There is something about the scene in True Romance between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper which is really intense. I suppose its the promise of extreme violence coupled with pretense of polite conversation (well almost polite).

i love that scene .. walken getting pissed at himself because he got suckered into what hopper was trying to do ...

pure tarantino moment

Thought I would add one to the list:

Funny Games. There's very little actual violence in this film, but the whole movie is incredibly tense. You spend the whole time wondering just what those two boys are going to do next. Michael Haneke really made his reputation with this film, and if you're a fan of European nihilistic filmmakers such as Noe or Breillat, you'd do well to look up his films.

I have to second what scouse mac said: the scene in True Romance with Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken.

You just know that Hopper knows he's going to be killed so decides to have some fun at Walken's expense. I particularly like the way he takes the previously proffered Chesterfield so that he can savour the moment.

Excellent and a very intense scene: well pointed out.

****** Spoiler ************

it wasnt that he was having fun ... he was going to be tortured to give up his kid so he goaded walken into killing him instead.

And No... I don't expect you to say scream, i used it as an example... but people didn't understand what i meant, so i used it as an example again.

It wouldn't have been that bad if it was just blood, but it was like a mix of puss and blood. It was freakin gross. By the way, it wasn't pudding, it was "custard". ;)

As of late- Haute Tension had some intense moments. Saw 1 and 2 had some pretty intense scenes as well.

I agree about Saw. the ending is really the only intense part, i think. or at least the part that stuck out the most.

True. Oh, and custard reminds me of pudding for some apparent reason. I also find a lot of The Exorcist intense (that's why I love it so much). I'm not referring to the masturbation scene, I'm more and less referring to the scenes where they get a close-up of Reagan. For some reason, her face (when possessed) gices me chills up and down my spine. The head turning and spiderwalk were quite intense as well.