I confess, I stopped being scared by movies about demons and ghosts and other supernatural stuff in my early teens. The slasher in a hockey mask worked once, but it was just too campy. So, whether before Halloween or after, most “horror” movies strike me as either boring or funny, but not scary. The scariest villains I can think of are the cannibalistic psychiatrist in Silence of the Lambs and its sequels, and the Nazi dentist (what a brilliant combination!) in Marathon Man. I suppose real-life terror has moved to the action-adventure category, with “they just hate us” as the villains’ motivation, but that doesn’t really make for interesting entertainment either. I can’t help thinking that Big Hollywood is missing the chance to make scary pictures for grown-ups by sticking to the old formulas so closely.

What would really scare grown-ups in a movie?

Rick

I think the more real or feasible a horror movie is, the scarier it can be.  Ghosts and goblins and mutilated villians with razer blade finger nails can be fun and disturbing in a fantastical way, but when you start dealing with real human psyche, new levels of terror can be reached.

The scariest character I have ever seen on screen is Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard.  So demented.  So real.

I think suspence is much more frightening then horror. The jumps are just startling and don’t provide any real terror after the movie is over and gore, while I don’t like it, isn’t really scary rather just gross. But suspence actually takes talent to pull off.

The last time a movie scared me was in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original, when he’s standing in the hallway and pauses before dashing out to grab the kid. It’s the pause that terrified me. The rest of the movie bored the hell out of me.

I think movies like hostel are scary because to me it is something that could actually be going on right now. I tell you what, it’ll make me think twice about going out of the country.

I think the scariest movie I ever saw was Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer.  I left the theater feeling really creepy, and I looked at people differently for awhile after that…