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The Top 10 Scariest/Disturbing Moments In FilmJun 15 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line - If I may take a break from the usual music review, I’d like to take this opportunity to compile once again another list. This being the Top 10 Scariest/disturbing moments in film. There is something viscerally fun about being scared. Never the less, sitting down to a good scary movie is something of a rare occurrence now days, what with society’s ability to stomach violence increasing and what not. Occasionally there will be a film that comes along that manages to harvest a few key scenes that scare the crap out of you. Its harder to present violence in a genuinely scary way because frankly, everyone has seen everything and for the most part can sit through any amount of special effects make up any movie has and wont flinch an eye. (The exception to this rule of course being Mondo films) I dedicate this list of the Top 10 scariest/disturbing moments in film to the minimalist scares; the ones generally (with exception to a few in the list) are free of gore and blood. I believe personally, from a horror movie fans perspective that the minimalist scares are the best. From a replay ability standpoint, minimal scares tend to stay scary after repeat viewings where as for the most part gore/bloodied scares tend to loose their impact due to the acknowledgment of the viewer knowing how it plays out. Of course, as a disclaimer, each of the movies mentioned in the list will no doubt contain spoilers and so if anyone in need of a good scare might just want to thumb through the list and go out and find these movies if you haven’t seen them. 10. Salem’s Lot – The Window Scene Ah yes, who could forget this creepy little scene. There is something delectably skin crawling about this such scene, where the vampire kid greets the person sleeping through the window (evidently I haven’t seen the film in some time) after a few nice swirling effects by the smoke machine, an evil, demonic like person arises within the central part of the window, hollowly staring at the camera. It’s a pure eerie moment that makes for spot number 10. 9. Funny Games – The Golf Ball Scene While not technically a horror film, this is still one disturbing piece of cinema dealing with home invasion. From a directorial standpoint, Michael Hanake is extremely mean spirited within the entire run time of the film. As the revelation comes that our two well-dressed, white-gloved wearing guests don’t plan on leaving, there is an instant amount of dread to the film. The viewer seems helpless as they still root for the hero’s to win. As the invaders leave, we are given that solace for a brief time. Until a golf ball rolls through the hallway (a key plot point from earlier, those who have seen it will know) signifying our home invaders are back. Needless to say, this is one disturbingly minimalist scare in the film. I can actually remember saying out loud “Oh No” as the golf ball rolled passed the bottom part of the screen. That is effective disturbing cinema. 8. The Shining – The Bathtub Scene. Its pretty much mandatory to add this to any list for the simple fact that it still stands up to this day as a thoroughly scary, tingling, skin crawling moment. After Jack walks into the bathroom, he is greeted with a very attractive woman, completely naked of which he begins to dance with. Jack seems to be in a state of abyss, until he looks into the mirror to reveal the women to have large decaying like sores on her body. This one is chalked up there thanks to the masterful Stanley Kubrick, and his ability to build a slow amount of tension to a peaking release of pure minimalistic scares. This one still gets me anytime I watch the movie (as does a number of other delectable scenes i.e. The rabbit suit guy. If this was a top 10 ‘What the F*ck Scares’ that would be number one.) Still but, a great horror film with a great number of scares adds up to the number 8 on this list. 7. Exorcist 3 – The Hallway Scene By far one of the most underrated horror sequels made (hell I like it more than the first Exorcist) it does happen to have one scene that is a guaranteed scare. The third exorcist is a very dialogue driven film, and at around the one hour mark, virtually free from and real giant scares (there were a few creepy moments though) the films almost stops still to break to the hallway, dark and sterile. There isn’t much going on, a casual worker is just going over some papers and a security guard strolls in and out of the hallway. As a viewer, and the fact that this is a horror film, we pretty much guess a jump scare is coming up. And we get it, a mini one anyway. The worker then ventures into an adjacent room and is started by a doctor (?) sleeping. The audience gets their minor jump scare and things resume back to the hallway where we expect a plot tie in to happen. As we wait in the sterile hall as the worker moves from room to room, at the left side of the hall she moves out from a room only to be followed by a white cloaked figure with a giant set of rib separators. The payoff is spectacular to the viewer as they are completely caught off guard as the walls of predictability got broken down by the earlier mini jump scare. A fast zoom is used to hone in on the payoff (very similar to what kubrick did with the rabbit guy in the Shining). To be truthful I red about the hallway scene before I seen the movie. But in retrospective I think the scare works even better when the viewer knows there’s a payoff, I was just waiting for it, thinking after the first mini scare “That’s the payoff??” and then being thoroughly scared to the point that I had to pause the movie to catch my breath. A great viewing experience. 6. Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer – The Home Invasion Scene Much like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Henry utilises the concept of what’s less is more, an effective idea that essentially means most of the violent acts within are implied so your imagination can fill the gaps. One scene however, stands above all implications, and in fact draws the audience in and makes them become apart of the atrocity. At around the one-hour mark, shortly after Henry and Otis acquire a camcorder, we see a videotape of Henry (filming) and Otis invade a family and kill the wife. Then the son comes home and Henry drops the camera and as the angle is tilted we see Henry snap the neck of the son and then brutally stab the husband. With the disturbing nature of the home invasion video, its made even more disturbing when the camera cuts away from the showing movie to reveal Henry and Otis, sitting on the couch watching back what they had just filmed. This is a very effective disturbing moment in the movie because it actually involves the viewer in the horrible acts. When watching Henry: Portrait of a serial killer you feel just a bad as them for watching the video. This kind of inclusive use of the viewer in horror films is somewhat rare, and still holds up today as a disturbing moment on film. 