From 1973’s The Wicker Man.
Christopher Lee always cited Lord Summerisle as being his favorite of all the “horror” roles that he played. Interestingly enough, Lord Summerisle is not a vampire or a mummy or in any way a member of the undead. He’s just an extremely pragmatic pagan, doing what he has to do preserve his power.
In this scene, Lord Summerisle meets and speaks with Sgt. Howie (Edward Woodward), who is not at all happy with Summerisle’s style of leadership.
In this horror scene that I love, from Dario Argento’s Suspiria, Susie Bannion (Jessica Harper) finally meets the Mother of Sighs, Helena Markos (Lela Svasta).
To make clear, this scene is from the original Suspiria. This isn’t from the remake or the rehash or the reboot or whatever it’s supposed to be that Film Twitter is currently going crazy over. Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t seen the new Suspiria yet so it could be brilliant. It could be the best film ever made, for all I know. But regardless, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will always be the only true Suspiria for me.
Earlier today, my sister shared with us a look at Frankenstein through the ages.
It seems only appropriate to follow that up with a look at the doctor and his creation putting on the ritz.
From 1974’s Young Frankenstein….
The great Vincent Price passed away 25 years ago today.
In honor of his memory, today’s horror scene that I love is from the 1964 film, The Last Man On Earth. Based on Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, The Last Man On Earth stars Vincent Price as John Neville, a man who believes that he’s the sole survivor of a plague that has transformed all of humanity into vampires.
It’s not a bad film and it features one of Price’s best performances. In this scene, he watches home movies of his family, movies that were filmed before the world ended. As he watches, he goes from laughter to tears.
Vincent Price, R.I.P.
To be honest, when it comes to bad movies, 2010’s Birdemic is kind of overrated.
I mean, yes — it is such an amazingly inept film that you do have to watch it at least once. And yes, I do occasionally still find myself singing that “hanging out with my family” song to myself.
But compared to something like The Room or April Rain, Birdemic is actually a pretty dull film. I’ve watched it maybe four or five times and it’s always been with a bit of reluctance. The Room, on the other hand, is a film that you can watch over and over again.
(Or, at least you could until The Disaster Artist came out. As brilliant as The Disaster Artist was, I kinda lost interest in The Room after watching it. Incredibly, I haven’t gone to one showing of The Room this year. Actually. now I’m feeling guilty about that. I guess I’ll have to watch The Room sometime tonight. Anyway….)
That said, there are a few scenes from Birdemic that are always good for a laugh. Personally, I enjoy this one. Just watch those birds attack!
The Iron Rose (1973, dir by Jean Rollin)
Today’s horror scene that I love comes from the 1972 French film, The Iron Rose. In this scene, directed by the great Jean Rollin, Francoise Pascal dances in a cemetery. Why is she dancing? Perhaps she is celebrating the fact her lover has just suffocated inside of the crypt that she locked him in. Perhaps she’s just happy that a clown came by earlier and lay some flowers on a grave. One can never be sure. This entire sequence is Rollin at his best.
This is one of Rollin’s most enigmatic films, which is saying something when you consider just how dream-like the average Rollin film is. It was Rollin’s fifth film and his first to not involve vampires.
Admittedly, this is a pretty short scene. It’s only 16 seconds, taking from the much longer climax of 1982’s Poltergeist.
That said, this is one of the greatest over-the-top moments in cinematic history. Craig T. Nelson basically acts the Hell out of accusing his boss of …. well, you’ll see….
(Also, give some praise to the one and only James Karen, heroically bugging out his eyes there at the end.)
This scene, of course, is from 1980’s The Shining.
Technically, this is before Jack Torrance met the ghosts and started to lose his mind but, in this scene, you can tell that Jack’s already getting a little bit tired of his family. Jack Nicholson’s delivery of, “See? It’s okay. He heard it on the television,” gets me every time.
“Home? I have no home.”
So begins the monologue that serves as the centerpiece of the 1955 Ed Wood film, Bride of the Monster. The monologue is delivered by Bela Lugosi, appearing in one of his final roles.
Far too often, people tend to be snarky about the work that Lugosi did under the direction of Ed Wood. But you know what?
He actually delivers a pretty good performance in Bride of the Monster.
Ignore all of the stuff about atomic supermen and instead, just pay attention to the way Lugosi delivers the lines. Pay attention to the pain in his voice as he says that he has no home. Pay attention and you’ll discover that Lugosi actually gave a good performance in Bride of the Monster. He delivers the lines with such wounded pride that you can’t help but think that maybe we should let him create a race of atomic supermen.
Among the old horror icons, Lugosi has always been the most underrated actor. He got typecast early and he appeared in some unfortunate films but Bela Lugosi had real talent and you can see it in this scene.
Through the Shattered Lens