What Made This Lord Of The Rings Scene So Terrifying

[@Thoralmir]

Seeing the centipedes, spiders, and worms fleeing their burrows shows how much even the creepy crawlies can't stand the presence of the Ringwraiths.

[@terdfergeson23]

I think it’s like the ring wraith was putting out energy to compel any living being to show themselves. Thats why Frodo almost puts the ring on, because he’s being commanded by the wraith to reveal himself

[@LuisArcadia641]

The real explanation is that spiders and other types of creepy crawlies and ugly creatures serve the dark lord.

[@himbourbanist]

I love that Jackson took influence from Bakshi for this scene because it plays out SO WELL cinematically. It's a tense scene in the book but both the animated Bakshi film and especially Jackson's adaptation elevate it, it plays out so well

[@playz8538]

honestly, lost a lot of respect for Jackson since he seems to refuse to properly acknowledge Bakshi's influence and is actively trying to limit it to a simple homage, even though we all know there was a lot more inspiration taken than just that. He is taking a page out of George Lucas's book by ripping bits and pieces from someone else and pretending that he thought of it completely on his own (although George Lucas did it more blatantly). Correct me if I'm wrong though.

[@Twocat5side]

inspiration is all well and good. But credit the inspiration, its the bare minimum you can do

[@davidnelson7786]

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@gregorius.dentang]

When Bilbo almost turns to the dark side upon seeing the ring carried by Frodo is terrifying too

[@robbieking4070]

One word: Shelob. 🕷️

[@mayfield3314]

Cheap jump scare. I hate those. The scene of this video brings suspense. That's more difficult.

[@Tay_91]

Ngl...I thought that scene is what this video was about 😂

[@QuantumHistorian]

Darth Gandalf is even scarier IMO

[@danielswan2358]

@@mayfield3314 This. I wish Peter Jackson had put aside his horror movie past. He made a lot of decisions that I dislike.

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

I still remember, when my friend first introduced me to LotR and Aragorn mentioned that the 9 Nazgul used to be the 9 Kings of men, I said, "wait, does this mean there are 3 elf versions of those things running around!?" He just gave me a horrified look and said, "no, but that would be terrifying!"

[@danielswan2358]

Okay, but how scary would it be if there were 7 dwarf wraiths coming at you?

[@mitwhitgaming7722]

@@danielswan2358 *angry undead battle axe*

[@ImNotLuthien]

@@danielswan2358 pussy shit "seven farmer maggot wraiths".......

[@RizztrainingOrder]

I thought the elves’ rings weren’t made by Sauron, or weren’t under his sway and were hardly used. Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf?

[@kim_elise]

@@RizztrainingOrder They were made by Celebrimbor using what Sauron taught him, so were still influenced by him as long as he had the One Ring.

[@jeremy1860]

The lack of music is really what sells it for me. It's just sound effects. The score is amazing in these films, but taking it away really added to this moment 😊

[@HP-lc5vw]

That’s one of the things this trilogy does so perfectly, knowing when to use Howard Shore’s incredible music and when to let the natural sound of the moment take over. Masterful filmmaking.

[@ProductBasement]

Any scene where Frodo has to yell at someone for being careless is a scary scene. Elijah Woods' eyes show terror in a way that terrifies me, and one of the most terrifying tropes in any movie is when a character looks at something innocuous with sheer terror. What do they see that I don't?

[@steprockmedia]

It was the worms and insects that nailed the terror. They're a creepy sight, but even they are trying to flee.

[@gemmameidia8438]

Well nazgul tried to make the creatures showed themself

[@timgoodwin90]

Also, in the wide shot when the hobbits are hiding, the wraith is not seen entering the frame - only appears from behind the tree.

[@revanofkorriban1505]

Yep, was about to write a comment about that.

[@typerexc]

That's the thing that freaks me out, from the first time I saw it, to...every time. So good.

[@Zack16611]

It’s strange that he only shows the cropped version (or he cropped it himself). I wonder why that is?

