Some of the most DISTURBING DEATH SCENES ever committed to celluloid
October 25th 2006 02:35
It’s a potent, twisted heading isn’t it, one for the hardened horrorphiles perhaps? A few of these aren’t quite death scenes, but the violent intent is so horrific it may as well have been.
What makes a particular sequence of on-screen violence so disturbing? I’ve seen many horror movies with elaborate and convincing SFX makeup that haven’t actually disturbed me per se. Repulsed me perhaps, but not given my psyche the trauma which resonates for weeks, months, even years.
So why are these scenes often regarded as some of the most disturbing scenes of violence, violation and death ever made? It all boils down to the delicate, yet manipulative balance of direction and editing. How does the director cover the scene? When does the director choose to cut away? What kinds of sound effects are employed? What are the director’s intentions? How clearly are they expressed? All of these combine to produce a scene’s overall tone and context within the rest of the film.
I’ve included some non-horror films, and excluded all the mondo documentaries such as The Killing of America (1982) and Executions (1995), both of which are actually well-made, and the ghastly Faces of Death series (1978 ad nauseum), etc, simply because they were designed and produced in a non-fictional context (although that can be argued as many of the Faces of Death videos were faked, but that’s another kettle of putrid fish entirely).
So here they are, in some kind of disturbed order:
~ The nightclub murder by fire extinguisher and protracted rape in Irreversible (2002)
~ The degradation and mutilation of adolescents involving coprophagia, sodomy, eye gouging, tongue severing, etc in Salo, or the 120 days of Sodom (1975)
~ The human mutilation, dismembering, torture, sexual violence, etc and real mutilation and killing of animals in Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
~ The protracted gang rape and degradation in I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
~ The razor-wire maiming-mutilation in Audition (1999)
~ The Nazis’ barn burning mass murder of russian peasants in Come and See (1985)
~ The homosexual rape and subsequent razor suicide of victim and billiard ball & bathroom faucet assaults in Scum (1979)
~ The teeth kicked in via foot to the back of the head in American History X (1998)
~ The torture murder by chainsaw in Scarface (1983)
~ The desert execution murders by baseball bats in Casino (1995)
~ The stabbing in the back S&M gay murder in Cruising (1980)
~ The videotaped massacre in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
~ The surprise death by sledgehammer to the head in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
~ The live cranial “surgery” and death-by-pig-frenzy in Hannibal (2001)
~ The prisoners-of-war forced to play Russian roulette in The Deer Hunter (1978)
~ The campfire and roadside murders in Easy Rider (1969)
~ The killing of the mutant baby in Eraserhead (1976)
~ The entire mood, tone and atmosphere of Maniac (1980)
There are other movies which viewers have found incredibly disturbing. Some of these are films I have not yet seen, or perhaps never will, supposedly containing death, mutilation or torture scenes of an appalling, realistic nature or which capture a visual tone and atmosphere of utter, grim and violent despair. These are some of those titles:
~ House on the Edge of the Park (1980)
~ Beyond the Darkness (1980)
~ Guinea Pig series (Flowers of Flesh & Blood, etc) (1985)
~ In a Glass Cage (1987)
~ Nekromantik (1987)
~ Nekromantik 2 (1991)
~ Men Behind the Sun (1988)
~ Begotten (1991)
~ Schramm (1993)
~ Aftermath (1994)
~ Scrapbook (2000)
I actually feel a bit queasy and soiled now … Perhaps I should watch Bambi to cleanse and ease my mind. Hmm, hang on, that’s got a pretty upsetting death scene in it too …
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
Irreversible (screen shot), Salo (screen shot), Maniac (movie poster)
What makes a particular sequence of on-screen violence so disturbing? I’ve seen many horror movies with elaborate and convincing SFX makeup that haven’t actually disturbed me per se. Repulsed me perhaps, but not given my psyche the trauma which resonates for weeks, months, even years.
So why are these scenes often regarded as some of the most disturbing scenes of violence, violation and death ever made? It all boils down to the delicate, yet manipulative balance of direction and editing. How does the director cover the scene? When does the director choose to cut away? What kinds of sound effects are employed? What are the director’s intentions? How clearly are they expressed? All of these combine to produce a scene’s overall tone and context within the rest of the film.
I’ve included some non-horror films, and excluded all the mondo documentaries such as The Killing of America (1982) and Executions (1995), both of which are actually well-made, and the ghastly Faces of Death series (1978 ad nauseum), etc, simply because they were designed and produced in a non-fictional context (although that can be argued as many of the Faces of Death videos were faked, but that’s another kettle of putrid fish entirely).
