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A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes This a Useful Notes page. A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes

In 2004, Bravo counted down the 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The list had a fairly even mix of movies from different periods and sub-genres, including the silent screamers, the Universal monster movies, Italian Giallo, slasher pics and even Asian horror. Moreover, the list included a few movies outside the horror genre because they contained classic examples of Nightmare Fuel. The list is as follows:

  • 100. Twenty Eight Days Later: The scene where Jim has just met Selena and Mark, and a zombie person who's been infected suddenly bursts in from outside and attacks.
  • 99. Creepshow: Upson Pratt dies, and suddenly thousands of cockroaches burst out of his body.
  • 98. Zombi: A woman is pulled towards a splinter, which eventually goes through her eye.
  • 97. Cat People: Alice is walking to the bus stop in the dark, and hears footsteps behind her. She stops, and they stop. She picks up the pace and hears the footsteps chasing her. Just as she gets to the bus stop, the bus arrives scaring the wits out of her.
  • 96. The Birds: Melanie hides inside a phone booth as seagulls massacre the people outside, and it cuts to a literal birds-eye view of the carnage.
  • 95. Jurassic Park: The scene where the children are trapped in the kitchen with the raptors hunting them.
  • 94. Pacific Heights: Patty comes back after getting her revenge and finds Carter Hayes waiting for her.
  • 93. Childs Play: Andy's mom starts to realize something's not right with Chucky, and threatens to throw him into the fireplace, at which point he comes to life and attacks her.
  • 92. Village of the Damned: Gordon puts up a mental brick wall to cover up his plan to suicide bomb the children, and they all try to break it down.
  • 91. Shallow Grave: Juliet, David, and Alex bury their dead roommate in the woods.
  • 90. The Night of the Hunter: Harry Powell interrogates the children about the location of the heist money.
  • 89. Alice, Sweet Alice: Karen looks for Alice in a big and creepy abandoned warehouse.
  • 88. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Miles kisses Becky, and discovers she's now one of them.
  • 87. Black Christmas: A girl is suffocated to death with plastic wrap.
  • 86. The Wizard of Oz: The flying monkeys, and the witch threatening to kill Dorothy.
  • 85. Blood and Black Lace: The first victim is attacked by the killer out of total darkness.
  • 84. Blue Velvet: Frank first appears, huffing God-knows-what, and rapes Dorothy Vallens, while repeatedly saying "Mommy! Baby wants to fuuuuck!"
  • 83. The Others: Grace finds her daughter apparently possessed by the eponymous "spirits".
  • 82. Terminator: The now legless cyborg tries to grab Sarah through a grating.
  • 81. The Howling: Terry goes investigating the colony, and is greeted by the thought-dead Eddie Quist in werewolf form.
  • 80. Poltergeist: Robbie gets attacked by the already creepy looking clown doll.
  • 79. Dracula (1931): Renfield first meets the title character, and sees him walk through spider-webs...without disturbing them.
  • 78. The Brood: Frank confronts Nola, and sees her give birth to one of her rage-babies, and lick it.
  • 77. Signs: Merrill watches a news report about an alien sighting, alone, in a dark closet.
  • 76. Evil Dead: Two Words: Tree rape.
  • 75. Candyman: The title character opens his coat, and he's covered in bees.
  • 74. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory: The tunnel of nightmares, which includes a chicken getting its head chopped off.
  • 73. Blood Simple.: The detective stalks Abby in the darkened apartment.
  • 72. Them: The main characters see one of the ants for the first time, and it has a human rib-cage in its jaws.
  • 71. The Sixth Sense: Cole meets the little dead girl.
  • 70. The Stepfather: Stephanie walks in on Jerry having a meltdown.
  • 69. Re-Animator: Three words: Head giving head.
  • 68. The Black Cat: Dr. Werdegast flays Poelzig alive.
  • 67. Duel: The trucker tries to force David onto the railroad tracks.
  • 66. The Tenant: Trelkovsky finds a tooth in a wall.
  • 65. Marathon Man: Three words: Is it safe?
  • 64. Near Dark: Severen terrorizes a bartender.
  • 63. Deliverance: Two Words: Redneck rape.
  • 62. The Wolf Man: Larry, as the eponymous monster, attacks Gwen.
  • 61. The Devils Backbone: Jacinto explores the basement, and feels the dead boy's presence.
  • 60. The Beyond: A possessed girl gets her head blown off.
  • 59. Fatal Attraction: Alex, seemingly dead, bursts out of the bathtub, and Dan's wife shoots her.
  • 58. Cujo: Donna and her son are attacked by the eponymous dog for the first time.
  • 57. House of Wax: Sue tries to fight back against Professor Jarrod, and knocks his mask off.
  • 56. Single White Female: Allie sees Hedy come down the stairs with the same exact hairdo as her.
  • 55. The Vanishing: Two words: Buried Alive.
