Category Archives: Scenes I Love

Horror Scenes I Love: Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

A true American success story, Bruce Campbell first met and befriended Sam Raimi when the two of them were high school students in Michigan.  Campbell first gained attention in Raimi’s Evil Dead films and he’s been a mainstay in Raimi’s films ever since.  He’s also been a favorite of the Coen Brothers, Don Coscarelli, William Lustig, and scores of other director.  Few actors can balance both drama and comedy with the adroitness of Bruce Campbell.

Campbell, of course, is best-known for his performance as Ash Williams, the S-Mart store clerk who lost his hand while spending the weekend at a cabin, spent some time in the past, and later earned the right to tell us all to say “hail to the king, baby.”  Campbell’s ability to do often violent slapstick comedy, along with his ability to deliver the most absurd of dialogue with a straight face, came together to make him into a true pop cultural icon.  Though Campbell has since announced his retirement from playing Ash (saying that, at his age, he can no longer physically spends hours a day getting beaten up), he remains a beloved actor to horror fans everywhere.

Today’s scene that I love comes from 1992’s Army of Darkness and it features Bruce Campbell at his best.  All Ash has to do is remember three simple words and say them before taking the Necronomicon from its place.  Of course, Ash being Ash, things don’t quite work out that simply….

Horror Scenes That I Love: Doug Bradley Makes His Debut As Pinhead in Hellraiser

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Born in Liverpool, actor Doug Bradley is a longtime personal friend to author Clive Barker and appeared in Barker’s short film Salome, playing the role of King Herod.  When Barker was making his feature directorial debut with 1987’s Hellraiser and he needed someone to play the head Cenobite, he turned once again to Bradley and the result was one of the most iconic horror characters of all time.

While the Cenobites may have all had disturbing physical features, what truly made them frightening was their arrogant disdain for anyone who was foolish enough to summon them.  Bradley perfectly portrayed Pinhead’s haughty arrogance, starting with his very first appearance in Hellraiser.

When Bradley as Pinhead says, “We’ll tear your soul apart,” the viewer has no doubt that he means every word of it.

Horror Scenes That I Love: Linda Blair In The Exorcist II: The Heretic

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror scene that I love features Linda Blair in 1977’s The Exorcist II: The Heretic, the sequel to the film for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Linda Blair was only 13 when she was cast a Regan McNeil, the girl who is possessed by a demon in The Exorcist.  She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, only losing the award after it was revealed that Mercedes McCambridge had dubbed Blair for the scenes in which she was possessed.  Blair has gone on to have a long career, appearing in movies that may not have been as honored by the Academy as The Exorcist was but which are still often very entertaining when taken on their own terms.

In The Exorcist II, Blair returned to the role of Regan.  Now in her late teens, Regan says that she can’t remember anything about being possessed.  Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) and Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) think that Regan is repressing her memories and, in this scene …. well, I don’t really know how to describe this scene.  Seriously, The Exorcist II is such a strange movie!  Basically, Dr. Tuskin has a hypnosis machine while allows people to link minds.  Dr. Tuskin links with Regan’s mind and then Lamont links with Tuskin’s mind.  It’s all incredibly silly but it does allow for this scene in which “good Regan” shares the screen with “possessed Regan.”

Here is a weird scene from a weird movie, featuring a total of four Oscar-nominated performers.  (For the record, Burton was nominated multiple times and, the same year he appeared in this film, he also appeared in Equus, for which he received his final nomination.  Louise Fletcher won for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.  Max von Sydow would later be nominated for Pelle the Conqueror and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  And, of course, Linda Blair was nominated for The Exorcist.)

Horror Scene That I Love: Tom Atkins in Halloween III

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror scene that I love features an actor appreciated by horror fans everywhere, the great Tom Atkins.

The son of a Pennsylvania steel mill worker who originally planned to follow in his father’s footsteps, Tom Atkins served in the U.S. Navy and noticed that officers seemed to have all the fun.  He also noticed that the officers all had college degrees so, upon getting out of the service, he enrolled in Pittsburgh’s Duquesne College.  It was while at Duquesne that Atkins met a girl who was involved with a local theater group and he discovered that he actually enjoyed acting.  Atkins made his film debut in 1968’s The Detective and he’s been working steadily ever since.  A favorite of both John Carpenter and George Romero, Atkins has been a reliable horror fixture since the early 80s.

In this scene, from 1982’s Halloween III, Tom Atkins plays a doctor who desperately tries to stop the cruelest Halloween prank of all.  One reason why this scene is so effective is because, if Tom Atkins can’t stop the broadcast, then that means nobody can.

Thrill us, Tom.

Scenes That I Love: “Greed is Good” from Wall Street

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 79th birthday to actor and producer Michael Douglas!

For today’s scene that I love, we have a scene from Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, Wall Street.  In this scene, Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko.  Gekko is supposed to be the film’s villain but he’s actually a lot more compelling and, at times, sympathetic than the film’s heroes.  He’s not a judgmental jerk like the union leader played by Martin Sheen.  Nor is he a snitch like his protegee, played by Charlie Sheen.  Instead, Gordon Gekko is honest about who he is.

This is the scene that won Michael Douglas an Oscar.  Watching him in this scene, it’s easy to see why Douglas’s performance supposedly inspired a lot of people to get a job working on Wall Street.  Douglas is so charismatic in this scene that he makes this movie, directed by a future supporter of Bernie Sanders, into one of the best advertisements for capitalism ever filmed.

Scene That I Love: Garrison Meets X in JFK

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Oliver Stone’s birthday so, for all conspiracy-loving readers, here is a key scene from Stone’s 1991 film, JFK!  In this scene, Kevin Costner’s Jim Garrison meets the mysterious man known as X (played by Donald Sutherland).  X explains the conspiracy to Garrison.

This scene certainly convinced a lot of people.  Personally, I think Oswald acted alone but one cannot deny Stone’s talent as a filmmaker.

Scenes That I Love: The Alien Arrives in Robert Wise’s The Day The Earth Stood Still

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this date, 109 years ago, filmmaker Robert Wise was born in Winchester, Indiana.  He started his career as an editor (and was Oscar-nominated for his work on Citizen Kane) and then eventually branched out into directing.  From the mid-forties to the year 2000, Wise directed every genre of film.  He won two Oscars for Best Director, one for West Side Story and one for The Sound of Music.  He was also the first director to helm a Stark Trek film with 1979’s Stark Trek — The Motion Picture.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Wise’s 1951 masterpiece, The Day The Earth Stood Still.  In this scene, America watched as a UFO darts across the sky and eventually lands in Washington D.C.  Though it’s a simple scene, it deftly captures the wonder of the moment.

Scenes That I Love: The Puppet Scene From Deep Red

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is a special day here at the Shattered Lens as we celebrate the birthday of Dario Argento!

Now, we’ve got a lot of Argento-related stuff scheduled for October so, for today, I’m just going to share one of the best scenes from one of my favorite Argento films, 1975’s Deep Red.  This scene features what is seriously the creepiest puppet that I’ve ever seen.