# Brief scenes in films that FREAKED YOU OUT **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841 "2004-10-24T01:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/1 "2004-10-24T01:52:52Z")
In _Donnie Darko_, the scene where Donnie is looking into the mirror, and he is seeing the reflection of the bunny, and the bunny suddenly _presses its paw against the glass_ (there may have been an appropriate sound effect) FREAKED ME OUT :eek: I kept seeing this trailer while watching other movies, and I swear no matter how many times I saw the trailer in the theater, I would jump two feet out of my seat. It was very brief, but I guess because I had no context (why is there this hideous bunny pounding on the mirror?! 😕 ) it made it scarier. Oddly enough, when I actually _watched_ the film, I wasn’t afraid. This confirms my suspicions that seeing something freakishly bizarre without any context has much more ‘eek’ factor. I had a somewhat similar reaction to _Dreamcatcher_, where it is clear that Beav and Jonsey are looking at something _terrible_, but you don’t know what. It totally put me on the edge, but the actual film was kind of a disappointment. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/2 "2004-10-24T01:55:48Z")
The scene in Exorcist III when the killer suddenly appears in the darkened hospital corridor with the king-sized shears right behind the nurse. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/3 "2004-10-24T02:02:40Z")
SPOILERS! The scene in _Devils Advocate_ when Mrs. Keanu (Charlize Theron) sees her fellow law firm wives morph into demons for a split second. All of the torture flashbacks from _Sybil_- none lasted very long but what they did implicitly was more terrifying than if they’d been graphic. The mutilated Latin American whore sequence from _Kill Bill 2_- it wasn’t particularly graphic but it was freakier than anything else in the movies. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/4 "2004-10-24T02:06:22Z")
My college roomie and I were watching the alien abduction flick “Fire in the Sky”. The aliens have got their latest subject strapped to the table with his eyes forced open, as the gigantic needle comes closer and closer. At this point I leap up and zoom out of the dorm room at something approaching .8_c_, yelling, “aahhhhhnothinggoesintheeye!” [sub]See, I got this thing about eyes. Nothing goes in 'em.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/5 "2004-10-24T02:08:09Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > The scene in Exorcist III when the killer suddenly appears in the darkened hospital corridor with the king-sized shears right behind the nurse. This was the first thing that came to mind when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/6 "2004-10-24T02:29:20Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > This was the first thing that came to mind when I read the OP. Me too. That was utterly screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/7 "2004-10-24T02:35:16Z")
In **The Ring** , at the funeral when they flash back to how they found the first dead girl, the look on her face, OMG! :eek: I felt all the blood drain from my face and my body went cold. My husband said he happened to look at me at that point and was scared at the look on **my** face because he had never seen me that way. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/8 "2004-10-24T02:40:00Z")
There’s an older animated version of _Anastasia_, I forget from what era (not the newer Disney one, though), and I was watching it with a little girl I was babysitting one time. There’s a dream sequence where little orphaned Anna dreams about her family, sitting down to a lavish banquet table in their finest dress. Everyone’s cheerful, happy, smiling… …and suddenly, their faces all fade to blank, featureless white, with only black slits for eyes, while creepy music plays and Anna cries out in her sleep. This is supposed to represent her “loss” of her family, but it really freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/9 "2004-10-24T03:12:50Z")
I was napping during the movie _Deliverance_. I woke up at the “squeal like a pig” rape scene. I was actually sick to my stomach and had to turn in off. I’ve not had a movie scene before or after effect me like that. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/10 "2004-10-24T03:22:31Z")
Talking of rape scenes, the scene in [Man Bites Dog](http://imdb.com/title/tt0103905/) was the closest I’ve ever come to throwing up in a bag of popcorn. It wan’t even _my_ popcorn. \ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/11 "2004-10-24T04:18:54Z")
