As a father of a daughter, reading Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. It's the source material for the movie Mean Girls and it pretty much freaked me out.

Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but it's all I got.
bill | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 7:46 am | #

I hit publish and immediately think of one more. The rats in Ratatouille. I've joked about it before but the hordes of rats falling from the old woman's ceiling and then all the diseased vermin cooking in the kitchen seriously skeeved me out. One talking rat I can handle; hundreds handling the food made me ill. I think this bothered me more than the mini-holocaust that starts off Finding Nemo.

Can't watch the movie again and we're not buying the DVD. Much preferred Surf's Up.
bill | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 7:52 am | #

The movie "The Others." The pictures they show in that movie made my skin crawl.
Ellen | 10.31.07 - 8:36 am | #

How do you define "scare"?

If it's "nightmare-inducing" or "concerned for my personal safety" then I can't remember being scared by popular entertainment in the last quarter-century. I find 3/11 and 9/11 and 7/7 scary enough, and seek out paragliding or rickety roller coasters in Primm if I want to be scared in my free time.

If "scared" is as broad as jumping back in surprised shock because of the manipulations of good film direction, I did that this summer while watching "Die Hard 4" in the car-chase-in-the-tunnel sequence where they sent a car wreck directly into the camera.
Ted | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 8:50 am | #

The Exorcist....freaked me out. Still does. And there's one scene in the Exorcist III that really creeped me out.

The movie "Se7en"", when I saw it in the theater made me feel dirty when I left.

Oh, and my last property tax bill I received scared the ever living shit out of me....
PJ | 10.31.07 - 9:37 am | #

In 1987, I came back from seeing Aliens to through a thick Delta fog -- when I came to the back door, I grabbed the doorknob and found it covered with snail goo. I nearly wet myself.
The Pathetic Earthling | 10.31.07 - 9:38 am | #

I think I'm gonna restrict myself to the horror genre here in terms of "something in our popular culture." And given that, in terms of most recent good scare, I think Adam's not far off with BWP (can it really be 8 years ago?). If you saw it pre-hype, like I did, with only the fanboy ravings of Moriarty at AICN to inform me, then you know what I'm talking about.

Also? "Hush," Buffy Season 4. Cree-pee. And I think "Home," from X-Files Season 4, is one of the most gleefully disturbing hours of scripted television ever.

PJ, I think I know the scene in E-III you speak of (the nurse in the hospital?), and if so, I agree. The 2004 "Dawn of the Dead" remake had some good scary moments, as did "Frailty" and Hideo Nakata's "Ringu." Scott Smith's most recent book, "The Ruins," has some terrific scares too.
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 10:17 am | #

Surely not the latest, but the one that sticks out most for me is The Shining. My father and I watched it together on the VCR when I was pretty young and had to comfort each other through the whole thing. I think we may have had to break it into parts.
Russ | 10.31.07 - 10:20 am | #

I remember being scared watching 28 Days Later.
StvMg | 10.31.07 - 10:23 am | #

I literally was trying to crawl behind my friends when watching War of the Worlds. I don't remember exactly when (maybe when they were hiding from the probe in the old house?), but it freaked me out.

Although, I am a big wussy and generally refuse to watch scary movies because I know I will suffer from nightmares.
Heather K | 10.31.07 - 10:24 am | #

The Dawn of the Dead remake was okay, but I wouldn't call it "scary". 28 Days Later was probably the last "good scare" I had in the theater. ...and the last moment of truly revolted, afraid for humanity and my own mortal soul, skin-crawling horror was definitely experienced during the preview reel for License To Wed.
Philomena | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 10:26 am | #

I'm going to have to start putting a quarter in a jar every time I accidentally use my spouse's screen name. When the jar is full, we'll replace her broken laptop.
Phil | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 10:28 am | #

Heather K, that was indeed a good moment in WotW.

Russ, like you, I saw the Shining in my living room when I was young (maybe 11 or 12). Unlike you, I tried to watch it alone. When my mom innocently, but silently, came up behind me right after the elevator scene, I nearly jumped through the roof.
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 10:34 am | #

"Open Water." Still gives me the creeps just thinking about it.
Chip | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 10:47 am | #

#1 for me: Silence of the Lambs (the movie) -- and I had even read the book and knew where it was going.

