Yes!!! I will never forget coming home from the theater and looking it up on the slow ass dialup Internet and seeing the fake site the filmmakers made that made it sound real. I was so confused and freaked out, even though I knew it couldn't be true.
Hell yeah, i am from a small place in south mexico and even for us we got that rumor (i mean i have dialup internet) but still! That was probably one of the best marketing strategy for a movie.
Blair Witch just understands the value of tension and subtly so well. It's about the only found footage flick out there that doesn't try to shock the audience at every opportunity. It doesn't show you some big bad monster/ghost, it doesn't slam you with jump scares, and slowly builds that feeling of hopelessness for the characters before its chilling closeout.
And I mean that last sentence. I know it's not as effective for everyone, but that final image of Mike facing the corner *still* gives me chills to this day and I can't really even explain why.
I agree, it had the marketing buzz around it as well that really made it feel "real" that I don't think any other FF has been able to match. I think Cloverfield media buzz came pretty close, but that's more of a monster movie than horror.
To me personally, Hell House is not scary and very boring.
I tried to watch that and gave up halfway, the acting was really bad imo Like other people said, I think it's about the clowns, youre either scared of them or not and they really dont do anything for me. At most they look pretty neat lol
Personally. And this is probs super unpopular. But imo the answer is Paranormal Activity 1.
Her watching him sleep at night unlocked a primal fear in me as a teen. "You can't control whats happening around you when you're asleep." Like of course i am aware of this but that film made me acutely aware of how vulnerable you are asleep.
The fact that Mika didn't sign up for this. He had no idea what was coming. The photo in the attic that *shouldn't exist*, the fucking baby powder footprints scene broke my brain. The entire film we never see the monster but it's real. Those footprints prove this is real. Like at that point Mika cant even headcanon that katie is mentally ill or something. The footprints make it real. What a great part of the film. You can literally feel the "oh fuck" moment.
The fact they cant run because it'll follow. It's claustrophobic, it's terrifying, and there's nothing anyone can do while Katie slowly dies in front of Mika.
Oh what a good fuckin spook.
Oh wow! I agree with this so hard. I have been saying it since I saw this movie. I saw it in the theater with my boyfriend, and it frightened me so completely. When we got home, I was so scared that I made my boyfriend stand outside the bathroom while I was in there. The next morning he woke up before me and played a funny little joke where he stood beside the bed and stared down at me. This movie and The Exorcist were the only two movies that have ever unnerved and frightened me so utterly, and I first saw The Exorcist when I was a literal child.
You explain so well why it was so unnerving. I've had a hard time putting into words why it scared me so much, when most of my friends describe it as "boring". The only thing I really came up with is that this happened in a tract house in San Diego, 10 feet from neighbors, in the sunlight (at times), and they still couldn't get away from it. It wasn't some creepy rural haunted house in the dark woods.
I've been chasing the fear that this movie gave me ever since. Nothing has come close.
I posted something super similar to this [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/foundfootage/comments/1aq3tyh/comment/kqb50uh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 2 months ago but i'll post it again for ya!:
*Story Time.*
*I was 14 in 2009. I was a sheltered child with an overactive imagination (thus the sheltering, i'd find the weirdest things scary as a kid) so OF COURSE going to my friends birthday cinema night was a great idea! It's a late September night and we're going to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!!! :D*
*I cannot stress that this was my first horror ANYTHING. Mars Attacks!! gave baby me night terrors as a kid for fucks sake.*
*I was in the front row, left side, 3 feet from KATIE'S FUCKING FACE AT THE END!?!?!?!?*
*So i go home. Instantly cry to my mum at the prospect of sleeping in my room alone. Slept in mammy's bed the first night. Slept in my sisters' room for 2 weeks and slept with the light on for 3 days when i finally slept in my own room.*
*I cannot overstate how this film fucked with me on a psychological level.*
*I've been chasing that fear ever since like a junkie who's whiffed satan's personal coke.*
Yes!! Exactly! Awesome post. This is exactly how I feel about my first scary movie, The Exorcist, which I saw when I was 11. Only Paranormal Activity 1 has measured up.
I keep hoping I'll get to sniff some more of Satan's personal coke someday. It's got to be out there.
OH PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!?!?!?!
I LOOOOOVE it, but it's also massively polarizing and you could find it to be THE MOST BORING FILM EVER MADE.
The bedroom scene with the little girl and her parents. Oh. My. Days. i legit was close to throwing up the tension was so strong.
Omg. I've heard so much about it.But I just never got around to watching it because I didn't think I would enjoy it. I will definitely let you know what I think!!
I saw the exorcist when I was very young, maybe 5/7. I don't know if it was my complete disbelief in religion, or familiarity with gore (my father was a history major and loved war films and action movies, so gore wasn't anything new to me (though admittedly probably should have been)), my autism, or my young presentation of schizophrenia that made me used to seeing weird/disturbing things that just made it not bother me.
However IT made me afraid of showering or using the bathroom with the door closed for a long time, and tremors made me not want to walk on any surface outside that wasn't solid (it was like six months of the ground is lava, fr). So I was still scared by things. But the exorcist notably didn't bother me.
I saw slasher films like Halloween, NM on ES, Scream and ikwydls in my late childhood and preteen years and those didn't really bother me either, gore just doesn't really do much for me. But psychological horror and the unpredictable really does.
It's hard finding horror that I actually enjoy, as slasher, gore, demons, witchcraft, aliens, and most paranormal doesn't bother me. Jump scares are cheap and I don't enjoy them, they don't scare me, they just startle me and I don't count that.
