How about the original Night of the Living Dead? I watched it back in the 1970s and it creeped me out! The Exorcist never did. I found it ridiculous though fun.
I saw The Exorcist on video at an early age and a few times since, but I didn't watch the original Night of the Living Dead until I was a bit older. I always thought The Exorcist was ridiculous, I actually found it hilarious and not in the slightest bit frightening, but then no horror movies have ever frightened me. When it was in the cinema however it had an incredible marketing campaign and there was even people who claimed to feel stuff just for watching it lol!
The Exorcist further demonised
Ouija boards, but amazingly
Parker Brothers used to sell them complete with instructions on how to get them work as a children's toy until they were controversially withdrawn, many people claimed it was because they really were dangerous and actually worked, but it's strange because officially spirits and such paranormal phenomena doesn't exist so surely no-one could have any cases against Parker Brothers in a court of law? As someone who was a paranormal investigator for years from 1996 however I have never seen hard evidence of a
Ouija board actually really working without being able to eliminate the possibility of at least one person purposely pushing it, but of course some people believe that a spirit actually controls where it's pushed subconsciously anyway. I've had situations where I watched people not in our team like a hawk when it sometimes appeared to work, but it would never work when I had my finger on the
planchette and the there was never any specific information obtained that someone couldn't have made up. In my opinion when I tried the person(s) faking it couldn't risk pushing it because they knew I was both feeling and watching, they also knew I was experienced. I have also tried it with a team of people I trust on various occasions and got absolutely nothing either. I'm not saying it never genuinely works, only that I've never seen hard evidence that no-one was faking it and I am not a general sceptic because I've witnessed and collected plenty of hard evidence of paranormal activity that can't be explained by current science. Incidentally I've also witnessed various alleged spirit clearances using various different techniques including what some would call an exorcism, I have mixed opinions, but I can certainly say it's nothing like The Exorcist.
PS: It's not officially a horror movie, but the most frightening movie I have probably ever seen is called
Threads (1984) that I saw as an older teenager. Threads extremely realistically dramatises what a multiple nuclear strike would be like in the UK, it's also very educational and unlike most horror movies this is something that could realistically one day happen. In a way it is a horror movie because it shows the true horror of a nuclear war and how it effects ordinary families. It is somewhat dated now, but a lot of the emergency procedures in the UK like local council's emergency committees and the way they take control of government in the area is still very real. What amazes me is even though it's much more frightening than many 18 certificate horror movies, it's only a 15 certificate, would you want a 15 year old watching this? I can't link to it here under PG-13 rules or even detail some of the scenes, but there's shocking clips on Youtube including the bomb scene if you search for the name of the movie, please be warned however, it's not nice to watch. The controversial USA equivalent is
The Day After (1983), although as a UK citizen it's not quite as frightening as Threads, it's also nowhere near as educational and in my opinion it's not as well acted either even though it has a higher budget, but perhaps people who live in the USA might find it better, I am again surprised at the certificate however which in this case is only a 12, in my opinion it's definitely not suitable for any children. Finally there's an animated movie called
When the Wind Blows (1986) that was based on an earlier best selling book of the same name by
Raymond Briggs in 1982 that depicts a kind, old fashioned and naive elderly couple before, during and after a nuclear strike, I normally don't like watching cartoons and even though it's somewhat comical, it most certainly isn't for children and it left a shiver down my back a lot more than anything that's officially called a horror movie, I highly recommend it because it is stunning. What is most shocking is I can actually post a trailer of it here without worrying about breaking any PG-13 forum rules because the entire movie is amazingly only a PG certificate:
(Yes, the music is performed by
David Bowie)
