# Scariest scene from a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385 "2000-12-06T21:54:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/21 "2000-12-07T05:53:12Z")
Well, I know that a lot of people around here badmouth this movie, but I don’t care: that house in _The Blair Witch Project_ was god-awful creepy. You could hear the entire theater cringe when they saw it… ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/22 "2000-12-07T08:05:25Z")
**Four Weddings and a Funeral**. Or, as I like to call it, **Five Funerals**. Seriously, the ones listed here are pretty good, except there are no mentions of chick flicks, which scare the hell out of me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Uniball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Uniball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniball)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/23 "2000-12-07T10:10:16Z")
The scene from **City of the Living Dead** where the girl pukes her insides out. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/24 "2000-12-07T13:11:49Z")
The entire movie “The Hitcher”. Damn. Couldn’t eat french fries for quite some time 🙂 Didn’t think that Angel Heart was all that scary, but I must relate this story… Free screening at the Hoff Theater, before the movie is released. Me, second row. There is a scene shown intermittantly (as I recall) of a person dressed in black, sitting in one of many wooden chairs in a church. Each time this scene is shown, it lasts longer, with the camera moving closer to the back of the person. The audience is not sure what to expect the next time. Will the person turn around? Will the person moving towards the person in black kill her? What the hell is going on?!? Back to me. Recall that I’m in the second row. this means that there is someone in front of me. With a Miles Davis sense of timing, I firmly place my hand on the shoulder of this poor girl in front of me. She let out a scream that was much scarier than any scene in the movie. And she threw her smuggled food up in the air. I felt kinda badly, but she(a few minutes later) turned around and smiled, commenting “Good one”. I waited, but the porno music never started, and after the movie we went our separate ways… into the night… forever. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/25 "2000-12-07T13:51:19Z")
The scene from **The Thing** already mentioned was scary, as was the earlier scene when they were using the defibrillator on Norris. Then, what happened to his head. I always though the scene in **The Omen** when the two guys go to the old cemetary and look in the grave was creepy. A psychological moment, if you will. I rarely have dreams from movies, but I remember dreaming I was stuck in that cemetary and the dogs were there and I couldn’t find my way out, and… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/26 "2000-12-07T14:00:12Z")
> [@](#): > > The Thing already mentioned was scary, as was the earlier scene when they were using the defibrillator on Norris. Interesting how they did that shot. They made a mask of the doctor and put it over the face of a man whose arms had been amputated (no, they weren’t amputated for the film!). They made prosthetic arms that could be ripped off convincingly. When the chest closed, the stand-in pulled back and the prosthetic arms were ripped off fairly convincingly. (Aren’t DVD “special features” great?) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/27 "2000-12-07T14:06:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hypergirl \* > \*\*Am I the only one here who was actually scared seeing the shower scene in Psycho? \*\* Maybe if I’d seen it in a theater in 1960, it would have scared me…but when I finally saw the film I was about 18 and had seen the shower scene excerpted on teevee SO many times… That said, I should mention that the scene where Mother comes out of her door (overhead shot) and attacks the private detective scared the daylights out of me. And the long scene of Vera Miles in the house is EXCRUCIATING…the long zoom into the folded hands, seeing herself in the mirror, the creases in the bed, the Beethoven symphony on the record player, the really spooky Teddy bear… My favorite low-key scary scene…in _Repulsion,_ when Catherine Deneuve sees the beam of sunlight on the chair, and tries to brush it away. That’s when you KNOW she’s hopelessly insane. (Also when the sister’s boyfriend finds her after her little murder spree…curled up under the bed, eyes wide and staring. And the final shot, the long zoom into the family photo. Brrr.) ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/28 "2000-12-07T14:18:43Z")
How about that scene in **Seven** , where they find this corpse on the bed that turns out to still _live_?? MAN, when that guy suddenly inhaled, I jumped up from my chair! Ditto on the vomiting ghost in **Sixth Sense**. Also from **An American Werewolf in London** : the “dream-within-a-dream” scene in the hospital. Yikes. [sub][hijack] Rented “An American Werewolf in Paris” the other day. Boy, did that suck buttocks, or what? [/hijack][/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Biffer\_Spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Biffer\_Spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffer_Spice)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/29 "2000-12-07T14:21:04Z")
[quoteThat said, I should mention that the scene where Mother comes out of her door (overhead shot) and attacks the private detective scared the daylights out of me. [/quote Dammit! I read this whole thread with that in mind. Couldn’t believe no-one had posted it, and was congratulating myself for being the one to do so, and the very last post did so. It gets my vote. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/30 "2000-12-07T15:06:41Z")
I’m not really big into the horror genre, but for some reason _Aliens_ really got to me. I like the first one a lot (even though I didn’t when I first saw it), but for some reason I love the second one–must be the relentless pace. Anyway, the scene I always think about is the one where Carter (Paul Reiser) is looking at the face-hugger that looks to be dead in the lab and it jumps at him. I STILL jump a little at that sometimes even though I know it’s coming. “Looks like love at first sight.” ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/31 "2000-12-07T15:36:34Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but there’s a scene in The Shining I remember scared me badly. Something about the little boy in a bathroom and a drowned person? S/he grabs him but he gets away. Anyone care to refresh my memory? Also mentioned previously was Psycho. The scariest scene to me was the ending, when they turn Mother around. Scared the bejeebers out of me! I was only 10 or so. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/32 "2000-12-07T15:43:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bottle of Smoke \* > \*\*What – nobody mentioned Harvey Keitel’s nude scene in _The Piano_? Jesus, I had to sleep with the light on for weeks. \*\* Not to mention Oprah’s nude scene in “Beloved.” The horror. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/33 "2000-12-07T15:45:34Z")
