Iconic Scenes in Movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984)

Well, this film has so many iconic scenes that it is hard to pick out just a few. But, I will choose the best ones. Freddy was introduced in this film and little did we know that he would become a horror icon. So many movies have been made featuring the character but the first one will always be the best in my opinion. I love this film and I have great memories of watching this for the first time. So, where to start???

The first one that I will choose is the first appearance of Freddy in Tina's dream. She has already had a dream about him but this is the moment that he comes for her. It is a great scene. Freddy is at his horrible best here and the death scene is great with some cool special effects for the time. Tina is on the ceiling and she is being attacked by Freddy but her boyfriend can't see it which makes it even better. We can see Tina being cut and slashed and her boyfriend can't stop it. Then she drops to the floor with a splat. This is a great scene.



My next scene is infamous probably because it has Johnny Depp in it, but I love it because it is a great scene and gory too! Johnny plays Glen who is supposed to be staying awake so he can help Nancy to trap Freddy but he falls asleep watching TV and he ends up meeting Freddy sooner that he thought! The scene is great and it shows Glen being sucked into the bed with his TV and then a fountain of blood gushing out of the hole all over the place!His mother comes in to witness this as Glen pops back up and he is dead!



My next scene is Nancy in the bath! I am sure that everyone knows this scene and I think that it is really great. Nancy makes the mistake of falling asleep in the bath(never a good idea) and Freddy comes to get her. The image of his gloved hand coming up though the water is so synonymous with this film and it truly is an iconic scene in horror movie history!!! Freddy tries to pull her down into the darkness under the bath and she just manages to survive!



Lastly, but not least, the ending of this film is good fun too. Nancy thinks that she has beaten Freddy but has she? She walks out of her house and she meets all of her friends who have come back to life. Her mother waves her off from the house . Suddenly, the car that Nancy and her friends are in gets locked and they are driven away, screaming. Nancy's mother is dragged through the front door by a gloved hand which is very familiar.....



So there you have it. Some fantastic scenes to watch. I love this film as most horror fans do and it was never equalled. It is a horror classic and deservedly so. A fine example of a horror movie made well and it is hard to find many horror movies that have influenced the genre as much as this one has. Along with Michael Myers, Norman Bates, Leatherface and Jason, Freddy has earned his place as a horror legend!!!

 

Iconic Scenes in Movies:The Hills Have Eyes(1977)

I have been a fan of The Hills Have Eyes for years and every time I watch it, I love it more. It never ages and it is the same age as me! I think that this might be one of Wes Craven's finest horror movies and it is not given the praise that it deserves. This stars Michael Berryman and Dee Wallace. The film is a cult classic now and deservedly so. I love the music, the tone, the story line and the setting in the desert. It is a surprisingly simple plot. A family gets stranded in the desert when they turn off of the highway and they run into a family of inbred cannibals! The movie is a game of cat and mouse between the cannibals and the family and ends in a final battle.



My first iconic scene(video above) is where the father Bob is brought back to the camper van by the baddies who have tied him to a stake and set him alight. This brings all of the family out the van except for the daughter Brenda and the baby. Pluto(Berryman) and Mars enter the van and look around for stuff to take. Mars finds Brenda and rapes her. He then gets disturbed by the mother Ethel and her daughter Lynne(Wallace) and shoots them both. Lynne dies and Ethel is mortally wounded so she hasn't long to go. They take the baby for dinner. This scene is so horrific and there is so much violence in such a short time that it really has an impact. We get to see the inbred cannibals up close and when they take the baby, that is horrible stuff as you can imagine what they will do with her.



The other scene that I like is the end scene(video above). The son Bobby and Brenda are left to outsmart the cannibals. They have to come up with a plan as they know that they will be coming back for them. They use their mother's dead body as a lure and Papa Jupiter falls for it. He gets killed and then Pluto has a fight with the dog, Beast. The dog rips out his throat in revenge for the death of his doggy mate.The fight isn't over yet as Doug, the baby's father goes to rescue his daughter from Ruby who is one of the cannibals, but she is not as nasty as them. Mars pops up and there is a fight between him and Doug. Ruby intervenes and throws a rattlesnake at Mars. He gets bitten and Doug stabs him and stabs him and....stabs him. The movie ends with Doug turning into a savage and Ruby looking on horrified.

This film is a must for any horror fan. It is such a classic in my opinion and those remakes were awful compared to this. This is raw, violent and horrible in parts and that is why I love it. It is very simple, but it works. A true horror classic and one that has many iconic scenes. The two that I have chosen are my favourites. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it now!!!