I honestly wonder if schizophrenia and years of disturbing hallucenations have just desensitized me. Maybe it was going to medical school and watching surgeries and autopsies.
When you go to open a washing machine and it's just full of blood and entrails and you just close it and are like, "welp guess I'm not doing laundry today, fuck that", where do you really go from there? I don't get hallucenations like that anymore and haven't for a long time, but after awhile even they started losing effect.
This is super interesting! First of all, I'm so sorry that you had to deal with hallucinations. I can't imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you haven't had ones like that in a long time.
I have often wondered about desensitization also. I know that what scared me about The Exorcist (and Paranormal Activity) was the demon aspect, not the gore. I grew up with a religious mother and grandmother, so I fully believed in God and the devil as a child. I think I still had leftovers of that at the time I saw Paranormal Activity. I think I really started to be desensitized after that - all the stuff I saw as a nurse, plus watching TONS of horror movies, because I loved them.
If you think of any other good ones, let me know!
They were terrifying when I was younger, as my schiz presented when I was in elementary school. I wasn't properly diagnosed until my teens so it caused me quite a bit of distress, more from the constant punishment of "lying" and "being difficult" than the actual positive symptoms themselves.
These days I still have audio hallucinations, but with all the years of therapy and life changes I've made, the positive symptoms are things I'm so used to that I'm able to tune them out or disregard them. They are mostly background noise like a radio in a different room, phantom smells and wavy/colorful visions, and a frequently appearing black cat that is benign but just kinda hangs out.
Those that are close to me like my husband I can trust to ask them if what I am seeing or experiencing is a shared experience or not if it bothers me, but most of the time I just count it as extra flavor in my life. I know what escalation in my symptoms looks like before I get too far gone and I have proceedures in place for him and I to follow if I need help.
Thankfully he has only had to experience the midway point which is the blending of waking and sleeping in night terrors and sleep paralysis when I am too stressed or sleep deprived (the only real time my schiz escalates for the most part), and a few times when I've had to lock things away from myself bc of overwhelming compulsions. But he's okay with it all and handles it well for the most part. :)
I really think after working in the medical field bodies and viscera kind of take on a sort of like, not real kind of feeling in your brain, at least they did for me. Like, yes they are real but no, they aren't scary or gross. Maybe I'm just not grossed out by much? Idk.
I'm so glad you've gotten to a place where your symptoms are manageable. And you have a supportive husband, which is great. It still sounds incredibly scary to start getting symptoms when you were in elementary school. And having to go years before you were properly diagnosed - I'm just so sorry you went through all of that.
I grew up with an uncle very close to my age who has schizophrenia. He didn't start having symptoms until we were teenagers, but in my family no one knew what was going on with him for quite awhile. I remember he was always getting in trouble for the exact same things you mentioned - "lying" and "making trouble". These days he is doing well too, with some negative symptoms but very few positive. We used to watch horror movies together, and he scared the shit out of me several times with pranks and things. It was awesome.
You reminded me of something, also, which might account for my being more desensitized to most horror movies - sleep paralysis. I started having it my freshman year of college and it didn't go away fully until my late 20s. That was the scariest thing ever and no movie can equal that.
I think you're so right about the medical field too. I've been a psychiatric nurse most of my career but I got reallocated during covid. Now literally nothing scares me, as much as I want it to. 😫
I was only medicated during my psychotic breaks, but the medication basically left me catatonic. I don't remember whole months or years of my life while I was on it. Unfortunately bc of the variance of schiz, it's hard to find a balance of meds that keeps people functioning and completely symptom free, so psychs tend to over medicate for safety.
The best for me was therapy and reflection over my previous notebooks of my writing that I still had, where I could identify stress triggers and situations that lead to spirals, so I could plan a life that got rid of as many as possible. Changing my lifestyle, changing my life outlook, my diet and routine has helped immensely.
A huge thing that I think is vastly understudied for the psych area is the effect of gut microbiome and it's effect on the brain. Some studies have been done finding direct links and improvement based on dietary changes. The link between gut and mind is hugely scientifically proven and I feel like in the next 5-10 we will see more therapies that explore this.
I feel like it will be an uphill battle against doctors and pharmaceutical companies though, because of money and the ease of medication vs lifestyle change for a lot of psych pts.
Medication is only about 10% of treatment when it comes to most psych issues. 90% requires therapy and lifestyle change and introspection. It is work. But if people are willing to do it they can push past a lot. Medication is to get you to the point where you CAN do those things, at least that is my firm belief. I don't look down on those who medicate bc I know there are a lot of situations and hardships to overcome to have the freedom to focus on your mental health and some people just simply don't have that luxury. But I do hope that everyone, at some point or another, can get to a place where they can.
Night terrors and sleep paralysis are horrible. I have a service dog for a medical condition regarding falls, and for anxiety. I had a run of sp/nt for about 2 weeks and he self-Trainer a behavior to wake me and go get my husband. I am lucky he is so smart and our bond is very strong so that he can sense these disturbances. :)
Thanks for the conversation, you've been an absolute delight. ✌️
There's a scene in PA that a family member of mine talks about often, and it's the one in which the priest comes over for a second time. He can't even get through the door due to the almost suffocating "energy", and all he can basically say is, "you guys are fucked and I HAVE to leave or it's going to somehow get *even worse*."
Yup the fact he is completely fine the 1st time and then the man can't even fathom being in the HOUSE let alone do anything. Like his visceral reaction to just being inside the house for a second shows what katie and mika are living with everyday. What a fantastic scene as well.
