In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving, today’s horror scene that I love comes from one of the greatest of the Canadian slasher films, 1980’s Prom Night!
Remember everyone …. Prom Night! Everything is alright!
Category Archives: Scenes I Love
Horror Scenes That I Love: The U.S. Army Takes On The Flying Saucers in Plan 9 From Outer Space
I’m disappointed to say that, for whatever reason, YouTube has been yanking down all of the Plan 9 From Outer Space videos that used to be available on the site. That’s just strange to me. From what I’ve heard, it’s for copyright reasons. The people who currently have the rights to Wood’s films are very aggressive about searching YouTube for any unauthorized videos. Ed Wood’s films are financially much more lucrative today than they were when he was alive, which is kind of depressing when you consider that Wood basically drank himself to death and died in total poverty.
That said, there was no way I was going to let Mr. Wood’s birthday pass without sharing at least one scene from Plan 9 From Outer Space! So, in this scene, the flying saucers face the might of a lot of a stock footage. Meanwhile, Tom Keene plays the colonel who casually watches the battle. The narration, of course, is provided by the amazing Criswell!
It’s amazing how close we came to getting conquered.
Enjoy!
Horror Scenes That I Love: The Opening of Crimson Peak
Since it’s Guillermo Del Toro’s birthday, it just seems appropriate that today’s horror scene that I love should be one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite Del Toro movies.
Here’s the opening of 2015’s haunting (and, in my opinion, underrated) Crimson Peak!
Horror Scenes That I Love: The Opening of Stage Fright
Let’s die Broadway style!
The opening on Michele Soavi’s 1987 masterpiece, StageFright, is one of the most brilliant ever filmed. Not only does it send up the conventions of the slasher genre but is also sends up musical theater. Seriously, how can you not love a horror film that features Marilyn Monroe playing the saxophone?
Of course, the opening of the film only begins to hint at the violence that’s going to follow. When a real killer manages to get into the theater, fantasy and reality blend together.
Interestingly enough, I think a real-life Broadway adaptation of StageFright would be a hit.
For now, enjoy the dancing and the mayhem!
Horror Scenes That I Love: Cheatin’ Harry Gets Grabbed In Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
From 1958’s Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Harry discovers that cheaters never get away with it. Especially when they’re cheating on someone who is 50 feet tell….
Horror Scenes That I Love: Anthony Sends Dan To The Cornfield in The Twilight Zone
“You’re a very bad man!”
Today’s horror scene that I love comes not from film but from television. In this episode of The Twilight Zone (entitled “It’s A Good Life”), the citizens of a rural community have to go out of their not to upset a rather unpredictable six year-old.
What happens when you upset little Anthony Fremont?
Take a look:
Written by Rod Serling and directed by James Sheldon, this episode originally aired on November 3, 1961.
Horror Scenes That I Love: Donald Pleasence Meets Christopher Lee in Death Line
In the 1972 British horror film Death Line (released in the U.S. as Raw Meat), Donald Pleasence gives one of his best performances as Inspector Calhoun, an alcoholic, somewhat fascistic detective who discovers evidence of cannibals in the London Underground. Since the British government would rather this information not be revealed, a mysterious man played by Christopher Lee is sent to discuss things with Calhoun.
This scene features a meeting between two icons of horror so, of course, I love it. Pleasence is wonderfully obsessive and Lee is wonderfully menacing. Since the film is as much about the class struggle as it is about cannibalism, it’s interesting to see the automatic conflict between the working class Calhoun and the definitely upper class character played by Christopher Lee.
Horror Scenes That I Love: The Interview With The Chief From Night of the Living Dead
“Yeah, they’re dead …. they’re all messed up.”
There’s a lot of disturbing scenes in the original Night of the Living Dead but I’ve always loved this live, televised interview with the chief of police. First, there’s the delivery of that classic line. “….they’re all messed up.” Yes, they are. Then there’s the fact that the chief doesn’t seem to be particularly perturbed by the fact that the dead are coming back to life. Instead, his attitude is very straight-forward. It’s happening, we need to take care of it, let’s arm some civilians.
Of course, this interview sets up the film’s ending, in which we learn that those helpful civilians with guns are a bit trigger happy and sometimes, the living get in the way. When you first see this interview, it’s easy to laugh at the sight of the chief’s posse and everyone’s odd confidence that the dead will somehow just go away. (Death, after all, is the one thing that is guaranteed to happen to everyone eventually.) Once you know how the story’s going to end, though, this scene becomes much more ominous.
Horror Scenes That I Love: The House Gets Revenge in Burnt Offerings
Since I reviewed Burnt Offerings earlier today, it just makes sense that today’s scene of the day should be the only emotionally rewarding scene from that film.
In this scene below — which does count as a spoiler, in case you’re one of those annoying toaduckers who complains about stuff like that — the House finally gets its revenge on the obnoxious family that’s been living inside of it. Now, taken out of context, it may seem a bit harsh to describe the scene as being a crowd pleaser but, if you’ve sat through the entire film, it’s hard not to cheer a little when the chimney comes down.
Seriously, what an obnoxious little brat.
Horror Scenes I Love: Dr. Loomis at Michael’s Board Review From Halloween
To go along with my review of Curtis Richards’s Halloween novelization, today’s scene that I love comes from the film Halloween …. kinda. It wasn’t included in the theatrical release but, instead, it was later added when Halloween made it’s network television premiere.
Now, I’ve actually heard two stories about this scene. One story is that it was shot during the filming of the original Halloween but that it was cut out of the theatrical release. When Halloween premiered on television, the network needed some footage to pad out the running time so this scene was re-inserted.
The other version is that the scene was specifically filmed for the television version of the film. According to this version, the scene was in an early version of the script but Carpenter didn’t film it until after Halloween had already had its theatrical release and was set to make it’s television debut.
(Personally, to me, the second version sounds more plausible.)
Regardless of when this scene was filmed, I like it quite a bit. In this scene, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) attempts to get his colleagues to understand just how dangerous Michael Myers actually is. This, of course, was a running theme for the character of Dr. Loomis and it has always amazed me that no one was ever willing to listen to him. Loomis spent the last 30 years of his life telling people that Michael was an unstoppable killer. Every single time, he was proven correct. And yet no one ever listened to him!
This scene gives us a chance to see Dr. Loomis in a professional setting, as well as giving us a glance of an adolescent Michael at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium. “You’ve fooled them, Michael …. but not me.”
As someone who has seen all of the Halloween films multiple times, I have to say that Donald Pleasence’s performance as Dr. Loomis, especially in the first 2 films, has always been underrated. Pleasence gave a convincing portrait of a man who had spent the last ten years of his life dealing with evil on a daily basis. Who could blame him for being a bit fanatical? Wouldn’t you be if you had spent that much time staring into Michael’s soulless eyes?
Through the Shattered Lens 