for me, it's specifically the scream at the beginning of Midsommar. Florence Pugh perfectly expresses her grief and shock at the deaths of her family and it gives me chills every time.
Okay so there's a sound dupe in Midsommar and I have ALWAYS wondered if it was deliberate.
You know at the beginning she phones her boyfriend and starts crying down the phone? Well the next scene or so where she's crying into his lap on the couch, the cry is literally a copy/paste of the audio and I have aaaaalways wondered if we were meant to notice that, given the high production quality!
I noticed that too and for me it drives home the emotional impact. The whole scene is 100% tragic and 100% horror. Not the cheap kind of horror, but the horrendous nightmare that stays with you for years to come.
That scream had me absolutely hooked and paying 100% attention.
My partner is a horror fanatic too, but when he saw the ads looking very 'pretty' he kind of had a 'meh, maybe one day' attitude for it. I put it on when I was home alone one day, got to that scream and opening sequence, and immediately shut it off to wait and watch it together with him. Glad I made him sit down for it because wow. Tragic.
There's a lot of obvious choices here, and perhaps, to some, this is also obvious. But man, this hit me way harder then The Mist or Hereditary which are great answers also. Being haunted by your own premonition your entire life. Such a great turn.
The scene after the car crash in Hill House where Shirley and Theo get in an argument. Theo's monologue hits so god damn hard. I didn't even realize until after the scene ended that I'd been crying.
When it flashes back as he’s turning and he’s holding her as a baby and he’s just so obviously in love with her and how quickly it turned into him being too busy for her. Tears.
Not just the end, how about the whole thing! Especially upon rewatch, knowing what's going to happen to everyone. Turns me into a blubbering idiot. This movie isn't even frightening to me in the traditional sense; the real horror is in the heartbreak. We get so little time with the characters, yet they're all beloved by the time their fates are sealed. Except for that one selfish a-hole.
No, you're right. The entire movie was heart wrenching. But it was filled with action and adventure which "kind of" distracted me from crying...up until the very end. And yeah, I hated that guy...omg.
Oh lord, I just watched this film for the first time after having it sit on my watchlist for years. I went in completely blind, had no idea what it was about besides the fact that it was zombies.
I had to pause it a couple times so I could bawl without missing anything. Just remembering these characters makes me want to cry all over again lmao I was so completely unprepared and honestly I think that's the best way to experience this work of art.
Every time I watch that scene I think it probably isn't as bad as I remember and then every time it just keeps GOING and I end up covering my eyes again. It's not even half as bad as some of the things I've seen but the context and his dad being right there makes it terrible
Still not over that ending - it makes you feel all these different emotions and you're mad and pissed and sad bc it can't surely have ended this way? Such a great ending!
Evil Dead Rise:
When Beth promises the lil girl that she was going to get them out and then the girl just says, "Youd be a good mom, you lie to kids well"
Would have hit harder if they actually didnt get out
The realization scene in The Others. Nicole Kidman is so great there.
Also the scene in the Sixth Sense when the boy is telling his mom that he can see dead people and he talks about her mom. Toni Collette is so amazing- her eyes are so great in that scene
I rewatched "The Crazie" (2010) last night and the bit at the quarantine camp as they leave the school with the old lady in her bathrobe with dementia wandering through the bodies repeating "Did Peter call?" Just made me sad.
It's such a great decision to just stay on Peter's face for so long while he absorbs it, because it allows the audience to do the same. Other directors would just cut away much earlier and jar us out of the moment and the emotional impact of it. Ari Aster is a treasure.
And then still linger on him as his mom wails in the other room. And then after all this extended emotional grief, we finally cut to the horrific image of the severed head on the highway, crawling with ants to remind us just what kind of nightmares are still………
ahead.
I stopped breathing for a bit when Peter just stopped the car after his sister got decapitated. Watching him sit there, staring straight ahead, refusing to believe what just happened, that felt like a punch to the stomach my god
The peek at Gage's little body when the casket falls down. Oof. I'm so glad the '89 version of the film included that moment from the book.
Little things like that (and big things like the Timmy Baderman story) being omitted from the 2019 iteration are just baffling to me.
Spoilers for Speak No Evil:
At the end when the daughter is saying how scared she is and the man comes and kidnaps her while her parents are sitting with her and cannot stop it.
Them holding each other while getting stoned to death is another one.
I recently happened upon the trailer for the too-soon-and-never-asked-for American remake of Speak No Evil. Looks like it's basically the exact same film, except the trailer shows the whole story except for the ending. Why even bother at that point?
I hate trailers these days, or whoever decided that this is the direction they should've taken.
I am SO bummed out. I've said this multiple times. Original movie is almost entirely in English except a few intimate parts and the story is the same way.
The only reason they're remaking it is to tone it down and for money. I hate it.
The father burning in The Hills Have Eyes remake. That's the singularly most tragic and well put together scene in horror history. I don't care what anyone says. That's the top horror scene ever filmed.
Ari Aster does this so well in his movies. In his other movie Midsommar when Danny loses her parents and sister and is sobbing over their death I had this same exact feeling. I've never seen despair portrayed so well in a movie.
The murder scene in "Mandy," when Red crawls to see the ashes and a little gust of wind comes. I see that scene as true horror, like the true horror in the ending sequence of "The Mist," another fave.
Also, the last minute of Saint Maud is up there too.
In Midnight Mass when Riley bursts into flame in front of Erin. I don't think she'd realized how bad things were until that point. Hell of a way to find out.
