20 Anxiety-Inducing Moments That'll Terrify You Senseless

In real life, anxiety is a pretty horrible emotion... but in the movies? That's a different story.

Moviegoers love suspense and stress; they love the anticipation, the terror, the uncertainty of what's going to happen next. They love to watch fictional characters go through hell while they get to learn, grow, and be entertained from the safety of their viewing chair without suffering through anything themselves. In short, the audience enjoys an anxious movie. 

Lest we forget, Alfred Hitchcock was one of the earliest film directors to become a genuine celebrity in his own right, and a big part of his fame was his ability to create features that left everyone on edge, with him being dubbed the 'Master of Suspense'. 

Anxiety-inducing movie scenes are often some of the best moments in their films, and the following 20 scenes are great examples of this. They range from unbearably tense action scenes to villains sadistically intimidating their victims, from brutal animal attacks to nerve-shredding personal dramas. What they all have in common is that they'll have even the most composed viewers biting their nails. 

Kicking off with something from Stanley Kubrick...

There's a particular moment lurking within A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick's harrowing classic, that'll have everyone positively sweating with horrified anxiety, and it's a scene that doesn't get enough attention.

When Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is released from prison, he's been subjected to experimental mind control that leaves him unable to commit any sort of violence, and this includes fighting back when attacked. This is shown when he's beaten up by several homeless people, one of whom he'd assaulted during his criminal days, and he's completely defenceless against the angry mob. 

Two policemen (Warren Clarke and James Marcus) then approach, and at first, it looks like Alex is saved. But then, the camera zooms on Alex's terrified face and the movie's haunting theme music kicks in; the next shot reveals why. The two policemen are actually Alex's former gang-mates, who'd previously turned on him and left him to the police. After cruelly taunting the defenceless Alex, they take him into the countryside, visciously beat him, and drown him almost to death, before abandoning him. Horrible stuff. 

Kubrick's razor-sharp directing, that chilling music, and the fantastic performances from Malcolm McDowell, Warren Clarke, and James Marcus make this a viscous, intensely discomforting depiction of human cruelty, and one of many scenes that reaffirm A Clockwork Orange as an extraordinary piece of work, however much it'll inevitably break you.