Moments pages are Spoilers Off. Proceed at your own risk.
"Tell him—Death will come straight for him!"
- Capitán Salazar, for starters. The ghost of a ruthless pirate hunter who seems invulnerable to physical harm, barfs black goo and is set to be implacable in his hunt for Jack Sparrow. He looks like a semi-decomposed corpse that retained a drowned look and seems to be constantly floating, even when walking outside of water.
- Perhaps more chilling than the man's looks is his sheer, casual brutality. Salazar isn't the first Pirates villain to summarily execute prisoners, but he outdoes even the likes of Davy Jones with the matter-of-fact way he has his men kill pirates, one by one. And he already had this trait back when he was alive, as shown in the flashback scene, where he orders his marines to shoot the helpless and surrendering pirates in the water.
- The perfect example of his casual brutality and cruelty is when Barbossa cuts a deal with Salazar, stating he has cordial intent. Salazar, laughs in his face, and decides to show his cordiality...by denoting that he should speak quickly, because every time he taps his sword, one of his crew will be killed. And even when he agrees to and likes Barbossa's terms, he rapidly taps his sword five times in a row and kills five of Barbossa's men for no reason other than he simply wanted to.Barbossa: You have me word...I thank ye...on behalf of me crew.
(Salazar chuckles, then taps his sword five times, five of Barbossa's men die in the background)
Salazar: ¡Olé! You can take what's left of them!
- Salazar's crew is much the same way. They're basically stuck in whatever state they were when the ship exploded, flames ripping over them. Thus, some have massive chunks of flesh missing, one is missing his entire head and one basically looks like a loose arm, shoulder and legs marching about. While not made clear, it's hinted they still carry the agony of their "deaths" with them and thus no wonder they're such monsters.
- Undead sharks.
- There's a notable jump scare when Henry is just about to follow Carina into the water when a shark leaps out right in front of him, just narrowly missing him.
- Will Turner's reappearance in this film is not a happy one. He's clearly mutated and at least beginning to become as grotesque-looking and monstrous as Davy Jones himself (not to mention that he bears more than a slight resemblance to his father, Bootstrap Bill). And if one remembers the curse that the Captain can visit land for one day every 10 years and if his beloved waits for him, the curse will be broken... then it looks like he and Elizabeth had quite the falling out. Either that, or Will intentionally chose to remain on the high seas and has spent so long away from land and Elizabeth that the curse is now twisting his form. Either way, the reasoning and the results, probably won't be pretty and our dashing hero is probably on his Start of Darkness by now.
- Leans more towards Tear Jerker when you learn it's not a Start of Darkness, but the curse of the Flying Dutchman growing stronger than the love in Will's heart that purified the ship. And like his father Bill before him, Will is tragically forced to tell Henry there's no place for him on the Flying Dutchman. He even threatens his own son to leave. And the sound of the other crew stirring tells us that even with Will as captain, they won't hesitate to harm his boy. Heck his parting words "You must let me go, Henry", sounds convincingly like Henry might not be able to save him.
- Jack is trapped to the guillotine, and once the pirates shoot the gallows' base, the platform where it is spins around. It's funny, but goddamn, whenever the blade rises and falls, getting close to Jack's neck, it's hard not to feel a chill in the spine.
- Not to mention the basket meant to catch Jack's head already has a couple of decapitated heads in it.
- In the opening of the movie, a young Henry sails out to sea, ties a net of rocks around his leg and then drowns himself. Of course it was a calculated risk to summon the Flying Dutchman and see his father, but to see a child casually drown himself is horrifying, along with the fact the Dutchman could easily been somewhere else dealing with other recently deceased people and not come for Henry in time.
- The fact that Carina is put in jail and to be executed along with actual pirates, for no other reason but being a self-taught astronomer which is deemed witchcraft despite showing men having the same profession yet even they will instantly pull a pistol on her for daring to adjust their telescope.
- Turns into Fridge Horror for the whole setting if all women who are educated are deemed witches and to be killed.
- The Stinger - as the reunited Will and Elizabeth lie in bed sleeping, the sound of heavy footsteps can be heard outside the door. It opens, and a very familiar shadow is cast over the sleeping pair, and soon, it becomes clear that the shadowy figure is absolutely none other than Davy Jones himself, who has recently come back from the dead as a result from the destruction of the Trident of Poseidon and is now completely ready to claim revenge on the couple. Will awakens just in time to see Jones' crab-arm raised in the air, ready to strike at the couple - and wakes up for real. He goes back to sleep... and the camera pans down to the floor, showing a puddle of water and bits of barnacle, while a music box plays in the background, revealing it was no dream and Davy Jones is really alive. "The Dutchman must have a captain" indeed.
- The way Salazar's ship, the Silent Mary, smashes through ships, especially Scarfield's. At times, it looks almost as if the ship is taking a giant bite out of others.
- The Silent Mary's figurehead coming to life and gunning for Jack.
- Near the climax, Salazar possessing Henry, in order to be able to walk on land. His crew members warn that if the Trident can't separate them, then they'll be stuck together forever. Salazar decides to take that chance...
- Despite all that's happened, it's hard not to feel something for Salzar's men when their curse is lifted. They're finally free of this living death, flesh and blood once more...and then realize they're at the bottom of the ocean with the waters about to crash right in on them.
- Salazar becoming Captain Ahab with Jack as his White Whale. His crew screams for help after they are decursed and the ocean is closing in on them, but he doesn't even look back at them. His first mate can only stare, broken, as he and most of the crew, who are finally human again, are abandoned to die all over again.
