Scariest Film Scenes

[Guest Brian M]

Any scenes that really scared the b-Jesus out of you when you first saw them? The creature emerging from the stomach in Alien, maybe? Michael Myers sitting up from behind Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween? The head with the spider's legs in The Thing? The creature at the plane's window in Twilight Zone, the Movie? Donald Sutherland pointing out the humans and making THAT noise in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

What makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand-up!?!

[loz]

There was a definite heebie jeebie element to the women crawling out of the TV in 'The Ring'

[loz]

OK given it some thought now and the other ones off the top of my head (and I guess these depend on how old you were when you watched them)

The Exorcist - probably a few to choose from here but maybe the main one being the stabbing of her nether regions with a crucifix.

Jaws - when that head appears - I sh*t myself first time round!

The very last scene in The Blair Witch Project which is in some sort of abandoned concrete/stone hut with the bloke facing the wall

The Dead Zone - where the copper commits suicide mouth first onto the scissors in the bath tub

Marathon Man - in the dentist's chair

Jacob's Ladder where the horn comes through the girl's mouth

The Birds when the farmer's eyes get pecked out

Thw Wicker Man - Woodward getting toasted in the man

Full Metal Jacket - Pyle's suicide

[midlandblue]

The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[Elliott]

Yep, definately the 'coming through the telly' Ring moment.

When the skeleton is found in the wreckage in Jaws.

In The Thing, where they try to resuscitate that bloke, only for his chest cavity to turn in to teeth, and his head to fall to the floor and grow legs!

The scene in The Shining, where the little boy is riding around the hotel corridors, and you see the images of the dead twins, and blood pouring from the walls.

ARRRRRRGHHHH!

[The Moos]

The head-thing in Jaws was pretty scary.

Paris Hilton acting in The House of Wax was another scary experience.

There is quite a few scenes in Nosferatu (the original from 1922) that are quite scary.

In Alien there's a scene in the end when Ripley has blown up the big ship and is walking around in the shuttle (or whatever it is called). As she is preparing to go to sleep we can see the Alien lying there but she don't notice it until it moves. I think that is kinda a scary.

But the most scary scene in Alien is when that guy (can't remember his name) is in the ventilation shaft looking for the Alien. That is one scary scene. You can hear it coming because of the beeping of the sensor-thingy and the woman is almost crying because she's so scared. It really makes my heart pump fast.

Psycho - shower scene - brilliant

In the movie The Others there are a few scenes with some scary music. It really sends chills down my spine.

[loz]

Sorry to change the subject slightly but am I the only person who can never be bothered watching the Alien films?

It's the same with the Indiana Jones films.

Just about everyone seems to love watching them and I just could never get into them.

[The Moos]

Well....you're wierd, Loz

Alien is brilliant, Aliens are almost as good but with more action, Alien 3 is good, Alien 4 is okay too.

Which of them have you seen?

[loz]

The first two, too bored after that to care about the rest of them (and this is coming from the person who carried on suffering through Jaws sequels after the first two fine films)

[sweet waffle]

I don't get scared by films, but I thought the very last scene in the Blair Witch Project (the guy facing the wall and the camera hitting the ground) was pretty good and some scenes out of Halloween were quite haunting although I've not seen that film since I was a kid so I doubt they have the impact now.

[yorkleyblue]

Not too many scary bits in films - The most scary for me are the older films. Newer CGI horror leaves me looking at it, thinking "I wonder how long that took to program". That's probably a flaw in me, but stuff like Saw and Hostel and My Little Eye didn't scare at all.

However,

Jaws - when that head appears - I'm with Loz on that one with nearly the same result ****

The very end of Carrie when the hand appears

The bit in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre when Leatherface attacks the guy in a wheelchair - didn't see anything graphic except a cloud of red mist - that f**ked me sleeping for days

When the Zulu Hordes come back over the hill for the nth time in Zulu, when the soldiers all think it's over

Several bits of The Exorcist, primarily because I was brought up Catholic and lots of it rang some very loud bells. My favourite Exorcist scary bit wasn't me getting scared but me scaring someone. Went to see it at the cinema when it first came out and there were religious protesters outside and all the Press furore about it. I got into the cinema a little bit late. The film starts with the priest on a railway platform and in sort of silence. I was squeezing my way along a row to my seat at this point. Then, a train enters the station with a VERY loud roar, enough to make people jump at the best of times. Exactly at that moment my jacket brushed across the back of the neck of a woman sitting in the row in front and she erupted into seriously hysterical screaming which took about 3 or 4 minutes to quieten down - we had usherettes, cinema manager, St John's Ambulance people and a priest all messing round with her.

Quite spoilt the opening of the film for me :)

I had to go see it again the next night!

Kev

[Liam]

The scene when the hooded figure turns around in Don't Look Now.

[yorkleyblue]

The scene when the hooded figure turns around in Don't Look Now.

How did I forget that? Thanks Liam

kev

[loz]

Liam - is that the film with Donald Sutherland? I'm sure I have it home and for one reasno or another I have never got round to watching it - should I?