  • 54. The Changeling: John tosses his dead daughter's ball into the river, then comes back home, and sees it fall down the stairs.
  • 53. Demons: The crowd witness a victim turning into a demon.
  • 52. The Phantom of the Opera: The famous unmasking scene.
  • 51. The Dead Zone: The deputy commits suicide with scissors.
  • 50. The Last House on the Left: The murder of Phyllis, with a healthy dose of Hell Is That Noise.
  • 49. Les Diaboliques: Christina sees her supposedly dead husband emerge from the bathtub, and drops dead of a heart attack.
  • 48. The Thing: The blood-testing scene.
  • 47. Nosferatu: The scene where Orlock is climbing the stairs then suddenly appears in the doorway.
  • 46. The Sentinel: Alison follows a barely seen intruder, and it's her dead father.
  • 45. The Wicker Man (1973): Sergeant Howie is led into the eponymous structure, which is then set ablaze.
  • 44. The Game: Nicholas comes home, and finds a clown dummy in the same exact position as his father was found dead in.
  • 43. Its Alive: The opening birth scene.
  • 42. An American Werewolf in London: The transformation sequence. At the time Visual Effects of Awesome.
  • 41. The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Mars and Pluto invade the camper.
  • 40. Black Sunday: Asa is executed in the opening scene.
  • 39. Dawn of the Dead (1978): A zombie gets the top of his head cut off by a helicopter blade.
  • 38. Peeping Tom: Mark menaces the heroine's blind mother.
  • 37. House on Haunted Hill: Nora is looking for a secret passage, then turns around and a freaky looking woman is right there.
  • 36. Cape Fear (1962): Max comes after Sam's daughter.
  • 35. Aliens: Ripley and Newt are locked in the infirmary with two face-huggers.
  • 34. The Hitcher: John Ryder tears Nash in half with two trucks.
  • 33. The Fly (1986): In a nightmare sequence, Veronica gives birth to a giant maggot.
  • 32. Pet Sematary: Jud is killed by evil little Gage.
  • 31. Friday the 13 th (1980): Alice gets dragged into the lake by Jason.
  • 30. The Blair Witch Project: The last thirty seconds of the entire movie. You simply see Mike facing the corner, then a scream from Heather. Then silence.
  • 29. The Serpent and the Rainbow: Dennis stumbles through the village, pleading, "Don't bury me!"
  • 28. When a Stranger Calls: "The calls are coming from inside the house!"
  • 27. Frankenstein (1931): The creature accidentally kills a little girl.
  • 26. Se7en: The Sloth victim.
  • 25. Phantasm: Mike wakes up to find himself in a cemetary, and the Tall Man is standing over him.
  • 24. Suspiria: The opening murder scene: A woman is stabbed in the heart, falls through a stained glass window, and is hanged on a cord, while her friend below is impaled by the falling glass.
  • 23. Rosemarys Baby: The dream-like rape scene.
  • 22. Don't Look Now: John corners who he thinks is his dead daughter, but is in fact a midget serial killer.
  • 21. Jacobs Ladder: Jacob is at a party, dancing with his girlfriend, and sees some kind of tentacle writhing all over her.
  • 20. The Ring: The scene where Samara crawls out of the television.
  • 19. Hellraiser: Kirsty opens the box, and the Cenobites appear.
  • 18. The Haunting: The door bulges inward, as if something's trying to get in.
  • 17. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Tina is dragged onto the ceiling, and sliced up by an invisible Freddy.
  • 16. The Omen: Mrs. Baylock pushes Katherine out of the hospital window.
  • 15. Freaks: The freaks chase down the acrobat, and proceed to make her "one of them".
  • 14. Halloween (1978): Laurie relaxes after apparently killing Michael, when, behind her, we see him suddenly sit up.
  • 13. Scream: The killer toys with Casey.
  • 12. Misery: Annie breaks Paul's legs.
  • 11. Audition: Asami tortures Shigeharu. Kiri kiri kiri kiri...
  • 10. Wait Until Dark: Roat jumps out of the darkness and grabs Susy.
  • 9. Night of the Living Dead (1968): Helen is stabbed to death with a trowel by her zombified daughter.
  • 8. Carrie: Susan dreaming of putting flowers on Carrie's grave only to have Carrie's arm come out of the ground and grab her.
  • 7. The Silence of the Lambs: Hannibal makes his escape.
  • 6. The Shining: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
  • 5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Leatherface bashes a guy's head in with a hammer.
  • 4. Psycho (1960): Two words: Shower Scene. The stairs scene too.
  • 3. The Exorcist: Regan's head starts spinning around.
  • 2. Alien: The alien bursts out of Kane's chest during dinner.
  • 1. Jaws: The very first few minutes where the woman is eaten by the unseen shark.

There was another program that aired in October 2006 entitled "30 Even Scarier Movie Moments", mostly consisting of movies that just barely missed the first list, and recent horror films that had come out since. It is as follows.

Another follow-up episode titled "13 Scarier Movie Moments" aired in October 2009 which also just updated the list with mostly recent entries.