10 Most Terrifying Horror Movie Swimming Pool Scenes
Shivers, Phenomena, Cat People and more horror movies with utterly chilling pool sequences!
One major reason why horror is forever a popular corner of cinema, is down to the sheer scope and possibilities offered up by this most chilling of genres. Whatever terrors you can imagine, the horror genre allows those fears to be brought to life.
There are obviously numerous familiar tropes and formulas at play across the broader landscape of horror, and part of those familiarities are certain locations that happen to pop up on a scarily frequent basis.
While cabins in the woods, classical haunted houses and mental asylums are locales that horror has served up time and time again over the decades, one other place that has seen its fair share of atrocities is the humble swimming pool.
The ocean (just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...) and numerous lakes (hey Jason!) often come to mind when thinking of somewhat cliched settings for these movies, yet a surprising amount of horror pictures have utilised a pool to hammer home their M.O. and to deliver some of their most jarring, intense kills.
With that in mind, here then are ten of the most terrifying and shocking pool scenes to ever be committed to film.
10. The Faculty
It may often get overlooked and it may very much be a film of its time, but The Faculty is a totally fun romp of a '90s horror effort.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, this picture pulled inspiration from sci-fi horror greats of yesteryear, with Invasion of the Body Snatchers a clear inspiration on this 1996 offering.
Playing on one of Body Snatchers' greatest tropes, The Faculty serves as somewhat of a 'whodunit' as both the audience and our central protagonists are left guessing as to which characters are themselves and which characters have been infected by the unknown alien queen.
The final act of the movie sees it revealed that the alien queen is actually Laura Harris' shy, naïve transfer student Marybeth - and once this reveal is made, we then get a glorious swimming pool moment as the queen looks to show her dominance.
Chasing down Clea DuVall's Stokely and Elijah Wood's Casey, the queen makes up ground by powering across an indoor pool, before capturing Stokely in her tentacled grip. It's tense, it's terrifying, and it gave horror hounds the first true glimpse at The Faculty's 'big bad'.