10 Horror Movie Shots That Will Send A Chill Down Your Spine

Those sequences and shots that left horror hounds in a cold sweat of discomfort.

The Exorcist III
20th Century Forx

By its very nature, the humble horror movie so often sets out to make you as uncomfortable as humanly possible.

Whether it's jump scares, shocking reveals, dramatic crafting of a sense of overwhelming dread, or just a particularly gory and garish sequence, horror revels in freaking us all the flub out. Said freak outs can often be short lived and soon forgotten about, whilst other times what you've experienced may live with you long after the end credits of a picture have rolled.

Here, the focus is on certain moments, certain imagery, certain shots that left audiences doused in a cold sweat of discomfort, that sent shivers up spines, and that never fail to creep us out even on repeat viewings, despite us knowing what's coming. That said, some of the following films and the moments highlighted here were so jarring and impactful, many viewers may have opted to never revisit these movies after a first watch. And to be fair, who could blame them.

So, with that in mind, then, here are ten of the most outright spine-chilling shots to have had the pleasure of tormenting horror hounds over the years.

10. The Head Turns - Hell House LLC

The Exorcist III
Cognetti Films

2015 found footage offering Hell House LLC takes place in the aftermath of a tragedy at a haunted house attraction in Abaddon, New York. On opening night, 15 customers and all but one member of staff died in mysterious circumstances. As ever the case in the horror genre, some budding filmmakers decide to delve into this catastrophe and attempt to discover what really happened on that fateful night.

Assisting them in their documentary, our film crew have managed to track down the one surviving staff member from this attraction, and she just so happens to have footage of how the haunted house itself came to be put together.

To be truthful, Hell House LLC is full of plenty of proper scares, but the most unnerving moment of the picture revolves around some of the prior footage where two staff members find themselves in the basement of the hotel that's being used for this haunted house.

There, we see three creepy as f**k mannequin clowns. But they're mannequins, right? Just good ol' non-moving, non-real, non-evil mannequins. In a brilliant, disturbing shot, though, when our two staffers turn around to have one last look at these mannequins, the trio of harlequins' heads have all eerily titled to be looking directly out our now-terrified protagonists.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.