The films of Quentin Tarantino stand among the most popular and critically acclaimed movies of the past three decades. Tarantino’s style is marked by a number of signifiers, including lengthy dialogue scenes, ultraviolent action set pieces and exemplifying foreign interpretations of American film genres, like Jean-Luc Godard’s take on the crime film, or Sergio Leone’s take on the Western, back to America.
Suspense is more commonly attributed to Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg than Tarantino, but he’s still helmed his fair share of edge-of-your-seat sequences riddled with tension and anxiety. So, here are the 10 most suspenseful scenes from Tarantino’s filmography.
Ordell Kills Beaumont (Jackie Brown)
Tarantino’s adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, titled Jackie Brown to pay homage to the blaxploitation genre, is perhaps the director’s most underrated film. It’s also his tamest and most mature work.
There’s a minimalist sequence where Ordell Robbie, played by Samuel L. Jackson, picks up Beaumont Livingston, played by Chris Tucker, drives him to a secluded place, and kills him. There’s an underlying tension throughout the whole scene.
Mia’s Overdose (Pulp Fiction)
In Pulp Fiction’s first major storyline, “Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s Wife,” mob hitman Vincent Vega flirts with his boss’ wife, Mia Wallace. It seems like the danger for these characters is that they’ll sleep together and Vincent will be in trouble.
Then, the evening takes a sharp left turn when Mia mistakes Vincent’s heroin for cocaine, snorts it, and overdoses. If Mia dies from this overdose, Vincent is as good as dead, so we’re right alongside him in his panicked state.
August 8, 1969 (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
Quentin Tarantino expected viewers to go into his latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with some pre-existing knowledge of the Manson Family murders that took place on August 8, 1969.
When the movie makes a six-month time jump from February to the night that Sharon Tate and her friends were killed, we know roughly what to expect. But we also know that the Hitler-killing Tarantino is going to tweak history in some way, so we’re kept on the edge of our seats until the Manson murderers show up.
The “Who Am I?” Game (Inglourious Basterds)
Tarantino describes suspense as a rubber band that he stretches tighter and tighter and tighter, seeing how long it holds, before unleashing its fury.
When the Allied spies are playing the “Who Am I?” game with the Nazis in a basement bar in Inglourious Basterds, that rubber band is stretched for about 20 minutes as we spend the whole time waiting for one of the spies to slip up.
Mr. Blonde Tortures Marvin Nash (Reservoir Dogs)
Easily the most memorable scene in Reservoir Dogs, the “Stuck in the Middle with You” torture sequence is also the most suspenseful. Early on, Mr. Blonde announces his plans to torture the cop who’s tied up in the warehouse, Marvin Nash, even though he believes he doesn’t have any useful information.
Michael Madsen plays the scene brilliantly, taking his time as he dances around the room with a straight razor in his hand while Marvin fears for his life.
Domergue’s Got A Secret (The Hateful Eight)
The Hateful Eight was inspired by two-part episodes of shows like Bonanza and The Virginian, so it makes sense that the movie is presented to us in two halves.
After a brief intermission following Major Warren and General Smithers’ duel, Tarantino’s own voiceover narration explains that, during the commotion, someone poisoned the coffee pot – and Daisy Domergue is the only one who saw who did it. So, we’re on the edge of our seats as we watch John Ruth, Chris Mannix, and O.B. unknowingly take fateful cups from the pot.
Butch Heads Home To Get The Gold Watch (Pulp Fiction)
In Pulp Fiction’s second storyline, “The Gold Watch,” Butch Coolidge refuses to throw a fight that Marsellus Wallace paid him to, wins big on a bet he placed on himself, and gets ready to skip town. However, he’s dismayed to discover that his girlfriend, Fabienne, forgot to pack the gold watch that his father smuggled through Vietnam.
So, he heads back to the apartment, which he fears could be crawling with gangsters assigned to kill him. He finds no one there, relaxes, puts a couple of Pop Tarts in the toaster, and then notices an unfamiliar gun on the kitchen counter.
Cliff Booth Visits Spahn Ranch (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
Rick Dalton gives Cliff Booth the rest of the day off after he fixes his satellite, so he drives around town and ends up picking up a hitchhiker, Pussycat, and driving her to Spahn Ranch. He used to shoot westerns there, and he looks forward to getting reacquainted with its owner, George Spahn. However, when he gets there, he finds it overrun with hippies.
Cliff insists on seeing George, despite the hippies telling him he’s sleeping, and everything in the scene prepares us for Cliff to find George’s rotting corpse. And then, we get a surprisingly effective anti-climax as it’s revealed that everything the hippies said is true.
Stephen Grows Suspicious Of Django And Broomhilda (Django Unchained)
Django and Dr. Schultz’s plan to liberate Django’s wife Broomhilda from the Candyland plantation almost goes off without a hitch. They’re finalizing the deal to buy her with Calvin Candie over dinner.
But then, Calvin’s house slave Stephen notices a look exchanged by Django and Broomhilda and grows suspicious. He suspects the two know each other and brings it to Calvin’s attention. After that, we’re on the edge of our seats, waiting for Calvin to call it out.
Col. Landa Arrives At The LaPadite Dairy Farm (Inglourious Basterds)
Quentin Tarantino has said that the opening scene of Inglourious Basterds is his favorite scene he’s ever written, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a masterclass in building suspense, as the sinister S.S. Col. Hans Landa arrives on the LaPadites’ dairy farm with a couple of officers and interrogates the family patriarch.
Tarantino employs the Hitchcockian bomb-under-the-table technique. He introduces Landa as “the Jew Hunter,” a ruthless S.S. colonel who will stop at nothing to snuff out Jewish refugees in Nazi-occupied Europe. Then, Tarantino tells us that there are a dozen or so Jewish refugees hiding beneath the floorboards. Then, he lets the tension simmer.