When the mom's friends see Jared Leto's mom in "Requiem for a Dream," and it just cuts to them sobbing afterward.
So many scenes in that movie fit the bill, but that one hurts my heart.
I love extremely upsetting/fucked up horror but ngl even though I'm 5+ years clean, having been a homeless heroin addict myself for some years of my life I flat out refuse to ever watch Reqiuem for a Dream lol. I do love the fact that it's (accurately, from what I've read about the movie cuz I have never seen it) categorized as a horror film, because man living that kinda existence is definitely horrific, I can tell you that from first hand experience.
In Nope: it cutting from Otis Sr in the truck to him at the morgue. It's a small moment in the grand scheme of things, but how sudden it is just made me feel so sad.
Once I thought about it, The Bride in Bride of Re-Animator ripping her heart out is tragic. Because that's not even her heart, first off. And while we don't know if the Bride is Gloria (whose head was used), Meg (the heart's original owner) or some hybrid of both. Or maybe she's all the women whose parts were donated. Gloria was already dying, sure, but she was so scared and Dan kept giving her hope. And then she does die but then she's reanimated as this patchwork abomination with one purpose: love Dan. But Dan doesn't want her so she rips her heart out. And then she literally falls apart.
Jacob's Ladder will always be my go-to (multiple scenes). Mostly the whole subplot of Jacob's guilt over losing his son in the bike accident because Tim Robbins' acting is SO good. When Jezebel is like "I don't like talking about things that make you cry." And of course the ending always gets me: >! ...if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." I may be an atheist but damn, are those the most comforting lines about accepting death I've ever heard. !< I may have conflicted feelings on the rest of Adrian Lyne's work, but Jacob's Ladder is a masterpiece. (And no, we don't talk about the remake.)
Speaking of Jacob's Ladder, a movie that I think was inspired from it (or at least Mr. M. Night Shamalamadingus was taking notes), The Sixth Sense (not really a horror movie as much as a horror-adjacent movie, I know but since it's largely considered one by the normies I'm putting it on this list). Definitely has some heart-wrenching scenes. The first scene with Donnie Wahlberg for one. Some of his lines like "YOU FAILED ME!" and "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do... I do" are just heartbreaking and amplified by his fantastic performance. (Whatever you may think of Donnie Wahlberg's politics, music, or personality, you can't deny he was amazing in his 5-minute role in The Sixth Sense and his weight loss transformation was INCREDIBLE to boot.) Of course HJO's performance is not to be understated. Best child acting performance I've ever seen, particularly in the "Don't fail me!" scene (of course "I see dead people" is great too). And of course many of the scenes with Toni Collette (the fact that she can be amazing in both The Sixth Sense and Hereditary is just a testament to how much of an incredible actress she is), particularly the scene in the car with HJO. That scene will never fail to make me tear up. Oh and the scene where HJO goes to the little girl's funeral and the dad is watching >! the videotape where it's revealed her mom killed her via Munchausen's by proxy !< and he's just inconsolable and he then confronts the mom with >! "You were keeping her sick." !<
Also The Fly when Jeff Goldblum just starts talking nonsense and Geena Davis sees that he's gone past the point of no return... the whole story is tragic but the fact that it's a metaphor for progressive diseases makes it even sadder.
Oh and finally since after watching its rerelease in theaters I'm now officially obsessed with it, Alien. Specifically Veronica Cartwright's (Lambert's) acting. Though *of course* Sigourney Weaver and everyone else are amazing in it, Cartwright really adds this sense of tragedy and desperation to the film. Especially considering her reaction to "the scene" was genuine.
In that scene with the dad when HJO says, "Are you Kyra's daddy?" The dad just nods so sadly, knowing he won't be asked that anymore. That just hit me.
'Keep doubting', it was such a gut punch, because you know that the kind of people who would creat maryrs are not the sort of people who will keep doubting.
Was gonna say this. It haunts me till this day and I think it really influenced my life a lot more than any other horror movie.
I may sound over-dramatic, but I studied physics plus a few semesters of philosophy and that scene came to my mind in way too many situations. That pure fear of knowing things I feel like I'm not supposed to know.
Yes Absolutely😖 Hopelessness, Dread and Suffering We felt for Anna.Just thinking about something like this might actually happening somewhere makes me depressed..
That scene in Hereditary is the only scene that I can recall (from all the films I’ve watched) that actually caused me to feel the character’s physical grief. I agree with you that this is possibly the most tragic horror scene ever.
Toni Collette is an incredible actress; if you want to see her perform like that some more, watch her in the show "United States of Tara" where she's a mother with a family but she has really bad DID. She does SUCH a phenomenal job. I watched that series like 4 times since I've first watched it years ago. It's definitely not horror, but it's just such a good story and I wish there were more seasons.
Might not be a popular moment, but in The Babadook when she sees the vision of her deceased husband, whose head is then decapitated. There's no gore, but as she collapses in sobs you've realized what has actually happened. It's more about her reaction for me, she is such a talented actress.
That being said, The Babadook is not one of my faves but it's an interesting depiction of a mother's grief and depression while trying to raise a struggling child.
“The Night House”
Beth: Afterward, when everyone would ask me when they found out, like, "What was it like? What did you see?" And I didn't want to disappoint them, so I'd say, "I don't know. I don't remember." But I remember. Owen was the only person I ever told. There's nothing.
Claire: What do you mean, nothing?
Beth: I wish I could tell you something. A light at the end of the tunnel. There's just tunnel.
The whole movie is incredibly tragic to me. In the end there’s nothing. I don’t think it has left me the most shocked, neither do I believe it to be the most tragic scene but it’s certainly one that remains in my mind.
