10 Scariest Movie Paintings

Another painting whose image gradually changes throughout the film's tight runtime, the haunted image featured in 2007's 1408 may be the most spectacularly dangerous one featured on this list.

The film sees a cynical paranormal debunker played by John Cusack in classic sardonic anti-hero mode staying overnight in the eponymous haunted hotel room despite repeated warnings to avoid the place. Of course, he's put through the wringer by all manner of ghosts, hallucinations, and secrets from his own tragic past the moment he starts his stay.

Central to all of this haunting and mental unravelling is a painting that graces the wall of the titular room.

Initially a relatively sedate image of a ship at sea, the painting soon becomes a nightmarish shipwreck, with the scene seen in canvas gradually growing worse as our hero's ordeal wears on. Naturally, near the tail end of this horror, the painting which finally comes to life and actually floods the room itself in what must be one of the most dramatic examples on this list.

It may be less gory than a lot of the examples seen here, but none of these other paintings come with a storm warning so for its environmental influence alone, this one nabs the top spot.