Hellish View's Favourite Horror Moments #1
One from each of Hellish View's Top Ten Ranked Films.
Before we get started, I gotta make it clear - these aren’t my top ten favourite horror movies (well… some of them are but…) - these are just the films that got the highest scores so far! The goal of this post is to highlight my personal best moment from each - and shower love on some truly excellent horrors.
Also, major spoilers ahead.
I had multiple choices here as there are several movies with the same strong score of 19! To kick things off I’ve decided on Cat People. What a picture this is. Not only highly significant as a piece of horror history, but also just a whole bunch of fun. For me, this film’s best moment is The Pool.
Here’s a quote from my review that really sums up why I think this is such a great scene:
“It is effortlessly scary, as the acoustics in the pool-room and the shimmering dancing light on the tiled walls create a nightmarish atmosphere, haunted by a demonic, feral growling. Alice screams for help and it arrives quickly, but as it does the light is switched on. Standing there, cool as a cucumber, or cooler (not a cucumber enthusiast, personally), is Irena. She politely enquires where Oliver is, looming over the pool ladder like Smilodon, eyes gleaming with malice. Alice, terrified, has little to offer on the subject.”
Also don’t panic - I won’t just quote my old posts for every film. This is just the beginning!
Number 9 - Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
While this scores the same as the above, it’s a very different movie. It is perhaps not as culturally significant as Cat People, but nobody can deny this flick is extremely entertaining. My favourite of the various iconic moments that Killer Klowns From Outer Space has to offer might be The Crazy Straw. This is a close second though.
If you haven’t seen this scene, here’s the rundown: an alien clown sucks the blood of a helpless victim trapped in a cocoon of cotton candy. We see the creature blink lazily, sated, and we also see the blood spin and swirl up the tube. Worst of all, we watch, sickened, as it sniffs the cocoon before it begins to feed. Not only nasty, but deeply inventive. Absolute nightmare fuel.
A recent watch of mine and a contender for my top 3 GOAT body horrors. In this case, the best moment for me might have to be the Shunting party. The shower scene is also a ten out of ten on the Oh Fuck This Is Wrong dial, but these final fifteen minutes are just repulsively gross. Yuzna turns the Ew factor up to a million here and it is just insane. Just look at the state of this:
The implications and psychological impact of this sequence cannot be understated either. Not only does it all look disgusting, it has a lot of truly appalling background that twist the knife that much more.
I mean can I just say the entire film? Also, go over and scan Jamie B.’s Substack for The Thing content, trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Honestly though, I think the crisis mid-blood test is the best moment. From the gut-wrenchingly drawn-out and painful death of Windows, to the Thing’s disturbing lurch onto the roof, this scene has it all. The effects are some of the best horror has to offer, as we all know, and the shock of all this madness interrupts the blood-test tension in such a clever way. It’s undeniably excellent.
This is the phantom that haunts you in Hell.
A film so brilliant I wish I’d reviewed it in more detail. This film is subtle in its use of fear, which allows a quiet anxiety to permeate near every moment of its runtime. I had to rack my brains for the best moment. I think it might have to be the classic climbing of the spiral staircase - dreamlike in the worst way, filled with dread and doom. Is there a more ghostly activity to do?
All this said, our first few minutes with Mrs Dudley are cracking, too, and cannot be forgotten.
Number 5 - The Innocents (1961)
I haven’t actually covered this film on Hellish Views, which I didn’t even realise! It’s genuinely come as something of a shock. Rest assured I’ll put it on the list - I even wrote a short review about it just for me when I first watched it, so I have some pre-existing notes to go off.
Anyway, for me, the best moment in The Innocents is a scene so genuinely chilling it’s been my laptop background for years.
Through heavy rainfall you see a dark figure standing still and silent amongst the reedbed. She does not speak, she does not move. Can you be certain she is real?
The moments that follow the above are excellent in building the horror of it all, but man, this shot makes my spine itch. This film is full of stellar camerawork and this is a fine example.
Number 4 - Evil Dead 2 (1987)
I will be covering this classic soon - fun fact, on occasion I think that this might even be my favorite horror film.
Now, before I share my favourite moment, let’s all just take a moment to wish the best for Bruce Campbell, star of the film and Scream King supreme, who has recently shared his cancer diagnosis. While this is fucking gut-wrenching, let’s band together and continue to celebrate him and champion his work. I certainly intend to and I know you all will too.
So, with hope in my mind and my fingers crossed, my favourite moment in Evil Dead 2 (at least, right this second) is the cabin becoming possessed. Campbell just nails the stress and insanity of the situation, and it is so bizarre and so creative you can’t help but have a blast. What a film.
Spoilt for choice again! In my opinion this film (and the novel it’s based on) is one of the finest bits of media out there, horror or otherwise. The spiralling narrative of gaslighting, paranoia and sheer evil is beyond compelling to watch. The coercive control portrayed is appalling, and in many ways more frightening than the Satanic elements of the story. I feel that the best moment may be Rosemary’s final realisation that she is not imagining things. Her cowering in a telephone box in a public street is sobering stuff, and genuinely quite terrifying. What a performance Mia Farrow gives here.
Any excuse to talk about The Wicker Man. It isn’t completely unlike Rosemary’s Baby in many ways, though the latter is far more disturbing. Anyway, Hardy’s film has a lot of memorable moments, but for me the best might be the moment Lord Summerisle realises he is cooked if things don’t go to plan next year. Howie’s passionate and terrified speech, Summerisle’s immediate double-down that everything will be fine, and the immediate march to that inevitable wicker cage make for what might even be a best ever horror sequence. I get serious chills every single time. God.
Number 1 - The Fly (1986).
Cronenberg’s remake is not for the faint of heart, but it is full of heart. The film is a tragedy full of suffering, but it has humanity at its core. My favourite moment is the moment where Brundlefly gives his famous line:
“I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake.”
What more is there to say than that? It speaks for itself.
Well, that wraps up my list. I really hope you enjoyed reading! Please share your own fave bits of these films in the comments, and let me know if you want to see another post like this one!
Note - I’m quite behind on my posting schedule, but rest assured I’ll be cracking on with it over the weekend.
Anyway, as ever, thanks for reading,
Until next time,
H.E.
Great list Harry 👍🏼
Forgot that line out The Fly. What a great movie 🪰
💕💕💕 The Innocents