Tragic Scenes In Terrifying Films That Make You Cry

Ari Aster's films dredge powerful feelings of dread, fear, and terror. Yes, those are all different. But "Midsommar" opens up with a tragic gut punch that rivals the greatest ones in the genre. The scene that kicks off the events in the movie is Dani's (Florence Pugh) sister Terri (Klaudia Csányi) committing suicide and taking their parents with her. This scene was even more horrifying than the ending of "The Mist." It gave me a day-long panic attack. It's one of the most terrifying and pitiful things ever seen on screen. Thank you, Ari Aster.

"Wolf Creek" is a film that makes people upset, and a big part of it is the tragedy of what happens to the women in the movie. Liz is brilliant and gets the better of the killer, but she makes the mistake of not finishing him off when she has the chance. You seem confident she will take him out and escape with her friend, but Mick pops up, surprises her, and severs her spinal cord. This woman, whom the audience has sympathy for, has effectively been put at the mercy of this ruthless killer. It messes people up.

There are so many tragic moments in Sang-ho Yeon's masterstroke "Train To Busan." However, the one that never fails to wring tears from the audience is when Soo-an and Seong-kyeong, the final survivors, walk toward safety through a train tunnel to the security point at Busan. It could have been even more tragic, but hearing Soo-an sing the song she learned to make her father happy as she weeps is heartrending.

J.A. Bayona's film "The Orphanage" is a tale of a mother who loses her adoptive son in the orphanage she hopes to open. She searches for the boy for six months after she becomes angry with him and slaps him. It turns out he hid and died accidentally and has been there the whole time. The woeful conclusion to her search breaks her heart, especially when she realizes that the sounds she heard the night he disappeared weren't spirits but the boy trying to escape.

Brian De Palma's "Carrie" is a tragedy. Carrie White is an unfortunate girl who was disliked for reasons that she had nothing to do with, and in the one moment when her peers could have accepted her, she was humiliated. Carrie goes home after taking revenge, and her mother attacks her and is forced to defend herself. At that moment, she realizes she no longer has the will to fight and accepts her fate. She wraps her mother in her arms and sets her home ablaze. It is enough to make you sob.

"Pet Sematary" is a novel filled with heartbreaking moments, but the central moment that makes people cry in Mary Lambert's adaptation is when Gage dies on the road in front of their house. You can feel the tears coming when the parents react and realize that the child is in danger, and Louis Creed desperately attempts to save him. When you see the shoe in the road, it's time to bring out the tissues.

Lon Chaney Jr.'s performance in "The Wolf Man" makes the film work as a tragedy. You feel for the man who never meant to become a werewolf and is tortured by the idea that he turns into a monster that kills people. The irony that his father kills him with the silver cane he bought himself is so sad. While many werewolf films have tried to recreate the tragedy of the 1941 version, they never really have.

Christian Tafdrup's new classic is a film that is just deep and dark. The ending, when the lovely couple finally realizes what is happening and that it has happened many times before, is a moment of pure horror. The sadness of their lonely deaths and the fate of their child is something that is so affecting that it angers people who watch it, much like the ending of "The Mist." It is such an outrageous outcome that emotions run high. That's the mark of a film that made you feel something.

"Would You Rather" has a series of deadly games, but Iris becomes part of the game only because she wants to save her brother, who has leukemia. After the ordeal, she returns home with the money and ability to save his life and finds that Raleigh, her brother, died of suicide. He felt he was a bother, and she killed someone to win. The horror of the situation and the loss of her beloved brother is such a blow. She weeps, and so does the audience.

Donald Sutherland (Matthew Bennell) and Brooke Adams (Elizabeth Driscoll) fight valiantly to avoid being absorbed by the pods throughout the film. The moment Elizabeth falls asleep too long while Matthew is away and her body disintegrates in her arms is sorrowful. When Miles cradles her body as it disappears and cries, you can't help but be moved. You know that he's been dealt a blow that goes right to his heart.