Inspired by Miguel's Paranormal Activities thread...

I love scary movies, and I really enjoy those spine-tingling moments in them--when they're done well. Sometimes those scary moments come in movies that might not be great overall...maybe it's just a scene or two that really sets you off. So what are the most frightening moments in film that really stick with you?


I'll start with three. First, the scene in The Exorcist where the demon tells Regan's mother that Regan killed her friend, the director. The way she/it says, "Do you know what she did? Your c--ting daughter?" freaked me out when I first saw it and still does when I think about it.

Second, another possession movie. The Exorcism of Emily Rose wasn't great, but there's a scene where Emily's friend spends the night in her dorm room to help her with what's happening. He wakes up in the middle of the night to see Emily all contorted in the middle of the room, and as he rushes over to her, she looks at him all possessed and says, "Don't touch me!" A well done scary scene.

My third isn't really from a horror movie, but it still gives me the chills. I saw it a long time ago, so I might not remember it correctly, but in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, there's a scene where the mother is trying to remember everything about finding her daughter's body. Her therapist keeps pushing her and pushing her to remember something that she's holding back, and then the mother finally remembers, "He was still in the room! The killer was still in the room!"

Okay, now you guys go.

A very recent scene that had me on the edge of my seat was from the film El Orfanato when the main character Laura was playing a version of "red light green light" in the haunted orphanage and you just knew something would be there the last time she turned around.

SPOILERS!!!

Funny you should mention Twin Peaks because I recently bought the box set and my cousin, her girlfriend and I have been re-watching them. We finished episode 15, I think, last night.

There are a couple of frightening moments in Twin Peaks. Whenever they show BOB, course. There's also a scene where Leland is beating the hell out of Mattie. Horrible!!!!! The scene where Laura and Ronette are with BOB in the train was sooooo terrifying for me when I first saw it on t.v.

The Exorcist always gets me, even though I've watched it 200000 times.

Sooo many. Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

Not sure if this is really the type of thing you meant, but I saw this crappy movie called "Sleep Away Camp" when I was a kid and that ending scene is STILL stuck with me. Ugh. I just can't seem to shake it.

The original "Halloweed", when Jamie Lee Curtis went into the room with all the headstones, and then after she thought she'd killed him by stabbing him in the eye, he rose up while she was crying.

The Exorcist - When lil girl gets to flip floppping on her bed then you see her eyes turn white and that big ass grapefruit in her throat. I can't watch that movie in the dark.


The Omen - When the photographer dude gets his head chopped off. Just wasn't ready for that.


Quarantine - When the first body falls from the top of the stairs. It was on!


28 Days Later - When the Cilian's character frees the one infected soldier and lets him loose in the mansion/refuge.

the movie is freaking CRAP, but the scene in "signs" when they show the birthday party video and the alien walks past the camera is scary as hell.

the adrenaline in the heart scene in "pulp fiction"

i have never actually seen it. i close my eyes every time, as i have a big needle phobia

jillybean said:

Oh yeah yeah.... murderous girl turned out to be a dude. OMG THAT DONKEY DICK!!!! I saw that a couple months back at a fright night partY. Jeez it was awful! We watched another movie from that same era where the little murdering girl turned out to be dude.

There's a scene in Inland Empire that absolutely freaked me out the first time I saw it: Laura Dern does this slow-motion creep along a path until she's come into an extreme close-up with the camera. Sounds innocuous enough, but it scared the hell out of me.



[Edited 9/28/09 16:17pm]

not a favorite by any means but that torturing scene from Wolf Creek screwed me over big time.

my favorite though would be the original Mike Myers chasing after his victims oh so calmly

the night vision scene in "silence of the lambs"


[Edited 9/28/09 15:45pm]

The party scene in Jacob's Ladder. For some reason the combination of James Brown, the dancing, and that "thing" between her legs creeped me the hell out.

The very last scene in the movie Phantasom(sp?). The "hero kid" closes his bedroom door and gets snatched through by the devil that he thought was gone. To this day I will not hang a mirror on the door.

the alien on the roof in signs

up until that point you didn't know what was happening, and to have kids in your house and look up at your house, in the middle of nowhere, and see someone on your roof is terrifying.

Well, not your usual type of scary moment but it still had me pee in my pants:

"Vanilla Sky"
When Tom Cruise talks with the guy who has been following him, in a noisy bar, and he suddenly shouts "Shut up!" and then all sound from the movie stops abruptly like your video has broken down or you've gone deaf...

I've never been so terrified in my life, really!

That scene in Mulholland Drive at the back of Winkie's Diner where the guy goes out to see if the man in the alley from his dream is there.

Can i say that fucking clown scene in Poltergeist?

sextonseven said:

YESSSSS!

The first time we see Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
He drags the girl and slams that metal door shut.

It was one of the first movies we rented when we first got a vcr. I was a kid and I snuck a peek while mom was at work. I had to shut it off IMMEDIATELY!!!
I've watched it many times since but could never get the moment out of my head.

LadyFunkSoldier said:

What's even more scarier is the actor's name. Angus Grim!

damosuzuki said:

TOTALLY!!!!!

In the movie "The Strangers" The banging on the door freaked me out and when the guy was standing in the kitchen while she had her back turned. I would have crapped myself if i wasnt constipated

In the movie "Saw" that puppet on the bike freaks me out.

There's a scene from a movie called LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH that freaked me out as a child. This woman as at a lake and this other woman comes out of the lake in an all white gown. I watched it again as an adult and it didn't freak me out as much but it was still creepy.

The Departed-Captian Queenan falling off the roof/Costello & French killing enemies on the beach
Casino-Joe Pesci's death in the cornfield
Ray-Ray's little brother drowning in the washtub
Crash-When Dorri's father shot at the fix-it man and thought he hit his daughter
Collateral-Vincent's 1st hit falling on the roof of the cab/Max losing control of the cab
Natural Born Killers-The death of Mallory's family
Child's Play-Chuckie's head falling off his body and bouncing/snarling in slow-mo
[Edited 9/29/09 12:34pm]

PricelessHo said:

Ohh god, the whole premise that this was a true story, got me down to the core. I slept with the lights on for a few days after I saw this movie.