Today we examine the Bravo
channel’s “100 Scariest Movie Moments” countdown. The official list is far more
defined than the show would suggest, nailing down the actual moments which
aren’t always clearly defined onscreen. As in the Channel 4 entry, this countdown
has a poor clip/chat ratio and clips being explained so thoroughly as to take
away the scare aspect. Bravo do limit themselves by sticking solely to TV and
staying within the horror/thriller/SF borders instead of covering what TV
Tropes refers to as “Nightmare Fuel” from other genres. I’d love to see a
broader list with the same borders as the UK version.
You can watch the original
clips on YouTube:
I’m not going to comment on
every single entry here either. The original text from this is taken from the
website TV Tropes http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage, and is
used under a vague understanding of how a creative commons licence works.
100. 28 Days Later: The scene where Jim has just met
Selena and Mark, and a person who's been infected suddenly bursts in from
outside and attacks.
99. Creepshow: Upson Pratt dies, and suddenly thousands
of cockroaches burst out of his body.
OK, that one’s pretty gross.
98. Zombi: A woman is pulled towards a splinter, which
eventually goes through her eye.
97. Cat People: Alice is walking to the bus stop in the
dark, and hears footsteps behind her. She stops, and they stop. She picks up
the pace and hears the footsteps chasing her. Just as she gets to the bus stop,
the bus arrives scaring the wits out of her.
96. The Birds: Melanie hides inside a phone booth as
seagulls massacre the people outside, and it cuts to a literal birds-eye view
of the carnage.
95. Jurassic Park: The scene where the children are
trapped in the kitchen with the raptors hunting them.
94. Pacific Heights: Patty comes back after getting her
revenge and finds Carter Hayes waiting for her.
93. Child's Play: Andy's mom starts to realize
something's not right with Chucky, and threatens to throw him into the
fireplace, at which point he comes to life and attacks her.
92. Village of the Damned: Gordon puts up a mental
brick wall to cover up his plan to suicide bomb the children, and they all try
to break it down.
91. Shallow Grave: Juliet, David, and Alex bury their
dead roommate in the woods.
90. The Night of the Hunter: Harry Powell interrogates
the children about the location of the heist money.
89. Alice, Sweet Alice: Karen looks for Alice in a big
and creepy abandoned warehouse.
88. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Miles kisses
Becky, and discovers she's now one of them.
87. Black Christmas 1974 (1974): A girl is suffocated
to death with plastic wrap.
I’d add in the phone calls
too.
86. The Wizard of Oz: The flying monkeys, and the witch
threatening to kill Dorothy.
85. Blood and Black Lace: The first victim is attacked
by the killer out of total darkness.
84. Blue Velvet: Frank first appears, huffing
God-knows-what, and rapes Dorothy Vallens, while repeatedly saying "Mommy!
Baby wants to fuuuuck!"
83. The Others: Grace finds her daughter apparently
possessed by the eponymous "spirits".
82. The Terminator: The now legless cyborg tries to
grab Sarah through a grating.
81. The Howling: Terry goes investigating the colony,
and is greeted by the thought-dead Eddie Quist in werewolf form.
80. Poltergeist: Robbie gets attacked by the already
creepy looking clown doll.
79. Dracula (1931): Renfield first meets the title
character, and sees him walk through spider-webs...without disturbing them.
78. The Brood: Frank confronts Nola, and sees her give
birth to one of her rage-babies, and lick it.
77. Signs: Merrill watches a news report about an alien
sighting, alone, in a dark closet.
76. The Evil Dead: Two words: Tree rape.
75. Candyman: The title character opens his coat, and
he's covered in bees.
“I like my women like I like
my coffee. Covered in bees.”
74. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: The tunnel
of nightmares, which includes a chicken getting its head chopped off.
Damn freaky scene. Watch.
73. Blood Simple.: The detective stalks Abby in the
darkened apartment.
72. Them!: The main characters see one of the ants for
the first time, and it has a human rib-cage in its jaws.
71. The Sixth Sense: Cole meets the little dead girl.
70. The Stepfather: Stephanie walks in on Jerry having
a meltdown.
69. Re Animator: Three words: Head giving head.
68. The Black Cat: Dr. Werdegast flays Poelzig alive.
67. Duel: The trucker tries to force David onto the
railroad tracks.
66. The Tenant: Trelkovsky finds a tooth in a wall.
65. Marathon Man: Three words: Is it safe?
64. Near Dark: Severen terrorizes a bartender.
63. Deliverance: Two words: Redneck rape.
62. The Wolf Man (1941) (1941): Larry, as the eponymous
monster, attacks Gwen.
61. The Devil's Backbone: Jacinto explores the
basement, and feels the dead boy's presence.
60. The Beyond: A possessed girl gets her head blown
off.
59. Fatal Attraction: Alex, seemingly dead, bursts out
of the bathtub, and Dan's wife shoots her.
58. Cujo: Donna and her son are attacked by the
eponymous dog for the first time.
