Oh my gosh! David Fiore points out that I neglected to mention one of the best scenes in John Carpenter’s The Thing: the visit paid by Mac (Kurt Russell) to imprisoned scientist Blair (Wilford Brimley). Blair was the first of the besieged research crew to discover the ramifications of their “visitor”–that if the Thing reached civilization, life as we know it would be wiped out. He snaps, destroying all the group’s modes of travel and communication, but is overwhelmed and locked in a shack by himself, where he’s kept doped up and isolated. Mac goes to check on him, opens up the little view-panel on the door–and sees Blair sitting there, calmly, more or less ignoring the noose he’s hung from the ceiling. Brrr, that’s chilling, man. And the dialogue: “I don’t wanna stay out here, Mac…” My God, what a great, macabre scene. (Unlike David, I don’t think Blair’s been Thinged at this point–if he had been, he’d have taken down that noose, right?)
A propos my recent post on his and Eve Tushnet’s view of The Wicker Man, Bill Sherman clarifies that freak, not hippie, is his preferred nomenclature. So noted!
Personal to Johnny Bacardi: That’s what I meant.
Courtesy of Eve Tushnet, a really terrific list of the 100 Scariest Movie Scenes of All Time over at Retrocrush. Selected with care, described with admiration, and picked out of more than just horror films, it’s a damn fun list to flip through. See how many you recognize from the thumbnails alone.