Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Glance at/from Evil

There have been countless scary movie scenes throughout the years. We're obviously all familiar with that shower scene from Hitchcock's, "Psycho"; Anthony Perkins hacking away (in drag, no less) at Janet Leigh, those close-up shots of blood running down the drain, etc.. And how about that image of Shelley Winters's dead body submerged in water - THIS, from the Charles Laughton masterpiece, "Night of the Hunter"? Of course, nobody, NOBODY, will ever forget that dreaded scene form Robert Aldrich's "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane". Yeah, that's right, the one where Betty Davis serves a dead, uncooked bird to her invalid sister (Joan Crawford). Yikes, huh?..................................................................................But, yes, folks, I'm also telling this. Sometimes a director doesn't need to go to such extremes to scare the crap out of you. I site, specifically, a scene from yet another Hitchcock classic, "Shadow of a Doubt" (supposedly the master's own personal favorite). It's that scene where the entire family is seated at the dinner table, Joseph Cotten going on and on about the worthlessness of the folks he despises. Teresa Wright (who had an absolutely bitching ass in the 40s, by the way - though, clearly, I digress), already suspicious that her uncle (the Joseph Cotten character) is probably a cold-blooded killer, challenges him, "How can you say that? They're human beings, they're alive!" And, yes, folks, this is where it gets really creepy, Joseph Cotten turns to her (and, yes, to us, too, as Hitchcock has him staring directly into the camera) and dryly utters, "They are?" I mean, talk about a shiver going directly up your spine. THAT....is a kisser that this fellow will never forget.

5 comments:

BostonMaggie said...

Yes, Hitch could scare you without a drop of blood if he wanted to. Did you ever read Stephen King's non-fiction work Danse Macabre? He had this whole thing about the differense between someone who could really scare you and someone who just grossed you out. Hitch could do both. I still get nervous when I see more than one bird on a powerline, lol.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

You sound like a fan, Maggie. And, yeah, you bet, that Hitchcock canon is an impressive one; "Strangers on a Train", "Psycho", "North by Northwest", "Spellbound", "I Confess", "Vertigo", "The Birds", on and on. And, plus, the guy had a hell of an eye for the ladies, too; Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Tippi Hedren, Teresa Wright, Ingrid Bergman, Ann Baxter, etc.. THAT....is another impressive aspect!....No, I'm not familiar with that Stephen King book. It sounds like he might be on to something with that dichotomy, though.

1138 said...

Rear Window

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Phenomenal!!

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

2 more chilling scenes. Barbara Stanwyck about to be killed by a shadowy figure at the end of "Sorry, Wrong Number" and Lawrence Olivier drilling Dustin Hoffman's teeth while repeatedly asking him, "Is it safe" in "Marathon Man".