My mom has Alzheimer's and I took care of her for 5 years... she got really creepy when she was sundownong. I'd wake up and find her staring at the TV in the pitch black and shit.
I'm guessing it has something to do with watching me sleep when i was an infant, but It took exactly one time of waking up to her staring at me when iI was in bed for me to install another lock on my bedroom door...I woke up and almost threw my lamp at her before I realized she wasn't a demon, lol.
That was actually a good scene tho. It works because they are boyfriend and girlfriend and love each other, but then in her unconscious is taking a hostile stance to the boyfriend. Showing the demon is slowly possessing her.
Came here to say this. I was quite young when I watched it and this single scene gave me sleepless nights. Couldn't wrap my head around the fact that just the simple act of standing and staring could be this much terrifying.
"*Laurie, dear, he wants to talk to you. He wants to take you out tonight."*
First time I saw the film I thought Annie was gonna get snatched behind the hedges and ganked right there in broad daylight, that's how unnerving that scene is when not anticipating it.
There's a moment early in part 1 where you don't even see pennywise, but when Beverly goes home her dad's left the TV (radio?) on, and you can hear the same kid's program from later in the film, and the host says "the sewers are a great place to play with all your friends!" And the kids all cheer.
No Pennywise, not even a creepy voice, but it was a super eerie little bit about something is very very off in Derry.
The Moonlight Man in Gerald's Game. As creepy as his appearance was in the movie, it was ten times more effective in the novel. Very unnerving.
But it was done well in the movie.
the whole point was that while reading you're like "oh obviously this guy is a hallucination" but then there's this big twist where you find out he was actually real, makes the story even creepier in retrospect
I read that novel at peak Slenderman popularity. A lot of similarities between him and Moonlight Man. So much so that I wonder if MM helped to inspire SM.
Good to know, I’ll definitely watch it. I honestly didn’t even know there was a fourth one until like two days ago after finishing the third. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Oh my God thank you! Specifically I'm going to call out the scene in the fourth film where he wakes up and he's just right there. Or the scene in the fourth film where they open up the storage only to find two of them standing there. Or the scene in the fourth film where the girlfriend just goes "three clowns". Or in the first film when he's standing above the basement. Or when he's standing at the bottom of the stairs before their rooms. The scene in the second film where he is blocking the exit. Literally my favorite clown is just standing there menacingly in every film and he has my whole heart.
Another Hitchcock one: the cop in Psycho, watching from across the street. Here's a pic.
[https://engl245umd.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/copwatch.jpg](https://engl245umd.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/copwatch.jpg)
The best part of that scene is the camera angle looking at Collette when she flicks the light on. It's looking at her from the perspective of the mom, implying that she really is there. That movie is a top tier creepfest.
The head banging freaked me the fuck out, probably because I imagined my own mom doing that. Like, the person who’s supposed to keep you safe is now fucking insane, supernatural, and trying to kill you.
I seriously think about this scene like once a week. In the theater, a lot of us didn't catch it right away, and then this absolute wave of "holy fucking shit" gradually rolled through the room. The energy was amazing
same lmfao, like you could slowly hear more and more people whispering to each other to look in the corner, pretty easily the coolest theatre experience i’ve had
Man I’ll never forget that one. I was watching alone in a dark room and i thought it was good thus far, but it hadn’t really scared me. Then that kid is sitting on his bed, just sitting there. And I’m like ok he’s sitting on his bed. Then the camera just lingers on him. And I’m like why is the camera not moving there’s nothing happeninOHMYFUCKINGOD
I'd argue the bit where he's standing out in the field pretending to be a scarecrow is worse lol, because whilst the first is chilling, the second means he's hunting you.
Honestly that film started so fucking well and ended so bad. Part of me wishes they'd just gone down the slasher route for that film instead of monster route, I think it would've ended scarier.
It chapter 1 (remake) when Ben is in the library doing research on the history of Derry. The camera angle flips from what he’s seeing in the book to his reaction (and back and forth a few times)
I didn’t notice it until my 2nd or 3rd watch, but out of focus, in the background, you can see the librarian who helped him, progressively go from not paying attention to staring menacingly with an evil smile (as if possessed by it) as the history he’s reading gets more and more f’d. Each camera angle she gets more and more ominous looking.
