My brother and I regularly ask one another at family gatherings if we've "seen any good, scary movies lately." The key word here is "good." Movies claiming to be scary abound; but those that actually fit that bill are pretty few and far between. And, when referring to the moniker "scary", I'm not talking about gory, bloody, violence for the sake of violence movies, either. Which, of course, makes those that AREN'T violent, but that are scary nonetheless, all the more awesome? If you're a connoisseur, that is. Anyway, here are some of the very best "scanarios" (scary scenarios) of all time:
10. Alien (1979). There were several truly horrifyingly scary scenes in Alien, but two of the scariest occur fairly close to the beginning of the movie. The first one is when the crew first discovers the dying Alien aboard a deserted spacecraft. They find numerous eggs on the person' of said Alien, when all of a sudden one of them HATCHES, and lands on crew member Kane's face. If you're watching the movie for the first time you mistakenly think that this is the end of Kane. Nope. But, let's just say that it would have been better for Kane had this been the case; the worst is yet to come in another scene. More on that later.
9. Play Misty for Me (1971). Lonnggggg before Glenn Close and Michael Douglas engaged in a fling (Fatal Attraction) gone catastrophically wrong, Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walters had a dalliance with similar, dire results. However, I've always considered "Misty" to be much scarier than "Fatal." Maybe it was because I was younger when I first saw it. I don't know, but the scene at the end, when we THINK Walters is dead, but heaven help Dave (Eastwood), she isn't, stuck with me. It scared my poor husband to death, and he never forgave me for recommending it to him after we married. We're now divorced, by the way.
8. Dial M. for Murder. (1954). This one's is a Hitchcock classic, and is on many "best American made films" lists. The story of a husband who thinks he's planned the perfect murder of his wife, but things go "horribly" wrong and the would-be wife killer ends up getting stabbed by the stronger-than-hubby-realized wife. That scene is nerve wracking, and the scariest of the entire flick. It gets you so worked up that your edgy as the cops try to figure out what-in-the-h-e-double-toothpicks actually happened. Hitchcock's ability to maintain tension throughout is nowhere better depicted than in "M."
7. The Duel. Directed by (surprise) Steven Spielberg, this movie starred Dennis Weaver, and was about a maniacal truck driver who terrorizes a businessman trying to get home. I saw this movie at an impressionable age, and I STILL have dreams about runaway semis, at times. The scariest scene was one in which the "phantom" truck, which was old, rusty and HUGE, starts to push Weaver towards the edge of a cliff. The "duel" comes to its climax soon afterward. Who would have thought such a nail biter would consist of watching two vehicles have it out on the highway?
6. Fatal Attraction (1988). Okay, two words. Bathtub scene. Need I say more?
5. Alien (1979). Okay, back to poor crew member Kane, the one whose face was attacked by a hatched spawn of something terrifically evil. He and the rest of his shipmates, somewhat recovered from the episode, are seated down to dinner. All of a sudden, Kane begins to convulse. And convulse, and look like he can't breathe (because he can't), and contort from something painful. That "something" is a brand, spanking' new alien, who bursts forth from Kane's chest cavity. No need for uteruses on planet hell, evidently.
4. The Sixth Sense. This movie was chock full of scary scenes, truly. But the "scariest" one of all (I actually screamed out loud) is when the audience, right along with the good Doctor (Bruce Willis) realize that HE'S REALLY DEAD AND THAT WHEN COLT SAYS I SEE DEAD PEOPLE HE'S INCLUDING DOC IN THAT GROUP! It's truly amazing that no one (that I know, anyway) figured that one out before seeing the blood pouring out of Willis's gunshot wound. Superbly frightful.
3. The Exorcist (1973). I nearly crawl out of my skin every time I see Linda Blair's head do that 180 degree turn thing. The grotesque-ness of that scene makes it all the scarier.
2. Silence of the Lambs. (1990). Now, I almost hesitated to vote at all for this one because it is so treacherously bloody, overall. But, the scene that's the scariest is NOT the bloodiest. In fact, it has no blood at all. It's the one where Hannibal tells Clarice what he likes to drink when feasting on someone's liver. The scene that ties with this one for scary-ness comes at the end, after Hannibal escapes. "Hello, Clarice. . . ."
1. Psycho (1961). And the winner is. . . . . . drum roll. . . . .. THE SHOWER SCENE! Janet Leigh steps into the shower, and then we see a woman behind the curtain, stabbing her to death, as we watch her blood wash down the drain. That particular scene is actually scarier once you've seen the movie at least once, because to fully get the impact of it, and all of the implications therewith, you need to know the ending.
Well, that's the list. It's unfortunate that I've written this right before bedtime. For my peace of mind, I mean. It was just downright silly of me to "Wait Until Dark. . ."