People Are Sharing The Most Horrifying Moments In Non-Horror Movies

Buzz Feed

05-03-2025

Recently, I asked the wonderful people of the BuzzFeed Community to share the scariest non-horror movie moments. Some of these make you wonder if the directors were totally cool scarring us for life:
1. "Oh dear gawd when the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang first appeared. Terrifying!"
United Artists / giphy.com
— sos_poseidon
"Utterly terrifying as a child. That actor's performance was amazing. The creepy voice, long nose, expressive facial features, the way his eyes scanned around, and the way he moved. Everything about him was perfect to almost bring me to tears and fill me with dread. I'm 55 now and that character still elicits the same feeling in me just thinking about him! What a performance."
—Anonymous, 55
2. "The part in The Mummy (1999) where a beetle crawls under a guy's skin. Because of that part, I never finished the whole movie until I was well into my teens."
3. " Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Watched it when I was 10...the beginning part where the grandpa jump scares you with his eyes gone and when the old bird lady gets eaten after they barricade the house. So creepy. I still hate eye monsters."
4. " Who Framed Roger Rabbit! When the big villain is revealed with the creepy voice and the horrific murder of the squeaky shoe. Total nightmare fuel."
Touchstone Pictures / giphy.com
— playoutside
"When Christopher Lloyd, aka Judge Doom, put that poor cartoon shoe into the 'dip.' It still randomly pops into my head from time to time to make me sad."
—Anonymous, 42
5. "The scene with all the insects in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I am so scared of bugs, so that's like my worst nightmare."
Paramount Pictures
6. "In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, when E.T. is in the cornfield screaming back at Elliot. That's haunted me for most of my life."
Universal Pictures
— t448dac9d3
7. "It's absolutely gotta be the boat tunnel scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; it changed the whole tone of the film for literally just that sequence."
— lmlynch1993
8. "The hanging scene in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End."
Walt Disney Pictures
— magicalgiant575
9. "The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz."
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer /
— lordvaderiii
11. "The part in the Goonies when they find Chester Copperpot's skeleton under a rock. Freaked my brother out for years."
12. "Large Marge in Pee-wee's Big Adventure still creeps me out."
13. "When the queen turns herself into the Witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And pretty much every scene afterward has her in it. I cannot emphasize enough how she haunted my nightmares for YEARS."
14. "The furnace scene in Toy Story 3."
15. "Zordon dying in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. Nightmares for years."
20th Century Fox
— fierceelephant267
16. "The scene in Any Given Sunday where the player's eye comes out on the field disturbed me for weeks."
17. "The paparazzi guy climbing out of the toilet in Spice World. The way his body climbs out. Ugh. No thanks."
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
— imbatmom2
18. "The skeleton battle scene in Jason and the Argonauts. Creeped me out as a child. Still does now as an adult."
19. "That jump scare in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when Bilbo wants his ring back."
New Line Cinema
— whale_tail
20. "The clown in the The Brave Little Toaster."
21. "The wolf from The NeverEnding Story. Enough said."
22. "As a kid, it was the ending of Gremlins when Spike is simultaneously absorbing water from a fountain and exposed to direct light...seeing the worst gremlin of all swelling and bubbling and sizzling in the bright light was TOO MUCH for little kid me. I had so many nightmares that it was over a decade before I watched the movie again (and realized it was a comedy)! I love Gremlins now, but my Stripe-inspired nightmares are seared into my memory."
Warner Bros.
—Anonymous, 38
23. "The Fireys from Labyrinth (where the reddish creatures take off their heads and start throwing them around; and then try to take off Sarah's head). To this day, that scene still gives me an uneasy feeling."
Tri-Star Pictures
—Anonymous, 40
24. "For librarians of a certain age, watching the catalog cards go flying in the original Ghostbusters. All I could think was, 'Somebody's going to have to pick those all up and refile them.' A nightmare if you've ever experienced it!"