The Scariest Sh*t I've Ever Seen

0:01 Voyage. Welcome to watch this tonight. I'm your host, Dan Bettimore. I'm a produced writer of film and television and now a podcast producer. And despite having every streaming service, I never know what to watch. So anytime I watch something good, I talk about it on the show. This way, you'll never have the same problem I do. I watched this tonight. There's always something good to watch. Let's get started. Today. In the show, we are talking about the scariest shit I have ever seen, so I wanted to think, you know, I've been watching from I'm slowly making money through it, the MGM Plus show, which is currently streaming on Amazon, and it's so legitimately scary. There's at least one moment per episode, and I'm like five episodes in. I'm taking me so long to watch it is that I refuse to watch it unless it's like all the lights are off.

1:04 I can really pay attention and kind of lock into it because it's an experience. But I would say at least once or twice every episode there's a moment that makes me go holy shit, like really just kind of sit back in my chair and just freaked out, skeeved out, just it's such an impressive achievement what they've done, and that got me thinking about what are the scariest things that I've seen in both film and television. Because the reason that I think from is so satisfying is that it really integrates character storytelling with true horror, and there's something that's kind of cathartic about that. And so that got me thinking, and I made a little list for when you're in the mood for that kind of thing, right, when you're in the mood for something scary but not like cheap. Right, A lot of scary stuff is kind of cheap. It's not really wedded to character. It's basically just how gross or how freaky can we be that kind of thing? And you know that, I don't think that stuff really ever excites me. So I think this is this list is going to be more so horror films and TV shows that do a great job of wedding character story with horror. So I've got six picks for you. First one is The Haunting of Hillhouse. So this was the original Netflix series. If you have not seen it, it's so good. Everything about it is great. The casting is great, all of the character plots are great, it's genuinely frightening. The frightening elements of it are done in a very elegant way. When it pays off, it pays

2:36 off big. The moments feel earned all it's again it's a synthesis of character and horror. Like the character moments that are built up that are just essentially like a character drama right about this family and very relatable stuff about conflict between siblings and parents, and is then really well integrated into the horror, you know, particularly the mom. The stuff you find out about the mom and sort of what her motivation is and all that stuff. It's like heartbreaking. It's so well done. It's just I can't say enough good things about it. So that was my number six pick. My number five pick is True Detective the first season, so you know, it's it's funny. Now obviously True Detective has gone on. They did the second season, which I defend the second season is pretty weird, but I kind of liked it, and then I the third season, you know, they sort of calmed down because people were freaked out by the second season. But the first season, I think everyone agrees is masterful, and it really it felt like if suddenly you know it became supernatural, it wouldn't have been a surprise. That's how effectively they created this feeling of horror and you know, mystery, and like there's something here that seems more vile and evil than just run of the mill criminals.

3:47 They did such a good job of creating that sensation, and obviously at McConaughey's performance plays into that a lot, because he feels like he's coming to you from the planet Mars. Like. But that first season I think is actually a really good horror show. Kind of underrated in that sense. My number four pick is The Mist, Frank Darabon's two thousand and seven film, obviously like one of the all time just rip your gut out endings, which I won't spoil here just in case you haven't seen it. I did an episode about this on my previous show Movies. I love that no one talks about, so I did a specific episode just about The Mist. It's a totally character driven, totally the antithesis of Shawshank. Thematically, it is the antithesis antithesis of Shawshank. Everything that's happening in that story takes you to and ending that is the opposite of the experience of the Shaw, which I think is kind of true horror, right. It crushes your soul a bit, but it's so good man, I mean, you will not be able to turn away from it. It's if you haven't seen it, highly recommend it.

4:50 My number three pick is The Thing, the nineteen eighty two The Thing, which you know, it's so interesting. You think this when we came out in nineteen eighty two, you would think that it's point somebody would have figured out how to redo it and beat it essentially, and no one has. Obviously the practical effects, the effects of the creature and all that remain just make your skin crawl. But there's just something about it, you know. It's just it's they haven't figured out how to do it again. It's not as it sounds simple in theory, but it's not. It's it really is a one of one, and I think it's still one of the scariest movies ever made. And now my number two and number one picks are more recent. Number two is Midsomar, which I think I walked out at and I like had to be talked off a ledge like I just sometimes you'll have a movie that so affects your mood that it actually like crashes your mood, like you need time to shake it off. And I think that's what Midsomar was for me. The fact that it all takes place like in the bright light of day, I think also makes it way scarier. When things are at night, you can almost in your mind dismiss them like a dream or a nightmare, right, But when something horrific is shown to you very clearly in the bright day sun, it has a different impact on you. It's like you can't hide from it. And that's I think the big thing that Midsomar does great. And obviously the arc of Florence Pugh's character is super disturbing and it's a real sort of slow burn of dread. That's just ratchets and

6:24 ratchets and ratchets. Look, anytime ari Astra makes another movie like this, I don't know, it's almost like it's so good you're afraid to see it because it's so upsetting. But Midsomar, for sure, for me, is one of the scariest things that I've seen in my adult life. It's just really profoundly upset me. And then my number one pick is the Witch twenty fifteen, Robert Egger's film. I remember turning this on and there's something that happens at the beginning of the movie with a baby that was so bracing in its sort of bluntness, like they just weren't hiding from it all. And I remember just being like, there's a feeling with horror films that you get, and maybe this is part of the appeal to enduring appeal of horror, especially as we've become increasingly desensitized as a society. Right if someone really does horror, well, you turn it on and you're a minute into it, and this is what happens to the Witch. You're a minute into it and you're like, I have to finish this just to have the catharsis of resolution, because it's so upsetting, and the Witch does that great, incredible use of a goat. It's so the tone that it accomplished is so impressive.

7:40 It really puts you in a place in time, and it doesn't feel you know, sometimes those movies that are period like that can feel sort of dusty and really slow, and this didn't feel like that to me at all. It's you know, it's so interesting. I think Robert Eggers has done some really different stuff, like he's kind of refused to be boxed in, which is I think great, admirable, but I kind of wish you would do another movie like this because he's so good at it. The which again is like when I think of movies that I turned it on and I was so profoundly engaged that there was just no way I wasn't going to finish it, you know, the which comes to mind pretty quickly. So you know, it's weird. It seems counterintuitive that we as human beings would like this stuff, all that stuff that I've just talked about, but there's something about it that actually weirdly makes you feel good. And maybe it's just well, thank god, my life isn't like the lives of these characters, but it's it is thrilling, and it does sort of shake you out of complacency and it just challenges you in a way that other genres can't. So yeah, those are six picks for the scariest shit I've ever seen in my life. I would love to know what your picks are. I'm sure there's movies that I'm either not thinking over to have not seen. It's also obviously affect by my age and my frame of reference and all that kind of stuff, but those are the ones that jump out for me. So I would love to know what your scariest movies or TV shows you've ever seen in your life are.

9:09 You can always reach me at benamore Dan on Twitter, watch this Len on Instagram, watch This Night podcast on TikTok, or you can join our Facebook group. That is the show for today until next time. Bye bye,