31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 21: THE DEVIL'S RAIN

“THE EYES HAVE IT”

I am 99.9 percent sure that I'm not educating anyone when I say there is something very important about our eyes..  Windows to the soul it's said...I'm not so sure that they aren't THE soul.  When the eyes seemed glazed over,  when there is damage to the iris, if the cornea is milky or cloudy,  or if the eyes are simply missing, the body seems like a hollowed out shell,  some part of our brain assumes a lacking in empathy in any number of known human conditions and expressions of emotion.   A Person can appear robotic, and historically,  as well as in horror,  these various conditions of the eye are associated with the demonic,  otherworldly,  or supernatural.

David Cronenberg's “Scanners”, Nicolas Roeg's “ Don't Look Now”, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Sam Raimi’s “Drag me to Hell” all represent different aspects of the ways in which the eyes can be used to demonstrate other worldliness.

   In horror, as in life, I don't think there's any other extremity that is as terrifying as horrifying,  as conducive to producing an empathetic nervous response as is watching someone's eyes be popped out,  pushed in,  burned out,  or injected with some sort of needle.   In a great deal of horror films these phenomena, and our cultural unease with them has been used to effectively produce a mood, or quite simply to frighten us. A character in possession of these characteristics maybe presented as some sort of gateway as in communication with some supernatural power or possessed by some demon, as is any person whose eyes have some of unique discoloration,  or whose eyes are completely missing. I had and still have this feeling of the eerie when watching this scene in 1975's The Devil's rain. I first stumbled upon this movie when I was younger up later than I was normally allowed watching those Saturday night late night movies that would come on on local networks. Needless to say this did not go very well, cheesy effects and all I saw those hollowed out eyes and I was done. Those final minutes of cavernous eyes, and a goat like Ernest Borgnine, and melting skin produced quite a few nightmares, for weeks after, but I was also very intrigued, and weirdly excited.

Featuring William Shatner as Mark Preston, Ernest Borgnine as Jonathan Corbis, Tom Skerritt as Tom Preston, Ida Lupino as Mrs. Preston, Anton LaVey as High Priest, and John Travolta in his first feature film role as Danny ("Blasphemer! Blasphemer!").

Much later on when I saw it again on the AMC in my 30's I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. It's cheesy, pretty poorly acted, and camou as hell, but it's also fun, and the scene in question were William, Shatner is awakened now a disciple like all the others, his eyes hollowed out of his head is still like the ultimate creep factor for me, I know what's going on, I know it's going to happen, and I can't stop myself from feeling that eeriness.  If you're looking to take a rest from having your nerves rattled by ACTUALLY scary films or psychological thriller films where your mental endurance is tested I highly recommend popping in the devil's rain and just enjoying seeing a silly, ridiculously bad in all the best ways B movie horror film featuring the likes of John Travolta, Ernest Borgnine, Tom Skerritt and William Shatner. Oh and don't cover your eyes.

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 20: JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING

“A STRANGER AMONGST US”

I'd like to start on a quick tangent that I loved how (for lack of a better word) diverse John Carpenter films were in the 80s.  I don't know if they were representationally correct.- Though it is my opinion they were the best by far of the time,  and truthfully ahead of their time -  but in truth, a lot of John carpenter's characters were just in general stock characters, even the leads.  It's not like Roddy Piper in "They live" was some paragon of character construction. He like so many of Carpenter's characters were functions of moving his philosophy forward,  and usually two dimensional avatars.  But whether in Halloween,  or They live, or Big trouble in little China, or Prince of Darkness, Carpenter always involved other cultures, and he gave them characters that weren't steeped in stereotypes from the era. And I am telling you, if you didn't grow up in that era, its just hard to convey to you just how a huge a deal it was watching Asian,  and African American characters be not only integral to the story but make it out ALIVE!!! - was in and of itself. 

Now to the scene at hand.  I mean this is just excellent setup, design,  and execution for teasing an outcome, and constructing a surprise.  Tension in an incubator,  and it burns hot enough to convince you to move your hands.  You have all these men trapped in one single room in a sort of “Monsters are due on Maple Street” type story that is The Thing in the first place.   And I love Carpenter's decision to get rid of any music. In this scene, you didn't need it at all.  In fact it's more effective that all you hear is the bellowing of the wind outside, which is a wonderful, nice additional effect, something I think reminds us of our earliest associations of wind with something wicked this way coming,  and the low whisper of the gas emanating from the flame thrower. 

