13 HORRIFIC MOMENTS in HORROR
September 24th 2007 02:01
So I’ve concocted my own list. I was tempted to spread the list across the whole of cinema, but decided to keep it in the family. The question I then asked myself was: am I making a list of the most violent moments in horror, or the goriest moments in horror, or the bloodiest moments in horror? There are differences.
A scene can be very violent, but bloodless. A scene can even be gruesome, but still relatively bloodless. Then a scene can be very bloody, but perhaps not that gruesome, nor that violent.
So, where do I draw the line? What’s the distinction? I’ve decided to combine all three into “horrific moments”, eschewing the suspense/tension factor of terror, since that is another kettle of manipulative innards, but keeping in mind the tone of a scene (ie atmosphere and context). Of course there are many other scenes of extreme horror (ones more horrific than these even) from movies which I haven’t yet seen.
So, in chronogical order, let's spill the bloody beans:
1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
I saw a re-release of this on the big screen many years ago. The opening images of a police photographer capturing rotting human remains was a disturbing sight that stayed with me for a long time. But it was the brief moment when Leatherface swung the sledgehammer down with violent gusto on the poor teenager’s head as he stood in the steel doorway that appalled me.
2. Deep Red (1975)
Dario Argento is reknowned for stagin elaborate and horrific murders. In this, arguably his finest film, the unknown killer smashes the face of one of the para-psychologists against the edge of a marble mantlepiece, smunching his teeth in. A truly ghastly injury. One immediately thinks of a similar scene in the drama American History X. Then the poor bastard is impaled.
A seminal moment in modern horror’s history: the scene in which the baby alien bursts out of Kane’s chest. Brilliantly choreographed and executed, and very realistic, considering the outlandishness of it. Apparently there was a much bloodier take. The cast’s reactions are of genuine surprise and repulsion as none of them knew what to expect, as Ridley had set up the scene with only technical crew (and John Hurt) knowing the outcome.
3. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Outside of the animal cruelty which is a horror realm of its own, this movie sports a very realistic looking human impalement aftermath, as well as a convincing human castration sequence. The director and producer were in fact arrested after the movie was released when authorities wrongly assumed they had killed people for real.
4. The Prowler (1981, aka Rosemary’s Killer)
The old bayonet forced through the top of the head and piercing out under the chin effect, brilliantly executed by Tom Savini. The added touch of horror being the victim’s eyes rolling back into his head as the blood pours down his face. There’s also a shotgun to the head effect as well which is impressively moist
Probably my all-time favourite scene of horror: Norris has a heart attack and whilst the doctor is trying to administer CPR Norris’s chest cavity opens up, with huge teeth each side and they chomp together severing the doc’s arms. Then Norris’s head detaches itself, sprouts spider legs and scuttles away.
6. Day of the Dead (1985)
Another landmark in special effects makeup by gore guru Tom Savini (with a young Greg Nicotero protégé), this movie sports numerous sequences, but the three standouts are a thoroughly convincing arm amputation, a zombie who sits up, his guts spilling out over the floor, who then receives a drill through the forehead, and a soldier screaming as a zombie peels back the top part of his face.
7. Intruder (1988)
The victim having his head severed in half, sideways, by a jigsaw was a landmark moment in gore. Pity the rest of the movie hasn’t held up very well at all. The very brief, but superb sequence was one of the earliest efforts of Greg Nicotero (who subsequently co-founded KBN EFX Group).
9. Se7en (1995)
The one victim from the seven deadly sins whose body we never see (well actually there are two bodies we never see, but that spoils the movie’s surprise); a prostitute who has had a horrendous looking “dildo” penetrate her until death. It is the image of the instrument of death and one’s own imagination that is so horrific. You don’t need to see the body to know what kind of damage would’ve been inflicted. Also the state of shock the man forced to use the tool is in is ample horror.
10. Irreversible (2002)
Arguably two of the most disturbing scenes in recent years: the graphic murder of a man having his head obliterated by the repeated blunt trauma of a fire extinguisher, and the prolonged anal rape and vicious assault of Monica Bellucci’s character in a pedestrian tunnel. Both scenes are skillfully directed, providing the viewer with maximum repulsion and horror.
The sequence in which poor Liz puts up her hand in defence, Mick Taylor snips off several of her fingers with a pair of huge shears, we see the fingers scatter across the floor, and then we cut back to Liz’s mortified and agonized expression is pure unbridled horror. Everyone in the cinema grimaces and clenches their fists in a protective knee-jerk reaction.
12. Imprint (2005)
The brothel torture scene of the whore by the madam is one of the most outrageous ever committed to celluloid. It plays on everyone’s worst nightmare: the piercing under the fingernails and into the gums by something very sharp. I say no more.
13. Hard Candy (2006)
The extended operation scene is a monstrously effective piece of manipulation. Every man watching this can not help but feel his testicles crawl up inside his body. It is a truly horrific sequence, brilliantly sustained and released. Ugh, just thinking about the reality of it sends shivers down my spine.
