Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom: Night Of The Lepus (1972) Movie Review

Today, in honor of this Leap Year, I thought I'd offer up my review of possibly one of the most so-bad-its-actually-kinda-good movies I've ever seen; the 1972 cult classic Night of the Lepus written by screenwriters Don Holliday and Gene R. Kearney, produced by A.C. Lyles, and directed by William F. Claxton. 

The film is largely based upon the science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit (1964) by Russell Braddon about an infestation of giant killer mutated rabbits. Yep folks, you read that right: giant killer mutant rabbits. Just y'all try to imagine being the person who went to the corporate heads of MGM Studios to pitch this story idea?!

Well, to be perfectly fair, the premise of the movie isn't completely bad. No, I'm actually being quite serious....okay okay, just hear me out folks!

The 1964 Australian science fiction novel that Night of the Lepus is loosely based on with its comic-horror tone was very well received at the time -- the novel was also notable as being part of a small revival of 1960s Australian science fiction genre. The novel plays up the Australian rabbit infestation adding a fictitious, power-hungry Prime Minister using a super-weapon to try and dominate the world.

Night of the Lepus -- which tries hard to be

Poster for Night of the Lepus (1972).

a straight-faced monster movie -- is about a similar rabbit infestation in a small Arizona farming community that threatens the local farmers. This premise largely dropped the humor of the book and tried to make people afraid of rabbits.

Interesting fact: the promotional posters for the film and the movie trailer released by MGM didn't even attempt to let the audience know that the monsters in the film were rabbits at all. It was almost as if the people making this film knew that giving away that particular plot point would almost certainly kill the ticket sales. Apparently, they also assumed that nobody in their potential audience knew Latin.

Ironically, the studio itself broke the secret by issuing rabbit's foot-themed promotional materials prior to the film's release.

When the movie was released in theaters on Wednesday, July 26, 1972 it was universally panned by film critics, mainly over the absurd plot, and the campy acting. Above all else it was the fact that, despite all attempts to make the rabbits look menacing (putting fake blood on their faces, ect.), the giant killer mutant rabbits were still just, well....rabbits. Fluffy bunny rabbits.

Remember folks, the 1970s was a very weird and somewhat bleak time for Hollywood films. At the time they reflected an American culture that was recovering from the turmoil of the 1960s with a decade where America was struggling with its national identity.

It was during this decade that Hollywood films replaced traditional heroes with hard-nosed anti-heroes who often bent the law to met out justice, and added more than a little adult content, graphic violence, strong vulgar language, and nudity than was previously allowed. Not to mention all the major disaster films, early slasher films, demonic supernatural horror films, and, or course, animal attack films. 

This was the same decade that gave us such deadly animal-based cult classic horror thriller films like: Frogs (1972), Sssssss (1973), Grizzly (1976), Squirm (1976), Rattlers (1976), Tentacles (1977), The Pack (1977), The Swarm (1978), and Piranha (1978) -- just to name a few.

Oh and there was also this one movie about a killer shark that came out in 1975 that turned into one of the first major Hollywood blockbusters....well, lighting had to strike at least one of these vicious animal flicks.   

Okay now, before I go on with this review, I will attempt (however futile it may be) to defend the premise of Night of the Lepus with two key points.

Whoever said rabbits can't be scary clearly never saw
Watership Down (1978).
To be fair the animated film wouldn't come out for another
six years after Night of the Lepus premiered in theaters.

The first being that I personally didn't see the movie until I was about 12, or so. About a year prior to this, I'd seen the 1978 British animated movie Watership Down (based on the classic novel of the same name) which, among other nightmare-inducing things, showed rabbits fighting each other bloody with their teeth and claws. The movie demonstrated just how vicious these little wild animals can actually be to each other and to animals that are about the same size as they are, or smaller.

Despite appearing as timid creatures, wild rabbits will actually kill each other, especially other male rabbits that invade their territory. Despite being largely herbivores, they will kill and eat their own young sometimes because they don't recognize their own kits.

Now knowing this detail about rabbits in general, the second point is the fact that the rabbits depicted in the movie are portrayed to be about the size of wolves, or large bears, in relation to human beings. Add in the fact that there are literally hundreds of them running in a large pack and you could probably see the potential for danger.

