Prepare yourself for a chilling journey through the most unsettling moments of "Squid Game." We're counting down the scenes that left viewers shocked, disturbed, and unable to look away. From brutal betrayals to horrifying revelations, these moments showcase the series' dark brilliance and social commentary.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the scariest and most unsettling
00:11scenes throughout Squid Game.
00:21Number 10.
00:22The Marble Game.
00:33The entire marble game is one giant middle finger, both to the players and the audience.
00:38First, the game makers pull a fast one on the players by asking them to pair up.
00:43It's only later that they discover that they won't be working as a team, but playing against
00:48each other in a kill-or-be-killed marble game.
00:57This is disturbing enough, especially considering there are married couples in the group.
01:02We could only imagine the horror.
01:04But then, we witness a whole swath of beloved characters being killed off in one fell swoop.
01:10Ji-young, Ali, and Oh Il-nam all die, or so we thought with the latter, and it makes for
01:15devastating viewing.
01:17There wasn't a dry eye in the house after this one.
01:32Number 9.
01:33The VIPs.
01:46There's something deeply unsettling about being watched by rich, anonymous men wearing
01:50golden animal masks.
01:52The VIPs appear late in the series, only showing up to watch the final two games.
01:57And their presence is unbelievably menacing.
02:00They watch the games with gleeful and voyeuristic enjoyment, displaying a complete moral detachment
02:05from basic human suffering.
02:08Furthermore, their anonymity adds a deeper layer to the unease.
02:14As the men are dehumanized and resort to primal instincts related to violence and bloodshed.
02:20And lastly, the masks.
02:22Yikes.
02:23The VIPs represent the seedy, underground nature of the games to perfection.
02:28Men living within a secret society and finding entertainment in the macabre.
02:41Number 8.
02:42Jung Deok-su beats 271 to death.
02:56Poor player 271, he just wanted an egg.
02:59Jung Deok-su is angered by the meager food they're given, and cheats others out of a
03:03meal by taking seconds.
03:05271 confronts Deok-su and tries taking his drink, claiming that it is rightfully his.
03:11However, the glass breaks in the scuffle and Deok-su goes berserk.
03:22He viciously beats the man to death in front of everyone, and 271's prize money is added
03:27to the jackpot.
03:28The violence is scary, but even worse are the implications.
03:33The guards do nothing to stop Deok-su, and the jackpot goes up following his demise,
03:38implying that a death doesn't have to come via the games.
03:41Outright murder is not only accepted, it is encouraged.
03:59Number 7.
04:00The tug-of-war deaths.
04:14This scene is a great argument for why so many people were drawn to Squid Game.
04:18The games themselves are universal and easily understood, but they come with macabre twists
04:23that have disturbing staying power.
04:26This is your basic tug-of-war, but it's played on massive platforms that ensure the
04:30losing team falls to their deaths.
04:37And what horrifying visuals result.
04:40Both we and the other players are forced to watch large groups of people plummet hundreds
04:44of feet to their messy deaths, screaming and crying the whole way down.
04:49Even worse, we later see one player who survived the fall, implying that not all who lose die
04:55on impact.
04:56It is a grotesque thought, and one that we really don't want in our heads.
05:09Number 6.
05:10The riot.
05:22We return to the egg debacle for this horrifying sequence involving a massive riot.
05:26Duxu kills player 198 because she snitched on him earlier, and this results in a huge
05:31brawl between a number of players.
05:34The violence is deplorable, and the fight proves a total free-for-all, with weapons
05:38like glass bottles, blankets, and metal bars being used to cut, strangle, and beat.
05:43The unchecked mania is a direct continuation of 271's earlier death, not just because 198
05:49snitched on Duxu, but because everyone realized that murder was a viable way to cut the numbers.
05:55This is the consequence of that knowledge.
05:57In the end, 27 people are killed, representing one quarter of the entire player pool.
06:09Number 5.
06:10The death of Sang-woo.
06:26We knew it would likely come down to this, but we didn't realize just how gut-wrenching
06:30it would actually be.
06:32Gi-hun faces off against his childhood best friend Sang-woo in the titular squid game.
06:36After a brutal fight in the rain, Gi-hun emerges victorious, having bloodied and battered
06:41his old buddy.
06:45However, he refuses to outright kill him, hoping to secure a majority vote in order
06:55to spare Sang-woo.
06:57But Sang-woo takes matters into his own hands, literally, and takes his own life with a small
07:03knife.
07:04It's an absolutely brutal climax to the games, physically, mentally, and thematically.
07:14Number 4.
07:15The Honeycomb Executions.
07:23There's something inherently bone-chilling about the Honeycomb Executions.
07:27Unlike other games in the series, this one directly involves the guards, as they watch
07:31impassively over the player's shoulders as they carve shapes out of Dalgona.
07:35If they break the piece, or if they don't finish in time, they are mercilessly executed
07:40with a revolver.
07:44The psychological pressure the players are under emanates through the screen, resulting
07:48in a tense and deeply unsettling sense of terror.
07:52The executions themselves are swift and brutal, with no room for negotiation or second chances.
07:58They're completely impersonal, further lending to the realization that the guards are nothing
08:02but inhuman monsters willing to enforce the brutal rules of the game.
08:18Number 3.
08:19Cremated.
08:23Most of the dead are put in coffins designed like gift boxes and cremated.
08:28This is horrifying on so many levels.
08:31The gift box design implies a type of gleeful offering, and is in stark contrast to the
08:36violent nature of the deaths.
08:37The cremations themselves are also horribly impersonal.
08:41The bodies are mechanically packed and burned without ceremony, their family receiving no
08:46mementos.
08:47It's a fantastic symbol of the player's disposability.
08:50But wait, it gets worse.
08:52One player survives the game and tries escaping their coffin, but the guard simply pushes
08:57their fingers back in and nails it shut, dooming them to a painful death.
09:01It is easily one of the most disquieting visuals in the entire series.
09:07Number 2.
09:08Organ Harvesting.
09:14As we later learn, some of the bodies are not burned.
09:17Instead, they are secretly taken to an underground lair, and their organs are harvested by guards.
09:23Not much is known about the mechanics of this operation, but it doesn't really matter.
09:27What we do know is that humans are being exploited for their organs, and that it is equal parts
09:33disturbing and disgusting.
09:43The underground organ harvesting adds yet another layer of dread and malice to the games,
09:47and like many aspects of the show, it's used for social commentary.
09:51The black market demands organs by any means necessary, and is willing to ignore how they
09:57appear.
09:58Plus, the gore.
09:59Props to the makeup department because wow.
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10:21Number 1.
10:22Red Light, Green Light.
10:33If there's one scene from Squid Game that will enter the halls of television history,
10:37it is probably the Red Light, Green Light massacre.
10:41This is where the entire tone of the series shifted, going from a social drama about inequality
10:45to a bloody piece of horror.
10:48Both players and audiences react with horror when they realize the true nature of the games,
10:53as over half of the players are systematically gunned down and murdered.
11:05It's simply a brilliant piece of television.
11:07The production values, the tone, the bloody carnage, that darn terrifying robot, all are
11:13excellent and all established Squid Game as must-watch event TV.
11:18Highly disturbing TV, yes, but must-watch all the same.
11:29Did we miss a scene that you love to hate?
11:32Let us know in the comments below.
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