BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID
Welcome to My Brain at 3AM: A Horror-Lover’s Unapologetic Run Through of Scenes That Still Haunt Me
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I’ve always had a love for the creepy and macabre.
Not in a weird way (well, maybe a little bit weird) —more in the “I probably shouldn’t have watched that at age 9” kind of way.
I blame my babysitter, who let me stay up late watching The X-Files as long as I didn’t tell my parents. (I didn’t. If they’re reading this now—hi!—I think we’re past the statute of limitations.)
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Last night I couldn’t sleep, fairly standard. So I started thinking about putting on a horror movie, which then spiralled into a mental montage of the moments that have properly terrified me over the years.
You know the ones.
The scenes that made you sleep with the light on. Or the hallway light. Or all the lights.
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I've done horror all-nighters in Bristol at Watershed and even at the Toronto Film Festival.
Let me tell you, there’s something awesome (and mildly unhinged) about watching a horror movie in an almost-empty cinema at 3am. It’s quiet. It’s creepy. It’s perfect.
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So here they are—my top terrifying moments. Not all are strictly horror, but all are horrifying.
Proceed with caution… and maybe leave a light on.
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Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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*Warning: Content could be disturbing so if you're a sensitive soul, please take care. Spoilers ahead!
Watership Down – Psychic rabbits and fields bleeding
This is a cartoon about rabbits. I suspect it traumatised an entire generation.
Little Fiver has visions of death and destruction —eyes rolling back as he sees bulldozers clawing bloodied trenches into the earth.
Rabbits suffocate as their burrows collapse. The moon turns red and blood floods the fields.
This book was shelved next to The Very Hungry Caterpillar in my primary school library.
Someone should’ve checked that.
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The Godfather Part II – A shockingly quiet throat-shot at dinner
Michael Corleone hides a gun behind a toilet and invites his father’s enemies out for pasta.
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Then he walks back to the table and, without raising his voice, shoots a man in the throat.
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The scene isn't gory by today’s standards, but the slow build, cold silence, and horrifying realism made me feel sick.
Mafia violence, but with a surgical sense of inevitability.
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Baby Reindeer – Dread, confusion, yellow marigolds, and unseen aftermath
There’s a moment—brief, silent, awful—when the abuser appears in the background wearing marigolds.
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He’s cleaning something up.
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We don’t know what yet, but we know it’s bad.
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The victim is woozy, waking up, and you feel the disconnect between their dazed confusion and his methodical efficiency.
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It’s one of the quietest, cruelest moments—and one that still creeps me out most.
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Hereditary – That head. That sound. That silence.
You love your family.
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Even when they’re annoying. Even when they’re a burden.
You try to do the right thing.
And then the wrong thing happens—so wrong, you can’t even speak.
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So you go to bed. Because what else can you do?
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The gore is brief, but the emotional impact is a gut punch that never really fades.
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A Tale of Two Sisters – A giant shadow on the bed. (Did it move?)
You’re half asleep.
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You think you see a figure in the room, crouched in a corner.
You stare at it, holding your breath. It's a pile of clothes… right?
Then it moves. Or maybe it doesn’t.
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But now it’s closer. It's looming over your bed...
Perfectly executed anxiety, and one that ruined “just one more look around the room before bed” for me forever.
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A Nightmare on Elm Street / The Babadook – Creepy limbs and flick-knives
Two different films. Same deep dread.
Same theme of women being ignored despite telling everyone around them their stories.
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Freddy Krueger stretches his arms across an alleyway and scrapes metal walls with his blade fingers.
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In The Babadook, long, pointed black fingers emerge from a coat hanging on a rack, seen only by the protagonist while police look at her like she's crazy. But is she?
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You know things shouldn’t move like that, and your brain short-circuits.
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Monsters are one thing. But body horror and dream logic? The unspoken trauma behind it...That’s what kept me up.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley – Oars, sun, and sudden death
Beautiful people on a boat in the sun.
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Then Ripley gets found out. And the mood flips like a switch.
He grabs an oar, and it’s all over.
The victim’s confusion—the why of it all in his expression—is more horrifying than the violence itself.
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The aftermath is slow, horrible, and unforgettable. At least in my mind.
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SAS Rogue Heroes – A snapped spine, a decision, a shot to the face
In the middle of a WW2 desert mission gone wrong, a young recruit lies in the sand.
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“My spine snapped,” he says.
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“I heard it go like a bullet. I can't stand the pain”
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And then he pulls out a gun and shoots himself in the face.
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It’s brutal. It’s quiet. And it’s more disturbing than all the other chaos happening around it.
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The Pianist – A wheelchair. A window. A moment of cold, unforgettable cruelty.
Two families are eating dinner across the street from each other in WW2 Poland.
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The SS arrive.
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There’s a quiet pause, then they push an old man in a wheelchair toward the window—and throw him out.
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No emotion. He just lands on the street below.
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Just cold, calculated horror. It’s one of the most shocking moments I’ve ever seen on screen.
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The Shining – “You’d never hurt Mommy or me, would you?”
Danny sits with his dad, asking a question no child should ever need to ask.
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The snow filters in pale light, a mirror glints behind them, and Jack gives an answer that sounds caring—but clearly isn’t.
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It’s the moment you realise he’s already gone, the Hotel has him, and Danny knows. And he knows the worst is yet to come.
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It’s heartbreaking, not just scary—and that’s what makes it unbearable. As are most of the references I made are I suppose.
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The Shining ​​
​Disturbing stuff! But that's the warped fun of horror, isn't it? Cathartic, gross, scary - and kind of enjoyable in a weird way.
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Goodnight and sweet dreams everyone.​​
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Each one hints at a deeper story, a hidden world beneath the surface.
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