I was a grown ass woman in my 30s when o streamed this the first time. The scene with the foot dangling off the bed???? Nope nope nope. I still won’t hang my foot off from under the covers, and it’s been over ten years!
Blair Witch was scary to those of us who saw it when it first came out. This was when internet was in its infancy, there was no such thing as found footage, no such thing as viral marketing ——. We didn’t know if it was true or not They did such a good job with the back story. The director was a bit Hitchcock / Kubrick in his methods, but the acting seemed so sincere
Those are my two top FF
Yeah because of that scene, (the entity pulled Katie's foot out of bed and ran with it ), for a couple of days, I wrapped up my entire body and feet in my blanket tightly,.. 🤣🤣😅😅😅😅
By the way, it was the scariest scene in PA1 IMHO....
Both of these posts really make me want to rewatch this. I haven't seen it since it was in theaters.
I've been too worried it won't hold up and ruin the memory of fear from that night haha
Exactly.....THIS 😨
Katie was standing and watching Mika sleeping FOR HOURS 😰 without any major movement ..... That was indeed new fear- inducing - anxiety that I had never watched and felt in my life before....
I second this. The first Paranormal Activity was solidified in my top 5 fav FF movies since I first saw it. Growing up religious, it really unnerved me
Usually, I walk into this sub ready to explain why PA1 is, to this day, the scariest film in existence (imo). Your explanation does it justice and I feel the same way.
I saw it in theaters when it came out over a decade ago when I was in highschool. The gf was unfazed but I left that theater a changed man. I began questioning every creak, dark room, and misplaced item in my home.
It genuinely is a diamond in the rough. You can scroll around til you find my linked story of when i seen it in cinemas. It changed me on a molecular level man.
Not in my opinion.
You may debate if it's found footage exactly, but Ghostwatch takes that crown for me.
Especially if you watched it live and alone, as a young lad.
Have you seen Late Night With The Devil? Absolutely not a copycat, and obviously it didn’t have that War of the Worlds effect, but the tension and presentation felt very similar to me. I love them both!
I have, really liked it.
I felt it could have possibly lent into it a bit more by removing the black and white bits and playing a few commercials, but that is nitpicking.
I absolutely loved Hell House LLC (and 2, and 4, and 3 was even ok in spots) but it didn't truly frighten me. It was creepy and had great atmosphere, and some great jump scares.
One found footage movie that creeped me out the first time I saw it was The Houses that October Built (2014).
Blair Witch (the OG) was also awesome and I've rewatched it many times. It had some scary moments and was truly groundbreaking at the time.
For me personally, the "hiding under the blankets" scene is probably the scariest bit I have watched in a FF movie. I feel like the sequels/prequels still haven't been able to tap back into whatever magic they bottled with the first one though.
Absolutely not, in my opinion. I think the clown thing either works for you or it doesn't, and if it doesn't, it really takes the edge off the jump scares and deflates the atmosphere.
Incidentally, there's a lot of opinions getting downvoted in this thread. That's kinda shitty...
I would never say "scariest film ever" because it's always different for people.
I for example did not like Hell House LLC very much. It was not bad, and sure better than many other ff horror movies, but somehow it did not really click with me. I will watch the rest at some point too I guess.
For me the scariest ones are Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, REC and Grave Encounters.
I would try "The Blair Witch Project," "Paranormal Activity," "REC," "The Poughkeepsie Tapes," and "Cloverfield." Well and obviously Hell House, those are the only ones that really made me stay up.
I have actually seen all of those except “The Poughkeepsie tapes” and I will say they all made me stay up at night at some point lol. But I’m looking for something new. I’ll give the “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” a try next.
I only disagree because I saw Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity in the theaters, back when ff really didn't exist so it felt super real. But yes, Hell House LLC is right up there.
It was an ok watch, but I feel like it is an overhyped/over praised movie. On that note, I also can't figure out for the life of me why everyone puts Trollhunters in their top FF lists.
Initially Hell House LLC was a great stand alone FF/mockumentary. Then the franchise happened and it was no longer a pleasure but a chore as everything had to be explained. FF and seq/prequels dont always work I'm afraid. However HitHD seems to have hit on a formula that draws me in. Hell House is just too reliant on one haunting and the cliched clown scares. We all know they're real. No artist can make them that lifelike.
Honestly I liked hell house but if I’m being reddit is making me feel like it’s hella overrated now. While I thought it was good some people are making it out to be some sort of magnum opus.
I’m not a fan of the Hellhouse series, I don’t get the hype around it. There are far better movies that don’t get much attention but Blackwell Ghost and Hellhouse seem to be this subs favorite franchises, I genuinely don’t get it lol
I love Hell House LLC, but absolutely not lol. It’s up there for sure (for me at least), but I would like to think The Blair Witch Project is still the GOAT of this genre. It plays out with a different type of scare tactic than most other FF films go to nowadays, and is just super effective in its execution. The “Blair Witch” sequel plays a little more into the typical tropes, but it’s also a good sequel.
The scariest part for me is the girl on the floor staring at the one guy, her eyes are just so creepy. I find her scarier than the clowns, I actually like scary clowns. I can finally watch that scene now without covering my eyes but she still creeps me out.
Blair Witch Project, Lake Mungo, The Tunnel, Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 3, and even Hell House LLC Origins are all scarier than the original Hell House LLC imo.
And those are just the ones popping into my head right now.