Two scenes from **Silence of the Lambs** , when Hannibal Lector awoke in the ambulance, and at the end when Buffalo Bill has those night vision goggles on. ---
**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/34 "2000-12-07T15:57:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dolores Claiborne \* > **It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but there’s a scene in The Shining I remember scared me badly. Something about the little boy in a bathroom and a drowned person? S/he grabs him but he gets away. Anyone care to refresh my memory?** The scene you’re thinking of is when Jack Torrence goes to investigate room 237 after his son comes back with a torn shirt. As he enters the bathroom, he sees a nude woman in the tub. She stands, approaches him and embraces him. Then he catches a glimpse of her back in the mirror and she is half rotten. As he backs away, the “beautiful nude” has turned into a “half-rotten, nude hag”. Ick. My scariest movie scene also comes from **The Shining**. Danny is riding his Hot Wheels around the Overlooks hallways and the camera follows him. As he rounds one corner, standing at the far end of the hallway are the 2 twin girls. “Come play with us, Danny!”. I still have trouble turning hallway corners in my own apartment! ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/35 "2000-12-07T16:22:42Z")
The Exorcist: spinal tap scene. Ouch, ouch, ouch. The Shining: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER Scatman Cruthers finally arriving at Overlook. Stephen King said he saved the day. “Anybody home?” and WHOK! Whew. Left a crabcake in my undies. The same with the first facial of Bruce in “Jaws” when Roy Schieder is complaining about chumming. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” And Schieider getting every single heart valve severed in “Marathon Man.” His look of surprise. Frightening. The Stepfather: when she gets whacked with the phone. 1900: Donald Sutherland playing the ‘wedding game’ with that poor child. Ewww! ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/36 "2000-12-07T16:28:36Z")
Much agreement with most of the posters so far. Dad took my younger brother and me to see a double feature; I was 14, bro was 10. The two movies? **Aliens** and **The Fly** (Jeff Goldblum version) No sleep for the boys THAT night. But Aliens is still both his and my favorite movie (“Game over, man! It’s game over!”) In more recent years I remember I was sitting in the front row center for “Jurassic Park”. The T-rex scene had me plastered in my seat. What’s weird, though, is that I was laughing at the same time. I do this on roller-coasters, too. I think the scare-thrill is what generates this kind of reaction. Jaws, Poltergeist, Psycho still give thrill-chills. The Thing does just plain creeps me out. Anybody seen the McFarlane action figgers of the creatures? Them and The Fly figure are way cool. Just saw “Exorcist” for the first time (rental). Must admit, I don’t see what the big deal is. Maybe I’ve got somethin’ like **Ike’s** problem with Psycho going on. And no movie from a Stephen King book does it for me. Prolly 'coz I’ve already read 'em before seeing 'em. And the books scare me more than any movie. (I had trouble sleeping while I read _Christine_, but the movie just made me yawn.) 2 slight exceptions: “Firestarter” was OK, and “Children of the Corn” had some really creepy scenes. (_“He wants you too, Malachi…”_) ---
**Author:** ![Hecubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ec9cab/32.png) [@Hecubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hecubis)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/37 "2000-12-07T16:44:07Z")
As someone mentioned the clown from **Poltergeist** , the clown’s there, he closes his eye’s, the clown’s gone, ahh! I think that scene truly ruined the market for clown dolls(if there was one). Numerous scenes from **Candyman**. When they call Candyman in the mirror, my twelve year old self comes back and screams - For the love of god don’t say that! Or when she crawls through the mirror in the apartment block and comes through the image of his mouth. Chills. In **Silence of the Lambs** when Agent Starling walks the long walk down to the cell in which Hannibal Lecter is in, I usally shrink as far back as possible in my chair. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/38 "2000-12-07T17:17:20Z")
So many of these I have never seen : dustMagnate - “wedding game”?? - In Twin Peaks when Bob is crouched at the foot of the bed in the flashback - The House on Haunted Hill - The scene in that machine to “cure” schizophrenics and the guy in the hallway - Poltergeist - of course the scene with the clown but I was also creeped out by the table and chairs scene - The Shining - yeah, the twin girls in the hallway give me heebie jeebies - The Exorcist - All of the scenes mentioned (except "spider walk, haven’t seen it) demonic stuff scares me to death ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/39 "2000-12-07T17:25:50Z")
> [@](#): > > “Game over, man! It’s game over!” “What the fu\*\* are we gonna do now? We’re in some really pretty sh\*\* now man!” HICKS: Are you finished? BURKE: Maybe we could build a fire, sing a couple’a songs, how about that? NEWT: We’d better be getting back. It’ll be night soon, and they mostly come at night. Mostly. Yes, I love that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385/40 "2000-12-07T17:35:31Z")
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the end of the original version of **The Vanishing** … [SPOILER] When the hero, finally persuaded by the sinister stranger that he must agree to be knocked out before finding out the truth of his girlfriend’s disappearance, awakes to find himself buried alive in a coffin below the killer’s garden. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scene-from-a-movie/44385.md?page=3)