Iconic Scenes in Movies:Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974)

If you are talking about iconic horror movies, then it doesn't get better than this one. Texas Chainsaw Massacre changed the face of horror movies by introducing a horrible family of cannibals to an unsuspecting public. People had never seen anything like it before and it was groundbreaking in its own way. I love this movie and feel that it should be considered a horror classic. As for iconic scenes, there are a couple in this movie that I feel make it a cut above the rest.

The first scene that I like is when one of the kids, Kirk(William Vail) wanders into a house which they have found in the countryside. The group are looking for a place to swim and they come by the house. Poor Kirk is the first one to walk inside. His gal pal Pam(Teri McMinn) is waiting outside for him. Kirk sees a doorway and he is intrigued. He hears a strange noise coming from it so he walks over to it. Suddenly, he is confronted by a grotesque figure wearing some sort of mask and he is killed by the creature. His body jerks and spasms as he dies. The horrible figure drags him away like an animal and pulls across the door. Pam waits outside.She eventually tires of waiting for him and she enters the house. She stumbles into a weird room filled with human bones which have been made into a bed and other furniture. She runs out only to collide with Leatherface who grabs her and hangs her on a meat hook in his workshop. He starts up his chainsaw and begins to dismember Kirk. This scene is so horrible and it looks so realistic that it has to be iconic. Watch Part 4 video above to see it.

My other scene is at the end of the movie. Sally(Marilyn Burns)has been caught and tormented by the utterly deranged family of weirdos. She knows that she has not much time left before they kill her. As they try and get their grandpa to hit her with a hammer, he fails and she manages to get away and jump out of a window. She is terrifed as Leatherface and the hitchiker creep try and catch up to her. Hitchhiker gets killed by a truck, but Leatherface is still after her. She calls after a truck which is passing while Leatherface chases her with his chainsaw buzzing. The driver tries to help her but Leatherface attacks them both and they run. The driver hits Leatherface with a wrench which slows him down a bit but then he chases them again. Sally stops a pick up truck and gets a lift while the driver runs off. Leatherface is left with his chainsaw dancing around while Sally laughs.Watch Part 8 video above to see it.

This movie has inspired many others, but  the original, as always, is the best so do yourself a favour- if you haven't see this movie, grab it now and enjoy the many great scenes and classic horror brought to us by Tobe Hooper. It is in the top ten of any horror movie lover and rightly so. It is cheap,full of great horror scenes and it has a chainsaw in it! What more could you ask for??

Iconic Scenes in Movies: Psycho(1960)

 Well, this is something new I have put together about iconic scenes in my favourite movies. I am going to start with one of the finest movies ever made- Psycho. This movie is iconic on its own and there are so many great scenes in it, it is hard to pick out some..

Of course, I am going to start with one of the most famous scenes in movie history- the shower scene. Marion Crane(Janet Leigh) is stepping into the shower after a long day. She has checked into the Bates Motel and she has met Norman Bates(Anthony Perkins). They talked and she found out that he is living there with his mother who is ill. Marion suggested that Norman put her in an institution but Norman tells her that he cannot be parted from her. Marion wonders why Norman puts up with the horrible things that his mother says to him. He seems to be attracted to Marion and he spies on her as she gets ready for her shower. Marion turns on the shower and she washes away the day. She has decided to go back home and return the money that she has stolen. She is being washed clean again. Suddenly, we see an eerie shadow in the bathroom. The shower curtain is pulled back and Marion is stabbed again and again by a woman. Is it Mrs Bates?Marion sinks down against the tiles and she reaches out her hand to grab the curtain pulling it down as she dies....This scene has inspired many a movie and it is one of the best scenes in horror that I have ever seen. It is just perfect.

My second iconic scene is when Lila Crane(Vera Miles) goes down to the cellar to hide from Norman who has discovered that she went up to the house. Lila sees an old woman in a chair with her back turned to her. She thinks that it is Mrs. Bates.She touches the old woman on the shoulder and she turns around, showing Lila a corpse dressed up with a wig and dress. She screams loudly, hitting the light bulb and then she turns around to see Norman coming at her dressed as his mother with a knife in his hand. Sam Loomis(John Gavin) stops Norman before he can kill Lila and that is it- Norman's secret is out!

These two scenes make Psycho a masterpiece of film. It has everything I love in a movie- good characters, especially Norman, good acting, especially from Anthony Perkins and a good story. It is probably my all time favourite movie and these two scenes make it obvious why....If you love the Psycho movies as much as I do, there is a great website called The Psycho Movies.com and it has tons of stuff about these great films!Check it out!