10 Terrifying Scenes In Psychological Thrillers

Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear was in many ways an improvement on the original. This could be a sacrilegious statement for the purists, yet Scorsese really understood the source material and how the simple idea of an obsessive ex-con out-for-revenge style plot would look like to a modern audience.

Despite the 1962 original having some very real moments of dread (particularly any scene featuring Robert Mitchum and his incredibly high trousers), Scorsese understood that realism was the key here and decided to up the stakes.

Cape Fear has a superb cast; bored yet suspicious graphic designer Jessica Lange, a naive, petulant teenager Juliette Lewis (winning an Oscar for her work) and Nick Nolte as a smug, selfish lawyer who is way out of his depth, and they play it to perfection as a family who are torn apart by lies and obsession.

When Nolte's Sam Bowden attempts to rid himself of De Niro's vicious rapist Max Cady by hiring street heavies with steel pipes and bike chains, the plan goes disastrously wrong for Bowden. Cady manages to fight off all three and as Bowden attempts to sneak away, his foot accidentally hits a tin can on the street, alerting Cady to his presence. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." taunts Cady as the panic stricken lawyer hides behind a wheelie-bin.

It's a nail biting sequence and reminds us just how intimidating De Niro really was in his younger years, especially when paired with Scorsese.