Baumer's 60 best Holy Bleep moments in horror movie history 3) The Changeling 2) Blair Witch 1) Sleepaway Camp

[baumer]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone and I'll be starting this probably in about a half an hour and I should have it done before I kickoff tonight LOL

[baumer]

#5 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

 

 

Starring:  Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal

 

Directed by Tobe Hooper

 

Box office:  30.8M (but no one knows how much, it is rumoured to have made more than 100 mill but because it was financed by a branch of the mob, they apparently stole or funneled most of the profits.  The money from this movie financed Debbie Does Dallas)

 

My rating:  10/10

 

The story:  En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home... where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills..

 

The holy shit scene:  The most interesting and incredible thing about this film is that it is thought of as one of the most gory and gruesome films of the 70's.  And yet there is very little on screen violence.  You know it's happening but you don't see it.  The meat hook scene is another scene that could make this list.  It's a prime example of thinking you are seeing the hook go into the poor girl, but it's all in your mind.  This film is a miracle in every way possible.  They had very little money, rumoured to be around $100,000.  In comparison, Halloween (4 years later) had a budget of $350K.  They filmed in the middle of the Texas summer which means that the set could get as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (about 40C) and because they didn't have a budget for costumes, Leatherface's shirt could never be washed for fear of ruining it.  So add to the heat the stench of the clothing and filming sometimes became unbearable.

 

The scene that got me when I first watched it is the first time Leatherface appears.  At this point in the film we have no idea what's going on.  All we know is that this man goes to look for his girlfriend.  He comes to the house that she entered.  He walks into the hallway and just as he gets to the door, it opens with a terrible screeech and out comes this giant of a man in a mask and a sledgehammer.  He uses it on the guy and he drops and starts convulsing.  Seeing the size of Leatherface was and is still a massive shock.  It sets the film up for there.  

 

Trivia:  Surprisingly, this film is one of the least bloody horror films of all time. This is because Tobe Hooper intended to make the movie for a "PG" rating, by keeping violence moderate, language mild, and having most of the horror implied off-screen rather than shown in great detail onscreen. However, this plan had actually backfired, and made the film even more horrifying. Because despite cutting and repeated submissions, the Ratings Board insisted on an "X" rating, and it wasn't until the film received the "R" rating when Hooper gave up and released it. Hooper had a similar ratings problem with the sequel.

 

When it was first released, the film was so horrifying that people actually walked out on sneak previews for it.

 

"Entertainment Weekly" magazine voted this the second scariest film ever made, behind The Exorcist (1973)  

 

 

[baumer]

Number 4:  Friday the 13th (1980)

 

 

Starring:  Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon, Adrienne King

 

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham

 

Box office:  39.7M

 

My rating:  9/10

 

The story:  In 1957, a young boy named Jason drowns in a lake near Camp Crystal Lake. The next year, two counselors are murdered. In 1980, a descendant of the original owners reopens Camp Crystal Lake with some counselors' help. The counselors gets killed one by one by a mysterious person. Could it be Jason, out for revenge?

 

The holy shit scene:  When Sean S. Cunningham was struggling to make a profitable film, he was going about it all wrong.  After the success of Last House on the Left, for some reason he thought he would start making movies for families and kids.  They all bombed fantastically.  Then he saw Halloween and said (direct quote from him) "I want to rip off Halloween but make it gory."  The problem was he no idea what to make.  He had no script, no real ideas and no money.  But he had a title.  FRIDAY THE 13TH.  He took out ads in Variety and splashed it across the page.  FRIDAY THE 13TH...THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER MADE.  The movie got made of course and the rest is history.  Jason is still alive and well some 40 years later.

 

When Cunningham had the film almost in the can, he turned to Steve Miner (PA on LHOTL and future director of the next to Friday the 13th sequels) and said he wanted an ending like Carrie.  He wanted to shock and scare the hell out of the audience one last time.  He came up with Alice being in the canoe after a bloody night of terror that culminated with her slicing off Jason's mom's head with a machete.  The last scene before we cut to the hospital is Alice in the canoe, peaceful music, good ending.  All is well.  And then a rotting looking corpse like kid jumps out of the water and grabs her.  Cunningham achieved what he set out to accomplish because that scene scared the poop out of everyone.  