So here they are, in some kind of disturbed order:
~ The nightclub murder by fire extinguisher and protracted rape in Irreversible (2002)
~ The degradation and mutilation of adolescents involving coprophagia, sodomy, eye gouging, tongue severing, etc in Salo, or the 120 days of Sodom (1975)
~ The human mutilation, dismembering, torture, sexual violence, etc and real mutilation and killing of animals in Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
~ The protracted gang rape and degradation in I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
~ The razor-wire maiming-mutilation in Audition (1999)
~ The Nazis’ barn burning mass murder of russian peasants in Come and See (1985)
~ The homosexual rape and subsequent razor suicide of victim and billiard ball & bathroom faucet assaults in Scum (1979)
~ The teeth kicked in via foot to the back of the head in American History X (1998)
~ The torture murder by chainsaw in Scarface (1983)
~ The desert execution murders by baseball bats in Casino (1995)
~ The stabbing in the back S&M gay murder in Cruising (1980)
~ The videotaped massacre in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
~ The surprise death by sledgehammer to the head in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
~ The live cranial “surgery” and death-by-pig-frenzy in Hannibal (2001)
~ The prisoners-of-war forced to play Russian roulette in The Deer Hunter (1978)
~ The campfire and roadside murders in Easy Rider (1969)
~ The killing of the mutant baby in Eraserhead (1976)
~ The entire mood, tone and atmosphere of Maniac (1980)
There are other movies which viewers have found incredibly disturbing. Some of these are films I have not yet seen, or perhaps never will, supposedly containing death, mutilation or torture scenes of an appalling, realistic nature or which capture a visual tone and atmosphere of utter, grim and violent despair. These are some of those titles:
~ House on the Edge of the Park (1980)
~ Beyond the Darkness (1980)
~ Guinea Pig series (Flowers of Flesh & Blood, etc) (1985)
~ In a Glass Cage (1987)
~ Nekromantik (1987)
~ Nekromantik 2 (1991)
~ Men Behind the Sun (1988)
~ Begotten (1991)
~ Schramm (1993)
~ Aftermath (1994)
~ Scrapbook (2000)
I actually feel a bit queasy and soiled now … Perhaps I should watch Bambi to cleanse and ease my mind. Hmm, hang on, that’s got a pretty upsetting death scene in it too …
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
Irreversible (screen shot), Salo (screen shot), Maniac (movie poster)
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I saw Nekromantik2, and it's pretty nasty.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Re: Irreversible, yeah, I don't think any of us were prepared for that kind of graphic bashing. I almost had to cover my eyes, and this is coming from a hardened horrorphile!! I thought, "How in the fuck did they just do that, it looks like they just murdered someone on screen!" I didn't occur to me that Gaspar Noe, the director, had employed the use of CGI (which he also used in the rape scene when the rapist kicks Monica Belluci in the face and her blood splatters ... ugh! Apparently the CGI artists even added in a semi-erect penis to the actor as he pulls away, but I must have missed that ... ).
I just watched his first feature I Stand Alone the other night with my gf. Not as powerful or as wrenching as Irreversible, but resonant and unsettling nonetheless ... Methinks Gaspar Noe has a few demons in the closet ...
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Besides the visceral power of the film, I'm not sure I enjoyed the backwards structure. Sure it was interesting, but I think it inevitably rendered the ending (which was the plot's beginning) pretty anti-climactic.
I'm a bit conflicted over whether I thought this was a good film, and don't know if I have the rocks to watch it again and form a more solid opnion.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I throw this observation your way: Irrerversible starts/ends as a nightmare and ends/starts as a dream.
Perhaps the entire film is a kind of white rabbit down the tunnel dream of Monica Bellucci's character ...?
Comment by suitably*wounded
Eternal Days; Author: Illness, M.
Also, I would add (off the top of my witch-hat-clad head) to the above formidable list the rape scene in Man Bites Dog. Almost as unwatchable as the one in Irreversible.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
try as I may, I always forget a couple of crucial titles I've forgotten to mention, and of course, you faithful bella morte, have exumed them for me ...
I have heard of and read a little about August Underground. Intrigued by it, not sure just how "good" it is ... I think I can safely assume it is similar to the realism of Aftermath ....
I own Criterion Collection edition of Man Bites Dog, which I think is exceptional filmmaking, even with the appalling rape-murder of the couple (which, incidentally is cut out of many international prints, including Australia/New Zealand).
I would most definitely include that scene in my list.