# Movie scenes which almost gave you a heart attack (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934 "2003-03-20T23:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/61 "2003-04-02T00:57:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JB Lars \* > \*\*I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned the shot from Exorcist III where the nurse making rounds locks a door, and then from that same door comes someone with surgical scissors (hedge trimmers?). To this day that shot scares the bejeezus outta me, and I KNOW it’s coming! \*\* YES! And the bit with the patient skittering across the ceiling like a spider, too. Another one from _ **The Thing** _: When the guy (which one, I don’t remember) turns around and Wilford Brimley (now “thinged”) shoves his hand into the guy’s mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/62 "2003-04-02T02:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by jackelope_ > **Could’ve sworn I already posted in this thread.** [That’s what I was thinking](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169689). **Samarm** starts this thread less than 24 hours after the last post to my identical thread. What, did mine suddenly get cooties? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/63 "2003-04-02T02:51:36Z")
The ending of the Japanese version of **The Ring** , when the video kept playing, instead of ending as it had done before (it did the same in the American version, but I was expecting it then). Also, when the mother sees a fleeting glimpse of Sadako standing behind her in the reflection on the TV screen. **Uzumaki** had a few good scenes: - The main character’s dream of finding herself ‘spiraled’ in the washing machine. - The mother’s spiral-phobia, when after having cut off her own fingertips, she realizes that her inner ear is also a spiral shape. - The final chapter. **Kairo** , when one character sees a shadow-person moving around on its own in another room. The shadow then pauses, turns, and sees the character watching it. It then begins silently drift-walking towards him, down the hall, getting closer, and closer… ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/64 "2003-04-02T03:43:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sejal\_Traurig \* > \*\*I thought that \*\*The Ring[/b had an even more frightning moment than the closet corpse… No movie baddie ever felt more unescapable than that particular moment \*\* Amen. That freaked me out _way_ more than Katie’s corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Lenny\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9dc877/32.png) [@Lenny\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lenny_Carl)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/65 "2003-04-02T17:54:15Z")
I don’t know how “scary” it was, but there are two scenes in **The Abyss** that were totally intense and got my heart racing… 1. When the guy and girl are trapped in that dead mini-sub and water is filling in quickly. There’s only 1 air suit left and she decides that she drown and he’ll swim her back the the oil rig to revive her. That whole scene was intense. 2. When the dude has to put on that special diving suit that makes the person have to breath liquid! Damn! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/66 "2003-04-02T18:32:04Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by sonicsink_ > in Crocodile Dundee, in the beginning,when the reporter woman (forget her name) is at the shore of the swamp and she squats down and washes her hands,face whatever…and the croc pops out of the water and grabs her by the camera hanging on her neck.Aaahhh!! Actually, in this scene I wasn’t paying the slightest attention to the crocodile…I was watching Linda Kozlowski! ---
**Author:** ![Gumbercules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gumbercules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumbercules)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/67 "2003-04-02T20:09:46Z")
How about Poltergeist? There were lots of great scenes, such as the clown under the kids be, the corpses in the water at the end, the steak… ---
**Author:** ![dil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@dil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dil)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/68 "2003-04-02T20:30:30Z")
**When a stranger calls back** Several INTENSE moments in this one, but my favorite is at the end. “Why is the camera spending so much time on that empty brick wall? … OH MY GOD I SEE EYES THERE IS A MAN THERE!!!” What makes this one especially fun is that people watching the movie don’t all SEE it at the same time, so you have one person going “AAAAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!” while someone else is saying “What??? What is it?!?!?” ---
**Author:** ![dil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@dil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dil)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/69 "2003-04-02T20:43:41Z")
The last scene of \Wait Until Dark\ Great movie. ---
**Author:** ![dil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@dil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dil)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/70 "2003-04-02T20:45:02Z")
haha I am really **BAD** at this whole bolding thing ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/71 "2003-04-02T21:13:26Z")
The scene that got me the most was the closing in the original **Phantasm** with the closing door and the Old Man in the mirror. I was a very young teen at the time and this was my first splatter-horror movie, and it was just me and one friend in the same situation. Close second was the body dropping from the tree in **Friday the 13th** (original). We walked to and from the movie theater, and every tree had a potential body ready to fall. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/72 "2003-04-02T22:09:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*[That’s what I was thinking](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169689). > > **Samarm** starts this thread less than 24 hours after the last post to my identical thread. What, did mine suddenly get cooties? 😉 \*\* Wow, I never saw your thread, Dooku! That is some coincidence… I honestly never knew your thread existed! I have another of my own to add: The scene in Minority Report, where Agatha reaches out to Anderton when he’s kneeling down by the precog pool. ---