 

Trivia:  Tom Savini was one of the first crew members on board for the film because the producers idolized his special make-up effects in Dawn of the Dead (1978).

 

Composer Henry Manfredini came up with the now classic "ki ki ki ma ma ma" vocals attached to the score. It's his voice as well.

 

Betsy Palmer and the rest of the cast spoke at a Friday the 13th 30th Anniversary Conference, which was captured in the recent documentary Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (available on YouTube). At the conference Palmer said that when she first read the script by Victor Miller, she said "What a piece of s---!" and threw the script across the room into the trash. Victor Miller, the script writer, was at the conference, and heard this comment, and Adrienne King patted him on the back consolingly. Palmer said she then thought about it, and she did need some money for a new car, and the movie would probably come and go very quickly and no one would ever see it; and then it would all be quickly forgotten. So she decided to take the job. Little did she know the movie would become a phenomenon, and would be the main thing she would be remembered for.

 

Skip to three minutes for the scene 

 

 

[baumer]

Number 3:  The Changeling (1980)

 

 

Starring:  George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas

 

Directed by:  Peter Medak

 

Box office:  NA

 

My rating:  9.5/10

 

The story:  It was the perfect family vacation for composer John Russell and his family when a freak automobile accident claims the lives of his wife and daughter. Consumed by grief, John, at the request of friends, rents an old turn of the century house. Mammoth in size, the house seems all the room that John needs to write music and reflect. He does not realize that he is not alone in the house. He shares it with the spirit of a child who has homed in on John's despair and uses him to uncover decades of silence and deceit. With the help of Claire Norman, the one who aided John in procuring the house, they race to find the answers and soon learn that a devious and very powerful man guards them.

 

The scene that still gives me goosebumps to this day:  George C. Scott has rented a mansion after his wife died tragically.  Little does he know that this house holds a terrible secret.  "HOW DID YOU DIE JOSEPH?  DID YOU DIE IN THIS HOUSE? WHY DO YOU REMAIN?"  The house is trying to tell him something.  There's an unsolved mystery.  The problem is John has no desire to solve anything.  He just wants to be left alone.  When he finds a red bouncy kids ball, the house seems to be telling him something.  He takes it to the river and throws it in.  When he gets back to the house, while standing at the bottom of the stairs, that ball comes bouncing down.  It doesn't sound like much reading this.  The clip will only show you so much.  Watch the film and this scene will scare the shit out of you and it will never leave you.  It's brilliant.  

 

Trivia:  Director Martin Scorsese included this movie on his Top 11 Scariest Horror Films of all time list.

 

The movie is based on events which supposedly took place at Henry Treat Rogers Mansion in Denver, Colorado, while writer Russell Hunter was living there during the 1960s. The Chessman Park neighborhood in the movie is a reference to Cheesman Park in Denver, where the original haunting transpired.

 

 

[baumer]

So that leaves us with two films.  I know you've heard of the film at number two and I'm hoping you've heard of number one.  Both endings of these films are what make these shots such holy shit moments!  

 

@JamesCameronScholar....your movie is next.  It didn't quite make it to the top of the heap, but it came damn close.  I just can't ignore what the ending of the film at number one did to me and so many others.  

 

Here we go....the top two:

[baumer]

Number 2:  The Blair Witch Project (1999)

 

 

Starring:  Josh Leonard, Heather Donahue, Mike Williams

 

Directed by Ed Myrick and Daniel Sanchez

 

Box office:  248.6M WW (budget was $35,000, this makes the movie the profitable film ever made)

 

My rating:  10/10 (one of my top ten horror films)

 

The story:  In search of a local legend, three bold amateur documentarians--director, Heather; cameraman, Josh; sound recorder, Mike--hike into Burkittsville's gloomy Black Hills Forest to find a shadow: the fabled Blair Witch. Now, one long year later--after that fateful October of 1994--there's still no sign of the student filmmakers, apart from the raw footage they left behind. Who knows what truly happened during their creepy five-day journey into the mouth of madness? Was there, indeed, an intangible supernatural presence in the dark woods that led to the team's disappearance? Either way, the missing trio must have seen something. Could the nightmarish myth be real?

