100 Favorite Scenes in Horror

[lazario]

I've probably done this already, but I just feel like it. I'm hoping if we can all come up with 100, than again- we'll understand each other's personal taste much better.

[Evil Dave]

Hmmm my brain is way too spent right now to even attempt to come up with 100, but I'll start thinking about it and get back to ya.

[lazario]

I know what you mean. The second I said it, I was reminding myself that I don't even have the energy to think of how to phrase a Beginning post and it's my topic...

But when I get started, I know I'll have several hundred results. So, perhaps I shouldn't have limited it to 100...

Anyway, I'll say my first one (just so I don't forget):

1. Rabid Grannies - Alice's walk to the gate / "I don't like talking through bars."

[tsmooth31]

yea this could take awhile to think about

[Evil Dave]

Will take a while to think through, but it'll be fun to do so! Good idea for a topic Laz.

[lazario]

Thank you. I will be going through my DVD collection for some help on this one.

[Evil Dave]

^^^ I've been in the middle of going back through all the episodes of The Sopranos so I haven't been watching much horror as of late. Guess I'll be dusting off the ol' DVD collection too!

[lazario]

I'm working on mine right now.

[nickconrad]

Well, I must be doing it wrong. I am sitting here having a hell of a difficult time thinking up a hundred scary scenes (even venturing outside of the genre). I must have not seen enough. Anyway, it's a hundred scenes, but not a hundred movies. I tried to go with 100 being the least scary/impacting on me, 1 being the most. It occurs to me that I may have broken the intention of the thread, and if so I hide behind it being my first post as a cheap excuse.

100. Gremlins (1984) When the mother hears the xmas carol begin playing downstairs “do you hear what I hear?”

99. Dumbo (1941) That LSD-induced elephant-dance trip scene

98. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Earwig insertion scene

97. Hostel (2005) The scene where we almost see someone get their toe lopped off

96. Trainspotting (1996) Come on, it had a scene with a dead damned baby

95. Friday the 13th (1980) Ms. Voorhees on the beach telling Jason she’ll take care of things

94. The Wizard of Oz (1939) The flying monkeys scared me to death as a kid, it took Wayne’s World to make the concept easier to deal with

93. The Godfather (1972) The scene of the horse head in the man’s bed

92. The Mothman Prophecies (2002) When the Mothman attacks the car early in the movie

91. Friday the 13th (1980) Jason leaps out of the water to grab John Denver Alice

90. Penny Dreadful (2006) The scene when the corpse of Orianna “wakes up” (saw it coming the whole movie and still jumped)

89. The Village (2004) The first sighting of one of the creatures

88. The Last Winter (2007) The playback of the tape recording the final moments of the naked guy

87. Cube Zero (2004) The first glimpse inside the elevator to the observation room

86. The Strangers (2008) The first appearance (albeit in the background) of the lead-killer

85. The Descent (2005) The night-vision revelation of the monster standing behind one of the main characters

84. Dark City (1998) Mr. Sleep(?) bites Murdoch’s knuckles

83. Zodiac (2007) The murder in the park in broad daylight

82. The Omen (2006) The jackal in the cemetery grave (I seem to remember the skeleton absent from the original, though I could be wrong it’s been some time)

81. 30 Days of Night (2007) The scene where “the stranger” explains from his jail cell that “they’re comin’, and this time they’re gonna take me with ‘em”

80. The Blob (1988) In the phonebooth scene, the trapped woman’s former co-worker’s face seeps to the forefront of the blob, and presses against the glass

79. Dark City (1998) Kiefer Sutherland explains his involvement

78. Boogeyman (2005) Opening scene where the clothes on the floor rise into the shape of a man

77. Eden Lake (2008) The ending sequence at the adult’s home

76. The Last Winter (2007) The scene towards the end when the Inuit woman is discovered smothering a crewmember

75. The Mothman Prophecies (2002) The “chapstick” scene on the phone with Richard Gere

74. Boogeyman (2005) The transition scene between a flashback of being shut in a closet, and the grown-up version of the same character opening the door to that same closet

73. Scream (1996) The end of the opening scene, where we see a hanging disemboweled Drew Barrymore

72. Rosemary's Baby (1968) The rape scene

71. Suspiria (1977) The yellow eyes that the first murder victim sees through the laundry hanging out the window

70. The Cell (2000) A character is assaulted and molested by a grey impish creature with twisted horns

69. The Birds (1963) The scene where the flock begins to collect on the playground equipment

68. Rear Window (1954) The final confrontation scene

67. Candyman (1992) The bees swarming out of the Candyman’s mouth

66. Carnival of Souls (1962) The scene where the office chair swivels around, and the man the main character had been confiding in turns out to be “one of them”

