Most Traumatic Scene

[Susan]

Ok, i've been away. No excuse, I tend to pull a Houdini every so often. Life's been busy at work, i've got a cat in the house now to keep me company so i'm slowly becoming the cat lady, who as we know in all horror films winds up living in a rickity old house with frizzy grey hair and usually armed with a loaded shotgun. So watch out. ;-)

last nite I saw parts of "Jeepers Creepers"...for the first time. To be truthful the movie was scary UNTIL they started showing the bodies. I thought the whole concept of that pipe leading to god knows where was in itself the scariest part of the film. somehow the overkill of bodies just did it in for me.

And obviously it must take a whole lot to scare kids these days if we require that many bodies and severed heads. So when I think back to movies of my past as to which scenes in films (not necessarily the whole movie itself but a particular scene) really scared the pants off of me, only a few come to mind. I think that it would be interesting for a movie writer to do some sort of a survey on the scariest movie scenes for most people to help them write a really good film. Could it work? who knows.

So - what movie SCENES from years past really left goosebumps? Something that truly scared you to the core...as far as it could get to your core anyhow. I think it would help to see if we can get any on the list that were more than just a scene that made you jump a little, but something that truly freaked you out. Something wrong, something that made your guts twist into a knot. It's October, Halloween time. Seemed fitting.

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1. "AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON" - My parents forbid me to watch initially but I listened through the door. When I finally did see it what scared me was them walking out in the middle of nowhere at the beginning and realizing they were lost. And not only that, but the grunting noises of something beyond the edge of the light....

2. "THE SHINING" - The images of the two little girls standing in the hall saying "Won't you come play with us danny", and flashes of images of their murder scene and blood everywhere as they chant "Forever...and ever...and ever".  But what was more traumatic? WTF was that scene with the guy dressed up in the bear costume servicing someone? I still need therapy

3. "EXORICST III" - The scene where the nurse in the hallway walks off and somoene walks right behind her coming at her head with the giant metal blades! You don't see the murder, that's left to the imagination.

4. "SUSPIRIA" - the girl keeps sensing something is outside the window. NO DON'T LOOK! What then occured was a murder scene that still creeps me out.

5. I can't remember the movie name but I believe Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage were in it. It had weird imagry ala Wizard of Oz nightmare gone wrong. David Lynch. The one scene showed her mother in the bathroom rubbing dark red lipstick all over her face laughing...not a horror movie but nevertheless.....

6. "THE CELL" - Where the horse gets sliced inside that glass panel. Ughhhh
******

I also have to admit that "The Ring" video had some pretty weird imagry which led to the success of the movie I think, in feeling like after viewing that you are probably opening the gates of hell or something.  I realized some of the scenes in films that I found scary had this in common, it was only a flash or glimpse of something or it was a scene which didn't seem to fit in the moment. (i.e.: bearman in The shining)

Which is probably why the beginning of Jeepers Creepers was scary until I kept watching. It was the idea of the pipe which went down into the darkness of god knows where that was more frightening than seeing what was actually down there.

[Andrew]

The general idea behind "The Blob" always got to me.  I think that what drove it home was one scene from the original.  The teenagers see the doctor, partially covered and thrashing around, through a window.  That embodies it for me.  Not only is the thing covering your body, but it is also eating away the skin and probably entering your throat, nostrils, and such.

From "Jaws" the first girl, alone and being attacked, screaming something like "It hurts" as the unseen killer tears her lower body apart.  Nobody can hear her, she knows she is alone, but the feeling of agony and helplessness make her cry out.

[ulthar]

I agree with AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.  That intro scene was effective.

I'm in the "creeped out by what I CANNOT see on screen" camp.  I think part of what dilutes modern horror is everything has to be explicit.  One of the creepiest short stories I ever read was "The Statement of Randolph Carter" by HP Lovecraft, and the only violence it had was heard by the main character.

Also, there's a poem by Randall Jarrell called "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" that sums up the horror of war in five lines - short but VERY effective.  And there is no overt violence in this poem either.  The last line kicks you in the head, though.