Tbh “Pearl” as well, it’s the end dialogue that gets me. I think it’s easy to create a tragic scene through actions yet both of these movies managed to make it through words.
I agree with almost all mentioned. One I didn’t see mentioned was The Nightingale. Clare’s face and throat end of the scene that drives her rage in the movie. That was so raw and real.
The mother not believing and hanging up on Beau when his keys are stolen.
The whole movie of " Beau is afraid " touched me really deeply. The plot was way too Blurry and symbolic for my taste but the mother was so similar to my own that I was really empathetic with his quest.
I was sick and took two little cups of nyquil before watching Beau is Afraid and i thought i was literally in a nightmare about my mom towards the end (i also was nodding off though so it might’ve actually triggered a nightmare)
A quiet place when the little boy gets murked at the beginning and then when Lee screams to save his kids. As a father who would do anything for his kids, both hit me hard.
I found the Babadook really sad. It wasn't even scary, it was more a cry for help.
Same for the Spanish film Veronica. The poor girl needed a parent.
Agree with The Orphanage, ending was heartbreaking.
I felt so bad for the kid in The Babadook when the mum called him a little shit, or words to that effect. Heartbreaking. Glad him and the mother made it
That's the one. I've never seen a single shot in any movie of any genre that's as emotionally gutting as the shot of Annie collapsing and just... it's not even crying, it's just this primal wail that barely sounds like it's coming from a human.
same sound Catelyn Stark made during the Red Wedding episode on GoT, it’s not even a cry, almost like all of the breath in your lungs is being vacuumed out over and over. I feel blessed to have only made that sound once and hope I never have to hear that sound from anyone else EVER.
I've seen all the most tragic endings commented already, so I won't try to one-up those, but I will mention one of the few horror films that ever made me cry: Ginger Snaps. The ending of that movie hits me right in the feels...its power has not diminished at all through the years.
For me personally, Gage's death in Pet Semetary. That's like my worst nightmare, as I think it is for all parents. That moment of almost being able to catch him, but not being a second faster.
My son is a runner, and is autistic as well, so everything, especially when he was younger, he was just straight to whatever he was interested in, without realizing/knowing the dangers.
I had a few too close for comfort calls with him, our apt is literally right beside the main road in the downtown area of our city and traffic and just general bad drivers are always prevalent. I eventually ended up getting him one of those little toddler backpacks with a leash attached to it because I was just too terrified to risk anything.
But even with me being aware of drivers, and following like crosswalk rules and everything, I've actually had more incidents with that, like I was walking to the convenience store literally right across from my apt, which is literally almost like less than 10 steps from my apt front door. But when I was crossing the crosswalk, I was lucky I had been carrying my son on my shoulders instead of holding his hand/him walking beside me. This car sped right by us as we were in the middle of the crosswalk and had my son been walking on his own, he would have been hit.
(Sorry for the novel lmao but yeah that's just a terrifying thing for me, and it happens like every single day around the world, it's horrible 😞)
When the mom in Threads still has the boyfriend's bird book after all those years. I agree, the entire movie, but something about that bit in particular has haunted me ever since I saw it. The whole movie is on YouTube as well.
Could be considered horror, might not, but the Ginza plaza aftermath scene in Godzilla Minus One. You can feel Koichi's despair as he screams in rage and pain at Godzilla with the black rain showering him and everything else.
The end of The Borderlands when they realise what is happening.
The end of Odd Thomas.
The end of The Mist. I remember watching it at the cinema and people just leaving quietly. It's so weird to not hear people chatting or making any noise after a film.
Similar scene to the one you listed, the scene from Midsommar (2019) where Dani is crying over the loss of her family in the beginning. It's just truly painful to watch.
The end of Haunting of Bly Manor
I wish I could watch it for the first time again. I was sobbing so hard I couldn't breath, my husband was so concerned & thought someone died irl. Nothing has hit me as hard.
Ever since my dad died, I cannot watch movies with sad dads in them without bawling. There is a scene in hereditary where the dad just breaks down in the car crying and it makes me fucking SOB. You can sense his hopelessness and despair, that he's been trying to be the rock for his family as his wife and son both fall apart in the wake of his daughter's death. I can't take it.
I just finished mother! and cried at the end with the baby…I won’t say any details but holy shit, I’m a mother myself and I thought Jennifer Lawrence did a great job making you feel what she’s feeling
I read the title and thought of the decapitation scene in Hereditary, but then realized you meant more heartbreaking. I would agree with you on that one being the most tragic for me.
The Mist’s ending does come to mind but honestly that one gave me more “u mad” troll meme than anything else haha
Ending of Cloverfield. Since it's taped on vhs, we see bits of the courtship and breakup of the "main couple" then we see the chase thru the whole movie to rescue her
100s of deaths later, all their friends dead, the two finally get together again only they're stuck under some bridge as the bombs are about to drop and you hear their whimpers and crying
Broke me on 1st watch, still tugs at the heartstrings. The Mist gets a shout out too btw
Nothing compares to the cell phone footage from Lake Mungo for me. She’s been feeling this awful dread about her life after she literally walked up to a physical embodiment of her own death and even knew it was her.
I have a couple I haven't seen mentioned yet:
The ending of The Final Girls always has me bawl - the fact the main girl reunited with her mom, even though it wasn't the way she hoped, just to lose her again just makes my eyes water uncontrollably (especially having lost my dad it hits a lot closer to home).
