10 Heart Stopping Horror Movie Chase Scenes You Can't Forget
Some of the best scenes in horror cinema to keep you on the edge of your seat!
There's nothing quite like the thrill of a great horror movie chase scene, with it the purest brand of a safe thrill.
Being invested in a great chase sequence is truly the most fantastic gift a good horror movie can give, and the chase scenes are often the payoff to all the work the filmmakers have put in. If a director has done everything right, kept the tension, crafted likeable and relatable characters, and introduced a real and terrifying threat, the resulting chase scenes can be beyond mesmerizing.
Chase scenes are the meat and potatoes of horror, and watching one unfold in a scary movie is always a treat. What hiding places will the unfortunate victim choose? Will they be smart and have us fist-pumping with pride? Or will they fall on their face and have us groaning with contempt, just praying for our villain to catch up?
A well-crafted chase can leave you on the very edge of your seat with suspense, emotionally wrought over characters we have come to invest in for the last 90 minutes. Of course, sometimes we will them to survive, sometimes we can't wait to see them die - but either way, its always fun.
So, if you love all things tense and scary, here are ten heart stopping horror movie chases that you simply HAVE to see!
10. The Burning (1981)
Starting our list is this 1981 summer camp slasher and former "video nasty", made to capitalize off of the success of the previous year's Friday the 13th.
The Burning tells the story of Crospsy, a camp caretaker with a mean streak who is horribly burned when a prank played by some teens goes wrong. Five years later, a horribly disfigured Cropsy returns to the woods to take out his anger on a new set of unaware campers.
Directed by Tony Maylam, The Burning gained most of its recognition and notoriety from the fact that it features some incredibly gruesome gore effects by the legendary Tom Savini. In particular, that raft massacre alone will give you nightmares!
The effects and the controversy around the film unfortunately overshadow the wonderfully orchestrated and unconventional final chase sequence. Unconventional how, you ask? Well, The Burning takes the unusual step of having its final two protagonists be male.
That's right, there's no "final girl" here. Instead, in an extremely rare move for the time, we have Brian Backer's nerdy and put-upon Alfred charging through foliage, as Cropsy pursues close behind. Brian Matthews' macho counselor Todd is in hot pursuit of both, and he's got an axe ready to do battle with Cropsy!
This chase sequence is rich with tension, aided by zooming steadicam shots aplenty and wonderfully paranoid close-ups of Backer's Alfred as he struggles to remain quiet while Cropsy lurks nearby.
All of this is underscored with a heavy, pulsing synth soundtrack - courtesy of Rick Wakeman - that ratchets up the tension even further. The culmination of this chase is a showdown in an abandoned copper mine between the two young men and a flamethrower-wielding Cropsy that has to be seen to be believed!
This is one pulse-pounding chase sequence that's so well-crafted that, by the time Cropsy reveals his scarred visage to the audience, you'll be so tense you may just leap out of your skin.