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My lack of love for splatter is pretty well known.  I was chatting with my wife about really scary stuff thats not just painting the walls with intestines and splat.  The two that immediately came to mind are the original Wicker Man and Shadow of the Vampire.  Can anyone help me find a couple more?
-Ed

Halloween (1978) - It's a bit bloody here and there, but as a slasher film there's nothing too vivid.  Just good old atmosphere and suspense.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - It's certainly horrifying but there's hardly any blood or graphic violence.  From what I understand, Tobe Hooper was aiming for a PG rating.
The Haunting (1963) - One of the scariest movies I've seen!

The Black Cat, The Body Snatcher, and the Raven.  Yeah, I like Boris Karloff. 

There's also Changeling (1980).  It has some violence (brief but horrifying), but no gore. 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a silent case study that works nicely and plays with the mind kind of horror.  No gore that I remember. 

Wind Chill has little gore if I remember correctly.  It is also a nice play on conventions and is frightening in the lack of initial understanding. 

The Fog, original seems to be little gore if I remember correctly.  More or less, it is similar to Halloween on the gore factor. 

The Duel.  Trucker chasing driver.  It is pretty minimum of gore but lots of tension. 

White Zombie. 

Actually the first Saw movie I thought was a wonderful theater of the mind movie without much gore. 

Do the classics count?

FRANKENSTEIN comes to mind as a movie with little gore (not Andy Warhol's version, haha).

GHOST STORY (1981) is an adaptation of a Peter Straub novel that is very creepy and if I recall correctly, has very little gore.  It instead relies on classic horror elements.

There are MANY 50's era ghost story movies that come to mind...stuff like THE BLUE ROOM, for example. It seems like it relatively easy to film a ghost story on a low budget, since what did you need in the way of fx?

The first OMEN movie had horrific elements with little actual gore.

Finally, I second the recommendation of Carpenter's THE FOG (another traditional ghost story).

I agree, though..true horror should not rely on gore to be horrific.  The theme is more one of psychology, and gore is easily "ignored," whereas the horrified emotion is not.

Agree 100% about the HAUNTING.
NOSFERATU (1922) is real creepy!
Bava's BLACK SUNDAY.
Bava's KILL,BABY,KILL! Sounds like the title to a slasher film,eh? NOT! It's an excellent-and dam scary ghst story!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp95rIJEffc

Night Of The Living Dead (1968).
Ssssss (1973).

The Others (2001)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Long Weekend - original and remake.

The OTHER (1972)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmMqWkudgA

LETS SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (1971)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4eZD3GiL0

BLOOD AND ROSES (1961)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOvO7aG-65g

1960's EYES WITHOUT A FACE has some very clinical surgery scenes...but the whole film is so beautifully done...it's a classic

You may also want to try...
DIABOLIQUES (1955)
REPULSION (1965)
DONT LOOK NOW (1973).
All very scary!  :buggedout:

Just about all the old Hammer Horror films.  I absolutely love those - Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, don't get no better than that.  Then there's all those great Vincent Price movies as well.  The Haunted Palace is a personal fav'.

The South African feature film Jannie Totsiens [Johnny Farewell] is an immensely scary psycho-thriller with very little blood and no gore but haunts you for days.  :buggedout:

ROSEMARY'S BABY

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?


If you've never watched this before, this clip features a great scene that you might want to save for when you actually view the movie for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=648-2RE4XAk&feature=related

Thanks guys, I have seen a lot of these, but some real good ideas have come up.  Someone esle said Saw 1 was excellent without being a splat fest, Now I have confirmation.

And RC... The Shadow of The Vampire is is about the making of Nosferatu, excellent film if you haven't seen it.  But I like Malkovitch.
-Ed

The Innocents

The Orphanage

The Devil's Backbone

Baby Jane is excellent psycholigical horror at its finest excellence!  :buggedout:



I own SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE and agree....horror and humor in a jugular vein! Hehehe!

More...
SPARROWS (1926) Mary Pickford vs the evil orphanage headmaster-Gustav Von Seyffertitz (thats a hellova name to spell!  :buggedout:).
Sounds like a run of the mill meller drammer,eh? Thing is-this was filmed like it was a horror movie...and damned if it aint!
This trailer really doesn't do it justice-trailers did just the opposite of what the do now-a filmaker who had a shocking film watered down the trailers-and they got hit with the goods inside!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSi0X28N0mc
Another I feel I MUST mention...
Carl Theodor Dreyer's VAMPYR (1931). I wont-nay- cant give you a run down on this film simply because Im not a good writer. Watching this film is  like when you have a dream you are running-but your feet are stuck in thick mud.  You cant escape. And it just goes on and on. The nightmare never ends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sdkdTmNGwY
Watching this clip...you might think this is a silent film...its very visual.

Few that is fun to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDqcvRDTm0

The Miniskirt Murders [Naked You Die] (1968)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvIulrVEmw8

Mill of the Stone Women (1960)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDVVyVWBUyg

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Why have I never heard of this film? I yam so ashamed! MUST SEE!  :hot:

OK- I'll get hell for this-but this film is tense,great music (the SHINING stole the theme music! Dont believe me? COMPARE!)and creepy! This fim has been in public domain for a looooong time-but for its low budget-it's quite scary (to me at least).
The SCREAMING SKULL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9icWSY3fYT4
 The SCREAMING SKULL

Okay, to set the record straight, the movie I was thinking of here was THE SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM (1933).  I've only see it once, probably 30 years ago, so I had just thought it was from the 50's.

