20 Anxiety-Inducing Moments That'll Terrify You Senseless

20. A Clockwork Orange - Alex's Former Droogs Attack Him

There's a particular moment lurking within A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick's harrowing classic, that'll have everyone positively sweating with horrified anxiety, and it's a scene that doesn't get enough attention.

When Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is released from prison, he's been subjected to experimental mind control that leaves him unable to commit any sort of violence, and this includes fighting back when attacked. This is shown when he's beaten up by several homeless people, one of whom he'd assaulted during his criminal days, and he's completely defenceless against the angry mob. 

Two policemen (Warren Clarke and James Marcus) then approach, and at first, it looks like Alex is saved. But then, the camera zooms on Alex's terrified face and the movie's haunting theme music kicks in; the next shot reveals why. The two policemen are actually Alex's former gang-mates, who'd previously turned on him and left him to the police. After cruelly taunting the defenceless Alex, they take him into the countryside, visciously beat him, and drown him almost to death, before abandoning him. Horrible stuff. 

Kubrick's razor-sharp directing, that chilling music, and the fantastic performances from Malcolm McDowell, Warren Clarke, and James Marcus make this a viscous, intensely discomforting depiction of human cruelty, and one of many scenes that reaffirm A Clockwork Orange as an extraordinary piece of work, however much it'll inevitably break you.