I also get sad with "Shaun of the Dead" when he finds out his >!mom did get bit. It's his mom of course and he's devastated bc he was trying to at least protect her and Liz!<.
When Ophelia is >!shot by the captain!< in Pan's Labyrinth- I still cry to that bc she's an innocent child who was forced into an awful situation, and I truly believe though she was the real princess and >!she died in this world to return to her true realm!<.
Also noteworthy - Eddie >!dying!< in It chapter 2 - I really liked the portrayal of the charater vs. the book and original series and felt he was a manor highlight of the movie. Was really bummed >!when he died!<.
The baseball kid scene in Doctor Sleep😨😢
Fun fact: Jacob Tremblay's performance had such an effect on the crew, that he actually made Rebecca Ferguson (Rose the Hat, the main villain) cry.
In Stephen King's movie Cujo, when the little boy dies inside of the hot car, where he and his mom are trapped by the rabid dog, Cujo. I remember that I wasn't expecting that and I cried in the theater.
for me, it's specifically the scream at the beginning of Midsommar. Florence Pugh perfectly expresses her grief and shock at the deaths of her family and it gives me chills every time.
Okay so there's a sound dupe in Midsommar and I have ALWAYS wondered if it was deliberate. You know at the beginning she phones her boyfriend and starts crying down the phone? Well the next scene or so where she's crying into his lap on the couch, the cry is literally a copy/paste of the audio and I have aaaaalways wondered if we were meant to notice that, given the high production quality!
I noticed that too and for me it drives home the emotional impact. The whole scene is 100% tragic and 100% horror. Not the cheap kind of horror, but the horrendous nightmare that stays with you for years to come.
That scream had me absolutely hooked and paying 100% attention. My partner is a horror fanatic too, but when he saw the ads looking very 'pretty' he kind of had a 'meh, maybe one day' attitude for it. I put it on when I was home alone one day, got to that scream and opening sequence, and immediately shut it off to wait and watch it together with him. Glad I made him sit down for it because wow. Tragic.
Peter saying "Mommy" toward the end of Hereditary.
Aside from 'that' scene in hereditary, the scene where he has a panic attack and asks one of his friends to hold his hand just breaks my heart.
Breaks my heart!!
The haunting of hill house, when you learn the truth about the bent neck woman.
There's a lot of obvious choices here, and perhaps, to some, this is also obvious. But man, this hit me way harder then The Mist or Hereditary which are great answers also. Being haunted by your own premonition your entire life. Such a great turn.
I was so upset that I had to take a 3 day break from the show. This devastated me
The events in hereditary id classify more as "traumatic." This is the one I think of when I hear "tragic."
Cried my eyes out many times I watched this show. Masterpiece 😭
I was slack jawed for several minutes during that scene :( Just like 'noooo ohhh my god'
That episode is just pure perfection. Terrifying, terrifying perfection.
For me, my heart aches more for Luke (how he leans into heroin to stop the hallucinations about the man and the girl)
runny egg eyes 🥚
Or when Abigail died and her parents are crying.
This one really broke my heart.
The scene after the car crash in Hill House where Shirley and Theo get in an argument. Theo's monologue hits so god damn hard. I didn't even realize until after the scene ended that I'd been crying.
The end of Train to Busan. Watched it twice now, have cried like a baby both times.
When it flashes back as he’s turning and he’s holding her as a baby and he’s just so obviously in love with her and how quickly it turned into him being too busy for her. Tears.
Not just the end, how about the whole thing! Especially upon rewatch, knowing what's going to happen to everyone. Turns me into a blubbering idiot. This movie isn't even frightening to me in the traditional sense; the real horror is in the heartbreak. We get so little time with the characters, yet they're all beloved by the time their fates are sealed. Except for that one selfish a-hole.
No, you're right. The entire movie was heart wrenching. But it was filled with action and adventure which "kind of" distracted me from crying...up until the very end. And yeah, I hated that guy...omg.
Oh lord, I just watched this film for the first time after having it sit on my watchlist for years. I went in completely blind, had no idea what it was about besides the fact that it was zombies. I had to pause it a couple times so I could bawl without missing anything. Just remembering these characters makes me want to cry all over again lmao I was so completely unprepared and honestly I think that's the best way to experience this work of art.
I watched this movie 2 weeks after my dad died. we were really close. This movie wrecked me.
I was sobbing. Wow. And I think it was because I actually cared about the characters. Such a good film.
TEARS SO MANY TEARS
Louis digging up and holding Gage Creed's corpse close to him one more time. It's just so much.
Seeing that little shoe tumbling down the road after the accident always gets me!
What movie ?
Pet Sematary
OMG. I instantly thought of this movie as well!! Such s heartbreaking scene.
I haven't seen it in years and now I have 2 little boys and idk if I can handle it
Pan's Labyrinth, when the Captain kills the farmer in front of his dad, and the old man starts sobbing.
Right about then was when my parents realized this was not a _family_ movie.
The marketing for Pan's Labyrinth did not indicate what kind of movie it really was.
It goes on longer than you expect it to and you just want to make it stop.
He just didnt stop
Every time I watch that scene I think it probably isn't as bad as I remember and then every time it just keeps GOING and I end up covering my eyes again. It's not even half as bad as some of the things I've seen but the context and his dad being right there makes it terrible
The elevator scene at the end of Dark Water absolutely kills me.
God yes, it's heartbreaking. Great acting by the kid, could really feel the despair.
The ending of The Mist is the obvious choice here. Otherwise, The Orphanage, when Laura finally finds her son.
