Q&A: Scariest Movie Scenes
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They have sent a chill down our spine or made us turn away in terror. They have caused us to wake up in the middle of the night because of a bad nightmare. Simple but always fascinating question this week: What are the scariest movie scenes you’ve ever seen?
Plenty of movie scenes scared me when I was younger such as all the creepy scenes involving Pennywise the Clown from the TV miniseries It (1990). However, very few have managed to scare me since childhood. One that has caused sheer, primal, silent terror for me is the “behind Winkie’s” scene in Mulholland Dr. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, check out the scene below:
The main thing about it is that it caught me off-guard because nothing in David Lynch’s movie prior to that scene points to anything that horrific. Oddly enough, you do know that it’s about to happen because in the scene, a guy tells his psychologist about his bad dream, and then realizes it’s unfolding as he speaks. And yet you keep staring into that face when it appears and the silence itself is absolutely brutal. The ending of the film is also absolutely terrifying for me as well. Lynch really knows how to get into your mind. But to be truthful, I’ve avoided most scary-seeming horror movies such The Exorcist or The Ring so what do I know?
And now, it’s your turn! What are the scariest movie scenes you’ve ever seen? Tell us in the comments below.
52 Comments
Not really scary, but what of the most jump worthy scenes is when the the dead body floats in the boat in Jaws. It never fails to make me jump. I remember when I was younger being creeped out when Keanu Reeves has all the plugs in him during The Martix.
Those are the two that come to mind right now.
*The Matrix
The bit that creeped me out in The Matrix was when Keanu loses his mouth… a tad creepy!
That the scene captioned above from the Ring totally freaked me out when I saw it the first time. Then that kind of horror weren’t as common as nowadays.
There is also a super suprise scene in Michael Haneke’s Cache that totally hit me off guard in the cinema.
You know I have the disk and have yet to finish that film. Another thing to add to my to do list.
The one with the chicken running around headless?
When Sadako (Ringu) comes out of the TV…I was so scared. Turn off TV gave me the creep afterward, afraid it would suddenly turn on
Seems like a lot of people were creeped out the Ring/Ringu.
The Blair Witch Project scared me quite a bit when I was younger, especially the ending. But then again, it made my friends and I want to go out and try to find our own “Blair Witch” so I guess I was more intrigued than anything.
that scene from The Ring is pretty up there. I’ll also add like every scene in The Shining lol
I really enjoyed The Ring; it’s probably my favorite movie in the genre. The first time I saw it, I definitely felt scared. The second time, I saw it on TV and started laughing. I’m not sure why, but I think I use laughing a little bit like a self-defense mechanism. If I can laugh at something, certainly it can’t be real, right? Ha. ha. ha.
In high school, I saw Saw for the first time and couldn’t sleep that night. It terrified me. I ended up seeing the next two in that franchise and then just stopped. Ugh!
I also found Paranormal Activity to be quite creepy when watched home alone at night. I saw the third one and thought it was pretty scary too, but it loses its effect when it’s the same formula used.
It also seems like the first film in many of these horror franchises are often successful, and then they go and make multiple sequels and they destroy the originality of the first film. I really liked I Know What You Did Last Summer or even Final Destination. But then they went making multiple sequels of each, and it kinda ruined them for me. I think most horror movies are best left standing alone.
I do really enjoy movies like Scream or Nightmare on Elm Street, because I find them entertaining as well. But something like The Exorcist? Well, definitely disturbing. Especially when you learn that people in those films have issues after making them, or that weird things happened on set. I would not want to mess with that stuff. That movie is freaky and I will not be watching it again. Ever.
And a last thought – I’m of the belief that good horror films aren’t getting made today. Perhaps I’m just biased, but I feel like more directors today rely on making horror sequels, or using special effects or gore to scare people instead of relying on actual horror from the old films. Japan’s offered a lot of inspiration to horror films that have hit it off in the States, such as The Ring or The Grudge. I think they know what’s scary better than we do.
