Tag Archives: Scenes I Love

Scenes I Love: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Posted on by Arleigh

[spoilers]

Tonight’s latest episode of The Walking Dead had a climactic scene which mirrored something similar in one of my favorite films ever. I’m not talking just favorite horror film ever, but just favorite film in general with George A. Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead that was released in 1978.

This was the film which codified what to me was what every zombie apocalypse stories and films should be. It was epic in scope despite having such a small leading cast. The film’s story expanded on the rules of the zombie apocalypse but also expanded on the idea that its not even zombies who are the biggest threat to other survivors. It’s almost become a cliche in zombie films nowadays that every major threat to the main group of survivors would be bikers and/or raiders who used chopper bikes to get around.

The scene I always saw as one of my many favorites in this film occurs around the 7:00min mark after the video starts. It’s the raiders and bikers finally getting their comeuppance for bursting into the secured mall compound the survivors sacrificed so much to make their own. This scene matches the same scene spiritually since make-up effects work had improved from 1978 to 2012 where The Walking Dead lives in. the effects work may look cartoonish and fake, but it still doesn’t minimize the impact of seeing someone disemboweled and eaten while still alive and screaming.

Scenes That I Love: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since February is Oscar month, I figured why not start things off with one of my favorite dance scenes of all time?  When Danny Boyle won his Oscar for directing Slumdog Millionaire (which, of course, was also named the best picture of 2008), he specifically thanked choreographer Longinus Fernandes for creating the “Jai Ho” dance sequence that is used to punctuate the film’s finale.  Indeed, the credit was deserved because that dance sequence not only served as a perfect coda for Boyle’s kinetic vision but it also elevated the entire film and transformed an otherwise grim little story about poverty and crime into the “feel good movie of 2008.”

To me, this scene epitomizes everything that caused me to fall in love with film in the first place.

Scenes I Love: Oldboy

Posted on by Arleigh

The month of January has always been a slow one in regards to quality films being released in the theaters, but this weekend a good one comes out with Joe Carnahan’s latest, The Grey.  I plan to see this film over the weekend, but tonight I decided to pass the time and feel better from a bout of the flu by watching one of my favorite films of the past decade: Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy.

The latest “Scenes I Love” pick takes a scene from this classic film of revenge. It’s a scene where we have our film’s protagonist, Oh Dae-su, tracking down one of those responsible for keeping him locked up for 15-years without reason or cause. The scene starts off with some DIY dental work that still makes me cringe every time I see it. Once Oh Dae-su finishes with said dental work he has to get through a gauntlet of thugs and goons with just a claw hammer.

This scene is not just great because of how action-packed it was but how Park Chan-wook ended up shooting the whole scene. A fight scene begins which looks to be shot using just one long take and made to look like those classic side-scrolling action games like Double Dragon and the like. Whether the intention of how the scene was shot was to pay homage to such games or by accident doesn’t diminish the fact that the fight scene ended up becoming one of this film’s iconic sequences that continues to be talked about by new and old fans alike.

Scenes I Love: Tombstone

Posted on by Arleigh

Kurt Russell I consider one of the biggest badasses of Hollywood and his work in 1993’s Tombstone showed just how much a badass he was and still is.

This scene from that film was one of the best scenes in the entire film. It shows Russell channeling his inner-Wyatt Earp and bitchslapping Billy Bob Thornton (who probably deserves it both in and out of this film). I just love how his demeanor was so confident and how well he judged Thornton’s character as nothing but a blowhard and a bully. This scene even has some killer lines from Russell. How often have we wished we could do what he did in this scene to our own douchebag bosses at work. I know I have imagined it many times.

One cool thing about this scene is how it doesn’t end in the saloon, but continues outside with Val Kilmer just killing it as Doc Holliday. Love how Doc and the Earp’s just ignore Thornton’s Johnny Tyler and how he just stands there looking like the idiot he is. Good thing he said thank you in the end or he may have just gotten another bitchslap session from Wyatt.

Some people love this film. Some people don’t like this film, but I’d be hardpressed to find anyone who didn’t think this scene was the epitome of cool and badassery.

Scenes I Love: “Faster! Play it Faster!” from Reefer Madness

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

One reason that I love the old school grindhouse and exploitation films is because they’re often a far more honest reflection of their times than more mainstream films.  If you want to learn about history through film, don’t waste your time watching whatever film won best picture in 1936.  Instead, watch the movies that were specifically designed to exploit the times by presenting a somewhat more honest portrait of them.

So, what can we learn about 1936 from watching a classic exploitation film like Reefer Madness?  Reefer Madness, of course, tells the story of what happens after a group of clean-cut high school students are introduced to marijuana, the weed with roots in Hell.

Well, from the clip below, we can guess that, in 1936, high school was full of people in their 40s.  That and the marijuana of the 1930s was apparently laced with speed.

For giving the audience this unexpected insight into the past, this is truly a scene that I love.