The Shining (the book) also seriously freaked me out.

And flying monkeys are bad (shades of childhood).
cg | 10.31.07 - 10:53 am | #

The bugs that ate people in the King Kong remake were pretty scary.

I'm usually the most scared by things that seem possible in reality, like getting chased. That said, the commercial promos for Panic Room scared the heck out of me everytime they came on because of the scene where they run into the room and are trying to get the door to close while the bad guys are trying to get there before they close. The will they close in time or won't they scares me.

Also in that vein, in the first Bourne movie when the guy comes through the glass window in the Paris apartment makes me jump because it is so quiet right before that happens.
anne57 | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 10:58 am | #

IIRC, the "electronic spiders" scene in "Minority Report" was pretty creepy.

I was never really a horror person, so one of the creepiest film moments I can recall from when I was young was that scene early on in Wrath of Khan when Khan puts the little brain-suckers into Chekhov and that other dude.
Russ | 10.31.07 - 11:13 am | #

I have a suspension of disbelief issue with CGI effects -- it's hard for me to find them scary. I can, however, find them compelling and/or creative. See, e.g., Gollum (moving performance); guy wire scene in Ghost Ship (fiendishly clever). But see Jar Jar Binks (annoying). This makes me worried about the upcoming Darabont-directed version of Stephen King's "The Mist."
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 11:24 am | #

You know what CGI I found scary? Juraissic Park. Hell of a thrill ride.
Adam | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 11:36 am | #

I was kind of creeped out by last night's House.
spacewoman | 10.31.07 - 11:37 am | #

28 Days Later definitely scared me.

Getting roped into watching SAW didn't leave a good impression either -- especially the tricycle/masked part in that creepy basement-type room. Had me freaked out about doing laundry in my own semi-creepy basement for months.

That said, I'm an easy scare.
Michelle | 10.31.07 - 11:40 am | #

HATED the wire thing in Ghost Ship. Wasn't there a similar concept in the original Omen (but with an elevator)? Elevators still vaguely bug me and I don't like to stand in the middle...
cg | 10.31.07 - 11:47 am | #

I only remember being scared by the old woman crawling on the ceiling in Exorcist III. Is that the same scene? Have I conflated it with something else?

The Exorcist is my all-time freak-me-the-hell-out movie. I, too, respond more to the psychological horror than slasher films but I will say The Ring was creepy when you saw the victims faces in the pictures after they died. And how Samara wouldn't stop coming at them? Yeah, I found that effective.
Meghan | 10.31.07 - 11:51 am | #

Adam C - That's another scene that was just....Zoikes! The one I was refering to is when the killer in the straight jacket is talking to George C Scott and while he's staring into the camera all of a sudden turns into the Damian from the first film...and you don't know it...until all of a sudden, he's just there! made my skin crawl....
PJ | 10.31.07 - 11:51 am | #

Dan Simmons's The Terror, which I wrote about here, has some scary stuff. Not the supernatural stuff, which didn't scare me, but the people-turning-against-each-other stuff.

And before that, I think that Life of Pi, when you really think about it, was a pretty scary book.
Anonymous | 10.31.07 - 12:05 pm | #

Arlington Road. Especially the end, which made me scream in my living room. Wish I'd never seen it. This probably goes to Ted's point of 9/11 etc. being scary enough and no need to add to it.

I'd also agree with Bill on the clusters of rats in Ratatouille, and with Russ on the formative years' scariness of the ear-into-brain creature in Khan. My other formative year scare was returning from the play of Little Shop of Horrors, which I adored and hadn't thought had scared me, then opening the cabinet under the sink and finding that potatoes had sprouted hugely, reaching giant tendrils up at the door and around the pipes and all around. Sprouted potatoes still give me the creeps.

Also, watching Twin Peaks -- the Bob reveal episode -- alone in my apartment in London was a bad idea. Ditto Aliens.
Genevieve | 10.31.07 - 12:10 pm | #

I TOTALLY agree about Arlington Road. When we got back to our apartment after seeing that movie, my wife literally made me walk around the house with the fire-poker.
Russ | 10.31.07 - 12:12 pm | #

I *loved* Arlington Road. One of my favorite endings ever.
Adam | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 12:12 pm | #

I have never -- nor will I ever --- watch a scary movie. I know. But I just have no desire to put those images in my head.
KR | 10.31.07 - 12:25 pm | #

Fourths on Arlington Road.

