Kermode Uncut: Your Scariest Moments

www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode - A few weeks back I asked you what pushed your buttons in the horror genre. Here are some of the chilling scenes you came up with...

[@htftunes9553]

Lake Mungo was a very creepy little number, and the scene where you finally see what happened THAT night on her phone is genuinely spine-tingling

[@GnCFilms]

My left ear enjoyed this the most.

[@jrkinnard1]

The beach scene from "Under the Skin" has really stayed with me for weeks.

[@Funeralapolis]

The diner scene in Mulholland Drive is the scariest scene I've even seen in a film.

[@sepiarain]

Good shout. So similar to the actual eerie terror felt in nightmares.

[@sajnajeeb8921]

Session 9 is the creepiest and most underated horror movie that doesn't crop up on any scary horror movie lists.

[@knightm27]

there was something about the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers that stuck with me...the final claustrophobic act. the very final scene. still gives me goosebumps.

[@JohnSpawn1]

Yeah. The weird thing about that scene is that if you would watch it without sound it would look completely silly and funny. The sound effect combined with Sutherland's look... chills.

[@brianstynes]

Great to see Exorcist Three mentioned, that and Jacobs Ladder are the creepiest movies ever

[@DavobarX]

The Mystery Man at the party from Lynch's 'Lost Highway'..

[@itsWatty]

Mark, I am so glad you have mentioned The Borderlands. I wish more people had seen this film, it is by far one of the best British horror films I've seen in years.

[@petertyson2]

Great to see Martyrs get mentioned, that film is not only great but is also an excellent example of an endurance test. I showed it to a friend when I bought the DVD... He thanked me some time later, I did get a sense of sarcasm in his voice though as he said, "Thanks... for ruining my life".

[@GrandiaKnight]

The original Ring. Still scares me to this day. Also Kill List left me really creeped out.

[@bassliveevil]

The original The Wicker Man still gives me chills. Just to be surrounded by a whole Island of people and knowing that theres no escape from your situation

[@noonthumbs2644]

🎶"Summer is a comin' in!" 🎶

[@MrPROJECTSyNc]

That’s the scariest film for me

[@RamseyMcV]

The Changelling with George C Scott has so many scary scenes. I have asked Mark on twitter numerous times why he never mentions it but he never replied. American Werewolf In London also. The dream within a dream sequence was amazing and has often been stolen.

[@ttdt]

The late 1970's. A friend and I dodged the ushers and sat on the back seats of the cinema, smoking ciggs, feeling tough and revelling at the chance to see Ridley Scotts Alien even though we were barely 14. Having watched many monster episodes of Doctor Who we felt that creepy aliens held no fear for us. I remember, as the film progressed, looking at my friend and seeing the same expression of mounting dread on his face as I felt in the pit of my stomach. The more the movie went on, the more terrified we felt and by the time the credits rolled we vowed never to break the certificate rules again.

[@freejazzandcheese1]

After watching the war film Come and See about two children trying to survive the nazi invasion of Belorussia I'm fairly certain I won't watch anything more terrifying. Truly a cinematic masterpiece that could not be conceived from Hollywood. It's use of imagery, sound and actors blended with its genius of incorporating surrealism against the stark brutal reality of war and genocide is an experience you may only have once but will never forget.

[@nokes22]

The window scene in Salem's Lot still freaks me out over 20 years later. Scariest thing ever!!!

[@BenjWarrant]

What Mark didn't mention is that the window is in an upstairs bedroom... the child vampire is just floating there. Brbrrrr.

[@RhodesidesReviews]

For me the man in the dog suit in The Shining, the music of that film seeps into you and unsettles you, then the sudden zoom on that weird dog face, creepy as.

[@paristexas80]

The end of Martyrs and thinking there are most likely people out there in the world like that.....quite depressing really I guess.

[@Medafets]

The hat falling down the chimney from Babadook. Scariest moment in that scary film.

[@gordonarmstrong933]

I have never been so freaked out by a film as I was the first time I saw Eraserhead, late one Friday night on Channel 4 when I was about 14. One of the most unsettling films ever made.

