Today’s horror scene that I love comes from 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Directed by the great Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street remains a frightening and creepy masterpiece. It’s ability to scare its audience has not been diminished by countless sequels and rip-offs.
In today’s scene, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) discovers that she’s not even safe from Freddy (Robert Englund) at school.
Since today’s song of the day came from The Shining, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene should come from the same film.
I’ve always felt that Barry Nelson’s performance as Ullman is one of the best parts of the early part of the film. Whereas Ullman was presented as being a stereotypical jerk in King’s novel, the film presents him as a blandly friendly bureaucrat who can talk about what happened with the previous caretaker and make it sound like the most normal thing in the world. The scene were he interviews Jack Torrance for the caretaker job is wonderfully ominous, even if it’s hard to describe why. I know that Stephen King disliked this scene because it made Jack look unbalanced from the start but, personally, I think it does a wonderful job of setting the mood.
Finally, Ullman’s office reminds me of Ben Horne’s office in Twin Peaks, right down to the somewhat campy name plate on his desk.
Today’s horror scene is a classic moment from a classic film, 1959’s The House on Haunted Hill!
One of the joys of this film is definitely watching Vincent Price having a lot of fun with that skeleton.
Today’s horror scene that I love comes from 1975’s Trilogy of Terror, directed by Dan Curtis and starring Karen Black.
In this scene, Karen Black discovers that the doll she recently received in the mail has a mind of its own.
Though I may not agree with the film’s conclusions, Bob Clark’s 1979 film Murder By Decree is still the best of the Jack the Ripper films.
This scene, featuring the final battle between Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Plummer) and the Ripper, is not only full of fog-shrouded atmosphere but it also features one of the most savage portrayals of Jack the Ripper.
Today’s horror scene that I love comes from 1970’s The Wizard of Gore. Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, this uniquely acted scene should be familiar to anyone who has ever watched the montage that opens most of the Something Weird video releases.
In this scene from the classic Ed Wood film, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Eros the Alien (Dudley Manlove) explains that he and his comrades had no choice but to invade Earth and raise the dead because mankind’s scientists have created …. SOLARNITE!
What is Solarnite?
Don’t worry, Eros will explain it to us and it will all make total sense….
1978’s Damien: Omen II is a perfectly ludicrous film that mixes soapy melodrama with apocalyptic horror. It’s a fascinating mismash that doesn’t really work and often, the most dramatic scenes are also the ones most likely to draw a chuckle from the viewer. That said, there are a few good moments.
For instance, I’ve always liked this scene where young Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) shows up one of his teachers. It’s a good thing that Lance Henriksen stepped in when he did!
Today’s scene comes from 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein. The villagers want to execute the Monster (Boris Karloff). The Monster has other ideas.
This scene epitomizes what made the first two Karloff Frankenstein films so effective. As scary and as destructive as the Monster may be, he’s nowhere near as bad or deliberately sadistic as the humans around him. He’s a monster who is definitely more of a victim than a victimizer, someone who has been cruelly tossed into a world that he doesn’t understand and who has been persecuted nonstop since the moment he was created. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Karloff’s Monster, no matter what he does. And it’s hard not to cheer a little when he escapes, even though it does inevitably lead to more tragedy and heartbreak.
I can’t let this Horrorthon pass without sharing a scene featuring one of my favorite horror movie characters, the Whishmater (Andrew Divoff)!
In the scene, from 1999’s Wishmaster 2, our favorite literal-minded Djinn grants another wish to someone who did not choose his words carefully. Andrew Divoff really makes this scene work. That smile is a thing of terrifying wonders.
Through the Shattered Lens 