Yea I Know What You Did Last Summer, Final Destination and the Screams were awesome as a teenager. Then they decided to make 5 sequels for each… But those movies aren’t scary at all, even when you are a kid.
Kicking it old school and will go with my old reliable shower scene. Still gets me in many ways. When I was little I had to shower with the curtain partially open.
I am sensitive to stuff that terrifies me so I have avoided Ringu and the like – I think I saw like 30 minutes of The Ring and had to turn it off. That screen cap in your post makes me glad that I shut it off.
I won’t even dare renting it in the first place Iba, it’s a very good thing indeed that you turn it off!
Ahah yea I never really dared myself because I’ve heard so much about how it’s one of the scariest film of all time
Well I don’t watch horror movies for a reason Castor! That pic from The Ring movie looks terrifying, that’ll haunt me for months!! For me the scariest will always be Regan’s face from The Exorcist, that film is chock-full of bone chilling scenes!
Ahaha sorry Ruth, didn’t mean to prevent you from sleeping tonight
I never finished The Exorcist… maybe someday 
The scene in “Alien” when Tom Skerritt is crawling around in the ducts. Mother of mercy. In fact, pardon me while I go ahead and shamelessly plug myself.
http://cinemaromantico.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-favorite-horror-movie-scene-ever.html
Good call Nick. I really think it’s one of the best scene in horror movies. It’s claustrophobic and you feel so helpless
And the chestbuster was pretty cool too.
when i was young, it was the scene in the exorcist where the demon is thrashing regan up and down in her bed. she didnlt even have the scary face yet, but just the fact that she had no control of her own body scared the crap out of me.
Yea The Exorcist was fooked up. I tried to watch that when I was way too young ahha. That traumatized me for many years.
The last scene in Don’t Look Now, can’t spoil it for anyone who haven’t seen it. It’s a scene that literally made me jumped.
Also, the surprise ending of Sleepaway Camp, the first time I saw that movie I was 12 years old and that scene haunted me for months.
I hear Don’t Look Now is one chilling movie. I’m intrigued!
As far as recent movies, there’s a scene in the recent French Horror movie Inside that really freaked me out. I don’t know if I’d put it in my list of scariest movies…but there was one scene where, in the dead of night, the scene slowly fades in from black to a woman sleeping in her bed. As our eyes adjust to the scene we see that another woman is standing over her, waiting to do bad things. Sent chills down my spine.
Wow, that sounds super creepy.
It’s lost teeth through the years, but the face-peeling scene, the carnivorous tree scene, and of course the clown from Poltergeist all scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Jaws also terrified me then because we visited the ocean a lot.
I’m pretty desensitized to most horror at this point and have been for a long time, but I can give one odd non-horror answer: the clock scene in Safety Last. My whole body tensed up seeing Lloyd hanging from that clock and my palms were sweating.
Yea I watched Poltergeist last year for the first time. It really wasn’t scary at all.
I feel the scariest movie scenes are almost never the obviously horrifying ones. It’s the really eerie and unsettling scenes where you might not even be quite sure why you are being creeped out to death.
Castor, props for mentioning David Lynch who is really a master at creating these oddly terrifying moments in his movies. Eraserhead is incredibly scary and Lost Highway and parts of Mulholland Dr. are really unsettling
Glad we are on the same page Gibbs! It’s not about jump scares or horrible sights, it’s about that really unsettling mood.
As you know I am not the best when it comes to HORROR. I am a big girls blouse.
But I am still pretty moved by the ending of Kill List and the last 5 mins of [REC]
Great article Castor
Totally agree with your [REC] comment. The last 5 minutes were tense stuff!
Haven’t seen REC but been meaning to. I saw the US remake which is likely not nearly as good.
That’s the most scary movie scenes I’ve seen right there, the image from Ringu!
Ahaha I can’t imagine watching that movie by myself late at night. I would probably forego going to sleep
From a few decades ago, the opening of ‘Candyman’ is pulled off perfectly, while most recently the scene in ‘The Strangers’ where the antagonist appears in the rear of the frame as the young woman is making a glass of water just exhumed vulnerability and worked so well.
