Scary moments on film

[BlackShanglan]

I thought of this while creating a different thread, but thought it deserved its own space. Halloween seems like the right time to remember some of our favorites.

Sometimes it's the subtle things that get me. One of my very favorite back-creeping moments comes from the movie Event Horizon, which is basically a ghost ship story set on board a space ship. Early in the movie, the people exploring a derelict vessel find a video clip left by its vanished crew. Amidst screams and sounds of agony, they make out someone speaking in Latin, words which one of the explorers translates as "Save us."

Later, in a wonderfully creepy moment, he tells the other crew members that he got it wrong. They're not saying "Save us." They're saying "Save yourselves."

Brrrr!

 

[impressive]

Ghost Story

 

[Safe_Bet]

HAL saying "I'm sorry, Dave..." STILL gives me the chills.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Ghost Story

I haven't seen it. Should I dare to?

 

[BlackShanglan]

HAL saying "I'm sorry, Dave..." STILL gives me the chills.

Ooh, yes. That sort of calm, even friendly utter unyieldingness is brilliant.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

There are a couple of moments in The Thing with Kurt Russel. One, is where they are testing blood samples, and... well, I won't give it away, but it is creepy. The other is when they have one guy on the medical table and try to fibrillate* him. I cringe every time I know that scene is coming up.

There is also an Eric Roberts movie where he finds a hole in the back of his girlfriend's head, and reaches into it with his fingers. The hole closes shut chop[ping off his finger. I always shy away from scenes even similar to this, always thinking that someone is going to lose a finger to that hole they are sticking in there.

And knife scenes. Whenever I see people cutting things in movies, I am always worried they are going to slice themselves open. Eek...

*why wasn't spellcheck being helpful with this word? I had to try four different permutations of what I thought it was before I could find one that was close enough for spellcheck to get.

 

[Safe_Bet]

Oh, Oh, Oh! I got it!

Phantasm. "Boy" as he reaches out of the mirror!

 

[impressive]

I haven't seen it. Should I dare to?

The entire movie is spooky in ways the book didn't even approach. Yes, if you're studying "scary" you should watch it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Oh! The two creepy little girls in The Shining.

I've always loved that scene for the subtly of it. There's no overt gore or violence, and yet it feels wholly and terribly wrong in every way. That's Kubrick at his best.

 

[impressive]

Oh! The two creepy little girls in The Shining.

I've always loved that scene for the subtly of it. There's no overt gore or violence, and yet it feels wholly and terribly wrong in every way. That's Kubrick at his best.

Agreed.

 

[BlackShanglan]

There are a couple of moments in The Thing with Kurt Russel. One, is where they are testing blood samples, and... well, I won't give it away, but it is creepy. The other is when they have one guy on the medical table and try to fibrillate* him. I cringe every time I know that scene is coming up.

There is also an Eric Roberts movie where he finds a hole in the back of his girlfriend's head, and reaches into it with his fingers. The hole closes shut chop[ping off his finger. I always shy away from scenes even similar to this, always thinking that someone is going to lose a finger to that hole they are sticking in there.

And knife scenes. Whenever I see people cutting things in movies, I am always worried they are going to slice themselves open. Eek...

*why wasn't spellcheck being helpful with this word? I had to try four different permutations of what I thought it was before I could find one that was close enough for spellcheck to get.

Dear Lord, that sounds horrifying.

I feel the same fear of anything, movie or real life, involving hand-held circular saws or circular blades (including meat slicers). I was traumatized at an early age by the Red Cross video teaching first aid for arterial bleeding. *shudders*

 

[Belegon]

I never got the whole "slasher flick" genre because my own mind makes up things far more horrible.

It wasn't just the censors or the lack of tech that kept Hitchcock from showing the murder in Psycho. He knew exactly what he was doing.

the movies that get me are invariably those that rely more on suspense than on startling people.

 

[cloudy]

I think my favorite scary movie of all time is The House of Usher, with Vincent Price as Roderick Usher.

It's an oldie (made before I was born), but the entire movie is one long scary moment. Vincent Price is classic, of course, but he plays his part so perfectly, with that soft, creepy voice.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTgxOTM1ODY0Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzY1ODM2._V1._SX325_SY400_.jpg

 

[buxxxom]

A couple scenes in recent movies come to mind:

1) the scene in "Disturbia" where the car accident happens, again

2) the scene from "Saving Private Ryan" where one soldier is begging for his life in a language not understood by the one wielding the dagger. I won't watch either movie, ever again.

The "real" stuff scares me, not Jason or Freddie or the like.

 

[epiphany65]

I never got the whole "slasher flick" genre because my own mind makes up things far more horrible.

