This one from UK's Channel 4: The 100 Scariest Moments on TV and film. The BBC lists the top 10:
- The show's producer Mark Murray said: "The top 10 is full of images which have now entered pop culture history.
"Anyone who has seen Jaws will never feel the same way again about dipping their toe into the ocean.
"And the winning 'Here's Johnny' scene from The Shining has become one of the most iconic screen images of all time, spoofed by other films and countless TV shows over the years."
The 10 top scary moments are:
1. The Shining (1980) - Jack Nicholson chops through the door and shouts "Here's Johnny!"
2. The Exorcist (1973) - Possessed girl's rotating head and projectile vomit
3. Jaws (1975) - Severed head falls from boat
4. Alien (1979) - Alien bursts out of John Hurt's chest
5. The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Heather Donahue in tears in the woods
6. Ring (1998) - Sadako crawls through the television
7. Halloween (1978) - Serial killer Michael's face appears behind Jamie Lee Curtis in a house full of dead bodies
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Leatherface's general reign of terror
9. The Omen (1976) - Oscar-winning eerie music score
10. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) - First appearance of horror icon Freddy Krueger
More Halloween debate fodder.
next poll: Top 10 Scariest Dumps Ever Left in the Downstairs Bathroom.
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Article comments
1 - visualsimplicity
Uh what. What part of Blair Witch Project didn't have Heather Donahue in tears in the woods? How about a more specific moment, like the guy standing in the corner or something, but I can't say there's really a super scary moment in that movie (of course I was jaded by hype).
As I've said before late night bathroom break with the innocent belief of a ghostly woman being your mother scene from The Sixth Sense. Or how about Urban Legends with the killer in the backseat of the car. I've never actually seen the movie but I'll be damned if I didn't double check my backseat before driving after just seeing those previews with that scene.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Vis, with all the comment activity around sary movies I'm surprised people haven't taken up the opportunity to address specific moments of particularly effective fright rather than entire films - it changes the dynamic.
3 - visualsimplicity
Oh and I don't know if Psycho made the general over all list but I think the shower scene should make the top 10. That made me, and other people I'm sure, afraid of taking a shower.
4 - visualsimplicity
And I can't forget the scene in Evil Dead (2) where Bruce Campbell cuts off his hand and hysterically yells "Who's laughing now?! Who's laughing now?!" Oh wait, that was the funniest moment in scary movie history.
5 - Dawn
Having been an audience to those "dumps" let me tell you, they are DAMN scary.
6 - Eric Olsen
I was hoping you would stumble across that - mwaaaa haa haa haah h
7 - andy
I know Signs wasn't scary at all, but wasn't it a little freaky when that alien walks across the alley? I watched that part 4 times in a row and still was freaked out.
8 - Eric Olsen
haven't seen Signs, we're a couple of years behind.
9 - andy
they did a really good job at building suspence, but killed it all in the end w/ the "beat the alien w/ a baseball bat" crap.
10 - Eric Olsen
everyone knows alleys, aliens and bats go hand-in-hand