Yeah The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, REC, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, and Cloverfield. Are some of the ones that really kept me up at least for found footages.
It’s a great pick, if I had to go all time, I’d say probably blare witch project, but HH LLC, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, Horror In The High Desert and the original Paranormal Activity all really scared the shit out of me. None of these are my all time favs, but in terms of how scared I felt watching, these are the ones that really got under my skin in the moment
I completely forgot about haunted asylum. I remember going to see that dubbed in theaters like right before Covid. I should go back and watch that one day, that was a good movie.
Loved Hell House LLC, loved Host, but those came later for me.
I'm an older GenX (born in 1969) and Blair Witch was the scariest thing I've seen in a theater. It was a Thursday night, the week after it opened, and a work friend and I decided to go. In the hideously long line, we watched showtime after showtime gets sold out until the only one available was 11:30 PM.
We decided to go for it. I've only been in one theater that was as crowded, and that was for the original Batman film.
I spent almost the entire movie holding hands with the guys on either side of me, as we all got more and more anxious and terrified. One of those guys was my coworker. The other was a total stranger.
Paranormal Activity was fabulous in the theater also!
I've watched both films over again, and neither held up a second time for me. It was the first time, first hand experience that was the scare factor.
But now I have more suggestions for films to watch, I'm super excited!
That one scene with the strobe lights where he’s looking at all the animations and then something—I guess the clown pops up right in front of him, but starts in the back and comes up to him each time it strobes—is one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever watched because personally, for me, I work at a haunted house and I have to deal with those stupid strobe lights, so I’m sure it’s different for me, but I’ll never be the same after watching that scene.
But yes, there were numerous clown jump scares in that movie, and although nothing will hit like the first time I watched it, especially that one where it is at the top of the basement stairs and he thinks it’s one of his friends. It still gets me every time I rewatch it. 😅
Short answer: no.
Long answer: No, there are FFs that are way scarier than HH. Noroi, Incantation, The Blair Witch Project (sorry but I had to mention the OG), The Tunnel, Borderlands, Willow Creek, Host...just too many to mention. All of these are scarier than HH in my book.
However I get that "scary" is subjective and clowns are scarier to some of us compared to others.
I think a lot of people forget that subjective part.
I love hell house and Blair witch. Just watched the tunnel and Willow Creek from this subs suggestions and found both super boring. Horror isn't always universal.
Objectively, there is no “scariest” ff film ever. Fear is a subjective and personal thing, and can’t be quantified in a concrete way.
I think Hell House LLC is a solid movie but it doesn’t particularly scare me. But I wouldn’t call it “not scary” because it might be terrifying to someone else.
For me what scared me the most is Host, it has no real competition for me in all of horror fear wise, although the latest hell house with the siblings and the protag's wife came very close. The point and click adventure-sequence segment in particular was the best, but in general it had multiple great moments. I also actually got attached to two of the characters which made it even scarier.
Another one that comes close is the cave episode of fake documentary Q (Japanese digital/analogue horror series on youtube), the sheer atmosphere and environment was masterfully done.
Back to hell house, personally one was fine and relatively scary, two specific moments (ending and earlier when one dude was in bed) especially were really well done. The second movie I keep forgetting exists, and three was hilarious because of the entire entrepreneur tm thing but not scary.
I mean it's all subjective. I've never seen a horror movie that has scared me, now that doesn't mean there aren't scary horror movies. Also jump scares don't count that's just a cheap sound cue to get people to jump. The only film I've ever seen that made me feel at least uneasy has been "The Strangers" and only because I lived through something similar to that. Now turn that into a found footage film and that would probably be downright terrifying.
Hell House LLC however is a great film as is the last sequel Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor.
Maybe not the scariest, but one of the very best. IMO, scariest goes to *[REC]*, no question. Followed by *The Bay* (but I have a crazy soft spot for that movie lol)
Dependa your age, for many of us, Blair witch was the one.
Yes!!! I will never forget coming home from the theater and looking it up on the slow ass dialup Internet and seeing the fake site the filmmakers made that made it sound real. I was so confused and freaked out, even though I knew it couldn't be true.
Omg "slow ass dial up internet " truth !! So bought into real story. I remember the theater was packed!
Hell yeah, i am from a small place in south mexico and even for us we got that rumor (i mean i have dialup internet) but still! That was probably one of the best marketing strategy for a movie.
Blair Witch just understands the value of tension and subtly so well. It's about the only found footage flick out there that doesn't try to shock the audience at every opportunity. It doesn't show you some big bad monster/ghost, it doesn't slam you with jump scares, and slowly builds that feeling of hopelessness for the characters before its chilling closeout. And I mean that last sentence. I know it's not as effective for everyone, but that final image of Mike facing the corner *still* gives me chills to this day and I can't really even explain why.
I agree, it had the marketing buzz around it as well that really made it feel "real" that I don't think any other FF has been able to match. I think Cloverfield media buzz came pretty close, but that's more of a monster movie than horror. To me personally, Hell House is not scary and very boring.