Lots of good suggestions in this thread...time to see which ones Netflix has available.

I rememeber seeing MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM =(1944) On a double bill with THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE  waaaaay back in 1971 on Double Creature Feature! For some reason I thought  the Andrew Sisters were in one of the BLUE ROOM fliks...hmmm..mebbe a rip off? I know Lionel Atwill andGloria Stuart were nin SECRETS of the BLUE ROOM (1933)...DAMN I know there is MO! Damn the imdb! I seen an ANDREWS Sisters with-mebbe a short?  :question: I know whatta I know!

Well, Murder in the Blue Room (1944)  (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037100/) apparently has some Boogie Woogie songs sung by a girl group...but I don't think it was actually the Andrew Sisters.

Could that be the one of which you think?

(I don't think I've ever seen this one, I just found it while trying to pin down the one I DID see).

ILL bet yer right! I was about  10 years old-1972-saw MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM-so its been a while! Bet yer right! THANKS!

Ahhh, I had forgotten Vampyr. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-jzblCbsuA

Shock Waves (1977)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Nildtjq0k

carnival of souls,the original version.
vampire circus.
the bad seed,the original version.
rebecca.
the uninvited,the original version.

A Tale of Two Sisters ?

I Thnk he's referring to this-the 1944 ghost film-a GREAT ghost movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siqSUaML-Ig

i'm a she,lol,and yes,that's the one!
i'm barri,haven't posted in quite awhile,but i know some of you from the moviescript threads. :smile:

I couldn't walk around my house at night after I saw Nosferatu. I'd Imagine Count Orlok would be on the other side of the hallway if I opened the door.

The Sadist is a very unsettling film.

Black Christmas
Repulsion
The Exorcist
The Dr. Phibes movies

You got it, mate.  I was, and still am, terribly horrified each time I see this movie.  What makes it even more horrifying is that, as we speak, this type of treatment of a helpless person is most likely taking place somewhere here in America or abroad.

The remake with the Redgrave sisters pales in comparison to this one.  I've never seen anything like this one before.

I'd also like to recommend Patty McCormack's role as little Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed. Making that the film that it was, was that films including homicidal children just weren't around in that day and age, raising the shock value even more. 

But, the way kids behave today in some cases,  makes it rather tame by today's standards.

While minimal in it's gore factor, the atmosphere and Gothic chills of Nightmare Castle from 1965 made it a great movie, that and the lovely Barbara Steele. 

I can also say the same for her earlier 1960 movie, Castle Of Blood, aka Danse Macabre.  She was absolutely georgeous in that movie. In fact, because of her in that movie, I think I'd like to take up wandering the halls of abandoned castles just to see what I can find  :bouncegiggle:

How bout Fiend Without A Face? Despite the fact that when the brains are killed and sounds like a stalling car, it's good

My pick is DeadGirl.  A little yuckiness with the bullet hole wound in her stomach otherwise just creepy and horrific.  Frank Darabont's The Mist freaked me out but had no gore.

Some more

Terror Creatures from the Grave
Nightmare Castle
Vampire Night Orgy (which I can think of at least one thing wrong with that title)

Yes, I have been watching Mill Creek. 

Fiend Without A Face! Good call! WNEW 5's Creature Features back in the day :teddyr:

Oh yes, almost forgot this little number!  I admit that the sounds they made when they were invisible scared me as a kid, and that I had a few nightmares about the creatures.

What really scared me even moreso was when they appeared, looking like little brains with spinal cords and eyestalks. 

I laugh now though, and even moreso at the farting noise they made when their blood bubble out when they were shot, lol  :bouncegiggle:

Another good one that dosen't get mentioned often is Daughter Of The Mind with Ray Milland. He plays a scientist tortured by what appears to the the ghost of his recently deceased 11 year old daughter, or is it? 

You decide in this oft-forgotten psychological thriller.

Thanks for the tip.  I haven't seen Daughter of the Mind.  It sounds like one I would enjoy.  I like character studies where you aren't sure what is real or not.  On that same note, I also like movies that show characters as victims of their own mistakes.  It is especially satisfying with a character that feels they will gain a huge amount in the end.  MacBeth is a classic example with Throne of Blood being a good foreign (non-western) adaptation.

Another one I might not have mentioned is a personal fave of mine, Don't be Afraid Of The Dark from 1973, now re-made and due out this year. I remember when it premiered on TV back then, and I had some good nightmares that night.   :buggedout:

There is a good line in the sand between reality and fantasy in this one, even though the viewer is aware of what's happening from the outset. Very eerie in that 70's TV movie sort of way that can't be reproduced, and highly recommened

I had been seeing this movie in suggestions from Amazon recently and my curiosity has been peaked further with your recommendation. 

"Don't Look Now" with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie comes to mind for me...

Psycho did a pretty good job, and I don't really remember much gore at all.
I've heard that The Human Centipede didn't have too much gore, but was psychologically scary.  I haven't seen it, but it is on my list.

Has anyone said White Zombie? Sorry, I'm too lazy to go back and check, Here's a clip for your troubles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoGrPDP-aAQ&feature=related

It has been mentioned but worth another look at all the time.