From creepy-crawly parasites to sci-fi space mutinies, some movie scenes are so shocking
that they stick with you for the rest of the week — or the rest of your life.
But if you need help remembering the unforgettable, here's an eyeball-searing, gut-punching roundup
of all those disturbing Hollywood moments that audiences never saw coming.
And in case it's not obvious, here's your final warning that this video contains spoilers
for an awful lot of movies.
"Hold onto your butts."
Bursting out
With its dripping mouth and phallic head, the xenomorph from Alien is pure nightmare
fuel.
But if you're looking for something that'll scar you for life, then it doesn't get any
worse than this explosive scene.
It all starts when executive officer Kane, played by John Hurt, winds up in a coma with
an extraterrestrial creature attached to his head — then wakes up, only to develop the
worst case of heartburn in history.
When his comrades lay him down on the table, Kane's chest blows apart, revealing… well,
this guy.
Naturally, the rest of the crew are completely freaked out— as were audiences, who thought
Kane was out of danger when the facehugger fell off, and who were definitely not expecting
a demonic worm to burst out of his thorax mere minutes later.
Mind-control eels
Star Trek was a story about unity, harmony, and working together for the good of mankind
— that is, until The Wrath of Khan came along.
Then, it was a story about unity and harmony, but also about freaky horrible parasites that
crawl through your ear, into your brain, and turn you into a mindless slave.
The Ceti eel is a favorite weapon of Khan Noonien Singh a genetically enhanced superhuman
who wants revenge against Captain Kirk for abandoning him on an inhospitable planet.
As part of his plan, Khan uses the eel to force Starfleet's Terrell and Chekov to tell
him everything they know — leading to this terrifying sequence in which the disgusting
creature inches its way into the screaming Chekov's ear canal.
Buried alive
This slow-burner of a suspense film spends a long time leading up to one of the freakiest
finales in history — one so disturbing that Bravo ranked it as the 55th scariest movie
scene of all time.
The Vanishing centers on a man named Rex, whose girlfriend Saskia disappeared three
years ago without a trace.
Rex knows that Saskia is almost certainly a goner, but he's desperate to unravel the
mystery of her disappearance — which leads him to make an incredibly stupid bargain with
the man who kidnapped her.
If Rex wants to know the truth about what happened to her, he'll have to experience
her fate firsthand.
Driven by insatiable curiosity, Rex agrees and downs a sleeping pill.
When he wakes up, he's been buried alive… and he's really not happy about it.
You've gotta hand it to The Vanishing for managing to pull off this shocking ending
after more than ninety minutes of ominous foreshadowing.
We knew something bad was going to happen, but nobody expected it to be that bad.
The final confession
A few years before starting a fight club, Edward Norton made his feature film debut
in Primal Fear as Aaron Stampler, a troubled altar boy accused of ending the life of an
archbishop.
The high-profile case draws the attention of Martin Vail, a smarmy lawyer played by
Richard Gere, who uncovers a shocking truth: after years of abuse by the archbishop, Aaron
developed a second personality—a violent and dangerous man who calls himself Roy.
After Roy confesses to the homicide, Vail uses his expert legal skills to save the young
man's life and have him committed to a mental institution.
But in the final moments of the film, the truth is revealed: the split personality scheme
was one big hoax.
"There never was a Roy."
"There never was an Aaron."
Surprise!
Sweet, simple Aaron was all an act, while the sociopathic Roy was the real deal the
entire time.
And now he's gotten away with the crime of the century!
When Richard Gere walks away stunned, everyone watching felt the exact same way.
Keeping it in the family
There are twist endings, and then there are twisted endings, and boy, does Oldboy have
a doozy.
In this Korean thriller, a man named Oh Dae-su sets out to get revenge on the man who put
him in prison for fifteen years.
But during his hunt, he meets up with a young woman named Mi-do and the two soon become
lovers.
Imagine Oh Dae-su's horror when he realizes that it was all a setup by his old enemy,
and the woman he just slept with is actually the daughter he hasn't seen in fifteen years—
and also imagine the audience's horror when Oh Dae-su tries to atone for his sins by cutting
off his own tongue with a pair of scissors.
With that moment of graphic violence followed by an uncomfortably ambiguous ending, it's
no surprise that people still consider Oldboy to be one of the world's most disturbing viewing
experiences.
Body swap
When she accepts a job working as a caregiver at a creepy plantation home in 2005's Skeleton
Key, Caroline quickly realizes that there's something a little off about the elderly couple
who live there — particularly Violet, the lady of the house.
What she doesn't know — and neither does the audience — is that her amateur detective
work into a world of black magic and ancient conspiracies is about to backfire horribly.
Violet is actually a centuries-old hoodoo practitioner named Mama Cecile, and Caroline
plays right into her hands when she traps herself inside a magical circle that allows
Mama Cecile to steal her body.
