The scariest movie I have ever seen as an adult (as they are all quite scary as a kid) was "The Haunting" (the Robert Wise version, not the terrible remake). It was psychologically scary, not just fun house scary. There was a little of the fun house type scare tactics in "The Ring," and the psychological premise became a little too muddled for my taste but a reasonably well done thriller. "The Others" unfortunately retread on the "who's dead" premise of "The Sixth Sense," in fact blatantly so. It was well done and Nicole Kidman delivered another intense performance but it left me dissapointed in the outcome nevertheless. BTW, the bulging wall effect in the original "The Haunting" was used in a fun house -- the Haunted House ride at Disneyland (in homage to that film).
I kind of liked "The Cell," but when the screen began sprouting plastic foliage and flowers, they lost me. It broke the tension and it was, after all, another serial killer dead horse.
totally agree with you where 'the others' is concerned, well performed and shot but disappointing overall due to parallels with 'sixth sense' and other such films. To get back to the original topic for a minute...'the ring' had me laughing all the way through! it was the biggest load of tripe that i have ever seen. I expected to be scared witless and instead almost fell off my chair in hysterics...whatsmore, many times i thought the film was about to end a few times and then it took yet ANOTHER unbelievable lurch into the realm of unrealistic stupidity. The only 'scary' bit was the horses off the boat but that was more horrible than frightening. And as for 'you will die in seven days.' well im quaking in ma boots