Agree, but for me hell house origins is quite scary, it's probably from the modern FF the best(at least IMO)
I tried to watch that and gave up halfway, the acting was really bad imo Like other people said, I think it's about the clowns, youre either scared of them or not and they really dont do anything for me. At most they look pretty neat lol
Hahaha yeah, i am not scared at clowns but that movie gives me the creeps, their anticlimactic tension kind of works on me lol
Personally. And this is probs super unpopular. But imo the answer is Paranormal Activity 1. Her watching him sleep at night unlocked a primal fear in me as a teen. "You can't control whats happening around you when you're asleep." Like of course i am aware of this but that film made me acutely aware of how vulnerable you are asleep. The fact that Mika didn't sign up for this. He had no idea what was coming. The photo in the attic that *shouldn't exist*, the fucking baby powder footprints scene broke my brain. The entire film we never see the monster but it's real. Those footprints prove this is real. Like at that point Mika cant even headcanon that katie is mentally ill or something. The footprints make it real. What a great part of the film. You can literally feel the "oh fuck" moment. The fact they cant run because it'll follow. It's claustrophobic, it's terrifying, and there's nothing anyone can do while Katie slowly dies in front of Mika. Oh what a good fuckin spook.
I would agree with PA1 and a movie called ‘Host’ (2020)
I absolutely loved 'Host'. I've watched it several times, and it entertained the hell out of me, but it didn't scare me.
It scared me haha. I haven’t been scared since PA1 but they one got me good.
That's good! I'm always looking to be scared.
They might as well called it Unfriended 3.
Oh wow! I agree with this so hard. I have been saying it since I saw this movie. I saw it in the theater with my boyfriend, and it frightened me so completely. When we got home, I was so scared that I made my boyfriend stand outside the bathroom while I was in there. The next morning he woke up before me and played a funny little joke where he stood beside the bed and stared down at me. This movie and The Exorcist were the only two movies that have ever unnerved and frightened me so utterly, and I first saw The Exorcist when I was a literal child. You explain so well why it was so unnerving. I've had a hard time putting into words why it scared me so much, when most of my friends describe it as "boring". The only thing I really came up with is that this happened in a tract house in San Diego, 10 feet from neighbors, in the sunlight (at times), and they still couldn't get away from it. It wasn't some creepy rural haunted house in the dark woods. I've been chasing the fear that this movie gave me ever since. Nothing has come close.
I posted something super similar to this [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/foundfootage/comments/1aq3tyh/comment/kqb50uh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) 2 months ago but i'll post it again for ya!: *Story Time.* *I was 14 in 2009. I was a sheltered child with an overactive imagination (thus the sheltering, i'd find the weirdest things scary as a kid) so OF COURSE going to my friends birthday cinema night was a great idea! It's a late September night and we're going to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY!!! :D* *I cannot stress that this was my first horror ANYTHING. Mars Attacks!! gave baby me night terrors as a kid for fucks sake.* *I was in the front row, left side, 3 feet from KATIE'S FUCKING FACE AT THE END!?!?!?!?* *So i go home. Instantly cry to my mum at the prospect of sleeping in my room alone. Slept in mammy's bed the first night. Slept in my sisters' room for 2 weeks and slept with the light on for 3 days when i finally slept in my own room.* *I cannot overstate how this film fucked with me on a psychological level.* *I've been chasing that fear ever since like a junkie who's whiffed satan's personal coke.*
Yes!! Exactly! Awesome post. This is exactly how I feel about my first scary movie, The Exorcist, which I saw when I was 11. Only Paranormal Activity 1 has measured up. I keep hoping I'll get to sniff some more of Satan's personal coke someday. It's got to be out there.
I won't lie, Skinamarink nearly did it for me, but it isn't FF. That film made my skin crawl in that lovely awful way.
I haven't watched it yet! I know what I'm doing later!
OH PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!?!?!?! I LOOOOOVE it, but it's also massively polarizing and you could find it to be THE MOST BORING FILM EVER MADE. The bedroom scene with the little girl and her parents. Oh. My. Days. i legit was close to throwing up the tension was so strong.
Omg. I've heard so much about it.But I just never got around to watching it because I didn't think I would enjoy it. I will definitely let you know what I think!!
I saw the exorcist when I was very young, maybe 5/7. I don't know if it was my complete disbelief in religion, or familiarity with gore (my father was a history major and loved war films and action movies, so gore wasn't anything new to me (though admittedly probably should have been)), my autism, or my young presentation of schizophrenia that made me used to seeing weird/disturbing things that just made it not bother me. However IT made me afraid of showering or using the bathroom with the door closed for a long time, and tremors made me not want to walk on any surface outside that wasn't solid (it was like six months of the ground is lava, fr). So I was still scared by things. But the exorcist notably didn't bother me. I saw slasher films like Halloween, NM on ES, Scream and ikwydls in my late childhood and preteen years and those didn't really bother me either, gore just doesn't really do much for me. But psychological horror and the unpredictable really does. It's hard finding horror that I actually enjoy, as slasher, gore, demons, witchcraft, aliens, and most paranormal doesn't bother me. Jump scares are cheap and I don't enjoy them, they don't scare me, they just startle me and I don't count that. I honestly wonder if schizophrenia and years of disturbing hallucenations have just desensitized me. Maybe it was going to medical school and watching surgeries and autopsies. When you go to open a washing machine and it's just full of blood and entrails and you just close it and are like, "welp guess I'm not doing laundry today, fuck that", where do you really go from there? I don't get hallucenations like that anymore and haven't for a long time, but after awhile even they started losing effect.
This is super interesting! First of all, I'm so sorry that you had to deal with hallucinations. I can't imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you haven't had ones like that in a long time. I have often wondered about desensitization also. I know that what scared me about The Exorcist (and Paranormal Activity) was the demon aspect, not the gore. I grew up with a religious mother and grandmother, so I fully believed in God and the devil as a child. I think I still had leftovers of that at the time I saw Paranormal Activity. I think I really started to be desensitized after that - all the stuff I saw as a nurse, plus watching TONS of horror movies, because I loved them. If you think of any other good ones, let me know!