**Author:** ![UES\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@UES\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UES_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/73 "2003-04-02T22:41:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*[That’s what I was thinking](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169689). > > **Samarm** starts this thread less than 24 hours after the last post to my identical thread. What, did mine suddenly get cooties? 😉 \*\* Maybe it was my fault – I was the last to post to post in your thread, **Dooku**. But I promise, the rash has cleared up nicely, so please everyone, have no fear, post away… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/74 "2003-04-02T22:52:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samarm \* > Wow, I never saw your thread, Dooku! That is some coincidence… I honestly never knew your thread existed! Doesn’t anybody search anymore??!! Only kidding. 🙂 Glad to hear you’re…uh…"all clear," **UES Guy**. No need to resurrect my thread, I’d say one is just fine. ---
**Author:** ![psychotropic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@psychotropic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychotropic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/75 "2003-04-28T05:43:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Looking Land \* > \*\*The Changling: Little Boy coming up from a watery grave through the floorboards of the house…ewwww… > > The Innocents: The nurse maid standing out in the marsh in a black dress after drowning…gehhhhh… > > Walt Disney Film the name of which I can’t remember and don’t want to: Little girl is chased by her evil step father and flls down a well to her death…brrrrr… > > See the drowning theme going here? > > That’ll do it for me. > > 🙂 \*\* There is something about water in films that I find more creepy than all the blood & gore in the world! My most scariest memories of movies all involve water! ie. THE RING - yes, Katie’s corpse was yucky but I found the girl crawling out of the well FAR more frightening and eerie. Ditto for when Naomi Watts’ character follows the trail of water up the stairs & into Katie’s old room & is confronted by “something”. THE GIFT - when she’s doing the tarot reading and brings up all water cards and the S-L-O-W-L-Y dripping tap. The vision Cate Blanchett has of the fiddler is creepy too. WHAT LIES BENEATH - more water! When Michelle Pfeiffer peers into the lake & sees the girl hubby killed - YIKES!! And of course the other visions she has of her in the bathroom. HOLY CRAP! Anyone else have this same problem with water? THE RING easily has to be one of the scariest films EVER though … EVER! ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/76 "2003-04-28T06:03:32Z")
Big affirmative to the blood-jumping in _The Thing_. Also, the dogs’, er, transformaton. Crikey. _Robocop_: when Murphy’s hand gets blown off in the course of the whole brutal slaying. And in a different kind of heart-attack tone: _Grave of the Fireflies_: Roughly midway into the film, when the little girl is at the doctors, and her shirt is taken off; her torso is just _caved in_ from starvation.It honestly felt like someone had just punched me extremely hard in the stomach when that happened. Had to pause the film for a couple minutes. ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/77 "2003-04-28T07:12:06Z")
The end sequence of **Requiem for a Dream** made my heart race, my stomach do flipflops and, overall, made my jittery. The combination of the film’s content and the editing of the final scenes, including the film’s use of music, just had a remarkable impact on me. Other films have made me jump or gasp, but I had never experienced something like this. ---
**Author:** ![Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calredic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/78 "2003-04-28T07:44:19Z")
**Lost Highway:** Near the end of the movie, when the “strange man” Bill Pullman met at the party near the beginning starts chasing him to his car–and there’s a shot of the guy suddenly reaching out at the camera, with this horrifying look on his face… it makes my blood run cold just remembering it. **Mulholland Drive:** In the scene where the guy and his therapist are behind the diner, re-enacting the dream he’d just described–and that horrible face suddenly springs around the corner. I damn near filled my trousers. **Identity:** Just saw this one last night, but it has to be one of the least-telegraphed “heart attack moments” that I’ve ever seen in a movie… when the mother is standing outside the car, looking in at her son, and another car just SLAMS into her from off-screen, all in one unbroken shot. I’m pretty sure I jumped at that one, and I was defintely impressed that the movie managed to catch me off-guard so completely. Oh, and consider this one more vote for both the ending of **Carrie** and the girls in **The Shining**. I’ve seen the latter movie five or six times, and I still can’t bring myself to look directly at the screen when those little girls appear. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/79 "2003-04-28T11:53:06Z")
Dil–I was going to post WAIT UNTIL DARK, too, but I know the scene you mean and it’s NOT the last scene. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2003, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934/80 "2003-04-28T12:19:28Z")
The part that got me in Carpenter’s The Thing was when the doc was trying to defribulate the guy who they thought was having a heart attack and the guy’s chest opened up into a mouth and bit the doc’s arms off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-which-almost-gave-you-a-heart-attack-spoilers/162934.md?page=5)