[@KEVMAN7987]

I love that Jackson made so many scenes reminiscent of the Bakshi version.

[@colincopland3665]

The image of the Black Riders bursting out of the fog can make an evening jog even more apprehensive… In the book, the Nazgûl are almost upstaged by the Barrow-wights.

[@RedundantDan]

This is an awesome breakdown of this scene and the setup required to pull off! One scary detail of that scene is that when the shot settles on the hiding hobbits, you can see both sides of the tree but the rider simply EMERGES from one side of the tree without passing it first. It's an uncanny valley affect that makes everything feel even more off kilter and terrifying.

[@savvi3128]

3 weeks later but last week here in the Netherlands they screened lotr extended Trilogy again and I had the privilege to see it on the big screen. I noticed this too. Thank god I am not the only one. Pretty disturbing haha

[@tss3393]

It's worth mentioning that this was the very first scene shot during principal photography.

[@AndrewDederer]

One reason Jackson doesn't pass around credit on this scene to Bakshi, is that they are both working from a well-known painting. Both directors started at both the same source and the same interpretation. So it's not too surprising that there finals scenes are similar, but distinct.

[@greyhameavandhat1220]

who made that painting you're referring to ?

[@jesselinn4104]

Galadriel’s transformation and monologue in Lorien still creeps me out.

[@fireaza]

That's such a weird scene. The sudden turn to evil and the just as sudden turn back to good, the corny voice filter, it's overall just a weird and out-of-place scene.

[@typerexc]

@@fireaza I liked it better in the book; that scene - I do get it, but it's a little off for me as well. Every time I see it I think they went the wrong way with that one, but at least I can understand what they were trying for. And also, for all that they nailed, I'm not super bothered.

[@manthasagittarius1]

Actually, it didn't creep me out as much as bounce me out of the proper deep, tremendously important content and mood of their conversation. I felt bad for the actress, who is one of the best and deepest living, and I have wondered if she knew when they shot it how hokey it was going to end up. Several times I thought, well, no matter how much money they give him to throw at cinematizing one of the half dozen 24 carat gold works of fantasy literature in history, Jackson can't leave his cheesy little monster movie effects behind. Pity.

[@Meesterlijker]

Are you guys nuts?? They absolutely nailed that scene, it's anything but corny, it gives you a twisted, uncanny and dark version of Galadriel really well. It's exactly _because_ it's somewhat out of place with that weird voice that it leaves you disturbed as the viewer, wondering what such a Galadriel _truly_ would look like. I'd say they did really well and got the aesthetic just about right

[@manthasagittarius1]

The aesthetic has to go back to Tolkien. That bit of business did not. Just using the author's written dialogue for her was not enough. She looks like she is having a cheap seizure, to be harsh.

[@haydenlane9600]

Bakshi’s take on the Nazgûl really focuses on them being undead. The way he gets off the horse and moves seems very zombie or Frankenstein like. Peter Jackson’s comes off more menacing and foreboding like this is LotR’s answer to Darth Vader

[@idreamofgenie2599]

Absolutely terrifying scene--thanks for breaking it down for us. One scene from FOTR that literally gave me a nightmare when I read the book was the creature in the pool outside the Gate to Moria. What chilled me the most about it was that the creature *only* went after Frodo, out of all nine of them. Was the creature a servant of Sauron seeking the Ringbearer? Or was it just a coincidence? I love how Tolkien never tells us. The same scene in Peter Jackson's movie didn't work as well for me.

[@Axel1051]

Bilbo's Gollum moment made leap at least a couple of metres in the pictures.

[@Amdecreations.]

This scene and the one where Pipen takes the arrow out of the dead Dwarf/armour, and falls down the well. The brief silence followed by the beating drums, signalling danger coming. You can feel the tension.