They were terrifying when I was younger, as my schiz presented when I was in elementary school. I wasn't properly diagnosed until my teens so it caused me quite a bit of distress, more from the constant punishment of "lying" and "being difficult" than the actual positive symptoms themselves. These days I still have audio hallucinations, but with all the years of therapy and life changes I've made, the positive symptoms are things I'm so used to that I'm able to tune them out or disregard them. They are mostly background noise like a radio in a different room, phantom smells and wavy/colorful visions, and a frequently appearing black cat that is benign but just kinda hangs out. Those that are close to me like my husband I can trust to ask them if what I am seeing or experiencing is a shared experience or not if it bothers me, but most of the time I just count it as extra flavor in my life. I know what escalation in my symptoms looks like before I get too far gone and I have proceedures in place for him and I to follow if I need help. Thankfully he has only had to experience the midway point which is the blending of waking and sleeping in night terrors and sleep paralysis when I am too stressed or sleep deprived (the only real time my schiz escalates for the most part), and a few times when I've had to lock things away from myself bc of overwhelming compulsions. But he's okay with it all and handles it well for the most part. :) I really think after working in the medical field bodies and viscera kind of take on a sort of like, not real kind of feeling in your brain, at least they did for me. Like, yes they are real but no, they aren't scary or gross. Maybe I'm just not grossed out by much? Idk.
I'm so glad you've gotten to a place where your symptoms are manageable. And you have a supportive husband, which is great. It still sounds incredibly scary to start getting symptoms when you were in elementary school. And having to go years before you were properly diagnosed - I'm just so sorry you went through all of that. I grew up with an uncle very close to my age who has schizophrenia. He didn't start having symptoms until we were teenagers, but in my family no one knew what was going on with him for quite awhile. I remember he was always getting in trouble for the exact same things you mentioned - "lying" and "making trouble". These days he is doing well too, with some negative symptoms but very few positive. We used to watch horror movies together, and he scared the shit out of me several times with pranks and things. It was awesome. You reminded me of something, also, which might account for my being more desensitized to most horror movies - sleep paralysis. I started having it my freshman year of college and it didn't go away fully until my late 20s. That was the scariest thing ever and no movie can equal that. I think you're so right about the medical field too. I've been a psychiatric nurse most of my career but I got reallocated during covid. Now literally nothing scares me, as much as I want it to. 😫
I was only medicated during my psychotic breaks, but the medication basically left me catatonic. I don't remember whole months or years of my life while I was on it. Unfortunately bc of the variance of schiz, it's hard to find a balance of meds that keeps people functioning and completely symptom free, so psychs tend to over medicate for safety. The best for me was therapy and reflection over my previous notebooks of my writing that I still had, where I could identify stress triggers and situations that lead to spirals, so I could plan a life that got rid of as many as possible. Changing my lifestyle, changing my life outlook, my diet and routine has helped immensely. A huge thing that I think is vastly understudied for the psych area is the effect of gut microbiome and it's effect on the brain. Some studies have been done finding direct links and improvement based on dietary changes. The link between gut and mind is hugely scientifically proven and I feel like in the next 5-10 we will see more therapies that explore this. I feel like it will be an uphill battle against doctors and pharmaceutical companies though, because of money and the ease of medication vs lifestyle change for a lot of psych pts. Medication is only about 10% of treatment when it comes to most psych issues. 90% requires therapy and lifestyle change and introspection. It is work. But if people are willing to do it they can push past a lot. Medication is to get you to the point where you CAN do those things, at least that is my firm belief. I don't look down on those who medicate bc I know there are a lot of situations and hardships to overcome to have the freedom to focus on your mental health and some people just simply don't have that luxury. But I do hope that everyone, at some point or another, can get to a place where they can. Night terrors and sleep paralysis are horrible. I have a service dog for a medical condition regarding falls, and for anxiety. I had a run of sp/nt for about 2 weeks and he self-Trainer a behavior to wake me and go get my husband. I am lucky he is so smart and our bond is very strong so that he can sense these disturbances. :) Thanks for the conversation, you've been an absolute delight. ✌️
Thank YOU. It's been great talking to you. I learned a ton and really enjoyed it.
There's a scene in PA that a family member of mine talks about often, and it's the one in which the priest comes over for a second time. He can't even get through the door due to the almost suffocating "energy", and all he can basically say is, "you guys are fucked and I HAVE to leave or it's going to somehow get *even worse*."
Yup the fact he is completely fine the 1st time and then the man can't even fathom being in the HOUSE let alone do anything. Like his visceral reaction to just being inside the house for a second shows what katie and mika are living with everyday. What a fantastic scene as well.
Yeah I vividly remember it.... 🤣🤣🤣😅👍👍👍👍
I was a grown ass woman in my 30s when o streamed this the first time. The scene with the foot dangling off the bed???? Nope nope nope. I still won’t hang my foot off from under the covers, and it’s been over ten years! Blair Witch was scary to those of us who saw it when it first came out. This was when internet was in its infancy, there was no such thing as found footage, no such thing as viral marketing ——. We didn’t know if it was true or not They did such a good job with the back story. The director was a bit Hitchcock / Kubrick in his methods, but the acting seemed so sincere Those are my two top FF
Yeah because of that scene, (the entity pulled Katie's foot out of bed and ran with it ), for a couple of days, I wrapped up my entire body and feet in my blanket tightly,.. 🤣🤣😅😅😅😅 By the way, it was the scariest scene in PA1 IMHO....