But, back to movies, as far as THE SHINING goes, I find scenes like when Jack was typing "all work..." over an over again, page after page, creepy and memorable.  It's when you realize something is not right with the character - when you really know something is wrong.  And it can happen to you or someone around you.  Scenes in horror movies that can happen in our everyday experience are far scarier - to me at least.

With monster and ghost stories, I can retreat behind 'it's not real, it's only a movie.'  But everyday stuff - well, that's another story.  That's why I found THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT wonderfully creepy, even though there were clues that it was not real.  It was just a story of some kids lost in the woods, not unlike the opening to AAWIL.  I cannot say there is any one scene in TBWP, though, just the general tone.

[Andrew]

ulthar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm in the "creeped out by what I CANNOT see on
> screen" camp.  I think part of what dilutes modern
> horror is everything has to be explicit.  One of
> the creepiest short stories I ever read was "The
> Statement of Randolph Carter" by HP Lovecraft, and
> the only violence it had was heard by the main
> character.

Great point and this is also one of my favorite short stories.  It is all of what, two pages?  The continuing narration and the final, mind-destroying thing heard over the phone line is chilling.  I think part of the power of the story was also the connection between the men.  There is a physical cable linking the two.  It takes away some of the remoteness of a cell phone or radio, because the evil is right on the other end of that cable - the one leading down into the dark.

[Neville]

When I was 10 years old, I was watching TV one afternoon. Some cinema program had the great idea to show the uncut Murphy death scene from "RoboCop". I was really naive back then when it came to on-screen violence, since i had little interest in movies and my parents wouldn't allow me to watch strong stuff. I remembered the line "s**t, I'm out of ammo" for years.

BTW, Susan, that scene (woman, lipstick, Nick Cage & Laura Dern) is from David Lynch's "Wild at heart". Lynch is not a horror director, but when he wants to he can be really scary. There are parts from "Twin Peaks" or "Mulholland Drive" that are quite scary.

[Susan]

Spielberg had it right in "Jaws" then, while they had issues with the shark and showed it in the end...what scared people was that which they could NOT see. The same way in "American werewolf in london" you are scared by what is lurking, what is stalking them.  

Because that is where the audiences imagination takes off, and sometimes what's in our own head is far more scarier than anything they could produce on the screen. Less is more? In some cases, yes.  Whenever I see movies and someones hand is feeling along a dark wall or reaching underneath the bed for something i cringe, because that goes back to childhood fears. Or maybe primal, fears of the dark - of the unknown "thing" in the dark that you think is there. So why can't horror movies get it right? What's worse is how the scarier a movie tries to be the more teens and others try to not be afraid by laughing at it. I don't know if they're overly desensitized to violence of the post-freddy krueger generation made horror movies a joke.

but i digress.

favorite scenes? :)

[Menard]

Talking about David Lynch, the scene in Eraserhead when he opens the baby's chest has stuck with me over time. Nothing to do with anything gory, but the baby was no pitiful and defenseless that something about that just sticks with me.

[odinn7]

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark scared me as a whole but the 2 scenes that really stick with me from that is where you can hear them whispering "when will she come and set us free" and also the scene where they are dragging her down the stairs.

The girls in the hallway in the Shining will always stick with me.

The lady in Pet Semetary with the disease (can't recall what disease it is)...whew.

Salems Lot had the kid floating with no feet and scratching at the window. We had a window like this in the house I grew up in...yeah...

[BoyScoutKevin]

5. Is "Wild at Heart" AKA "David Lynch's Wild at Heart"

[loyal1]

I agree with some of your votes for most traumatic scene, but I will come up with a few that have not been mentioned thus far.

Spoilers of course below.......


-When a Sranger Calls (1979)  The whole tention building with the phone calls of "Have you checked the children was creepy in itself, but as a kid of 11-12 hearing the policeman tell her The calls are coming from inside the house!"  That scared that crap out of me, and still creeps me out to this day.

-"Oh yes Georgie, They ALL float down here. When your down here with us, you'll float too!"  Yes you know what "It" I am referring to!  Pennnywise that creepiest clown.  That seen just gives me the willies.

-Scary Movie when that girl kisses the old woman.  Yes definitely creepy, although not horror...well maybe in one form.