[@IanTaylorTravels]

I remember seeing Threads at school when I was 13 or thereabouts. It was truly chilling. I watched it again a couple of years ago now and it hasn't lost any of the dread. I think it's the clinical and factual way that it's presented. More like an infomercial than a film in some ways.

[@falloutjosh184]

Bob and the Red Room from Twin Peaks still freak me out.

[@TheNollaigo]

i can't see it mentioned so the Changeling with George C Scott; never thought i'd be scared by a ball bouncing down some stairs

[@Daisy-ct3nh]

I was about 8 years old when I saw Jaws. That absolutely freaked me out for decades. Not just in the sea, in the pool, in the bath, even on the jacks!! Thank You Mr.Spielberg.! Calvaire is extremely creepy, makes you feel a bit sick.

[@DaveBowman]

A Directors cut of Exorcist 3... now that would be something wonderful to behold! Scariest scene ever - the nurses station and the surgical shears.

[@Hollowshape]

David Cronenberg in Clive Barker's NIGHTBREED freaked me out. He wears a really creepy faceless mask (probably the best mask in horror history) with buttons for eyes and a zipper mouth. It's some sort of nightmare-ish gimp mask. There is a scene in the film where he kills a family that is utterly terrifying.

[@MrJakeKale]

I have an image of the meeting between Ripley and the Queen towards the end of Aliens seared into my mind. I was about six at the time, and it absolutely petrified me! But at the same time it fascinated me, to the point that that film and its predecessor are now my all time favourite movies. I also vividly remember the one and only airing of Ghost Watch on BBC1 back in the early nineties. Utterly creeped me out. Naturally I have that on DVD as well!

[@zimzimma5688]

The last film that really scared me wasn't even a horror, it was the Aussie film Snowtown. Kind of like the Shining in the way it creates this aura of dread and just gets in your head.

[@nathanielharrison4396]

The house scene in the The Road was up there for me, and actually the same situation in The Lovely Bones was just as scary

[@darphbobo4971]

The hands comming out of the Earth towards the end of Carrie... This may not sound scary to you, but imagine yourself being 15 years of age, off your bonce on acid and attempting to look normal while sitting down next to your mother to watch a film. Those freaky hands came out of my own chair i'm telling you... (.... just say no...)

[@ammusk]

Thanks for doing this topic for Kermode Uncut. Was looking for some classic horror movies to watch. Won't run out of horror movies anytime soon.

[@krisc2535]

'Creep' gave me chills. As an adult I can't think of any film that has truly scared me but that took me straight back to when I first saw Nightmare On Elm Street as a child.

[@beanz6745]

The "Bite the curb!" scene in Tony Kaye's American History X. That scene damaged me for weeks, maybe months

[@panzram31614]

Jacob's Ladder (1990) was a waking nightmare. A very unsettling, Dantesque journey. Well acted and directed.

[@charliebadger]

The London underground section in "An American Warewolf in London"

[@euresearcher733]

In Bristol this year they're having a film festival where they show films in unusual locations. eg Jurassic Park at the Zoo, however one location is the Redcliffe Caves which is like a mini Wookey Hole. I would LOVE to see the Descent in an actual cave.

[@Arkkienkeli13]

Mark said blog post! The first time, anyway. Everything in The Orphanage, but in particular that one scene: "1 2 3 toca la pared." It has to be one of the most suspenseful and chilling scenes I've seen, and the beauty of it is its simplicity. Several moments of The Devil's Backbone also come to mind.

[@suededogs9670]

MR KERMODE. YOU HAVE REALLY CHEERED ME UP. THANK YOU 💖💖💖💖

[@alanredversangel]

I found the pot holing stuff in the descent way scarier than the monsters.

[@bojackhorseman3995]

The possible child abuse subtexts of The Shining and The Exorcist are kind of scary.

[@malicewonder8345]

Trier's _Antichrist_ . Not even when all hell broke loose, but minor moments like the woman's writing is gradually turning into the meaningless doodles, the ticks and the chaos fox.