65. Un Chien Andalou (1929) Slicing up eyeballs. I do not want to be a debaser

64. From Hell (2001) The scene where the lobotomy procedure is first demonstrated

63. The Shining (1980) The make-out-with-a-corpse scene

62. The Omen (2006) I think this scene came from this movie, could be wrong again though. A simple “close the medicine-cabinet mirror to reveal the scare”, with a demonic red-robed creature becoming visible

61. Session 9 (2001) The scene where Hank returns to the sanatorium at night to collect what he found earlier

60. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) The scene showing the shadow of the vampire climbing the staircase

59. Alien (1979) The scene where the alien leaps out of the darkness at the man with the flamethrower

58. The Exorcist III (1990) The old woman crawling on the ceiling above George C. Scott

57. The House on Haunted Hill (1999) The scene in the water tank with the woman / hagfish

56. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) The first appearance of the vampire

55. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) John Malkovich attacks Dafoe, who rises up (ala the coffin scene in Nosferatu) with a completely wicked smile on his face

54. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) “Din-din” scene with the cooked rat

53. Jacob's Ladder (1990) The scene where the train passes by with everyone looking at Tim Robbins

52. Se7en (1995) The discovery of the sloth

51. Poltergeist (1982) Clown in the chair

50. Ghostbusters (1984) The ghost in the library

49. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) The remade “Nightmare at 20,000 feet” scene

48. Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985) Large Marge, dear lord

47. The Sixth Sense (1999) The first appearance of the vomiting girl

46. The Shining (1980) The zoom-in-close-up on the man in the dog suit “kneeling at foot of bed”

45. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) The ghost in the chair

44. Mulholland Dr. (2001) Either scene with the crone

43. Apt Pupil (1998) The homeless man in the basement revives, and must be killed by the boy

42. Psycho (1960) Ending scene showing the mother’s corpse’s face with Norman’s voice over

41. IT (1990) Pennywise playing with a noisemaker in the library (while blood-filled balloons float about)

40. Carnival of Souls (1962) The dance at the carnival

39. Evil Dead (1981) Cheryl’s first appearance from the cellar

38. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) Pick any scene where she’s playing contortionist

37. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) The night-vision scene

36. Poltergeist (1982) Tearing off chunks of his face in the bathroom

35. A Clockwork Orange (1971) The rape scene

34. The Omen (1976) The hanging suicide

33. The Grudge (2004) Girl under the sheets

32. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) The laughing scene

31. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) The kidnap scene

30. Deliverance (1972) The rape scene

29. Rosemary's Baby (1968) The Scrabble revelation scene

28. The House on Haunted Hill (1959) The apparition at (Norah?)’s window which leads a rope into her room, and around her ankles

27. The Thing (1982) Spider-thing.

26. The Exorcist (1973) The spiderwalk scene from the restored version

25. The Last House on the Left (1972) The rape scene

24. Alien (1979) The scene where we see the full-grown alien (for the first time) dangling on some chains above the man looking for the cat

23. IT (1990) The old woman has her head in her hands, and slowly looks up revealing a ghoulish decayed-looking face

22. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) The door sliding open behind the girl revealing Leatherface

21. Ghost Story (1981) The second killing (on the bridge)

20. Halloween (1978) Opening sequence showing the murder of the sister while in the clown costume

19. Suspiria (1977) The main character’s undead friend appears from behind the door with a knife in the final confrontation scene

18. The Others (2001) “I am your daughter”

17. The Blair Witch Project (1999) The ending shot of the man standing in the corner

16. The Cell (2000) The shot where the “jester king” enters the scene from behind Vince Vaughn

15. Session 9 (2001) When we first hear Simon's voice

14. Jacob's Ladder (1990) The scene where Tim Robbins is injected in the forehead by the no-faced doctor

13. Suspiria (1977) The scene with the blind man and his dog on the pavilion at night

12. The Birds (1963) The discovery of the man with no eyes

11. Psycho (1960) The top-of-the-stairs murder of the detective

10. Suspiria (1977) The first murder from the stained-glass onward. The set itself in this area of the building is almost the majority of what did me in here

9. The Exorcist (1973) The 'one frame' shot of the demon's face while Regan lies on the hospital bed

8. The House on Haunted Hill (1959) The scene where the blind woman appears next to the girl (Nora?) with her hands raised (not the scene where she materializes in the doorway across the room)

7. The Exorcist III (1990) The scene where the nurse is suddenly pursued by someone in a white robe with the massive shears

6. Audition (1999) The scene where the bodybag first spasms

5. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) The scene where the vampire appears in Hutter's doorway

4. The Shining (1980) The twins' appearance (and dismemberment if I can sneak that in as well)

3. The Exorcist (1973) The dialogue from Regan when her head first turns around “Do you know what she did?”

2. Psycho (1960) The shower scene

1. Halloween (1978) The shot where Michael Myers stands in the bedroom doorway wearing a sheet and glasses

[lazario]

Feb 12, 2009 6:59:36 GMT -5 nickconrad said:

Well, I must be doing it wrong. I am sitting here having a hell of a difficult time thinking up a hundred scary scenes (even venturing outside of the genre). I must have not seen enough. Anyway, it's a hundred scenes, but not a hundred movies. I tried to go with 100 being the least scary/impacting on me, 1 being the most. It occurs to me that I may have broken the intention of the thread, and if so I hide behind it being my first post as a cheap excuse.

