Top 10 Disturbing Movie Scenes We Didn't See Coming

Top 10 Unexpected Disturbing Movies Scenes

Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 Unexpected Disturbing Movie Scenes.

For this list, we’ll be going over the upsetting scenes from films that caught us off guard upon first viewing. Since some of these moments deal with plot points, there will be spoilers ahead.

If you’re disturbed by the fact that we unexpectedly left something off our list, please tell us in the comments!

#10: Large Marge

“Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985)
Pee-Wee Herman is a goofy and guileless man-child whose only mission in this adventure film is to locate his beloved bicycle after it’s stolen. His quest takes him across the United States and his main method of travel tends to be hitchhiking. Although his travels cause him to encounter plenty of colorful characters, one of the most memorable is Large Marge. While hitching with this trucker, she tells him the story of an accident, and when she gets to the bit about revealing what happened to the driver, she turns to Pee-Wee and reveals a shocking Claymation face that comes absolutely out of nowhere! Although we considered a similar jump scare from “The Lord of the Rings,” Large Marge traumatized us first.

#9: Best Taste

“Snowpiercer” (2013)
This post-apocalyptic action film follows a revolt by the inhabitants of the tail compartment of the title train against their decadent forward section overlords, who keep them living in squalor. Their leader, Curtis, is a reluctant and hard man, who is forced to sacrifice his second in command, Edgar, to further their cause. But just before the engine, Curtis reveals his horrific backstory – when he was younger and deprived of food, he and other passengers resorted to cannibalism. Edgar, who hero-worshipped Curtis, was nearly eaten by him as an infant! This speech completely flipped our perceptions of the protagonist, and is incredibly disturbing to boot!

#8: Pink Elephant Parade

“Dumbo” (1941)
The adventures of the big-eared elephant that gives this classic Disney movie its name are often heart-wrenching, but they’re still largely standard family-friendly fare. That is, until Dumbo and his mouse buddy Timothy get drunk. The two of them then hallucinate a group of pink elephants who sing a song. Sounds fine enough on paper, but in execution, the result is terrifying! The pink elephants’ empty eyes and trippy, haunting dirge have traumatized generations of children. The whole experience feels like a fever dream on acid, cooked up by someone who wants to freak out kids!

#7: Face Melting

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981)
The first “Indiana Jones” may be a fun adventure movie, but it still has some surprisingly brutal deaths in it. A guy gets torn apart by a propeller, for instance. Still, it’s the finale that most people remember. Captured by the Nazis who have the Ark of the Covenant, Indy advises Marion not to look, but the Third Reich is all about gazing at their prize as it’s opened. Spirits and fire emerge from within, melting their faces in a disturbingly graphic moment. The franchise would try to recapture this kind of shocking, vivid death in later installments, like in “Last Crusade,” but “Raiders” did it best.

#6: The Snap

“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)
19 movies in, people were pretty familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s formula. Until “Avengers: Infinity War” flipped the script! Big Bad Thanos isn’t defeated by the Avengers in a big battle (at least in this movie), but instead succeeds in his mission to acquire all the Infinity Stones. And with a snap heard around the universe, he is able to wipe out half of all life. Fans of the comics probably saw this coming, but even they probably weren’t prepared for how distressing it was to watch our favorite heroes dissolve into dust before our eyes. Therapists probably made a mint on Spider-Man’s death alone!

#5: The Tunnel of Fear

“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (1971)
This candy-coated musical film begins innocently enough – there’s songs, bright colors, and sweets galore! Everything kids love! And sure, one of the kids taking the tour through the chocolate factory getting sucked up into a pipe to an uncertain fate is pretty weird, but let’s forget all that and go on a fun boat ride! Right? Wrong! Far from making it an enchanting experience, Willy Wonka seems to be doing his best to terrify both the tour and the audience; showing them disturbing imagery projected on the walls, while delivering an off-kilter, creepy song. And then it’s back to chocolate and candy! WHAT?! Talk about tonal whiplash! Do the Oompa Loompas provide mental health counseling?

#4: An Offer He Can’t Refuse

“The Godfather” (1972)
Despite famously beginning with a wedding, an undercurrent of violence lies throughout the beginning of “The Godfather.” Threats, both explicit and implicit, are featured in much of the dialogue Don Corleone, his family, and their associates deliver. When the Don’s godson requests his help in securing a movie part, it’s pretty obvious that something bad is going to happen to the head of the studio, Jack Woltz, when he refuses. Even though it’s set up that Jack loves his horse, seeing him wake up to find its severed head in his bed is shocking and horrendous to contemplate being in his place.

#3: “What’s in the Box?”

“SE7EN” (1995)
“Se7en” features some profoundly disturbing murders themed around the seven deadly sins being investigated by two detectives. As tempted as we were to discuss the deeply upsetting “Sloth” scene, the movie’s infamous finale is arguably more disturbing. The serial killer known only as John Doe has directed the detective duo out to a remote field, sure, but he’s already in custody – there’s no way he can do anything now. This is technically true – it’s what Doe has already done that’s so distressing. After turning himself in, Doe reveals that he killed Detective David Mills’ wife and mailed her head to the field, hoping to goad David into “wrathfully” completing the sins. Villain victories are always disturbing, but few are quite this twisted!

#2: The Truth

“Oldboy” (2003)
The premise of “Oldboy” is nightmare enough – Dae-su (day-soo) is imprisoned for 15 years for reasons he doesn’t understand. After being mysteriously released, he goes hunting for his captors, while also falling for a young chef, Mi-do (mee-doh). It’s a roaring rampage of revenge, but Dae-su ultimately catches up with his captor, Woo-jin (woo-jin). Dae-su witnessing and then speaking about Woo-jin’s inappropriate relationship with his sister, leading to her death, was shocking enough, but it’s not quite as brutal as the full extent of his captor’s revenge. It turns out that Mi-do is actually Dae-su’s daughter, and Woo-jin has manipulated Dae-su using hypnosis to force him into an inappropriate relationship of his own with her. Dae-su… doesn’t handle it well… to put it mildly, and neither do we!

Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Scarabs, “The Mummy” (1999)
Under the Skin?! Big Ol’ NOPE!


Sid’s Toys, “Toy Story” (1995)
Sid’s Gotta Be Related to Dr. Frankenstein, Right?

Skull Bear, “Annihilation” (2018)
There Are Scary Bears, and Then There’s This Thing!

Ceti Eels, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982)
Squirmy Things Going Inside Your Ears Should Be on Everyone’s No-Go List


Baby Hallucination, “Trainspotting” (1996)
No High Could Be Worth This!

#1: Chestburster

“Alien” (1979)
So, we all know about this scene now, but watching it for the first time? No one’s prepared for it. This sci-fi horror classic sees the crew of the Nostromo investigate a crashed alien ship, only for one of the crew, Kane, to be attacked by an alien creature. Fortunately, it detaches itself from his face, and he appears a little worse for the wear. That is, until the crew is sitting around having a meal and the infant alien implanted in Kane’s body bursts out of his chest; finishing him and leaving the Nostromo crew and the audience with nightmares for life.