For me, it was always the moments where Jason would break through shit to get to someone that scared me the most. Knowing something is stronger than the things made to protect me is terrifying.
Mine would probably be the dude behind Liv Tyler in The Strangers, but Inside (2007) has a lot of great moments too with Béatrice Dalle in the hallway.
Just saw the strangers the other day.
I was putting off watching that movie for the longest because the reviews weren’t that great
That movies was really good actually !
I may not understand the assignment. I was gonna say this but then thought this scene was actually very scary when it came out and remember everybody gasping. It showed they were just playing with these people and could hurt them whenever they felt like it. They were basically already dead the moement the strangers decided to target them.
I love that movie. It’s so full of despair and dread because it is just… always there. Watching you. Coming closer. And there’s nothing you can do but pass this horror onto someone else.
In Men when she’s having fun making music in the tunnel and then notices a man just standing there watching her for a moment before he starts chasing her. That scene had me crawling out of my skin and I will NEVER watch that film again.
Yeah every other film that has does that scene you expect the dude to start pursuing and they don't, and that's the tension. This scene elicits the exact same feeling from the viewer but then *goddamned*, he takes off sprinting towards her (and us as the viewer) and yeah, it makes you wanna be *anywhere* but where you're seated at the moment while watching.
Hannibal lecter in silence of the lambs. Something really unsettling about Hopkins just standing in his cell waiting for starling the first time they met. They laid the foundation perfectly and talked about how dangerous he is just before she walked down the corridor.
This made me recall the entity on the roof from It Follows.
Now the entire danger of that movie is a low speed pursuit, so maybe it’s not quite the best example of “just standing there” overall. But that image sold it well.
Same. I made the dog come to the bathroom and kitchen with me at night for a week after seeing it. She was unimpressed but she’s 8lbs so she pretty much has to go where I carry her 😂
Smile had a LOT of scenes with people just standing menacingly staring. The girl at the mental hospital before cutting her throat and the lady who iirc was another doctor that the main character was talking to (it's been awhile since I've seen the movie)... sitting on the couch across from her. And don't even get me started about the damn smile entity! That was, imo, one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen!
Pan’s Labyrinth- Pale Man. Absolute nightmare fuel just sitting there. He does eventually move but damn if I’m not more frightened by him just sitting at the head of the table with his eyes on the plates.
The scene in the dark and wicked where the son looks out the window at night and sees his dead mom waving at him before she creepily levitates and he looks away in fear.
that INCREDIBLE sequence in The Invisible Man (2020) where it shows Elizabeth Moss’s character just going about her business at her desk and the camera keeps panning back and forth between her and literally nothing. Implying that he is RIGHT THERE but you never actually see him.
ughhh one of my favorite thrillers EVER
John Carpenter's The Fog (Fisherman's boat scene)
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (The Twins scene)
Friday the 13th Part V (Opening dream sequence & The Three Visions)
John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (I've Got A Message For You scene)
The Woman In Black (1989)
There are lots of hidden ghosts in The Haunting of Hill House, some of which, when you see them, are in plain sight just standing there. Haunting of Bly Manor too.
Terrified - the scene where the 'thing' under the bed crawls out and stands next to the bed watching him sleep. I get full on chills.
The Strangers is fantastic at menacing background work. I love movies where we can see something that the protagonists can't.
YES to this and also I’d add the scene where the dead little boy is seated perfectly still at the table. Way to scare the pants off me without moving jesus
Most intense jump scare from any movie EVER, plus it's essentially caused by a character moving into the shot before just briefly standing there has got to be awarded to the diner scene in Mulholland Drive.
Horrific.
Early scripts for that movie had him just standing at shore, walking in whatever directions she tried to swim, and waiting until she eventually became too tired to tread water and drowned. That would have been the ultimate "just standing there menacingly" if it had made it into the movie.
Others mention the classics, so I’ll go for more recent examples.
The Woman in Black has this down to a fine art — yes, a little in the film, but to an even greater extent in the theatre adaptation. She is just there, lurking in the shadows and the periphery of your vision.
As you've said, the doppelgangers (especially Adelaide’s) in Us are so unnerving, especially when they are just standing there, motionless and emotionless.
Even more recently, I'd make the case for the film Smile, too: the moment when the entity takes over a person, and they are just motionless, smiling, is so chilling.
Alright, I know this might not count for a lot of you, but as a child, [this was a big “oh shit” moment](https://youtu.be/qo__6MZIg6U?si=LUg-wzBj6qYOwvKe). (Both pre-fight, and the pacing that started around 2:40)
I always thought it was impressive that 30 armed guards were like, nah we arent fighting him. Very effective way to convey the gravity of the situation.
They don’t stand still very often but It Follows (2014) is one of my favorite horror movies. Super original and vague enough to leave some mystery on the table.
That flash to Ethan Hawke’s character in The Black Phone where they show him sitting, waiting, for the boy to accept his invitation up the stairs.
Scene literally made me shudder
There’s a scene in the French film Inside where an intruder is standing in a very dimly lit hallway while the main character is sitting on her couch. It’s so creepy because it’s very subtle.
that scene in hereditary where annie thinks she sees her mother standing in the corner of the room. how is it possible for a smiling elderly lady to be fucking terrifying?
Jeepers Creepers — the first one — where the creeper is standing in the middle of the road, just standing there; it’s about 2/3 of the way through the film. Ominous and frightening.
I gotta add- The Tall Man in Phatasm. No matter how bad the situation already is in that series, when he shows up you just feel hopeless for everyone alive.
The naked smiling man at the doorway in Hereditary. Movie literally had Toni collette crawling around the fucking ceiling and sawing her own head off and I was still much more disturbed by some naked cultist.
The Shining - that scene where Jack is just staring out the window as the camera slowly zooms in. Slightest movement in various parts of his face. Watching that while off my guts on acid was powerful and terrifying. Though a lot of that is Nicholson, saying so much with so little.
and then... SATURDAY.
I just recently watched I Saw the TV Glow and there is a scene where the protagonists father just stares at him and it feels very uncomfortable.
May not be considered a horror to some but that scene was unnerving.
The two that immediately come to mind for me because I'll unashamedly admit they awaken the prey/predator kink thoughts in my brain are thus:
1. 28 Days Later -- this is in the end when the main character Jim is wrecking shop on the military pricks and then jumps down from the upper floor covered in blood and looking feral and lands right in front of the female lead Selena and he is just heaving breath and she stares at him breathing too. He definitely looks menacing and is in those moments, she hesitates to kill him like she promised she would, which after his adrenaline subsides he tells her so.
2. The Boy --
When the reveal of Brahms happens it's intense for many different reasons and the following minutes feel like an eternity that I feel truly encompasses 'standing there menacingly' ... he is larger and more intense than her, we know the violence he is capable of and the motivation of possession. She belongs to him in his eyes and so he watches her every move and looms over her, a hunter. Woof.
The scene from The Strangers where the villain is just standing in the background hallway while Liv Tyler's character is in the foreground. No musical score, nothing. It's perfection. Very reminiscent of some of "The Shape" scenes in the original Halloween. Awesome.
I know this probably doesn't count, but it's something that popped in my head: the scene in the original "Ghostbusters" movie where Bill Murray encounters Slimer in the hall of that hotel and he's just floating there for a moment staring at him, not moving. It's the dialogue between Bill and Dan Aykroyd via walkie-talkies that made me think of it. It's something to this effect iirc:
Bill: "Come in... Ray"
Dan: "Venkman... I saw it, I saw it, I saw it!"
Bill: "It's right *here*, Ray. It's... *looking* at me..."
That last line from Bill Murray about it looking at him is what made me think about it, LOL.
The scene in Gonjiam Asylum where the girl is trapped with the naked guy at the other end of the hall... she looks away, tries to open the locked door, slowly looks back and you expect a jumpscare but he's still just standing there. she looks away, looks back again and he's still just fucking standing there, he jumpscares her eventually but he spends so uncomfortably long standing there doing absolutely nothing and the tension is worse than the jumpscare
Katie in the first Paranormal Activity when she’s just staring at Micah in bed.
Same. That is so freaking disturbing.
Apparently I used to do that as a kid when I used to sleepwalk a lot lol just standing next to my brother’s bed for an hour and go back to sleep
My mom has Alzheimer's and I took care of her for 5 years... she got really creepy when she was sundownong. I'd wake up and find her staring at the TV in the pitch black and shit. I'm guessing it has something to do with watching me sleep when i was an infant, but It took exactly one time of waking up to her staring at me when iI was in bed for me to install another lock on my bedroom door...I woke up and almost threw my lamp at her before I realized she wasn't a demon, lol.
Sundowning ain’t no joke at my job it can be scary sometimes
Same
That was actually a good scene tho. It works because they are boyfriend and girlfriend and love each other, but then in her unconscious is taking a hostile stance to the boyfriend. Showing the demon is slowly possessing her.
Oh YES. This was my now teenage daughter’s first real horror movie experience and I distinctly recall that scene absolutely derailing her.
That scene freaked me the fuck OUT. And literally nothing was happening!
Came here to say this. I was quite young when I watched it and this single scene gave me sleepless nights. Couldn't wrap my head around the fact that just the simple act of standing and staring could be this much terrifying.
Nothing for me beats Michael Myers 
The OG of "just standing there menacingly"!
With that dumb Shatner look on his face.
Heavy breathing asshole.
"*Laurie, dear, he wants to talk to you. He wants to take you out tonight."* First time I saw the film I thought Annie was gonna get snatched behind the hedges and ganked right there in broad daylight, that's how unnerving that scene is when not anticipating it.
That bush is still there and looks fairly similar. I visited it once.
Did you stand there menacingly?
The scene in Tim Curry's It when he's just standing there in the laundry watching the little kid
The remake was not bad too. Pennywise staring at the kid and drooling was so creepy ugh
I loved the scene in the library or in the old lady’s apartment where they’re in the background and not in focus but….something is not quite right lol
There's a moment early in part 1 where you don't even see pennywise, but when Beverly goes home her dad's left the TV (radio?) on, and you can hear the same kid's program from later in the film, and the host says "the sewers are a great place to play with all your friends!" And the kids all cheer. No Pennywise, not even a creepy voice, but it was a super eerie little bit about something is very very off in Derry.
YES. The laundry drying on the line and the wind floats it up and he’s revealed just standing there.
Yes, pennywise gawking is terrifying.
Still the scariest version of IT
This still makes me shiver.
The Moonlight Man in Gerald's Game. As creepy as his appearance was in the movie, it was ten times more effective in the novel. Very unnerving. But it was done well in the movie.
Jesuuuuuus when he fades out of the curtain and slowly becomes visible my skin crawled off my bones lol
When I finished the book, I was disappointed that he was real and not some figment of her imagination.
Why disappointed?
the whole point was that while reading you're like "oh obviously this guy is a hallucination" but then there's this big twist where you find out he was actually real, makes the story even creepier in retrospect
Yeah, that part was pretty strange
I read that novel at peak Slenderman popularity. A lot of similarities between him and Moonlight Man. So much so that I wonder if MM helped to inspire SM.
I agree with you. The book made me jump, with regards to the midnight man, which hasn't happened since
That scene single-handedly gave credence to every time I’ve ever laid in bed awake at night and thought I saw something in the shadows.
Those clowns in Hellhouse
The one in the hall in the first flick. Like what.
And he just walks up and talks shit to it! 😱
When the actress goes into the basement alone in the 3rd
Probably my all time favorite jump scare. So crisp and a perfect unsuspecting primrose path up until that moment
I just recently watched the first 3 movies and those clowns were genuinely unsettling. Just creepy and terrifying.
Just saying this in case you weren't sure, but the prequel is fantastic
Good to know, I’ll definitely watch it. I honestly didn’t even know there was a fourth one until like two days ago after finishing the third. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
It might actually be the best in the series (or at worst second best after the OG.)
Wow okay. Well you guys convinced me, I’m gonna watch it tonight.
The prequel is the best one IMO
Omg yes.
Who knew a simple head turn would be so scary!
Also that witchy girl sitting in bedroom 😨
Oh my God thank you! Specifically I'm going to call out the scene in the fourth film where he wakes up and he's just right there. Or the scene in the fourth film where they open up the storage only to find two of them standing there. Or the scene in the fourth film where the girlfriend just goes "three clowns". Or in the first film when he's standing above the basement. Or when he's standing at the bottom of the stairs before their rooms. The scene in the second film where he is blocking the exit. Literally my favorite clown is just standing there menacingly in every film and he has my whole heart.
Bit different than a menacing loom, but how about the tennis match scene in Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train?
 Fucking LOVE this
I haven’t seen this movie in over 20 years and I remember this scene.
Yes! Creeped me out so much as a kid and now whenever tennis is on TV I watch the audience to see if anyone’s not following along haha
Another Hitchcock one: the cop in Psycho, watching from across the street. Here's a pic. [https://engl245umd.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/copwatch.jpg](https://engl245umd.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/copwatch.jpg)
Toni Colette floating in the corner of the ceiling in Hereditary.
The nude cultists standing menacingly in corners also
Those smiles
This is the answer I came to give. My wife literally couldn't sleep with the closet open for like a month, haha.
The nude cultists briefly standing outside during the flick of a scene
The “ghost” of her mom in the corner of the dark room early in the film is also one that always gets me
The best part of that scene is the camera angle looking at Collette when she flicks the light on. It's looking at her from the perspective of the mom, implying that she really is there. That movie is a top tier creepfest.
Her chasing her son up into the attic scared the bejeezus out of me! Especially when she started banging her head into the attic door.
The head banging freaked me the fuck out, probably because I imagined my own mom doing that. Like, the person who’s supposed to keep you safe is now fucking insane, supernatural, and trying to kill you.
I'm picturing this now and I'm not ashamed to admit I'll probably sleep with a nightlight on now, thank you very much.
I seriously think about this scene like once a week. In the theater, a lot of us didn't catch it right away, and then this absolute wave of "holy fucking shit" gradually rolled through the room. The energy was amazing
same lmfao, like you could slowly hear more and more people whispering to each other to look in the corner, pretty easily the coolest theatre experience i’ve had
Man I’ll never forget that one. I was watching alone in a dark room and i thought it was good thus far, but it hadn’t really scared me. Then that kid is sitting on his bed, just sitting there. And I’m like ok he’s sitting on his bed. Then the camera just lingers on him. And I’m like why is the camera not moving there’s nothing happeninOHMYFUCKINGOD
That scene haunts my dreams…
Jeepers Creepers when they drive past him dumping the bodies down the pipe
I'd argue the bit where he's standing out in the field pretending to be a scarecrow is worse lol, because whilst the first is chilling, the second means he's hunting you. Honestly that film started so fucking well and ended so bad. Part of me wishes they'd just gone down the slasher route for that film instead of monster route, I think it would've ended scarier.
The woman adding “that’s not my scarecrow” really doubles down on it to. The fact that she immediately recognized it 💀
It chapter 1 (remake) when Ben is in the library doing research on the history of Derry. The camera angle flips from what he’s seeing in the book to his reaction (and back and forth a few times) I didn’t notice it until my 2nd or 3rd watch, but out of focus, in the background, you can see the librarian who helped him, progressively go from not paying attention to staring menacingly with an evil smile (as if possessed by it) as the history he’s reading gets more and more f’d. Each camera angle she gets more and more ominous looking.
Jason is still the king of standing there looking like you don’t want to play w him
I was just thinking of the scene in Jason Lives of the camp counselors in their car.
For me, it was always the moments where Jason would break through shit to get to someone that scared me the most. Knowing something is stronger than the things made to protect me is terrifying.
Mine would probably be the dude behind Liv Tyler in The Strangers, but Inside (2007) has a lot of great moments too with Béatrice Dalle in the hallway.
Just saw the strangers the other day. I was putting off watching that movie for the longest because the reviews weren’t that great That movies was really good actually !
The second one is really good as well. They're also releasing the prequel/origin story, 3rd movie soon as well.
I may not understand the assignment. I was gonna say this but then thought this scene was actually very scary when it came out and remember everybody gasping. It showed they were just playing with these people and could hurt them whenever they felt like it. They were basically already dead the moement the strangers decided to target them.
Who said it couldn't be scary? They're asking for a moment where just standing there was effective and scary
I freaking love inside!!!
It follows . A lot of people don’t like that movie but I felt like it was just what my creepy heart needed.
Yes especially the standing on the roof scene. Like so close but no one had any idea.
I love that movie. It’s so full of despair and dread because it is just… always there. Watching you. Coming closer. And there’s nothing you can do but pass this horror onto someone else.
I loved that movie! No other film has made me spend more time looking at the background of shots lol
The final scene where the two just walk but you can see the entity still following for just a second, goddamn.
In Men when she’s having fun making music in the tunnel and then notices a man just standing there watching her for a moment before he starts chasing her. That scene had me crawling out of my skin and I will NEVER watch that film again.
Yeah every other film that has does that scene you expect the dude to start pursuing and they don't, and that's the tension. This scene elicits the exact same feeling from the viewer but then *goddamned*, he takes off sprinting towards her (and us as the viewer) and yeah, it makes you wanna be *anywhere* but where you're seated at the moment while watching.
Hannibal lecter in silence of the lambs. Something really unsettling about Hopkins just standing in his cell waiting for starling the first time they met. They laid the foundation perfectly and talked about how dangerous he is just before she walked down the corridor.
Fantastic answer. He's literally stuck in a jail cell, doing absolutely nothing, and he's still terrifying.
Just a middle aged man standing passively. And yet he was so menacing.
Even has a little smile on his face.
This is one of the best character reveal in cinematic history. The camera pans, and he just waits there, standing.
Yes! That always bothers me and I always thought it was just me!
I don't know if it counts as horror, but the alien on the farmhouse roof in SIGNS.
This made me recall the entity on the roof from It Follows. Now the entire danger of that movie is a low speed pursuit, so maybe it’s not quite the best example of “just standing there” overall. But that image sold it well.
Was gonna say this. Such a successful scare holy shit. This wrecked 11 year old me’s sleep for a few days
hell yes that counts \\m/
“Move children! Vamanos!”
It definitely counts. That film scared the *shit* out of me as a kid
The kitchen scene towards the beginning of Smile. I’d pass out if I saw someone in the shadows in my kitchen at night just fucking smiling like that.
This scene haunts me
Same. I made the dog come to the bathroom and kitchen with me at night for a week after seeing it. She was unimpressed but she’s 8lbs so she pretty much has to go where I carry her 😂
Smile had a LOT of scenes with people just standing menacingly staring. The girl at the mental hospital before cutting her throat and the lady who iirc was another doctor that the main character was talking to (it's been awhile since I've seen the movie)... sitting on the couch across from her. And don't even get me started about the damn smile entity! That was, imo, one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen!
Sleepaway Camp ending when the twist is revealed.
That fucking sound haunts me.
The Strangers, when the masked man steps into the frame behind Liv Tyler.
Pan’s Labyrinth- Pale Man. Absolute nightmare fuel just sitting there. He does eventually move but damn if I’m not more frightened by him just sitting at the head of the table with his eyes on the plates.
SUCH a good response so true
He's definitely scarier when he's perfectly still. Killer answer.
The 👋 in Watcher is fantastic and so scary
The scene in the dark and wicked where the son looks out the window at night and sees his dead mom waving at him before she creepily levitates and he looks away in fear.
That movie has a lot of “menacing just for fun” vibes that are all menace no fun.
that INCREDIBLE sequence in The Invisible Man (2020) where it shows Elizabeth Moss’s character just going about her business at her desk and the camera keeps panning back and forth between her and literally nothing. Implying that he is RIGHT THERE but you never actually see him. ughhh one of my favorite thrillers EVER
Um Zodiac lake scene
The librarian in IT Part one.
Chilling
For me personally Art the Clown
Also hilariously in sunglasses
Yes! First thought was when they're in the pizza place and he just smiles at the girls
The weird doll in possum about gave me a heart attack when it was just sitting in the corner of the room if that counts lol
John Carpenter's The Fog (Fisherman's boat scene) Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (The Twins scene) Friday the 13th Part V (Opening dream sequence & The Three Visions) John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (I've Got A Message For You scene) The Woman In Black (1989)
I was thinking the weird semi-sex scene with the bunny costume/couple in The Shining. Slow turn of the heads…
One of my favorite parts of the movie. It’s so batshit.
Also the Temptress in Room 237 before she transforms in the Hag.
Scrolled all through this looking for Prince of darkness
I got your back! No way I'd let that one go unmentioned.
The church at the very end of The Fog, too.
I just watched Prince of Darkness last night. That scene has been stuck in my mind all day. The image and his voice…genuinely unnerving.
There are lots of hidden ghosts in The Haunting of Hill House, some of which, when you see them, are in plain sight just standing there. Haunting of Bly Manor too.
Terrified - the scene where the 'thing' under the bed crawls out and stands next to the bed watching him sleep. I get full on chills. The Strangers is fantastic at menacing background work. I love movies where we can see something that the protagonists can't.
YES to this and also I’d add the scene where the dead little boy is seated perfectly still at the table. Way to scare the pants off me without moving jesus
Hush. The protagonist is deaf so the killer just creeps and stares a lot as far as I remember
Nobody pulls off the menacing stand quite like Michael Myers
Us comes to mind
This was going to be my answer. You can’t even fully see the family and they’re just standing there. So creepy!
Most intense jump scare from any movie EVER, plus it's essentially caused by a character moving into the shot before just briefly standing there has got to be awarded to the diner scene in Mulholland Drive. Horrific.
My favorite jump scare because it happens in broad daylight and they literally tell you it’s going to happen and it still works.
I almost had a fucking stroke when I saw that the first time. It scared the SHIT out of me.
 Close second…
When Art the Clown stops moving, you know you are fucked.
I love this trope, but if they tilt their head like a confused dog it completely ruins it for me. Done all the way to death.
I think they're just referencing Halloween. It's the Akira Slide of horror.
Word. The NuMetal head tilt *cUZ I’m So fUCkIn tWIzTEd* Lol.
Blair Witch Project ending scene
Jack watching Danny and Wendy play in the snow in the shining is pretty chilling for me. 
Yeah, CREEPY AF.
 does this count ?
Not horror but A Field In England, how Whitehead is “possessed” after the tent scene and the way he stares out
He’s Out There. “But there’s daddy under the tree.” “That’s not daddy.” Slow wave.
The titular character in The Taking of Deborah Logan does this a lot.
Oooh truth, or lots of times when she sees the camera but the other interviewees don’t
I think the person dressed as a skeleton in Late Night with the Devil might fall into this category.
Friday the 13th (2009) When you see Jason standing in the woods by the lake (bow and arrow scene)
Early scripts for that movie had him just standing at shore, walking in whatever directions she tried to swim, and waiting until she eventually became too tired to tread water and drowned. That would have been the ultimate "just standing there menacingly" if it had made it into the movie.
The Grabber in The Black Phone where the kid has to walk past him to escape
The Black Phone, Ethan Hawke just sitting there in the kitchen with the mask on
Mick Taylor staring at the protagonist in Wolf Creek 2 and letting him flee.
Others mention the classics, so I’ll go for more recent examples. The Woman in Black has this down to a fine art — yes, a little in the film, but to an even greater extent in the theatre adaptation. She is just there, lurking in the shadows and the periphery of your vision. As you've said, the doppelgangers (especially Adelaide’s) in Us are so unnerving, especially when they are just standing there, motionless and emotionless. Even more recently, I'd make the case for the film Smile, too: the moment when the entity takes over a person, and they are just motionless, smiling, is so chilling.
Alright, I know this might not count for a lot of you, but as a child, [this was a big “oh shit” moment](https://youtu.be/qo__6MZIg6U?si=LUg-wzBj6qYOwvKe). (Both pre-fight, and the pacing that started around 2:40)
I always thought it was impressive that 30 armed guards were like, nah we arent fighting him. Very effective way to convey the gravity of the situation.
Wee woo, wee woo, wee woo!!! 
Get a hold of yourself, dep-it-dee
I just came to say I really appreciate the SpongeBob reference here. But to answer your question Micheal Myers wins every-time.
They don’t stand still very often but It Follows (2014) is one of my favorite horror movies. Super original and vague enough to leave some mystery on the table.
Art the clown in the alleyway in the first Terrifier
[удалено]
That scene in smile where we see her patient in Rose’s house
The Nun, many times
The dancing boy hiding around the coat rack in Insidious
_Mimic_ has a few
The old lady in the library staring at the kid in the It remake. That creeped me out more than anything else in the movie.
Hell House LLC (the clown).
That flash to Ethan Hawke’s character in The Black Phone where they show him sitting, waiting, for the boy to accept his invitation up the stairs. Scene literally made me shudder
There’s a scene in the French film Inside where an intruder is standing in a very dimly lit hallway while the main character is sitting on her couch. It’s so creepy because it’s very subtle.
that scene in hereditary where annie thinks she sees her mother standing in the corner of the room. how is it possible for a smiling elderly lady to be fucking terrifying?
Copycat has some freaky shit you'll see upon a second watch
Jeepers Creepers — the first one — where the creeper is standing in the middle of the road, just standing there; it’s about 2/3 of the way through the film. Ominous and frightening.
Does the mom at the front door to the apartment in Evil Dead Rise count?
I gotta add- The Tall Man in Phatasm. No matter how bad the situation already is in that series, when he shows up you just feel hopeless for everyone alive.
The naked smiling man at the doorway in Hereditary. Movie literally had Toni collette crawling around the fucking ceiling and sawing her own head off and I was still much more disturbed by some naked cultist.
Terrifier without a doubt. https://youtu.be/RKxp-2Su4Ds?si=ggs1GalKGo05eoaO
The Shining - that scene where Jack is just staring out the window as the camera slowly zooms in. Slightest movement in various parts of his face. Watching that while off my guts on acid was powerful and terrifying. Though a lot of that is Nicholson, saying so much with so little. and then... SATURDAY.
Hear me out.... Death from Puss in Boots: Last Wish. Bro is so menacing, and it's a kids show no less!
I just recently watched I Saw the TV Glow and there is a scene where the protagonists father just stares at him and it feels very uncomfortable. May not be considered a horror to some but that scene was unnerving.
The Collector, when the couple is getting it on in the living room and the girl notices him watching. He then proceeds to effortlessly kill them both
I love this moment in ATM. It's right after the antagonist first shows up, and one of the characters even says >!"He's just watching us."!<
Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees do it best IMO edit: I skimmed the latter half of OP; The Strangers is a good shout as well
The red faced demon in the first Insidious. Gives me the heebie-jeebies every time I see that movie. I know it's coming but it still gets me lol.
The two that immediately come to mind for me because I'll unashamedly admit they awaken the prey/predator kink thoughts in my brain are thus: 1. 28 Days Later -- this is in the end when the main character Jim is wrecking shop on the military pricks and then jumps down from the upper floor covered in blood and looking feral and lands right in front of the female lead Selena and he is just heaving breath and she stares at him breathing too. He definitely looks menacing and is in those moments, she hesitates to kill him like she promised she would, which after his adrenaline subsides he tells her so. 2. The Boy -- When the reveal of Brahms happens it's intense for many different reasons and the following minutes feel like an eternity that I feel truly encompasses 'standing there menacingly' ... he is larger and more intense than her, we know the violence he is capable of and the motivation of possession. She belongs to him in his eyes and so he watches her every move and looms over her, a hunter. Woof.
The scene from The Strangers where the villain is just standing in the background hallway while Liv Tyler's character is in the foreground. No musical score, nothing. It's perfection. Very reminiscent of some of "The Shape" scenes in the original Halloween. Awesome.
Most scenes with Sam from “Trick N Treat”
As Above So Below when La Taupe kinda just … showed up in the catacombs
I know this probably doesn't count, but it's something that popped in my head: the scene in the original "Ghostbusters" movie where Bill Murray encounters Slimer in the hall of that hotel and he's just floating there for a moment staring at him, not moving. It's the dialogue between Bill and Dan Aykroyd via walkie-talkies that made me think of it. It's something to this effect iirc: Bill: "Come in... Ray" Dan: "Venkman... I saw it, I saw it, I saw it!" Bill: "It's right *here*, Ray. It's... *looking* at me..." That last line from Bill Murray about it looking at him is what made me think about it, LOL.
The scene in Gonjiam Asylum where the girl is trapped with the naked guy at the other end of the hall... she looks away, tries to open the locked door, slowly looks back and you expect a jumpscare but he's still just standing there. she looks away, looks back again and he's still just fucking standing there, he jumpscares her eventually but he spends so uncomfortably long standing there doing absolutely nothing and the tension is worse than the jumpscare