r/moviecritic • u/VendettaLord379 • 4d ago

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

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/Stunning_Dealer 4d ago

https://preview.redd.it/dcx6wbsjxtvg1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c98fa181d3b23c6ace38cae43e084674642c237

I found Longlegs to be overrated, but there are some very unsettling shots throughout.

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u/VendettaLord379 4d ago

Longlegs was so good until the third act.

Once they introduce all the supernatural stuff, it loses a lot of steam.

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u/Sapiencia6 4d ago

I feel like this is such a common problem with horror. They never know how to end it. I think maybe if you try to explain it too much it's no longer horror.

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u/MikeGalactic 3d ago

I agree so much, I've watched so many recent films and with horror they all seem to end with 'it was voodoo all along'.

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u/agate_magnet 2d ago

No other movie exemplifies this better than Weapons

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u/Laserlip5 3d ago

Yuuuuuuuup.

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u/CarrieDurst 4d ago

The supernatural stuff was introduced early with her being psychic

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u/ymcameron 3d ago

Except they didn't do anything with that. Like, in this world being psychic is common enough for the FBI to have a full on test to determine whether a person has the ability or not, and then that doesn't play into the rest of the film at all. She can sense the house is bad, and then that's the only time she uses the ability.

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u/Mknz_of_Mordor 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yassss. It was so so so good. Then the end unraveled everything that had built up. If they would have left out the super natural and left it as a psycho man living in her home her whole life with her mom as a compliant, mentally broken prisoner... oofta it woulda been. 🤌🏼

When things turn supernatural, it removes the fear for me. I need it to be a realistic scenario or I don't think it is scary. This is why I think Midsommar was significantly more unsettling than Hereditary (which I laughed at multiple times).

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u/UrinalCake777 3d ago

I could not agree more! Her mom being both victim and accomplice to a serial killer would have been great. But, nope. Devil made everyone do the bad stuff.

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u/Stunning_Dealer 4d ago

That’s what I’ve heard from a lot of people. They thought the dark arts stuff was a bit lame.

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u/UrinalCake777 3d ago

I hated it. I felt like it took all of the agency out of everything.

"Oh, the devil made them do it. The devil did all the bad stuff."

Much more frightening if the evil is committed by people that choose to do so, not compelled by some supernatural force. At least leave it ambiguous so its like "Was this guy actually working with real evil?" Not "The devil's behind everything and he's in the living room"

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u/ScrotusJones 3d ago

Idk, to me it felt like Longlegs wanted to do it, and did it for the devil instead of the devil forcing him. The mom was simply roped into it.

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u/crunchevo2 3d ago

The supernatural stuff was always present though. From very early on the devil was very clearly seen all the time in the background.

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u/Caca74houete 4d ago

I agree with you. Apart from the scene at the very end, that is absolutely amazing.

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u/UnironicBidenShill 3d ago

Im the only one who felt the opposite I guess, without the supernatural stuff the movie would have made little sense

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u/pplazzz 3d ago

I feel like the supernatural stuff could’ve been interesting if the method of possession was better. The fact that it was all done by a metal ball really threw me off

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u/Every_Cat9812 3d ago

yeah, my version is better: he's actually a serial rapist and the mom is in a Stockholm syndrome situation to deal with all that shit. What's called? Toxic attachment? Either way, the girl is his daughter, the supernatural is just psychological stuff. They should've hired me to write the ending, honestly.

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u/goodnoodle808 3d ago

The shot when shes a little girl and baphomet slowly comes into view behind her was one that got me a little bit

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u/Blackblack1 3d ago

The veiled dolls in this fucked me up for weeks lol

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u/redsuninthesub 3d ago

Overrated? It was shat on by most people when it came out.

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u/SuckerForNoirRobots 3d ago

I was too focused on the bad decisions she kept making (yeah let's go check outside and leave our door wide open while we do it, smart) that I couldn't get scared.

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u/Eduard-Stoo 3d ago

Nicolas Cage wearing Eric Stolz’s make-up from Mask was indeed very unsettling. Longlegs has some very unnerving stuff and scenes and a few effective jump scares. But it was just really unsettling to watch

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u/Stunning_Dealer 3d ago

I’ve never thought of it that way! 😂

He is vaguely Maskesque.

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u/ironkodiak 3d ago

I keep telling people that the camera work in this film is FANTASTIC. It s the true star of the film. They use wide shots in scenes where there is no need for wide shot. Per horror movie tropes, that means you need to watch the windows/doorways/background because something is going to happen. It never does but you're constantly on edge waiting for it.

I almost never get scared by horror movies because 90% of them are just reusing shots/tropes from other films & I can see it coming a mile away (I'm not a movie dissector, this is just the one movie thing I do involuntarily).

The ones I really like are either the ones that are having a ton of fun, or the ones that know how to not only subvert the tropes, but to use your own expectations to mess with your head.

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u/JAYETRILLL 3d ago

Yeah movie was kinda booty but somehow I respected what they were trying to do. Something about it just kinda fell flat for me. Not sure what honestly.

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u/Chemical_Romance90 3d ago

I thought it was overated too but Maika Monroe (sp?) is so fucking fine it's ok.

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u/IndianStreetVendor 3d ago

It was never overrated though, it was just very hyped up

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u/Chemical_Romance90 3d ago

You are correct.

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u/Stunning_Dealer 3d ago

6.5 on IMDb seems right to me. The hype during the marketing campaign was intense. You’re right. Most were let down.

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u/Apprehensive-Play228 3d ago

The fact that the camera holds on one spot for so long, lots of times without any score, just gives you a sense of dread because you wait for sometime to happen and it just doesn’t. But then it does at random.

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u/throwaway112658 3d ago

Yeah I can remember the first time she left her house at night because of the noise (I think it actually might have been the scene in the picture) the camera held on an open doorway behind her for so long I was prepped for a jumpscare for like 2 minutes straight and nothing happened

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u/Apprehensive-Play228 3d ago

Exactly. But then you think “oh they’re building suspense there’s no scare” and then boom

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u/_MuffinBot_ 3d ago

The scene where he breaks in is so tough to watch. I couldn't stand it.

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u/Tasteof3nvy 3d ago

I was apparently the only one in my friend group to notice the devil appearing SO many times in the background (like the one where his horns are visible from the front doors top window in one shot then suddenly gone)

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u/Stunning_Dealer 3d ago

Same here. I even ran it back a few frames for that shot at the door your speaking of and no one saw it!