5. Tetsuo: The Iron Man – The Nightmare Sequence. Ah yes, who could forget this little gem of a film. This one has made quiet an impact on me recently with the fantastic release of both Tetsuo films in Australia (hell I might even review them both…) and the first one being a truly disturbing experience. Admittedly choosing one scene from the movie proved to be quiet a task as there were more than a handful that manage to disturb me. I was thinking the snake girl sodomy scene or the drill bit scene, but in the end I gone with the Nightmare sequence when the metal fetishist first meets up with Tetsuo. After exchanging a very cool slice across the throat action, he takes us to a visually nightmarish world, with each human being encased in a giant field of electrics. Tetsuo is then seen in a cell like object appearing as if he is suffocating from the plastic bubble like window to the cell and then shakes around violently as an array of thin tube things eat away at the bubble in the electricity field. Sound twisted? It is, and in fact my words wont do the scene justice because it really is just an indescribable scene. Still however, the use of stop start animation (which I would take over computer generated any day) and the combination of black and white film actually creates a really disturbing visual sequence that won’t soon be forgotten once viewed. A classic disturbing moment 4. Eraserhead – The Final Scene The baby. It was a perplexing part of Eraserhead. Throughout the entire run time leading up to the finish of the film once the ‘baby’ gets introduced, I wondered what was under the bandages. David Lynch for filled my morbid desire to see what was hidden, but really, I kind of wished he didn’t. Once our hero cuts away the bandages (his name in the film has escaped me. was it Henry?) we are greeted with a messy array of contorted flesh and everything else. Brought out magnificently by the black and white, Lynch still to this day has created one of the greatest final impacts to a film, lingering with the viewer long after the credits rolled. Hell I remember lying on my cough for an hour straight after the movie just thinking of the punch to the gut I pretty much received from this film. 3. Un Chien Andalou – The Eyeball Scene Once viewed never forgotten. Surreal master Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali to this day have created one tripped out, sometimes disturbing and thoroughly confusing film. Its run time is only 17 minutes and it was made in 1928, but the opening scene of the women getting her eyeball sliced by a razor is still one of the most disturbing things ever caught on film to this day. Time is the best test to anything that is scary. The fact that Un Chien Andalou was made 76 years ago, yet still manages to evoke the same sort of reaction it did way back when proves more than enough to me this is a truly scary moment in film. 2. Hypnosis – The Stove Scene Ok it did come out after the Ring, and a few of its scary moments in the film are virtually ripped straight from the Ring, there is one little scene that is guaranteed to scare/disturb/horrify. After a random victim fell under hypnosis, his visions are associated with him washing his hands. So he proceeds to do so. However he does it over a stove, the gas gathering all over his hands and as he raises them to his face, it catches on fire as he spreads all the flames across his face. It is disturbing. It’s also simplistic which makes it a very effective disturbing moment. I think the way each element is a simple, common place appliance and a commonly done action, makes it more disturbing because the viewer can relate to each action and the end result, is a disturbing moment in film, narrowing close to my number one spot Drum Roll………. 1. Ring O – The Flashback Sequence. Oh I can hear the groans of the hardcore horror fans in the distance that cry the original ring is vastly overrated as a horror film. While I disagree, the hype surrounding the film (and the remake and what not) does create a level of expectation that the film couldn’t fill. Still however, with all the hype of the first film, it truly does surprise me that the second ring (which is just, if not more scarier than the first) and the third ring don’t barely get a mention. In my opinion, the third instalment of the Ring, Ring O has easily the scariest moment out of the whole trilogy. While the first hour of Ring O pretty much acts out as a love story, containing nearly no traces of anything really scary, the last half an hour goes hog wild. One such scene was a flashback sequence where we see again the lady in the mirror brushing her hair, however she closes in on the mirror and we see her head peer out from the side, looking at the mirror, with the reflection staring at the camera. Then it moves to a staircase where we see Sadako doing that really freaky eyeball thing from the end of the first film. This scene truly did get me. I don’t remember any moment being more scarier than this. But of course for this to truly work, it is mandatory to see the first and second ring. Because of the reoccurring use of the lady brushing her hair, each Ring having one scene of it, the third impact from a different angle is a frightening thing to witness. This is great scary cinema, and thus concludes my Top 10 Scary/disturbing moments in film. Honourable Mentions Akira – The Melting Teddy Bear What can I say? It just looks plain freaky. Rivalled only by the massive skin creature thing Testuo turning into at the end of the film, it’s still a disturbing moment in film The Piano Teacher – The First instance of Masochism Watching her sitting in her bathroom cutting herself in the nether regions as a thin trail of blood seeps down the side of the bathtub is still a disturbing moment in film that has all the cold aesthetics of a Cronenberg film but stands out because of its shocking nature. Requiem For A Dream – Whole Film… I was going to put this one at the number one spot, but viscerally the whole film leads up to a disturbing last 15 minutes and I couldn’t really break it down to one scene. (Which wouldn’t fit the criteria either) However this is one high impact film that works so very well in kicking the viewer in the guts. Bloodsucking Freaks – Whole Film again… This one is just disturbing for all the wrong reasons. It disgusting and filthy and managed to freak be out because of its…. well its just plain gross. Videodrome – The slit in James woods’ Body This one is a little disturbing, and to this day holds up quiet well as a special effect for its brutally inclusive way its used. The insertion of the videotapes into the wound was just the icing on the cake… The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Original) – The Dinner Table This one is pretty widely regarded as the most disturbing moment in the film and I cant disagree with them. Some might say it was overplayed but I say it was harrowing and out of this world. Great stuff. I can’t think of anymore honourable mentions. Thanks for reading.  |
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by cripper by jeff_wilder78
