Scary movies that don't rely on gore or jump scares?

The Thing has like two jump scares, to my memory. The chest-mouth is the most obvious one, but it's ingenious because the movie makes it startling by playing with the viewer's mind, distracting them, instead of doing that fucking tired "everything goes silent... silent... silent... GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" shtick. When everything goes silent in a "horror" movie, it's a sign there's gonna be a jump scare. You know it's coming, but you get startled as a reflex.

I freaking hate watching a movie like that, because it makes me physically stressed out to sit in my chair, waiting for the next jump scare. Anyways, The Thing is freaking great with the few jump scares it does indulge in.

I actually can't believe I forgot to say this but to anyone who loves The Thing, be sure to check out the other films in John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy. In fact, The Thing is only the first film in the trilogy and it only gets better from there with The Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness.

That reminds me, Prince of Darkness has one of the freakiest jumps I can remember near the end(though it's more due to the buildup with that creepy tape).

I'm certain that John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy is by far horror cinema's greatest achievement. In the Mouth of Madness is my second alltime favorite movie, and both Prince of Darkness and The Thing are in my top 5 of best horror films ever made.

Staying on topic with this, I'd add a couple more titles, mainly Poltergeist and Legend of Hell House. Insidious and Dead Silence also are good recent examples of this genre. Don't get stuck on the fact that they're made by the guy who originated the Saw series, both are genuinely scary but I don't even think Insidious has one drop of blood in the entire movie.

May I recommend Ringu? It's a great movie, and Kenji Kawai made the music, so the soundtrack is awesome, too.

The American remake ain't too shabby either.

The 1978 version of Halloween has very little gore in it, plus a frighteningly effective villain. I would recommend it.

The Shining is another one. I like the Blair Witch Project too.

I'd go with Twelve Monkeys.

Not a horror movie per se, but I always thought that what the protagonist has to go is through pretty madness inducing.

The Woman In Black*

There's one in particular that I really enjoyed and I can't remember what it's called. The plot is basically: There's a girl in an asylum along with about five others, and they begin going missing one by one. The main girl decides to try to break them all out. There's a wonderful twist at the end.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:05:16 AM by RockLeeYourFace

I'd recommend In The Mouth Of Madness, The Ring, and Prince Of Darkness.

Fingerprints, House of Voices, and The New Daughter. Everything I've named in this thread (except Woman in Black and Silent Hill) is on Netflix. And once you watch enough horror films, Netflix will start making suggestions.

edited 24th Nov '12 3:04:38 AM by RockLeeYourFace

The Ward...in which I found the twist to be incredibly trite. I think there are at least FIVE other movies with the same twist.

The Mothman Prophecies. I think it may have one or two jump scares—I can't recall from memory—but overall, it's a delightfully subtle, creepy, ambient, completely GORE-FREE horror movie. It's one of my favourite movies.

Dat phone call.

Event Horizon is pretty scary, but I don't know how you'd rate it for gore. I consider it quite light on schlocky violence (although that may be because it was used more effectively than usual, IMO), but others might disagree.

I'll add a vote for The Ring. The American version, that is. I've seen both and I can honestly say I prefer the remake. Ringu is... not a bad film, but a victim of hype, IMO. The only scene I liked was the one where the main female character is cradling the remains of Sadako at the bottom of the well. The American remake of The Grudge is also good. Don't bother with The Grudge 2. The Grudge 3 was okay.

edited 24th Nov '12 11:28:30 AM by Alma

The New Daughter was a fantastic horror film until things got cheesy in the last five minutes and the ending wound up a total cop-out.

The rest of the movie makes it worth watching, though.

edited 24th Nov '12 1:53:12 PM by RTaco

Event Horizon is an excellent horror movie with great atmosphere, psychological horror, and it is the only film I can think of that pulls off and captures the spirit of Cosmic Horror. But it is extremely gory. I believe I recall a scene of someone being very brutally murdered in the medical bay...

Scream and Halloween, despite being slashers, don't rely on jump scares, and are surprisingly light on gore (Halloween moreso than Scream), but their sequels become progressively more gory and jumpy.

And, I know I already recommended it, but Session 9 is absolutely terrifying and I can't recall a single jump scare in the whole movie. Really cannot recommend it enough.

edited 24th Nov '12 2:13:00 PM by LizardBite

Scream had its share, and it also had fifty gallons of blood. Not the most, but kind of ridiculous by the standards of the horror revival it started(most of which were watered-down films).

Not one that I have seen yet (though I plan to), but The Omen (the original) has a very high reputation. It's really more of a supernatural thriller, despite the subject.

In The Mouth Of Madness is exceptional - I have difficulty deciding whether I like it or The Thing better.

It also has a Spiritual Successor in the form of Cigarette Burns, which Carpenter made for the Masters Of Horror television anthology. It's a bit gorier (the recurring theme is about how pointing a camera at something traumatic gives the resulting film power, and central film La Fin Absolue du Monde turns out to be Torture Porn of an angel), but nearly as good.

The Omen is still pretty gory, sort of a proto-Final Destination. I guess Damien: Omen II was gorier, though.

Videodrome and Scanners, David Cronenburg in general. There's Blue Velvet as well although its aesthetic is more Noir than horror.

They said without gore.

Yeah Cronenberg is definitely borderline, though his movies have nothing in terms of gallons of blood compared to the more recent gory flicks. His approach to horror and gore has always been more organic, relying more on Body Horror than elaborate bear traps. Much more effective in my opinion too.

Although some of his movies are low on gore (and next to never rely on jump scares) and are amazing : Dead Ringers, The Dead Zone, eXistenZ.

His more recent movies, while not really "horror" movies, also have a great, more psychological bend and very mental in nature. Cosmopolis is a great example, and also one of the best movies of the year.

Wonderng if the "no gore" clause discounts films that aren't too bloody, but are still really violent, or sick in some other way (like The Girl Next Door).

edited 11th Dec '12 4:46:58 AM by LordCrayak

It's not that I hate gore, it's that I'm sick of movies using it in place of actual fear.

If you are ok with a legitimately scary movie that just happens to be gory, I'd recommend Night Of The Living Dead.

It may be famous for its gore, hell, it started the whole gore=scary movement, but thats only because every horror movie since has tried (and, with a few rare exceptions, failed) to imitate it.

Night Of The Living Dead both got me interested in horror and scared me away from it at the same time!