Following on from my exploration into my horror memories on TV, now is the time for the same with film. Now, I hadn't really watched a whole lot of horror films growing up, but one or two moments from iconic films had really scared me.
One of these is unquestionably the Indiana Jones films. Now, the melting faces in the first film never disturbed me, and the pulling out of hearts in The Temple of Doom, while a bit unnerving, never kept me up at night. However, during the finale of The Last Crusade, my favourite one and a terrific film that I'll have to review some day, the primary villain, Donnovan, chooses the wrong cup, believing a particularly extravagant gold cup to be the Holy Grail, and instead of gaining immortality, he begins to age at an incredible rate. He grabs Dr Schneider and ages into a skeleton right in front of her, his face turning saggy and grey as his eyes pop from his skull. While not a horror film, it really spooked me, and there was a time as a child where I would leave the room just to avoid that one scene.
A film that comes closer to the genre of horror is Jaws, its use of tension, the iconic music and brilliant directing has made it a classic. However, the lasting impression of the shark's second onscreen killing was one that never really left my mind. The fact that it is a young boy, in broad daylight, in a crowded beach that we've all seen before makes it especially chilling. The suddenness and the brutality of the scene makes it really hard to watch, and while the shark persists for the rest of the film, with the lead characters having frequent run ins with it, the damage it did so early on never leaves the mind of the audience, and cemented itself as a monster icon that made us afraid to go back into the water...
Train to Busan is a Korean zombie film that came out in 2016, and makes for a tense, epic viewing. Narrowly escaping the zombie outbreak by going on a chance trip to Busan, the lead character must protect his daughter as the rapidly spreading virus makes its way onboard the narrow train. Be it the action in the train, the armies of zombies awaiting the characters at every station and the dangerous situations the likeable and relatable characters find themselves in, the desperation and purgatory-like state of these passengers makes this a great film from start to finish, and the best example of a modern zombie story I can think of.
When they reach a station, and presumably their salvation, only to find the army forces there already infected, a desperate run back to the train as they have to hold the horde back with a thin glass door is both awesome, tense and incredibly scary. If there is a perfect film to watch this Halloween, I recommend this one as a top contender.
For more of a classic, the film Scream is a celebration of the slasher genre, being both referential to those that came before it and their various tropes, but with enough self awareness to not get bogged down with them, either pointing out the absurdity, or throwing a curve ball and doing something new and creative. As high school student Sydney is stalked by a killer wearing a 'Ghostface' costume, she cannot trust anyone around her. Everybody is a suspect, and nobody is safe, so if you want a film with all the horror and gore you could expect, that's also a lot of fun, Scream is one to look for.
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