20 Scariest Horror Movie Moments Of The 21st Century

This nifty ghost chiller confidently proved that a horror film doesn’t need to show a drop of blood or guts to be frightening. With a distinctly foreboding air throughout, there’s a prevalent warning for us to be on our guard, and on edge.

It doesn’t help matters that Nicole Kidman’s protagonist Grace is a bundle of nerves, showing alarm at the slightest disturbance. Her children’s apparent photosensitivity means the house setting has to be kept in unsettling darkness.

That’s why Grace’s eerie discovery that her daughter Anne seems to have been “replaced” by an elderly woman is so damn creepy. Finding Anne wearing a veiled white dress and singing by candlelight is already pretty spooky, and even more so when Grace sees a withered hand where Anne’s should be.

With the music forbidding us from taking a breath, Grace faces the figure under the dress, seemingly a frail woman with pale-white eyes, and demands to know where her daughter is. But it’s Anne’s voice that replies “Are you mad? I am your daughter!”

It’s not a cheap shock, and it’s not a jump scare with the face suddenly appearing. The face is there, obscured behind the veil the whole time, leading us to warily question and doubt our own senses. Talk about psychological horror.