-Kill Bill-when she was being buried alive.  That whole scene was well done and you felt like you were right in there with her.  

-Halloween when the boyfriend with the glasses gets killed off and Michael Myers wearing a sheet and his glasses just string at the girlfirend.  Man did that get me as a kid.

-Texas Chainsaw Masacre, when the surviving blonde girl was tied to the dining room chair at the dinner table.  Quite an intense seen

-Psycho, the shower scene of course and the eyevall...master work for it's time I think, and the fruit cellar scene with mothers remains

-The Changeling-  It is a simple scene, but got to me when I watched it...the ball bouncing down the stairs to George C Scotts feet.  I really think that's a great movie and underrated

-Burnt Offerings-Karen Black in the end when she is taken over by the house

-The Omen(original), when the mother is about to fall off the staircase and that creepy evil little kid just stares.  Willies written all over it

-Alien--the whole stomach thing was intense.

That's all for now floks but I know there are so many more!

[Doc Daneeka]

I've got a bunch, but for the most part, I agree with Odinn7.

Spinal meningitis was the disease.

[Yaddo 42]

On WGN's Nick DeGullio show he slammed the remake of "When a Stranger Calls" but also went after the original calling it a great set up or great short film subject but that people tune out or forget the rest of the story.

I agree on the burial in Kill BIll. I'm slightly claustrophobic anyway but that part was well done, including the choice to change the screen aspect to a smaller one (I'm guessing 1:1.33) really added to the effect.

Non-horror or genre but in the film of "Catch-22" the scene where Yossarian confronts Milo about his war profittering. After contracting with the Germans to bomb their own airbase which kills Yossarian's pal Nately, Milo responds that Nately died a wealthy man since he owned lots of shares in the syndicate Milo runs. Yossarian yells back that he's dead and can't use the money. Milo says his family will get it, Yossarian yells back that he died too young to have a family. Milo replies that his parents will get it. Yossarian counters that his parents are rich and don't need it. Milo turns to him and says in an almost kind-hearted voice, "Then they'll understand." Gives me the shivers everytime.

The trangulation in the office in "Frenzy". So close in, so bland in it's setting, a rape/murder in a drab mundane office in a side alley with lots of ordinary people going about their business yards away unaware that something so awful is happening. Hitchcock stripped the scene down giving us a murder all the more ugly because of the plainness of its surroundings, how it unfolds, and the audience is complict for watching but also powerless to stop it if they don't like it.

[BoyScoutKevin]

This is not too belittle what anyone has previously posted, as we all find something scary, but while I have enjoyed many of the films mentioned so far, none of the scenes mentioned in them have I ever found scary. On the other hand . . . if one wants to talk about scary . . . then . . .

a sack pulled off of the head of a mad scientist
boy scouts thumbing a ride in the rain
Cyclops in an atomic submarine
dead sled dogs dropping out of wooden crates
fathers confessing their sins to their 11-year-old sons
ghosts in the night, as you try to use the toilet
leopards leaping upon apes
maniacs leaping toward blind women in unlit appartments
seals in the belly of a whale

and

appearances by a hyena/lion/wolfdog.

Also

flame-spouting spiders
freaks
monsterous whales
mutant babies
and
sandworms.

That is what scares me.

[Amanda]

I have to agree with loyal1 - the scene in the Changeling, with the ball bouncing down the stairs.  

Also from the Changeling: the wheelchair spinning around and chasing that woman.  That scared the crap out of me!

[Derf]

I never saw The Changeling, but I remember when it came out, my sister went to see it and came home talking about how it wasn't that scary. She was telling my mother about the bouncing ball scene, which I overheard, so I ran to my room, grabbed a rubber ball and bounced it down the hall into the kitchen (where they were). I think my sister nearly wet herself screaming. I guess I was more evil then...

As for other scenes, I will agree with Ulthar about "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." It's a powerful, chilling poem.

In the movies, few things have really scared me. I was terrified at three years of age by the weenie-mouth monster in Monster of Party Beach.

The whole of the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers frightened me.

The smile on the face of Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed.

The whole of Lord of the Flies, both the book and the 1963 movie.

The original Nightmare on Elm Street left me feeling pleasantly creeped out.