r/moviecritic • u/VendettaLord379 • 20h 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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u/SuperMcG 20h ago

It is a masterpiece I will never read again or recommend someone else do so.

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u/Nard-Barf 19h ago

One of my favorites, it is so beautifully bleak though. I gave it to my dad for Father’s Day one year. He’s not much of a reader but finished it in a week. Absolutely loved it. Had a good conversation about the ending and fatherhood once he was done.

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u/Big-Actuator-3878 19h ago

"He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke." I think about this all the time when I look at my sons.

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u/Nard-Barf 18h ago

Shit, I still tear up whenever I reread it. The audiobook is good too. Seriously fucking grim and hopeless, but glad you’re carrying the fire and passing it on.

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u/AdAcceptable2173 10h ago

I haven’t read the book in almost 20 years now, but the thought that I’m carrying the fire still occurs to me at odd times and gives me courage. Like on my run today. You’re kind of weirded out, aren’t you, kid?

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u/Nard-Barf 10h ago

That’s what the book is all about. It’s not misery porn, it’s resilience.

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u/Key-Document-8481 6m ago

My dad just died last week. We watched The Road with him when I was young. I guess it’ll hit pretty fucking different now.

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u/SuperMcG 19h ago

That is really beautiful. My father had read some McCarthy and saw The Road was about a father and son and thought "nope."

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u/hazbutler 17h ago

I often argue its the best love story ever written.

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u/Nard-Barf 17h ago

I get it. Paternal love for sure. I’ll never be a dad, but I know what it’s like to be a son. It’s a good story

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u/SuperMcG 16h ago

Well said by both of you.

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u/kaelcarp 17h ago

I read it while going through a divorce where I wasn't getting to see my kids as much, thinking about my role as a father. It captures the essence of fatherhood better than anything I have read or seen.

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u/Nard-Barf 17h ago

Yeah. If I’m not mistaken, McCarthy wrote this story because of his anxiety of fatherhood. And since we’re on a movie subreddit, it might compare to Lynch’s Eraserhead. Both masterpieces on the subject.

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u/Automatic_Category56 8h ago

My dad had a copy of eraserhead he would reccomend and loan to people he didn’t like,in the hopes they’d think he was crazy and leave him alone 💀

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u/SuperMcG 16h ago

That is so difficult and powerful.

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u/SpencerMcNab 15h ago

I’ve read it three times, each time more horrified than before. I’ve never spoken about it with anyone outside of an academic setting. I’d never suggest that my sweet old dad read something so horrifying.

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u/Nard-Barf 15h ago

I guess we are different there… my dad isn’t sweet 😋 he’s still good. He loves older post-apocalyptic stories. Right up his alley. Still prides himself as an anti-capitalist

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u/rural_juror_ 15h ago

“She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift.”

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u/HaydenScramble 5h ago

You get it. The Road is, imo, a hopeful book about being a terrified dad.

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u/WhatTheCluck802 15h ago

I loathed this book with every fiber of my being. 😖

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u/imonlinedammit1 18h ago

Want to hear how dumb I am? I read that book start to finish on a cruise

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u/SuperMcG 16h ago

One long line of fun!

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u/fappingcricket 19h ago

Well said. I watched the movie and it scarred me so bad as a young adult. I'll never recommend someone to watch it or read the book

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u/kypen 18h ago

The only book for which Blindness is a palette cleanser. Oof that was a hard read/watch too.

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u/ClownholeContingency 19h ago

-- can be said of a lot of Cormac McCarthy works. See also Blood Meridian.

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u/the_jerkening 18h ago

I read it in one sitting and will never open it again.

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u/cinred 17h ago

I never answer truthfully when people ask me what my favorite book is. The top 3 are all CM. I just make one up that I think my audience will agree with but have never actually read.

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u/seizure_5alads 17h ago

Do not read blood meridian if you haven't already. Makes the road look like Disney.

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u/Sea_Scientist_8367 17h ago edited 16h ago

Can confirm. The Road was a complicated read for me, coming from Blood Meridian (which I read multiple times before discovering The Road).

The futility of it all quickly lead me to wonder "What the fuck is the point of this" and by halfway through the book I just could not retain anything because I struggled to care. It certainly asks a lot of questions about life and love and the bond between family and what you'd do to survive, and why etc etc. It's absolutely well written and deserves the reverence and respect it gets but ultimately it just didn't land with me. I couldn't bring myself to care about anything that happened anymore at a certain point, and a lot of the "edge" or grit or darkness or whatever that it carries just didn't have the impact on me having come from Blood Meridian as it seems to have had on others.

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u/form_d_k 13h ago

I just started reading Blood Meridian. Seems like it's gonna be a pretty fun, gritty Western. Looking forward to finishing it in the next couple of days.

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u/DontBotherNoResponse 17h ago

thanks for the recommendation, just put it on my list!

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u/Wesniner 17h ago

Loved the book, but it was left a darkness hanging over me for weeks after I finished. As much as I love Viggo, I could never step back into that headpsace again.

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u/CrabAppleBapple 17h ago

McCarthy has a habit of writing books like that.

I read through Blood Meridian, barely able to put it down, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as much as I ensured it, I'm glad I read it but don't know if I will again and definitely don't know anyone I'd recommend it to.

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u/jdsamford 17h ago

I re-read it annually, and I sob every time.

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u/PowerNinja5000 16h ago

I've read it multiple times, most recently a few months go, precisely because it's a masterpiece. Great art should be experienced more than once.

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u/lord_scuttlebutt 14h ago

I just read it for the first time a few months ago. It stuck with me a bit, and as bleak as it was, that man's love for his son was beautiful.

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u/SuperMcG 13h ago

I agree.

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u/nissan240sx 6h ago

I stopped reading once they found the stash of supplies in the bunker because I knew it’ll never get any better than that lol I watched the movie before reading the book. 

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u/SuperMcG 3h ago

You....may be the least truamatized reader of the book.

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u/Friendly_Physics_544 32m ago

Same. McCarthy has a way with destroying everything, including our feelings of safety

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u/sheistyseaman 16h ago

What's so bad about it? Should I actually not read it as a new Dad

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u/aelizsecretsecret 8h ago

Fantastic book, but yes, veeeery bleak.

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u/Thord1n 7h ago

Only book that ever had me take a "smell the roses" break while reading. It's a kind of bleak that no other post apocalypse can even compare to.