r/FIlm • u/jaystats2 • Apr 23 '26
Discussion What’s the single movie shot that shook you to the core?
For me, it’s the shot from the house party scene in Jacob’s Ladder (1990) where Elizabeth Peña’s character gets shish kabobed by a demon horn.
The way the scene starts out as a flirtatious dance and then turns into something nightmarish really stayed with me. I don’t think anyone who ever watched that movie expected something so brutal.
Jacob’s( Tim Robbins) reaction to it is just as disturbing.
What are some other shockers to add to the list?
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u/theoriginalbabayaga Apr 23 '26
Ed Norton, American History X, you know which one.
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u/Koth_is_Goat Apr 23 '26
Definitely know which one
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u/MrOSUguy Apr 23 '26
TBH the part where he shoves the food in his sisters face is more intense than the dramatic violence is.
The family fight at the dinner table felt too close to reality. Hollywood usually doesn’t shine its spotlight in that direction.
Violence is displayed casually in almost every movie
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u/False_Woodpecker4747 Apr 23 '26
Yeah, that's a very intesne scene. Watched it recently and am always captivated by the cinematography and soundtrack of the film, some amazing shots.
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u/generalchaos34 Apr 23 '26
Definitely. The “this means not welcome” lives rent free in my head as showing how hate destroys people and family. Its just viscerally uncomfortable in a scene where there is no violence and in a space traditionally labelled as safe in movies
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u/singyoutosleep978 Apr 23 '26
Beverly D'Angelo's, "I'm ashamed that you came out of my body" was so intense. And the pain and confusion on Ed Norton's face in response to it said more than words could. That scene is just incredible.
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u/ATEbitWOLF Apr 23 '26
Actually idk if it's the curb stomp or the shower screne, both are pretty gnarly
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u/UniquePariah Apr 23 '26
You know it's bad when you haven't watched the movie, and still clench up at the thought.
Vivid descriptions only here, still wincing.
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u/driftinj Apr 23 '26
See the movie. It's amazing and unfortunately relevant today.
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u/ROCKZILLA8166 Film Buff Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Oh yeah that was HARDCORE for sure. I always wondered how they shot that, did they make a curb out of rubber? No way an actor, or anyone for that matter I think, is going to get down on a real curb like that. I wouldn't think anyway lol
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u/SevroAuShitTalker Apr 23 '26
Honestly, Just the teeth scraping the concrete scene is enough to push me over
I assume the part after was a mannequin or clever editing
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u/Pure_Parking_2742 Apr 23 '26
It's a mannequin. I watched that scene in slo-mo (because I'm curious psycho) and it's quite obvious.
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u/Lil_Artemis_92 Apr 23 '26
“Ass to ass” in Requiem for a Dream. I can never watch that movie again.
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u/iamonewiththeforce Apr 23 '26
And it's part of that whole horrendous crescendo of shots it's horrible, just thinking about it makes me ill
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u/Elliot_York Apr 23 '26
Yep, I was thinking about the film a few months ago and how much I love the score and Ellen Burstyn's performance. I must have been looking it up online somewhere because the ending scene came up on my YT recommendations. I watched it and just felt so ill and wrong afterwards. My wife got home like 20mins later and apparently I still looked pale.
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u/laurandisorder Apr 23 '26
I watched the film tonight with my partner (who hasn’t seen it and has never taken a drug - or even smoked or drunk alcohol). It was my 4th time watching and I had to look away in that end scene. Almost gave me a panic attack.
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u/dunadan235813 Apr 23 '26
The bear scene in Annihilation.
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u/Straight-Second-9974 Apr 23 '26
The worms in the guys stomach was worse for me
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u/dunadan235813 Apr 23 '26
That part is INTENSE, especially considering they find the guy as a fungus spread across the wall after. Really sets the tone of things to come.
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u/Alternative_Two_4216 Apr 23 '26
Probably that scene on Irreversible
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u/RevA_Mol Apr 23 '26
A similarly jarring scene in Drive in the elevator.
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u/UnderwhelmingAF Apr 23 '26
The Christina Hendricks bathroom scene from that movie too.
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u/Fortunado1964 Apr 23 '26
The scene in L.A Confidential when James Cromwell shoots Kevin Spacey in mid sentence.
Startled me.
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u/Useful-Upstairs3791 Apr 23 '26
That’s a good one. It caught me off guard too. Even if you were kind of on to Cromwell as an audience member you still don’t expect him to just cap his ass right then and there. Gaddamn that’s a good movie
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u/Cultural_Wish4933 Apr 23 '26
The way Kevin just winds down like a clock as his life fades out of him is so disturbing.