[@LindyLime]

The book has such a masterful buildup of tension over the hobbits' journey to Bree, Weathertop, and Rivendell. In fact the first half of the Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite of the whole story for that reason. Peter cut so much of it out (which I'm actually not mad about, I understand why he did and I like that the scenes remain mine to imagine), that he has to rely on building up the threat of the Nazgul more quickly, and that does make this particular scene more obviously threatening as you mentioned. Tolkien on the other hand relies on mystery. The first encounter unsettles the hobbits (and the reader) for reasons they don't totally understand. They journey ever farther from home with this strange threat looming over them. The elves they meet are tight-lipped for fear of frightening the hobbits from their quest. They find some respite in the house of Tom Bombadil but they soon have to leave for an even more nightmarish journey. From Aragorn they finally learn more as the riders close in on their location and at last on Weathertop attack. The final showdown comes as Glorfindel arrives bringing hope and his horse and Frodo (all by himself mind you) races the Nazgul to the ford.

[@Karl.Jayce-DE]

It was one of the most terrifying scenes when i first watched the movie in my childhood.. pure horror 😍

[@NedJeffery]

2:03 Farmer Maggot got done dirty in this scene. In the book he tells them to sod off and sets his dog's on them, without giving them a shred of information.

[@garyjones2561]

Yeah but then the audience wouldn't be scared of the Nazgul.

[@clay_gottschalk]

I watched Fellowship when I was 6 for the first time and that one scene when they're hiding deeply scarred me. It was the only scene I remembered when I rewatched it 10 years later.

[@JackAcid]

Thank you for this! I've been telling people for years that the Bakshi version is very good, and certain scenes, such as the Nazgul scenes, are absolutely superb and very creepy.

[@djdksf1]

I always thought Jackson's background in body horror was his secret weapon, especially for FotR. The wraiths HAVE to be terrifying, maybe the most scary things in the trilogy, and there's little time to establish exactly why in less than 3 hours. Jackson simply knows how to shoot horror and is a true acolyte of the medium, from Hitchcock onward.

[@AngrondTheTroll]

My favourite thing about this scene is something weird. I belive in some later releases of the film with wider screens we see the whole tree when the rider appears. But the thing is we do not see anything coming from the right side of the screen, going behind the tree and appearing to the left, we just see the horse appear from thin air behind the tree

[@Richard_Nickerson]

4:44 How do you not mention the fact that the horse & Nazgûl literally appear out of nowhere? We can see some space between the tree & the right of the shot, but the horse does not pass through this space. It's moving from right to left, but it is never in the rightmost space. The horse & Nazgûl simply appear from behind the tree. It makes its appearance so much creepier & more intense.

[@MisterWealth]

What? It's a cut scene, what do you mean you don't see it appear? lol

[@Richard_Nickerson]

@@MisterWealth It's not a cut scene. You are using that term incorrectly. Watch the shot of the Nazgûl first appearing. Look to the right of the tree. The Nazgûl never passes through that open space, even though it would have had to. It's a deliberate choice to make it creepier. Jackson has discussed it. I'm not talking about nothing & I'm not crazy. You, however, completely misunderstood what I said & then used improper terminology to incorrect me. I'm pretty sure I explained it well enough in my OP.

[@typerexc]

That always creeps me out, and just adds to the other-worldliness sense of things moving into a more dangerous, supernatural game.

[@Richard_Nickerson]

@@typerexc Exactly! It's really subtle & yet adds so much.

[@Godlysound]

Funny, i remember being like 15ish when return of the king was nearly about to come out, and everyone who has read the book kept telling me 'you just wait until you meet shelob' and in the end while i wasnt disappointed, i always felt the tension more in this moment and now i have a whole analysis video to clarify why. KZbin can be pretty cool

[@Mr.LongLegz]

Lotr really has horror elements to it. Just the scene: This is no mine; this is a tomb…

[@ComedyBros5]

Iconic line and iconic scene. Really, the whole trilogy is iconic for eternity. Endless rewatch value!

[@108u9]

“If you want him, come and claim him.”