[@melaniesl3678]

I watch a lot of horror films and many mentioned here get my vote. However, 12 Years A Slave is probably not classed as a horror film but it severely affected me and continues to. So much so I have never been able to watch any of the film again. The protracted ' hanging on tiptoes ' scene and whipping of Patsey was horrific and profoundly affecting because they depict the truth of what slaves had to endure. The fact that human beings are capable of such horrendous cruelty to me is absolute horror.

[@Leepal1969]

Agree about "Martyrs", I found it traumatic and couldn't watch it again.

[@spencer.kissack.the.author]

Little known horror film from the very early 80's called _The Burning_ is the movie that had some particularly unsettling moments, really did freak me out badly. But I was young

[@HollerboyHellbilly]

The ending of Jacob's Ladder.

[@LifeOnMahers1215]

The Weeping Angels in a Doctor Who episode titled - "Blink", still terrifies me.

[@EmoBearRights]

I was really creeped out by the scene with the psycho and the family in Noctural Animals. Wonder if it's just me.

[@glenp7612]

No horror movie scares me. But Mr Barlows first appearance in the jail cell im Salems Lot destroyed me as a child.

[@WrongKindOfPot]

*no horror movie you've seen

[@Nicollers1975]

West World for me. Watched it late and couldn't get back to sleep! Just the persistence of the Gunslinger, even when you think he's been beaten properly freaked me out.

[@Fluffykeith]

The "1,2,3 Knock on The Wall" sequence in The Orphanage. No fancy effects. No messing about. Just the actress knocking on the wall and looking behind her....that film really gets to me and I love it, but that scene is the one that actually makes me uncomfortable to watch.

[@tymbusrobins6105]

No, no. Your introduction to The Ring got me to watch it. A friend thought your intro was so amazing that he enthused about it so much that we all had to sit down and see an off air recording. That intro has gone down in history and not in a bad way!

[@SamDavies94]

Kill List is one of the most claustrophobic films I have ever seen, and it really freaked me out!

[@bevbo42]

I'm surprised no one mentioned 'Kill List'. I'm not a horror buff by any means; I was however drawn to the movie by the good Dr's review and the sense that I didn't want to miss something so powerful. The film builds up a sense of foreboding and intensity through out. There were several points in the film where I almost stopped watching. Neil Maskell's performance as Jay is truly chilling. Another film with a similar feel is 'Eden Lake'. Eden Lake is probably a less uncomfortable watch, but both are worth checking out if horror is your genre.

[@borismoof6282]

Interesting. I never thought of Kill List as a horror movie, more of a Thriller. I wasn't that impressed by it to be honest. It's very bloody and violent, but at no point did I feel scared, and it was a pretty cliched ending.

[@bevbo42]

boris moof you raise a good point, I guess too many films are labeled horror films when they are thrillers in which horrific things happen.

[@thee.jaypodcast7135]

I think one of Kill List's greatest achievements is that the film DEEPLY unsettled me, and there's no one scene or moment I can point to and say "this is nwhat will creep you out". Sure there are shockingly violent moments like the hammer, but the tone is so unrelentless and unsettling that you just have this persistent, seemingly perpetual unease & discomfort that never wears off. I saw the movie maybe over a month ago and I still think about it almost daily.

[@juancamilo4684]

I know Mark didnt enjoy this movie, but the way the owl girl walked in "under the silver lake".

[@ailblentyn]

The most frightening *ghost* I can remember is the one in Pulse.

[@henrya3530]

Where and how you first watch a film can have a significant effect, e.g. on a big screen in a cinema or on video at home. John Carpenter's "The Thing" has been the film I found most scary/creepy/sinister. Why? Because when I first saw it (1984) I was living in a small town close to the arctic circle which had been snowbound for months!

[@gun1987gunn]

Can't believe Kermode didn't bring up REC. Very suprised.