My comedy scary moment in the cinema was that naff film with Harrison Ford (What Lies Beneath or something like that) - the girl I was with was a bag of nerves throughout, to the extent that it was annoying the hell out of me. So I went out to get an icecream and the whole way back from the kiosk I held the ice-cream in the same hand until it was absolutely freezing (you really don't need me to tell the rest of this story do you) - enough to say that when my hand touched the back of her neck everyone in the cinema got more of a fright than the entire film gave them. I was not popular!!

I would agree with you Yorkley in terms of CGI horror, and I would add to that the fact that the majority of modern films have lost sight of the fact that a large part of what scares you is the unknown - you don't actually need to see a man hack his arm off, it is often enough to witness the realisation that he is going to have to do it!!

[Modueke]

Anybody see 'Wolf Creek', was on last night, really graphic.

[Liam]

I would add to that the fact that the majority of modern films have lost sight of the fact that a large part of what scares you is the unknown

Based on what you've written here Loz I could not recommend "Don't Look Now" more highly.

By the way, during the lovemaking scene it is widely accepted they were doing it for real.

[The Moos]

Anybody see 'Wolf Creek', was on last night, really graphic.

I saw it some time ago and it's a kinda good movie. And it's "based on true events"

[sweet waffle]

Anybody see 'Wolf Creek', was on last night, really graphic.

I saw it some time ago and it's a kinda good movie. And it's "based on true events"

I saw it last year, while it is graphic it's not really scary but it was an enjoyable film non the less. I'm hoping to go to the meteor site when I go to Oz at the end of the month, hopefully I won't befall the same fate as the characters.

[Lofty]

I think I've mentioned this before - that scene right at the end of "Carrie" ... just when you think it's all over - see it with a woman - I guarantee she'll be jumping all over you!

One I saw many years ago, don't know if it would have the same effect nowadays - the eyes at the end of "The Pit and The Pendulum"

Another oldie but very nasty - Oliver Reed being burnt at the stake in "The Devils" ... even worse than the preceding torture scenes.

"The Realm of The Senses", an unusually sexually explicit Japanese film. At the end this Japanese bird ... what she does to this poor bloke is GUARANTEED to make your eyes water. Possessive isn't the word!

[Guest]

Salems Lot, the little child knocking on the bedroom window.

[Guest Brian M]

Sorry to change the subject slightly but am I the only person who can never be bothered watching the Alien films?

It's the same with the Indiana Jones films.

Just about everyone seems to love watching them and I just could never get into them.

Wash your mouth out with soap on both accounts. Indie 1 & 3 are fantastic (1st especially) and Alien and Aliens (especially the latter) are outstandingly good.

[loz]

I will take no chastising from a man who would pay to go and see 'There's Something About Mary'

[Guest Brian M]

I often write in or around this genre, so I've got some very specific views on the subject. But the main one I always keep in mind is: 'People are not scared by what's under the bed or what's in the closet. They're scared by what they THINK is under the bed or what's in the closet'. In other words, it's the ANTICIPATION that does you in. Not the actual pay-off of the anticipation. Because so often the pay-off is souless cgi or man-in-rubber-monster-suit-esque.

Talking about what's under the bed, how about the clown scene from Poltergeist for scary!!! (Spielberg is a MASTER at creating this type of tension)

Oh, and a lot of people have mentioned the head from the boat scene in Jaws. And I agree, that's a corker. But to my mind that sort of stuff doesn't come under 'scary' so much as 'shock value'. Which I think is a different cinematic device.

I will take no chastising from a man who would pay to go and see 'There's Something About Mary'

Pay to see it? I'd happily supply the hair gel!!!

[The Moos]

I often write in or around this genre, so I've got some very specific views on the subject. But the main one I always keep in mind is: 'People are not scared by what's under the bed or what's in the closet. They're scared by what they THINK is under the bed or what's in the closet'. In other words, it's the ANTICIPATION that does you in. Not the actual pay-off of the anticipation. Because so often the pay-off is souless cgi or man-in-rubber-monster-suit-esque.

Talking about what's under the bed, how about the clown scene from Poltergeist for scary!!! (Spielberg is a MASTER at creating this type of tension)

Oh, and a lot of people have mentioned the head from the boat scene in Jaws. And I agree, that's a corker. But to my mind that sort of stuff doesn't come under 'scary' so much as 'shock value'. Which I think is a different cinematic device.

I will take no chastising from a man who would pay to go and see 'There's Something About Mary'

Pay to see it? I'd happily supply the hair gel!!!

Great post. I agree about the anticipation being the important thing.

Of course I kinda like the scary "jump our of your seat"-things but the anticipation and not-knowing-what-to-expect-but-imagining-what-it-might-be is the best parts. Very few modern moviemakers use this though and the few who does seldom pulls it off. It's not difficult to make someone jump out of their seat. Sneak up behind them and grab them is enough. But to make a scene intense and make it get under your skin and make cold sweat rolling down your spine is way harder.

It's like sitting in a tent out in the forest at night and hearing something moving outside. It might be a fluffy little bunny but to you it might as well be a flesh-eating, blood-sucking monster.

I'd rather see a movie that leaves me swimming in my own sweat than seing one who makes me sit in my own s*it.

[andy]

The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Thank god it was not just me... with out a doubt... horrible ! and I would add the Witch in Wizard of Oz... still sends shivers down my spine.

Also, well not so scarey but disturbing... Mel Gibson's Scottish accent