James Gunn shares the song that ‘scared the f**k’ out of him as a kid

While many know James Gunn as the creative mind behind amazing films like Guardians of the Galaxy or The Suicide Squad, he’s worked on some incredible horror films as well. It’s impossible to ignore just how terrifying hits like Slither and Brightburn are, let alone The Belko Experiment.

So when says a song “scared the f**k” out of him, it should be truly terrifying, right? Well, when he went to share his pick on Twitter, responding to a tweet from author Brian Koppelman, many people were surprised.

While “Hotel California” is no doubt an eerie song — it does, after all, feature the line, “You can check out any time you like/but you can never leave”) — many might have expected something much darker from Gunn.

However, he did respond to another fan who brought up a song so popular it once knocked The Beatles out of the number one spot on the Billboard charts.

For those who don’t know “Ode to Billy Joe,” the 1967 song performed by singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. The song was haunting as the lyrics, which weaved a story about a young boy’s mysterious death and a family that seemed strangely indifferent to it. The song was so popular it eventually inspired a whole movie, also called Ode to Billy Joe, which came out in 1976 and starred then-heartthrob Robby Benson.

Do you know a song scary enough that it might make James Gunn drop an f-bomb? Tell us in the comments!