The Big Shave(1967)
1967 · Martin Scorsese · 6 min
A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene.
Horror · Drama
6.9367 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
4/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How The Big Shave scares
Watching this feels like witnessing something quietly wrong happen in real time, with no music or dialogue to soften it. The pace is slow and almost hypnotic at first, a man just going through a normal morning routine, but the calm turns unbearable as small actions start to feel more and more harmful. There are no jolts or scary-movie tricks here, just a steady, uncomfortable escalation that plays out in one clean, bright bathroom. It's less a horror movie in the traditional sense and more a short, stark gut-punch that uses everyday routine to get under your skin.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Big Shave rates psychological 4/5, visceral 4/5, gore 4/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 4 of 5
- Gore: 4 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 15 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 95 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 85 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A calm, ordinary routine slowly curdles into an escalating, increasingly graphic ordeal that doesn't stop building until the very end.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5.
How scary is The Big Shave?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Big Shave rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It works on both fronts, unsettling the mind while going for the body. Expect it to be heavy on gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
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