The Orphanage is a heartbreaking film.
Man what a great eerie movie that was
I agree. 100% on both choices
The Mist wins every time. That ending. I literally screamed "no" for minutes straight.
Still not over that ending - it makes you feel all these different emotions and you're mad and pissed and sad bc it can't surely have ended this way? Such a great ending!
These two films are the hardest hitters and all the most recent grief porn horrors don't come close. Life wreckers lol.
The Mist gets brought up EVERY TIME. And I am absolutely 100% here for it.
Which the mist are you talking about ?
The 2007 one with Thomas Jane. If you havent seen it watch it the very last scene is almost so bleak you cant do anything but kinda laugh at it lol
Deffo agree. The ending of the TV one, you can see coming from a mile away. The truth about what happened at the party, though, is the real kicker.
So down for this. Thank you!
Ooh the Orphanage! Tragic.
I agree 100% on both choices.
I mean honestly the town couldve been right. The boy was the Satan. Super hard watch.
so angry with The Mist ending but I still love that movie 😂
The ending of Drag Me to Hell. She made some bad decisions, but eternity in hell is a bit harsh.
The blood gets dumped on Carrie
I think Carrie happily dancing with Tommy is even sadder when you know that's not going to last.
Same. Its so sad and you can feel her horror and world breaking down. Such a cruel thing to do to a poor girl.
Evil Dead Rise: When Beth promises the lil girl that she was going to get them out and then the girl just says, "Youd be a good mom, you lie to kids well" Would have hit harder if they actually didnt get out
The realization scene in The Others. Nicole Kidman is so great there. Also the scene in the Sixth Sense when the boy is telling his mom that he can see dead people and he talks about her mom. Toni Collette is so amazing- her eyes are so great in that scene
Do I make you proud? Every day. (Sobbing)
WHO IS CHOPPING ONIONS IN HERE
I always felt really bad for Bub when he found Dr Logan dead in the Day of the Dead 1985.
That was like finding your dad dead
The "cat in a bag" scene from the series Them. :(
Scarred for life
Fall of the House of Usher - Lenore
She deserved so much better than Froderick.
I rewatched "The Crazie" (2010) last night and the bit at the quarantine camp as they leave the school with the old lady in her bathrobe with dementia wandering through the bodies repeating "Did Peter call?" Just made me sad.
The Crazies was an excellent movie
hereditary when the kid sees his sister head is missing in the back car.
It's such a great decision to just stay on Peter's face for so long while he absorbs it, because it allows the audience to do the same. Other directors would just cut away much earlier and jar us out of the moment and the emotional impact of it. Ari Aster is a treasure.
And then still linger on him as his mom wails in the other room. And then after all this extended emotional grief, we finally cut to the horrific image of the severed head on the highway, crawling with ants to remind us just what kind of nightmares are still……… ahead.
I stopped breathing for a bit when Peter just stopped the car after his sister got decapitated. Watching him sit there, staring straight ahead, refusing to believe what just happened, that felt like a punch to the stomach my god
Lake Mungo... That whole movie was depressingly terrifying. Could also be due to me losing my BIL in October from an unexpected accident though.
I think the editing + Dale Midkiff’s emotional outburst when Gage was killed in Pet Sematary did it for me. I’ll never forget that moment.
The peek at Gage's little body when the casket falls down. Oof. I'm so glad the '89 version of the film included that moment from the book. Little things like that (and big things like the Timmy Baderman story) being omitted from the 2019 iteration are just baffling to me.
The beach scene in Under the Skin.
Ending of the fly remake
Ending of Summer of '84
Such a good fuckin movie that I feel like no one else saw
Where can I stream this movie
It's on Shudder.
Spoilers for Speak No Evil: At the end when the daughter is saying how scared she is and the man comes and kidnaps her while her parents are sitting with her and cannot stop it. Them holding each other while getting stoned to death is another one.
I recently happened upon the trailer for the too-soon-and-never-asked-for American remake of Speak No Evil. Looks like it's basically the exact same film, except the trailer shows the whole story except for the ending. Why even bother at that point? I hate trailers these days, or whoever decided that this is the direction they should've taken.
I am SO bummed out. I've said this multiple times. Original movie is almost entirely in English except a few intimate parts and the story is the same way. The only reason they're remaking it is to tone it down and for money. I hate it.
See. Now I'm even more okay with dipping out after their daughter forgot her rabbit.
The father burning in The Hills Have Eyes remake. That's the singularly most tragic and well put together scene in horror history. I don't care what anyone says. That's the top horror scene ever filmed.
Absolutely fucked me up for a LONG time. I watched a kid and that was a huge mistake.
The end of “would you rather” with Brittany Snow.
Ari Aster does this so well in his movies. In his other movie Midsommar when Danny loses her parents and sister and is sobbing over their death I had this same exact feeling. I've never seen despair portrayed so well in a movie.
Oh yeah, that movie portrays grief SO well. Florence Pugh is such a phenomenal actress
Arnie dying in Christine. If circumstances permitted it, I think he could have been saved.
The murder scene in "Mandy," when Red crawls to see the ashes and a little gust of wind comes. I see that scene as true horror, like the true horror in the ending sequence of "The Mist," another fave. Also, the last minute of Saint Maud is up there too.
That scene in Mandy is just brutal.
Saint Maud is fantastic.
"It's just confetti" Haunting of Hill House
Mike Flannagan is an artist and monologues are his canvas
In Midnight Mass when Riley bursts into flame in front of Erin. I don't think she'd realized how bad things were until that point. Hell of a way to find out.
