Horror movies that are actually scary and not just gore/startles

[Johnny Impact]

Jacob's Ladder
Event Horizon
Paranormal Activity
The Shining
The Grudge
The Others
The Thing (Kurt Russell version)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - this one is Scandinavian, I think, it's in one of those languages that puts little marks all over its letters
Lo - It's as much comedy as terror, but I really liked that the timeless evil was fought solely with wits and determination. Imagine playing a chess game where losing means death.
Phantasm - sure, the Tall Man's plot makes absolutely no sense, but in a way that makes him more frightening, not less.
Let The Right One In

 

[Poetic Nova]

Only Slither scared the hell out of me, it's more sci-fi/horror though.

 

[SquidVicious]

Martyrs. Just watch it seriously. I am not affected by horror films in the slightest but this deeply unsettled me.

Yeah I can definitely relate. I'm just thankful that I watched it on 4/20 so I was baked out of my mind, which really helped dull the brutality, but it wasn't enough to stop it from creeping into my dreams later that evening.

There's a 2008 Australian mockumentary called Lake Mungo that really manages to get into your head with a few scenes, but overall it's more about grief and coping than dread. There's also a Japanese film called Pulse that was really good about slowly building dread, then culminating with a somewhat bizarre finale.

I'll second any recommendation for Session 9, great little film from Brad Anderson, and his 2004 followup The Machinist is definitely worth your time. There's this great scene on a fairground ride that you won't soon forget.

The 2001 film Dagon is a pretty decent movie and will remind you of the opening village part from Resident Evil 4, but if Leon wasn't armed with any weapons. It does kind of cross into the fantastical and there's definitely some gore in it, with one scene in particular that's pretty excruciating to watch (if you've seen the film then you know which one I'm talking about).

I'd also highly recommend the 1932 film White Zombie, not just because it's a pinnacle moment for zombies, but it's also a classic and definitely worth your time. It's even on Instant Netflix at the moment so it's easy to find.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

While not a horror movie per se, 'Requiem for a Dream' was unsettling as fuck. Certainly scared me.

I thought that movie was uneducated pandering garbage that exploited real suffering for cheap thrills. To each their own I guess hehe. All my friends seemed like they were really touched by it afterward, so maybe it really is just me. All I could do was wonder if/to what extent I should be offended lol.

 

[Maeta]

The Korean horror film Tale of Two Sisters. Ok it is abit startles but there is more to it than just that.

That was exactly what I was gonna say.

I had some mates over one night, and one brought that. We watched it after One Hour Photo (which is pretty damn creepy, and not a jumpy thing, it's deeply unsettling and Robin Williams is so good in it).

So everyone (bar me and the guy who brought Tale of Two Sisters) sitting around a bit creeped out. By the end of that, we basically needed nappies. The startles, though, are smarter, because they leave it that split second longer, and you thing the moment has passed, and then HOLY FUCK NO!

 

[WWmelb]

In the Mouth of Madness will always be at the top of my list for this type of horror.
It's dark, has a genuinely creepy story to it, more than a handful of good scares and doesn't rely to heavily on blood and gore.

May Is this even a horror movie? I couldn't tell you for certain. I got it in the horror section, it's got some horrific elements to it...but certainly not in the same "Monsters eat faces" or "Crazed lunatic stabs teenagers" style that people may be used to. The first 2 acts play out like any number of indie film festival movies about socially awkward girls that I've seen...I don't even really want to give away the third act, but trust me, when this movie decides to take the gloves off things get horrifying right quick.

I saw May as a love and conflict story and i fall in love with her every time i watch it. Though it had horrifying elements, it was a beautiful film.

Same way i fall in love with Joon in Benny and Joon every time i watch it lol.

In the Mouth of Madness definitely one of my favourites.

Ju-on (The Grudge) - Scare the piss out of me... really didn't like travelling home alone on public transport that night.

The Omen and The Omen 3. Those two films were amazing.

Blair Witch scared the tripe out of me too when i saw a bootlegged pre-release version of it wayyyyy back when.

