# Getting Near Halloween: Scariest Films/Scariest Scenes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 14, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847 "2008-10-14T09:48:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/1 "2008-10-14T09:48:29Z")
Love to be really scared in films.
“The Shining” with Jack Nicholson…that had me sit up in the theater!
The first ten minutes of the B film, “Mother’s Day” woke me right up!
The last two minutes of “Carrie” had a sold-out movie theater scream out loud!
Share the fright. Suggest other films that will make me sit up and take notice!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/2 "2008-10-14T11:22:10Z")
**The Thing**. Both versions, for different reasons. But the 1982 John Carpenter version is the one that will freak you out. (All the effects were done mechanically, with a very few stop-motion scenes – most of those were cut out. But this would be truly awesome in CGI)
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/3 "2008-10-14T11:23:07Z")
The original “Halloween!” Aren’t you people getting tired of me yet?
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/4 "2008-10-14T11:27:18Z")
The 1963 version of [The Haunting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/) scared the hell out of me.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/5 "2008-10-14T13:49:24Z")
**Quarantine** , which is in theaters right now, is for the most part predictable, but there are still a few scenes that can really make you jump. Notably:
[spoiler]the very sudden fall of the fireman right after they come downstairs following the initial attack.
The last ten or fifteen minutes are pretty intense, not to mention dark.
And when the cameraman peers up into the attic and sweeps his camera around to take a look. I mean, you _know_ something’s gonna jump out and startle you, but it still gets ya.[/spoiler]
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/6 "2008-10-14T13:54:43Z")
Go with the classics: The shower scene in “Psycho.”
The jumping scene in “Wait Until Dark.”
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### Author:  [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/7 "2008-10-14T14:23:55Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> The 1963 version of [The Haunting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/) scared the hell out of me.
Excellent. I just got it and will be watching it later today!
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### Author:  [@in\_hiding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/in_hiding)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/8 "2008-10-14T14:45:09Z")
**The Ring** , when Samantha (I think?) climbs out of the TV in broad daylight.
**Signs** , the brazilian birthday video. It was exactly that kind of aliens that I was afraid of as a child (nobody really knows who they are, what they want, where they come from…), so that worked very well for me.
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### Author:  [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/9 "2008-10-14T15:00:31Z")
**The Blob (original)** - The scene where the man in the barber shop gets his hair washed.
**Audition** , near the end, when the girl is waiting for the phone to ring.
Wait until I get off work; I’m sure there’s a few great ones at home that I can’t think of right now.
Seconding John Carpenter’s **The Thing**. The ending is great!
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/10 "2008-10-14T15:56:04Z")
The reveal of the monster in [The Descent](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/)is amazing.
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### Author:  [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/11 "2008-10-14T15:59:00Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#):
>
> **Audition** , near the end, when the girl is waiting for the phone to ring.
I must have jumped a mile off the couch during that scene.
The final segment of \*Twilight Zone: The Movie \*(the one with John Lithgow on the airplane) is a classic.
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### Author:  [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/12 "2008-10-14T16:04:48Z")
You can’t go wrong with **The Exorcist**.
And although a bit slow at times, **The Exorcist III** has two of the most incredibly jump-out-of-your-seat moments in movies, namely:
the woman with the “hedge clippers” going after the nurse, and the “spider walk on the ceiling”. //shudder//
And I second, or third, or whatever, the 1963 version of **The Haunting**. Excellent film that I recommend to everyone.
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### Author:  [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/13 "2008-10-14T16:10:20Z")
The end of “Halloween” where the doc looks out the window and Michael Myers is gone. EEEEK!
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### Author:  [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/14 "2008-10-14T17:32:19Z")
One scene in the original **House on Haunted Hill** with Vincent Price.
The heroine wanders to the basement and hears a scream. She slowly turns around and there is this crazy ass looking old lady staring bug eyed right at her. Then the old woman just floats along the floor and vanishes. Scared the piss out of me in a moment that I expected cheesy 60s horror.
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/15 "2008-10-14T17:35:34Z")
The first half hour or so of Twenty Eight Days later. IMO actually scariest bit in the film is:
When the car alarm goes off
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/16 "2008-10-14T17:45:01Z")
One of the scariest ‘jumps’ of all time, and it must have taken Dario Argento quite a few takes to get it right.
It comes in [Tenebre](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084777/), where a woman is looking into a bathroom mirror, fussing with her hair, checking her makeup, etc. She suddenly bends her head down to the sink, revealing the killer right behind her, whose head had been completely hidden by hers in the mirror.
Brilliant, totally unexpected, and it made me jump a foot out of my seat!
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/17 "2008-10-14T18:14:07Z")
_The Changeling_ with George C. Scott – the ball bouncing down the stairs, and the little boy under the floor.
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### Author:  [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/18 "2008-10-14T18:40:02Z")
Burnt Offerings. A little slow at times but great atmosphere and worth the price of a rental just to look at Karen Black doing what she does best. Plus a few genuinely terrifying parts
The chauffer
and
"I’ve been waiting for you, Ben :eek: :eek: :eek:
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/19 "2008-10-14T20:03:27Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#):
>
> Burnt Offerings. A little slow at times but great atmosphere and worth the price of a rental just to look at Karen Black doing what she does best. Plus a few genuinely terrifying parts
>
> The chauffer
>
> and
>
> "I’ve been waiting for you, Ben :eek: :eek: :eek:
Jesus God (or wept!) You literally just gave me the chills! That chauffer gave me the total dreads. Still does. I first saw Burnt Offerings around the age of 13 and it still scares the shit out of me.
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### Author:  [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-near-halloween-scariest-films-scariest-scenes/467847/20 "2008-10-14T20:28:16Z")
Ditto The Thing, The Exorcist, The Ring (the original American remake, not the awful sequel), and The Descent.
Blair Witch Project is a matter of personal taste. It worked for me, but not everyone liked it, so I guess YMMV.
Really, The Descent is the winner here. The monsters are scary, but IMHO, the caving is even scarier (helllllllo, claustrophobia!).
(BTW, to the poster who said Carpenter’s The Thing would be improved by CGI, you should never, ever get to watch horror movies again ;-).
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