It wasn't just the censors or the lack of tech that kept Hitchcock from showing the murder in Psycho. He knew exactly what he was doing.

the movies that get me are invariably those that rely more on suspense than on startling people.

I agree completely. The scene in Resevoir Dogs where Mr.Blonde cuts the cop's ear off was shot 2 ways, but Tarantino used the one that panned away because he said that people's imaginations could come up with more frightening things than what he had filmed.

 

[BlackShanglan]

For sheer horrific nastiness factor, I have to give points to the dismemberment scene in Shallow Grave. It's absolutely no help to look away - the sounds will make you want to claw your ears off.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I agree completely. The scene in Resevoir Dogs where Mr.Blonde cuts the cop's ear off was shot 2 ways, but Tarantino used the one that panned away because he said that people's imaginations could come up with more frightening things than what he had filmed.

For some reason, this reminds me absurdly of the Red Dwarf episode "Waxworld," in which Lister and the Cat are in prison and Lister is looking out the window as warring "famous person" waxwork droids excute prisoners.

Lister: "Hang on. They're leading a prisoner out to the stake. It's Winnie the Pooh."

Cat: "They're tying Winnie the Pooh to the STAKE?"

Lister: "He's refusing the blindfold ..."

*gunfire*

Lister slumps down from the window.

"That's somethin' no one should ever have to see."

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Uma Thurman being buried alive in Kill Bill 2. That is truly terrifying when in a dark theater. The lights go out, and you hear the dirt being heaped on top of her coffin. When she finally gets the flashlight turned on, she can hardly move at all. It is so claustrophobic, you feel like you are in there with her.

 

[Lady_Guenivere]

Uma Thurman being buried alive in Kill Bill 2. That is truly terrifying when in a dark theater. The lights go out, and you hear the dirt being heaped on top of her coffin. When she finally gets the flashlight turned on, she can hardly move at all. It is so claustrophobic, you feel like you are in there with her.

That's one that comes to mind for me too...the whole being buried alive thing...ewwww gives me chills.

 

[jomar]

A recent (2005) movie that got me was The Descent. The idea of being trapped in a cave while being hunted down is terrifying. Lots of good small moments in this one. Not for squeamish stomachs, though.

While I'm at it, the director did another excellent little movie called Dog Soldiers. Scary and funny (dialog) at the same time.

 

[Liar]

Burnt man stepping out from behind dumpster in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

Inexplicably high on the freakout-o-meter.

 

[michchick98]

Okay, laugh if you will.....a movie that's always scared the bejeezus out of me is THE FOG (not the remake, the original with Hal Holbrook and Jamie Lee Curtis)

Anyway, it scares me because it was the first scary movie I ever saw. My dad took me to see it under much protest from my mom. I had nightmares for weeks afterward.

Didn't help that at the time I'd seen it, we lived on a small lake, it was springtime and the mist rising off the lake in the morning would freak me out.

So the part of the movie that scares me is when the fog rolls in. The 'ghosts' are in the fog, but you don't see them until right before....well yeah. It freaks me out every time, yet, every Halloween I'll turn off all the lights and watch that movie.

 

[Guest]

The original "House on Haunted Hill" during the scene in which everyone's in the library, and the door panels bend inward as something presses against them from the outside.

Creeped me right out.

 

[epiphany65]

Okay, laugh if you will.....a movie that's always scared the bejeezus out of me is THE FOG (not the remake, the original with Hal Holbrook and Jamie Lee Curtis)

Anyway, it scares me because it was the first scary movie I ever saw. My dad took me to see it under much protest from my mom. I had nightmares for weeks afterward.

Didn't help that at the time I'd seen it, we lived on a small lake, it was springtime and the mist rising off the lake in the morning would freak me out.

So the part of the movie that scares me is when the fog rolls in. The 'ghosts' are in the fog, but you don't see them until right before....well yeah. It freaks me out every time, yet, every Halloween I'll turn off all the lights and watch that movie.

I saw that in 1981 when I was 16 and it scared the crap outta me. We get a lot of fog around here and I still get a little frightened when I see fog now.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I saw something on, of all things, a reality TV show the other night that struck me as cinematically horrifying.

Lifeguards at a Florida beach spotted the dreaded upright-fin-with-big-shadow-under-it and were trying to get people out of the water. As inevitably happens when a small number of people try to tell a crowd what to do, a certain number of idiots vocally resisted, while others (particularly those who'd spotted the fin) rushed for the shore.

Then, as the lifeguards were trying to persuade the people still in the water to come out, a wave rolled in and washed up onto the beach a dead dolphin with a massive bite taken out of it.

I was on dry land watching it on television and it made my gut drop.