[@stevethomas74]

So I just watched the film "Enemy" with Jake Gyllenhal and someone mentioned in the comments below that the ending of that scared them. I'll tell you all this much right now; if the ending of that film doesn't at least freak you the hell out, I honestly don't know what will. It's also completely baffling.......until you read up online about interpretations of it plus think about all the metaphors littered throughout So yeah, to whoever said that on here? Bra-vo. That ending has not left my memory yet and I don't think it will. For years. o_O

[@ambassadortothenetherworld9433]

Jacob's Ladder - when he is descending through the grotesque hospital/purgatory while subdued to a gurney and is forced to view abominable entities for fleeting moments that just barely resemble the human form : signalling towards an unspeakable menace,leaving the imagination reeling as it attempts to conjure just an inkling of what is truly in store for the main character when those frenetic wheels stop turning, something that will surely dwarf the monstrosities that he passes by while strapped down and helpless.

[@davydevilution7297]

I think the famous, "You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat" scene in JAWS, where the shark breaks the surface very close beside Chief Brody, is damn scary!

[@MegaRockstar48]

Watch The Telephone Box (old Spanish short) the film has stayed with me for 40 years

[@romeaffair]

Remember watching it on BBC2 late one night and it stayed with me.

[@nt7863]

I vividly remember you introducing Ring on Film 4 and when you said that you guaranteed that a certain scene is terrifying. I remember I saw it as a challenge. I’m not a horror fan but thought I’d give it a shot. What can I say? You won. Smart arse!

[@Aaron_17]

Most films try to scare you by using one of two different tactics: by showing you something terrifying (Martyrs, Audition), or by not showing you something terrifying and letting your imagination take over (The Haunting, Blair Witch). Event Horizon scared me more than any other film because it effectively used BOTH of the above tactics. Also, the original The Woman In Black (1989) deserves a mention. The scene near the end when the main character is lying in bed. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

[@grahamjenkin2882]

Wolf Creek. Watched it a few months before a previously planned road trip in Australia.....kept one eye on the rear-view mirror the whole time, & definitely didn't mention it to my travel companions! !!!

[@Traveling-Stranger]

I got chills just watching this video

[@michaelsummerell8618]

Uzumaki - this is a very bizarre Japanese horror with several freakish scenes. I remember watching it at night with the lights off, and when the film started showing different "layers" (for want of a better description) on screen, the transitions were so subtle that I honestly thought my mind was playing tricks on me. Well worth checking out.

[@Chronos767]

the last moments of Eraserhead, terrifying.

[@kirstyfairley1585]

It Follows, that film made me paranoid whenever I noticed someone walking behind or towards me for days after seeing it. Also the ending of Lake Mungo, by the end of that movie it made my blood run cold. And recently that basement scene in The Void just before the end of the movie (those who've seen The Void will know what I'm talking about), the image of the people the main characters find down there was so horrific and terrifying that it's stuck with me.

[@jonhalliday7806]

28 Days later still freaks me out, especially at Jim's parents house, and the beginning of the sequel.

[@BenjWarrant]

I too have always felt that Brian Cox's take on Hannibal Lecter was far more realistic than Hopkins', and was for that reason more chilling. With Hopkins' Lecter, you find it difficult to understand why anybody would let him get close to them - he's so clearly a threat. But Cox's version is so plausible - the scene where he uses social engineering to get the phone number is terrifying; he's being so charming and outgoing, but it's all so that he can wreak senselessly brutal vengeance on someone.

[@aselene8890]

I'm so glad Martyrs was mentioned as that is a fantastic movie. Sure it's an endurance, but it's so well made and gets to the very core of what makes horror so horrible plus the ending's a killer.

[@carlsbergexporter]

The twilight zone the girl with no mouth freaked me out and i saw the trailer for Society (i think) at about 10, all the people/aliens melting into each other. Threads top film.

[@crazycatman5928]

The last act of “Trilogy of Terror” freaked me out as a kid. The last minute of the movie still gives me weird vibes.

[@nationaltrevor255]

The doll? You're not alone there buddy.. Done a proper job on me that did.

