10 Great Movies That Scared You Without Showing Anything

The 1942 film Cat People is one of the early "show, don't tell" movies, frightening audiences with long stretches of silence while keeping everything scary off camera. 

Take one great scene where Irene is walking down the street alone and suspects she's being followed. The entire sequence plays out with no sound other than her footsteps, and that silence already makes you feel really tense. After her walk turns into a run, she stops at a pole when suddenly a bus pulls into frame, startling the audience and making a loud screeching noise. 

Not showing anything behind her and forcing you to stare down the empty street is incredibly effective, and simply having a bus show up scares the hell out of you. Who would have thought an ordinary bus could be scary? 

There's another classic scene where Irene is swimming in a pool and hears horrifying panting sounds from somewhere around her. You never do see a other person, but just with the use of audio, director Jacques Tourneur terrifies the audience with a bunch of simple shots of an indoor pool.