Horror movies - like all movies - can be very subjective; while one person may run screaming from the room if you mention The Exorcist, another will be rolling on the floor laughing at the "vomiting on the priest" scene. So while there's no telling what you might find scary or not, we can probably agree that the following ten scenes are all classic examples in how to scare people senseless. Warning: some of the following descriptions will have plot spoilers about the movies, so read at your own peril!
10. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT - 1999 - That's Josh In The Corner.
After getting lost in the woods, being tormented by unseen ghosts and losing one of their crew, the college film students suddenly hear him screaming him in pain one night. They follow the screams to an abandoned house and eventually find him in the basement, staring at the corner - which was the Blair Witch's M.O., making one face the corner while she kills the other - then suddenly the camera drops to ground and the screaming stops. Absolutely chilling.
9. SE7EN - 1995 - Sloth.
Detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) are hunting a serial killer who murders people based on the seven deadly sins. Thinking they've finally caught a break, they bust into an apartment and find a dead man tied to a bed, completely emaciated, barely skin and bone, and the word "Sloth" painted on the wall. When one of the officers leans over him, they discover that Sloth is still very much alive, suddenly jumping around the bed, and sending countless viewers jumping out of their seats.
8. JAWS - 1975 - The Head In The Boat.
As the only two people who believe that their sunny resort town is currently under threat by a killer shark, Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) and shark specialist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) are looking for proof the shark exists. When Brody and Hooper investigate an abandoned fisherman's boat, Hooper throws on the wetsuit and goes investigating. He finds a massive hole in the boat's hull, and in it he finds a giant tooth. But when he pulls it out, he also dislodges the fisherman's severed head, which sends Hooper screaming for the surface.
7. KILL LIST - 2011 - Hammer Time.
The most recent, least well known and most disturbing movie on the list; Kill List is not for the faint of heart. The story of two hitmen who are given a list of people to kill, they soon find themselves involved with some very disturbing people indeed. When one of the hitmen discovers a snuff movie making factory, he goes after the factory's owner with a hammer. But it would seem the factory owner somehow knew this was coming, even going so far to thanking the hitmen for killing him, and the camera never cuts away even as the hammer violently mushes his head in. Like I said, not for the faint of heart.
6. RINGU - 1998 - Reality TV.
A journalist discovers a haunted videotape, and anyone who watches it receives a phone call, telling you that you have only seven more days before you die. But right at the end, when everyone thinks they've survived the horror, a TV turns itself on, and an evil girl climbs out of a wall, towards the viewer, and then OUT OF THE TV ITSELF! An absolutely inspired jump-shock, and while it was done well in the American remake The Ring, the original Japanese version is still superior.
5. THE DESCENT - 2005 - It's Behind You!
A group of ladies go cave exploring to take their minds of a recent tragedy, but they become trapped after a cave-in. Already suffering from claustrophobia, the girls venture into a poorly lit cavern, and one of them whips out a night-vision camera. She pans around, checking all the rest of the ladies are okay, and then suddenly discovers they are not alone in these caves, as there is a creature standing right behind one of her friends. One of the biggest popcorn-in-the-air moments in recent cinema.
4. HALLOWEEN - 1978 - Michael Sits Up.
Scream-queen Jamie Lee Curtis has been chased around her neighbourhood by escaped lunatic / serial killer Michael Myers, and has watched him butcher all of her friends. She finally found the courage to fight back, and she has defeated him. Defences down, she begins to wander out of the bedroom, not aware that the "dead" Michael has just sat up behind her, and is now following her down the hall…
3. ALIEN - 1979 - In The Vents.
Having just witnessed their co-worker give birth to an alien through his rib-cage, and then watch it run off into the bowels of the ship, the remaining crew of the spaceship Nostromo are on the hunt. Another crew member has been taken by the alien into the ship's vent systems, and Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) goes up to find him, while Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) keeps watch on the motion sensors. Soon enough the Captain realises he is not the hunter so much as the hunted, and decides he wants to leave the vents, but the motion sensor says the alien is closing in on him. Panicked, the Captain tries to escape, but the alien has been sitting silently behind him, waiting for him. Boo!
2. THE THING - 1982 - The Blood Test.
The crew of an Antarctic science lab have just realised that they are in the company of a shape-shifting creature that takes the form of whoever it kills. But they've also realised that the creature is afraid of fire, so MacReady (Kurt Russell) ties everyone up, takes a blood sample for them all, and exposes it to a heat source so they can find out which of them is human, and which are not. One of the most insanely tense scenes in movie history, once the non-human is discovered and the rest realise they're tied up with him, it quickly turns into a scene of nightmarishly violent horror.
1. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE - 1974 - Hello, Leatherface!
A group of teens are driving around Texas when they discover what appears to be an abandoned house. One of them goes in to investigate, and begins to hear odd pig's squeals. But before he has a chance to react, out pops a giant man with a mask made of leather and a giant sledgehammer. Leatherface brings the hammer down on the intruders head, then drags him into the back room and slams shut a massive metal door. The sudden, shocking violence met with that foreboding sense of dread was enough to warn us that things in this movie were about to get a whole lot worse. It was also the point most movie-viewers decided they needed another pillow to hide behind.