The Candy Man. Wow. Might have just been my sincere terror of bees that did that though



Someone above mentioned the french film Irreversible... Wow. What a piece of shit that film was. An uninteresting story played out in a gimmicky and frustrating way and it only got any acclaim or notice because of the rape scene... which was just unnecessary and cheap.

Ahh too many good films could keep going.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Quatermass and the Pit has its moments, more contemplative sci-fi than anything else.

 

[shogunblade]

A movie with blood (But not all of it is from killing people, in fact two scenes that stick in my head have blood coming from symbolism) would be Alejandro Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre.

It is a horror film where there is a deep, uncomfortable psychological aspect to it that makes it quite unlike most horror films I've seen lately. It has blood, but again, two of those bloody scenes come from Symbolism and less from victims.

That's one of the better ones I want to recommend.

 

[unreal51]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

It pisses me off the number of sequels that are coming from that and more are coming

EDIT: After the "Goat" scene in Drag me to hell I classed it as a comedy

 

[Wolveria]

I love me a good horror film!

I can recommend the usual... Alien, The Shining, It, Misery, hell, ANYTHING by Stephen King is pretty damn creepy, if not terrifying.

I also loved the Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, but maybe that's because I loved watching those "supernatural hunter" type shows on TV. They were pretty entertaining and spooky.

Another movie I loved that was incredibly scary... Cube. Made in 1997, it's had 2 more movies made after it, and they were decent. The original is very creepy. A group of people wake up in a room, can't remember how they got there, and have to find their way out through an endless cube maze... with lots of lethal traps.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Event Horizon. A very good scary movie, I watched it when I was a teenager. I think I was so traumatized, that I really don't remember much from it...

 

[algalon]

Silent Night, Deadly Night. Classic horror, turning something familiar and nice (Santa Claus) into an axe murderer.

Ghost Ship is pretty good, although it pretty much rips Event Horizon scene for scene. The opening scene caught me by surprise.

 

[rebelscum]

Most of the ones I wanted to mention have come up, but I'll also recommend:

The Haunting-Amazing black and white haunted house film, that's scary due to a constant sense of wrongness than anything else.

Suspiria/Deep Red-Both films by Dario Argento (Any film by him is probably worth a watch), there's a fair amount of blood but they focus on being scary first. They both also have amazing soundtracks.

The Fog-The original, not the remake!

Dead of Night-A film made up of several shorter horror stories linked by another horror story. Some of the segments are a bit hit and miss, but there's way more good stuff than bad, especially one featuring a ventriloquist's dummy.

 

[algalon]

There's a good Spanish 'handheld camera' type movie called Rec. Check it out.
SHAME THAT THEY NEVER MADE ANY SEQUELS. EVER

It pisses me off the number of sequels that are coming from that and more are coming

EDIT: After the "Goat" scene in Drag me to hell I classed it as a comedy

The squirt scene put the movie right there with Army of Darkness, too ridiculous for words. It was classic Raimi, with the quick closeups and almost cartoonish effects and camerawork, like a comicbook come to life, pausing on each key scene so the audience could soak in every "panel". It's one of those movies where art direction trumped telling a cohesive story, causing it to fall flat.

Oh, and Dead Silence is good. It's kinda like Child's Play with more creepiness, less gore, and a bit less obvious villain.

 

[sarahvait]

Poltergeist (So good and creepy. I only felt they resorted to one slightly unnecessary gore scare. Plus how can you not love Craig T. Nelson? "YOU ONLY MOVED THE HEADSTONES! WHHHYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!")

The Orphanage

The Lady In White (your mileage may vary, and maybe it's more of a mystery movie, but this movie stills disturbs the hell out of me)

The Haunting (not the crappy remake, the original black and white version. The best scary movie with almost no visual special effects. And when they finally do pull out a visual, you're so wound up that it's an eye boggling moment. And some superb acting. The main character's unraveling psyche is really interesting to watch.)

Psycho (Hitchcock's version, but that's just a given)

Ils (Translates to Them. I think this is the french movie America took and remade into The Strangers. Never saw The Strangers, but I thought Ils was pretty good and creepy. Based on a true story too.)