Scenes I Love: Maniac

Posted on by Arleigh

With news that the remake of Maniac has finally gotten it’s Frank Zito in the form of Elijah Wood I thought it was high time that I shared my favorite scene from the original film by William Lustig. it’s this scene that I hope will make it intact and with little to no CGI to make it happen in as glorious a fashion as the original scene.

The latest “Scenes I Love” comes courtesy of the make-up FX magic by Tom Savini. In fact, this scene actually has him doing double-duty roles as not just the make-up FX artist but as an actor in the scene. This particular scene has been dubbed the “Disco Boy” scene and Savini ably stands in for the role of Disco Boy. We have him and his Disco Girl making out in their car when suddenly we see Frank Zito peeping in like some sort of Son of Sam copycat. Well, Disco Girl freaks out and Disco Boy attempts to act cool and protective. Little does Disco Boy know that he will soon be immortalized in a few seconds of blood and gore that goes down as one of the best “kills” ever put on film.

Horror Scenes I Love: The Beyond

Posted on by Arleigh

The good thing about AMC’s The Walking Dead is that it puts zombies on the forefront of the public’s cultural consciousness. They’ve become the monster that still remains scary. The show has also allowed for new fans of the genre to seek out other classic zombie films and stories that they wouldn’t have bothered to check out if it hadn’t been for this show. One such classic zombie film would be another of Lucio Fulci’s gorefests from the early 80’s. It is a film which also has my latest “Scenes I Love” and one that continues this month’s horror theme.

Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (aka Seven Doors of Death) has one of my favorite scenes in horror. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that I love pretty much everything Fulci has done and each of those films always have several memorable scenes that would imprint themselves on fans. My favorite scene from The Beyond has to be when the film’s two protagonists (played by regular Fulci actors in Catriona McColl and David Warbeck) find themselves under siege by zombies in a hospital. Warbeck’s character tries to fend them off with his trusty six-shooter, but seems to have forgotten to read the memo about shooting them in the head.

Every miss lessens their chance and when the creepy little red-haired girl suddenly makes her appearance as she attacks McColl’s Liza then the payoff in the scene finally happens. It looks like Warbeck’s character suddenly remembered what will kill them undead and decides to test it out on the little red-haired girl. To say that this scene was shocking when seen by a 9 year-old boy would be an understatement. I think even now that soon to turn 38 years of age young boy would still react with utter shock at this scene.

Horror Scenes I Love: Alien

Posted on by Arleigh

Lisa Marie Bowman had chosen her favorite scene from Dario Argento’s Suspiria as her latest “Scenes I Love” post and it’s quite the scene. I will match her choice with a horror scene which remains one of my favorite scenes in film history. It is also a scene from one of the best scifi-horror films ever made and, I would dare to even say, one of the best films ever created. The scene I speak of comes from Ridley Scott’s classic and iconic film Alien.

Anyone who has ever watched this classic scifi-horror will always gravitate towards talking about one particular scene. The scene is the first time the crew of the space tug Nostromo gets together to a meal as a group after the crisis which saw one of their own crew members attacked by an alien creature. This scene started off quite normal. Professionals enjoying food and good company. It’s through Ridley Scott’s direction and the exceptional performances of all involved which elevates the scene to one of the greatest. Through the scene’s depiction of normalcy we start to get a sense that something may not be right even before Kane begins to cough and have convulsions. For me it was a prolonged shot of crew member Ash during the banter around the table. His expression is all subdued smile then for just a split second we see him glance at Kane eating and being merry but he knows something is wrong and about to happen.

Even if people didn’t pick up that moment from Ash it still created a subconscious effect on the audience so that when Kane did begin to cough and convulse uncontrollably the audience was already on the razor’s edge. When the climactic event which punctuates this scene finally occurs the surprise on all the actors, especially that of actress Veronica Cartwright, has gone done as in film history as a classic. It helped that their reactions were quite genuine. Even knowing that the chestburster alien would pop out it was not being told that fake blood would squirt out that made their reaction of surprise and disgust so real. The extended version of this scene even had Cartwright slipping and falling as she screamed in horror at all the blood which had splashed on her.

One last thing which made this scene one I love and also one which I think makes it one of the greatest scenes in film history is that it was done in one take and that single take came out perfectly. This is a scene that has influenced many filmmakers since but its effect has never been fully replicated.

 

Horror Scenes I Love: Suspiria

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I’ve mentioned before, Dario Argento’s Suspiria is one of my favorite horror films and any quick search around the Internet will reveal that I’m hardly alone in that.  There’s a lot of reasons why Suspiria remains so popular: there’s Goblin’s iconic score, Jessica Harper’s performance in the lead role, and Dario Argento at the peak of his powers.

While most critics and fans always cite the film’s infamous “window scene” as its most effective set piece, I happen to think that the scene below is actually a bit more effective.  While it’s certainly more low-key than some of the film’s other death scenes, this scene is the one that still leaves me uneasy no matter how many times I see it.  Maybe it’s the way that Argento isolates the blind pianist in the middle of the square or perhaps it’s the way that he positions the camera in order to keep the audience uncertain of where exactly the true threat is coming from.

Then again, it could just be because I’m scared of dogs in general…