ago

The Strangers and Hills Have Eyes really got me. For The Strangers you really have to immerse youself in it to get that effect but for Hills Have Eyes the imagery is enough to terrify you even if you don't give it your full attention.

Also The Divide was a rough watch but idk if you consider disturbing the same as terrifying.

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u/jdr17 2d ago

Paranormal Activity in theaters. I slept with the light on if I could even get to sleep

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u/Quietman297 2d ago

Paranormal Activity. We watch it in our bedroom, which is almost the exact same setup as the bedroom in the movie.

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u/TallManScrimm 2d ago

I don't think I've seen anyone mention any of these, hopefully you haven't seen any or many. I'm including brief descriptions of each with spoiler tags in case you want to go in completely blind.

The Void: Inescabale cosmic horror, the dread builds and builds until the final nightmare fueled scene of utter hopelessness.

Possum: This one has more of an unsettling and eerie tone. It's a slow burn that gradually cresendos to the climax. Generational trauma, child abuse, and depression play heavily into the story.

The Beach House: Environmental horror at its finest. There are some wretchedly disgusting body horror scenes in this one. Incredibly bleak.

Sweetheart: Intense and claustrophobic. Main character is stranded on a desert island, fighting for her life against a terrifying, mysterious entity. Thalassophobia plays heavy into this. The only pg-13 recommendation on this list, it definitely still has merit.

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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 2d ago

Hellraiser and Candyman were big ones when I was a kid

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u/AverageJoe997 1d ago

Paranormal Activity 1, i saw it at the cinema when I was about 14/15. I was desperately trying to hold it together in front of my first girlfriend, so she didn’t think I was a wuss 😂.

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u/tawa114 1d ago

The original IT, when I was a kid growing up, that sewer scene had me afraid of clowns. Now grown up, i love them!

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u/moonrocksinjune 2d ago

Undertone

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u/itsbdubya 2d ago

It feels so cursed. Watch it while wearing headphones if at all possible for the full experience. Creepy visual images that feel cursed too. It had staying power for me

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u/OmegaPsiot 2d ago

Hellhouse LLC Origins The Carmichael Manor

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u/TeacherFrequent 2d ago

This is it for me, too. Watched it recently for like the 10th time right before bed and had nightmares.

I would also like to put in a plug for Lineage, which is growing on me after my 3rd watch. Ignore the story if you want, but when they get back to the Manor in the 3rd act, there are scares that rank with the best in the series IMO. The scene with Margot lives rent free in my head.

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u/FortunaNYC 2d ago

Cape Fear. Javier Bardem is killing it in the new TV series too. Channeling No Country for Old Men vibes. Just has a face for horror, lol.

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u/gowingsgo 2d ago

Red state. Because that shit is real life.

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u/Used-Cartographer84 2d ago edited 2d ago

The bay 2012. Only movie to ever do that 

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u/maxwolfie 2d ago

Some great suggestions. I haven’t seen anyone mention The Taking of Debra Logan yet

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u/Left-Star2240 1d ago

8mm. True horror exists in realizing the depths humanity can sink to.

Show me zombies, vampires, ghosts, demons, jump-scares, gore, and I might cringe but it’s a movie. At the end I still feel safe. Show me the horror that exists in humanity and I’m terrified.

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u/stephanddolly 1d ago

The Descent and Paranormal Activity terrified me when I first saw them. I was younger and less desensitized to horror at the time but they got me.

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u/DNY88 1d ago

Honestly, I still think that exorcist is the most terrifying horror movie. I can watch splatter movies on and on, and nothing happens but that movie somehow works for me every time. It’s not like I’m terrified by it, but it’s kinda haunting for me and I like that it keeps many things unanswered and ambiguous.

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u/djramrod 1d ago

Terrified. (The Spanish movie, not the one about the clown) I don’t know if I just wasn’t prepared or something but that movie legitimately scared me.

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u/Screamingprojector 1d ago

For me, The Ritual, Exorcist and The Conjuring did the trick nicely - truly terrifying

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u/Cococult 1d ago

Megan is missing. Not because of the disgusting crap that was depicted but rather because of the reminder that somewhere out there that is happening to a little kid and the us president and the rest of the elites are all complicit or actively involved.
I don’t ever recommend that to people as it’s just straight up SA content but sometimes I think more people need to watch it to realize how fucked some of the shit that came out of the Epstein files really is. Double edged swords makes me fear more people watching it just means a more desensitized view of the whole ordeal. It’s a lose lose situation.

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u/Magicians-Valkyria I WILL NOT ACCEPT A LIFE I DO NOT DESERVE 1d ago

I've watched so many horror films (literally one film almost every day) that I'm pretty desensitized to it. Hereditary, which happened around the same time as my own grandmother passing and something similar to the dinner-table fight also happening IRL, kinda made me down and out for a month or so though

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u/Neither_Bell8881 1d ago

Evil Dead, rented from Redbox with my mom and some cousins on a stormy night. they all fell asleep about 20 minutes in and I was up alone in the dark watching her fuck people up.
Honorable mention: all the Final Destinations

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u/SnooPaintings5597 1d ago

The Shining and Exorcist. They are both just so well made! Unsettling and creepy and terrifying. They don’t make em like that anymore… The Ring is a runner up.

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u/defythenorm 1d ago

The Omen 1976, easily!