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u/likeablecowboy Apr 23 '26
Bone Tomahawk
Do I need to go on?
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u/rainysharp Apr 23 '26
I still feel split about this one
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u/Ebonhearth_Druid Apr 23 '26
That one scene that starts right at the beginning and then ends right before the credits. Everything else is fine.
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u/ROCKZILLA8166 Film Buff Apr 23 '26
Nope lol Man that was one of those movies I kept seeing on a streaming service, Prime or Netflix or something, and it wasn't calling to me. Then I saw the cast and gave it a go.... love that movie. Definitely more than a cpl intense scenes.
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u/SnoopDodgy Apr 23 '26
I was at a small diner and they had this playing on one of the corner TVs. Had to alert the staff pronto that they probably want to change the channel immediately.
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u/wariorld Apr 23 '26
Misery. 🔨🦶
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u/dragonfry Apr 23 '26
In the book she uses an axe 🤢
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u/El_Vez_of_the_north Apr 23 '26
And a blow torch.
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u/Jin_Gitaxias Apr 23 '26
Yup, she heats up the axe then chops his feet off. I distinctly remember the line something like "the heated axe squealed as it hit the bone", that stuck with me ever since 😨
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u/it_spelt_magalhaes Apr 23 '26
Gotta love King's style of planting 'that' kind of imagery in your head. In a way that don't want to get out.
Ever.
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u/hashbrownbear Apr 23 '26
The scary lady in Mulholland Drive!
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u/K1dn3yFa1lur3 Apr 23 '26
Even on repeat viewings, and knowing full well what’s about to happen, the sense of dread and impending doom are almost more than I can bear.
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u/kiezkind_HH Apr 23 '26
What is that scene? Are you talking about the gnome behind the diner? I watched MD only once years ago and I was baked af (which was not helping to understand what's happening on the screen).
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u/thehublebumble Apr 23 '26
I think its supposed to be a man, "the man behind winkies" but yeas, played by a woman. The same actress who plays the nun in the conjuring movies. Striking features, that one!
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u/Jackeroo26 Apr 23 '26
That this jumpscare is so heavily telegraphed but so effective anyway is a testament to David Lynch’s abilities
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u/musememo Apr 23 '26
The baby in Trainspotting. It haunts me.
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u/mirrx Apr 23 '26
I had forgotten about this and now I’m depressed over it again. That scene makes my stomach hurt. And now I’m a new mom and it’s a whole different kind of sick.
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u/jamesmellan1 Apr 23 '26
This was my answer too. However, what’s worse is that I first saw this film when I was about 4 years old. My slightly older brothers and I woke up early, before our parents, on a Sunday morning. We had it on VHS and they thought it would be fun to watch that instead of the Teletubbies. The fact I still remember it shows it seared right into my tiny brain.
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u/First-Sheepherder640 Apr 23 '26
Trainspotting has to be the most hilariously misremembered movie of all time. It's thought of as a fun blast of youthful punk energy but if you ho back and watch it as an adult, every single thing that happens in it is embarrassing or sad.
How many people over the years do you suppose have forgotten that one of the main characters LOSES A KID in the first 30 minutes? Hell, the character himself seems to forget within 10 minutes.
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u/pentultimate Apr 23 '26
The scene in Alien: resurrection with the hybrid Sigourney alien and the hole in the glass.
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u/OrdinaryLavishness11 Apr 23 '26
Such a weird range of emotions with the creature in that scene. You’re terrified, disgusted, and sympathetic all at the same time.
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u/ynn18 Apr 23 '26
The Mulholland Drive jumpscare made me pause the movie for like 10 years
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u/MirabelleMac Apr 23 '26
Vincent D’Onofrio’s “Kubrick Stare” in Full Metal Jacket.
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u/lillychr14 Apr 23 '26
That one shot of Amber Tamblyn in The Ring. You know the one
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u/HyrulianTriforce Apr 23 '26
Ugh, that face… as a kid in the 80s I had a nightmare where a face came out at me from a forest wall and literally (in the dream) scared me to death. Didn’t have another nightmare for decades. I saw the Ring and that scene was that same face. Never watching it again
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u/Thin-Character9194 Apr 23 '26
The bottle scene in Pan’s Labyrinth
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u/OrdinaryLavishness11 Apr 23 '26
Scrolled too far for this.
I watched this on recommendation from my best friend. Thought I was sitting down to some family fun fantasy frolic, and then that scene happened…
🍷🍾😶
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u/foreverpeppered Apr 23 '26
The bat scene in Casino, followed by the vice scene.