57. House of Wax (1953) (1953): Sue tries to fight back
against Professor Jarrod, and knocks his mask off.
56. Single White Female: Allie sees Hedy come down the
stairs with the same exact hairdo as her.
55. The Vanishing: Two words: Buried alive.
54. The Changeling: John tosses his dead daughter's ball
into the river, then comes back home, and sees it fall down the stairs.
53. Demons: The crowd witness a victim turning into a
demon.
52. The Phantom of the Opera: The famous unmasking
scene.
51. The Dead Zone: The deputy commits suicide with
scissors.
Again, freaky.
50. The Last House on the Left: The murder of Phyllis,
with a healthy dose of Hell Is That Noise.
49. Les Diaboliques: Christina sees her supposedly dead
husband emerge from the bathtub, and drops dead of a heart attack.
48. The Thing (1982): The blood-testing scene.
47. Nosferatu: The scene where Orlock is climbing the
stairs then suddenly appears in the doorway.
46. The Sentinel: Alison follows a barely seen
intruder, and it's her dead father.
45. The Wicker Man (1973): Sergeant Howie is led into
the eponymous structure, which is then set ablaze.
44. The Game: Nicholas comes home, and finds a clown
dummy in the same exact position as his father was found dead in.
43. It's Alive: The opening birth scene.
42. An American Werewolf in London: The transformation
sequence. At the time Visual Effects of Awesome.
41. The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Mars and Pluto invade
the camper.
40. Black Sunday: Asa is executed in the opening scene.
39. Dawn of the Dead (1978): A zombie gets the top of
his head cut off by a helicopter blade.
38. Peeping Tom: Mark menaces the heroine's blind
mother.
37. House On
Haunted Hill 1959 (1959): Nora is looking for a secret passage, then turns
around and a freaky looking woman is right there.
36. Cape Fear (1962): Max comes after Sam's daughter.
35. Aliens: Ripley and Newt are locked in the infirmary
with two face-huggers.
34. The Hitcher: John Ryder tears Nash in half with two
trucks.
33. The Fly (1986): In a nightmare sequence, Veronica
gives birth to a giant maggot.
32. Pet Sematary: Jud is killed by evil little Gage.
31. Friday the 13th (1980): Alice gets dragged into the
lake by Jason.
30. The Blair Witch Project: The last thirty seconds of
the entire movie. You simply see Mike facing the corner, then a scream from
Heather. Then silence.
See? Much scarier.
29. The Serpent and the Rainbow: Dennis stumbles
through the village, pleading, "Don't bury me!"
28. When a Stranger Calls: "The calls are coming
from inside the house!"
27. Frankenstein (1931): The creature accidentally
kills a little girl (which was edited back in the days when Hollywood had The
Hays Code, making the scene scarier than it originally was supposed to be).
26. Se7en: The Sloth victim.
25. Phantasm: Mike wakes up to find himself in a
cemetery, and the Tall Man is standing over him.
24. Suspiria: The opening murder scene: A woman is
stabbed in the heart, falls through a stained glass window, and is hanged on a
cord, while her friend below is impaled by the falling glass.
23. Rosemary's Baby: The dream-like rape scene.
If there was ever a film made
of scary moments, it’s this one. It needs context, so no clip.
22. Don't Look Now: John corners who he thinks is his
dead daughter, but is in fact a midget serial killer.
21. Jacob's Ladder: Jacob is at a party, dancing with
his girlfriend, and sees her getting attacked or raped by some kind of
reptilian tail sprouting from between her legs.
20. The Ring: The scene where Samara crawls out of the
television.
19. Hellraiser: Kirsty opens the box, and the Cenobites
appear.
18. The Haunting 1963: The door bulges inward, as if
something's trying to get in.
17. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)} (1984): Tina is
dragged onto the ceiling, and sliced up by an invisible Freddy.
16. The Omen: Mrs. Baylock pushes Katherine out of the
hospital window.
15. Freaks: The freaks chase down the acrobat, and
proceed to make her "one of them".
14. Halloween (1978): Laurie relaxes after apparently
killing Michael, when, behind her, we see him suddenly sit up.
13. Scream: The killer toys with Casey.
12. Misery: Annie breaks Paul's legs.
11. Audition: Asami tortures Shigeharu. Kiri kiri kiri
kiri...
10. Wait Until Dark: Roat jumps out of the darkness and
grabs Susy.
If you’ve not already seen
this film, you really should.
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968): Helen is stabbed to
death with a trowel by her zombified daughter.
8. Carrie: Susan dreaming of putting flowers on
Carrie's grave only to have Carrie's arm come out of the ground and grab her.
7. The Silence of the Lambs: Hannibal makes his escape.
6. The Shining: "All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy."
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974: Leatherface bashes
a guy's head in with a hammer.
4. Psycho (1960): Two words: Shower scene. The stairs
scene too.
3. The Exorcist: Regan's head starts spinning around.
2. Alien: The alien bursts out of Kane's chest during
dinner.
1. Jaws: The very first few minutes where the woman is
eaten by the unseen shark.
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