What movies have you seen, either as a child or more recently, that were memorably creepy? I remember one called Picture Mommy Dead. Actually, I don't remember much about the movie other than the song the doll played when the string was pulled. At least, as I remember it, the doll said that. In the opening clip of the movie, it has the girl singing it, though, so maybe I am not remembering it correctly. The movie creeped me out, though. The worms crawl in, The worms crawl out; In your stomach, And out your mouth. The song was an adaptation of The Hearse Song, which is also a bit on the creepy side. I wouldn't sing it to my child at bedtime, anyhow.
The Changeling with George C Scott was a good movie, held yer interest His wife was in it too, forgotten her name
Movies that cannot possibly be true are not creepy to me. The creepiest ones are those that balance right on the line between reality and the supernatural. One I'll always remember is Magic (Anthony Hopkins, Burgess Meredith, 1978), where the ventriloquist's dummy takes on human characteristics. Another one is The Shining (1980). I guess the common theme is the main character dealing with mental illness, and you almost get to enter their minds. It takes a delicate balance to pull it off.
As a kid, apparently my mind was very easily burdened by frightening movie events, to the extent that I woke up from terrifying nightmares. One scene which I will never forget occurred in the original version of "The Thing from Another World". It was a "vegetable man", very big and tall, and the outpost dog chewed it's arm off, which the men carried inside, placing it on a table to study it. As they stood over it lookinbg at it, suddenly the arm lifted upwards, bending at the elbow. Frightened me something fierce! I learned much later that The Thing was played by James Arness, possibly his first film appearance, but not recognizable as the vegetable man. Frank