[@luis.vuitton]

The scene where frodo gets stabbed at weathertop was pretty intense too

[@insano0077]

I remember that scene because i used to live 500m from where it was filmed..... but 6 was a scary scene as i hate insects crawling over me😱

[@brokeboy87]

The key thing missing in most Marvel movies is a sense of Danger and urgency to do anything.

[@Vincentzw]

There’s some questionable decisions in the Bakshi rings, but it’s undeniable how much of the iconic imagery in the Jackson films was inspired by the animated film.

[@korliyon2283]

Frodo encountering Shelob is also pretty scary

[@TheoGarza]

That’s not in the fellowship of the ring 🤦‍♂️

[@korliyon2283]

@@TheoGarzaSo?

[@leftcoaster67]

It was scary enough in the books.

[@christined8634]

I remember watching this in theatres and wondered if the movie was turning into a scary movie. It was more the screeching noise they made that was unnerving

[@robertmatthews9650]

When Sarumon has both Gandalfs staff and his own and makes him spin around like a clock hand dial.

[@TheJohnnyDarc]

This scene reinforced my fear of centipedes as a child

[@myweirdtaste8090]

In this rare case the English to German translation (from Margaret Biester, aka Margaret Carroux) transforms Tolkien's powerful writing style into an even stronger tone. It's like as if the German language retrieves the deep and heavy "body" of the story in a strange way. However, you picked an iconic moment of the book and film. This moment gave me the shivers when I read the book the first time unlike nothing else.

[@9998thegrimeater]

This is one of the scenes I remember being absolutely terrified by when watching these as a kid. I was pretty young when they came out and that scene was nightmare fuel lol

[@ilovenycsomuch]

I remember one of the very first times I watched this scene, I was shocked & my heart dropped from how massive & formidable the wraith appeared as it passed from over the tree… absolutely terrifying & foreboding, it got my adrenaline going

[@gregorius.dentang]

Also the entire sequence of Smeagol transforms into Gollum is outright disturbing. I remember watching it as a kid and that scene became the main reason of my fear for body horror. If you can call that body horror....

[@Richard_Nickerson]

We're discussing FotR, that was RotK

[@Richard_Nickerson]

@@jackwimmer2249 I was 13 when I saw that movie in theaters & I say your response is more like one of a 5 year old. He sounded like a witch & that made him scary? Oh no! You'd had a whole movie with his voice already, but no complaints there? At 12 you were still scared of cliché witches?

[@dziosdzynes7663]

This along with blue Galadriel and jumpscare Bilbo were the stuff of nightmares for me as a kid..

[@erico7430]

I believe that scene is the very first scene shot for the whole trilogy

[@Windds]

I remember being little and I only got to this scene and I never watched the movie again

[@nooneinparticular1491]

That zoom effect - I don't know how it's done nor what the proper term for it is - was the thing that got my attention the very first time that I saw this movie, and it's what I still remember after all these years.

[@KarmaSpaz12]

You pull back the camera while zooming in. With a specific camera lens it creates this effect.

[@nooneinparticular1491]

@@KarmaSpaz12 - Thank you!

[@morosis82]

I think they call it a dolly zoom, as the camera is on a camera dolly that allows them to move it very smoothly while they perform the zoom. It's effective due to how lenses work, when you have a wide angle it makes everything feel worlds apart, then as you reach a 'natural' field of view it feels normal again but as you keep zooming it compresses the scene. Pay attention to portrait photography, it uses a medium to long focal length for some of the same reasons.

[@nooneinparticular1491]

@@morosis82 - Thank your!

[@CelebJunkie]

I remember watching this scene on a tv show about the movie. I fell in love with LOTR, because of this scene. Thanks for the video.

[@Styrophoamicus]

One thing the video didn't mention is if you watch the scene un-cropped, there's a small gap at the top right of the frame where the tree ends. You would expect to see the rider pass behind that gap, but instead it appears to just materialize out from behind the tree. It's a really small detail but it adds to the creepiness once you notice it.

