Most unnerving scenes


Much as I like the Francis Bacon-inspired spinning heads and the hospital scenes with deformed and mutilated bodies, to me that most effective and unnerving scenes are the more subtle ones. I'm referring to those scenes where Jacob is dealing with someone who seems (mostly) human, but there's just enough "off" about them to suggest that there's something demonic under the surface. In other cases, less would have been more, particularly early in the film.

For example:

1. The old woman on the subway who just stares into space when Jacob asks about the last stop. The homeless person with his face covered on the subway seat was good too, I think that for such an early scene, just showing his thrashing and the covered face would have been unsettling enough without the reveal of his "tail."

2. The full subway car that Jacob has to dodge. But once again, I thought that showing the mouthless face at the back of the car (figure waving at Jacob) was a little excessive for such an early scene, just the strangeness of a full car of passengers staring as they pass him by at a very late hour would have been sufficient.

3. The scene in bed with Jezebel where she runs her nails down his back and asks "What were they, Jake?" when Jacob says that the people he's been seeing aren't human. Something seemed off about the tone of her response, just enough to put you on edge.

4. Jezebel's tantrum ("IS ANYBODY HOME" - mentioned on another thread). For just a moment, her eyes are shown as jet black, with no whites.

etc.

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Good points, great moments. I love this movie.

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Every scene you mentioned was definitely unnerving but what disturbed me the most is when he woke up in the hospital bed believing it was all just a bad dream. He says something to the effect of "I'm not dead." And a low creepy voice says, "Wrong." His reaction to hearing it terrified me when I first saw it and it stayed with me a long, long time.

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I just remembered it was "Dream on" that the voice utters, seemingly from another dimension. It was so scary to me.

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my favorite scene that has persistently stuck with me throughout the years is:
"anybody in there !? anybody home !?"

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Yes! The unsettling buildup with the facial distortion in the mirror and the sudden big black eyes were terrifying.

Fantastic subtle practical effects.

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I don’t think I’ve seen this since the 90’s but every time over the years that I’ve taken my temperature I think of the ice in the bathtub scene.

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4. Jezebel's tantrum ("IS ANYBODY HOME" - mentioned on another thread). For just a moment, her eyes are shown as jet black, with no whites.


This got me. She's just being the stereotypical naggy spouse, bantering. You think nothing of it, then suddenly, BAM. Black eyes, jagged looking teeth, and the tone of her voice goes demonic with the "IS ANYBODY HOME!?" line. She looked like a succubus manifesting.

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The nurse scene when he's trying to see Dr. Carlson really hit me. I remember being around Jacob's age once, people (usually older ones like the front desk staff in the movie) treating you like some non-entity. Jake starts off nice enough and begins to match her irritation. She's muttering about not being able to take her lunch, finding files that don't belong, muttering lowly while he's getting increasingly jittery and her cap falls off - revealing some kind of horns. I remember seeing that part all those years ago and it still hit me as you know that old Jacob is indeed heading straight to Hell.

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That scene in the bathtub where Jezzie puts Jake in the tub because he has a fever and she gets some friends/ neighbors to help her calm Jake down as he's freaking out.

Just how that whole scene played out really made me shake in fear the first time I saw it and it still does.

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Jacob's eyes when he wakes up in the bath. Chilling.

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for me, it was the receptionist with the freaky head when her cap falls off. that was a perfect storm of creepy/unexpected/gross.

also the demon screwing jezebel on the dance floor in front of everyone but only he can see it.

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Not only does it screw her, it thrusts a huge demonic horn right through her until it bursts out of her mouth.

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The left-over turkey, or whatever it was in the fridge at the party.

When the palm reader tells him he has no lifeline.

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I think it was a skinned sheep’s head - a little more menacing and satanic than ‘left over turkey’.

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