WARNING: Due to the nature of the question being answered in this post, there are descriptions of disturbing scenes ahead. With this in mind, we've opted not to include the scenes themselves, but to instead link out to them on the titles of the film should you wish to view them for yourself on YouTube. Please proceed with caution and take care of yourself!
We recently asked members of our BuzzFeed Community, "What's a horror movie scene that refuses to leave your brain? Like, it's burned in there, and you see it when you close your eyes?" and you better believe they came through with some nightmare-inducing examples!
So, with that in mind, here are just a few of the most popular scenes shared:
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
"Freddy Krueger chasing Tina through the alley behind her house. He has elongated arms, and she says, 'Please, god!' He brings his knives to his face, and says, 'This...is god!' It gives me chills every time."
2. Mother! (2017)
"The baby scene. Horrific, and the noise..."
3. The Strangers (2008)
4. Midsommar (2019)
"The group crying scene hasn’t left me for a single minute ever since I saw the movie. All of the women crouching down with Dani and getting on her level, the one main friend *locking* eyes with Dani, everyone synchronizing the heaving motions of the crying, and the sheer ugliness of the beautiful raw despair you hear/see/feel in the crying and wailing!"
"The contortion dance scene. It makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. The visuals were bad enough, but the sounds of bones breaking was what put it over the edge."
6. The Ring (2002)
"The horse on the ferry scene. It's really messed up."
7. Creep (2014)
"The final scene. Josef stands behind an oblivious Aaron for uncomfortably long before bringing an ax down on his head. I hated this movie the first time I saw it, but that scene woke me up in the middle of the night for a few days. The combo of Aaron’s good-hearted attempt to connect, Josef’s wolf mask, the found footage — it still gets me. Not to mention the jump scare at the end!"
8. Pet Sematary (1989)
"Zelda scared me far more than anything else in that movie."
9. Se7en (1995)
"When the addict is tied to the bed as Sloth, and they think he's dead, but then he screams. CHILLS."
"I don’t remember much about the movie, but the main thing I do remember is the girl who gets her eye melted by a blow torch. Whenever I see someone using a blowtorch for solder welding, my eye twitches and I can’t watch."
11. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2022)
"There was a scene that was just a frozen shot of a girl's face all distorted, and it scared me so bad that I turned the movie off and never revisited it. I don’t even think I got halfway through the movie."
12. Insidious (2010)
"The scene with the red face man messed me up for at least a month. Every few minutes, I'd be looking over my shoulder, convinced he was behind me."
13. Truth or Dare (2017)
"I watched this movie when I was 13, alone, in my room, in the dark, at two in the morning. When the one character began to pull out different things (teeth, toenails, fingers), I had to shut my movie off to keep from screaming. To this day, I can’t watch the movie without skipping past that part."
14. Men (2022)
"I watched this movie on a first date. I'll never be able to unsee the scene at the end when the guy gives birth to himself like five times. It was the worst first date ever."
"The scene when Frank is reborn. It's equal parts the most disgusting scene in the movie and one of the most impressive and beautiful effects I've ever seen. The fact that it is all practical still blows my mind."
16. The Loved Ones (2009)
"It’s not a well-known movie, but it's forever a favorite of mine. There’s a scene where the main antagonist puts a power drill through the hero's forehead, and when she pulls it away his head is still moving in little circles. It's absolutely gnarly."
17. The Omen (2006)
"The way Julia Stiles' character was killed in the remake always stayed with me. She was killed by the evil nanny injecting a tiny bit of air into her IV tubing. When I was a new nurse, I was so uneasy with any little bubble in IV tubing, despite knowing it is perfectly safe!"
18. Hereditary (2018)
"When Annie is clinging to the ceiling and rapidly banging her head on the attic trap door."
19. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
"When I was about 17, I saw The Blair Witch Project while it was still being promoted as 'found footage,' and they weren’t admitting that it was scripted with actors (plus, I was a dumb teenager and believed that it was real). The final scene with the guy standing in the corner still freaks me out. I couldn’t sleep for two days until I finally crawled in bed with my parents early one morning."
20. Bride of Chucky (1998)
"I’m 22 and I'm terrified of Chucky. I was shown one of the movies at three years old by a terrible babysitter. I don’t know which movie the scene is from (and I don’t care), but I can still vividly see a man tied to a bed and a woman winding the doll's head around, after that I’ve blacked it out, but almost 20 years and it still keeps me up at night."
21. The Mist (2007)
"The ending. With no hope for survival, the main character essentially euthanizes his son and all of his friends with the remaining bullets he has. He doesn't have a bullet left for himself so he exposes himself to the mist and monsters — just in time for the rescue squad to arrive."
22. Event Horizon (1997)
"The gateway to hell scene. I took my friend — who was like a younger brother to me — to see it because we both loved sci-fi movies. We didn’t realize it was a horror movie, too. We were both pretty shook up afterward and I apologized for suggesting we see it."
23. Sinister (2012)
"The lawn mower scene is still one of the scariest and most scarring scenes I’ve ever watched in a horror film. That entire movie is nuts, but that scene in particular — combined with the music — is too much."
And finally, not one specific scene, but a whole movie:
24. Funny Games (2007)
"I saw the Tim Roth and Naomi Watts version, and I could never watch it again. My son was the same age as their son in the movie, which only made it worse. It was too realistic and horrifying because it doesn't end well for the family. DISTURBING."
You've read their responses, but now it's your turn! What's a horror movie scene that refuses to leave your brain? Share your pick in the comments below!
Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity.