20 Scariest Horror Movie Moments Of The 21st Century

The melancholically spooky Spanish horror The Orphanage lives long in the memory due to its deeply soulful atmosphere, and resulting high tension.

Its best scare is deceptively simple, marking protagonist Laura’s first encounter with the sackcloth-faced boy that haunts the sombre setting. It’s also our first real chance to have an extended look at ol’ sackhead, and as we shortly discover, we’re not talking about the cutesy critters from LittleBigPlanet.

Finding herself staring down a narrow corridor in her overly large house (never a good location in horror movies), Laura is slowly approached by the ominously calm child, purring queerly, with their expression hidden by a macabrely painted sack. Most at this point would opt for the safer course of running away, but Laura instead tries to gently remove the sack from the child’s head. This is a stupendously bad idea, as she’s greeted by an inhuman screech and has her fingers crushed by a bathroom door for her troubles.

The whole thing occurs at broad daylight, but that only seems to amplify the scare, making it seem all the more real and indelibly traumatic. It’s made even worse on a rewatch; the tragic events that trigger the film’s hauntingly sad climax take place immediately following this point, with Laura locked in the bathroom.