FIVE SCENES THAT SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF MEIn honor of Halloween, I’d like to honor five moments in film that, years after they first made me piss myself, can still make me jump out of my seat or run a chill up my spine.
5
in bed with Alice
in
Lost Highway
Credit much this thriller’s effect to the genius sound design - an otherwise somewhat flawed film, this strange neo-noir sounds and looks fantastic, and those chiller moments work because they hit you at all levels. As Fred starts to visualize strange dealings in his house, the film starts to alternate between stretches of long quiet and splashes of piercing shrieks. Waking up to a nightmare where you are attacking your wife is one thing; waking up next to Robert Blake in drag is another.
Watch the scene here.
4
what’s in the bag
in
Audition
For a good stretch of Takashi Miike’s 2000 thriller, sweet pretty Asami seems to be the innocent victim of desperate Shigeharu’s inconsiderate ploy to replace his dead wife. That is, until we see her sitting patiently by her phone, waiting for his call. Is that a ratty bag in the background? What’s in it? For a while, we don’t know - it sits perfectly still, but ominously in focus. Then the phone rings, Asami smiles, and this misleadingly quiet movie takes its infamous turn into a stomach-churning bloody ride. And let’s not forget the vomit. See the trailer, and the scene, here.
3
the man in back of this place
in
Mulholland DriveIn murderess Diane’s tragic, desperate reconfiguration of a fateful decision made at a local diner, doppelganger Dan recalls a nightmare he had about “this place,” Winky’s diner in Los Angeles. In an alternate world where nothing is as simple as a heartbroken woman putting a hit out on her lover, and every impulse and excuse is personified and exaggerated for the purpose of self-absolution, what better place to find
EVIL! than at the scene of the crime? And where does evil lie? Behind the dumpster out back. David Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece was more nuanced and emotionally charged than most of his other thrillers, but it still delivered what may be his greatest goosebump moment.
Watch the scene here.
2
the figure in the red coat
in
Don’t Look Now
This 1973 classic is one long act of moody, atmospheric foreplay that pays off in one hell of a climax. The foggy canals of Venice conjure up creepy clairvoyants, a notoriously steamy sex scene, and a mysterious figure in a red coat scurrying about and haunting mourning parents Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, whose own child was wearing the same when she drown; when Sutherland finally dares approach the figure and learn the truth, his discovery provides what is easily one of the most visceral and chilling climaxes in horror history.
See the trailer here.1
the truth about Angela
in
Sleepaway Camp
That face. That
growl. That completely bat-shit twist that came out of nowhere and made an otherwise so-so
Friday the 13th knockoff a cult classic that launched a trilogy (with a fourth possibly on the way?). Someone has been gruesomely killing camp counselors, and of course sweet, virginal, she-couldn’t-harm-a-fly camper Angela ends up being the killer. But the story doesn’t end there - the film ends with one hell of a reveal about Angela, a twist crazier and creepier than anything Shyamalan could dream up. I saw this film as a kid, and for the longest time I couldn’t rewatch the last few minutes. Now I can sort of appreciate the campier elements of this admittedly somewhat humorous visual, though I still say mainstream horror cinema has seen very little quite as fucked up as this.
Watch the scene here.