Imagine for instance if your average house cat -- you know the one that curls up in your lap, meows to you for food, or sleeps on your bed at night -- was suddenly the size of a tiger. All of a sudden that cute little bundle of fur and retractable claws might not be very safe for you to be around; especially if you've ever witnessed what your average domestic house cat does to small mammals, reptiles, and birds they manage to catch.

Now putting those factors into account it might be easy to see how someone knowing these facts about rabbits might conclude this would be a good idea; or at least be able to suspend their disbelief of the absurd plot long enough to accept that hundreds of cute little bunnies the size of wolves could be dangerous enough to kill people. 

The main trouble with adapting this for the big screen is executing the idea of making rabbits appear to be menacing in a serious horror film to the general public. That feat proved to be absolutely next to impossible.

Oooh scary!!!

If Night of the Lepus were remade today (as unlikely as that is, but one never knows) there are ways to certainly make rabbits look more deadly using advanced modern-day CGI special effects, but back in 1972 they had to rely on bright red fake movie blood, bizarre close-up shots, growling sounds, and movie stuntmen wearing fursuits for the attack scenes....and no, I'm honestly not making that up!

Despite being universally panned by just about every film critic at the time, as well as its hare-brained premise (pun intended) the film has since managed to garner cult classic status for its overall campiness, as well as its surprisingly outstanding cast of actors.

Among these are late actress and Golden Globe winner Janet Leigh (1927-2004) -- probably best known to many horror fans as the unfortunate shower victim Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchock's Psycho (1960) and late actor Stuart Whitman (1928-2020) who played in a number of outstanding roles in film and television in the 1960s up to the 1990s, both playing the lead roles. 

In supporting roles are equally well-know actors. Late actor Rory Calhoun (1922-1999) best known as a prolific Western actor in the 1950s and 1960s -- a good choice given the setting of Night of the Lepus. Late actors DeForest Kelley (1920-1999) best known as Doctor Leonard McCoy in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1968) and Paul Fix (1901-1983) best known for his role as Marshall Micah Torrance in The Rifleman television series (1958-1963) help to round up this brilliant cast of actors.

Fun fact: Both DeForest Kelly and Paul Fix played doctors aboard the original USS Enterprise NCC-1701 in Star Trek. Fix played the original ship's doctor, Mark Piper, in the second pilot episode of the original series Where No Man Has Gone Before (Season 1, Episode 3) before being replaced in the role by Kelley.

Night of the Lepus director William F. Claxton was a television veteran known for popular Western series like The Rifleman and Bonanza.  Producer A.C. Lyles was also an old hand at Westerns, as well as the man who gave DeForest Kelly his first acting break. This combination of talent gave Night of the Lepus -- which is set in Arizona's cowboy country -- as much a modern-day Western feel as it does a horror movie. The filming took place between January to March of 1972 at the Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona, a site well known for its use in American Westerns.

The musical score for Night of the Lepus was conducted by late composer Jimmie Haskell (1926-2016) who is also known for conducting western-themed films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and is best known for composing music for the television series Land of the Lost (1974-1976). 

Night of the Lepus was released in theaters in summer on Wednesday, July 26, 1972 and has a run time of 88 minutes. The movie is rated PG (remember this was back when Parental Guidance actually meant it). Despite being panned badly by critics, the movie made close to $4 million U.S. dollars off of a budge of just under $900,000 dollars.

The Plot

The story begin with a television newscast (done rather well by veteran newsman Jerry Dunphy doing a cameo appearance) recounting the story of the rabbit outbreak in Australia, then telling of similar outbreaks in the American west after their natural predators, coyotes, were largely killed off. This includes actual stock footage of hordes of rabbits in Australia and the American southwest.

The newscast then cuts to farmland outside the fictional small farming town of Galanos, Arizona where rancher Cole Hillman (actor Rory Calhoun) is shown having to shoot one of his horses after the unfortunate animal broke its leg stepping into one of the numerous rabbit holes around his property.

Hillman then goes to the nearby college in Ajo and seeks out the help of the college president, Elgin Clark (actor DeForest Kelley in his last non-Star Trek role in a feature film), to combat the thousands of rabbits that have invaded the area. Cole explains how the efforts used to get rid of the coyotes is what caused the rabbit population to explode and he's looking for an ecologically sound method to control the population.

Elgin asks for the assistance of lab researchers Roy Bennett (actor Stuart Whitman) and his wife Gerry Bennett (actress Janet Leigh) who agree to help because they respect Cole's wish to avoid using cyanide to poison the rabbits. This is largely because Hillman would have to pull his cattle off the ranch and sell them on the market at the worst buying season if they had to resort to poisoning. 

