Tuesday, September 13, 2011

40 Days of Night(mares) Day 22: Best Death Scene

Wow. There are literally thousands of choices in this category. I point you back to day 19 for the best death. What could possibly beat having your head exploded mentally? I also love the scene in Halloween where Michael impales his victim about 6 inches off the floor and then just kind of tilts his head like he doesn't quite understand what just happened. There are probably a few hundred scenes you could point to as the best, either because they're memorable, or the effects are incredible, or the death itself is meaningful or a character you were kind of rooting for.
I honestly could not make up my mind, but, at the same time, I can't just list off a litany of deaths (a. this would get really long, and b. you might be a little worried about how many I can recite from memory). With that in mind, I tried to pick one that was indelible and stands the test of time. It represents a technical effects achievement, the turning point of its film, and is the catalyst of the terror to come... SPOILERS contained.
Congratulations, it's a boy!
It's chest bursting time! Alien is a
fantastic horror film, and way ahead of its time. It features a brilliant mix of psychological terror and the natural xenophobia we all carry. A group of astronauts land on a seemingly deserted planet. Finding a cluster of eggs, a creature attacks one of their own.
The creature, affectionately know as a facehugger, attaches itself to their comrade. They bring him back aboard the ship against regulations, and against logic, only to find the creature later dead, and their friend in a coma that he eventually wakes from. Crisis averted right?
It's dinnertime, and the venerable John Hurt is sharing a laugh with Yaphet Kotto and the rest of the crew and everything is back to normal, but not for long...


It's a scene that has stood the test of time, even being memorably parodied by Hurt himself in Spaceballs (see below). It marks the point in the movie when things go from wrong to "oh sit, we're in a lot of trouble" wrong.
I give the death and the movie a 10 out of 10.

Bonus: Water my ass! Get this man some Pepto Bismol!

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