[@Cut_tape-x9j]

The final scene where Frodo is in bed and they’re all having a mental breakdown laughing is pretty fkn scary ngl

[@a_gnuest]

right??

[@turbo8628]

Yeah, got a little bit too self-indulgent at the end for me

[@Robin_Goodfellow]

The way the wraith leans over on its hands like an animal, combined with the sniffing, will always set off my primeval danger sense.

[@LorelleJustice]

Since it’s come out, easily watched it over a hundred times, that scene still makes me clench my pillow

[@nathanzaslow5614]

The dolly zoom down the path always made a pit in my stomach as a kid. It sets the tone of the scene perfectly

[@wesley_b]

2 details I wish the film kept in line with the books - Farmer Maggot was actually really tough and and his dogs chased off the ring wraiths and Merry and Pippin were actually good friends with Frodo and Sam and had been spying on Frodo for months knowing something was up and he was preparing to leave and they purposely set it up so they'd leave with him... as opposed to just bumping into them in a field by accident.

[@sonicfreak04]

good atmosphere is what made this scene terrifying

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@feedthesnake3394]

comparisons to the 1978 film, remind me how much i want a live action version of the last unicorn

[@typerexc]

Hey, now.

[@terencesilva4499]

I remember watching this scene when I was a kid and being absolutely terrified 🖤

[@Coeurebene1]

I still remember reading this when I was 12, it was scary. Tolkien did a great job with it, and so did the film.

[@Ms12369]

Saw the title and thought they were gonna talk about the Bilbo turning into golem for a split second that one time

[@masonwelsh9718]

There is a restraint with the Ring Wraiths in Fellowship that really makes them effective. Nothing later, except maybe the intro to the army of the dead, really captures the threat quite as effectively, including Wraiths on wings

[@runrin_]

it seems that when a director approaches a scene as an animator, they conceptualize scenes in a way that isnt bound by locations or sets. i dont think this scene exists without animation freeing artists to find the scariest scene in their mind, rather than on location.

[@rhiannonayley8159]

This scene was even more terrifying in the book.

[@Punmaster9001]

When starting to watch the Lord Of the Rings trilogy, the scene that scares me the most is the run time of the extended version

[@adamolson7631]

When I read LOTR in the summer between 3rd and 4th grade I found it pretty spooky. Along with the barrow wites

[@Shiftarus]

For me personally the tension of this scene is somewhat ruined by the surrounding scenes. The riders seem to appear on top of them, know exactly where they are yet not lean forward to see them, and then somehow a thrown rock allows the hobbits to... Run away unnoticed? It almost feels like it was a nightmare not reality. Very stylish but makes the fear somewhat fall flat for me.

[@renatoramos8834]

Even more terrifying is how incompetent that Nazgul was. Couldn't sense the ring less than a meter away.

[@Richard_Nickerson]

Everyone mentioning scenes that aren't from The Fellowship of the Ring wasn't listening to the very beginning...

[@feedthesnake3394]

i always thought that he should not have yelled, "get off the road!"

[@typerexc]

He didn't know what was coming at this point, though. It was a nebulous sense of dread. And anyway, nothing else would have moved the others so quick, particularly Merry and Pippin.

[@MarxMan0o]

Frodo’s nails terrify me.

[@lindaliriel5346]

The English subtitles replaced Nazkul with Nozzles and I'm so inexplicably happy about it

[@FightAGiraffe]

When I clicked this video I thought it was gonna be Bilbo jonesing for the ring 😆

[@samuelleask1132]

Bilbo’s jumpscare is great too

[@sylvanaire]

I never saw the Bakshi version until the last couple years just out of curiosity, but I thought I remembered reading (maybe it was in the appendices disc from the movies?) that Jackson took that scene of the hobbits hiding under the tree roots from a drawing by Alan Lee or John Howe. I was hoping you were going to tell us about that, but maybe I was wrong.

