Classic Cinema - Unbearably tense scenes

[Rudderless]

Arlington Road. The ending of course.

Absolutely. There's loads of points where Jeff Bridges is doing something he shouldn't, like the rummaging around for blueprints bit, and it's beautifully directed, because you're inwardly screaming 'hurry up, hurry up!' all the time.

Oh, and I jumped a mile when his girlfriend comes off the phone, and sees the neighbour's wife standing right behind her.

I know a lot of people hate the film, but no moment has given me a greater sense of impending doom as the end sequence in Saving Private Ryan where you first hear that ominous rumble of the first tank approaching.

[kerraig UK]

I know a lot of people hate the film, but no moment has given me a greater sense of impending doom as the end sequence in Saving Private Ryan where you first hear that ominous rumble of the first tank approaching.

you are absolutely right. Even more so thje second time I saw it when i knew what was coming. i actually started shaking in the cinema at that point.

[Goose]

The botched drug deal scene in Boogie Nights was pretty tense.

[Vin]

Both occasions had me in screaming fits at the telly.

[noizu]

Two bits in The Others always stand out to me - Nicole Kidman in the room with all the covered furniture and statues, tearing all of the sheets off; and just after she sees the photo from the Book of the Dead, as the servants are walking slo-o-owly towards the two kids.

Plus the well scene in Ring, as well as the obvious ending scene

[Beitel]

Both occasions had me in screaming fits at the telly.

That´s United 93 isn´t it? What an incredible film, it can't get much more tense than this.

[Rudderless]

Shit, yes.

That's also home to a far more effective jump-shock than the Sloth victim that everyone goes on about. When they see him and suddenly - CRACK! - a bullet whizzes past them...Jesus. Nearly fell off the sofa (the only time I actually fell off was the head in the boat scene in Jaws which, scandalously, I didn't see until I was in my early twenties).

[Wallpaper]

The Godfather, whe Michael goes to the hospital and all the guards are gone.

[Rowan Morrison]

Oh, some great choices here and another classic classic cinema thread. One suggestion that came to mind and hadn't already been mentioned is Halloween - you've got that whole section around the middle of the film where the babysitting is taking place and bugger all happens except Carpenter throwing opportunity after opportunity at us; will the shape appear now? Or now? Surely right now? I don't think that's ever been topped in the slasher genre, and it demonstrates what an assured piece of film-making Halloween was.

Back at the Dead by Dawn festival earlier this year the final film was Nacho Cerda's The Abandoned, a doppelganger story set in rural Russia. While the story was a bit of a mess, the film was something of a masterclass in sustained tension as the camera explored a brilliantly realised abandoned farmhouse, a cinematic Shephard tone. I'd certainly recommend that in the spirit of this thread, with the caveat that this is not the 'satisfying stories' thread.

Hmm, I'll have to browse the shelves and see what else occurs to me. The final performance in the Pianist, perhaps. The trip into the loft in The Exorcist, the opening of Touch of Evil, most of The Haunting... one to come back to after some more thought.

Naturally everything from the opening shot to the first murder in Suspiria, but you can assume I'm going to nominate Suspiria in every single classic cinema thread.

[Alex W.]

The opening exploration of the colony in Aliens was so tense that I simply couldn't keep watching the film the first time I saw it (as a kid). I had to give up before I even saw an Alien (aside from the face-huggers in the tanks).

A good recent one is the exploration of the

Icarus I

in Sunshine.

[Sabreman]

The sequence near the beginning of Mute Witness, after the main character - locked in a film studio after hours - inadvertently witnesses the making of a snuff movie and is then hunted down by the filmmakers. It's an extended game of hide and seek that is most definitely among the most tense and nerve-wracking I've ever watched. I have a hazy recollection of the rest of the film being nowhere near as great.

[mindgames]

Bit of a marmite film on here but the 'boarded up house' and cellar scenes at the end of Signs were pretty tense, I was pretty surprised at how much dread I was feeling the first time I saw it.

[Suedehead]

Henry Hill: You're really funny.

Tommy DeVito: What do you mean I'm funny?

[alexander]

The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover

Alan Howard and Helen Mirren in the toilet together.

My heart, pounding out of my sternum.

[___]

*shudder*

If only they'd had the tech to shoot the hedge animal scenes from the book and do them some justice.

[Chosty]

The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover

Alan Howard and Helen Mirren in the toilet together.

My heart, pounding out of my sternum.

*Shudder* Yes.

The Thief is one of the most repulsive and dangerous characters I've ever seen in a film.

[mash]

*Shudder* Yes.

The Thief is one of the most repulsive and dangerous characters I've ever seen in a film.

I can still remember the scene where he force feeds that poor bloke shit at the start of the film.

Anyone ever seen Europa, Europa? There were some unbearably tense scenes in that film. If you haven't seen it, it's based on a true story about a Jewish boy, who's mistaken for a German hero and sent to some elite German military school.

Regardless to say, he's a bit scuppered when it comes to taking showers and stuff. His DIY reverse circumcision operation has to be one of the most painful things I've seen.

[Skeeez]

Most of the scenes with Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast I found pretty tense.

[zxcvbnm]

Two scenes from American History X - the bit where Edward Norton gets him to bite the kerb, and the ending with little John Connor in the toilets.

