Time to get traumatized all over again! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re going to be counting down our picks for the horror movie moments that left our collective jaws on the floor, and had us reaching for the rewind button!
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00:00 [Screaming]
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're going to be counting down our picks
00:08 for the horror movie moments that left our collective jaws on the floor,
00:12 and had us reaching for the rewind button.
00:15 "If you hang up on me again, I'll gut you like a fish, understand?"
00:18 Number 10. The Restaurant - The Invisible Man
00:23 The Invisible Man Reimagining from 2020 did a lot of things right when it came to updating
00:28 a classic horror story. Themes of gaslighting, manipulation, and domestic violence were all
00:34 fair game here, and the execution of these themes almost certainly came to a head
00:39 during the restaurant scene. "I need that strength in my life right now.
00:44 And I need you to believe what I'm about to tell you."
00:49 Here, a troubled and tormented Cecilia is attempting to confide in her sister Emily
00:55 in a busy public location. There's a disturbing parallel between the efforts some victims put
01:00 into distancing themselves from their abuser, and the goals Cecilia has for this meeting.
01:05 "I found something that can prove what I'm experiencing.
01:10 That can prove that Adrian is stalking me."
01:15 Then, Cecilia's ex, Adrian, who's now invisible, strikes with shocking and sudden violence,
01:22 and attacks Emily. It's a moment that makes the audience, and us, jump with shock and fear.
01:29 Number 9. The Crawlers Appear - The Descent
01:32 There's a lot of slow build within 2005's The Descent.
01:36 "Okay, move. Now! Now! Now!"
01:48 Director Neil Marshall perfectly makes us wait for the moment when these subterranean crawlers
01:53 make their first appearance. In fact, we're so unaware by the scene that we always forget
01:58 exactly the whereabouts of that pesky jump scare. "Is there anybody there? Now, hello?"
02:05 This speaks volumes to how well Marshall writes his characters, how much we care about what
02:14 happens to them, and how they will, hopefully, make it out alive. Don't get us wrong, the crawlers
02:20 are absolutely badass, but The Descent honestly would have been great simply working as a
02:26 claustrophobic underground thriller. Number 8. The Greatest Head Explosion
02:39 in the History of Cinema - Scanners Yes, we realise that statement is a bit
02:45 hyperbolic, but honestly, can you blame us? "At this point I'd like to call for volunteers."
02:49 "Anyone, doesn't matter." Everyone of a certain age remembers where they were
03:00 the first time this groundbreaking effect from David Cronenberg's Scanners assaulted their
03:06 eyeballs. It's a scene that not only sets up the universe of these Scanners and their
03:11 telekinetic strength, but also succeeds to further the special effects medium as a whole.
03:16 "Yes, I have something. Do I have to close my eyes?" "Doesn't matter."
03:19 "Alright, yes, I have something."
03:22 Michael Ironside's Daryl Revik is a villain for the ages, a malevolent force that's out to be
03:30 the top Scanner, at any cost. His powers are so great, in fact, that he's able to mentally punish
03:38 a fellow Scanner with such intensity that the latter's head explodes with a velocity that needs
03:45 to be seen to be believed. "I want you to come with me."
03:48 "I didn't do anything." "I said I want you to come with me."
03:52 "Please, let him not go!" "Fetch him, fetch him!"
04:01 Don't Look Now, and indeed the cinema of director Nicholas Roeg as a whole,
04:06 has a lot of things to say that go beyond the realms of horror.
04:09 Grief, trauma, and guilt all come into play with this film's story of parents whose moment of
04:21 distraction results in the tragic death of their daughter. The rest of Don't Look Now deals
04:27 primarily with the aftermath of this accident, as well as the couple's determination to contact the
04:32 presence of their child. As a result, the film's ending comes completely out of left field,
04:39 as the father, John, is murdered by a dwarven serial killer.
04:43 "Wait, wait."
04:45 "Ahhhh!"
04:53 The fact that John's murderer is wearing a coat similar to that of his daughter
04:56 only adds to this moment's memorable execution.
05:00 6. Marty in the Mirror - Poltergeist
05:03 "I'm gonna go get something to eat."
05:07 1982's Poltergeist, for many, serves as a great entryway into the world of horror.
05:12 It's frightening and tense, but not quite graphic enough to traumatize younger kids,
05:17 seeking to dip their toes into some heavier stuff. Well, perhaps with one exception.
05:22 The scene where parapsychologist Marty is looking into a mirror
05:33 gets freaky when he starts peeling his skin away, bit by bit.
05:38 The moment is one that could have only taken place within an 80s PG-rated film,
05:44 and, in fairness, Marty happens to be hallucinating the incident. However,
05:49 fans probably never forgot the shock this scene gave them when they first watched it back in '82.
05:55 "What is it? What is it?"
06:02 5. Clear - The Thing
06:11 "One time, Doc. Get him in here. And bring the others.
