The Scariest Sh*t I've Ever Seen

Inspired by From, I break down the scariest films and TV shows I've ever seen in my life. What are your scariest movies and TV shows? Let me know. You can reach out anywhere listed below.

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Voyage. Welcome to watch this tonight. I'm your host, Dan Bettimore.

(00:22):
I'm a produced writer of film andtelevision and now a podcast producer. And
despite having every streaming service, Inever know what to watch. So anytime
I watch something good, I talkabout it on the show. This way,
you'll never have the same problem Ido. I watched this tonight.
There's always something good to watch.Let's get started. Today. In the
show, we are talking about thescariest shit I have ever seen, so

(00:44):
I wanted to think, you know, I've been watching from I'm slowly making
money through it, the MGM Plusshow, which is currently streaming on Amazon,
and it's so legitimately scary. There'sat 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 itunless it's like all the lights are off.
I can really pay attention and kindof lock into it because it's an

(01:08):
experience. But I would say atleast 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, andthat got me thinking about what are the

(01:29):
scariest things that I've seen in bothfilm and television. Because the reason that
I think from is so satisfying isthat it really integrates character storytelling with true
horror, and there's something that's kindof cathartic about that. And so that
got me thinking, and I madea 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

(01:53):
kind of cheap. It's not reallywedded to character. It's basically just how
gross or how freaky can we bethat kind of thing? And you know
that, I don't think that stuffreally ever excites me. So I think
this is this list is going tobe more so horror films and TV shows
that do a great job of weddingcharacter story with horror. So I've got

(02:15):
six picks for you. First oneis The Haunting of Hillhouse. So this
was the original Netflix series. Ifyou 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'sgenuinely frightening. The frightening elements of it
are done in a very elegant way. When it pays off, it pays

(02:36):
off big. The moments feel earnedall it's again it's a synthesis of character
and horror. Like the character momentsthat are built up that are just essentially
like a character drama right about thisfamily and very relatable stuff about conflict between
siblings and parents, and is thenreally well integrated into the horror, you
know, particularly the mom. Thestuff you find out about the mom and

(02:59):
sort of what her motivation is andall that stuff. It's like heartbreaking.
It's so well done. It's justI 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 youknow, it's it's funny. Now obviously
True Detective has gone on. Theydid the second season, which I defend
the second season is pretty weird,but I kind of liked it, and

(03:20):
then I the third season, youknow, they sort of calmed down because
people were freaked out by the secondseason. But the first season, I
think everyone agrees is masterful, andit really it felt like if suddenly you
know it became supernatural, it wouldn'thave been a surprise. That's how effectively
they created this feeling of horror andyou know, mystery, and like there's

(03:43):
something here that seems more vile andevil than just run of the mill criminals.
They did such a good job ofcreating 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,

(04:08):
obviously like one of the all timejust rip your gut out endings, which
I won't spoil here just in caseyou haven't seen it. I did an
episode about this on my previous showMovies. I love that no one talks
about, so I did a specificepisode just about The Mist. It's a
totally character driven, totally the antithesisof Shawshank. Thematically, it is the

(04:30):
antithesis antithesis of Shawshank. Everything that'shappening in that story takes you to and
ending that is the opposite of theexperience of the Shaw, which I think
is kind of true horror, right. It crushes your soul a bit,
but it's so good man, Imean, you will not be able to
turn away from it. It's ifyou haven't seen it, highly recommend it.

(04:50):
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, youwould think that it's point somebody would have
figured out how to redo it andbeat it essentially, and no one has.
Obviously the practical effects, the effectsof the creature and all that remain

(05:11):
just make your skin crawl. Butthere's just something about it, you know.
It's just it's they haven't figured outhow 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, andI think it's still one of the scariest
movies ever made. And now mynumber two and number one picks are more
recent. Number two is Midsomar,which I think I walked out at and

(05:33):
I like had to be talked offa ledge like I just sometimes you'll have
a movie that so affects your moodthat it actually like crashes your mood,
like you need time to shake itoff. And I think that's what Midsomar
was for me. The fact thatit all takes place like in the bright
light of day, I think alsomakes it way scarier. When things are

(05:56):
at night, you can almost inyour mind dismiss them like a dream or
a nightmare, right, But whensomething horrific is shown to you very clearly
in the bright day sun, ithas 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 thearc of Florence Pugh's character is super disturbing

(06:19):
and it's a real sort of slowburn of dread. That's just ratchets and
ratchets and ratchets. Look, anytimeari Astra makes another movie like this,
I don't know, it's almost likeit'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'veseen in my adult life. It's just

(06:41):
really profoundly upset me. And thenmy number one pick is the Witch twenty
fifteen, Robert Egger's film. Iremember turning this on and there's something that
happens at the beginning of the moviewith a baby that was so bracing in
its sort of bluntness, like theyjust weren't hiding from it all. And
I remember just being like, there'sa feeling with horror films that you get,

(07:04):
and maybe this is part of theappeal to enduring appeal of horror,
especially as we've become increasingly desensitized asa society. Right if someone really does
horror, well, you turn iton and you're a minute into it,
and this is what happens to theWitch. You're a minute into it and
you're like, I have to finishthis just to have the catharsis of resolution,

(07:25):
because it's so upsetting, and theWitch does that great, incredible use
of a goat. It's so thetone that it accomplished is so impressive.
It really puts you in a placein time, and it doesn't feel you
know, sometimes those movies that areperiod like that can feel sort of dusty

(07:46):
and really slow, and this didn'tfeel 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 kindof 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 sogood at it. The which again is

(08:07):
like when I think of movies thatI turned it on and I was so
profoundly engaged that there was just noway I wasn't going to finish it,
you know, the which comes tomind pretty quickly. So you know,
it's weird. It seems counterintuitive thatwe as human beings would like this stuff,
all that stuff that I've just talkedabout, but there's something about it
that actually weirdly makes you feel good. And maybe it's just well, thank

(08:31):
god, my life isn't like thelives of these characters, but it's it
is thrilling, and it does sortof shake you out of complacency and it
just challenges you in a way thatother genres can't. So yeah, those
are six picks for the scariest shitI've ever seen in my life. I

(08:52):
would love to know what your picksare. I'm sure there's movies that I'm
either not thinking over to have notseen. It's also obviously affect by my
age and my frame of reference andall that kind of stuff, but those
are the ones that jump out forme. So I would love to know
what your scariest movies or TV showsyou've ever seen in your life are.
You can always reach me at benamoreDan on Twitter, watch this Len on

(09:13):
Instagram, watch This Night podcast onTikTok, or you can join our Facebook
group. That is the show fortoday until next time. Bye bye,