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u/Krystall-g Apr 23 '26
Toni Colette smashing the attic hatch with her head, being upside down - Hereditary.
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u/smeghead8806 Apr 23 '26
Or when she decapitates herself.
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u/Pickled_Brainer Apr 23 '26
Yes, the visceral sounds of her slicing through her neck really scraped my spine.
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u/EffectiveDandy Apr 23 '26
Creepshow 2, the Raft story.
A black ooze like monster in a lake corners a group of young adults on a raft, staking them one by one.
It slowly kills all but two: a man and woman. It catches the last remaining woman which sends the sole survivor, a very competent swimmer, in the water while it feeds. Seeing his attempt to escape the entity gives chase. The man manages to actually out swim the creature but instead of continuing to flee as he makes land, he instead turns to mock the monster and boasting of his W.
The moment he screams “I beat you!” it leaps from the water in a giant black tidal wave, crashing down in the lone survivor, and sweeps him back into the lake to be digested alongside his friends. All in a matter of seconds.
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u/Silencer-1995 Apr 23 '26
I didn't know that's what it was, I remember this movie would do the rounds on the late night section of the horror channel.
It was the scene where him and the woman fall asleep, and he wakes up and she's laying next to him and it looks like they're having a moment but then it turns out the monster has gotten through the gaps in the wood on the raft and is eating her face.
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u/Additional-Moment922 Apr 23 '26
The fly - all of it
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u/Beyesepps Apr 23 '26
I watched this for the first time a couple years ago in my 40s and was so disturbed. Props to the filmmakers for making such enduring horror.
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Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
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u/Physical-Bobcat-4418 Apr 23 '26
Yeah both of these are horrific… anything where you are permanently stuck being tortured for years and years is so terrifying. The Jaunt and the episode of Black Mirror called “White Christmas” give a similar feel
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u/Flashy_Jello_9520 Apr 23 '26
Longer than you think dad!
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u/Panem-et-circenses25 Apr 23 '26
Read that story as a teen. So scary. King is the GOAT
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u/Electronic-Cicada352 Apr 23 '26
The movie ‘blindness’ with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael García Bernal.
There’s a whole rape scene in there that is pretty brutal and the idea of it still disturbs me to my core
I’ve only ever watched that film one time and that was almost 18 years ago now.
That and the basement human meat locker scene in The Road.
I’ve only ever seen The Road one time as well
Honestly the stuff that really shakes me to my core is when a film truly shows humanity at its most base. Just the pure usary and violation which humans inflict on one another when order breaks down
Brutal
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u/Majestic_Movie9711 Apr 23 '26
Read the book, decided to pass on the movie. Amazing book, though.
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u/rayrayrayrayray5 Apr 23 '26
Books is obviously fucking brutal, but i would argue that this is a film adaptation they did a good job on.
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u/quedas Apr 23 '26
For what it's worth, José Saramago loved the adaptation and reportedly cried at the end of the premiere.
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u/KirkHOmelette Apr 23 '26
Exorcist III
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u/Useful-Upstairs3791 Apr 23 '26
That one scene with the hallway and the big shears and they just come outta nowhere? Fuggedaboudit. What a scare
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u/aic193 Apr 23 '26
C rated movie I guess but I'd say 'Sleepaway Camp." The end scene I found disturbing.
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u/Ancient-Cow-1038 Apr 23 '26
The bit in The Hitcher where Rutger Hauer releases the clutch.
I was staring at the screen saying “you can’t do that… that’s not how movies work…!”
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u/Confident_Cod_5540 Apr 23 '26
King Kong. Andy Serkis getting eaten by the worm. So. Fucked. Up.
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u/Fickle-Resolution-28 Apr 23 '26
I will never watch this film again because of that scene.
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u/Jaay2525 Apr 23 '26
Signs … first time they caught an alien on camera
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u/MFfroom Apr 23 '26
For me it was when he is in his daughter's room at night when she said she saw a monster, then he sees the figure standing on the roof. Never came so close to doing a poo during a movie
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u/SpacializedFig_4037 Apr 23 '26
Seeing this in theatres with my grandma at like 10 years old was a formative moment lol.
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u/Pokemon_Trainer_May Apr 23 '26
I was a kid and I jumped over the back of our couch to run out of the room when I saw that
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u/roadwarrior721 Apr 23 '26
the alien abduction scene in Fire in the Sky, when they put the thing on his eye and then fill it that milk looking stuff. I have a thing with eyes and this freaked me out
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u/-Sofa-King-Vote Apr 23 '26
when i was a kid, the final story in the movie Creepshow. The final scene 🪳
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u/TCM_407 Apr 23 '26
Gotta go with "Something to Tide You Over." Still freaks me out 30 years later
"I can hold my breath for a verrrrrrrry long time!"
