Really Scary Scenes In Non-Horror Films (1 Viewer)

I'll start by citing a segment of a made-for-tv movie called THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN. This was a fictitious account of a black woman old enough to be able to recount Civil Way slavery. A chapter of the film tells of her happy post-war marriage that is destroyed when her husband takes in a mysterious albino horse that ultimately kills him. I found that horse really, really frightening.


THE CHINA SYNDROME features fifteen almost unbearably nerve-shattering minutes in its climax. Not a single note of musical score was needed to scare the hell out of us.


One could name numerous examples from Disney animated films, but my choice for scariest would be the boy-to-donkey transformation in PINOCCHIO.


I'll add more later, but just wanted to get the thread started. Please add!

I was waiting for somebody to make this thread. But anyways, my pick is from the most unlikely of choices.


In 1969, there was an all-star, Italian-French slapstick comedy called 12 + 1, loosely based on the Soviet story, The Twelve Chairs. This film is better known as being the last film Sharon Tate made. Now I know that they didn't intend this last scene to inspire anything, as the film was released after her death, but when you consider what happened to Sharon, just months after this film was made, it really IS enough to send chills up and down your spine.


Oh, and for the record, the man in the screencap is Italian heartthrob Vittorio Gassman.

The ending of LOVE STORY is truly frightening. Love means, etc., with a beautifully made-up actress dying of Hollywood disease.

The Indian raid in THE SEARCHERS, where Lana Wood crawls through the window to escape the besieged house only to find Scar standing there is about the scariest scene I remember ever seeing in the movies as a child.

A lot of David Lynch's movies are scary. In particular, the end of Mulholland Dr. and the first 45 minutes of Lost Highway.

Two contributions to the thread...


Chrissie's night time swim in the opening moments of Jaws.


Just about any scene with Szell in Marathon Man, but especially "Is it safe?"


- Walter.

The Russian roulette scenes in THE DEER HUNTER would probably get my #1 vote.

The beginning of MOONFLEET.

Magwich's first encounter with Pip in Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS.

I really was freaked out by the scene in Castaway when Hanks character has to break/remove his bad tooth. I don't really remember the details (I think I blocked them out) but I know it bothered me enough to never watch the movie again.


Not sure I qualifies as "scary" but it was certainly really hard to watch for me.

Think "Supense thriller" counts as non-horror film:

Walter Kittel said:

Chrissie's night time swim in the opening moments of Jaws.

Click to expand...

Oh, I definitely agree with you about this one. I was 24 and was clutching the arms of my seat like a little kid, utterly frozen and holding my breath. Damn, what a way to get a movie off and running!

Some might argue that Jaws is a horror film. We're just so used to slasher flicks and supernatural horror that we don't think of it that way any more.


The old Raggedy Ann & Andy movie is so creepy and scary that it might qualify as a horror film too!


And I'm just gonna throw the Toy Story 3 incinerator scene out there.

Aaron Silverman said:

Some might argue that Jaws is a horror film.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I definitely would. The same thing for Alien which I'd consider a horror movie wearing science fiction clothes.

The scene in "Jurassic Park" where the kids are hiding in the kitchen from the velociraptor. Scared the crap out of me when I first saw the movie in theaters - I don't think I've ever been as terrified watching a movie as I was in that moment.

I don't think of Psycho as horror, but a thriller. The two scariest scenes for me are the shower and staircase scenes.

The whole "What's in the box!" scene in SEVEN had me on the edge of my seat at the time it came out.

Johnny Angell said:

I don't think of Psycho as horror, but a thriller. The two scariest scenes for me are the shower and staircase scenes.

Click to expand...

I think most critics, scholars and internet fanboys who have written about horror films consider PSYCHO a horror film.

The Crying Game:

Some folks consider Jurassic Park to be sort of a horror film as well.

Alf S said:

The whole "What's in the box!" scene in SEVEN had me on the edge of my seat at the time it came out.

Click to expand...

"Mr. Tambourine Man!!!!!!!"

oh man now i want to see THE CHINA SYNDROME