I should start by saying that I don’t like gore-fests, so if you are looking for a list of scary movies heavy on the gore… You aren’t in the right place.
So here are, according to me, myself and I, the top 10 scary but not gory stories of all time (or at least until I watch some more movies and/or someone comes out with an AMAZING movie):
1 – The Shining: Oh how this movie scared the daylights out of me. I never could quite look at Jack Nicholson the same way. I also think that his rendition of Joker in the original Batman was all the more scary since I kept thinking of this dratted movie. I should watch it again.
2 – Psycho: The movie that proved that water pouring down a drain can be absolutely terrifying. I have to thank Hitchcock for allowing me to scare the daylights out of my sisters as well as one of my friends by wielding a tub of toothpaste as a knife and making that weird eiyyyyyyyy eiyyyyyyyyyy sound. Ah, good times.
3 – The Exorcist: I haven’t even seen this movie. I only saw parts of it, and they scared (what else) the daylights out of me. One day I will watch the whole thing. A summer day. A bright, sunshiny summer day. With a Bible and a Qu’ran in one hand, and a Kitab-i-Aqdas in the other.
4 – Vertigo: Love. Deception. Death. Creepy music. A wonderfully disturbing movie with some intense moments. Loved it, will watch it again. But won’t be going up any bell towers alone anytime soon.
5 – The Sixth Sense: This movie is absolutely brilliant. Everyone should watch it twice. The first time to be freaked out and amazed at the twists, and the second time to analyze how in the world that twist was possible.
6 – Jaws: Stupid shark took the fun away from swimming in the ocean. But, on the plus side, it made swimming with piranhas seem like a walk in the park.
7 – 1408: Apparently there are people insane enough to willingly spend the night in a hotel room in which many others have died in mysterious circumstances. I might be insane enough to watch the movie, but I’m not THAT insane as to stay for the night!
8 – The Ring: Put me off watching random videos found in my friend’s basement or on Youtube. Seriously people, what if someone put THAT video on Youtube and you watch it by accident?
9 – The Others: Nothing like a good ghost story for Halloween night; this movie is one of my favorites on this list, but scare-factor wise, I couldn’t put it any higher than here. But definitely worth watching.
10 – Sign: More creepy than scary, this movie will still creep you out enough, especially if you accept the possibility that just maybe, one day, it might happen…
For real the ring is some scary stuff. Especially since you are watching the tape. Some say Ringu (japanese version) is better but I watched it and it was close but not nearly as scary.
I haven’t watched the Japanese version of the Ring – the American one traumatized me enough that I will need what, ten years to get over before I can afford to be traumatized again? 😉 I think the way the Japanese version is set up scares people from North America less; after all, different cultures are scared by different things and in different ways.
Thank you for reading, Jay!