(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror. In this edition: The Thing delivers an iconic scene that rivals Hitchcock in creating unbearable tension.)
It Chapter Two dominated the box office this weekend, and if you were among the masses to see how the story ended for the Losers’ Club, you likely picked up many of the references and Easter eggs that’s par for the course of a Stephen King adaptation. From overt cameos to subtle allusions to the novel, the concluding chapter had it all. Including one bizarre sequence that riffs on a memorable moment from John Carpenter’s The Thing.
While it’s an unexpected choice to reference a film outside of King’s multiverse, the intent seems to be course correcting 1982’s initial chilly reception of a now-heralded horror classic while nodding to the Losers Club ‘80s-set childhood and It’s final form. Either way, it presents yet another excuse to revisit Carpenter’s thrilling showcase of practical effects, relentless anxiety, and the complete erosion of community by way of paranoia and mistrust. The Thing boasts no shortage of iconic moments and monsters, but it’s the blood test scene that stands out for the effective way it unnerves through coiling tension. This scene is a masterclass of suspense that rivals the work of the King of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.
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(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror. In this edition: The Shining boasts one of horror’s most iconic movie moments of all time.)
The Stephen King renaissance that began in earnest with 2017’s It has continued to gain momentum, bearing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Between the upcoming releases of It Chapter Two, Netflix’s In the Tall Grass, a Creepshow revival TV series on Shudder, and Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Doctor Sleep, this fall is all about the prolific horror author’s works. It only makes sense to preface the next wave of King adaptations by looking back at one of horror’s all-time classics; The Shining.
The second of King’s novels to ever be adapted for screen, this adaptation happens to be one of the more divisive. At least from the perspective of King and Constant Reader purists, as director and co-screenwriter Stanley Kubrick presents the loosest interpretation of the story. It’s offset by a foreboding atmosphere, iconic imagery, unsettling score, and one nightmarish scene that marks the point of no return.
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(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror. In this edition: 47 Meters Down has one of the most terrifying horror movie moments in recent memory.)
Two summers ago, director/co-writer Johannes Roberts’ small budget shark survival thriller 47 Meters Down quietly released into theaters and became one of the highest-grossing indie films of 2017. A feat its sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, is aiming to duplicate or surpass at the box office this summer. It’s not hard to understand its success; movie audiences have been obsessed with shark horror ever since Jaws introduced a new kind of movie monster in 1975.
Like Jaws, 47 Meters Down kept the appearances of its sharks minimal. Instead, Roberts trapped the film’s protagonists underwater for most of the movie, focusing on the various obstacles to survival that accompanies humans out of their element. An element that happens to be the dominion of apex predators, portrayed as relentless killing machines. Roberts combined survival horror with summer’s favorite movie monster to deliver one of the scariest scenes in horror.
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