The Scariest Movie I Watched

Last week we talked about the first scary movie we remembered watching. This week we are talking about the scariest movie we watched. Where were you and who were you with? Do you still watch scary movies or do you avoid them at all costs?

Barb: The Haunting of Hill House–hands down. Wikipedia tells me the movie was actually called The Haunting and was made in 1963. I saw it much later, in a theater, when I was in college. Amazing performances by both Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. I don’t remember who I as with, but I do remember screaming out loud. I don’t like the horror genre per se, but I do like that rush of adrenaline that comes with a great reveal or twist. I just watched the third and fourth seasons of the TV show Luther, which is a procedural, but the crimes are shot as they occur, like great horror movies, and they actually did get me to scream.

Liz: I have to go with the original Halloween. Michael Myers completely freaked me out – still does, to this day. But the first one was the best.

Edith: I avoid scary movies entirely these days. But I’ll go with The Shining. I saw it with a friend in the summer of 1980. Nicholson’s eyes. The maze. The weird twins. RED RUM. RED RUM… Still gives me shivers. I’m sure the new date I was with left the theater with big bruises on his arm from me clenching it so hard. And of course I screamed.

Julie: Watched is a relative term, isn’t it? I saw Halloween through eyes that were squeezed shut for the most part, with fingers in my ears part long stretches. I went with college friends–the same friends who took me to a drive in that summer to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I remember that movie being a sea of pink–I put my sweater over my head. But the scariest? Poltergeist. Same college friends. Played on every fear we had as kids, and then some. Those folks are still my friends, but no more scary movies for me.

Sherry: Since I scare easily, it’s kind of hard to choose. But I’ll go with The Exorcist (I have to agree with Edith about The Shining though!). I saw it in college we had to drive 90 miles to go see it because our small college town wouldn’t play it. We went with a group of guys and the one driving our car home kept shutting off the headlights and turning his head. Even worse our dorm was old with radiators that banged and groaned all night. I slept with the lights on for at least a week.

Readers: What is the scariest movie you watched? Who were you with? Do you watch them anymore?