22 Scary Movie Scenes That Made People Go "Nope"

    Besides, you know, every single scene in Hereditary.

    Andy Golder
    by Andy Golder

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community about the single scene in a horror or non-horror movie that scared the crap out of them. Here are some of the responses!

    Beware, there are SPOILERS throughout! And, ya know, some of the images are scary.

    1. The "Large Marge" scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure:

    Warner Bros.

    "Large freakin’ Marge. That shit is terrifying. *shudders*"

    —bethanne

    2. The "ghost" scene in Parasite:

    CJ Entertainment

    "The scene in Parasite when the boy is eating cake in the kitchen late at night and the old man's head appears in the basement doorway, giving the kid a seizure."

    —melonette000

    3. The bear scene in Annihilation:

    Paramount

    "The screaming bear sequence from Annihilation had me so terrified I swore off ever watching that movie ever again! I mean, its head was partly decomposed and it screamed the horrible screams of those it devoured. Nightmare fuel."

    —kassandraannw

    4. The wardrobe scene in The Conjuring:

    Warner Bros.

    "The clapping scene and the demon-on-wardrobe scene in The Conjuring. I’ve watched that movie a few times, and I jumped every time lol."

    —timeladywho

    5. The boat scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:

    Paramount

    "The boat ride from Willy Wonka. One minute you're watching a movie about a sweet kid from a poor neighborhood having the time of his life in a chocolate factory. The next minute, the movie takes a hard left turn into the acid trip from hell!"

    —yankee1982001

    6. This scare in The Exorcism of Emily Rose:

    Screen Gems

    "In The Exorcism of Emily Rose, when her boyfriend wakes up in the dead of night to find her all twisted up on the floor, staring right at him. I've only ever watched that movie once, when it first came out, but I remember that part VIVIDLY."

    —minimal

    7. The "werecats" in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island:

    Hanna-Barbera

    "The scene in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A KIDS MOVIE!) where the zombies rise up from the dead. Also, the cat creature transformation scene. I was 6 years old when I watched that movie for the first time and to this day I can’t go into a basement without fearing that there are cat creatures waiting to drain my life around every dark corner."

    —princessplatinum

    8. The basement scene in Zodiac:

    Paramount

    "The basement scene in Zodiac, hands down. David Fincher built up the perfect amount of suspense and it was absolutely chilling."

    —emmah313

    9. The kitchen scene from The Strangers:

    Rogue Pictures

    "In The Strangers when Liv Tyler’s character is home alone and she goes to the kitchen for a glass of water and the one stranger home invader just comes out of the shadows behind her, lurking. She doesn’t notice and he disappears again before absolute hell breaks loose. All in complete silence. Terrifying."

    —dinab4b3f4486e

    10. The ending of The Blair Witch Project:

    Artisan Entertainment

    "I know a lot of people think this movie was boring, but I’m still terrified that I’m going to turn around from doing my laundry (in my unfinished basement) and I’m going to see that the Blair Witch has someone standing in the corner. I’m 41 and still won’t go down into my basement without dragging my dog with me."

    —christyb496afeb37

    11. The velociraptors in the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park:

    Universal

    "In terms of adrenaline-pumping, heart-racing terror, nothing beats 'there are velociraptors in this kitchen now because SURPRISE they can open doors.' I refuse to watch Jurassic World because YOU CANNOT TELL ME VELOCIRAPTORS ARE 'NICE' NOW, CHRIS PRATT. I SAW THEM IN THAT KITCHEN. HARD PASS."

    —kikipenny

    12. ~That scene~ in Gerald's Game:

    Netflix

    "In Gerald's Game where the main character wakes up to the murderer sucking on her foot. Still can't have my feet out of the blankets after that."

    —terrah4

    13. The TV crawling scene in The Ring:

    DreamWorks

    "When Samara crawls out of the TV in The Ring (both the Japanese original and the Hollywood remake). I felt like my heart stopped. I was a teenager and my friend and I were the only two people in the cinema screening. I was freaked out for a week at least."

    —alittlebitanji

    14. The ending of Psycho:

    20th Century Fox / Courtesy of Everett Collection

    "The scene at the end of Psycho (1960), when Norman hears his mother’s voice in his head saying that he’ll be proven innocent because he’d never hurt the fly crawling on his leg, and that will make the officers think that he didn’t kill anyone. It’s so chilling, it gives me the creeps every time I watch it."

    —dogluver15

    15. The Judge Doom scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit:

    Buena Vista

    "In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there is a scene where Judge Doom turns into an evil toon. The combo of his eyes falling out and voice skyrocketing five octaves sent me scrambling out of the room."

    —aggiecoll

    16. The dinner scene in The Invisible Man:

    Universal

    "For me, it’s that last dinner scene in The Invisible Man that scares and upsets me the most. I grew up with a controlling narcissist, so when Cecilia’s husband stands there and smiles and talks sweetly to her and then (after the movie) critics debate whether he was the villain after all — it reminds me of the insidiousness of not believing women. That’s what it’s like. Some people can watch a whole movie about a skilled manipulator stalking and attacking his wife and then after one scene where he seems nice...totally forget. And even question who the victim is. I still think about that scene all the time, and EVERY time I read a review asking 'Who was the REAL invisible man in that movie?' Smh. That’s reality, which is what’s so scary."

    —alisonm1

    17. The sneaking into the apartment scene in Rear Window:

    Paramount

    "In Rear Window, when Grace Kelly's Lisa is sneaking into the killer's apartment to find proof that he murdered his wife and he walks in behind her."

    —kerryarchbold96

    18. When Bilbo reaches for the ring in The Lord of the Rings:

    New Line

    "Bilbo’s 'demon' face in The Lord of the Rings. He goes from pleasant to demonic in seconds and it’s totally unexpected. Scares me every time."

    —takerbobpooh

    19. The attic chase scene in Hereditary:

    A24

    "In Hereditary, when the mother is floating upside down banging her head repeatedly on the attic door. The whole movie is f**ked up, but that scene in particular is haunting."

    —mostro

    20. The Woundwort and Bigwig fight in Watership Down:

    Nepenthe Productions

    "Woundwort vs. Bigwig in the tunnels is pure nightmare fuel by itself, but then the dog arrives."

    —ameliakt

    21. The bed scene from The Grudge:

    Columbia

    "In The Grudge, when she lifts up her bed sheets to see the woman ghost lying on top of her stomach. To this day, I still won’t lift my sheets up like that 😭."

    —Th3FatPanth3r

    22. And finally, the bathtub scene from The Shining:

    Warner Bros.

    "The scene in The Shining with the old lady in the tub terrified me as a kid. For years after watching it, I had to check behind the shower curtain in any bathroom I used."

    —theresa1041

    Is there a scary movie scene that you can never get out of your head? Let us know in the comments and we might feature your suggestion in a future BuzzFeed Community post!

    Submissions may have been edited for length or clarity.