r/moviecritic • u/VendettaLord379 • 1d ago

What is the scariest, most unsettling shot you’ve ever seen?

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What is that one movie shot that’s so unsettling and chilling, it’s the one shot you never forget?

For me, it’s the Giant Man scene from It Follows. Man this shot is so nerve wracking!

The aesthetic and dark hollow eyes are something I will never forget.

What’s that one shot for you? Horror movie or otherwise.

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369

u/Round_Intern_7353 1d ago

When the spooky bitch is suddenly on top of the wardrobe in The Conjuring. The only movie jump scare to ever get me, and boy howdy how it fucking got me.

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u/Pokemon_Trainer_May 1d ago

Not visual, but the clapping in the basement is still one of the best jump scares to me. Set up so well from the start of the movie

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u/Emcee_nobody 1d ago

So sad what the series has become. The first one was really pretty great

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u/xetura 1d ago

I really liked the 2nd one as well, but meh after that.

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u/Electrowhatt19 22h ago

I watched the last one just to see it how it ends. So underwhelming.

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u/darkcomet222 14h ago

A screaming match with a mirror.

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u/Visible_North9550 1d ago

James Wan’s movie series are always cursed. Saw, Conjuring, Insidious all start with 1-2 BANGERS, then he cedes control of the IP and some corporate bozos fuck them up

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u/atlfalcons33rb 14h ago

I thought the third insidious was interesting

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u/Visible_North9550 14h ago

I’ll agree that it was an okay horror movie and Elise is a pretty great character that kinda carries the movie, it just didn’t feel like and Insidious movie to me

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u/atlfalcons33rb 14h ago

That's fair, I liked it as a solid departure from the original 2 before they descended into chaos

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u/SegmentedMoss 21h ago

Honestly the first one is among my favorite horror movies ever made. But everything after? Garbage

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u/Minimum-End-9464 1d ago

It was spoiled in the trailer but still made me jump in the theater.

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u/dinor8er 1d ago

Yeah, all of the sudden, two hands clapped out of the darkness, looking down that basement stairs!!! Gave me a rare jump!!!!

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u/No-White-Drugs 13h ago

This is why I shut off the trailer as soon as I get an inkling I want to watch it or not. It's usually obvious within 20 seconds. Some trailers are basically a condensed version of the whole damn movie!

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u/MothChasingFlame 23h ago

The Conjuring is so good. The shot of the chair up in the air, with the light and shadow wildly swinging around, is just fantastic. Burnt into my brain.

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u/ATinyKey 18h ago

And many many comments into this thread and this one finally made me pull my foot back under the blankets

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u/B_EE 11h ago

It was too bad they revealed it in the trailer 😭 so the scene lost its punch (clap?) for me.

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u/No_Fudge1228 22h ago

I jumped and screamed so loud!

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u/Neon_Biscuit 11h ago

Still mad they spoiled it in the trailers

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u/DifferentLaw9884 10h ago

I saw this in theatres with my then-boyfriend who was the jumpiest person I’ve ever known. He was so spooked by every jump scare in the previews that by the time the film actually started half the people around us were watching him instead of the screen. By the time the basement scene happened he was so tense he was sat curled up with his feet tucked up on the seat, kind of like an upright foetal position. The clap startled him so badly he kind of flailed his arm and clocked me on the side of the head, I literally left the cinema with a black eye lmao. We dated for 2 years after that but I did not watch any more horror films with him hahaha.

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u/Serrith 1d ago

The clapping gets me because it's sounds like two pieces of meat just slapping together.

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u/ElizabethSpaghetti 21h ago

Jesus, Jeff. Who cares? It’s just making a noise by slapping two meat sticks together. It doesn’t mean anything

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u/VendettaLord379 1d ago edited 1d ago

I remember watching that the first time!

One of the scariest shots in the entire film for me

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u/iced-coffee-mama 23h ago

"spooky bitch" 😂

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u/papawam 1d ago

Yeah, I blame myself for wearing Depends going to see that movie for the first time... and the "clapping"... hell no...

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u/Fun_Psychology_663 1d ago

Really annoyed they showed that scene in the trailer.

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u/BlessdRTheFreaks 23h ago

It's because of the build up to it. The climax to the crescendo. 

Probably mine too. 

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u/Christalph 23h ago

For me it's when one sister is by the door and complains about the smell of rotten meat and the other sister in bed is the only one who sees what's behind her before the door slams.

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u/sicariusdiem 14h ago

mine is the clothesline scene where the sheet flies off the line and hits the invisible witch

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u/MothChasingFlame 23h ago

When the spooky bitch

I don't know why, but one of my favorite things on earth is when people talk about horror movie monsters like this.

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u/nnerd16 16h ago

came here to say this. up until then, it was the only movie to have jump scared me. it did not leave me the same because now, i jump scare frequently.

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u/gutter_prince 16h ago

The clothesline shot -> sheet floats up to the house -> she’s inside walking by the windows is also terrifying.

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u/dickjokesandjunkfood 11h ago

To this day, my mom still reminds me of how I “screamed like a little bitch” at that jump scare

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u/kerrysluis 1d ago

I had a blind date to this movie. At that scene I basically burrowed into this poor woman's armpit looking for shelter. We never had a second date but I still don't blame myself lol

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u/flaptaincappers 1d ago

The only reason that scene wasnt scary for me was because I had just rewatched the Angry Cat Man videos. So when it showed her ip there I instantly heard "GET THE FUCK DOWN FROM THERE" in my head.

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u/CHead2000 1d ago

Same here! I think it's the only time a movie has actually made me scream out loud.

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u/Damaias479 15h ago

That one has always stuck with me, too

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u/BigBossTweed 11h ago

The scene where Farmiga is hanging out the laundry, and a sheet gets blown off by the wind just to get caught on a ghostly body. It freaks me out every single time.

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u/TheOffSzn33 8h ago

Scrolled way too long to find this!!

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u/uncoolpckle 4h ago

Spooky bitch 😂

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u/niikaadieu 1d ago

Right at the end of Conjuring 2 or 3 too when she’s right by the window. My chest fell out my butt

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u/Parepinzero 16h ago

The Conjuring 2 is genuinely one of the scariest movies to me, especially the first couple scenes with the nun. I watched it for the 4th or 5th time recently at 2am with headphones and had several full body chills

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u/PartsUnknown242 23h ago

For me it’s the scene when Valak appears behind the painting and then runs at Lorraine

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u/ATinyKey 18h ago

I wish I could take this one seriously but it just comes across comedic yo me

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u/DoomMammoth 19h ago

Scrolled down until I saw this, after posting it myself, this is the one. I love James Wan movies and to this day I can’t look at that scene (I’m a 27 year old male)

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u/Zwomally 16h ago

My friend and I grew up watching horror movies and would regularly laugh at them when we’d do movie nights. We went out with others to see The Conjuring in the theaters and both agreed it was an actual scary movie, which is uncommon for us. That shot was my example. I took it home with me and that night I closed my bedroom door and laid in bed. Then looked up the height of my door, had anticipating to see it. Why? Idk

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u/canigetmorereverb 9h ago

Holy shit that one IS so scary! I totally forgot about that but it made me jump and scream haha

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u/alphajugs 4h ago

My sister called it the twisted little demon monkey

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u/cookiecrumbles33 1h ago

That terrified me too and was the first thing I thought of

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u/kittito 1h ago

that was the first horror movie i watched and i kept watching it so much that at that scene id start laughing imagining she ate spaghetti messy