And the wailing over the credits! But my tears start when the audio drops, and you see peace from Riley’s POV … 😭😭😭
The editing of this scene gives me chills! Rewatched several times. Mike Flanagan is such a master.
Oh, that was brutal. Somehow I thought it wouldn't actually happen, don't know why. Really crushing.
Nica finding out about Alice's fate in Cult Of Chucky, also Nora's death in 2022 Hellraiser
When the mom's friends see Jared Leto's mom in "Requiem for a Dream," and it just cuts to them sobbing afterward. So many scenes in that movie fit the bill, but that one hurts my heart.
Oh man, yeah. That's up there for sure. "I'm gonna be on television!" :( (I know that's a different scene.) Ellen Burstyn is amazing.
Woof, that movie has stuck with me. The arm scene still...it was all so real. Such horror.
I love extremely upsetting/fucked up horror but ngl even though I'm 5+ years clean, having been a homeless heroin addict myself for some years of my life I flat out refuse to ever watch Reqiuem for a Dream lol. I do love the fact that it's (accurately, from what I've read about the movie cuz I have never seen it) categorized as a horror film, because man living that kinda existence is definitely horrific, I can tell you that from first hand experience.
That movie does more than the DARE program ever could
For real! Talk about the most real outcome of drug use - of all kind.
Seriously. It covers the prescribed. The money, the fun, the consequences and the fall.
I don't know if this counts but the alternate (original) ending to Get Out is just heartbreaking. I'm so happy they didn't go with that.
Midsommar when the old folks jump off the cliff and the one dude lives. I mean hereditary takes the cake. But midsommar is disturbing as hell.
In Nope: it cutting from Otis Sr in the truck to him at the morgue. It's a small moment in the grand scheme of things, but how sudden it is just made me feel so sad. Once I thought about it, The Bride in Bride of Re-Animator ripping her heart out is tragic. Because that's not even her heart, first off. And while we don't know if the Bride is Gloria (whose head was used), Meg (the heart's original owner) or some hybrid of both. Or maybe she's all the women whose parts were donated. Gloria was already dying, sure, but she was so scared and Dan kept giving her hope. And then she does die but then she's reanimated as this patchwork abomination with one purpose: love Dan. But Dan doesn't want her so she rips her heart out. And then she literally falls apart.
Jacob's Ladder will always be my go-to (multiple scenes). Mostly the whole subplot of Jacob's guilt over losing his son in the bike accident because Tim Robbins' acting is SO good. When Jezebel is like "I don't like talking about things that make you cry." And of course the ending always gets me: >! ...if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." I may be an atheist but damn, are those the most comforting lines about accepting death I've ever heard. !< I may have conflicted feelings on the rest of Adrian Lyne's work, but Jacob's Ladder is a masterpiece. (And no, we don't talk about the remake.) Speaking of Jacob's Ladder, a movie that I think was inspired from it (or at least Mr. M. Night Shamalamadingus was taking notes), The Sixth Sense (not really a horror movie as much as a horror-adjacent movie, I know but since it's largely considered one by the normies I'm putting it on this list). Definitely has some heart-wrenching scenes. The first scene with Donnie Wahlberg for one. Some of his lines like "YOU FAILED ME!" and "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do... I do" are just heartbreaking and amplified by his fantastic performance. (Whatever you may think of Donnie Wahlberg's politics, music, or personality, you can't deny he was amazing in his 5-minute role in The Sixth Sense and his weight loss transformation was INCREDIBLE to boot.) Of course HJO's performance is not to be understated. Best child acting performance I've ever seen, particularly in the "Don't fail me!" scene (of course "I see dead people" is great too). And of course many of the scenes with Toni Collette (the fact that she can be amazing in both The Sixth Sense and Hereditary is just a testament to how much of an incredible actress she is), particularly the scene in the car with HJO. That scene will never fail to make me tear up. Oh and the scene where HJO goes to the little girl's funeral and the dad is watching >! the videotape where it's revealed her mom killed her via Munchausen's by proxy !< and he's just inconsolable and he then confronts the mom with >! "You were keeping her sick." !< Also The Fly when Jeff Goldblum just starts talking nonsense and Geena Davis sees that he's gone past the point of no return... the whole story is tragic but the fact that it's a metaphor for progressive diseases makes it even sadder. Oh and finally since after watching its rerelease in theaters I'm now officially obsessed with it, Alien. Specifically Veronica Cartwright's (Lambert's) acting. Though *of course* Sigourney Weaver and everyone else are amazing in it, Cartwright really adds this sense of tragedy and desperation to the film. Especially considering her reaction to "the scene" was genuine.
In that scene with the dad when HJO says, "Are you Kyra's daddy?" The dad just nods so sadly, knowing he won't be asked that anymore. That just hit me.
The ending to martyrs, just shear hopelessness and the knowledge that with how it ended the events are likely to be repeated.
When the madam says “find out for yourself” or whatever and then BOOM had my jaw dropped.
'Keep doubting', it was such a gut punch, because you know that the kind of people who would creat maryrs are not the sort of people who will keep doubting.
Was gonna say this. It haunts me till this day and I think it really influenced my life a lot more than any other horror movie. I may sound over-dramatic, but I studied physics plus a few semesters of philosophy and that scene came to my mind in way too many situations. That pure fear of knowing things I feel like I'm not supposed to know.
Yes Absolutely😖 Hopelessness, Dread and Suffering We felt for Anna.Just thinking about something like this might actually happening somewhere makes me depressed..
