Unforgerrifying. I’m not sure it will catch on. Instead of compiling separate lists for the best short sharp shocks, scenes of creeping tension, or long, lingering shots of something so wrong that it mentally scars you forever, I decided to throw them all in together and scrap it out to form thirty of the most shocking and unforgettable moments in World Cinema.
The list is contestable. I’m quite happy to admit an oversight or two, so please chip in with a few of your own. I’m always open to more sleepless nights. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin with part one.
Note: what you’re about to read will contain spoilers and lead to some very uncomfortable evenings.
30. Don’t Look Now (1973), Nicolas Roeg, Italy/UK
Directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as a married couple who travel to Venice following the death of their daughter, Don’t Look Now was adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier.
A psychological thriller, the film is best known for two terrifying moments. One sees John following an elusive figure – who he thinks is his daughter – to a deserted palazzo, cornering it before an ugly revelation. But the scene that gets us off to a terrifying start actually happens at the very beginning of this memorable movie – the cheerless drowning of their young child. Truly heart-breaking.
29. Dark Water (2002), Hideo Nakata, Japan
Ignore the inferior Hollywood remake because the Japanese original, directed by Hideo Nakata and based on a short story by Koji Suzuki, is far superior. It follows a divorced mother who moves into a rundown apartment with her daughter, only to experience supernatural occurrences and a mysterious water leak from the floor above. It sounds terrible. It’s not.
The spookiest scene occurs when mother Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) tries to escape the chaos with her daughter, rushing into the elevator, fleeing from the apparition of a missing child called Mitsuko. But as the elevator door closes, she realises that the figure pursuing her is in fact her own daughter, which begs the question, who the hell is she carrying?
28. Nosferatu (1922), F.W. Murnau, Germany
A failure to obtain the rights to the novel, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, forced name changes (vampire became Nosferatu and Count Dracula became Count Orlok), but one of the greatest Dracula films of all time was made way back in 1922.
Directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, Nosferatu suffers from poor acting and a grating score, but horror cinema was in its infancy, so imagine watching the scene when the haunting shadow of Nosferatu, a far cry from the handsome Christopher Lee, climbs the staircase. Just don’t rush out of the theatre and proclaim that Schreck must be a real vampire. He’s lucky he wasn’t hanged.
27. The Ordeal (2004), Fabrice Du Welz, Belgium
A psychological horror directed by Fabrice Du Welz, starring Laurent Lucas, Philippe Nahon and Jackie Berroyer, The Ordeal (its original title is Calvaire) is a strange beast. Not that such a declaration would put off the locals.
Considering that the film boasts scenes of bestiality, rape and pornography, it’s odd that the most enduring scene involves a bunch of locals dancing. And yet, throw in an old piano and some polka music and what follows is one of the craziest, creepiest and most celebrated musical numbers in the history of horror.
26. Who Can Kill A Child? (1976), Narciso Ibanez Serrador, Spain
Also released as Island Of The Damned, but not to be confused with the laughable Island Of Death (1977), Narciso Ibanez Serrador’s slow-burner is delightfully nasty and wonderfully tense. A must-see psychological horror revelling in a couple’s isolation when they find an island inhabited by maniacal children. Think real-life Chucky’s. An entire army of little brats.
Apparently they just want to play, but human piñata is not a game most adults would be willing to participate in. In fact, all the other adults have been killed by the children.
The most memorable scene – there are many to choose from – happens when Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) is trapped in a room after her husband, Tom (Lewis Flander), has reluctantly shot a child. Unknown to her, the average child can change into a sadistic whippersnapper simply by making eye contact with the local cherubs, or by the art of telepathy, which isn’t ideal when you’re carrying an unborn child…
25. Ring 0: Birthday (2000), Norio Tsuruta, Japan
The world seems to have forgotten about this prequel to the excellent Ringu (1998). When I say people, I mean Hollywood, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Neither is Tsuruta’s movie, focusing on more reporters struck down during and after a widely publicised demonstration of parapsychological power by Yananura Shizuko. The fiancé of the first man to succumb seeks answers, determined to find whoever, or whatever, is responsible.
Shedding light over the mysterious video tape from the original, Ring 0 makes for interesting viewing. Just like Hideo Nakata’s first outing, it manages to scare the hell out of us with a masterful scene. At Sadako's old home, the reporter Miyaji (Yoshiko Tanaka) seeks a hiding place as she protects another girl.
Barricaded in, she quickly realises that she’s too late and they aren’t alone. Forced into a corner, the pair can barely look, and neither can we, as we wait, and wait, for the brittle Sadako to reappear and let her hair down.
24. Un Chien Andalou (1929), Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí, France
You’ll only have to endure this short film for sixteen minutes, but if you can’t even spare that much time to watch a surreal film lacking in plot but presenting a series of unrelated scenes, skip to one moment in particular. A middle-aged man (Buñuel) sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests it on his thumb while gazing at the moon that’s about to be crossed by a cloud.
We cut to a close-up of a young woman (Simone Mareuil) being held by the man but she calmly stares straight ahead. As the moon is conquered by the cloud, the man slits the woman's eye with the razor. Considering this is 1929, the vital fluid that spills out is gloriously grisly.
23. The Eye (2002), The Pang Brothers, China
Ignore the inferior Hollywood remake (a recurring theme) and plump for the far superior original about a woman, Mun (Angelica Lee), blind since the age of two, who undergoes an eye cornea transplant.
The film’s finest moment arrives when Mun enters an empty elevator. The presence of another person inside the lift begins the torment. What follows is a brilliantly executed scene with close-ups that linger uncomfortably, alternating between the ascending lighted floor numbers and Mun’s distressed face, as a blurry figure hovers behind her, turning to reveal his horrifically scarred face.
And then the lift stops at floor thirteen. Of course it does…
22. The Brood (1979), David Cronenberg, Canada
Children do the funniest things, don’t they? The Brood is a 1979 horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. The plot surrounds a series of murders committed by a group of children.
But these are no ordinary sprogs. These are the psychosomatic offspring of a mentally disturbed woman called Nola. They respond and act on the targets of her rage. Nola (Eggar) also happens to be legally embattled with her husband, Frank (Hindle), for custody of their five-year-old daughter, Candice.
Even though Nola might be able to lick her unwanted offspring in a fair fight, Ruth (Susan Hogan), a primary school teacher in charge of Candice’s class, sadly cannot. Clad in snow-jackets that hide most of their deformed features, two dwarf children send Candice away, pick up hammers and – in front of her horrified class – make sure teacher never gives them homework ever again.
21. The Vanishing (1988), George Sluizer, Netherlands/France
An adaptation of the novel The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé, directed by George Sluizer and starring Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, The Vanishing is about the disappearance of a young Dutch woman and her lover's obsessive search. Ignore the poorly received remake (blah blah blah) and embrace this gripping thriller as Rex (Gene Bervoets) reaches all levels of desperation to find out what has happened to his beloved Saskia (Johanna Ter Steege).
A man called Raymond (Donnadieu), fascinated by Rex's fanatical compulsion to know what happened to Saskia, confronts him and admits to kidnapping her. Rex is told that the only way to learn the truth about what happened is to experience it. Deciding that he has no alternative, Rex drinks the drugged coffee offered to him. While Raymond relaxes at his country home, we finally find out, along with Rex, what happened to Saskia. Anyone who suffers from claustrophobia should look away now…
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