The Scariest Scenes Of 2022

"Olga?"

"Tár" stars an all-but-locked Best Actress in Cate Blanchett as Berlin Philharmonic composer-conductor Lydia Tár. Her life throttles off the rails as indecent accusations tarnish her good name, leading to faint breaks in storytelling that might be Lydia's projected fractures or actual reality. Writer and director Todd Field pushes Lydia to the brink, even into horror genre territory. So well, in fact, I'm fully invested in a Todd Field horror movie someday.

My favorite breakout occurs when Lydia follows virtuoso cellist Olga (Sophie Kauer) home to her slummy apartment, a dilapidated complex with dingy subterranean floors where Lydia descends. It's something out of any haunted asylum movie where a character investigates dripping and desolate passageways where no good lurks — and then Lydia starts hearing pitter-patters. Then, a dog appears at the opposite end of the hallway, which causes Lydia to bolt upstairs from the beast before smashing her head. It's Horror 101 suspense in a hunt-versus-prey scenario, drawn to the razor's edge.

"We just want to go home."

Christian Tafdrup's "Speak No Evil" is one of the year's crowning feel-bad horror flicks, exploring the horrors of vacation friends and trusting strangers. A Danish couple meets a Dutch family on their Tuscan getaway, which prompts the Dutch clan to invite their newfound Danish companions for a visit to their homestead. Danish father Bjørn (Morten Burian) loves the idea of doing something rustic and breaking the monotony of their city malaise. Bad idea.

The scare in question happens well after the Dutch hosts out themselves as the evilest of criminals. Dutch father Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) has taken Bjørn's family hostage in their car, and Bjørn has become submissive. Patrick's associate arrives and hops in the car, turning his attention to Bjørn's daughter Agnes (Liva Forsberg) — cutting her tongue out and abducting her as both parents utter useless words of comfort. We can presume what comes next — child trafficking, abuse, etcetera — but true horror exists in the bleakness of witnessing it all happen, with no one stopping the depravity.

"He says he's happy to meet you."

Andy Mitton uses the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop for "The Harbinger" so well. It's a film about the horrors of isolation and the island feeling of social disappearance, except with a Plague Doctor demon with Freddy Krueger powers.

How we meet said demon is the scariest scene in "The Harbinger." Monique (Gabby Beans) is quarantining with her friend in an NYC apartment, where she hears a sick child coughing upstairs. There's a ruckus, and within seconds, the infected child comes crashing through their ceiling. Monique is petrified, first by the possible viral infiltration and child's body, then as she looks towards the doorway and hears a clicking noise (subtitled as "dark chattering"). The titular Harbinger lowers itself head-first into the front doorway, revealing its raven-black beaked mask. The undead child is now standing upright and makes an unfortunate introduction to Monique that will haunt her for the film's remaining duration.

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with you."

Rob Jabbaz's "The Sadness" is a movie about monsters without morality — The Purge meets 28 Days Later. An outbreak where civilians turn sadistic and act on their worst impulses becomes a disgusting parade of extreme atrocities. "The Businessman" (Tzu-Chiang Wang) is a recurring figure who stabs out eyes and is sick of being called a subway pervert — so he becomes the ultimate evolution of his called-out self.

In a hospital, after The Businessman finds the woman whose eye he removed in a wheelchair, The Sadness reaches its height of depravity with maddening disgust. The Businessman can infect his one-eyed victim any way he chooses, but left alone, and corrupted by thoughts that suggest only the worst, he shoulders off his suspenders, unzips his pants, removes the eyepatch and — yup. They don't show everything, but sound design is enough to cause turned heads. The kind of scene you can't stomach and sure as hell earns a "horrifying" classification.

"I unleashed her. I unleashed Mildred."

Oh look, another Scariest Scenes Ever nomination! Joseph and Vanessa Winter's "Deadstream" is often funnier than frightful, but that doesn't stop a hanging woman only seen on livestream footage from nailing the film's top scare. Disgraced YouTuber Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter) attempts to maneuver around the swinging ghost of Mildred Pratt, who only appears on his stream, which he holds in front of the camera as he approaches the supposed location of her dangling corpse above the exit staircase. Shawn keeps lifting and lowering his livestream view, inching closer to the inevitable jolt we see a mile away — he drops the tablet once more, and there's Mildred! She cackles, lunges toward the camera, and causes quite the jump scare. Who said fear couldn't be fun?

"Just be brave."

Johannes Roberts' "V/H/S/99" segment "Suicide Bid" is a laundry list of phobias crammed into an anthology segment. College freshman Lily (Alexia Ioannides) accepts a sorority hazing ritual that involves being buried in a graveyard, jumping into a coffin in the name of Greek popularity. The found footage perspective means we're watching via a camera with Lily, all cramped in a wooden casket, and then she opens a box — full of not-so-small spiders. Lily freaks the hell out as the arachnids crawl over her face — supposedly confirmed by the V/H/S/99 production crew to be practical — as claustrophobia, arachnophobia, and taphophobia create this terrifying trifecta of terror. Nah! Just ... nah.

"Someone bit me."

In Zach Cregger's "Barbarian," the first full-body scare happens unpredictably. Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) books a rental in a rundown Detroit neighborhood that's already occupied by Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgård) — a double-guest snafu. Cregger wants you to think there's something nefarious going on as Keith welcomes Tess inside, Tess making sure to lock every door after entering rooms alone. Surely Keith is a psychopath luring Tess into his trap with alcohol and charming banter ... right?

Wrong! As my partner Chris Evangelista writes in a recent Scariest Scenes ever column, the scariest scene of Barbarian happens to Keith in the rental's basement. Tess reveals suspicious rooms and a camcorder downstairs, which Keith goes to investigate. She ventures after Keith when he stops responding to find another opening and a pitch-black tunnel system. Keith screams for help, emerges wounded, and then the duo is attacked by a naked mutant-like woman who bashes Keith's head to smithereens against the wall. It all happens so quickly, which makes for quite an unexpected fright as "Barbarian" proves its outward presentations are deceptive facades.

"What was that? Was that a gun?"

Megan Park's feature debut "The Fallout" is traumatic, terrifying, and maybe not classifiable as traditional "horror," but features the most horrific scene of the year. Trigger warning, but it's a no-punches-pulled movie about the aftermath of a school shooting that we witness happen. Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler play high schoolers sharing the girl's bathroom when POP POP — gunshots are heard from the hallway. The classmates dash into a stall and stand atop the toilet, cowering as screams, panic, and the rat-a-tat of assault fire pierces through their paralyzed silence. Niles Fitch bursts in quivering, teary-eyed, and covered in blood — his character's brother is one of the shooting victims. They huddle above toilet water, send what could be their last messages, and pray they don't become another forgotten statistic.

The film premiered March 17, 2021 at Austin's SXSW film festival — the same year a record high 35 American school shootings were reported. Park is sickened by an America where outrage over pronouns trumps gun restrictions and child safety. The scene traps viewers in an active shooter scenario from a teenager's perspective because they're the ones whose innocence is stolen — real people, not pictures on a news report. The ones whose lives are at risk, friends are slain, and souls are traded for some rando's rights to own weapons that no civilian needs unfettered access to at all times. This is the scene that shattered my soul in 2022 because it's a nightmare no one should live — yet here we are, with 49 school shootings this year and another new record. Put that high score on the board, America. We earned it.

Thoughts and prayers, of course.