[@superalmond6796]

I was very surprised not to see the diner scene from mulholland drive, in my opinion terrifying and unnerving scene in cinema

[@sirenasummers2599]

Me and my husband love horror and rarely ever get scared but I have to go with the ringu when she came of the TV the way she moved really freaked me out. My husband on the other hand has only ever got freaked out once and that was when he watched David lynch's eraserhead that really scared him.

[@TheMaxlewis87]

2 things - fire extinguisher in irreversible and when sam sees the babadook in the back of the car.

[@Tbass17]

Event Horizon is one of my all time favourites, and never ceases to scare me.

[@TheHitherto]

Several of my favorites showed up. In general I'd say isolation in some form (especially restricted to a dark location) is something that creeps me out: There's the caves of The Descent, infinite and dark space in Alien and Event Horizon, the coffin in Buried and a grim little cell in Martyrs.

[@orcokiwo6703]

i was so shocked and mesmerized by IRREVERSIBLE that firts i felt repelled by it. but then on a closer look the movie is perfection and beauty. by far the most intelligent concept ever imagined.

[@richard8007]

It's impossible to convey today, especially given that the scene now seems relativley tame, but I guarentee that anyone who watched An American Werewolf in London in the 1980s suffered a genuine claustrophobic terror of entering subways and travelling by the tube for weeks afterwards! In the same way we felt like we'd seen living dinosaurs in 1993, back then it was like we had witnessed a real werewolf and in our subconsious they were real and in lonely subways and tube stations at night they came from behind! To this day, I'd still rather walk around a roundabout than nip through the subway, and it isn't through fear of being mugged!

[@cinemoan]

Ju-On- The Grudge (original Japanese version) is a film that consistently unsettles and terrifies me every time I've watched it. Also A Tale Of Two Sisters is one of the best horror films I've ever seen.

[@bennoclassico]

Yes to both, though I wasn't particularly scared by the latter. Ju-On is more up my street though...I prefer gothic/ghost horrors I think. A Tale Of Two Sisters felt like more of a gothic thriller, if there is such a thing.

[@cinemoan]

I do see what you mean, I think that Ju-On is consistently scary throughout the film, but ATOTS concentrates more on it's Gothic narrative and atmosphere, however I felt that particular sequences in the film are very unsettling such as the final act. P.S It's great to find someone who has actually seen ATOTS, most people only know of the inferior american remake which always depresses me slightly

[@bennoclassico]

There's a remake!? Didn't even know! Will avoid :D

[@vaughangarrick]

The 3 ghost figures on the TV in White Noise made my armpits itch

[@bennoclassico]

The Descent was a great film to see with lots of other people. I watched it as a teenager in a room full of friends, and once it got to the nightvision bit a girl jumped and sprinted across the room and out of the door and down the stairs (we were watching it upstairs in someone's house). Not an excellent film but a good British horror (around the time of films like Creep). One of my favourite films to revisit is Ju-On: The Grudge...a genuinely excellent exercise in simple, strange haunting story that remains relentless and works wonders without overdoing it. Wolf Creek is one of the more memorable terrifying endurance tests I've sat through...you feel the terror towards the end when escape is just out of grasp. The Blair Witch Project also deserves a mention because it managed to do so much with so little...though you have to be in the mood to watch it else you'll start criticising how emotionally unstable certain characters are behaving. I watched it on my own and once picked it apart in a film studies essay and it is impressively well constructed and still one of the only decent found-footage films (and undoubtedly the trendsetter).

[@Cybjon]

Exorcist II is the scariest film ever made because John Boorman actually thought it was a good idea. Also, Zardoz from the same director, because, Sean Connery in that nappy.

[@RiverNorthExile]

The last 5 minutes of [•Rec] are nerve-shredders.

[@andrewwhelan454]

I expected there to be at least one Shining moment in this. It’s full of memorable frightening moments but, for me, the scariest one isn’t the twins, the old lady or any of the other obvious scares. It’s Shelly Duval’s reaction to finding Jack’s ‘work’ that really freaked me out. When you see that you know we are in big trouble and he is out of this world crazy. ‘All work and no play...’ I shudder just remembering it.