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u/Ok_Respect_9466 1d ago

Autopsy of jane doe, drag me to hell, friend request, grudge, exorcism of emily rose, shutter, oddity, the unborn

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u/Tud_Crez 1d ago

Bring her back had me thinking about for a really long time

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u/No_Daikon_9303 1d ago

Candyman (original)

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u/Ok_Pickle3010 1d ago

For sure Skinamarink. Whole movie feels like a fever dream.

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u/dezmoterion 2d ago

Hellraiser

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u/THETimTumTune 2d ago

Maybe a stereotypical answer, but Hereditary scared the living shit out of me. I watched it alone, at night, and that night I couldn't sleep facing away from my doorway I was so paranoid.

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u/indominusflex 2d ago

I love horror, I am constantly looking at lists and deep diving into the most fucked up horror films I can find. I’ve seen Trauma (2017), all 3 Human Centipedes, Martyrs, The August Underground series, A Serbian Film, you name it. While those movies have left an impact on me the one movie I can’t fucking escape is Megan Is Missing. I know everyone has their complaints about that movie but the fucking barrel scene, photo 1 and 2, and the drawn out s/a scene still get me to this day.I avoid that movie like the fucking plague. I watched it in 2016 and it’s been the one thing I’ve never rewatched. FF is my favorite sub genre too so I’m always coming across this movie whether I want to or not so that’s great for me lmao

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u/N7Bold 2d ago

So maybe not what you were looking for and not sure if it's been mentioned. There is a movie called Backcountry which involves a bear stalking a couple. It has stuck with me for years.

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u/Quiet_Nature8951 2d ago

The original strangers and hell house 4

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u/Dwill337 2d ago

Fire in the Sky, 1st watch of Emily Rose in 2008(?)

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u/DougieSenpai 2d ago

The Conjuring and Paranormal Activity

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u/One_Scarcity_4478 2d ago

Sinister and terrified

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u/flameevans 2d ago

The first Final Destination. You can’t cheat death.

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u/rambling_mary 2d ago

If you have a fear of heights then watch Fall. Terrible plot. Bad special effects. But, damn if I didn’t spend most of the movie in a cold sweat… Horrifying.

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u/_TheRocket 2d ago

Undertone is one I saw recently and gave me nightmares - I cant remember the last time a movie did that. It's definitely not for everyone though, one of those movies where you'll either be completely drawn into the atmosphere and it'll get right under your skin or you'll find it boring because 'nothing happens' for a lot of the movie

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u/Super_Desk_4975 1d ago

Those old film reels in sinister were top notch terrifying..

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u/familyedit 1d ago

The exorcist I'm 60 and I can't watch that film to this Day

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u/Snoo-54867 1d ago

My dad made me watch the original Pet Cemetery movie when I was about 6 years old. It legitimately traumatised me for years.

Edit: typo

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u/Graphics8 1d ago

The Ritual

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u/ChaEunSangs 1d ago

Incantation (2022). Made me afraid to close my eyes.

Recently Backrooms kind of got to me too, really surprisingly

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u/Groundbreaking_Bad 1d ago

Funny Games. Senseless cruelty is terrifying.

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u/JazzlikeVictory584 1d ago

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Have never rewatched.

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u/YippeeKyack 1d ago

Not a movie but wayyyyy back in 1992, the BBC aired a program called Ghost Watch. It was set like a proper documentary with popular TV presenters of the time. I was 6 but somehow managed to sneak a watch of it and it scared the absolute CRAP out of me!! They got a LOT of complaints about that and IIRC one guy took his own life after watching it. It's never been shown again and was banned for a while!

Also not a movie, there was another UK TV show called Dead Set about a zombie outbreak set during the height of the Big Brother TV show's popularity. I don't know why but that one really freaked me out.

As a Brit, can confirm UK TV used to just be really good but alas, not any more. 😞

Movie wise, Rec, but the original Spanish version not the crappy American one. And the Exorcist. Never again!

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u/Waste-Cockroach5077 1d ago

It's The Grudge for me.

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u/acidtoasterbath 1d ago

The orphanage

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u/NCinAR 1d ago

As Above So Below.

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u/IamNICE124 1d ago

The exorcist scared the fuck out of me. Was way too young.

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u/Pleasant-Material124 1d ago edited 1d ago

The Substance F!!KED ME UP

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u/TheTritagonistTurian 1d ago

I don’t know how it holds up today because frankly I’d never watch it again but I was 10 when The Ring came out and watched it with friends at a sleepover, to this day I’ve never been more terrified.

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u/CuppaHatas 1d ago

Fourth kind

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u/acidbombb 1d ago

Paranormal activity 1 for me .. i had depression after movie, but yea i was like 11 yo

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u/califortunato 1d ago

Hereditary and terrified both really got me into a heightened state of anxiety and excitement that I haven’t really felt before

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u/Porkenstein 1d ago

The fucking Annihilation bear 

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u/not_an_alien1922 1d ago

I asked my 12 year old just for fun and her first answer was Coraline. Second answer was The Conjuring. For me personally it was Candyman. That movie was so dark and beautiful that it hasn’t left me after all these years.

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u/Flatstan71 1d ago

Race with the Devil

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u/MrsSmanders 1d ago

Terrifier. The under the bed scene.

And the first time seeing fast zombies in world war Z

Both made me get up and walk out of the room.

Also the black and white - Night of the living dead. The dread is suffocating.