by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: September 11, 2008   Last Updated: September 26, 2011

What makes a scene in a film scary? Timing usually plays a big part, particularly if it is a scare intended to make you jump out of your skin. At other times a creepy, eerie ambiance helps to create scares. It usually helps if the audience has some kind of emotional attachment to the character upon whom the scare is being inflicted, as it helps the audience to feel the terror too.

In no particular order in relation to scariness we have:

BLACK CHRISTMAS (the original)
A classic slasher movie, which no doubt influenced Halloween and the myriad of pretenders that followed. As for scariest scenes, I would have to choose the ending when the remaining survivor of a serial killer is left in the house with a police car outside. They think they've got the killer, but little do they realise that he is actually in the house. What makes the final scenes so creepy is the way the camera pans over the sleeping girl and you hear the deep breathing of the murderer, aware of how vulnerable she is whilst she just sleeps peacefully.

HALLOWEEN
How can you have a list of scary scenes without mentioning Halloween? But which to choose, that is the question? I particularly like when Annie spills something on her shirt and goes to wash it in the outside laundry, then gets stuck in there. The door locks, leaving a small window to climb out of. The dog is barking wildly, then stops suddenly. It all builds up to the idea that she is about to meet her maker, but then just as she's trying to climb out of the window the child she is babysitting informs her that someone's on the phone for her. It just messes with your head. You know it's going to happen, it's just a case of when.

CANDYMAN
There are many creepy, scary scenes in this classic 90s film to choose from, such as when Candyman bursts through the mirror that Helen keeps on examining. It's a case of you knows it going to happen, but when? However, the scariest scene is where Trevor, the cheating husband of Helen, who has now been murdered, calls her name out five times. Suddenly she appears with a shorn head and kills him as she dances to the flickering lights. I just wasn't expecting it.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
The whole premise is a particularly scary one: what do you want to do when you're scared? Curl up in a ball and go to sleep, usually, which is just not an option in this movie. Johnny Depp doesn't heed the warnings of his girlfriend not to fall asleep, and soon finds himself splattered against the ceiling after his bed chews him

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