So my awesome friend Kathy agreed to do a guest post for A Nightmare on Kel’s Street. While she isn’t as into horror movies as I am, here are some things that scared her. (Incidentally, these are five scenes that scare me, too.)
I am quite a picky “horror“ movie girl, and only rarely watch it. However, I do love a good scare, especially in October. In honour of the awesome Kelly’s Nightmare on Kel’s Street event I was inspired to pick 5 scenes in movies that scared me.
1. The opening of Scream – Drew Barrymore fits every single horror movie cliche – the blonde, beautiful and curvy girl who gets killed. She also happens to be a pretty big name. I don’t think ANYONE expected her to die before the opening titles even rolled. Adding to the creepiness is the fact that her eventual death takes place steps away from salvation. Both setting the tone of the movie, and introducing our killer this scene gave me chills and had me jumping every time my phone rang long after I left the theatre. I still get chills hearing “I want to know who I’m looking at”.
2. The end of the Blair Witch Project – Say whatever you want about this movie, but it’s scary! Your mind is much more dangerous than anything you can be shown and this movie proved that less can be scary too. The end shot of Michael standing in the corner sent shivers up my spine, all while never showing WHAT exactly put him there.
3. The shower scene in Psycho – I totally recall the first time I saw this movie and how deeply it impacted me. I refused to close the shower curtain and resorted to taking baths long after I watched it. This is another example of less being really effective in the hands of a masterful director.
4. The end of Carrie – Who didn’t jump at the hand coming out of the grave at the end?! It’s still scary today and remains a staple of Halloween movies.
5. The ending of Se7en – I seem to have a thing for the “less is more” scenes. While this is obviously not a horror movie, I feel it still fits. The entire movie is filled with unsettling scenes, but the ending packs a huge shiver inducing wallop. David Mills’ realization that his wife’s head was in the box, and his subsequently finishing John Doe’s murder tableau by enacting the last sin (wrath) still haunts me. Close second is the scene in which the sloth victim ends up not being as dead as the detectives think.
*bonus scene – The girl comes out of the TV in The Ring – Nothing is quite so scary than the notion that the horror we are seeing could enter our homes. This movie took that fear and brought it to life.
So there you have five (with a bonus) of my favourite scary scenes. I end this with a question – what movie moments scare you? Leave it in the comments and you might prompt Kelly (or I) to check out a new movie for Halloween this year.
Thanks, Kathy! :) I completely agree with all of those picks (although I think the scariest part of the Ring is when you see the faces of Samara’s victims all green and gross—so creepy! Second scariest part of the Ring? The rest of the Ring).
When I was a young teen I enjoyed watching scary movies. Unfortunately I ‘grew up’ and had enough real-life nightmares that seeking the scary was no longer the thrill that it once was.
Scary movie scenes.
1. The end of Carrie when the hand comes out of the grave. I remember jumping into my boyfriend’s arms when that happened.
2. Same time frame but I don’t remember which specific Jason (or was it a Freddie movie???—-not the “Nightmare” movies but the “Friday the 13th” movies). At the end of that movie, I was all cool and relaxed, because the climax had already happened…right? Nope. Wrong. The kids that survived where all gathered up in a cabin and they were scared when they heard a little scritch, scratch, scritch at the door. The creepy music played and the door was opened to reveal…the dog that was missing from the beginning of the movie. The kids were all ‘shew…lived through that mess!’ and the bad guy suddenly jumped in through the window. It scared me so badly that I screamed, very loudly, and curled up in the fetal position right there in the movie theatre seat. I didn’t see the rest of the movie….I was too busy shaking and crying. The best part? My boyfriend’s Mom had been sitting two rows in front of us with her boyfriend. yup, that was a night I’d like to forget…
3. Then there was The Shining. I read the book just a week or so before we saw this one. Then we sat in the theatre and I kept saying….”I know what happens next, I read the book” Which was pretty much followed up with…”That didn’t happen in the book!” I can’t even begin to remember how many times I said those two things.
4. Silent Scream another terrifying movie. We had recently moved from California to Mississippi. Mom and Dad rented a little two bedroom house attic access was through a set of stairs. One of the two closets in my room was made under the stairway to the attic. My other closet held clothing and assorted ‘stuff’…In decorating my room I decided that I wanted that closet door open so I could see all of my collectibles and such that I had displayed on the shelves in the closet. So, the decision to go see that movie was not an itelligent one. Had I known that most of the really scary stuff took place in closets and on staircases I would NOT have gone to see that movie. I was so terrified that I made my boyfriend check the house before I would even think about walking in through the door….
Same boyfriend for all of those movies…silly me.
I’ve never seen Silent Scream! I must track it down…
VERY good list!! I agree wholeheartedly!