1) The first time I saw this I was 8 or 9 and they ran it late one night on TV in Detroit one Saturday night. For some reason Mom let all of us stay up and watch it. It scared the piss out of me the first time I saw it. I was creeped out for days after seeing it and I tried so hard to block out the sight of them killing the little girl zombie in the cellar but it didn't work. When I saw it again years later I appreciated it more on a sociological level but it still gave me chills. 
2) I remember screaming at the TV when Lee Marvin sings his first note and then I shrieked like a banshee when Clint broke into one of his songs. What possessed a Hollywood studio to green light this turkey? I can't really blame the actors, especially Jean Seberg, hell she had to make some money some how after J. Edgar Hoover tried to make her life a living hell for doing those European art films in the late fiftes and early sixties and maybe Lee Marvn thought he could do no wrong after Cat Ballou. This film nearly put me off musicals altogether.
3) I saw this film at the creepy old Cameo Theatre in Bristol, VA. The Cameo was already falling apart and had yet to be turned into a gospel spewing right wing church/christian theatre arts training center. When those campers started buying the farm in the movie I got more and more wound up with every gruesome murder. By the time the film ended I was climbing the ceiling and would have snapped anyone's arm off who so much as touched me. It's a good thing I didn't take a date to see this one.
4) Blood in the Face doesn't so much scare me as much as it makes me sick to watch. It's like watching surgery on TV or driving past a bloody car wreck, it's repulsive and repugnant but for some reason you can't not look away. I've never been able to watch the whole thing at one time because I can't stomach the racists and haters. I know on some level that people still cling to these types of beliefs (and they are every where in this nation, not just in the South as some people think, in fact some of the most racist people I ever knew were from Michigan) but on another level it amazes me they still exsist and that they use religion as a means to justify their hatred of blacks, Jews, gays, and others.
5) This movie hands down is the scariest most stomach turning most disturbing film I've ever seen. Sparky and I rented it one night thinking it was a psychological thriller and we popped it in the VCR when we got home. By the time it was over we were shaking and freaked out. You know you're in for a wild unbelievably uncomfortable ride when you see the looks of hollow eyed terror and resignation in the eyes of the first family that gets terrorized by the bad guys in the film. This movie gave me nightmares for months afterwards. It's one of the few films I wish I had never seen.
6) I know it's fashionable for movie geeks to say how much they hated this adaption on The Ring but I'm not one of them. It sucked me in and it didn't let me go. Yes, it scared me, but I liked it a lot. One of the reasons why I liked it, aside from Naomi Watts, is that I saw on while out of town on a sales conference for the last company I worked for. I had to stay overnight another night in order for them to get the cheapest air fare possible on my flight back home from Columbus, Ohio, so I had to stay another night on their dime at very nice hotel. So I had a whole night to kill and instead of drinking beer in my hotel room or hanging out with the local Columbus based sales reps, I went to see this movie.
6) I know it's fashionable for movie geeks to say how much they hated this adaption on The Ring but I'm not one of them. It sucked me in and it didn't let me go. Yes, it scared me, but I liked it a lot. One of the reasons why I liked it, aside from Naomi Watts, is that I saw on while out of town on a sales conference for the last company I worked for. I had to stay overnight another night in order for them to get the cheapest air fare possible on my flight back home from Columbus, Ohio, so I had to stay another night on their dime at very nice hotel. So I had a whole night to kill and instead of drinking beer in my hotel room or hanging out with the local Columbus based sales reps, I went to see this movie. 
10 comments:
Night of the Living Dead was so awesome and is totally responsible for fostering my love of zombies. Very fine and scary choice.
The Exorcist is still my scariest movie ever, and Marathon Man scared the hell out of me, too. I saw it for the first time when I was up in the middle of the night after nursing a newborn...he went back to sleep and I couldn't so I turned on the TV, and within 5 minutes, I was watching the infamous dentist scene...just watching Olivier wash his hands was terrifying!
Would you believe I saw a double bill of "Oliver" and "Paint Your Wagon" when I was about ten. Other than that they're both musicals, what the hell else could those two movies have in common?
Clint in a musical...very poor choice.
I am scared by a lot of movies and my husband loves the creepiest and goriest things. He even makes a tv show with his crazy friend Scott reviewing them. So, being a good wife I watch many terr8ible things. Right now we have some DVD on our coffee table with a man eating intestines on the cover. Fantastic.
Here is an example of their show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjc1uoaRr1Q
i saw friday the 13th on opening day in 1980, which happened to be when i graduated from HS. still THE scariest movie, in my book. i had nightmares about things under my bed for months. and i was 18.
the ring scared the crap out of me.
Oh man, Cat Ballou and Paint Your Wagon in the same post? I may need the afternoon off, and about ten Tums.
I saw bits and pieces of NOTLD when I was a kid, and holy SHIT was I scared that night! I also remember being frightened out of my tiny mind by The Omen (and disturbed by the beautiful Lee Remick's character's tragic death), Aliens, and Fantastic Voyage -- yes, Fantastic Voyage. It's like I could feel my skin crawling as if that little capsule was motoring around in MY insides. Ick!
Loved Night of the Living Dead. I found Dawn of the Dead not so good, though all the necrophiles love that film. Thought the remake was silly too.
Loved The Ring. Love Naomi Watts. I actually found the Japanese original lacking.
Surprised 28 days later didn't make your list.
Barb-Somehow I know you'd be a good and decent zombie.
CDP-Marathon Man creeped me out as well.
Kirby-Be glad you lived to tell the tale of seeing that horrid double bill.
Missy-Very cool link! Thanks.
Notsoccermom-I still get creeped out when I think of The Ring.
Dguz-God what a crush I had on Lee Remick.
Evil Spock-I loved 28 Days Later but it didn't scare me like these others did. And I kind of liked the Day of the Dead remake, yay Sarah Polley!
The failure of Paint Your Wagon pretty much turned the studios off of musicals as well. That was 1969, after all - the same year that Midnight Cowboy, and Satyricon, and Z, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were released. The huge bloated juggernaut movie musicals were just hopelessly dated and corny, and PYW was the last nail in their coffin.
I'm with you on Night of the Living Dead. I can still see the shadow of the garden spade on the wall from when the little girl got it.
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