20 90s Movie Scenes That Traumatized Us All

If you find The Blair Witch Project's finale scary now, then just think how bad it must've been for viewers of the time. Though found-footage had been explored before, such as in the infamous video nasty Cannibal Holocaust, this was the first mainstream horror to use it, and audiences simply weren't used to this level of immersion in the terror. And, to make matters worse, thanks to the movie's legendary marketing campaign, many people thought it was completely real. 

The film might not hold up today, but those who were there at the time still vividly remember how terrified they were, and besides, regardless of how slow the rest of the movie can be, this finale remains nail-bitingly tense. Far too much of the film is three unlikable prats swearing at each other; here, the movie really kicks into high gear and shows a true mastery of suspense. 

Furthermore, that final moment in the basement, where camerawoman Heather (Heather Donahue) finds her friend Mike (Michael C. Williams) standing facing the wall, before the camera suddenly drops and cuts to black, remains an ambiguous ending done exactly right. It was a masterstroke not to show the Blair Witch, for nothing could've lived up to all that build-up.