To me, the scariest scenes ever are from two movies, 1973 The Exorcist and 2017 Aterrados (English: Terrified).

The Exorcist - Father Karras “help me” scene. The first time watching the movie, this scene scared the shit out of me, as I was sure the demon was going to jump out of Regan’s belly and kill both Karras and the housekeeper. The cinematography and the music were superb. Then nothing happened, whew, what a relief. Watching it time and again, although not as scary, still gives me the creepy feeling.

Terrified - I put this one a close second only to The Exorcist as my all-time favorite horror film. The dead boy back at home scene. It didn’t show him coming out of the grave or anything like that. Then *BOOM*, he, as a rotten corpse, was sitting right in the dining room just motionless in front of the meal his mom prepared for him. When the investigator got up close to examine him, I expected the boy to jump up and grab him or something. But nothing. He remained stiff the entire time, with only some hints that he did move. It’s so well done, no scary music even needed.

Interesting for me that they share the same theme - The build up, expecting STHTF but then nothing happened. I guess that’s what makes them, not repeated cheap jump scares every five minutes, so scary.

What are your nominations?

This should probably be in The Lair, but okay...

These probably were scariest for me as a kid, while pretty campy these days...

The Fly (1958), watching it on late night TV (channel 26 "Shock Theater") circa 1974, scared the heck out of me.



Every scene in the 1986 movie after the protagonist's full transformation to "Brundlefly".

Jaws, at that point going in the Ocean was a big nope....



The Shining, well done, plenty of moments to create anxiety Kubric did a great job..



Halloween the original slasher movie

The stupid vampire kid floating through the window in the original Salem's Lot

The Omen (1976) had several scary scenes.
The priest getting impaled by the lightning rod was unexpected.

In the original "The Fog" movie, sitting in a theater with surround sound (or what ever it was) the snapping of that pocket watch I will never forget.

AI Overview +1 The famous pocket watch scene in John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) takes place at the very beginning of the movie rather than the closing.The Opening Pocket Watch SceneThe Ticking: The film opens in total darkness with a loud, hypnotic ticking sound and a close-up of an old gold pocket watch dangling and swinging in front of the camera.

That flying silver sphere in Phantasm.

The first glimpse of the house in the Blair Witch Project, as well as the shot of the girl walking down the stairs into the basement and seeing her friend standing in the corner. Granted, the rest of the movie is pretty corny but I honestly felt a sense of dread when seeing the house and the basement scene terrified me—probably because I’m already generally afraid of basements.

Jaws, when Quint get bite in half…

Like 12131, I seem to hold scenes that inspire what I might call "dread" in high regard.

I can't recall a specific scene in any movie, but I do know that I really, REALLY don't like that darn nun in the Conjuring movies. I hate that nun.

Jump scares are cheap, but there are still some out there that are really well done. I do recall being scared by the head in Jaws, but I was young. The woman in the shower is easily the scariest scene in The Shining, IMO.

I am not into overly gross stuff. It seems to be trending nowadays. I don't think it's "scary". It just aims to make people uncomfortable, but not in the genuine way that the aforementioned dread does.

I hated horror films as a young man, then was briefly infatuated with them, and have since cooled off again. I do return to certain John Carpenter movies on an annual or biannual basis, though I don't consider them very scary.

In The Exorcist, when Father Merrin arrives by cab in the night with the fog lit up from the window and the demon sensed he arrived, you knew the shit was coming. Still gives me the willies.

I am sure seeing The Exorcist when it came out was quite a shock. Seeing it years later, the effects and makeup betray it a bit. It's still amazing but the way The Exorcism of Emily Rose riffed on the Exorcist was excellent, imo. The naming of the demons was particularly effective if you know the Bible passages it was sourced from.

The director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose has a respectable horror filmography, in my opinion. I have mentioned him in the past. Scott Derrickson.

Notable entries:
Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
Sinister (2012)
Deliver us from Evil (2014)
The Black Phone (2021)

Sinister is really good. A good balance of dread and jumps, with Ethan Hawke doing a great job in the lead role. They reunited in The Black Phone with Ethan as "The Grabber", and he does a great job in that role too.

When discussing single scenes, the scene in Black Phone in which the hero is sneaking past the sleeping villain is nerve-wracking! The lawnmower scene in Sinister is one of the best jump scares I can think of. The opening "tree" scene in Sinister is especially creepy too.

Shutter (Thai movie) ghost riding on shoulders.

0-0

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
Sinister (2012)
Deliver us from Evil (2014)

Yes, two very excellent horror movies with appropriately matched titles.

Emily Rose and Hellraiser don’t do much for me in terms of scariness, although I somewhat enjoyed watching Pinhead and his associates.

The cowboy being turned upside down and split apart alive at the crotch by the cannibal Indians in “Bone Tomahawk” was a hoot.

It's Alive from the seventies, not sure why but that movie freaks me out. Not really gory but sometimes less is more.

IMO, scariest movie stuff are those scenes where there’s little or nothing to see or hear. All left to your imagination, like the old b&w movies, like Brett looking for the Nostromo’s cat, etc.
The music of Jaws…

And there’s those scenes where you realise people are so evil there’s no need for special fx.
0-0