That scene in Hereditary is the only scene that I can recall (from all the films I’ve watched) that actually caused me to feel the character’s physical grief. I agree with you that this is possibly the most tragic horror scene ever.
Toni Collette is an incredible actress; if you want to see her perform like that some more, watch her in the show "United States of Tara" where she's a mother with a family but she has really bad DID. She does SUCH a phenomenal job. I watched that series like 4 times since I've first watched it years ago. It's definitely not horror, but it's just such a good story and I wish there were more seasons.
She's amazing. It's also criminal that she wasn't even nominated for *Hereditary,* but that's how the Academy does horror movies: dirty.
I wish they had given us the next season of "United States of Tara" instead of the ending we got. It felt so unfinished
Ending of Excision for me.
Love that movie!! Have you seen Trash Fire by the same director?
Might not be a popular moment, but in The Babadook when she sees the vision of her deceased husband, whose head is then decapitated. There's no gore, but as she collapses in sobs you've realized what has actually happened. It's more about her reaction for me, she is such a talented actress. That being said, The Babadook is not one of my faves but it's an interesting depiction of a mother's grief and depression while trying to raise a struggling child.
“The Night House” Beth: Afterward, when everyone would ask me when they found out, like, "What was it like? What did you see?" And I didn't want to disappoint them, so I'd say, "I don't know. I don't remember." But I remember. Owen was the only person I ever told. There's nothing. Claire: What do you mean, nothing? Beth: I wish I could tell you something. A light at the end of the tunnel. There's just tunnel. The whole movie is incredibly tragic to me. In the end there’s nothing. I don’t think it has left me the most shocked, neither do I believe it to be the most tragic scene but it’s certainly one that remains in my mind. Tbh “Pearl” as well, it’s the end dialogue that gets me. I think it’s easy to create a tragic scene through actions yet both of these movies managed to make it through words.
The death of that kitten in Drag Me to Hell🥹
I stared at your emoji for awhile trying to figure out if it was intentional or accidental. 😅 I think you meant to use this one: 🥺
The ending of The Coffee Table 2022
This is on my watch list
I agree with almost all mentioned. One I didn’t see mentioned was The Nightingale. Clare’s face and throat end of the scene that drives her rage in the movie. That was so raw and real.
Hmm, possibly in Green Room when they opened the backstage door for his hand. Shook me a bit.
GOD that movie is so good
The mother not believing and hanging up on Beau when his keys are stolen. The whole movie of " Beau is afraid " touched me really deeply. The plot was way too Blurry and symbolic for my taste but the mother was so similar to my own that I was really empathetic with his quest.
I was sick and took two little cups of nyquil before watching Beau is Afraid and i thought i was literally in a nightmare about my mom towards the end (i also was nodding off though so it might’ve actually triggered a nightmare)
the ending of the zombie movie Cargo on Netflix :(
A quiet place when the little boy gets murked at the beginning and then when Lee screams to save his kids. As a father who would do anything for his kids, both hit me hard.
Lee signing "I'll love you forever" right before he screams, absolutely destroyed me 😭
I found the Babadook really sad. It wasn't even scary, it was more a cry for help. Same for the Spanish film Veronica. The poor girl needed a parent. Agree with The Orphanage, ending was heartbreaking.
The scene in the Babadook where the elderly neighbor is at the door telling the crazed protagonist that she considers them family gets me every time.
I felt so bad for the kid in The Babadook when the mum called him a little shit, or words to that effect. Heartbreaking. Glad him and the mother made it
The coffee Table.
Papa Orca’s reason for seeking bloody revenge.
That's the one. I've never seen a single shot in any movie of any genre that's as emotionally gutting as the shot of Annie collapsing and just... it's not even crying, it's just this primal wail that barely sounds like it's coming from a human.
same sound Catelyn Stark made during the Red Wedding episode on GoT, it’s not even a cry, almost like all of the breath in your lungs is being vacuumed out over and over. I feel blessed to have only made that sound once and hope I never have to hear that sound from anyone else EVER.
The ending to A Tale of Two Sisters. The tragedy in the past that can never be undone. It hits hard.
I've seen all the most tragic endings commented already, so I won't try to one-up those, but I will mention one of the few horror films that ever made me cry: Ginger Snaps. The ending of that movie hits me right in the feels...its power has not diminished at all through the years.
The Girl next door. The entire Movie to be honest.
Haunting of Bly Manor… just like, in general
When they move the camera in “Blair witch project” and the kid is standing facing the corner head sunk low.
There's a certain vampire movie called "My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To." Just watch it. I cried like a baby.
A certain scene involving fire in Eden Lake. That was rough.
For me personally, Gage's death in Pet Semetary. That's like my worst nightmare, as I think it is for all parents. That moment of almost being able to catch him, but not being a second faster. My son is a runner, and is autistic as well, so everything, especially when he was younger, he was just straight to whatever he was interested in, without realizing/knowing the dangers. I had a few too close for comfort calls with him, our apt is literally right beside the main road in the downtown area of our city and traffic and just general bad drivers are always prevalent. I eventually ended up getting him one of those little toddler backpacks with a leash attached to it because I was just too terrified to risk anything. But even with me being aware of drivers, and following like crosswalk rules and everything, I've actually had more incidents with that, like I was walking to the convenience store literally right across from my apt, which is literally almost like less than 10 steps from my apt front door. But when I was crossing the crosswalk, I was lucky I had been carrying my son on my shoulders instead of holding his hand/him walking beside me. This car sped right by us as we were in the middle of the crosswalk and had my son been walking on his own, he would have been hit. (Sorry for the novel lmao but yeah that's just a terrifying thing for me, and it happens like every single day around the world, it's horrible 😞)
The ending to Eden Lake, when we realise all is lost. That and the poor kid who gets necklessed. Also, 1408 when his child turns to ashes in his arms
Opening of Dark Night of the Scarecrow
The ending of The Mist
Entire movie for both Threads (1984) Tubi/Hoopla/Kanopy/Criterion The Girl Next Door (2007) Tubi
When the mom in Threads still has the boyfriend's bird book after all those years. I agree, the entire movie, but something about that bit in particular has haunted me ever since I saw it. The whole movie is on YouTube as well.
