5 movies that scare the hell outta me

So, it's October, which means scary movies. You can't go through October without watching a good horror movie or two, so here are 5 of the scariest movies I have ever seen!

EDITORS NOTE: This article appeared on Creative Loafings site, HERE, and also was in the October 14th Edition of the Loafing Newspaper!


Event Horizon – This movie brought the terror that is space along with gallons upon gallons of blood, and some really creepy images of Sam Neil with his eyes gouged out. I am not sure why, but this movie was incredibly scary. From the time the rescue crew gets to the eerie Event Horizon all the way until the end with the few people left running for their lives, this movie was a sci-fi terror. This movie gets a few bonus points for casting Lawrence Fishburn.

The Descent – This movie was tremendous. It has the scary creature part to it, but it also has that continuous feeling of claustrophobia. In the first third of the film, there is a scene where a girl gets trapped in a narrow passage that starts collapsing that had me terrified long before creatures showed up. When the creatures did show up, that was scary too as the girls in the movie were ravaged by these eerie monsters. Extra bonus points for the awesome ending that follows.

Blair Witch Project – What Jaws did for the water, Blair Witch did for the woods. It is ridiculous how easy and simple this movie was, yet how terrifying it is. There is a scene, after they are lost and finding stupid little stick things, where they hear children laughing, and all of a sudden, the tent starts shaking, and I am scared beyond all reason. The ending was kind of weird, and going for the shock value, which I liked, but ended just a bit too quickly. Bonus points for the viral marketing that is king of viral marketing. When they showed this in the host town the first time, at the end of the movie, the 911 dispatcher got over 600 calls from people who thought it was real. Party on!

Jaws – I love the water and going to the beach, so when I saw Jaws when I was about 6 years old, I wanted to never go near the water again. Fortunately I got over it, but the movie was still incredibly scary. There is just something about not being able to see the killer; in this case, a giant shark until it’s too late. I still think the scene at night on the boat, when they are comparing scars, and the barrels pop up, and the boat starts sinking is one of the scariest scenes in history.

Paranormal Activity – This movie just recently came out, but don’t let that sway you from the terror it brings. This movie just kept ratcheting up the tension and dread throughout the movie, all the way to the jaw-dropping climax. At one point, the girl gets up and just stands at the side of the bed for hours before going back to bed, which doesn’t sound scary until its coupled with the rest of the events, the sounds, and the bizarre behavior to make one of the scariest moments on film, second, maybe only to the finale of the film.