Do whatever your heart desires. I want people to make this thread their own.

Oh... And THAT'S what I call a list!

Welcome to the board!

[Evil Dave]

Wow, way to set the bar high nickconrad! Very nice list indeed. ;D

Welcome to the board!

As for my list..........I'd say I've nailed down about 25% of it so far........Hopefully I can get it done sometime this weekend, lol (wishful thinking)!

[tsmooth31]

welcome to the board nick, i see you wasted no time with your list

im not even sure if i should waste my time as most of my scenes would come from low budget movies unknown to just about everyone

[Evil Dave]

Nah, make the list! It'll give me some good low budget titles to go out and find to watch!

[nickconrad]

Please give me this list of low budget movies that I've never heard of! While I was making my list, I had originally put the Last House on the Left scene at something in the high 90's, and noticed as it kept getting lower and lower and lower. It hit me that the complete lack of budget made the entire movie a lot more impacting than, oh, say, the remake will be.

And, of course, thanks for all the welcomes.

[lazario]

Feb 12, 2009 8:27:08 GMT -5 tsmooth31 said:

welcome to the board nick, i see you wasted no time with your list

im not even sure if i should waste my time as most of my scenes would come from low budget movies unknown to just about everyone

I second / third it. Do what you want to do. Hell, you might even inspire some of us to pick up one of those boxsets.

[tsmooth31]

ok well the majority rules, i will have to cook up a list in the near future

[lazario]

Feb 12, 2009 8:43:14 GMT -5 tsmooth31 said:

ok well the majority rules, i will have to cook up a list in the near future

Don't just make a list. Talk about the movies themselves. Maybe link us up to some IMDb pages on the movies you think are great. Or start a horror sub-board and give us reviews of them.


Anyway, I've been slacking on this list because I wanted to actually run through the movies on DVD and write down a list of my favorite scenes. How do you think that went? I started with, like, 4 or so Argento movies and had a list of like 30 scenes alone. It took a lot of time and I wasn't getting very far.

So, now, I'm just going to try to think on my toes, like I did with my #1. I may forget a lot. But if I forget anything crucial, I'll change the post to - 200 or more... ;D



1. Rabid Grannies - Alice's walk to the gate / "I don't like talking through bars."

I guess I'm going to end up explaining a little bit for each one. If I feel like it. Rabid Grannies is a freaking smart little foreign gore film that I didn't expect to be as fun or smart as it was. I also didn't expect the atmosphere to be so good. The scene I've highlighted shows the atmosphere beautifully in a very chilling moment in the dark Dutch woods outside the huge castle-like house the Aunts live in. Alice is a very sweet character (undeserving of the wrath of the demonic, fanged Rabid Grannies themselves) going to meet a very creepy character at the huge, ugly gates of the house which are far off the hard, bridge-like steps that line the driveway and lot where the cars are parked (the length making it even harder for the people trapped inside to escape). The dialogue of the creepy character is incredibly hard to make-out, but the way she looks is bone-chilling. As is the very creepy music used in the scene. And other sound effects, like a whipping wind. And the image of the freezing fog slowly coating the full moon.

-

2. Dead Dudes in the House - Linda's Room / "Actually... I'd rather stay."

What would you do if you and your friends were trapped in a dilapidated house with all the doors and windows locked shut and impossible to break through, you've learned that a dead person is alive inside and is killing your friends one by one, you've finally discovered a way out... Then suddenly... One of your friends tells you they don't want to leave?

This scene is unexceptionally the single creepiest moment of the film. And it's a real rule-breaking movie in the horror genre anyway. A combination of haunted house film, zombie movie, and slasher flick, that doesn't follow the rules of either sub-genre. You constantly have to adjust to what's happening and it's always intense or terrifying. None moreso than when you know the sweetest character in the film is now an evil killer from beyond the grave.