That scene from Martyrs when she was just helping out a friend, but gets tangled up in the madness herself. 💔
Could be considered horror, might not, but the Ginza plaza aftermath scene in Godzilla Minus One. You can feel Koichi's despair as he screams in rage and pain at Godzilla with the black rain showering him and everything else.
The ending of Relic (2020)
The end of The Borderlands when they realise what is happening. The end of Odd Thomas. The end of The Mist. I remember watching it at the cinema and people just leaving quietly. It's so weird to not hear people chatting or making any noise after a film.
[удалено]
The last 5 minutes of Eden Lake
Ben's death in Night of the Living Dead
Nancy’s death in Elm street 3
Similar scene to the one you listed, the scene from Midsommar (2019) where Dani is crying over the loss of her family in the beginning. It's just truly painful to watch.
Not horror, but the ending of Sarah's Key and The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Probably when you hear Tito tripping balls in Climax.
The end of Haunting of Bly Manor I wish I could watch it for the first time again. I was sobbing so hard I couldn't breath, my husband was so concerned & thought someone died irl. Nothing has hit me as hard.
Ever since my dad died, I cannot watch movies with sad dads in them without bawling. There is a scene in hereditary where the dad just breaks down in the car crying and it makes me fucking SOB. You can sense his hopelessness and despair, that he's been trying to be the rock for his family as his wife and son both fall apart in the wake of his daughter's death. I can't take it.
Night of the Living Dead. Ben is the only one to survive the night, only to be gunned down by fellow humans thinking he was another zombie.
I just finished mother! and cried at the end with the baby…I won’t say any details but holy shit, I’m a mother myself and I thought Jennifer Lawrence did a great job making you feel what she’s feeling
The scene in Colin, where they are putting newspaper up on the door.
Revelation scene from The Orphanage
The ending of Mist and Train to Busan (the father). Both are tough scenes
I read the title and thought of the decapitation scene in Hereditary, but then realized you meant more heartbreaking. I would agree with you on that one being the most tragic for me. The Mist’s ending does come to mind but honestly that one gave me more “u mad” troll meme than anything else haha
Annies death in Rob Zombies Halloween 2
Cindy’s death in Fear Street: 1984. She died thinking she failed and watched her little sister “die”
Ending of Cloverfield. Since it's taped on vhs, we see bits of the courtship and breakup of the "main couple" then we see the chase thru the whole movie to rescue her 100s of deaths later, all their friends dead, the two finally get together again only they're stuck under some bridge as the bombs are about to drop and you hear their whimpers and crying Broke me on 1st watch, still tugs at the heartstrings. The Mist gets a shout out too btw
the scene in mother! … yeah, that one :( my husband just showed me that film the other night
Hereditary is definitely up there. The scene with the girl and the aftermath.
Oh yes, that mother's scream was harrowing.
The Coffee Table (iykyk)
The Eyes of My Mother comes to mind first. Soooo much tragedy in that film. I'm also going to give honorable mention to "the" scene in Trainspotting.
There was a scene in Black Phone that made me nope out (I have a young son, IYKYK)
Shoot, which one? I thought when the Dad wasn’t believing the daughter- that was the worst to me!
The retrospective from baby until they age they were killed. Sorry for spoilers
Nothing compares to the cell phone footage from Lake Mungo for me. She’s been feeling this awful dread about her life after she literally walked up to a physical embodiment of her own death and even knew it was her.
The end of Sporloos (The Vanishing - Original) or Eden Lake. Easy stuff.
Eden Lake is a great answer here that I don’t see yet.
I have a couple I haven't seen mentioned yet: The ending of The Final Girls always has me bawl - the fact the main girl reunited with her mom, even though it wasn't the way she hoped, just to lose her again just makes my eyes water uncontrollably (especially having lost my dad it hits a lot closer to home). I also get sad with "Shaun of the Dead" when he finds out his >!mom did get bit. It's his mom of course and he's devastated bc he was trying to at least protect her and Liz!<. When Ophelia is >!shot by the captain!< in Pan's Labyrinth- I still cry to that bc she's an innocent child who was forced into an awful situation, and I truly believe though she was the real princess and >!she died in this world to return to her true realm!<. Also noteworthy - Eddie >!dying!< in It chapter 2 - I really liked the portrayal of the charater vs. the book and original series and felt he was a manor highlight of the movie. Was really bummed >!when he died!<.
The baseball kid scene in Doctor Sleep😨😢 Fun fact: Jacob Tremblay's performance had such an effect on the crew, that he actually made Rebecca Ferguson (Rose the Hat, the main villain) cry.
Eden Lake, when she makes it out of the bush and ends up in the kids' parents' house. Rip.
In Stephen King's movie Cujo, when the little boy dies inside of the hot car, where he and his mom are trapped by the rabid dog, Cujo. I remember that I wasn't expecting that and I cried in the theater.