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Greatest Scariest Movie Moments
and Scenes
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Greatest Scariest Movie Moments
and Scenes
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Greatest Scariest Movie
Moments and Scenes |
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Movie Title |
Brief Scene Description | Example |
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The malevolent character (an unblinking, glowing, watchful eye) of the even-toned, talkative, alert, "thinking" and "feeling" super-computer, named HAL-9000 (the reassuring, courteous voice of the disembodied HAL provided by Douglas Rain), who maintains the electronic systems of the spaceship - and coldly kills astronaut Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) in outer space and then tries to kill Dave (Keir Dullea) by not opening the pod bay doors - but HAL ultimately fails to outwit Dave - who decides to lobotomize the super-intelligent computer |
 
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28 Days Later (2002)
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The opening scene in which bicycle courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes from a coma and wanders out to find London completely deserted, with haunting views of a virus-ravaged landscape; also the numerous attack scenes: in a church by an infected zombie priest (when a cross doesn't repel the living dead), in a tunnel after getting a flat tire, and by a soldier zombie in the house |
 
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The film's promotional tagline: "In outer space, no one can hear you scream"; the early scene of crew member Kane (John Hurt) being suddenly attacked by the 'face-hugging' alien as he explores the alien ship; also the claustrophic scene of trying to cut or extricate the face-hugger from Kane's face - and the film's most memorable scene - the horrifying, bloody, gory sequence revealing the birth of the hissing, razor-toothed, viscera-smeared baby alien as it bursts from Kane's open chest; also the scene of Brett's (Harry Dean Stanton) demise while searching for Jones (the cat) when he encounters the gaping jaws of the full-grown Alien; and the startling moment when the Alien reaches out to embrace Dallas (Tom Skerritt) in the ventilation shaft, followed by a high-pitched radio squeal; and the film's final scene on the shuttle craft when the sole remaining Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) - ready for hibernation and stripped down to mini-bikini panties and T-shirt - realizes the Alien is still onboard, and how she carefully dons a spacesuit and fights the creature to the death by expelling it out of the airlock |
      
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Aliens (1986)
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Newt's (Carrie Henn) capture by the Alien Queen mother/monster as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and others futilely try to save her by opening a sealed hatch with a blowtorch, and Ripley's last confrontation with the monster in the 0uter space hatch - holding onto the rung of a ladder as the beast grabs her ankle |
 
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Alien 3 (1992)
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Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) unnerving, close encounter with the Alien when she seeks it out - it inspects her and hisses with its second maw in her ear |
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Altered States (1980)
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The transformation scene where Dr. Edward Jessup (William Hurt), an experimenter in altered states using a sensory deprivation tank (in the basement of the medical school) and psychedelic drugs, regresses the evolutionary scale into a Neanderthal ape man - his anguished body pulsing in and out of a hairy ape shape, and his other visions of a goat-headed crucifixion, a snake coiling around his neck, etc. |
  
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American History X (1998)
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The infamous brutal and painful-to-watch curb-stomping scene in which former neo-Nazi skinhead Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) forces wounded black car thief Lawrence (Antonio David Lyons) to bite down on the sidewalk curb and then stomps on the man's head to snap his neck in half, to teach him a "real lesson"; after killing him, he spits on his body |   
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American Psycho (2000)
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The scenes of wealthy 27 year-old delusional New York stock executive serial killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) dancing and singing to the music of Huey Lewis and the News ("Hip To Be Square"), Phil Collins, or Genesis ("In Too Deep") as foreplay to violence - in one grisly instance in which he wore a clear rain-slicker in his apartment, he hit associate Paul Allen (Jared Leto) over the head with a shiny new axe head - with blood splattering over his face from the impact of the strikes (off-screen); in another scene, a nude and bloodied Bateman chased after fleeing hooker Christie (Cara Seymour) with a chainsaw and dropped it down on her from a stairwell - she died when it hit her in the back |
    
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The horrific, visceral transformation scene (an Academy Award-winner for Best Makeup for Rick Baker) of backpacking American college student/tourist in the Yorkshires David Kessler (David Naughton) turning into a werewolf/lycanthrope - his body crunches and his skin bubbles as it grows hair and elongates; also the earlier scene of the werewolf's vicious attack on both American college students, Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) and David, while in the English countryside; and the scene of the vicious attack on David's family by zombie gunmen; also the werewolf attack scenes shot from the POV of the predator |
  
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The scene of the ritualized slaughter of an ox/water buffalo by native tribesmen, juxtaposed and intercut with the killing of Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) by Willard (Martin Sheen) with a machete |
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Army of Darkness (1992) (aka Evil Dead 3)
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In this comedic horror film set in medieval times, the scene in which hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) is thrown in a demon-infested pit where he retrieves his confiscated chain-saw weapon and vanquishes a deadite 'pit-bitch' (Billy Bryan) - he shoots the monstrous creature over his shoulder with a 12-gauge shotgun |
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| (L'Arrivée D'Un Train À La Ciotat) (Train Pulling into Station) (1895) | A short film (actualite) by the Lumiere Brothers, depicting a locomotive pulling into Marseilles' Ciotat Station; the film was so real to early unsophisticated audiences that they experienced panic and dashed for cover |
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Audition (1999, Jp.)
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The latter scenes of sadistic, torture and dismemberment revenge that seemingly-demure and dutifully-humble 21 year-old 'auditioned' bride-to-be Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina) exacted on middle-aged widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) with syringes, acupuncture needles (stuck into his eyelid), and piano wire (used to wire-saw off or amputate a foot), accompanied by the sound of a Japanese bird: "Kiri-kiri-kiri-kiri-kiri"; also the scene of a suddenly-lurching big burlap sack in the center of her living room (with a dismembered body in it) |
 
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Bambi (1942)
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The traumatic and scary reality of death, introduced early to children in this film when Man kills Bambi's mother (off-camera), signified by Bambi's (the Prince of the Forest) father stating: "She's not coming" |
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Many sites
and horror books have attempted to compile listings of the scariest
scenes in film history. In late October 2004, the Bravo cable
network first presented a countdown of 100 movies that contained the
100 Scariest Movie Moments in Film History, later supplemented with
30 Even Scarier Movie Moments in October, 2006. Other sites and film
critics have presented their own compilations of cinema's scariest scenes,
such as the UK's Channel Four and RetroCrush. The selections
of Entertainment Weekly for the "20 Scariest Movies of All
Time" in October 2004 are marked with this symbol -- 
