Plenty of horror movies have good scares. It's kind of their trade.
But what about those times you got scared watching a movie from any other genre? I feel sometimes those might work even better,and you usually don't expect them at all.
I can remember a few good examples, such as Bilbo lunging at Frodo for the Ring, in the first LOTR film, with his bulgy eyes and sharp teeth for just a moment. I was 12, and it doesn't have any effect on me now, but did I ever jump out of my theatre seat.
The one that recently struck me the most was in Reservoir Dogs, when Mr. Blonde tortures the cop with a straight razor. Nothing prepared me for this, and his cold hearted glee while dancing and cutting the poor dude to a Beatles song (EDIT: that ain't a Beatles song) left me breathless and mortified for the duration of the scene.
What about you all?
I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but as a child, I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory the way a kid that age would watch a slasher film. That movie gave me some seriously fucked up nightmares.
Willy has a creepy vibe, and there's THAT scene in the weird tunnel, but I was an adult when I first saw it. Had I still been a kid, I would probably have freaked out though.
The Large Marge scene in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure inspired more than a few nightmares during my childhood.
Quote from: Crash Dummie on June 13, 2013, 04:05:49 AM
The one that recently struck me the most was in Reservoir Dogs, when Mr. Blonde tortures the cop with a straight razor. Nothing prepared me for this, and his cold hearted glee while dancing and cutting the poor dude to a Beatles song left me breathless and mortified for the duration of the scene.
I've seen that movie a fairish amount of times, and I could swear that the song is "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheels. In fact, I don't think there are any songs by The Beatles in that movie at all, as far as I can remember.
Today, I learned that "Stuck in the Middle with You" is not a Beatles song. Shit.
Now that I think about it, a friend of mine did a video on this subject. I was wondering why I had such a sense of deja vu.
Though I never experienced them at a young enough age, the Borg (Star Trek) and the Cybermen (Doctor Who) are something that I imagine would have been terrifying had I seen them as a child. You get all of the scares of a zombie film, except that the zombies are smarter and better equipped than you, in a Sci-Fi environment that more often than not borrows elements from Alien, if only for aesthetic reasons. Add it all up and you get a scarier zombie story than Romero.
Speaking of horror in a Sci-Fi setting, Sylar from Heroes gave a great intimidating slasher vibe. You get about the same sense of anticipation whenever he's in the room that you would in a Nightmare on Elm Street film when you realize you're in a dream sequence.
Joker filming himself killing a Batman impersonator in The Dark Knight.
Honestly, it's better than any attempt at a scare in any modern horror flick (which mostly amounts to "LOUD NOISES MOTHERFUCKER, DID I GET YOU? OH MAN I TOTALLY GOT YOU") I've seen, bar a few.
...Come to think of it, all 3 of Dark Knight trilogy has a good scare. Begins has the scene with Scarecrow and Falcone in the mental ward and Rises has Bane in general. Maybe Nolan should try his hand at a horror film.
I genuinely can't recall ever being scared by a non horror film. Think the closest I got was with Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in T2. He was intimidating as hell. Though, I'm not sure "intimidating" is equal to "scary."
I think I've mentioned them before, but the Pinocchio donkey thing and the Dumbo acid trip scene. I guess it should also be noted that I was only a small child at the time... haven't seen either of those movies in ages.
Quote from: Crash Dummie on June 14, 2013, 01:20:32 PM
Today, I learned that "Stuck in the Middle with You" is not a Beatles song. Shit.
[*laugh*]
Anyway, I do actually have something that comes to mind for this thread, and that'd be the great boat scene from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). The acting on Wilder's part still freaks me out, and the whole climax of "they're certainly no showing any SIGNS THAT THEY ARE SLOWING" is just amazingly frightening, and I'm not surprised some stations cut that bit out when airing the movie. [*laugh*]