MovieChat Forums > The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Discussion > the most bone chilling moment in film

the most bone chilling moment in film

posted 21 years ago by BackFire83
226 replies | jump to latest

hey, well since the sweet hereafter bus crash is known by many to be the most heart wrenching and chilling moment in film. i was wondering what you all think is the most haunting and chilling. i think the bus crash is definately one of them. the fact that a father actually saw the bus carrying his children, as it dipped them into their icy graves is extremely heart breaking. some other really heart wrenching moments.

in elephant man when he puts his head on the pillow to go to "sleep"

in se7en when brad pitt realizes his wifes head is in the box, and no matter what he does to john doe, john doe will win.

in henry-portrait of a serial killer when we see the video tape of them killing off a family.

requiem for a dreams final montage

and of course, my personal pick. the famous ending to one flew over the cuckoos nest.

what do you guys think?

[–] guido anselmi 21 years ago

Giving away my film student status, but...

The Odessa Steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin is still hard to beat, even after more than 80 years. I still feel sick to my stomach every time I watch it.

[–] Dicktar 21 years ago

The final scene of "The Rapture" (starring Mimi Rogers) totally erases the film's considerable shortcomings, and is one of the most powerful moments I've seen.

[–] dalefan100 21 years ago

"The final scene of "The Rapture" (starring Mimi Rogers) totally erases the film's considerable shortcomings, and is one of the most powerful moments I've seen."

I thought it was one of the most thought-provoking movie endings I've ever seen. To have to decide in that moment whether you are on the side of God even though you don't agree with his methods, or be against him and suffer in silence for all eternity. Kind of reminds me of that Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where Picard is captured by a Cardassian who says he'll stop torturing Picard if he'll tell him that there are 5 lights beaming into his eyes when in reality there are 4. He almost breaks at the end, then finds out he's free, and he says one more time that there are 4. But when talking with Counseler Troi, he admits that at the end he actually DID see 5 lights because he was close to cracking and just wanted the pain to be over.

Now, having said that, my favorite movie ending that brings up the emotions in me is a Japanese Anime called "Metropolis" done by famous Japanese director Rinatro. The climax, where Kenichi and Tima discover the truth about Tima's origins, and she goes crazy. Kenichi tries his hardest to save her from herself, and puts himself on the line in the process. He tries to save her, and just as he realizes he can't save her, she reverts back to her normal self, and dies. I thought it was the most gutwrenching scene I'd ever seen, and the use of the Ray Charles song was absolute GENIUS, even if it was a rip-off of the Dr. Strangelove movie. I'll admit, I cry even now whenever I see that part, and I've seen it at least 20 times since the first time I saw it.

[–] edbeaty-1 21 years ago

I loved the "I Can't Stop Loving You" sequence, too. The next scene, where Kenichi is looking through the ruins for some sign of Tima, then Fifi hands him Tima's lifeless "heart" and Kenichi begins to cry, always makes me start sobbing.

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] charlie_academic 21 years ago

Good topic.

The final scene in "Hard Core Logo" when Joe Dick shoots himself. TOTALLY unexpected.

Matthew Lillard's reaction in "SLC Punk" when he finds Bob dead.

When Richard Dreyfuss finds the severed head in "Jaws"

The scene of all the impaled angels in "The Prophecy"

[–] warped82 20 years ago

the final scene b/w richard gere and ed norton in primal fear.

on a much darker and realistic note: any of the killings in "funny games" or "man bites dog"

[–] deepman24 20 years ago

The final Scene in "Seconds" http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0060955/
Will stay lodged with you for weeks, and leave you thinking about it for the rest of your life

[–] brianhessphd 17 years ago

Good call, Deepman24! Great film. Haunting, haunting.

[–] snepts 8 years ago

Can't believe you brought The Rapture up. I really enjoyed it when it was new, and I haven't seen it since. Riveting story, and I'm not that into religion.