06:18 Now nobody gets out of my sight."
06:24 Director John Carpenter inserted a lot of "I can't believe they just did that"
06:30 moments into his reimagining of "The Thing" from Another World back in 1982. Now titled simply "The
06:37 Thing," Carpenter's version provides a nightmarish vision of a creature that can infiltrate,
06:43 assimilate, and mimic just about anything, with spectacularly grotesque results.
06:55 The blood test scene does a great job at showcasing how subtlety covert this "thing"
07:01 can be while hiding. Additionally, the scene where using a defibrillator goes horribly wrong
07:07 has entered the annals of moviemaking history. It's such a special effect shock to see the
07:14 stomach of crew member Norris turn into a giant mouth with sharp teeth,
07:19 the shock that still gets our goat so many years later.
07:24 4. No Good Deed - The Mist
07:27 "We gave it a good shot. Nobody can say we didn't."
07:31 It was the horror movie ending that shocked a generation. The ending of writer-director
07:36 Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Mist.
07:39 "What wants him?"
07:41 "There's five of us."
07:46 King's original work didn't choose to go the down-ending route, but Darabont,
07:52 with author's blessing, decided to go full 1970s with this one. That decade saw many American films
07:59 choosing to present more realistic and not necessarily satisfying endings to their stories,
08:05 and The Mist is definitely cut from that cloth. How else could it justify the decision to have
08:11 Thomas Jane's David commit an act of murderous mercy in a car, only for help to arrive moments
08:19 later? It's a shock that continues to reverberate throughout horror fandom, and it probably always
08:25 will.
08:26 3. Chestburster - Alien
08:37 "Anyway, where are we?"
08:39 "Right here."
08:39 "We're on our way home."
08:40 "Yeah, back to the old Freezerinos."
08:43 "Oh my lord, I've got to have something to eat before we go back."
08:47 "I'm starving, I need something to eat."
08:49 We realize that some of these moments possess a "you had to have been there" sensibility to them,
08:55 but the act of an alien chestburster scene is just still so freaking cool, man.
09:01 Even so many years removed from the OG.
09:03 "What's the matter? The food ain't that bad, baby."
09:07 "You chill for 12 minutes."
09:11 "What's wrong?"
09:11 "You need a break?"
09:13 "What's wrong?"
09:17 Veronica Cartwright's shocked expression and reaction just sort of says it all, really.
09:22 She was not ready for what was about to happen to her co-star, John Hurt, and neither was the
09:27 audience.
09:28 "No, no, no!"
09:30 "Don't touch it!"
09:31 It's a violent moment that not only tells us what the aliens are capable of, but also how they
09:36 breed, and what lengths they will go to to ensure that they remain the apex interstellar predators.
09:43 2. Crucifix Abuse - The Exorcist
09:47 Will rumours about The Exorcist and the legacy of its release ever stop swirling within the
09:52 horror movie zeitgeist? We're not sure. And we're also not sure if we want it to either.
09:58 Not with shocking moments like this one.
10:00 Horror cinema wasn't exactly too far removed from the Atomic Age creature features of the 1950s
10:12 when The Exorcist was released in 1973. Audiences frankly had a difficult time accepting the level
10:18 of blasphemous violence on display here, particularly involving such a young actor.
10:23 The image of Regan McNeil burying a crucifix deep within her body in such a visceral and bloody
10:33 fashion is upsetting to some, evil to others, and thoroughly important to horror cinema's
10:39 progression as an art form.
10:42 "You know what she did?"
10:43 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions.
10:48 The Death of Casey Becker - Scream - Brutal and Unexpected
10:52 Hobbled - Misery - We Still Wince
11:10 All For You, Damien - The Omen - Self-Destruction for the Antichrist
11:17 Grandpa and the Hammer - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Fresh Meat for the Slaughterhouse
11:37 Elevator Attack - Dawn of the Dead - Reach Out, Touch Death
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12:01 Number 1 - The Shower Scene - Psycho
12:04 - Scream -
12:09 Alfred Hitchcock's reputation as the "master of suspense" is definitely well-earned,
12:14 as evidenced by the fact that movies like Psycho continue to top lists like this one.
12:20 Hitchcock managed to influence many young filmmakers in the wake of this film's
12:24 bait-and-switch shower murder of Marion Crane. The shower scene's set-up, execution, and legacy
12:31 was as such that Hitch and Psycho would go on to inspire not only Italy's Ghiallo cycle of murder
12:38 mysteries, but even the American slasher movie. Furthermore, the scene serves as a turning point
12:44 in the film - a shocking death of a character we've been following up until this point,
12:49 and the beginning of Psycho's second half. It's timeless stuff.
12:54 "Mother! Oh God! Mother! Blood! Blood!"
12:58 What was the first moment that shocked you in a horror movie?
13:01 Does it still bother you today? Let us know in the comments.
13:05 "You gotta be f---ing kidding."
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