MovieChat Forums > Magic (1978) Discussion > Is the movie really that scary?

Is the movie really that scary?


I like watching movie with dummies simply because they freak me the hell out. It was on the other night. I wanted to watch it but from what I had heard, it wasn't the best movie to watch home alone in the dark. I watched the infamous trailer and it really didn't creep me out. I must admit though his voice is very creepy.

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I think the creepiness has more to do with people's memory of when it came out. I still think that Hopkins was way more creepier here than as Hannibal, which was a mix of intelligence and over the top evil. This is somewhat different, more shy and insecure, someone scared to grab the brass ring. This was one of the first movies that he had been a featured actor in, and he pulls out all the stops. I think if it wasn't for this movie, he prob. never would've been Hannibal.

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I thought this movie was wonderful!

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I am such a fan of horror movies. I wish I could enjoy this one. I just can't. If this movie were to hit theaters, current day, I would be first in line. This little turd managed to follow me through my childhood into my adult life, and I just can't stand the sight of him.

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It's not as scary as the book, the pace of the film is on the laid-back side. The charactors however are very well developed and Hopkins is escpecially effective in a spiral towards insanity...possibly the best since Perkins in "Psycho". Absorbing and creepy & evocative of loneliness, despair and madness, yes...scary?-nope.

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i love love love horror movies. just saw half of the movie, about 10 minutes before Hopkins & Ann Margaret make loooooove....
:ahem: sorry
So yeah - i thought it was definitely creepy.... very intriguing - was it really split personality or was he actually schizophrenic? IDK. but it was horrific at times, to me anyway. at 3 in the morning it is. i was like "OMG! you've got to be kidding me. Chucky & Psycho mixed... i saw the doll move by itself! eeek creepy... AHHHH! lol but *scary*? what do you mean by *scary*? like - you scream at parts, & you have nightmares & you get done and look under the bed before going to sleep? LOL no it's not scary like that... but it is unnerving... & creepy. GREAT performance on Anthony Hopkins' part.... OMG great!! too great for words. that's the only reason i let myself watch a movie from the middle to the end instead of goin' "i need to rent this & see all of it!"... i just kept a-watchin!
SPOILER TIME!!!!!!
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I love the lighting, BTW - it's so tongue in cheek. at the end with Tony on the chair and there's a spot on him.... there's dark in the middle, and then a lot of light on Fats.... 2 personalities.... then he crosses over the dark to get to the same side as Fats, & they die together.... so poignant & ironic



http://www.unofficialbenhellerfansite.com/bhhome.html

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I think one of the reasons this film was -- unjustifiably, IMO -- a critical failure -- is that many critics were expecting a conventional horror film studded with cheap thrills. But this was intended as an evocation of human psychological disturbance and disintegration and on that level I think Magic is one of the best films of its kind ever made.

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I agree, they were expecting a slasher and didn't get it. I didn't find it scary, but it is creepy and unsettling in places. I didn't like the movie as much as I'd hoped I would, and although it wasn't bad, I still much prefer the book.




Next time you see me, it won't be me

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Depends on what scares you. For me, watching a man's descent into uncontrollable madness like this is pretty damn creepy.

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I found it similar to the most recent The Babadook in the sense that the film is really about the descent into madness of a person. It is terrible that the first murder was of his manager, the person who believed in him, the person he offered him his big break and who cared for him all the time. That was the most disturbing thing of all for me.

I wouldn't say that the movie was scary as in a crappy little slasher film, it was creepy and with a perfect atmosphere and awkwardness very fitting to the topic.

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There isn't much to it... nothing at all scary about it, especially the dummy.

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I thought the movie was more funny than scary.

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more of a thriller.

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I was a teen when I first saw it. It didn't scare me. I enjoyed the dummy. I remember one brutal scene. Otherwise, it isn't terribly bloody or scary. Worth watching just for Hopkins and Ann Margaret.

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