[@BenjWarrant]

I know, right! When you realise that he has just been sitting at the typewriter, hour after hour, typing the same ten words over and over and over again - it's the realisation that he has truly gone over the edge.

[@stevethomas74]

I hadn't heard of this but I will definitely be checking this out, especially as I love both Horror and the found footage genre. I could list my fave chilling scenes all evening long and there are so many to choose from. But I'll go with "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose" which I think is a ridiculously underrated film, albeit a flawed one. I saw that in the cinema and there were a bunch of noisy teenagers laughing and carrying on for about 95% of the movie. Yet they all collectively shut up (and subsequently yelped loudly as did I) at the scene where Emily is lying contorted on her back, eyes rolled back in her head with a frozen scream. Her boyfriend inches forward slowly on his hands and knees until he's near her and we see her face close up......and then that unholy scream belts out of her throat. That was just one of many scenes that I found pant-wettinglly terrifying, especially in the cinema. I have never watched that film since even though I loved it and have it on DVD. It is one of the ONLY Horror movies I have watched out of the countless 100's and 100's that I've seen over the last 30 plus years that freaked me out so badly, I am literally afraid to watch it again. It has stayed with me ever since I saw it years ago and I very much doubt it will ever leave my mind. And Jennifer Carpenter should have outright won an Oscar for her performance because it is quite frankly, spectacular and terrifying and moving, both on a physical level and emotional one too.

[@jonathanallen3684]

The first few ghosts in the Pang Brothers' original The Eye (2002) are remarkably chilling. I love O Whistle, too, but think perhaps the greatest ghost story ever done for British television is The Intercessor episode of Shades Of Darkness, which I caught midway through on American PBS in the eighties and spent the next few decades trying to track down.

[@martinf74]

Carrie 1976 the pigs blood scene and everything after. Sissy did an excellent job of potraying rage, disgust, fear and paranoia all in one. Furthermore, the direction of Brian Delpalma in that was designed with perfection. Carrie has to be one of the most disturbing and effective horror movies that I have seen in years.

[@roasty80]

When paranormal activity was creating an online buzz I watched it alone late at night and had to keep the light on afterwards as was experiencing strange phenomena at the time and the film just topped it off. Plus you dont see anything in the film and it makes your imagination run wild

[@jonny5779]

"event horizon" is an underrated horror film, and without a doubt one of Paul W.S Anderson's best films

[@adamsubtract81]

Well, that's my next few evenings sorted!

[@ProjectFlashlight612]

The last shot of Invasion Of the Body Snatchers (1978), the last shot of REC 2 (which is otherwise bloody awful) and everything after the bombs fall in Threads, Scars you for life.

[@andrewhussey4538]

I think it's the age I saw it, I was around 9 when it came out and I watched the first pet sematary by myself at night in my family's old huge satellite dish on viewers choice or something and ever since then, to this day, even seeing a picture of the Zelda character from that makes me immensely uncomfortable to the point I nearly have to look away.

[@Dickie2shoes]

Ghostwatch on BBC1 from 1992.

[@mixolydian2010]

Not a big horror fan but The Room really got to me, i can remember a kind of goose bump going into the feeling my brain wanting to leave my skull and the urge to walk out of the film, never felt that before.

[@stephenhall2980]

It's bullshit I did not hit her,I did not...oh hi mark.

[@gotty1991]

Kill list has a creepy atmosphere throughout not so much scares and I didn't really like the ending but keeps you gripped great movie

[@racefaceec90]

the scene in full metal jacket where private pyle has completely gone over the edge. the most realistic portrayel of complete mental breakdown i have ever seen in a film.

[@stephennootens916]

I remember martyrs it was a recommendation from some critic on a show that no longer is around not the channel it was on. I wound up buying it, and it was so messed up I have it away to a friend because I knew no matter what I would never watch it again.

[@paristexas80]

same.... hidden the DVD in the loft so no one can go near it haha

[@faq2468]

The original Ring for me. It just builds this constant sense of dread