What was your first movie fright fest? What rattled you, deep down?Well, I'll give you the second oldest film scare, one that's never stopped impressing me: the last two minutes of Halloween.
In fact, the shot just after the 1:48 mark is among my favorite film scares ever. Halloween was a very scary picture for me throughout my childhood and into my teens. Each October, the movie would play on TV and I would watch it, feeling anxious and scared the whole time, every time. Only when I hit about 19 or so did the movie lose impact for me - and I seem to remember not enjoying it so much during a rewatch shortly after graduating from college.
For all that, I get wonderfully creeped-out by the last few minutes of this picture, and Jamie Lee's desperate struggle to survive and protect the kids under her care.
My oldest scare, and I only know this by reputation, since I was so young I don't remember the movie itself, was the Creature from the Black Lagoon (which may be the least scary creature feature ever). Indeed, when my parents took me to see Blue Lagoon (the one with Brooke Shields) at the ridiculously young age of 9, I was weirded out because I thought there might be fish-man monsters there, rather than simply puffer fish...and the loss of sexual innocence.
ReplyDeleteEarliest scare I can remember? That'd probably be the chestburster scene in Alien, which I'm pretty sure I saw before the head melting/exploding scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Yeah, I remember the first time I saw Alien, and that was just so damn scary. It was like a roach became super-strong and man-sized and could... I have to stop now.
DeleteI also have no memory of Black Lagoon, though I'm sure I watched it one lazy weekend afternoon. I always wondered why they'd name the Brooke Shields movie something that would invariably call back to a horror film for probably 15-25% of viewers...
Speaking of that scary-ass ending to Raiders - do you think they got killed because they (a) weren't Jews, (b) were Nazis, or (c) laughed at the contents of the Ark? I have a hard time thinking that the ancient Israelites communicated with their god through this device that you had to open and then not look at. It sounds kind of difficult... Or was the Ark just there to power by its presence, and not see any actual use?
Have I just created another Question post by accident?