Then you have this almost clue like elimination of whodunit. Cut aways from the business end of the flame thrower heating up the small rod -now acting as the jury for these men - to their anxiety ridden facial expressions.  We the audience actively trying to convince ourselves of who the monster is now that we know it is in the room.  Its fairly simple,  yet by playing on what we expect, on our desire to find out before the reveal  ( so as to relieve our own tension) Carpenter is able to elicit a genuine shock that I think begins with the line " I thought you'd feel that way Gary,  you were the only one who could've got to that blood, we'll do you last"    Automatically,  I think for a couple of minutes at least...We, the audience think we're safe.  It has been teased to us that there is a wait coming,  we've been given a misdirection, and then all of a sudden, just like that, it's PALMER!!!. 

Now celebrating it's 35th Anniversary, John Carpenter's The Thing (copyright Universal Pictures, 1982) has at least one memorable sequence that is simple to the point of elegance. The group's reluctant leader R.J.

Just like that I'm as out of my seat as Palmer himself,  as the alien life form springs forth from his body.  Possession is naturally a primal fear and scary enough on its own but it doesn't even end there, because now we must watch in dread, our cinematic empathy tying us to the rest of these men who are literally stuck on a chair next to this guy as he transforms into this monstrosity helpless to do anything about it,  and the actors sell the hell out of the terror.   When I tell you it's one of the most terrifying things i've seen on screen, I MEAN IT.   I've seen Carpenters version a million times, and I'm never not surprised when the canister hits the ground, and Palmer goes berserk, it's as hard to time as Bryson Tiller's last "Don't" in his hit song Don't.  And (especially if i've had enough time between viewings ) I'm never not terrified at the idea of being strapped to the thing as it jirates and convulses out of its host.  The acting is outstanding,  especially by the triumvirate of Kurt Russell,  Keith David,  and Donald Moffat,  - who has one of my favorite line deliveries in the movie "I know you gentleman have been through a lot,  but when you find the time,  I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!!! " It's an amazing combination of a genuine connection with the terror,  relief, and exasperation with the whole entire situation,  and I just don't know that I can think of any actor who could've delivered it better.  As good as maybe, but not better. And I get it, and we get it, it's part of just what makes it one of the most memorable scenes that I can think of when it comes to horror, and every time I think of the thing, I first think of this scene, because of the acting,  because it's grotesque, because it is absolutely terrifying,  because it builds its tension so well, because its surprising and shocking and all the things that I think culminate to make a great scene in the genre. 

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 13: RAVENOUS

“BONE APÉTITE”

If I could spend at least twice a day posting about Antonia bird’s Ravenous without annoying everyone to death, I most assuredly would. I’m really quite unsure as to why her film isn’t talked about in the same way that we talk about maybe a Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, or Sam Raimi's Evil Dead as audacious breakout features. From its offbeat score, to its offbeat off kilter performances to its subject matter, ravenous is truly a unique movie..one of a kind if ever there was one. This scene in the cave is not only my favorite in the film, but is central to what makes this film such a wonderfully world apart film. Robert Carlyle’s uncanny, hair raisingly insane performance, the palpable fear in Jeremy Davies young soldier…that peculiar, unsettling score, the shocking discovery.

this tantrum is from Ravenous...if you could call it a tantrum

It’s representative of all the things that set this film apart from others. In tone, in the beats, and predictability as to exactly where this film is going to go. Antonia bird – in the best way possible – does what I think a lot of provocative filmmakers don’t do well, which is she told a story that provokes you without pretense. And while you will be able to discover new things with each new viewing of this film, you don’t have to watch it a million times to figure out what the hell is going on. Bird delivered a brutal, bloody, character study of cowardice, and power. A film plays with and blends genres, genres that I think are difficult to coalesce and still make a cohesive film. Horror, comedy, a supernatural, psychological thriller, that integrates themes of man versus nature, man vs man, nihilism, survival instinct, and power but doesn’t really set up camp in any of them. It’s beautifully directed, well shot, gripping, and superbly acted from top to bottom. With a pulse dropping score their ratchets up the stakes with every scene. I highly recommend it this Halloween, and again recommend knowing as little as possible going in if you haven’t seen it. Fix your bib, and prepare yourself for a delectable horror feast.