We all know there are certain movies that we remember due to a
very frightening scene that has affected us in some way or form. Now I’m not
talking about the unoriginal BOO scares that pollute many horror flicks.
I’m
talking about when the Alien came out of the stomach, when Jaws popped out of
the water, when Michael Myers trapped Laurie Strode in the closet; these were
all parts of movies that made people jump or squirm and maybe even scream.
This was a tricky top ten to do, because everyone has their own definition of
horror. What is scary to one person, may not seem as scary to the next, but this
is the list of scary moments that has made ME scared sh*tless. (Please note
there were many more scary moments, but I couldn’t put them all down!)
WARNING HUGE FREAKING SPOILERS – READ AT YOUR OWN
RISK!
5. Black
Christmas-“It’s me, Billy.”
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I watched this movie drunk and with a few of my guy friends
and we were dying of laughter. It just seemed like a forgettable slasher to us,
but when the main character Jess (Olivia Hussey) finds the bodies of her fellow
sorority sisters and sees “Billy” spying on her through the crack of the door,
we all jumped up and screamed! (Yeah…I did mention my other friends were GUYS,
right?) One of the creepiest moments in slasher history if you ask me.
4. Texas Chainsaw
Massacre (1974)-The infamous Meat Hook
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If there was one other weapon in TCM besides the chainsaw
that made this movie more horrific, it would have to be the sharp meat hook used
to gruesomely torture Pam. The scene with Leatherface hanging Pam on the meat
hook shook me to the core. It didn’t show gallons of blood, and the camera
didn’t linger on the hook going into her back, which made this scene more much
grittier and realistic. I think that’s what made it even MORE horrifying.
3. Nightmare on Elm
Street-“This is God.”
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This film had many memorable scary moments (unfortunately,
it’s probably the only one in the series that actually had any) but, it was the
scene when Tina gets attacked in the alleyway that will forever be embedded in
my memory. The outstretched mutant-like arms, the ginsu knifes scraping against
the building wall, and the creepy chase scene were scary enough to make me never
want to fall asleep again. (* Note: I was only 5 when I first watched this!*)
2. The Exorcist-
The Never Before Seen Scene
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To most, The Exorcist is known for being one of the
scariest movies of all time, but I think it was one of the scariest
movies of its time. I say this because when I had seen the special 25th
anniversary version in theatres a few years back, I was surrounded by an
audience full of loud mouthed teenagers who were laughing at the same scenes
that were making people leave the theatre and throw up years ago. Nobody was
scared anymore from the pea soup vomit, or the 360 degree head spin. It just
seemed like a big joke now, but suddenly the audience went silent when the scene
where Regan(Linda Blair) is crawling down the stairs backwards, like a spider
with her mouth full of blood. You could have heard a pin drop in that theatre,
and if it caused that reaction now, I wonder how people would have reacted in
1975 when the film first opened.
1. When a Stranger
Calls-The Classic Babysitter tale
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Five words. Five little words made this scene one of the
most terrifying scenes in horror film history. “Have you checked the children?”
Everything about this scene gave me chills. From when Carol Kane (the
babysitter) answers the killer’s phone calls, to when the police calls her and
tells her the calls are coming from inside the house. This scene is
frightening and it also spawned other films with the same kind of horrifying
premise. (E.g. Scream) It may not be your scariest moment, but it definitely is
frightening. Don’t watch it alone or if you’re babysitting!
Bonus: CandyMan-In the bathroom
Okay….I lied. My
number one pick is not the scariest thing I’ve seen. There was a much scarier
scene that I watched when I was 9 years old and it has forever scarred me. This
scene is so scary that even if I watch it on TBS, it freaks me out. I’m talking
about the horrific castration scene in Candyman. In the bit a mentally
challenged boy goes to a public bathroom, and his mother hears him screaming
from outside. When she opens the door she sees her son crying and holding
himself covered in blood, and his penis had been cut off and thrown in one of
the toilets. (Clive Barker, you’ve got a sick mind, my friend!!)