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

[baumer]

I'll keep this here for one more night and then move it to the Speakeasy.

[baumer]

Here's the final list:

 

60) The Exorcist III

59) Se7en

58) Jaws 2

57) The Terrifier

56) Zombie

55) The Mist

54) Black Cat

53) The Hitcher

52) The Mothman Prophecies

51) The Exorcist 

50)  Scream

 

49) The Hills Have Eyes

48) The Invisible Man

47) Pet Sematary

46) Friday the 13th Part III

45) An American Werewolf in London

44) The Brood

43) Signs

42) Candyman

41) The Omen

40) The Devil's Rejects

 

39) Get Out

38) Final Destination

37) Angel Heart

36) Near Dark

35) I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

34) When a Stranger Calls (1979)

33) Frankenstein (1931)

32) The Thing (1982)

31) Men Behind the Sun

30) Martyr's (2008)

 

29)  The Evil Dead (1981)

28)  Poltergeist (1982)

27)  The Conjuring 2

26)  The Descent

25)  It Follows

24)  Misery

23)  IT

22)  Friday the 13th the Final Chapter

21)  Aliens

20)  The Vanishing (1988)

 

19) The Conjuring

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street

17)  Saw

16)  The Sixth Sense

15)  City of the Living Dead

14) Last House on the Left (1972)

13) The Purge

12) The Wicker Man (1973)

11) Psycho (1960)

 

10) The Ring (Samara comes out of the TV)

9)  Halloween (78) Myers rises

8} The shining (REDRUM)

7) Alien (chest burst)

6) JAWS (Ben Gardner's head)

5) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (74) (Leatherface's first appearance}

4) Friday the 13th (80) (Jason jumps out of the water)

3) The Changeling (80) (The bouncing ball)

2) Blair Witch Project (Mike standing in the corner)

1) Sleepaway Camp (Angela is a boy)

[Ipickthiswhiterose]

Oh boy I’m resurrecting this thread to finally catch up after a while away from the forum.

 

It’s Sunday, and I actually have a bit of time!!!

 

The Invisible Man: I watched it once in the cinema before the unmentionable and enjoyed it. Interestingly, it’s not occurred to me to rewatch it. But the restaurant scene is indeed excellent, and the first time in a while in one of these things where something definitely came truly from nowhere, and yet makes sense in the context of the film.

 

Pet Sematary: Yeah, I’m one of those who finds this *feel* of the King adaptations of that era just a bit to corny to get into and my favourite adaptation of Pet Sematary is, in a way the TRAILER for the newer one (not the actual newer one itself, you understand, but the trailer - especially in its sound design - actually managed to capture something tactile and atmospheric that felt distinct to the story). However, year, the old Achilles slash is always going to be one of the most affective pieces of mutilation you get becuase it’s something pitched just right for the average person to physically imaging and *feel* in the way that you can’t necessarily physically imaging being stabbed in the torso unless you’ve actually been stabbed in the torso. Everyone has felt some sensitivity and vulnerability on that part of their body at some time and as such it’s a really effective beat.

 

Friday 13th Part 3: I’ve promised to re-watch these. I’ve seen them once and Baumer knows my general sentiment. I’m not a slasher guy, and certainly not of that era. On the other hand though definitely a creative kill sequence.

 

American Werewolf: I think I said in the Top 100 that I’m due a rewatch for AWIL. I suppose I say the transformation scene in this so young that it’s always come across to me as more of a spectacle than a ‘holy shit’ kind of thing but yes it is absolutely spectacular.

 

The Brood: I do enjoy Cronenberg’s body horror. Yeah it’s an exploration of the abject and rather than tag that on to technology or a modern phenomenon as he does elsewhere, the Brood features more of it for it’s own benefit than anything else - exploring the essential human dynamics of having a part of yourself manifest outside the body and these being both the most intimate and most taboo acts - this is what is being played with in this moment as the abject taboo - vomit, semen, excretions - are all invoked at the same time as the intimate abject - a baby, and totemised as both in the same moment.

 

Signs: Another one-watch film for me. A great theatrical experience and nothing after. Definitely an effective jump scare as I watched it in the cinema in 2002. Just really well done becuase the implication had been set so clearly that we were not going to see these Aliens - at least not until the end of the film - and we were expecting maybe a foot or a shadow or something. Well done toying with expectations.

 

Candyman: I’ve already written at least an essay on here about my favourite horror film, probably my favourite film, of all time. The visual of Todd with the bees is incredible and astonishing that it was possible and relatively well managed by all accounts. I think the holy shit aspect to me is that I am generally a cynic of the ‘dark romance’ trope - I hate for instance when films and lit try to fudge Dracula and Mina into meaningful Romantic dynamic rather than just outright abuse and manipulation. However this particular case is so well done as genuine sexual tension comes suddenly from absolutely nowhere. The lingering sensual scene is legitimately hypnotic and the bees almost flow as a natural development of the scene.

 

The Omen: I rewatched it recently and it’s another of the ‘weird corny sound design’ canon that I can’t jank out of. I don’t know why nothing about the Omen ‘gets’ me, but for whatever reason it doesn’t hit any of my switches. I appreciate most of the movie is well done, features some great acting. And this moment happens at the right time…It might be one where one had to experience at the time, and perhaps I watched it having seen to many other later films: my reading at the time was more of a “Well yes, something like that would happen, would’t it.” than a holy shit. But I’m not watching it in 1976 or in a formative stage of my horror viewing.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Ipickthiswhiterose