Discussion's been a little slow around here lately, so I thought I'd try to stir things up a bit, and get us talking a little.
What I'd like us to do is offer up our opinions on some of the best kills we've ever seen in all the horror films we've watched over the years.
Off the top of my head, the first two categories I'd like to comment on (and by all means, add more as you comment in your replies) are the best decapitation and best head shots.
For decapitation, I think I'd go with the police chief (or lieutenant or whatever he was; Albert Finney's boss) getting decapitated toward the end of "Wolfen". Not a particularly great example of visual effects, and not especially bloody. But as foreshadowing, there was a discussion earlier in the film about a scientist who conducted expreiments during the French Revolution where he'd grab severed heads and stare into their eyes to see if the heads remained alive after they were severed. he noted several that blinked, focused their eyes, or tried to talk. The cop at the end of course tried to mouth some silent words after his head had been cut off. Perhaps not "Wow!" inducing based on the quality of the effects, but a damned creepy concept.
Honorable mention would go to the scene in "Day of the Dead" where the top half - from the eyes up - of a zombies skull is severed from the rest of the head by a determined scientist with a spade. It of course rolls across the floor and lands right side up, its eyes rolling toward its former prey and blinking, because the brain was still intact, and therefore the zombie was not "dead". Brutal and kind of blackly humorous at the same time.
Best head shot? I can't think of one I liked nearly as much as the Tom Savini masterwork that is the shotgun scene in "Maniac". I guess you could call this a decapitation, too, since that's what it ultimately ended up doing to the guy. But the goretastic explosion in this scene DOES get a "Wow!" the first time you see it, and for many every time thereafter as well. Is it realistic? Who knows? But who really cares? It's just so well done and fun (if you're a gore hound like me, anyway) to watch, that you'll suspend a little disbelief.
Anyone care to comment on the above or suggest new categories for "Best" status?
What I'd like us to do is offer up our opinions on some of the best kills we've ever seen in all the horror films we've watched over the years.
Off the top of my head, the first two categories I'd like to comment on (and by all means, add more as you comment in your replies) are the best decapitation and best head shots.
For decapitation, I think I'd go with the police chief (or lieutenant or whatever he was; Albert Finney's boss) getting decapitated toward the end of "Wolfen". Not a particularly great example of visual effects, and not especially bloody. But as foreshadowing, there was a discussion earlier in the film about a scientist who conducted expreiments during the French Revolution where he'd grab severed heads and stare into their eyes to see if the heads remained alive after they were severed. he noted several that blinked, focused their eyes, or tried to talk. The cop at the end of course tried to mouth some silent words after his head had been cut off. Perhaps not "Wow!" inducing based on the quality of the effects, but a damned creepy concept.
Honorable mention would go to the scene in "Day of the Dead" where the top half - from the eyes up - of a zombies skull is severed from the rest of the head by a determined scientist with a spade. It of course rolls across the floor and lands right side up, its eyes rolling toward its former prey and blinking, because the brain was still intact, and therefore the zombie was not "dead". Brutal and kind of blackly humorous at the same time.
Best head shot? I can't think of one I liked nearly as much as the Tom Savini masterwork that is the shotgun scene in "Maniac". I guess you could call this a decapitation, too, since that's what it ultimately ended up doing to the guy. But the goretastic explosion in this scene DOES get a "Wow!" the first time you see it, and for many every time thereafter as well. Is it realistic? Who knows? But who really cares? It's just so well done and fun (if you're a gore hound like me, anyway) to watch, that you'll suspend a little disbelief.
Anyone care to comment on the above or suggest new categories for "Best" status?