 

The holy shit scene:  The tag line to the movie is:  In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found.

 

This is key because at the time, so many of us thought this was real.  The marketing for this was unlike anything ever done before.  The directors used the internet to get people to think that this really was raw footage found in the woods of Burkitsviile.  It made the story that much more powerful.  And for me personally, the indie style film making, the shaky cam, the dark scenes, the annoying things these people did, all of it I was in awe of.  I'd never experienced this kind of terror before.  Babies crying in the middle of the woods, strange symbols, odd rock formations and the story of the Blair Witch, all of it terrified me.  Even later when I found out it was all make believe, it just made me like it even more.  I was relieved that the three actors were safe and hadn't been killed by some mystical force.  

 

If you pay attention to the film, there's a quick line of dialogue about the witch taking kids and making them stand in the corner while she killed the other one.  She didn't like eyes on her.  So at the end when Mike and Heather think they hear Josh in the dilapidated house in the middle of the woods, and they get separated, you fear the worst.  But what you aren't expecting is Heather to round to the corner and see Mike standing in the corner with his head down.  I was 27 when I saw this movie and this scene almost made me scream out in the theatre.  It's raw, it's visceral and it feels real.  It's also brilliantly done by everyone involved.  

 

Trivia:  The directors kept in touch with actors Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard via walkie-talkies, to ensure the three would not become lost during their trek. Reportedly, they got lost at least three times.

 

The three leads believed the Blair Witch was a real legend during filming, though, of course, they knew the film was going to be fake. Only after the film's release did they discover that the entire mythology was made up by the film's creators.

 

The three leads were paid next to nothing to make the film.  Around two years later, they each got a check for about 4 million dollars.

 

 

[baumer]

Number 1:  Sleepaway Camp (1983)

 

 

Starring:  Felicia Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields

 

Directed by Robert Kitzik

 

Box office:  NA

 

My rating:  9/10

 

The story:  After a horrible boating accident kills her family, shy, sullen Angela moves in with her eccentric Aunt Martha and protective cousin Ricky. One summer, Martha sends the kids to Camp Arawak. Soon after their arrival, bizarre, increasingly violent accidents claim the lives of various campers. Who is the twisted individual behind these murders? The disclosure of the murderer's identity is one of the most shocking climaxes in the history of American cinema

 

The biggest WTF holy shit scene in cinematic history:  Here's a film that like a litany of other horror films was trying to cash in on the Friday the 13th craze.  This film had a budget of about $10.00 and it starred no one.  And yet for some reason, the production values of the film were actually quite good.  There's a lot of filth in the movie but if you look at the film through today's lens, it's an anti-bullying film and it deals with kids being quiet and socially awkward.  Watching it for the first time, I wasn't aware of the twist at the end.  I remember wanting more gore, more nudity (I was 12) but I remember a girl getting killed with a curling iron, that was cool.  And then there was the odd and strange Aunt Martha.  She seemed to be a character that belonged in another movie.  But then at the end, it all comes together and makes sense.

 

The biggest shocking scene of my life time is not only finding out that Angela is the killer but finding out that Angela is not Angela, she is a boy.  Her aunt, her strange and weird rich relative decided to dress him up as a girl for the rest of his life and "Angela" went to camp as a girl,  At the end, when a boy shows interest in her, they end up on the water front together and when the counselors find her, she has cut the head off the boy and we find out that Angela is a male.  There's gutteral sounds, creepy ass music and Angela standing there, penis dangling and she/he is almost growling.  It was a shocking ending then and even now it still catches many off guard who are just now watching it for the first time.

