Saturday, September 10, 2011

40 Days of Night(mares) Day 19: Best Use of Gore

I've changed my mind on this one three times since I originally sat down and planned out my viewing schedule. I ended up using Dead of the Dawn for my favorite zombie film. My next choice was a movie called Cannibal Holocaust, which I remembered watching in my teens, along with the Faces of Death series. I remembered it being a brutal faux documentary. But in re-watching it, it's still a brutal film, mostly for scenes of rape and, of course cannibalism, but the gore factor wasn't nearly what I remembered.

Tastes like chicken
Then, I decided Hostel would take its place. Again, it's a disturbing and gory film, and would be an excellent candidate, as its really the first of what people have named the torture porn movies. But for as many body parts and gore are seen, a lot of the actual violence that causes the gore is largely off camera, which lessens its impact.
Then I thought of a particular scene. One particular scene from a classic horror film that has stayed with me since I first saw it. It's a brilliant use of practical effects that hasn't been equaled in this CGI crazy digital effect world.
The opening sequence of Scanners features a man showing off his powers. He can explode your head with his thoughts... a young Mike pretty much looked like this after that scene...
His mind was blown, literally.
It's one of the most amazing scenes ever, and the cut in is as seamless as possible. It remains one of my all time favorite scenes, and if it wasn't so quick and I didn't need it here, it would be my pick for favorite death scene (coming soon). The rest of the movie is really good, but the proverbial money shot happens then and there, so what's left is a little anti-climatic. So, if you want to save a little time, here it is...


That scene gets an emphatic 10 out of 10, the rest of the movie, a solid 7.

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