For a franchise set in space featuring space wizards, Star Wars can certainly have its spooky moments. From jump scares and haunting entrances to terrifying fight scenes, here’s 10 of the spookiest moments in Star Wars.
10. Jump Scare on The Millennium Falcon
This might not be one of the spookiest moments in Star Wars, but it’s certainly one of the biggest jump scares. As Leia is casually sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon in silence, something flies past the window. Only for that thing to attach onto the window and let out a squeal, causing quite a bit of a jump scare for both Leia and the audience.
This jump scare moment from Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back seems to be an inspiration for a scene in season 1, episode 3 of The Bad Batch, in which Omega, like Leia, is sitting in silence in the cockpit of the Marauder when a beast jumps onto the window causing Omega a bit of a fright.
9. The Clone Assassins Awaken
The Bad Batch is a show focused on soldiers learning to become a family, so you wouldn’t expect too many spooky moments. However, Season 3 of The Bad Batch is quite darker than the rest of the series. The spooky moment that stands out the most is when Doctor Hemlock activates his new Clone Assassins, also known as CX Troopers.
It’s spooky because we know these are clones, but we don’t see their faces and the whole sequence is incredibly haunting. Hemlock wakes up the troopers and watches them with a smile as they climb out of pods that emit an eerie glow. It’s truly an unsettling scene, yet there’s a tinge of heartbreak there too. Knowing that these zombielike troopers used to be Clone Troopers with their own personalities makes this scene tragic.
8. The Dagobah Cave
The most unsettling scene in The Empire Strikes Back is when Luke decides to explore an ominous cave on Dagobah. When he walks into the cave, he comes across the one person he didn’t expect — Darth Vader. In fear, Luke attacks and kills Vader, only to discover that Vader is in fact Luke himself.
This moment is rather spooky as it turns out the cave shows you your worst fears. In this case, Luke’s fear was turning to the dark side. The ominous music and eerie atmosphere add to the moment, making it one of the spookiest scenes in the Original Trilogy.
7. Kelnacca Possessed by Mother Aniseya’s Coven
A Wookie Jedi possessed by a group of witches is certainly a nail-biting moment. The witches in The Acolyte had shown they could possess others when they possessed Padawan Torbin for leverage against the Jedi. Yet seeing the entire coven possess a powerful Wookie was quite possibly the spookiest moment in The Acolyte.
Related: The Acolyte: Why Did Sol Kill [SPOILER]?
Both Torbin and Sol were forced to fight their friend, but unfortunately they were outmatched. The two Jedi were almost killed by Kelnacca, only saved when Master Indara pulled Kelnacca out of the trance. The spookiest part of this whole sequence was when Mother Koril disappeared into a black mist and said “you shouldn’t have bought him here”, then revealing a possessed Kelnacca, who then ignites his lightsaber and attacks his friends.
6. Darth Vader’s Entrance in Fallen Order
Darth Vader’s entrance in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order makes for one of the creepiest moments in the game. After the Second Sister returns to the light side of the force, Darth Vader makes his spooky entrance. The Second Sister, also known as Trilla Suduri freezes and looks terrified as she hears heavy footsteps followed by the mechanical breathing of Darth Vader. Behind her, Vader appears through ominous smoke and strikes her down, saying “you have failed me, inquisitor”.
This entrance is haunting as it shows how Darth Vader has no mercy for those who betray him. What follows this cutscene is an adrenaline-inducing chase where Cal Kestis runs away to escape Darth Vader. This sequence paired with Vader’s cutscene makes for a haunting and spooky moment in Fallen Order.
5. Darth Vader’s Corridor Scene
Darth Vader may not be the most haunting villain in Star Wars, yet he still has one of the spookiest scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Most of Darth Vader’s fight scenes aren’t scary, but when he shows up on the rebel blockade runner illuminated only by the eerie red light of his lightsaber, it truly sends a shiver down the spine.
What makes it more haunting is how the rebels in the corridor are defenseless against his onslaught. In their effort to escape, they are struck down by a slowly, unstoppably advancing Vader. Their screams of terror and the cinematography of this scene makes it one of Vader’s most brilliant, yet most haunting entrances in Star Wars.
4. The Geonosian Worms
In Season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we discover the Geonosian worms. These worms crawl up into people’s brains and take control of them — a terrifying concept. After the second battle of Geonosis, Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee are ordered to bring medical supplies to a nearby space station. Unbeknownst to them, a few worms had taken control of some of the Clones assigned to the mission.
By the time Ahsoka discovered that the crew have been taken over by these worms, she’s the only one left. Luckily, she manages to save the day, but it’s a creepy episode. Especially when we see these worms take control over the Clones, and when they try to take over Ahsoka as well. Let’s just say, if you’re squeamish, this episode might be tough to watch. If things couldn’t get worse, these worms also have the ability to reanimate the dead.
3. The Undead Geonosian Warriors
One of the spookiest episodes of The Clone Wars is “Legacy of Terror”. In this episode, we get introduced to zombie Geonosians who have been reanimated by creepy worms. This episode has many spooky moments, but the highlight is the Geonosian zombies. These zombies screech and stagger around, but they can also fly. Plus, it’s very hard to defeat them.
Accompanied with spooky sound effects and spooky music, any scene with a Geonosian zombie is creepy. It’s also quite scary when in these zombies drag away Clones during some of the fight scenes in the episode. For a children’s show, an episode like this was quite unexpected. Nevertheless, “Legacy of Terror” can still provide spooky moments to this day.
2. Zombie Stormtroopers & Death Troopers
Nightsisters use their magic for many things, and one of those is reanimating the dead. Most of the time zombies created by Nightsisters have appeared, they’ve been in animation or video games. So, when Stormtrooper and Death Trooper zombies appeared in the live-action series Ahsoka, it was quite spooky. Ezra, Sabine, and Ahsoka defeating a group of Thrawn’s Stormtroopers, only for them to get back up and make the classic zombie noises, was an iconic moment. An iconic, but terrifying moment.
Related: Magic Was Always Part of the Star Wars Universe
To top it all off, we also saw Death Trooper zombies. Considering Death Troopers are the strongest and deadliest type of Stormtrooper, it was certainly scary — especially when the helmet of one of the Death Troopers was damaged and we saw the pale gray rotting face of the trooper. Nightsisters definitely know how to make things spooky.
1. Kanan & Sabine Possessed by Nightsister Spirits
Even after death, Nightsisters can use magic to cause spooky things. In the episode “Visions and Voices” of season 3 of Star Wars Rebels, Kanan and Sabine become possessed by the spirits of dead Nightsisters. The whole sequence where they become possessed is one of Star Wars animation’s spookiest moments.
The spirits of the Nightsisters float around in a green hue, while they chase after their victims, laughing. When Kanan and Sabine became possessed, their eyes turned green, and their voices became the voices of the spirits. Seeing two of the main characters become possessed and attack Ezra was quite scary. Even dead Nightsisters know how to make things sinister and spooky.
Published: Oct 31, 2024 09:00 am