With the help of a menacing mirror, Mama Cecile performs a sort of swap, taking control of
Caroline's physical form and trapping Caroline inside Violet's dying, old frame… forever.
Unlike many horror films, there's no last-minute intervention in which the heroine saves the
day.
Caroline is simply doomed to spend the rest of her days as an eighty year-old woman — and
considering how old her new body is, she won't have many days left.
Assault and revenge
In a movie full of mysterious disappearances, violent misogyny, and dismembered cats, there's
still one moment that stands out as particularly shocking in The Girl with the Dragon tattoo.
It comes early on, when Lisbeth Salander, played by Rooney Mara, goes to meet her new
guardian — a sadistic monster who cuffs her to a bed and violently assaults her.
The scene is one of the most sickening ever depicted on film, and… well, do we need
to say more?
"That won't be necessary."
Some films might wind down from there, but this one just ups the ante: Lisbeth returns
to her attacker's apartment with a few tools of revenge — including a tattoo gun that
she uses to leave a nice little message across her tormentor's torso.
As satisfying as it is to see Lisbeth get justice, this sequence and its predecessor
are hard to watch.
Batting practice
The gritty, grimy Texas-noir film Cold in July centers on a trio of men who are on a
quest to uncover the true identity of a mystery man named Freddy Russell — and at first,
it seems like your typical conspiracy thriller.
The big twist comes when our heroes begin to suspect that Freddy is a federal informant
and set out to meet him, only to discover a stash of VHS tapes that turn out to be snuff
films.
The movie doesn't make us watch Freddy beating his victims with a baseball bat, but we see
Michael C. Hall and Don Johnson see it, which along with some strategic sound work is more
than enough to convey the horror.
It's also one of the hardest left turns in thriller history, one that gives our three
heroes a new purpose and recasts the entire movie in a whole new light.
What's on the menu?
Snowpiercer doesn't scrimp on disturbing material, particularly when it comes to food.
The first big gross-out comes when Curtis, played by Chris Evans, finds out just what's
in those greasy, gelatinous protein blocks he and his friends have been eating for years.
(more bugs than Assassin's Creed Unity)
But even then, munching on bugs is a lot better than eating people — which brings us to
the second big shock in this film.
Curtis reveals that when he first boarded the train years ago, there was no food in
the tail section, leading many to resort to cannibalism.
But that's not all:
"I know that babies taste best."
In addition to being a shocking revelation, this moment is a brilliant subversion of Chris
Evans' most famous role.
After "babies taste best", will you ever look at Captain America the same way again?
Zara's plunge
When this long-awaited followup to Jurassic Park hit theaters in 2015, the dino flick
earned over $1 billion worldwide — but it also left some critics confused, upset, and
angry, all thanks to one particularly intense scene.
Zara is an assistant at Jurassic World who spends most of her time on the phone, planning
a wedding, and trying to keep tabs on Claire's unruly nephews… until every monster on the
island decides they want her for dessert.
As all hell breaks loose at the theme park, Zara is attacked by multiple flying pterosaurs,
one of which toys with her by plunging her repeatedly into a giant pool of water.
And just when it seems things couldn't get any worse?
Zara's life comes to a violent, horrifying, and totally undeserved end.
Even Sam Neill, the star of the original Jurassic Park, couldn't believe what he was seeing.
In an interview, he asked,
"Boy, what did the English girl do wrong?
She got eaten by like three dinosaurs at once."
Good question, Sam.
The Ravager mutiny
When it comes to superhero movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is supposed to be upbeat
and fun.
But writer-director James Gunn must have missed that memo when he wrote the Ravager mutiny
scene in the second Guardians of the Galaxy film, which might just be the most disturbing
in the history of the MCU.
Sick and tired of being bossed around by Yondu, this incredibly ugly alien named Taserface
leads a Ravager mutiny, deposing the captain and taking control of the ship.
Naturally, not everyone is cool with the coup, but Taserface isn't much for talking things
out and reaching a peaceful compromise.
Instead, he summarily executes anyone who's still loyal to Yondu, tossing them into space
where they succumb to the freezing, airless climate in a matter of seconds.
Even though it ends up being a visual foreshadowing of one of the movie's coolest scenes, in which
a bunch of hovering Ravager ships light up for Yondu's funeral, the haunting image of
all those frozen corpses floating through space is horrifying and not easily forgotten
— even if Rocket does give old Taserface the mocking he richly deserves.
"What was your second choice?
Sack hat?"
Ultimately, the Ravager mutiny was such a dark scene that it left some viewers with
mixed feelings about the Guardians' second big-screen outing.
But thankfully, the crowd-pleasing David Hasselhoff cameos are enough to satisfy most fans that
this fun-loving franchise hasn't lost its way.
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