Along with Meghan's contribution (which I'd forgotten about, but, yeah!), that makes 3 very creepy scenes from Exorcist III -- if only the tacked-on ending didn't undermine the whole enterprise....
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 12:29 pm | #

The rats in the ceiling in Ratatouille also grossed me out, although it did occur to me that that may have SOMETHING to do with that possum that had moved into my attic, requiring lots of cleanup and repair work. I certainly get the heebie-jeebies thinking about that.
Jenn. | 10.31.07 - 12:32 pm | #

5ths on Arlington Road.
PJ | 10.31.07 - 12:40 pm | #

Exorcist and especially Exorcist II are all time creepy/scary: a) the sudden nurse beheading; b). granny scurries across the cieling; and c) the killer on the bed talking to GCS with the "Its the giggles that get you through..."

Nightmare on Elm Street freaked out my friends and I back when it came out...

The Ring

Night of the Living Dead (original)

"Mystery Theatre" on the radio when I was a kid (mid 70's) absolutely terrified me in my little bed.

"Talking Tina" from the Twilight Zone
kevbo nobo | 10.31.07 - 12:51 pm | #

House of Leaves, a novel from 2000 that reads like an academic text on a Bad Place experience - and then gets weird. Seriously freaky novel.
Joseph J. Finn | 10.31.07 - 1:05 pm | #

Children of Men left me with a long term creeping dread.

And the Doctor Who episode "Blink" was pretty scary.
Eric J | 10.31.07 - 1:09 pm | #

Possums in the attic? Great, now I have that to worry about.

We had a cat escape out the front door and disappear. Hoping to recapture it, we put a bowl of cat food in a live animal trap on the front porch. After catching two strays and the biggest goddamn possum I've ever seen, we've given up.

To release the possum, I put on my armored motorcycle pants and jackets, heavy gloves, and carried the metal rake to fend it off if it turned on me. Luckily, it just glared and walked off. That was fun at 5am.
bill | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 1:17 pm | #

Let's just say that I do not, repeat, DO NOT, go into the attic alone anymore. And, frankly, it's not that easy to get me up there with someone else. Possum entry and exit points have been sealed up, but I live in fear of going up there and being confronted with an evil rodent.

Also, I note that possums are incredibly ugly. And have sharp teeth. Animated films may attempt to make possums seem cuddly, but they definitely are not.
Jenn. | 10.31.07 - 2:12 pm | #

"And the Doctor Who episode "Blink" was pretty scary."

Definitely. Even better is it didn't require any CGI, used actors *that didn't move* for statues, and had a great tag-line. Brrrrr...that one gave me heebie-jeebies and the willies combined.
jesse | 10.31.07 - 3:23 pm | #

The prologue to "The Twilight Zone" movie terrified me as a child and after rewatching it, and even knowing it's coming, still does.

"World War Z" is more scary concept than scary moments, but there are a few that makes you wonder how well fortified your home would be for zombie attacks.
CW | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 3:33 pm | #

I need to ask my brother-in-law about that. He loves zombie movies, and may well have taken steps to zombie-proof his home....
Jenn. | 10.31.07 - 3:41 pm | #

I've been meaning to pick up World War Z. I loved me the Zombie Survival Guide, but I understand WWZ is less (if at all) tongue in cheek.
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 4:00 pm | #

I've been actually scared in the past few years by a couple episodes of Doctor Who-- definitely including "Blink."

I didn't realize how much World War Z had affected me (it doesn't feel outrightly scary) until I had a zombie nightmare while reading it last summer. That was actually probably the scariest nightmare I've ever had.
Aristophanes | 10.31.07 - 5:13 pm | #

The tongue of "World War Z" is anywhere but the cheek, as Brooks does what seems like a pretty reasonable job of portraying how different areas of the world would react to the crisis. I wouldn't say it could stand as one of the texts in a political science course, but it certainly has some points worth referencing as far as governments reacting to disasters.
CW | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 5:19 pm | #

While a lot of World War Z is pretty deadly serious, there's clearly a fair amount of parody in there--the celebrities holed up in the Hamptons fighting off zombies, and the thinly veiled Howard Dean/Colin Powell parodies.
Matt | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 5:28 pm | #

Oh, man. I know what my brother-in-law is getting for Christmas.
Jenn. | 10.31.07 - 5:48 pm | #

I had to drive home alone along a foggy country road after watching the Dutch version of "The Vanishing" at a friend's house. I was pretty freaked by the time I got home.