[@Craxin01]

I don't know if I would call the scene terrifying or even particularly frightening. I would call it tense, and it totally works for the movies.

[@benderbendingrodriguez420]

There's many terrifying scenes/moments in the LOTR trilogy. Shits lowkey a horror film at points

[@vb2388]

I disagree.. “You cannot hide..” That’s the most terrifying scene..

[@PaulSmith-zb1nm]

The point in the book is that you are never quite sure about the horsemen following Frodo in the early chapters. Like him, we are expecting/hoping Gandalf to appear at any moment. Tolkien does not reveal the full horror of the Nazgul yet. That's the point. Jackson slaps you across the face with it straightaway.

[@marykatezehr1074]

I remember watching the old cartoon one after the Peter Jackson and with how the wraith moves around and moans was like 10 times scarier than the live action!!

[@PStevesson]

I get why this is so iconically scary but when I saw fellowship in the cinema as an 8 yr old I was more scared by weathertop and bree Nazgûl’s

[@marcusviniciuswenzel9445]

what I was afraid of was galadrial

[@r.c.c.10]

The Fellowship of the Ring, mainly the first half is a horror film.

[@foxdavion6865]

Fun fact, the tree in this scene is fake and it was filmed on the side of a random fire trail road on the hillside of a forrest just outside Wellington close to the WETA compound. All that is left of the set is the reminantsof the ditch, now half filled with debree. The crew just dug out a ditch and placed a fake green cardboard tree there which was later replaced with VFX digital tree in post. All the bugs are digital too. I found and sat in it once. :D Only two scenes were shot here, the ditch and the Black Rider rearing the horse at the top of the hill above where the ditch is. The road in the scene is from a completely different location entirely. It was picked because cheap nearby location to do closeup outdoor shots. Several other close up forrest shots were also filmed in the area.

[@mihailcioinica]

Zombie Bilbo and Cirith Unhol are also very scary parts of the trilogy

[@richardmanks4319]

The ringwraith in that scene was played by Jono Manks.

[@Sam-kn2mm]

The woman I was sitting next to when I saw it in the theater!!!!

[@ottomattix86]

This scene is so good in the cartoon movie as well.

[@cpt_nordbart]

In a hole in the ground there lives a hobbit....

[@dreadsocialistroberts]

"Ring Rates"

[@arlenesobhani8739]

I found the entire first half of the book Fellowship of the Ring terrifying with the suspense of hearing the eerie cries of the Ringwraiths echoing throughout the Shire and following the path of the hobbits, before the Wraiths are even seen. The movie is great, but the book in this sense is better.

[@lizenders1701]

I could have sworn this was inspired by a painting By John Howe but also don't know if that was created after Bakshi

[@bryanfontez]

WRONG. It's when they stab the shit outta the bed sheets. That was mortifying upon first watch.

[@ducminhnguyen5232]

*insert spongebob rollercoaster meme*

[@Ruben-so7pu]

A HBO show about the Witch King would be amazing.

[@thomaswalsh4552]

I hate to be that guy, but “Nazgul” is both singular and plural, like “fish”

[@typerexc]

Unless you're Gollum. You can add an "Sssss" wherever you want.

[@TheGalacticNerd19]

It’s just genius the way they were able to be so faithful to the books

[@BandyAndysExcellentEssays]

I always thought the nazgul was deploying the centipedes

[@AgentChachi]

I interpreted the bugs crawling, as a result of the Ring Wraith’s power causing them to react. Is that wrong, and the bugs were just crawling normally?

[@caytutugrenadele3691]

My favorite scene in the entire series lowkey

[@jimslancio]

Viewing this scene for the first time, my main thought was how much less suspenseful it was than someone like Hitchcock could've made it.

[@BandyAndysExcellentEssays]

As much as I enjoy stories like song of ice and fire and Dune, no fantasy or sci fi invokes such primal fear as lord of the rings for some reason

[@patrickiamonfire965]

The scene is great and all but they did the farmer dirty.