14. The Birds
Alfred Hitchock seems to have tried his best to ruin the scariness of his villainous birds with a campaign of promotional images that staged the winged devils on his person. The effect was probably to try and further the image of him as the master of horror - as if he were solely able to control them - but the real result was that the fakeness of the birds, and their genuine lack of actual threat was simply pushed forward. And this shot is another case in point, and one that doesn't actually go for the Hitchcock as the master angle, since he's clearly just ignoring the massive threat behind him and larking about with someone out of sight. It wasn't just Hitchcock, either...
13. Carrie
Another horror, and one built almost entirely on a single, utterly enduring image. The iconic shot of Carrie, blood-drenched and furious, is one of the hallmark images of the entire horror genre, and this between shots candid image spoils the magic somewhat by suggesting there was some pleasure to be had in being drenched in pig's blood.