The eerie blue lightning strewn across her face. The almost pendulum-like swing of the camera back and forth across the chair she sits in, facing the window. The high-pitched synth-like sting from the music score. It's basically a scene that perfectly amalgamates aspects from all 3 types of movies. To the other characters, she sounds like a ghost and hauntingly sits alone in that chair. But we're facing her and we can see the demonic evil in her face and the dried blood on her mouth and chin. And while she speaks, she holds a knife in her hands, ready to kill, which is unseen by her friends standing behind her.

-

3. Killer Klowns from Outer Space - Officer Mooney and the Klown Ventriloquist / "Don't worry, Dave. All we wanna do is kill you."

If you've seen this movie, you know how good this scene is. How creepy it is. How odd it is. How completely serious and unfunny it is. People make radical claims about the movie being funny and not scary all the time. But don't bullshit, if this movie's plot were really happening and you lived in Crescent Cove- you would be so fucking scared, you might lose your mind. Everybody is at least a little creeped out by clowns anyway. And the clowns in this movie don't speak with their own voices. They're like mimes. You don't know what they think, how smart they are, or what they want from you. In this scene, they tell you. In no uncertain terms. That is scary, especially when you get a look at them. They are grotesque, portly, physically imposing figures with weapons and sharp, jagged teeth.

This scene's creepiness is maximized by the set-up. Dave walks into the police station alone with no back-up. The desk room is vacant. Nobody's there. He goes inside the cell block area, nobody's inside (except the corpses). When he returns to the desk area... he's not alone anymore. He's facing one wall of the room, the other figure inside is facing the opposite wall. Even though Dave hasn't looked directly at the other figure in the room, either he realizes he caught that figure out of the corner of his eye... or, he can hear it inside the room. As he turns to face this figure, the figure turns as well, mimicking Dave's action. Dave faces the clown. The clown pulls up the body of dead-Mooney. A kind of spotlight seems to shine down on the clown, highlighting the pasty white complexion of its' face. On the chair the clown is sitting in and nowhere else in the room. Suddenly, dead-Mooney isn't dead anymore. But he is. The clown has its' hand inisde Mooney's corpse and is making it speak, very realistically. And at first, Mooney's words aren't English or human...at all. The clown comically looks at Mooney as Mooney turns to face him. Then, directs his unbelievably frozen, evil, emotionless gaze on Dave and doesn't take his eyes off Dave. Even as Dave's fellow officer is speaking to him.

You have to be thinking... what the hell is going to happen next?

-

Okay... we really need a break from all the creepy stuff. This stuff is too damn scary.

4. Innocent Blood - Frannie takes a look in the cellar / "He killed him! He ate my Manny!!!"

Frannie is the type of character you just don't see in horror. The upscale, rich, uptight, high-strung, emotionally frail housewife who kind of belongs to that whole trend of slightly young women (30's) marrying older men (late 50's or older) for their money. (That's just the trend, of course, Frannie's more like 50 here and Manny's more like 61). I think the reason is because their reaction to something supernatural would probably be like Frannie's reaction to a cop peeking at her through a bathroom window and seeing a living-dead gangster in her basement... she hits the bottle and goes, "I don't need this right now." Her reaction to seeing her husband's dead body is even more amusing.

The part I love is when the 2nd cop drives by... You heard that right, multiple cops are driving by this guy's house, and he's a lawyer (not even a gangster)... Frannie runs out to his car with the news that her husband's been eaten. That particular cop is later admonished for leaving his car unattended in front of the house because after he ran to Frannie's aid to check her husband's body... a vampire stole his car! You've got to love that! This scene also includes a bit where the 1st cop is revenge-handcuffed by the main villain's gangster friends after being choked unconscious, and the car-stealing vampire in question doesn't know what a walkie-talkie is when the 2nd cop's buddy is talking back to him... so she picks it up and throws it out the window. The car's window is rolled down even though it's the dead of winter and probably like 10 degrees outside (at warmest).



MORE LATER

[tsmooth31]

Don't just make a list. Talk about the movies themselves. Maybe link us up to some IMDb pages on the movies you think are great. Or start a horror sub-board and give us reviews of them.

sounds like a good enough idea, i can do that when i get a chance


i also have been slacking tho and havent been on the comp all that much lately, been helping a friend move and fix up a house so when i get more time ill see what i can do

[lazario]

Mar 22, 2009 5:29:06 GMT -5 tsmooth31 said:

Don't just make a list. Talk about the movies themselves. Maybe link us up to some IMDb pages on the movies you think are great. Or start a horror sub-board and give us reviews of them.

sounds like a good enough idea, i can do that when i get a chance


i also have been slacking tho and havent been on the comp all that much lately, been helping a friend move and fix up a house so when i get more time ill see what i can do

That's fine. No pressure. Take your time.

Clearly, I've been slacking with my 100 list anyway.

[shunty]

whoa. nice list mr. tick! i liked your nods to jacob's ladder, session 9, and last house, particularly