Greatest horror film moment

I dont vote for these things.
I like the Alien films but cant see that as the best moment in horror history.

I think the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is te sickest of sick films and i will never watch it again!

I don't know where they come up with this stuff. Don't know who votes. Or if, in fact, anybody votes.

If it were up to be, it wouldn't be Aliens. It would be Psycho. The mother in the basement scene.

You have a point, since so many things happen in that scene in just a few moments. It's one of a brilliant director's most brilliant moments - a real high point in the history of cinema.

It's not topped by Anthony Hopkins doing in the police guards and borrowing a face in "Silence of the Lambs," nor the final scenes, especially when the lights go out.

From the BBC:

Alien named as top 18-rated scene

The gory "chestburster" scene in sci-fi classic Alien has been named the greatest 18-certificate movie moment.

Movie magazine Empire is marking its 18th birthday with a list of the top 18-rated moments in film.

John Hurt's bloody demise edged out the decapitation scene from The Omen, with the transformation sequence in An American Werewolf in London at three.

A second 18-rated poll, for the greatest shower scene, confirmed Psycho as the soap-sud champion.


TOP FIVE 18 RATED SCENES
Alien chestburster
1 Dinner chestburster - Alien (pictured)
2 Glass decapitation - The Omen
3 Wolf transformation - An American Werewolf in London
4 Crucifix abuse - The Exorcist
5 Ready Ralph? - Risky Business
In Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien, astronaut Hurt gets a mystery creature stuck to his face.

He appears to have recovered after it falls off but as he sits down to lunch, a fang-toothed creature explodes from his chest.

Movie lore claims that to heighten the sense of shock, the rest of the cast were not fully briefed on what was about to happen.

The decapitation scene in 1976's apocalyptic thriller The Omen horrified audiences by being shot in slow motion and from multiple angles.

Most of the films included in the top 18 are classic horror movies, such as The Exorcist, The Thing and The Evil Dead.

But raunch makes an appearance at number five with Rebecca De Mornay's entrance in Risky Business.

And gangsters make a significant contribution with Reservoir Dogs, The Godfather and Casino all making the chart.

In the shower scene poll, college comedy Porky's comes in at number two, with the volleyball team from Carrie at three.

Risky Business was a horror film?

Apparently the British magazine was going for a horror moment in any film, not particularly if it is a horror film, so it could including a comedy. Don't find that scene particularly horrifying. Shocking, maybe, but only if you're a bit out-of-touch. Again, what (?)!!!, no "Silence of the Lambs" in the top five.

From the website of the British Film magazine, Empire:

LW,

The magazine seems to be looking for film scenes that had the greatest impression on those just turning age 18??? (i am not sure)

Ooh, yeah, that one stuck with me for a long time. That definitely deserves to be up there.

The entire "The Omen" has many shocking scenes that should be way up there even with the uneven script. The church spire being struck by lighting and impaling the priest, the hanging that opens the film and those mongrels in the graveyard. Not to mention the nanny from Hell.

I saw "The Omen" at a theater when it first came out. The special effects for both the impalement and decapitation scenes were very well done.

Maybe we should make our own list of scary film moments. The film magazine used ambiguous criteria.

That's a great idea --

The first one I remember that scared the bejesus out of me when I was younger was the original "The Thing," the moment when they open the door and finally, there's James Arness towering over them in actually quite good alien makeup. Jumped right out of my skin.

The new "The Thing" when the doc is treating the "infected" man on the table and his chest opens up and becomes jaws, chopping off both of his hands, then the "thing" metamorphoses into a disgusting huge heap of goo with heads and limbs of his absorbed humans staring out of the mass.

Well, of course, Jaws -- many that should have been at the top. When Richard Dryfus is diving under the half-sunk boat and stares through a gaping hole in the hull, then suddenly a grey, drowned corpse head floats right in front of him. Yikes!

Vincent Price told an interesting story on a talk show. He was in a movie theater watching himself in "House of Wax". Sitting behind him he could hear 2 teenage girls who were very excited about the movie. After the scene where his character's wax mask came off, he turned around and said to the girls: "Wasn't that scary?"

I'm with you, Wande.

In addition to the mother in the basement scene from Psycho. another scene comes to mind. In The Haunting, the scene when something pushed against a heavy wooden door and make the door stretch scared me.

I agree with LW re the scene from Jaws. That was the one that made me jump.

I think that the most frightening moments in film are a result of suspense rather than surprise.

Mary Philbin's unmasking of Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera is still pretty scary -- filmgoers in 1925 would literally swoon with fright at this scene.

Its no horror film, but the scene in Indian Jones temple of doom when the guy rips somebodies heart out. I remember the first time I saw it I was like 10 and I was scared to death. Nothing really scares me anymore in the movies.

"Spirits of the Dead" was a trilogy of Edgar Allan Poe stories from three European directors. The third story "Never Wager the Devil Your Head" was directed by Fellini. Fellini's representation of the devil was startling because it was so off-center: a girl in a pretty dress playing with a ball. A sudden closeup of her face showed a demonic smile and blood-red lips.

Okay, that reminded me of the first time Mia Farrow stares into the bassinet and checks out her new baby in "Rosemary's Baby."