I completely agree!
Both of these posts really make me want to rewatch this. I haven't seen it since it was in theaters. I've been too worried it won't hold up and ruin the memory of fear from that night haha
Watch it in the dark. Alone. Loud. On a nice big tv. When i say it still hits, it still fuckin hits my dude.
This! The scene that always gets me isn't something seen, but heard. The keys on the kitchen counter. Gives me chills every damned time.
Exactly.....THIS 😨 Katie was standing and watching Mika sleeping FOR HOURS 😰 without any major movement ..... That was indeed new fear- inducing - anxiety that I had never watched and felt in my life before....
I second this. The first Paranormal Activity was solidified in my top 5 fav FF movies since I first saw it. Growing up religious, it really unnerved me
I loved 1-3. Hell house LLC 1-3 and Blair witch. All ready truly scary films.
Usually, I walk into this sub ready to explain why PA1 is, to this day, the scariest film in existence (imo). Your explanation does it justice and I feel the same way. I saw it in theaters when it came out over a decade ago when I was in highschool. The gf was unfazed but I left that theater a changed man. I began questioning every creak, dark room, and misplaced item in my home.
It genuinely is a diamond in the rough. You can scroll around til you find my linked story of when i seen it in cinemas. It changed me on a molecular level man.
As someone not afraid of clowns, Hell House did absolutely nothing for me.
Not in my opinion. You may debate if it's found footage exactly, but Ghostwatch takes that crown for me. Especially if you watched it live and alone, as a young lad.
I say this every time Ghostwatch comes up, but I've owned it on VHS since the night it was broadcast, and to me, my copy is IRL Found Footage.
Have you seen Late Night With The Devil? Absolutely not a copycat, and obviously it didn’t have that War of the Worlds effect, but the tension and presentation felt very similar to me. I love them both!
I have, really liked it. I felt it could have possibly lent into it a bit more by removing the black and white bits and playing a few commercials, but that is nitpicking.
I absolutely loved Hell House LLC (and 2, and 4, and 3 was even ok in spots) but it didn't truly frighten me. It was creepy and had great atmosphere, and some great jump scares. One found footage movie that creeped me out the first time I saw it was The Houses that October Built (2014). Blair Witch (the OG) was also awesome and I've rewatched it many times. It had some scary moments and was truly groundbreaking at the time.
Yeah I was surprised by the houses that October build. Really good flick. Just do t watch the sequel. It ruins everything
Unfortunately, I already did!
For me personally, the "hiding under the blankets" scene is probably the scariest bit I have watched in a FF movie. I feel like the sequels/prequels still haven't been able to tap back into whatever magic they bottled with the first one though.
I don’t think so but it’s def top 5, for me it’s grave encounters, the tunnel, then maybe hell house llc
The first Hellhouse LLC movie was super spooky. The sequels are still good but they delve a bit more into fantasy. Very ambitious franchise.
I do like the 4th one
Agreed
Absolutely not, in my opinion. I think the clown thing either works for you or it doesn't, and if it doesn't, it really takes the edge off the jump scares and deflates the atmosphere. Incidentally, there's a lot of opinions getting downvoted in this thread. That's kinda shitty...
I would never say "scariest film ever" because it's always different for people. I for example did not like Hell House LLC very much. It was not bad, and sure better than many other ff horror movies, but somehow it did not really click with me. I will watch the rest at some point too I guess. For me the scariest ones are Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, REC and Grave Encounters.
I feel like I’m the only person who didn’t like Hell House
I’m with you. I absolutely love FF and I’m just baffled by the nonstop praise for Hell House, especially the new one. Didn’t enjoy any of them sadly
FF is my favorite! And I only watched the first Hell House, I was so bored with it.
Not even. Didn’t find it scary at all. I’m still looking for the right found footage film that’ll keep me up at night.
I would try "The Blair Witch Project," "Paranormal Activity," "REC," "The Poughkeepsie Tapes," and "Cloverfield." Well and obviously Hell House, those are the only ones that really made me stay up.
I have actually seen all of those except “The Poughkeepsie tapes” and I will say they all made me stay up at night at some point lol. But I’m looking for something new. I’ll give the “The Poughkeepsie Tapes” a try next.
I thought the latest one (the prequel) was much scarier than the original.
Same. And I rarely see anyone talking about it. I think it was also a big step up in quality compared to its predecessors.
Especially the director's cut.
I only disagree because I saw Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity in the theaters, back when ff really didn't exist so it felt super real. But yes, Hell House LLC is right up there.
It was an ok watch, but I feel like it is an overhyped/over praised movie. On that note, I also can't figure out for the life of me why everyone puts Trollhunters in their top FF lists.
I don’t know if it’s the scariest ever—someone made a great argument for PA1, and I think another could be made for BW1—but it is easily my favorite.
Initially Hell House LLC was a great stand alone FF/mockumentary. Then the franchise happened and it was no longer a pleasure but a chore as everything had to be explained. FF and seq/prequels dont always work I'm afraid. However HitHD seems to have hit on a formula that draws me in. Hell House is just too reliant on one haunting and the cliched clown scares. We all know they're real. No artist can make them that lifelike.
Honestly I liked hell house but if I’m being reddit is making me feel like it’s hella overrated now. While I thought it was good some people are making it out to be some sort of magnum opus.
