The Top 5 Ways to Creep Yourself Out Over the Holidays
Ignore the fact that this article would have been wildly relevant a month ago. Despite the holiday cheer I thought it appropriate to count down the 5 creepiest horror film moments (according to me). Some of these are classics that appear on a lot of people’s lists, and a couple are just scenes that creeped me out as a kid.
5. Jeepers Creepers
Honestly, this film freaked me out as a kid. When it first came out it was all over TV trailers and advertisements to the point that you knew the premise of it without even having seen it. At some point, TV networks started showing this movie constantly, and as a kid I could only watch bits and pieces at a time.
Rewatching it now as an adult, it really is a terrible, cheesy movie, but there’s still a subtle nostalgic creepy feeling I get when thinking about it. The overall storyline could have been pretty good—two siblings travel by car on a deserted road only to be besieged by a monster that stalks in the cornfields masquerading as a scarecrow.
A scene that sticks out is one that was flashed in the trailers, with the two main characters driving by a dilapidated house on the deserted road, and seeing a strange figure dumping suspicious looking bags (bodies!) from a truck. The figure spots the car and stares down the two characters as they drive by. Of course, a chase ensues, but that brief moment of witnessing something dark from a distance, and then being spotted, was rather creepy.
4. I Am Legend
While not a horror movie per se, I thought this sci-fi blockbuster was brilliant and incredibly suspenseful. There’s inherent horror in the trope of “the last man alive”, but throw in some ravenous zombie creatures in the mix and you have something even better.
In the film, scientist Robert Neville must try to find resources and investigate a cure for the virus that has turned most of New York into infected flesh-eating monsters. The infected only come out at night, and hide away in dark places during the day. This is when things can get dicey.
During one scene, Neville’s dog bolts into the entrance of a darkened, abandoned building where there’s a 99.9% chance of the zombies lurking. Being a much more magnanimous pet owner than I would have been, Neville follows him into the pitch black building with only the narrow light from his gun to guide him. It’s the kind of slow-moving, hold-your-breath kind of scene where Neville ascends stairs and turns corners in the oppressive stillness and darkness. And then finally he comes upon a huddle of zombie bodies swaying and writhing in the dark.
3. The Blair Witch Project
The ending to this movie is one that is endlessly debated, not only about what exactly happens, but also on its merits. It’s another of the movies where there are two staunch camps and very little in between—either you think the movie was creepy and really good, or you thought it was boring and overrated. Admittedly I fell into the latter camp for most of the movie, but the ending changed things for me and really made the horror settle in.
The premise of the move is simple—three film students get lost in the woods while investigating the urban legend of the Blair Witch. One of the students goes missing as increasingly ominous events occur, building up to the sinister, enigmatic ending. The brilliance of the movie lies in everything it leaves out, as we’re never confronted with a cheesy depiction of an actual witch or scenes of direct violence, which leaves all the horrors up to our own anxieties and imagination.
In the last scene, the students Heather and Mike are in a creepy abandoned house desperately looking for their missing friend who seems to be calling out for them. The two get separated, and Heather begins screaming hysterically as she goes down into the cellar after Mike. For a brief moment we catch a glimpse of Mike facing away from us in a corner, before Heather presumably gets knocked down as the camera she was holding falls to the ground and cuts out.
There’s something deeply unsettling about not knowing what exactly happened here. Was it the witch luring Heather and Mike into the house and putting Mike under some spell? Was it the murderer who claimed to be controlled by the witch, who would kill children one at a time by putting one in the corner while he hacked the other to pieces? Was it Josh put under the spell of the witch to murder his friends? Your mind can turn over the possibilities long after the scene is over, ruminating and stewing over the horror of it all.
2. The Ring
This is a classic—a classic for my generation, anyway. The image of a girl in a dingy white dress with her long black hair obscuring her face is a searing one we can all recognize. When this movie was out what middle-school aged child (and beyond) didn’t eye their television set a little more suspiciously or, if they were lucky enough to have a TV in their room, spend a sleepless night or several worried that Samara would be climbing out of the screen?
The atmosphere and the slow onslaught of impending doom as Samara the ghost girl staggers closer and closer to the screen are what really make the scene horrifying. It starts with a darkened, grainy picture of an old well, and the sudden appearance of sickly, rotted arms as this creepy little girl pulls herself out of it. She then makes her way towards you, getting larger and larger on screen—but you’re safe right, it’s all just a video? Not until the girl pushes through the screen and crawls onto your living room floor, sopping wet, decaying flesh and all. And then you die.
1. Friday the 13th
This was the worst (which is why it’s also the best). This is such a brief scene at the end of this movie, and a mere jump scare to boot, but it’s one that startled me so severely I’m pretty sure my soul left my body.
The horrible and twisted thing is that it occurs when you think everything is okay, and the movie is about to end. You’re lulled into a false sense of security—the murderous Mrs. Voorhees is dead and gone, the main character has escaped danger and now we can all breathe.
The main character Alice is drifting placidly on a boat in the middle of a lake—safe, away from all harm, unreachable by anyone or anything that could do her harm. She’s half asleep but begins to awaken, and as she starts to casually sit up the most terrifying thing imaginable happens. Jason—Mrs. Voorhees’ son who had supposedly died years before, emerges from the lake behind the boat and clotheslines Alice, pulling her down back into the lake. It happens in the blink of an eye, but the complete suddenness of it all combined with the gruesome image of Jason’s decaying body attacking Alice is one that will shake even the staunchest of horror fans.
Terror in its purest, most reactionary form.
Publish Date: November 26 2015
Categories: Movies