Another one came to mind ... as reprehensible as I Spit On Your Grave is, there's a scene near the end where the woman has enticed one of her attackers into a bubble bath with her and, without him noticing, she reaches down beside the bath and picks up a large kitchen knife, sliding it under the water. She makes a sharp motion under the foam and we see a geyser of dark blood jet up out of the water. The man gasps. The audience knows exactly what has just happened and all the men instinctively cross their legs (just like in Hard Candy). Uuuuugh! That moment stayed with me for a long time after.
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
I'd say the scene in Alien is the finest on this list, if only because it's been rumoured that the other actors didn't know it was going to happen!
The revelation scene at the end of Oldboy is pretty horrific, too... I couldn't turn away.
Or the dude in the bag in Audition!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
cheers mate, of course, I'd forgotten Audition. I think I need to make some changes to my list. The severing of the feet via wire was outrageously horrendous!! Please remind me of the Oldboy scene, I should remember, but I can't ....
Comment by Damo
That head in The Thing was a blast and I enjoyed it.
Not sure about going to see irreversable. Not my cup of tea.
But the others seem like a surreal selection.
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
James, actually it wasn't Melanie who got drilled, but a woman named Deborah Shelton ... Yeah, nasty scene, but not really that graphic/horrific ...
Comment by Damo
For teenagers Horror Flicks are foreplay.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Then in Blood for Dracula, (Warhol), it wasn't horrific in the normal sense, just a theatrically great horror scene, when Drac bites into a non "wurrgin"...and projectile vomits about 100 gallons of blood all over the place..that was a great moment.
The hideous moment when the guy who was knocked out has his face put against the kerb, his open mouth placed on the edge, and the neo nazi stomping on the back of his head...awful...what was that called...American Nazi or something...ok it wasn't horror...sorry...but ewww damn nasty!
However, I thought the Bates character in Misery delivered a memorable scene, when she breaks his feet with a sledge hammer....it was the second one that really got me...sorry not strictly horror either...
Would Poltergeist count...damn that was friggin freaky when it first came out...then years later on, even in broad daylight on the TV, it scared the shitter out of you! The scene in the flooded hole next to the house with all the dead in it when one of the characters slides screaming into it...ewww....and so many other scenes...the big freaky monster face etc...."they're baaaack!!!!!"
What about good ole Linda Blair in the big green vomit on the priest scene in The Exorcist....crikey!!!! Ok, so these days a lot of people would like to vomit green shit into a priest's face, and many have good reason...but when this first came out...YIKES it was scary...and it was based on a true story!
I could go on...it is all shuddering slowly back...all the repressed scary moments....think I need to take a pill and have a lie down...with one eye open!!!!!!!!!!
fog
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
glorious comments!!! I agree whole heartedly! Although Alien is in my top five fave movies of all time ... I daren't find anything wrong with it! LOL
Yes, Misery, Poltergeist (the face peeling!!!), Exorcist, all great choices!
I actually mention the neo-Nazi film you're thinking of in the post, it's called American History X ...
Comment by Mountain Fog
yes I can understand about having Alien on a pedestal...it was a brilliant, brilliant film. The grown up version of my critised mini monster, was fantastic. I alwyas thought at the end, the pussy cat should have expIoded and the newly hatched monster alien then escapes to a hidy place that she cannot find...until they reach earth!
I did not think the movie was going to be that good actually, and took a date, on our first outing, end of story!!!
Anyhoo, one film I have not had the gumption to watch is Saw, the promo put me off, but, I have seen many other amazingly terrifying films, so I should face up to it some time.
Oh, and thanks for the American X title, that was a good film too, along the lines of our own skin head film with "our" Russell, (god Kiwis must get the pip when we claim their talent as ours!).
Oh, and in a fun/horror/send up but still terrifying film, ummm....memory... you know, the scene: "Who's laughing now!!!!", when our hero uses a chain saw on his own hand, to rid himself of possession (remember the hilarious scene before that when his hand starts to beat him up!), damn, can't think of its title...
Brilliant considering the three pals decided to get the film together themselves, one playing the lead, never having made a movie before....you know, it has the Book of the Dead, in the old hut isolated when the link bridge collapses, grandma in the cellar...damn memory...a GREAT horror movie though, done with simple yet effective camera angles, like the zooming along the ground level towards the house with the scary sound track....dammit...
fog the thought lost!
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
SPOILER
At the end, the villain reveals that he's set up the entire situation so that Oh Daesu has fallen in love and had sex with his own daughter. It's a moment of horrific revelation, and Oh Daesu begs the villain not to tell his daughter. Then he cuts off his own tongue with a pair of scissors.
End Spoiler
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Se7en gets my vote. I still remember the gluttony scene. YIKES! The scene in the movie Serpent and the Rainbow where Bill Pulman gets a nail through his penis.... double yikes. The look on his face....horrifying
Mis
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
And, yeah, Se7en. Brilliant movie.