From a cluster of deadites going into a woodchipper in Evil Dead Rise to Riley’s possession going over the 90-second limit in Talk to Me, 2023 has brought some truly unforgettable horror movie moments. 2022 delivered plenty of terrific horror movie moments: Gordy’s on-set rampage in Nope, Mia Goth’s chilling climactic monologue in Pearl, the diabolical twist ending of Bodies Bodies Bodies – last year had no shortage of horror movie moments that frightened audiences. But the best horror movie moments of 2023 have given 2022’s classic horror moments a run for their money. 2023 has given audiences a wholly unique vision of an alien invasion in No One Will Save You, a bunch of festive kills in Eli Roth’s feature-length expansion of his Thanksgiving trailer, and all the animatronic action in Five Nights at Freddy’s – and they don’t even crack the top five.

Beau Meets His Father (Beau Is Afraid)

Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid is a wild movie that has to be seen to be believed. Joaquin Phoenix plays the title role, one of the most debilitatingly anxious characters ever put on film, and Aster spends the unwieldy three-hour runtime making all of Beau’s worst fears a reality. He spends the movie wondering who his father is and fearing his own sexuality, due to the lies his mother told him about his father’s sexual health. Those two fears collide when Beau’s mother sends him up into the dark attic to meet his father: a gigantic penis with a face. This is the culmination of the entire movie, and by far the craziest thing in its three hours of ambiguous anguish. Beau is Afraid’s penis monster is one of the most unexpected and unforgettable images of the year.

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The Rat King (Evil Dead Rise)

In the big finale of Evil Dead Rise, the deadites follow Lee Cronin’s new heroine, Beth, into the parking lot of the apartment building. There, she uses the signature weapon of Evil Dead protagonists – a chainsaw – to protect her niece Kassie from the deadites. When the deadites all come together to form a “rat king”-like cluster, Beth decides she needs a bigger weapon. A grotesque amalgamation of deadites is a brand-new concept in the Evil Dead franchise and leads to the gleefully gory moment that Beth jams the beast into a woodchipper. There’s plenty of blood in Evil Dead Rise (including an homage to The Shining’s elevator doors), but the woodchipper kill is easily the bloodiest scene in the movie.

M3GAN's Dance (M3GAN)

When the delightfully zany trailer for M3GAN dropped, the titular killer doll robot’s dance went viral and became a popular TikTok challenge. The movie itself has a ton of memorable moments, like M3GAN chasing a bully through the woods on all fours or killing the nosy neighbor with insecticide, but nothing topped that viral dance scene teased in the trailer. M3GAN’s dance, performed seconds before chopping up another victim, encapsulates the charmingly campy tone that made the movie such a resounding hit. The M3GAN sequel currently in development will have a hard time topping that dance scene.

The Psychedelic Orgy Montage (Infinity Pool)

Brandon Cronenberg proved that he has his dad’s gift for body horror with the gonzo theatrics of Infinity Pool. There are a ton of unsettling moments in Infinity Pool that audiences have struggled to unsee, but the psychedelic orgy montage is the weirdest and most talked-about scene in the movie by far. Part of James and Gabi’s libertine downfall at the hands of the unscrupulous locals is to ingest drugs and partake in a series of orgies. Since the characters are under the influence of hallucinogens, it’s unclear how much of the orgy is real and how much is in their minds. There’s a dark, ethereal quality to this sequence that makes it as mesmerizing and oddly beautiful as it is disturbing.

Riley's Possession (Talk To Me)

From the opening stab-in-the-face jump scare to the ironic final twist that puts Mia on the other side of the embalmed hand, Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me was arguably the most terrifying horror movie of the year. Talk to Me is deeply unnerving from start to finish, but if there’s one scene that stands out more than the others, it’s Riley’s initial possession. As soon as the hand is introduced, it’s made perfectly clear that if the portal to the spirit world is open for more than 90 seconds, terrible things will happen. But when Riley channels Mia’s late mother, she keeps his possession going long after the 90-second limit... and terrible things happen. Riley loses control of his body and the spirits take over, throwing him across the room and slamming his head against any hard surface they can find. It’s a really uncompromising sequence that’s difficult to watch but impossible to look away from.

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