20 INSANE Horror Movie Moments You'll Never Stop Thinking About

7. Rex Finds Out - The Vanishing (1988)

The climax of George Sluizer's The Vanishing cemented it as one of the most chillingly unnerving horror-thrillers of all time, as protagonist Rex (Gene Bervoets) finally comes face to face with Raymond (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), the man responsible for the disappearance of his girlfriend Saskia (Johanna ter Steege) years prior.

Raymond offers to reveal Saskia's fate to an obsessed Rex but only on one condition - he must experience the very same thing himself.

And so, the film concludes with Rex drinking some drugged coffee, after which he wakes up buried alive in a box underground, all while Raymond goes back to his regular life with his wife and kids.

Beyond being cinema's most gut-wrenching expression of "curiosity killed the cat," the fact that the villain wins so decisively, with there being no hint whatsoever that his crimes will ever be discovered, ensures a haunting quality that lingers long after the end credits roll.

Just avoid the risible 1993 Hollywood remake, which oh-so-predictably ditches this grim finale for a more crowd-pleasing climax in which the villain is summarily killed off.