 

Trivia:  Felissa Rose (Angela), Karen Fields (Judy), and Katherine Kamhi (Meg) were actually all quite close during filming. Katherine Kamhi said the scene where they throw Angela into the water was hard for her to shoot for that reason.

 

Felicia Rose, who played Angela, has made a fortune off of playing Angela.  She still goes to horror conventions where she sells a tonne of memorabilia, autographs, photos and more.

 

 

[baumer]

So that concludes the top 60 holy shit moments in horror history, according to me. 

 

Yes we all have different opinions and I realize my views on horror may seem antiquated to some here and that's fine.  As @Krissykins mentioned, our formative years help shape our opinions on film.  I'm really into the slashers of the 70's and 80's.  I'm not big on a lot of the Babadook kind of stuff.  I do like a lot of modern horror and Blum is great for the genre.  

 

But for me, give me no special effects and lots of gore makeup and I'm in heaven.  

 

Thanks for reading.  I'll leave this up for a few days and then move it to the Speakeasy.  I'll also have a full list out tomorrow.

[wildphantom]

@baumer so glad you had Blair Witch right up there. 

I’m now wide awake at 1.55am U.K. time as when I close my eyes I see Mike standing in the corner of THAT house  😫

 

one of the great cinema experiences I’ve ever had in that holy grail of years that was 1999

[baumer]

8 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

@baumer so glad you had Blair Witch right up there. 

I’m now wide awake at 1.55am U.K. time as when I close my eyes I see Mike standing in the corner of THAT house  😫

 

one of the great cinema experiences I’ve ever had in that holy grail of years that was 1999

 

Sorry buddy lol

[Krissykins]

Thanks for doing this @baumerand what a great list and an appropriate top 2, showing two completely different ends of the “holy shit” spectrum! They’d never be able to get away with that Sleepaway Camp ending these days 😂😂

[baumer]

1 hour ago, Krissykins said:

Thanks for doing this @baumerand what a great list and an appropriate top 2, showing two completely different ends of the “holy shit” spectrum! They’d never be able to get away with that Sleepaway Camp ending these days 😂😂

 

You got that right LOL there's no way they would ever be able to do something like that today. I know you like horror just as much as I do and I'm glad you enjoyed the thread and I appreciate your reading and commenting.

[baumer]

Too esoteric for @Noctis ?

[TomCruiseTop]

Great list @baumer an excellent #1 choice even if I think BWP should be top of the pile.

[DC Rich]

Thanks for putting this together @baumer.  It was a great flashback for me.  I also remember watching those cheap horror movies as a teen in the 80's on HBO\Cinemax.   Of course, mostly for the chance of seeing nudity.  This list reminded me how good some of these movies were.  Now I have to go watch some of them again.  Will probably check out a few of the other ones too.  I will probably stay away from the really gory (over the top) ones you mentioned.  It's not really my thing.  I prefer the ones where the scares are surprising, suspenseful, subtle or more just your own imagination.  Which can be just as scary.  Well done. 

[baumer]

Awesome guys I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I enjoyed putting it together and it was fun for me to revisit some of the older movies and the creepy scares.

[Fancyarcher]

This was an enjoyable read for me. I couldn't possibly think of what my own of list most shattering and or frightening scenes in horror history would be like, but this captured the feeling of it pretty well. Job well done @baumer.

[CoolioD1]

that texas chainsaw one of dude getting bonked on the head is tops for me. so disturbing felt more realistic than the types of deaths you see in slashers.

 

this is a top one for me. I remember sitting in the dark watching this scene and i had to get up and turn the lights on i was too freaked out

 

 

[baumer]

@CoolioD1 What's that from?

 

I've seen a lot of horror movies, but it's impossible to have seen them all. That is creepy as anything and it would have made my list.  

[CoolioD1]

Just now, baumer said:

@CoolioD1 What's that from?

 

I've seen a lot of horror movies, but it's impossible to have seen them all. That is creepy as anything and it would have made my list.  

Pulse. i put it at #1 on the horror list i think it made it in just because of my vote lol. they did do an American remake but i've never seen it i dunno.