The Strangers is pretty fooked up.
When I think of my favourite scary movie scenes I’m immediately drawn to my favourite horror films including Alien, The Exorcist and The Omen.
Alien – the whole section of leaving the Nostromo and walking to the alien spacecraft and eventually seeing Kane getting attacked by the facehugger.
The Exorcist – Regan’s deteriorating face. But the scene when Merrin turns up in the taxi and the cut back to her eyes is truly terrifying.
The Omen – when David Warner gets his head chopped off. Ouch!
Yea one of the main reason I prefer Alien to Aliens. It’s scarier!
I love my horror and scary films but don’t often get creeped out. Black Swan did successfully creep me out though. The scene where her mother’s paintings are all moving and wailing. *shudder* gives me chills!
And that “sweet girl” scene in the dark kitchen was pretty creepy too!
As awful as Signs is, it does contain one scene that I refer back to constantly as my definition of what’s really scary in horror. It’s the moment where Mel Gibson goes into his daughter’s room at night, glances out the window, and sees the outline of a humanoid figure on the roof of his barn. It’s freaky. It’s freaky even though the movie isn’t freaky at all. It’s freaky because the scariest stuff in films always lies in normalcy being out of order. Unless you’ve called a roofer, there’s never a human being on top of your house (except on Christmas). For there to be someone where there shouldn’t be scares the hell out of me.
Recently, The Innkeepers scared me silly with a piano. There’s more graphic and supernatural stuff in the film than that, but with two piano notes, Ti West provides probably the best single “boo” moment of the film.
I’ll second the Tom Skerritt/Alien reference. That still gets me today.
Exactly what I mean Andrew! It’s not about flashy scary moments. It’s about really eerie, out of the ordinary sights that make you really uncomfortable for no apparent reasons.
Seems THE RING is a popular one on this list!
I remember watching it in college with my roommates and RIGHT after the movie ended, the phone broke the silence while the credits rolled. We all just sat there, staring at each other, refusing to answer the phone. CREEPY.
I remember being scared watching The Others in the final “reveal” scene.
Great post here Castor.
Ahha it would have even been creepier if you were watching the movie by yourself
The two most scariest scenes in movies for me is.
Jaws. When the shark tips the boat over and Robert Shaw slides into his mouth and gets slowly eaten. I first saw that when I was 6 and it felt like I was the one being eaten. I still get a little freaked when I see that scene
Irreversible. When Monica Belluci is raped in the tunnel. The Camera does not move once and I end up feeling so damn helpless durring it, just like her character did. I’ve only seen the movie twice. (Second time was to try and conqour my fear),and now I have dreams about it every 6 months.
At age 6! That definitely has to be a bit traumatizing
I’ve heard about Irreversible being kind of messed up. I need to check that movie out some day.
Hands down, Tippi Hedren smoking outside the school in The Birds. “they’re be-hiiind you!!”
Gives me chills.
Bloody good call with Mulholland, Castor! I’d completely forgot about that!
I thought the ‘scary undead Japanese girl’ schtick was getting a bit tiresome until I saw A Tale of Two Sisters. The scene in the bedroom at night where the girl is crawling across the floor it terrifying. The first time in about 3 years I’ve had to pause a movie!
Oh I’m intrigued now!
Fine post and subject. The scenes I find scary in movies tend to be those that creep up on you, but not the jump scares some filmmakers cheat with.
• Ringu, and that ending
• The Changeling, the scene with the appearance of the child’s wheelchair at the top of the stairs
• The Exorcist, the subliminal frames of film Friedkin placed in key moments showing momentary glimpses of the demon Pazuzu’s face
• The Sixth Sense, when Cole is visited by that kid who played with his dad’s gun
• Exoricist III, William Peter Blatty’s masterful set up and execution (pun) of the oh so quiet scene in the hospital corridor — the climatic portion can be found below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH8ynu0jRvY&feature=player_embedded
I’m sure there are others, but these are it for now. Thanks, Castor.
Yea the jump scares are not scary at all, just startling at best and you can usually see them from 5 miles away.
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