The most freaked out I’ve ever been because of a movie was from the B-grade voodoo thriller _The Believers_. Anyone who’s seen this movie is thinking, “Oh, sure. The scene where the spider eggs implanted in the woman’s face start hatching, right?” Nope. That was a pretty hard-core scene, but that’s not the one that got me. It’s the scene right at the beginning, when the mom gets electrocuted by the coffee maker. I had nightmares about that for _years_. 'Course, I was just a little kid when I saw it, and I suspect I was doing a great deal of projecting. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/12 "2004-10-24T04:39:23Z")
The Donnie Darko thing mentioned in the OP freaks me out everytime I watch the movie, no matter how far in advance I tell myself “Okay, the rabbit is going to touch the glass, you will not jump out of your seat this time.” Another one is in Spider-Man, when Norman Osbourne is remembering his first night as the Goblin, and all of the sudden the mask appears on screen and screams at you, and it freaks out everyone in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/13 "2004-10-24T04:49:38Z")
Several scenes in **Jacob’s Ladder**. Especially the one where Jezzy, for a split moment, turns into a demon-face with big dark eyes and pointy teeth. It’s very quick and fairly subtle, but boy it dropped my body temp about 10 degrees! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/14 "2004-10-24T04:52:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It’s the scene right at the beginning, when the mom gets electrocuted by the coffee maker. I had nightmares about that for _years_. 'Course, I was just a little kid when I saw it, and I suspect I was doing a great deal of projecting. Thank you! I’ve been trying to remember what movie that was so I can avoid it! The damn thing pops into my head regularly! I got totally skeeved by a movie called Dr Sardonicus when I was a kid. This guy dug up a body, his father’s, I think, and the face was all twisted into a horrible grin. When he got home, his face had gone the same way. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![hiebram](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hiebram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hiebram)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/15 "2004-10-24T04:53:19Z")
The scene in Requiem for a Dream where all those guys are watching the women do a bunch of nasty crap for drugs. It made me nauseous. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/16 "2004-10-24T05:41:51Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Talking of rape scenes, the scene in [Man Bites Dog](http://imdb.com/title/tt0103905/) was the closest I’ve ever come to throwing up in a bag of popcorn. It wan’t even _my_ popcorn. > > \ Possibly the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen on film. I was actually enjoying the film, in a kind of twisted way – but that scene ruined it for me completely. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/17 "2004-10-24T05:54:04Z")
_The Exorcist_, director’s cut, when Linda Blair walks down the stairs on her hands and feet - with her back to the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/18 "2004-10-24T05:54:11Z")
I know I mention this every time this kind of thread shows up but the scene in _American History X_ when Edward Norton’s character makes the guy that broke into his house bite the curb literally made me jump back from the TV as if I’d been shocked. I think that’s the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/19 "2004-10-24T05:59:21Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I know I mention this every time this kind of thread shows up but the scene in _American History X_ when Edward Norton’s character makes the guy that broke into his house bite the curb literally made me jump back from the TV as if I’d been shocked. > > I think that’s the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen. Damn straight. That scene really freaked me out. There are a couple of really scary moments in _The Forgotten_, with Julianne Moore. It’s a pretty lame film overall, but in a couple of places the whole audience jumped out of their seats. That was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841/20 "2004-10-24T06:18:41Z")
‘Pet Cemetary’ - Where they see that handicapped girl [with an open back?] lying in her bed. I’m not sure of the title, can it be ‘When a stranger calls’ ? - The woman knows the murderer is in the house. In the bedroom she hears heavy breathing coming from the closet. She shakes her husband’s shoulder to wake him up. When he turns around, _it’s the murderer_. Camera pans to the closet where her husband is lying with a wound on his head and breathing heavily… ‘Twin Peaks’ [the series] - Just a glimpse of that dwarf, sitting in the corner. - Or the long haired man jumping up from behind a sofa. These were very short shots and probably therefore so scary. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brief-scenes-in-films-that-freaked-you-out/270841.md?page=2)