What a Nightmare!

For several months I had a semi-reoccurring nightmare, where the world was ending (in various ways). They always frightened me so badly that I woke up still frightened, and it took me a while to shake off that fear feeling.

We just got back from seeing War of the Worlds... and I walked out of the theater with that same feeling, it took me a good hour to shake it off and I'm still a little bothered. The movie itself embodied the catastrophic change in the world that I must be terrified of... I guess the end of every thing we've ever known and/or taken for granted, when we will be completely and utterly without control of anything.

There are a handful of movies that I have left from that left an emotional mark. I'm never satisfied with a film unless I'm at least emotionally aroused to some degree, but to still feel it for so long after, to me, is the mark of one fine movie.

I can only remember two others that left such an impression... Saving Pvt. Ryan and Titanic. What movies rocked your world?

I've had nightmares like you mention. But honestly? The movie that has left me the most unsettled for some reason was "Stand By Me" when I was like... 11 or something. I saw it on TV and it just left me with this funny feeling...

Wow you guys make me feel OLD. I say anyone born in a year that I can remember makes me feel old . Stand By Me on TV when you were 11? I was about 12-ish when it was in theaters!

They might be corny but Beaches (never take your friends for granted!) and A Walk to Remember (the love of parents for thier children).

I saw The Exorcist when I was 10 and for about a year when I tried to go to sleep it felt like the bed was shaking.

Stephen King's "Pet Sematary", for some reason. I had nightmares after reading the book, and then from watching the movie.

Originally Posted by consumercity

I saw The Exorcist when I was 10 and for about a year when I tried to go to sleep it felt like the bed was shaking.

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Funny - that movie really bothered me when it was showing in movie theaters, but I just recently bought the "remastered" DVD, and it didn't seem half as scary as it had back then.

Originally Posted by Sooz123

Wow you guys make me feel OLD. I say anyone born in a year that I can remember makes me feel old

. Stand By Me on TV when you were 11? I was about 12-ish when it was in theaters!

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If it helps I look about 8 years younger than I am on top of it! I still recall being carded to see movies...

In my adult life, I can only think of one movie that really disturbed me: Sixth Sense. I had to sleep with the light on for weeks and started having panick attacks when going to bed.
Other scary movies disturb me, but I'm usually ok as long as I don't watch them late at night. For example, I started watching Stephen King's IT late at night and I had to stop. I watched it again the next day, during the afternoon and it didn't really scare me.

When I was a kid, I was scared of so many movies. I can remember being terrified of Goonies (that scene where the mean people threatened to put the kid's hand in a blender) and the Disney version of A Christmas Charol (the ghost of Christmas future really freaked me out!) Actually, just about everything scared me when I was a kid!

I do not LIKE scary movies, I know a lot of people do, but I don't like putting myself through that! That said, my sister was in the habit of bringing videos to watch when she and her husband came to visit my mom. We lived up the hill from mom in a mobile home at the time and I'd go down and visit and watch a movie with them.

One movie she brought was "Ghost and the Darkness." Walking up the hill in the dark after it was over I kept having to tell myself "There are no lions in Cook Springs, there are no lions in Cook Springs, there are no ..."

I'm still not overly fond of lions. Like tigers though .

Cindy

Well, if you don't like scary movies, don't see The War of the Worlds. It's not ghost or gore scary, but the alien tripod things are way freaky.

What about other movies, not just scary ones, that you walked away feeling affected by? I was married to a guy I didn't love when I saw Titanic for the first time... the "trapped Rose" scenario really hit me hard and I felt sorrowful for hours afterward... It didn't help that I went with him, and didn't want him to see me cry so I didn't get to release all the emotion it drudged up at the end.

Originally Posted by jcat

Stephen King's "Pet Sematary", for some reason. I had nightmares after reading the book, and then from watching the movie.

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And for this reason I cannot read any of Stephen King's novels. The movie didn't scare me in the least, and I saw it at a sleepover with a bunch of charged up preteen girls, but when I read the book FOUR YEARS LATER I had insomnia for a week. I couldn't put the book down, but I couldn't sleep either.
Sooz, I'm like you, I like my movies to make me think, but I would be a little freaked out too if it left me that unsettled.

I would say Schindler's List, The Hours, Sylvia, Leaving Las Vegas, The Believer and The Pianist all had a profound impact on me for different reasons. I'm sure there are many others that have as well - I just can't name them off the top of my head.

Originally Posted by jcat

Funny - that movie really bothered me when it was showing in movie theaters, but I just recently bought the "remastered" DVD, and it didn't seem half as scary as it had back then.

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I saw the Excorist on video about two years ago and truthfully I thought it was lame.

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

I saw the Excorist on video about two years ago and truthfully I thought it was lame.

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I guess the standards for horror films have been raised since 1973!

I remember the first movie that scared me - Jagged Edge - I think it was that murder scene and I remember vaguely that the killer came through the window...my bed was near a window and I had a hard time getting to sleep at night, thinking he would come through my window! I was only about 10 at the time.

Horror movies...ahh I am not into them, I prefer psychological thrillers. I think they are way more freakier. I watched the first Friday 13th movie a while ago and it was soooo stupid.

I, too, didn't like the exorcist either, didn't think it was scary. I thought The Omen was scarier.

Originally Posted by Kiwideus

I remember the first movie that scared me - Jagged Edge - I think it was that murder scene and I remember vaguely that the killer came through the window...my bed was near a window and I had a hard time getting to sleep at night, thinking he would come through my window! I was only about 10 at the time.

Horror movies...ahh I am not into them, I prefer psychological thrillers. I think they are way more freakier. I watched the first Friday 13th movie a while ago and it was soooo stupid.

I, too, didn't like the exorcist either, didn't think it was scary. I thought The Omen was scarier.

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One of my friends ruined the whole "Omen" series for me. Four of us went to see the first one, and went out for coffee and a bite to eat afterwards. D., always a wisea**, ordered "grilled Damien on toast"! Whenever one of the Omen films is broadcast, I have to think of the expression on the waitress's face that night!
D. was on TV today! I saw her in the audience when Bon Jovi was playing in Philly (our hometown) - her husband is 6'8", and kind of hard to miss. I'm definitely going to call her tomorrow.