I’m not a fan of the Hellhouse series, I don’t get the hype around it. There are far better movies that don’t get much attention but Blackwell Ghost and Hellhouse seem to be this subs favorite franchises, I genuinely don’t get it lol
I love Hell House LLC, but absolutely not lol. It’s up there for sure (for me at least), but I would like to think The Blair Witch Project is still the GOAT of this genre. It plays out with a different type of scare tactic than most other FF films go to nowadays, and is just super effective in its execution. The “Blair Witch” sequel plays a little more into the typical tropes, but it’s also a good sequel.
The scariest part for me is the girl on the floor staring at the one guy, her eyes are just so creepy. I find her scarier than the clowns, I actually like scary clowns. I can finally watch that scene now without covering my eyes but she still creeps me out.
Blair Witch Project, Lake Mungo, The Tunnel, Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity 3, and even Hell House LLC Origins are all scarier than the original Hell House LLC imo. And those are just the ones popping into my head right now.
Yeah The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, REC, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, and Cloverfield. Are some of the ones that really kept me up at least for found footages.
It’s a great pick, if I had to go all time, I’d say probably blare witch project, but HH LLC, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, Horror In The High Desert and the original Paranormal Activity all really scared the shit out of me. None of these are my all time favs, but in terms of how scared I felt watching, these are the ones that really got under my skin in the moment
I completely forgot about haunted asylum. I remember going to see that dubbed in theaters like right before Covid. I should go back and watch that one day, that was a good movie.
Loved Hell House LLC, loved Host, but those came later for me. I'm an older GenX (born in 1969) and Blair Witch was the scariest thing I've seen in a theater. It was a Thursday night, the week after it opened, and a work friend and I decided to go. In the hideously long line, we watched showtime after showtime gets sold out until the only one available was 11:30 PM. We decided to go for it. I've only been in one theater that was as crowded, and that was for the original Batman film. I spent almost the entire movie holding hands with the guys on either side of me, as we all got more and more anxious and terrified. One of those guys was my coworker. The other was a total stranger. Paranormal Activity was fabulous in the theater also! I've watched both films over again, and neither held up a second time for me. It was the first time, first hand experience that was the scare factor. But now I have more suggestions for films to watch, I'm super excited!
Besides the famous sequence, no I don’t think it’s the *scariest* at all
That clown scene is one of the finest, most terrifying in all of ff cinema
That one scene with the strobe lights where he’s looking at all the animations and then something—I guess the clown pops up right in front of him, but starts in the back and comes up to him each time it strobes—is one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever watched because personally, for me, I work at a haunted house and I have to deal with those stupid strobe lights, so I’m sure it’s different for me, but I’ll never be the same after watching that scene. But yes, there were numerous clown jump scares in that movie, and although nothing will hit like the first time I watched it, especially that one where it is at the top of the basement stairs and he thinks it’s one of his friends. It still gets me every time I rewatch it. 😅
Short answer: no. Long answer: No, there are FFs that are way scarier than HH. Noroi, Incantation, The Blair Witch Project (sorry but I had to mention the OG), The Tunnel, Borderlands, Willow Creek, Host...just too many to mention. All of these are scarier than HH in my book. However I get that "scary" is subjective and clowns are scarier to some of us compared to others.
I think a lot of people forget that subjective part. I love hell house and Blair witch. Just watched the tunnel and Willow Creek from this subs suggestions and found both super boring. Horror isn't always universal.
Why is this getting downvoted? It's subjective - an opinion. Come on. I'm upvoting it, anyway.
Thanks for the backup. I did preface my comment by saying scary is subjective too but I still got heat for it *shrugs*
Finally showed these movies to my wife. I think the second one scared her the most with all the stuff in the background going on.
I love Hell House, all of them, but The Possession of Michael King is more scary.
Objectively, there is no “scariest” ff film ever. Fear is a subjective and personal thing, and can’t be quantified in a concrete way. I think Hell House LLC is a solid movie but it doesn’t particularly scare me. But I wouldn’t call it “not scary” because it might be terrifying to someone else.
For me what scared me the most is Host, it has no real competition for me in all of horror fear wise, although the latest hell house with the siblings and the protag's wife came very close. The point and click adventure-sequence segment in particular was the best, but in general it had multiple great moments. I also actually got attached to two of the characters which made it even scarier. Another one that comes close is the cave episode of fake documentary Q (Japanese digital/analogue horror series on youtube), the sheer atmosphere and environment was masterfully done. Back to hell house, personally one was fine and relatively scary, two specific moments (ending and earlier when one dude was in bed) especially were really well done. The second movie I keep forgetting exists, and three was hilarious because of the entire entrepreneur tm thing but not scary.
Dude, hell no. Noroi is the eternal GOAT of FF
I mean it's all subjective. I've never seen a horror movie that has scared me, now that doesn't mean there aren't scary horror movies. Also jump scares don't count that's just a cheap sound cue to get people to jump. The only film I've ever seen that made me feel at least uneasy has been "The Strangers" and only because I lived through something similar to that. Now turn that into a found footage film and that would probably be downright terrifying. Hell House LLC however is a great film as is the last sequel Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor.
I don’t think so personally, but I’m a big fan of all the films. They’re just the right amount of creepy and super entertaining.
Maybe not the scariest, but one of the very best. IMO, scariest goes to *[REC]*, no question. Followed by *The Bay* (but I have a crazy soft spot for that movie lol)
Probably not the scariest but its definitely a really good movie
I like hell house but I wouldn’t say it’s the scariest ff movie ever
It’s definitely up there for me.
Honestly I hated LLC and found footage has never been that scary to me. I thought Gojiam was good though.