The ability for a piece of art to convey any bit of an emotional response from the viewer is a kind of pure magic. Turning nothing into something that impacts a total stranger ex nihilo is a feat of accomplishment that makes art important and crucial for humanity. Cinema is highly accessible and is the most conducive medium to gather raw emotion from the audience, especially with a particularly riveting sequence. This is due to the unpredictable nature of great suspenseful scenes in general; we are seeing events play out in real time with thrilling uncertainty, which brilliant filmmakers utilize to their advantage.
Suspense and tension are effective techniques in film that can be demonstrated in any genre. However, suspense is only as impactful as its set-up. Having relatable and investing stakes in a film will intensify the tension and hook the audience themselves into the scenes. Throughout film history, many films have put audiences on the edge of their seats, clenching the armrests in anticipation for what’s to come. These select few have executed brilliant usage of tension and intensity, causing racing hearts and bated breath.
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6 The Deer Hunter
Universal Pictures
One of the quintessential sequences of raw intensity, the Russian Roulette scene in The Deer Hunter put this film on the map as one of the most emotionally draining of all time. The horror of watching Michael (Robert De Niro) and Nick (Christopher Walken) endure the horrors of war is enough to prompt screen breaks. However, the investment and runtime dedicated to these characters will force the audience to wait in anticipation, hoping for relief. Nevertheless, this film has little relief.
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The intensity of the Russian Roulette sequence in particular is riveting because it is in real time and ultimately dedicated to the unpredictability of chance. The flip-of-a coin mentality leaves little hope for the characters; all faith resides in the odds which, with death at stake, are far from fair.
5 Uncut Gems
A24
The Safdie Brothers have perfected the art of tension by setting the characters and audience on the ground level. Their films are street films, meaning they exist in the real world and with real people (often literally, using many non-actors); the conversations and stakes are relatable and in your face. The ending sequence of Uncut Gems is incredibly intense because we have seen the fatal flaw of Howard Rather, played brilliantly by a magnetic Adam Sandler, come to its highest peak.
In this scene, his obsessions and compulsions reach a climactic level during the biggest risk of his life. All hope rests in Kevin Garnett as he utilizes the “power” of the lucky gem. This game, even for non-basketball fans, is filled with suspense because we see the painful, lethal stakes for Howard. The music is perfectly blended with the imagery, Sandler’s performance is raw and breathtaking, and the shocking outcome is nothing we’d ever anticipate.
4 Mad Max: Fury Road
Warner Bros. Pictures
Films like Mad Max: Fury Road capture intensity in downright chaos. The entire film is loaded with brutal, fast-paced imagery and head-scratching moments of unpredictable absurdity. However, the entire film executes this absurdity in the most perfect way. Specifically, the race to the citadel may be the apotheosis of the many intense sequences in the film, jam-packed with practical effects and set pieces, committed performances from Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and Zoë Kravitz, and explosive imagery. George Miller directed a jaw-dropping film that will be a staple of raw action for generations to come.
3 Whiplash
Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash relies on its performances to execute the tension. The acting from J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller sells every bit of that intensity because we know where both of these characters are coming from. Their motivations for greatness, developed so skillfully throughout the film, clash with one another. They see themselves in each other, either through want or ambition. After an entire film dedicated to these characters butting heads and clashing ideologies, it all comes down to the last twenty minutes.
The ending sequence offers practically no dialogue but just sheer intensity. We see everything that Andrew (Teller) has ever wanted to become when Fletcher (Simmons) breaks him down and leaves him out to dry. However, in a lengthy drum solo, Andrew lets the blood, sweat, and tears explode in a massive white-knuckle sequence filled with real emotion and painstaking effort.
2 Room
Elevation Pictures
There is hardly any film-related experience that will match the first viewing of Room. What makes this award-winning masterpiece stand out is its innocence. Ma (Brie Larson) and seven-year-old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) have their own little world together within four little walls. The external circumstances of their tragic situation are not the initial focal point, as the film is told through the eyes of a child. However, the escape sequence hits a level of intense emotion that not many films have achieved as we see this innocent child wiggle his way to freedom.
In this one-shot chance to escape the clutches of his captor, Jack struggles to break free after faking his death and pretending to be a corpse which needs to be disposed. The film takes its time in this intense sequence as Jack attempts to finally free himself, but the sheer beauty of the scene is in its conclusion. Jack sees the sky for the first time, and the scene takes a deep breath. Jack looks up to the sky, the trees and the entire outside world for the first time, gorgeous post-rock music awash across the soundtrack. After wiggling his way out of a rolled rug in the back of a pickup truck, he is reborn.
1 The Exorcist
Quite possibly the most intense horror film of all time, The Exorcist exemplifies true cinematic art. From practical and brutal make-up, to powerful use of sound, this film holds no punches in traumatizing the viewer. The horrors that Regan, played by Linda Blair, endures is intense as it is because she is an innocent child taken by the hands of evil. While the film toys with the concept of science and religion, the final exorcism sequence reveals the truth.
The sequence is often wordless, but incredibly loud in its execution, with terrifying and upsetting imagery. It is not one for the faint of heart, to see the little girl who began the film bubbling with light, become the truest personification of darkness. The performances from Max von Sydow and Jason Miller are perfect as the priests who are Regan’s last hope for salvation, and the audience’s hope for some relief from the unremitting terror of this endlessly effective, intense sequence..
