Moments in movies that made the hair on your neck stand

[BurtWorm]

(assuming you have hair on your neck)

I'm talking about scenes that provoke the galvanic response, that electric feeling usually accompanying intense fear or a realization that something shocking has happened or is about to happen.

I'll give you two examples from my experience:

Blow Up: When David Hemmings sees the spectral image of an apparent corpse lying behind a hedge in photos he took in a park.

Rear Window: When Raymond Burr's eyes connect with the camera as Jimmy Stewart is watching him as Grace Kelly is being arrested for breaking into his apartment.

Your turn.

[terrya]

1. Pretty much most of "Wait Until Dark"

The premise is a pretty scary one...a blind woman, alone...dealing with a couple of vicious thugs.

[mcscajun]

7. Especially the moment when the one thug grabs her by the ankle!

Omigod I leap every time!

[Bullwinkle925]

2. Watching Regan's head revolve in the "Excorcist" - at the time

the movie came out it was absolutely horrifying. Now it's pretty 'campy'.

[Ruffhowse]

3. When you realize Bruce Willis is really a ghost in "The Sixth Sense".

[BurtWorm]

5. He is?

Damn! ;)

[Kikosexy2]

4. The Exorcist...

most disturbing scene of all time--the crucifix masturbation scene. At the time I had to keep looking away--just the thought of jabbing your genitalia with a crucifix is with blood splurting all over--well...too shocking!! Great horror movie though!

[bobthedrummer]

6. When the face-hugger got John Hurt's character in "Alien"

OMG!

[RandomKoolzip]

8. The opening credits to "Weekend at Bernie's 2."

You just KNOW something bad is gonna happen.

[mcscajun]

9. The Haunting (1999)

The fireplace scene. 'Nuff said.

[Terran]

11. Ah, but the orignal "Haunting" has a much better scene

The two women share a bedroom in the original film, and in one scene Julie Harris' character is lying awake in the dark listening to a child crying somewhere in the house in the big spooky, and she feels what she think's is the other woman gripping her hand in fear. The grip gets tighter and tighter and finally she sits up and turns on a light and you see that the other woman is far across the room in her own bed, and clearly it was not her that was holding Julie Harris' hand...!

That scene really *really* makes my hair stand on end! Ambiguous horror always works better than a gory beheading, IMO.

[mcscajun]

12. Ambiguous Horror will win every time.

But I'm not talking about beheadings --- the fireplace scene I'm talking about is the one when that thing in the fireplace flies open and we see what's inside.

[Terran]

16. Oh, sorry

I thought you meant where whatsisname gets his head knocked off in the fireplace.

[mcscajun]

26. Nah...we all saw *that* one coming...no adrenalin involved.

When the scene's been set up and telegraphed for ya'...you don't react quite the same.

[Orsino]

10. The Two Towers

Before the Battle of Helm's Deep, as weapons and armor are being distributed to the young and old men for the last defense of the keep, we see a little boy watching his older brother being armored. Just as we are wondering how he feels about his brother going off to fight, a helmet is placed on his head, too.

This was absolutely chilling, and a brilliant idea that brings home the horror of war so much better than the book did.

[BurtWorm]

13. All the President's Men

Woodward's last meeting with Deep Throat in the garage. A car tire squeals, Woodward turns to see where it is, and when he turns back, Deep Throat is gone. You can tell by the fear in his expression that Woodward is beginning to really understand how much danger he is in because he's on the trail, not just of crooks, but of those at the very center of all power.

[underpants]

14. Pretty much all of "Wonderland"

:scared:

[zbdent]

15. Fatal Attraction

when the blood starts showing up on the "dress" that Glenn Close has been picking at with the knife (digging the knife into her leg) freaked me out . . .

[Ron Green]

17. The look in the Hillbilly kid's eyes as the canoes float under the bridge

and down the river in "Deliverance."

[On Par]

18. JAWS !

Hell, the music alone made your hair stand up on the back of your neck.

Pick your moment, but I dare anyone to say they watched it and went swimming anytime afterward, even in a backyard pool, and didn't think about JAWS.

OP

[petron]

19. Trainspotting

The scene where Ewan's character is having phucked up dreams while trying to kick H.

The baby crawling on the ceiling and twisting it's head around. That freaked me out.

Probably because at the I was hanging out with some freaks who reminded of characters in the movie and I was sooooo afraid of falling into a crowd like that. Ugg...gives me the shivers.

[UdoKier]

23. For me it was just the baby dead in the crib.

That alone was too much for me. My son was the same age at that time.

[KamaAina]

20. In F9/11 when Bush** came up on screen

Worse than Freddy Krueger, Jason, and a whole street full of zombies all rolled into one!

[Shadowen]

21. The Witch-King's scream...

...at Minas Morgul in Return of the King. The disturbing part was that towards the end it blended perfetly into the music. How anything like that could ever be accurately described as musical, I don't know, but it's true.

[redqueen]

22. Most recent moment - The Eye

When the woman is standing in the elevator...

:scared:

[Kenneth ken]

24. Silence of The Lambs

the scene where Jodie Foster is searching through the dark house and the killer is behind her wearing night vision goggles.

[UdoKier]

25. When the little boy was hit by the truck in "Pet Sematary"

They spent the first part of the film showing him as so adorable, then run him over. That was just wrenching and horrible, even though all they show was a shoe, even that was too much. Again, when everyone starts fighting at the funeral, and the casket falls down and his hand bumps out a bit and everyone gets hysterical.
Then there was the mom's hideous bedridden sister, she freaked me out too.

That was just a very disturbing film (that unfortunately gets silly at the end).

[Balbus]

27. The Blair Witch Project

When she runs down to the basement with the camera then it quickly pans over her friend standing in the the corner facing the wall! Freaked me out!!

[amazona]

28. "The Birds"

When it just ends. You know there is no hope.

"The Blair Witch Project" cited by another poster is a good one too.

[Hand]

29. This is somewhat obscure...

But the famous dream sequence in Luis Bunuel's "Los Olvidados" is a spine-chilling hair-raiser of epic dimensions--and completely understated. Brilliant.
Yike--I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking of it...

:toast: