A Quiet Place: Is the nail scene the most horrific movie scene in cinema history?

The American horror flick has received rave reviews across the globe since being released on April 3, plus a 95 percent rating on movie review site Rotten Tomatoes.

Directed by John Krasinski, who stars alongside real-life wife Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place is set in a post-apocalyptic society where humanity has almost been wiped out by a series of creatures who stalk by sound.

The film has been revered for reinventing the horror genre with its use of sign language, eerie music and, at times, absolute silence.

One of its most chilling scenes is when Emily Blunt’s heavily-pregnant character Evelyn treads on a nail on a basement staircase while in labour and trying to escape one of the deadly creatures.

The audience has a good idea of the horrible inevitably of this happening after seeing the rusty nail in an earlier scene after Evelyn pries it free from the woodwork while trying to pull away some laundry that is caught.

Is the nail scene the most horrific movie scene in cinema history?

If the nail episode is to be labelled as one of scariest horror movie scenes of all time, it has some tough competition to beat first.

A survey of 2,000 people in 2016 found that the head-spinning scene in The Exorcist was officially the most frightening ever episode ever, according to 17.9 percent of people surveyed.

The HMV.com survey said the shower scene in the 1960 film Psycho followed a close second with 16.9 percent.

In third place was 1976’s Carrie with its final scene in which the eponymous heroine’s hand plunges up through her grave to grab the arm of former classmate Sue.

A Quiet Place has yet to be named in any official list of scariest movies yet as it is relatively new – but it could definitely happen in the future

This is because horror godfather Stephen King himself has lavished praise on the film.

The author of Carrie and other modern-day classics IT and The Shining tweeted to his 4.79m followers: “A QUIET PLACE is an extraordinary piece of work. Terrific acting, but the main thing is the SILENCE, and how it makes the camera’s eye open wide in a way few movies manage.”

Director Krasinski has also been compared to Alfred Hitchcock by several film writers for his careful curating of scenes – including the rusty nail one.

Ben Kuchera, writing for culture website Polygon, said it is the “scariest monster” of the entire film because of its effective use of tactics which are similar to Hitchcock’s.

He explained: “Alfred Hitchcock had a theory about creating and sustaining tension: You can’t just have a bomb blow up; you have to tell the audience it’s there, then have the characters to focus on the mundane while the audience screams at them to do something. That’s how you keep them scared.”

He added: “The nail is such an effective tool in this situation, not only because we can imagine the terrible pain and sound it would inflict, but also because it’s not a single-use item.

“There is never a conversation about the nail even after its climactic moment, which keeps us scared of it until the final shot of the film. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, narratively speaking.”

US weekly magazine Vulture also agreed, calling the scene one of the movie’s best with the “single-most cathartic scream you’ll see in a movie this year”.