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    21 Obscure Horror Movie Moments That Are Way Scarier Than Your Faves

    The opening scene of The Nightmare is guaranteed to leave you shaking in your seat.

    WARNING: Due to the nature of this post, there are descriptions of disturbing scenes ahead. Please proceed with caution and take care of yourself!

    There are plenty of iconic moments throughout the history of horror, like Freddy Krueger’s wide-armed alleyway walk, Psycho’s blood-curdling shower scene, and the beheading heard ‘round the world in Hereditary.

    There have even been numerous unforgettable scares from more recent fright flicks as well, including viral sensations such as Skinamarink, Terrifier 2, and The Outwaters.

    But there is plenty of nightmare fuel to be mined from the darker corners of the horror genre — from obscure indie horror offerings to macabre movies from around the world — and there are plenty more independent genre gems looking to make a killing in 2023, including Enys Men, Poundcake (pictured below), and Destroy All Neighbors.

    So, with this in mind, we’ve assembled 21 terrifying horror movie moments from movies you probably haven’t seen…but will definitely never forget.

    Here we go:

    1. "The Call," The Witch in the Window (2018)

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    Filmmaker Andy Mitton has done an exceptional job in recent years to establish himself as one of the more inspired directors in the horror genre. Case-in-Point: his 2018 horror movie The Witch in the Window, which features a chilling moment that'll rip the air from your lungs. The film follows a down-on-his-luck father and estranged husband who takes his child with him to help repair a home he intends to flip, only to find out the residence has a horrific history. There are plenty of scenes that are guaranteed to keep you watching through your fingers, but one scene that's too good to spoil — all I'll say is it revolves around a phone call — left festival audiences literally leaping out of their seats.

    2. "The Drop of Water," Black Sabbath (1963)

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    Directed by Italian horror legend Mario Bava, Black Sabbath is a seminal horror anthology film that has inspired all of your favorite horror filmmakers in one way, shape, or form. While some of you may be hesitant to dig up a somewhat obscure Italian horror movie from the 1960s, it's more than worth it for one of the legitimately most scary imagery in horror film history in a segment known as "The Drop of Water," in which a nurse steals the ring off of a body that she is preparing for burial. The entire segment will keep the hair in your skin raised at attention, but the final moment when she faces the consequences of her action will haunt your dreams for the foreseeable future.

    3. "The Cold Open," The Nightmare (2015)

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    When you think of all-time scary cinematic moments, you probably don't think about documentaries as the format doesn't normally accommodate moments to strike fear into the viewer. However, here is a notable exception to the rule, and that's Rodney Ascher's pulse-pounding 2015 documentary The Nightmare, which explores the phenomenon of sleep paralysis through testimonials and recreations. While the recreation sequences certainly live up to the film's name, the opening scene of the film, in which a child watches television during a gradually nerve-wrecking broadcast, is guaranteed to leave you shaking in your seat.

    4. "The Peeling," Haunt (2019)

    A menacing man in a clown mask stands outside a deserted warehouse

    5. "The Woman in the Mask," Hooked Up (2015)

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    Produced by Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan), Hooked Up is an overlooked found footage frightener about two toxic men vacationing in Barcelona who attempt to pick up two women at a bar but are eventually lured to one of their apartments, which contains more than a few deadly secrets. Offering truly despicable central characters who you're more than happy to see go through hell, the film's arguable high point comes once they realize there's no easy way out of their apartment and come face-to-face with a masked woman brandishing a huge knife. It's a simple yet effective scare and one that sends the movie full-steam-ahead into the stuff nightmares are made of.

    6. "Father's Day," Holidays (2016)

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    As an anthology, Holidays is somewhat of a mixed bag with some really high peaks and really cringey lows. But anyone who watches the film will tell you that the scariest segment is undoubtedly the "Father's Day" short from Come True breakout filmmaker Anthony Scott Burns. Starring Joceline Donahue (The House of the Devil), the segment follows a young woman who receives a mysterious recording from her long-estranged father, instructing her to go to a remote location in the Salton Sea. With striking imagery and an incredibly moody score, it becomes fairly apparent that all is not as it seems, with the tension being literally ratcheted up with every ensuing step. As the recording starts delving into more ominous territory, you'll be torn between needing to know what's at the end of her petrifying path and being truly afraid to know what nightmare is around the next corner.

