20 Anxiety-Inducing Moments That'll Terrify You Senseless

Paul Greengrass is one of the few directors who can turn the oft-misused technique of shaky-cam cinematography into great cinema, and he's created a multitude of unforgettable, pulse-pounding sequences throughout his movies. The crash of United Airlines 93 in United 93 (2006), the Utoya Island Massacre in July 22 (2018), all of those insane action sequences throughout the Jason Bourne films... still, nothing quite beats this. 

Captain Phillips tells the true story of the Hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, which ended with the pirates taking the ship's captain, Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), hostage in a lifeboat. It eventually culminates in one of the most terrifyingly intense sequences of the 2010s, in which the US Navy rescues Phillips. 

Here, Paul Greengrass and an amazing cast and crew crafted a climax more terrifying than most horror films. The razor-sharp editing, the claustrophobic camerawork, and the amazing acting from Tom Hanks and the unknowns playing his captors make this one of those moments where viewers really will forget to breathe. They will almost collapse with relief when the Navy personnel take out the pirates and save Phillips seconds before they were about to shoot him.