Crafting a perfect scare or a visceral moment of terror isn’t as easy as it may seem. There’s an art form to it, and the best scares tend to come when you least expect them. That means that the most unforgettable fear-inducing moments of cinema often happen outside the realm of the genre entirely. After all, with horror, there’s already a preset expectation for scares; but in non-horror films, there’s no way to prepare.
In other words, the most horrifying scenes come from unlikely places.
There’s no shortage of trauma-inducing moments in non-horror movies, either. From Large Marge in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure to Mulholland Drive’s jarring diner scare, Sam Raimi’s stealth horror scene in Spider-Man 2, and beyond, horror frequently touches every aspect of our lives, and genres.
Here are five more nerve-shredding scenes from non-horror movies…
Enemy – Spiders
Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy is a psychological thriller that sees a man determined to track down an exact lookalike. That he feels like his life is stuck in a rut only fuels his obsession with the other man’s life. In other words, it’s a dreamy mind-bender. While tarantulas and spiders come into play in subtle ways throughout, namely in minor imagery, it still doesn’t prepare for this insane moment. Adam has effectively assumed the life of his doppelganger, goes to check on his wife, and discovers she’s become a massive spider. There’s a whole lot of symbolism behind this, but you’ll have to pick your jaw up off the floor first before you can decipher its meaning.
Look Who’s Talking Too – Mr. Toilet Man
Amy Heckerling’s family comedy sequel to Look Who’s Talking sees Bruce Willis reprising his role as the inner narrator of Mikey, now a toddler dealing with a new baby sister and potty training. His daycare bud Eddie (voiced by Damon Wayans) shares how his mom explained the potty business to him, “Mr. Toilet Man, he likes to eat your doody and your pee-pee. So, I say give it to him.” That night, Mikey feels the urge to pee, gets up in the middle of the night, and suffers a horrific vision of Mr. Toilet Man, with giant fangs and squirting liquid. Sure, this is a comedy, and Mel Brooks voices Mr. Toilet Man, but it’s still a significant WTF moment. Especially for children.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – Ceti eel
Admiral Kirk and his beloved Enterprise crew are back to take down an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, in this acclaimed sequel. Aside from being a genetically enhanced being with super strength and intellect, Khan is an imposing villain with emotional reasoning behind his evil ways- the death of his wife. How can you tell he’s a scary villain? With a suspenseful scene in which he introduces the Ceti eel, an indigenous and deadly larva that he then places into Chekov’s ear. The writhing creepy crawler squirming into his ear is an unnerving visual, followed by Chekov’s screaming just before the critter takes over his brain. Sure, we expect the weird in a sci-fi movie, but no one expected a beloved Enterprise crew member to get tortured quite like this.
Trainspotting – Withdrawal Nightmares
Before 28 Days Later, director Danny Boyle injected some nightmare fuel into his well-regarded drama about a man, Renton, trying to untangle himself from his severe addiction to drugs and the drug scene. After relapses and an overdose, Renton’s parents lock him in his childhood bedroom to force him to quit, cold turkey. The withdrawal is downright frightening, both in Renton’s pain and in the hallucinatory horrors that await. The worst of it is Baby Dawn, his friend’s infant that died from neglect. The baby cries and crawls toward him from his bedroom ceiling, moving in ways a human baby never should. It’s a literal waking nightmare.
Looper – Seth’s Death
Rian Johnson’s sci-fi crime thriller proved you didn’t need gore or blood to offer up one of the worst character fates of all time. The film’s title refers to the assassins hired by the mob to kill a target sent from the future. When the assassin’s contract is up, the looper’s future self is sent back in time to be the final victim, therefore “closing the loop” and removing any of the looper’s ties to the mob. Retired looper Seth (Frank Brennan) tries to evade closing the loop, though, determined to outlive the mob’s death sentence. They kidnap his past self (Paul Dano) but opt to keep him alive. Instead, punishment comes in the form of bodily mutilation, and it catches up to his future self all at once. He’s terrified as his body parts start disappearing- his fingers, his nose, his legs, and arms. It’s a disturbing visual made all the more twisted with the realization that past Seth lived horrifically disfigured for decades.