    7. "Vengeance," Hunter Hunter (2020)

    A concerned woman is illuminated by a fireplace in a cabin

    8. "The Supermarket," Messiah of Evil (1973)

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    Ever get that feeling that you're being watched or followed? Messiah of Evil, a cult film from the early '70s, preys upon those fears and amplifies it tenfold, as there are multiple scenes in this fright flick where characters are convinced that the small town of Point Dume, California is out to get them. But no moment from Messiah of Evil is as scary as the "Supermarket" scene, where a woman shopping at night begins to notice that the entire store may be keeping a far-too-close eye on her, resulting in some heavy duty nightmare fuel. Oh, and if you dig Messiah of Evil, this frightful film pairs great with the likes of Let's Scare Jessica to Death and Dead & Buried, both of which touch upon the same terrifying thematic material.

    9. "Flossing," Anything for Jackson (2020)

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    Few movies in recent years are as relentlessly scary as Anything for Jackson, a cinematic descent into madness about a pair of grandparents who attempt to perform a "reverse exorcism" that would allow their deceased grandchild to live again. But in doing so, the couple unexpectedly opens a door between the realms of the living and the dead, leading to a nonstop barrage of some truly chilling set pieces. However, none will have you as scared shitless as "the flossing scene," in which the grandfather wakes up one morning and realizes the elderly woman in his bathroom is not his wife.

    10. "The Accident," Southbound (2015)

    11. "Under the Hood," They Look Like People (2015)

    12. "Bobby," Dead of Night (1977)

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    Written by literary great Richard Matheson, this obscure television film from the 1970s was largely forgettable, but somehow, Dead of Night happens to end with a segment that remains one of the scariest things this writer has ever seen. Titled "Bobby," this segment follows a grieving mother who goes to extraordinary lengths to resurrect her drowned son...but what if someone else came back instead? Watch this one with the lights off, I dare you.

    13. "Feldman's Final Blink," Butterfly Kisses (2018)

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    Butterfly Kisses is a fantastic found-footage exercise in layered, meta storytelling, diving into the dynamics of disbelief, skepticism, and urban legends while also being very genuinely frightening. The film follows several filmmakers as they get lured into the web of a local legend known as "The Blink Man" (aka "Peeping Tom"), who will appear in your vision and get closer and closer to you every time that you blink. A really unnerving premise in and of itself, the film makes the most of every potential macabre moment, with the one that'll most get your heart racing being that when Feldman, one of the doomed filmmakers at the center of Butterfly Kisses' foremost mystery, has one last blink left before he's in The Blink Man's grasp, keeping you on the edge of your seat for every excruciating second as you wait for the inevitable.

    14. "Car Trouble," I Saw the Devil (2010)

    15. "Cut," Three... Extremes (2004)

    An barely conscious woman is stuck to a pianoand a number of wires

    16. "Storm Drain," V/H/S/94 (2021)

    17. "The Human Boombox," Sound of Violence (2021)

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    Before she took on Ghostface in the past two Scream sequels and survived dire circumstances in Yellowjackets, Jasmin Savoy Brown starred in Alex Noyer's gory and stylish slasher film Sound of Violence, which follows a formerly deaf musician with synesthesia who learns that she can retain her hearing and gain euphoric bursts of pleasure by witnessing and hearing violence. As her condition grows more desperate, however, her bloodlust (and artistic sensibilities) rise to terrible new heights, and threaten to destroy anyone in her path. With an innovative twist on the genre, the film becomes a music-driven spin on a Saw-esque movie, with the apex of the terror being showcased in a final scene in which her own personal Frankenstein's Monster is unleashed in public, showcasing a surreal and startling image that is disturbingly set against the backdrop of her morbid music.

    18. "Welfare Check," Last Shift (2014)

    19. "Tug of War," Altered (2006)

    20. "The Locker Experiment," We Go On (2016)

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    The second entry from director Andy Mitton on this list, We Go On is a haunting masterpiece that follows an anxious young man who offers his father's inheritance to anyone who can provide definitive proof of life after death. After receiving a number of seemingly bogus submissions, he whittles down the potential real deal to three potential candidates, the first of which appears to be a researcher who believes someone can make contact with the afterlife, as long as they reach a peak state of unbridled fear. What ensues is a scene that will make you absolutely squirm in your seat, as the young man agrees to make a late night visit to a supposedly haunted school in which a young boy died after being trapped in a locker. While the rest of the movie has some very, very scary sequences throughout, there's not a soul out there who won't get goosebumps while watching "the locker experiment" scene.

    21. And finally, "Right Behind You," Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018)

    What are some terrifying horror movie moments you wish more people knew about? Share in the comments below!