13 Cringe-Worthy Movie Moments That Completely Ruined Great Songs

4. Hurdy Gurdy Man (Donovan) - Zodiac

With a name like Hurdy Gurdy Man, Donovan's 1960s rock classic might already sound pretty creepy, but to be honest, prior to appearing in David Fincher's crime thriller masterpiece Zodiac, most of us just thought of it as a bada** tune. That all changed when it was used in the movie's opening scene, as two unsuspecting youngsters park up in their car and find themselves being toyed with by the Zodiac killer. The song plays quietly in the background until the Zodiac walks up to their car and opens fire, at which point it belts out to accompany the grisly visuals of a girl being murdered, and a guy (barely) surviving. Even as Zodiac leaves the scene, the music continues to wail out like a death rattle, until we fade to black. The song's use was highly effective in creating a tension-sodden mood that permeated the rest of the film, though turned a great rock song into a perennially haunting staple: it was also used in the trailer for last year's horror hit The Conjuring, and will probably continue to be used in this way for the foreseeable future.