Every year, my family gets together right before Halloween and watches scary movies. It's a family tradition that's been going on for almost 10 years. Each year, a different family hosts the evening and is in charge of picking out the movie and baking up scary snacks. This year, we are having a hard time finding a horror movie that we all agree is scary.
For instance, Texas Chainsaw Massacre - someone suggested that we watch one of those movies. And while I do think that they were incredible horror movies in their time, they lack the special effects and theatrical panache that today's horror movies have going for them.
Here are the top 10 horror movies that scared the living daylights out of me as a child, but now make me laugh...
1. Poltergeist - I was a child (under 10 years old) the first time I saw one of the Poltergiest movies, and I was so terrified that I didn't sleep well for months. For years, if I so much as thought about Carol Anne before I fell asleep, I would lay awake for hours, terrified out of my mind! Now? Now it's goofy. I watched the first one again a few years ago and I got bored within 20 minutes.
2. Nightmare on Elm Street - Who was terrorized by Freddy and his razor claws? He could kill you in your sleep! Freddy was literally everyone's worst nightmare back in the 80's, but now it's just silly.
3. The Birds - He was the king of psychological thrillers in his day...While it was scary in it's time, it just can't compare to movies like Insidious, you know what I mean? I have to admit, though, I still freak out when I see a hundred birds chilling on my power lines.
4. Rosemary's Baby - By the 80's, we had moved past psychological horrors and had things like Freddy and Jason to worry about...but in it's day, Rosemary's Baby was quite the scary movie!
5. The Omen - Another one of those movies that just can't compete with today's special effects! Even the remake was lame. Sorry, Juliana Stiles, but it was!
6. Troll - Yes, I went there. You know you were scared when you saw Troll as a child!
7. Hellraiser - I'll be honest, as a child, I was so terrified of this guy that I never watched the movies. LOL As an adult, it was gross (all that blood!) but it didn't scare me. I feel like I missed out!
8. Halloween - The old ones, of course. I remember being a kid and listening to Jamie Lee Curtis screeching and feeling my heart beating so fast I thought it'd fly right out my chest. Now? Yawn.
9. The Exorcist - This is touted as one of the most scary movies of all time...I freak out with supernatural horror movies, so I never saw this as a child. The first time I saw it I was in my 20's and I thought to myself..."this is what all the fuss was about?"
And last, but certainly not least, we have...
10. When a Stranger Calls - I'm talking the original one from 1979. HOLY CRAP. That movie scared the bejesus out of me when I was a kid...especially when I babysat and the phone rang. It's been remade plenty of times, but the original was by far the scariest! I watched this not too long ago on one of those nights when my husband was out of town and I am sad to report that I went to sleep afterwards with no problem whatsoever.
What movies terrified you as a child and now seem silly?
*Photos found on Google Images & weheartit.com
Betsy says
Gremlins had me sleeping with the light on until I was about 12 (because they can't be in light, obviously) and now they show it on Comedy Central.
Jenn says
ha ha you just reminded how scary Gremlins was when I was a kid!
WriteSpell & PrimThings (nicole) says
I vote Paranormal Activity! I started watching the first one but got spooked and since I watching alone haven't gone back to it!
Michelle J says
Nightmare on Elm Street had me terrified for weeks after watching it! I still HATE that movie!
Andrea says
I'm not sure, since I rarely watch horror movies. I just don't like them. Blair Witch Project still scares the bejeebers out of me.
Rachel says
Exorcist absolutely terrified me - I saw it when I was a kid, maybe 10? - to this day I can't watch anything that has to do with possession. I couldn't even bring myself to rewatch it just to see if I'd be okay.
Terry says
The Exorcist get's scarier each time you watch it. Better stay away.
Lindsay says
Seriously, The Birds was the SCARIEST MOVIE EVER!
Kelly says
You know I've never been scared of a movie. I try to watch all of the horror movies and they just don't do it - I need more! I haven't seen quite a few of those but if they don't scare you, I'm guessing I still won't be scared. Sigh.
Michael says
Aliens. Saw it on the big screen and it was insane how scared I was. Now it is just a Sci-Fi movie.
Paul says
It's because you've grown up, but that doesn't mean the films aren't scary anymore. Also, to say that they can't compete with todays special effects is ridiculous. It doesn't take effects to be scary, and honestly, I'll take the old prop driven special effects over tosay's CGI any day. This past October I introduced my teenage daughter to Michael Myers, Jason, & Freddy. Quite outdated movies to this generation. But she found those movies to be so much more scary than anything she has seen today. The reason? The suspense. She spent the entire movie of Halloween barely peering over the top of a couch pillow. She said that throughout the entire movie it felt like something was going to happen any second. That's scary. Not effects, blood, & guts.
Lucy says
Lepercauhn... that movie freaked me out so friggin' much as a kid... i honestly don't even remeber what it was about except that it freaked me out x3
Adam says
American Werewolf in London. Now even though a classic has no fright value at all.
ian says
I have to disagree. I get so much more enjoyment re watching these old films than suffering through the insipid, unimaginative contemporary offerings.
It could be a touch of nostalgia I guess. Or the very lack of budgets and computer effects that forced film makers to use imagination and atmosphere so sadly lacking from newer productions.
These older films are of their time, this is true, but they were true trailblazers and wrote the rules used to this day.
Anyone who yawns during Halloween shows a complete lack of Imagination and probably requires having shiny, cartoon-like effects handed to them on a plate
Morley says
It's not that these films are no longer scary, it's that you have been desensitized by watching modern "horror". Most people who watch the current torture porn think all the movies on your list are silly, but another person that doesn't usually lean towards the genre will still find them terrifying. Don't feel bad that modern "cinema" and social media have turned you into a sociopath....it's not your fault.
nubwaxer says
the exorcist at the time it first played in theaters was horror/dramatic game changer and a masterpiece for its time.
Trevor says
Stephen King's Creep Show was scary when I was young, "The Crate" was the scariest out of all the stories, those teeth on that thing!