Researchers Roy Bennett (Stuart Whitman) and Gerry Bennett
(Janet Leigh) and their young daughter, Amanda (played by
child actress Melanie Fullerton in her only big screen role).

Roy proposes using hormones to disrupt the rabbits' breeding cycle and captures some rabbits for experimentation. One is injected with a new serum believed to cause birth defects. However, their young daughter, Amanda, loves the injected rabbit, and so she switches it with one from the control group. Amanda is then given the injected rabbit as a pet, but it soon accidentally escapes back into the population.

Originally MGM wanted Janet Leigh's real life daughter, then 13-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis, to play the role of Amanda Bennett. Jamie Lee was also suggested for the part of the possessed, split-pea soup vomiting Reagan MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973) a year later; both of which were shot down hard by Janet Leigh for the same reason: she didn't want her daughter involved in horror films.

Oh, the irony....

Instead they opted for younger American child actress, then 9-year-old Melanie Fullerton, then best known for the CBS TV sitcom series To Rome With Love (1969-1971). Night of the Lepus was Fullerton's only big screen film role.

With their tests proving to be failures, Hillman chooses to sacrifice a mile of his farmland by burning a mile-wide scorched-earth path between his and neighboring farmlands and accepting a loss. This drives the rabbits away underground now that their scant food sources have been scorched.

Some unspecified amount of time later, while inspecting the rabbits' old burrowing areas, Hillman and the Bennetts discover an unusually large animal track near a waterhole.

Meanwhile, Hillman's son Jackie (actor Chris Morrell) and Amanda go to an old gold mine to visit Jackie's friend, Uncle Billy, only to find him missing. Jackie finds more of the strange animal tracks in the old miner's shed, while Amanda goes into the mine and runs into an enormous rabbit with blood on its face and the body of Uncle Billy. Screaming in terror, she wakes up in a fevered hysteria at the local hospital in a really weird jump cut.

Soon horribly mutilated bodies begin to crop up around the town, including a truck driver killed overnight and a traveling family of four. Sheriff Cody (played by Paul Fix) has the medical examiner, Doctor Leopold (late actor William Elliott) look over the bodies and its discovered they were gnawed to death.

This prompts the Bennetts, Elgin Clark, Hillman and two of his ranch hands, Frank and Jud (actors Henry Willis and Chuck Hayward respectively), to go to the gold mine and try to kill the mutated rabbits with explosives.

I'm ready for my close-up now.

 
As Elgin and Cole set charges on top of the mine, Roy and Frank enter the shaft to get photographic evidence. Outside, a rabbit surfaces and a stuntman wearing a rabbit suit attacks Jud violently before Gerry can shoot it, driving it off. Roy and Frank escape the rabbits in the mine and run outside as the explosives are detonated.

The explosives fail to kill all the rabbits (apparently someone forgot to remind everyone that rabbits can burrow through soil), and that night they attack the Hillman ranch, killing Jud -- who tried to take off in a truck and accidentally hit the phone lines when he crashed -- while Cole, Frank, Jackie, and Cole's housekeeper Dorothy (Inez Perez) escape into the storm shelter and fire at the rabbits through the floor of the house and eventually driving them off.

The same night, the mutated rabbits make their way to the general store/telephone company, killing shopkeeper and telephone operator Mildred (Francesca Jarvis) and mauling everyone else in the small town of Galanos they find before taking refuge in the buildings for the day.

During the attack scenes, the special effects people for the film did their best -- well, given the limitation of the film's budget and what they had to work with in terms of terror -- to make the animals appear giant and menacing. These effects include close-ups of the rabbits rearing up on their hind legs, fake blood and ketchup (yes, they did use actual ketchup for blood) dripping from their two front teeth, roaring lion-like sounds and heavy breathing, and so on.

This effect make the rabbits appear to be larger. The film also relies almost entirely on slow-motion shots of ordinary rabbits running through background miniatures (like the ones used in Japanese Kaiju films), or in front of scaled-down back projections -- the use of the latter was quite common in films of this sort at the time -- using bongo drums in these rabbit rampaging scenes.

