10 Most Nerve-Wracking Scenes In Non-Horror Films

If there's one thing director David Fincher is known for, it's his obsessive attention to detail, shooting takes of scenes up to 70 times or more before he is certain he gets what he wants. His epic coverage of the Zodiac murders and the chaos and dread that haunted San Francisco and its surrounding areas was no exception. We may never know who the Zodiac was or is - though the film offers a fairly solid argument, even a special feature on the DVD points to an entirely different suspect.

What we do know are first-hand witness reports of the two survivors of the confirmed Zodiac kills - the ones that had information in letters to police and press not released publicly.

The most disturbing is the second killing at Lake Berryessa, where a hooded figure entirely in black slowly walks a loving couple on a picnic through what appears to be a procedural robbery before suddenly, brutally and repeatedly stabbing them. The male survived - like the first attack outside a lover's lane - and the painstaking, scoreless tension is chilling.

Even scenes meant to drum up tension that are largely invented or exaggerated don't reach the levels of such stark terrifying reality.