5. Spencer discovers A's lair - with A. At first, it’s exciting when Spencer finally discovers A’s lair. After two seasons of getting tortured, coming across A’s secret hideyhole was a big payoff. But it quickly turned creepy once we see just how obsessed A is with the girls and Alison. Walls covered in pictures of them, of articles about Alison, dollhouses in the background – it went from exciting to horrifying in about 2 seconds flat. The moment you put it together that Spencer is alone with A in A’s lair is downright chilling.
4. A night out at the movies - with A! The Liars gather at the movies to discuss the latest A haps, and Spencer turns and sees A sitting several rows behind them. Seeing A's hooded profile in the complete darkness is fucking scary, man. It’s so sinister - made even more so by the fact that he/she just suddenly appears. And then when they look again and A’s gone. This moment is so scary, in fact, that I wasn’t sure I should be putting it so low on the list. Points off for being a dream sequence, but holy crap. It was only a minute or two long, but that it made it on this list should speak volumes.
3. Hanna and Aria follow Mona around Radley. Television mental hospitals are creepy. Old, abandoned wards that used to house children are creepy. Some drugged up psycho singing and talking to herself is creepy. Add them together and what have you got – a scene I could barely watch, that is how much it freaked me out. It has all the elements of a horror film, except maybe worse because Mona is singing to herself/her dolls/Hanna and Aria who she knows are hiding in the closet. This is one of the more far-fetched moments of the series (which is really saying something!), but it's still something that will send shivers up your spine.
2. Everything and anything involving those damn Chucky dolls So I think we can all agree, antique dolls are scary as shit. I don’t believe they were actually given to children as something fun to play with. More like as punishment for doing something bad, because those things will give you nightmares for at least a week. My aunt has a room full of antique toys, including baby dolls, and I refuse to go near it. It is literally the most haunted place I’ve ever been near. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps, because you just know that it has this really awful vibe about it.
Anyway. So yeah, old dolls = fucking scary and creepy. Dolls that have been programmed to talk to you and you alone = horrifying. A doll that has been displayed to look like your dead friend, and programmed to say a threatening message ("Follow me, end up like me!" as the doll is dead and half-buried in a grave) = shit your pants scary. A ROOM full of dolls and doll heads that start falling on you for no apparent reason = a nightmare come to life. That creepy, maybe psychic, maybe a ghost kid who lives in the doll store = Like really. Just one of those elements would have been fine enough. No need to throw them all together. It’s okay, I didn’t need to sleep ever again.
(In the season 3 opener, this is the very first "Previously on..." flashback. I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR IT. Immediately gave me the chills. The dead, coming to life voice the doll has is downright the scariest thing I have ever heard in my entire existence. Yikes.)
And the scariest moment in PLL is......
1. Ian's body hanging from the bell tower I picked this one as the number one scariest moment because of how downright disturbing it is. Not so much “I’m about to crap my pants in fear” kind of scary (for that, see above!), but definitely something that freaks you out the more you think about it. And if it happened to you, you would only be okay after many years of therapy. Just picture it – Ian dead after falling in the tower, his body dangling, caught up in the ropes. The bells clanging non-stop because of the weight of his body. The sound of the ropes creaking as his lifeless body swings back and forth. It’s all so unsettling. It may not be one of the flashier scary moments, but it’s the kind of sight and thought that will stick with you long after it’s over.
We're a little over a month away from the Halloween episode, which has been promised to be the scariest yet. Scarier than talking Chucky dolls and corpses hanging around in the church tower? Please, I'd like to see you try.
...on second thought, actually no.