[–] cmaczkow 20 years ago

Maybe not the MOST bone chilling but some off the top of my head:
[WARNING: Possible SPOILERS!]

- Val Kilmer seeing his wife in the window and driving on in "Heat"
- the end of John Carpenter's "The Thing" ("What now?" "I guess we wait...")
- when the young Cole looks up at the plane at the end of "12 Monkeys"
- when Deckard picks up the unicorn and realizes what he is in Bladerunner
- the end of "The Quiet Earth"

Guess I have a thing for endings :)

[–] IMDBmurphy 20 years ago

Finally someone mentioning Quiet Earth ... one of the few movies that really touched me, despite being so simple. I'd also add this one to my list of most overlooked films of all time.

[–] susannah-5 20 years ago

The accident at the beginning of The Horse Whisperer gets my vote for the most bone chilling moment in film -- the sight of the horse coming through the windshield of the Mack truck was horrifying, sickening, unbelievable.

[–] Vanihm 20 years ago

By far the most Bone-Chilling moment is the murder in Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. It's absolutely horrifiying, and the THREE MINUTE slow motion build up as the mother i being led down the path... I've seen it five times and still it makes me tremble. By the way, watch this movie it' brillian. It was PJ and Kate Winslet's ticket to Hollywood.

[–] led_det 20 years ago

Maybe not the most, but a chiller I recently saw was the car crash in Amores perros (from the old man's p.o.v.).

[–] happyfamilyof4 20 years ago

The entire black and white movie "Johnny Got His Gun" is bone chilling from the beginning to the end. The heavy metal band Metallica has a song and video based on the movie. The movie is from the 1950's I believe. The hair on my arm stood up almost throughout the movie. It consists of a soldier who suffered the loss of both arms, both legs, his hearing, his eye sight, and other injuries from an explosion. The movie is intended as an anti-war movie. You see this fully bandaged soldier in a hospital bed. You then begin to hear his thoughts. At first he does not know about his injuries. You hear him saying things (in his head) like, "I can't feel my legs!! Where are my legs?". No one is able to communicate with him and he is not able to communicate with anyone else. Eventually (stop reading if you don't want me to give away the story), he starts banging the back of his head against the headboard. After awhile, someone figures out that he is using Morse Code and saying "Kill Me, kill me, kill me!. This is far and above the eariest movie I have ever seen. Many persons can not even handle watching it. Although "The Shining" is a strong contender and I believe it to be the greatest horror movie ever, "Johnny Got His Gun" makes "The Shining" look like a walk in the park.

Vince

[–] Ratm6765 20 years ago

The two most bone-chilling scenes off of the top of my head:

- The climax of Apocalypse Now, when Willard is going medieval on Kurtz, while being intercut with the animal sacrifice.

- The second-to-last shot of Requiem For A Dream, when Tyrone beings to cry in bed after realizing that he's failed his mother by living the type of life he promised her he'd never live.

[–] TrevorAclea 20 years ago

Great as Billy's reaction to the crash was, for me the real kneecapper in the film was when the lawyer is talking to Allison on the plane and she tells him about the time Zoey was in the clinic.

"Which one was that?"

[–] The_Director2004 20 years ago

For me it's these (in no particular order):

-The Final Scene in 'The Blair Witch Project'
-The rape scene in 'Boys Don't Cry'
-The final montage in 'Requiem for a Dream'
-The scene where they find the dead body in 'Mulholland Drive'
-The failed execution scene in 'The Green Mile'
-The scene where we finally see Mother in the original 'Psycho'
-The entire movie 'The Day After'

"Every 5 out of 4 people have trouble with fractions."

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] sirflob 18 years ago

I'm glad (or maybe not so glad) you brought up "The Day After". One scene in particular haunts me still. The last scene where the Dr. orders that family off of his property. The man in question offers him some lemons(?), and the Dr. goes over to him and they embrace. For some reason the despair in that scene still remains with me.

Of course! We are all one big happy fleet.