Halloween is just around the corner and sadly, it falls on a Monday this year. Most college students will be tired out by the previous weekend’s festivities and with classes going on as usual, a party on a Monday night may not be the wisest choice.
With it not being socially acceptable for 20-somethings to trick-or-treat either, what is there to do on Halloween this year? Hit up Netflix or your local video store, sneak into your little sibling’s candy bag and watch a classic horror flick. It’s up for debate what makes the best horror film, whether you’re into gory slasher flicks or creepy supernatural ones, but these 10 scenes are undeniably some of the best in the entire genre. Beware, though – there are some spoilers.
10. Quint’s last stand in “Jaws” (1975)
“Jaws” struck fear into the hearts of beachgoers the summer of 1975, and for good reason. The scene where Jaws literally tilts the fishing boat so Quint, played by the late Robert Shaw, easily slides into its mouth makes this list despite the fact the shark is clearly animatronic.
The two minutes of Quint being thrashed back and forth with his legs caught in the shark’s multiple rows of teeth as he screams and blood spurts out of his mouth is enough to scare
anyone out of going in the water.
9. The prom in “Carrie” (1976)
“Carrie” is the movie that taught everyone not to be mean to the weird kid. As if Sissy Spacek wasn’t already creepy looking enough in this movie, the sight of her covered in pig’s blood tops it off. Just how calm and quiet she is as she telepathically tears the gymnasium apart before setting it on fire to burn up all of her tormenters sends chills down viewer’s spines. And once John Travolta and his girlfriend think they’ve escaped Carrie’s wrath, she makes sure they don’t get away, either.
8. Girl in the middle surviving in “The Human Centipede” (2010)
This scene isn’t the most grotesque or gory scene in “The Human Centipede,” but the feeling evoked by the last living victim in the middle of the “centipede” at the end of the film makes it the most disturbing. It’s bad enough to have a butt sewn to her mouth, leaving her unable to talk, and a mouth sewn to her butt, but when the person in the front and the back are both dead, the doctor who did this to her is dead, and the cop sent to save her is dead, she is absolutely helpless.
7. Original ending of “Paranormal Activity” (2007)
“Paranormal Activity” focused on creepiness to scare viewers rather than loud noises and gore, which is why the end of the movie kind of contradicts the entire film. The original ending of the film features demonic Katie killing Micah and coming back upstairs and rocking back and forth in a catatonic state for two days. Within those two days you hear the phone ring and Katie’s friend leave a message, and then come over to discover Micah’s dead body. The police eventually show up as Katie awakens from her catatonic state (clearly not possessed anymore) and they open fire on her.
The original ending isn’t featured on the DVD or you YouTube, so Google it. Trust me, it’s better than the one ultimately used.
6. Glen’s death in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
Oh, Johnny Depp. He’s come a long way from his film debut in teenage slasher flick, “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” His death scene is one of the most memorable in the franchise because it’s the most morbid. He didn’t get stabbed, sliced, burned or any normal way a person would be killed in a ‘80s horror movie. Glen gets sucked into his bed by Freddy Kruger and an unnatural amount of blood spurts out of his bed and covers his ceiling and walls. Seriously, it’s hard to believe a ridiculous amount of blood like that can even fit into a human body.
5. Shower scene in “Psycho” (1960)
The stabbing sounds in the classic shower scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” were made by stabbing a melon with a knife – the blood in the shower was actually chocolate syrup. That scene paved the way for horror movies to come. The blood-curdling screams made by Janet Leigh as an unknown person brutally attacks her leave viewers looking over their shoulders in their own bathroom.
4. Nanny’s suicide in “The Omen” (1976)
As quick of a scene as this is, it’s one of the creepiest ones in the whole movie. The cheerful demeanor of the nanny as she stands on the roof with a noose around her neck shouting “It’s all for you, Damien!” as she plunges to her death is just disturbing. Not to mention this is at the little devil child’s fifth birthday party, so there are children all over watching it happen and screaming.
3. Room 237 from “The Shining” (1980)
Nobody wants to be in the presence of a ghost. People especially don’t want to make out with a ghost. But Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) just can’t resist the hot naked ghost in room 237.
When she kisses him, he’s into it until he looks in the mirror and sees his tongue is really in the mouth of an old rotting woman. As he tries to back away, she laughs and follows him and you get to see much more of an old rotting woman than you’d ever want to see.
The Grady Girls, the elevator, and “red rum” are the most notable parts of “The Shining,” but
none of those are as disgusting as what happens in room 237.
2. The six names from “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” (2005)
“The Exorcism of Emily Rose” takes a lot from “The Exorcist.” Obviously, they have fairly similar storylines, so “Emily Rose” is kind of a lower-grade version of “The Exorcist.”
Even though it may be lower-grade, it’s still horrifying. Specifically the part where Emily (Jennifer Carpenter) is in the barn screaming the six names of the demons inhabiting her. As her face takes on an almost alien-like look as she contorts herself all over the ground, I watch through my fingers.
1. The shaking bed from “The Exorcist” (1976)
I’m going to be completely honest: I’ve never seen this entire movie. I’ve always turned it off after this scene. Reagan (Linda Blair) isn’t even fully possessed yet and she still looks normal as the bed shakes and she’s flailed all over. But something about this scene is just really freakin’ scary. It’s not natural to be able to be bent backward like that (hence why Blair actually has back problems to this day) and the entire atmosphere of that movie is just terrifying.
“The Exorcist” has topped numerous lists based on horror movies, and it’s topping this one, too. I can’t even hear “Tubular Bells” without feeling uneasy.