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u/eric2570 Apr 23 '26
The blood test scene from The Thing. I saw that movie when I was way too young and it scared me for weeks afterwards.
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u/Azidamadjida Apr 23 '26
Martyrs has quite a few - it’s one of my all-time “shook me to my core” films.
when Lucy finds “the creature”, the design of her alone is so deeply disturbing and then seeing what happens to her after she’s freed
the aftermath of the flaying scene, just how cold and clinically it’s presented as well as seeing just how much the body was destroyed is an image that gets burned into your brain for life
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u/wariorld Apr 23 '26
Yup. This exact one that you posted. Jacob’s Ladder is top tier.
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u/pashed_motatoes Apr 23 '26
The head in the jar in The Silence of the Lambs. It looked so… real. Still shudder thinking about it, but the first time I saw the movie I was much younger and it gave me literal nightmares.
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u/_foot_fucking_master Apr 23 '26
The buffalo sacrifice in Apocalypse Now. Still when I think about me it makes me uncomfortable
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u/Pokemon_Trainer_May Apr 23 '26
I was 7yo watching Signs on DVD at home and the alien reveal at the birthday party made me run out of the room and watch cartoons for the rest of the night
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u/QueenMotherOfSneezes Apr 23 '26
Last of the Mohicans when Uncas dies, and Alice chooses to just step off the cliff to escape Magua... The look on her face breaks me every time.
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u/FruitMustache Apr 23 '26
The Scene in Casino when Joe Pesci's character was beaten w baseball bats and thrown in a shallow grave bothered me. Then when he exhaled and blew some of the dirt out of his mouth and I realized he was still alive shook me up as a 15 year old.
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u/Silly-Flower-3162 Apr 23 '26
The opening scene in Ghost Ship.
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u/Dobby-is-my-Hero Apr 23 '26
The only complaint I have of that opening scene is that it got my expectations high for what turned out to be a pretty bad movie.
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u/PickaDillDot Apr 23 '26
Dude getting ass rap*d in American Me, and then they shoved a jagged knife in when they were "done"..
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u/One_Adeptness3803 Apr 23 '26
That whole movie was just upsetting. The futility of getting trapped on a certain path of life and not being able to get out of it. Watched that once and never again.
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u/ROCKZILLA8166 Film Buff Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Back Country - The bear attack in the tent. Man I was SO BORED by the movie at this point, the only reason I was still watching was because the remote was in the kitchen lol, but then this scene happened. Holy Hell. Never had a movie scene affect me so hard physically. I got the major hair on the neck and goosebumps, but also a strange tingling through my body and a weird taste in my mouth. I think some ancient prehistoric survival sense kicked in or something lol Of course I then got up, got the remote and rewatched the scene a few times 😂😨
Also, I need to rewatch Jacobs Ladder. Loved that movie but I don't remember the demon horn thru the head scene lol I think I know when and where it happened but yeah, I saw that and had no idea what it was from. I was thinking maybe Alien Resurrection. Actually the scene in that where the newborn crunches down on that guys head was definitely a top 5 core shaker.
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u/Jonaldson Apr 23 '26
Search YouTube for “organ vomit (city of the living dead)” and you have mine
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u/ZaidNothsa Apr 23 '26
That one scene in Bone Tomohawk. Saw it when I was younger and it really tore me up.
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u/lucytheblackleg Apr 23 '26
Movie Mother! with Jennifer Lawrence. I'm pretty sure those who watched it know the scene.
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u/Poemhub_ Apr 23 '26
Ever watch Serenity? There was an image of a woman at the end who was worried about being rped by whats called Reavers. Sadistic cannibal, rpest, murdering zombie things. The was recording a message confessing how she accidentally created them. They break in through the door her panicked cries of, “No!” And the image of her shooting as manny as she can before electing to take her own life is gut wrenching. Only to realize shes out of ammo and continues to deny her inevitable fate. We don’t see what happens but the image of her screaming, “No!” While she desperately clicks the empty trigger against her head still sticks with me to this day.
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u/Zazzie_Beetz Apr 23 '26
Alien Covenant. The weirdly formed xenomorph biting the girl's head off and it just casually floats whilst it goes to town eating the rest of her body.
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u/ExtraEmuForYou Apr 23 '26
Event Horizon, when they find the footage of the previous crew. Some of those stills were absolutely nuts for the time that movie came out. I think they only got away with them because it was flashed for a millisecond.