I thought one of the charms of WWZ was the way many of the sections moved seamlessly between the tongue-in-cheek and the somber. I have definitely found myself wondering, in odd moments, how long we could last fortified in our apartment. (Not long, given the size of the "pantry"--2 shelves, but I suppose we could always eat the cats).
Philomena | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 5:59 pm | #

"The Vanishing" fascinates me. We all know remaked are generally dumbed-down and ruined for American audiences, but this is the only case I can think of where (1) the original (Dutch) is almost universally considered a 4-star movie, (2) the remake (American) is likewise a 1/2 or 1 star movie, AND (3) IT WAS THE SAME DIRECTOR!!!
Rob | 10.31.07 - 6:26 pm | #

6th (I think?) on Arlington Road. I loved it.

I'm another in the boat of the Exorcist being the top freak out movie. Also, like Megan, I respond more to psychological scares than slashers, and am prone to nightmares, like Heather K. In fact, my reaction used to scare most of my friends more than any particular movie scene.

Also, does anyone else find that they unknowingly mimic the person on screen or try to "get away" (for lack of a better description) from trouble? I get teased quite often by my boyfriend about it - ever since he saw me frantically paddling my feet while watching a scene from Jaws.
tortoiseshelly | Homepage | 10.31.07 - 7:12 pm | #

Rob, I think the studio forced Sluizer to shoot the remake's inferior ending as a condition of his getting the gig. Which is a shame.
Adam C. | 10.31.07 - 8:40 pm | #

I've got a bit of a different thought: the video game, Half-Life 2. It was released about 3 years ago.

I cannot play it when I'm home alone.

Children of Men is scary for similar reasons, I guess. Well, I don't know what happens in the rest of it, I'm in the third level and too scared to keep playing. But the first two levels are similar to Children of Men but with Aliens.

House of Leaves is a cool example. Not the same kind of "scare" though...more like a creeping uneasiness.
Christy | 10.31.07 - 9:47 pm | #

I don't know why I capitalized Aliens. I didn't mean the movie---I just meant aliens.
Christy | 10.31.07 - 9:48 pm | #

I hate scary movies, but love scary books - I'm a huge Stephen King fan. Go figure.

I'm amazed at how many comments there are without KCos telling the story of how we went to see a midnight showing of Scream in Manhattan when it came out. We were so proud of ourselves that we were going to see a scary movie without men to protect us. We made it through the first 20 minutes (the Drew Barrymore sequence) and when Neve Campbell started to go into her house and the scary music started up, we ran out of the theater, ran all the way home and locked all the doors and windows. It's the last time I ever tried to see a scary movie in the theater. I finally watched Scream all the way through, and only managed it by watching it in a brightly lit living room in 15 minute chunks over the course of a weekend.
Marsha | 10.31.07 - 10:17 pm | #

Really nothing since the flying monkeys.
Ron | Homepage | 11.01.07 - 12:22 am | #

I don't like scary movies much, but the first two Scream movies (not so much the third one) are both great because they manage to simultaneously send up traditional scary movie conventions and deliver effective scares themselves. That Drew Barrymore sequence in particular is excellent.
Matt | Homepage | 11.01.07 - 12:52 am | #

The initial vampire assault on Barrow, AK in 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, and the subsequent hunting of the survivors, are the first time I've been scared at the movies since ALIEN. The ending ruins the movie, but up until then, scary as hell.

I second the votes for "Blink", too.
Kevin | 11.01.07 - 1:36 am | #

I don't know if it counts, but watching Everett (from the Bills) go down was terrifying.
Jordan | 11.01.07 - 6:09 pm | #

In recent pop culture, I'm going with King's Lisey's story, and Hostel which both scared me and grossed me out a little (or a lot). I am also very scared of clowns in drains in Maine. I remain Very scared of Pennywise indeed.
Jim Bell | 11.06.07 - 2:18 pm | #