Pitch Black - I remember seeing this before it got a release at the Prince Charles and was knocked out by how good it was, first films since Aliens to get so much right (even if it did nick quite a bit from the Alien films). That sequence with them running out of light trying to get back to the ship - excellent stuff.

[Massive Invisible Dog]

The lift scene in The Eye.

[The Grand Pursuivant]

The following contain spoilers:

The Conformist - Don't know if many people will have seen this, but the end scene where the Professor and his wife get murdered are unbearably tense. The whole scene is so perfectly set up, and you know exactly what's about to happen, which makes it even worse. The long drive up the seemingly abandoned mountain road, in the middle of winter with fog and snow-drenched trees all around. The shooting of the professor and sheer terror of his wife as she starts banging on the car window of the anti-heroes door, culminating in the portrayal of his sheer cowardice and complicity as he turns his head away from the woman he has begun to fall in love with.

Falling Down - Pretty much everyone I've spoken to this movie about, bar one person, has told me that they hated it, but the final scene on the pier at the end is so brilliant that the rest of the movies flaws melt away as you watch it. The whole lead up to it, with his ex-wife taking her and her child away from the house as the detective realises what's about to happen. The stand off at the end, where you have no idea as to whether or not Michael Douglas' character has a gun, and who's about to die, and the reveal after the shot, where you're simultaneously relieved and dismayed.

[Cheeko]

The bit at the end of The Pianist, where he's wearing the german guy's jacket and you think he's gonna get shot after all he's been through to survive.

[Paradigm]

A lot of amazing scenes in here, it's a shame that most memories aren't unlocked until you start reading other people's examples.

In regards to horror I have to say that Don't Look Now and The Wicker Man are probably the scariest films I've ever seen. The whole of The Wicker Man was unbearably tense for me as you could feel Woodward's character just slipping away and having his morals overrun by virtue of being isolated amongst a bunch of nutcases he couldn't really do anything about. Completely suffocating atmosphere that scared me a *lot*. Don't Look Now's final scene was unbearably tense and ended as it should have, which made it all the better/worse.

War films always get me, SPR is a great example. The knife fight the first time I watched it was terrible and still is, along with the tank rumble. Pretty much the whole of Schindler's List does it for me, though the shower scene is particularly 'good'. Fiennes with his rifle the first time I saw it made me hope he wouldn't start shooting, but alas.

Good film noir is always really tense. A few stand out for me though. Chinatown's final act is really tense throughout and spectacularly concluded. The best for me though has to be Bogart in In A Lonely Place, where he describes how he'd murder someone. He's so incredibly intense - it's the most intense countenance I've ever seen on celluloid, in fact. His eyes just bore through you, he's completely lost in the moment. Frightening and unbelievably tense.

More recently Children of Men was beyond tense. It was pretty tense to begin with but when they eliminated the forest hideaway they cleverly removed the only breathing point and sanctuary the film had: from thereon in it was a downard spiral, so to speak, rushing to the final conclusion. Incredibly gripping.

[Andsom]

Although I don't really care for the rest of the film, the opening scene of Cliffhanger is incredibly tense. The glove! I get sweaty palms just thinking about it.

[KRP]

Infernal Affairs ( I can't remember which part) when SP Wong boards the lift and the doors begin to close.

[Chosty]

Blue Velvet - when Frank Booth first appears and Jeffrey's hiding in the wardrobe. You just don't know what he's going to do.

[lordcookie]

Another Lynch moment is the dinner with the girlfriends parents in Eraserhead. The musical score, general uneasiness of meeting the other halfs parents and the overall feeling that anything could happen at anytime in the film always makes this scene really hard to watch for me.

[Rudderless]

Although I don't really care for the rest of the film, the opening scene of Cliffhanger is incredibly tense. The glove! I get sweaty palms just thinking about it.

Yep, agree with all that. It's not a brilliant film, but that's a cracking start.

Another one I've just thought of - the interrogation in LA Confidential, where it keeps cutting to Crowe's hands on that chair. And then...."ONE IN SIX!"

[Chosty]

Another Lynch moment is the dinner with the girlfriends parents in Eraserhead. The musical score, general uneasiness of meeting the other halfs parents and the overall feeling that anything could happen at anytime in the film always makes this scene really hard to watch for me.

Good one. "Did you and Mary have sexual intercourse?"

Lynch is a master of creating ominous and foreboding scenes.

Yet another Lynch moment - the audition scene in Mullholland Dr. It's perhaps not tense in the way of other examples in this thread, but I was gripping the arms of my seat and holding my breath when watching that for the first time. It was astonishing, and the way he confounded the audience's expectations by showing Betty's frankly amateurish rehearsal with Rita was brilliant.

[Beitel]

Good one. "Did you and Mary have sexual intercourse?"

Lynch is a master of creating ominous and foreboding scenes.

Yet another Lynch moment - the audition scene in Mullholland Dr. It's perhaps not tense in the way of other examples in this thread, but I was gripping the arms of my seat and holding my breath when watching that for the first time. It was astonishing, and the way he confounded the audience's expectations by showing Betty's frankly amateurish rehearsal with Rita was brilliant.

The best in Mulholland Dr. must be Silencio scene. "It is all an illusion... " Especially the lady that starts to sing, and you just forget that everything should be an illusion, until... Brilliant, brilliant film.