In the morning, Gerry and Amanda leave to avoid the coming press sensation the story would bring, but get stuck along a sandy stretch of road in the family's camper. Hillman is forced to hitchhike in order to find a phone and alert the Sheriff, leading him to discovering the bodies at the General Store and the giant rabbits hiding in the buildings. He is picked up by a priest (Russell Morrell) who drives him to a nearby pay phone.

Roy and Elgin update Sheriff Cody on the situation and the group fly by helicopter to the destroyed mine to discover the rabbits have escaped the mine. Sheriff Cody then calls in the National Guard -- and yeah, I bet that was an interesting conversation.

"Well don't look at me, I'm a doctor, not Elmer Fudd!"

As night falls, the rabbits leave Galanos to continue their rampage, making their way towards the main town of Ajo, eating and killing everything and everyone in their path -- including a herd of cows. Cole proposes using a half-mile wide stretch of electrified railroad track as a fence to contain and kill the mutated rabbits.

The police and National Guard recruit a large number of people at a drive-in theater (which happened to be showing two MGM films according to the billboard -- I see what y'all did there!) to help herd the rabbits with their car lights. And strangely, people take the news of giant killer rabbits rather well.

With assistance from the machine gun fire and flame throwers by the National Guard, the mutant rabbits are herded towards the trap.

While this is going on, Roy Bennett sets off in the helicopter to locate his missing wife and daughter. He finds Gerry using road flares to fend off some of the giant mutant rabbits from the stranded camper and rescues them.

Hundreds of the rabbits make their way into the trap, where they are met with small-arms fire, flamethrowers, heavy machine gun fire, and ultimately electrocuted on the tracks.

Raiden wins! Flawless Victory!

Some time after the incident -- and probably after an entire town got their fill of hasenpfeffer for a month -- Hillman tells Roy that normal rabbits, as well as coyotes, have returned to the ranch with the balance of nature restored....at least for now.

The ending shows the Bennetts with Hillman watching their children running on a grassy field at the Hillman farm where a normal rabbit is shown sitting on the grass before the end credits roll to the film's western score.

My Thoughts

Night of the Lepus is one of those so-bad-its-good films that I grew up with, and has a message about not upsetting the balance of nature that I can appreciate as a pseudo-adult.

As I pointed out before, Night of the Lepus was just one of a number of killer animal films made in the 1970s, many of which had even worse special effects and acting from far less talented actors. That being said though, this is a movie about deadly rabbits....not killer bees, rampaging wild dogs, people turning into snakes, or even a killer great white shark....rabbits.

Three years later, the British comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) would explore the idea of a killer rabbit, though for comedic effect rather than as a serious horror device.

Night of the Lepus, despite all its many, many flaws, is still worth to time to sit and watch at least once....if only to chuckle and shake your head at how horrible most 70s flicks were. That's not to say the movie isn't entertaining in its own way, but if you're looking for good and slightly more serious 70s horror films, there are far better options.

All the same, in spite of this, Night of the Lepus holds a special place in my heart as one of those cult classics that I watched with my grandparents back in the day as a kid, and I think of it as a misunderstood beauty in its own way.

Now, if I were going to direct a remake, I totally know how I'd go about making the rabbits appear scary....

Imagine him with a leather mask and a chainsaw.

See y'all next time, nostalgia fans!

20 Horror & Thriller Movie Moments That Scared The Sh*t Outta Me As A 80s Kid

Well folks, once again Halloween is coming up. That time of the year where everything scary and spooky comes out to play. 

As a Gen-X kid growing up in the 1980s, I used to watch horror movies with my parents and grandparents -- ironically none of whom seemed to have a problem letting me watch them, although I was told more than once to cover my eyes at certain parts that included nudity and sexual scenes. Usually I never did though as I sat there peeking through my hands, and not really seeing the big deal at the time. It wouldn't be until about 1990 when I turned 14 that sex would be of any real interest to me. Prior to that the sex stuff in slasher films to me was just weird grown-up crap before the "good stuff" happened. 

No, I wanted to see the scary stuff, not the filler, dammit!

I apparently had some really cool adult figures in my life as a kid if they let me watch slasher films like the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th movie franchises, or they had a much higher opinion of my nerves and ability to deal with scary images than many other parental figures did.

And boy did I see plenty of messed up things! 

 

Some of them were things that ended up staying with me for a very long time; days, sometimes even weeks after I watched them. A couple of these things, I believe, gave many kids who grew up in the 80s and 90s some serious childhood trauma. 

 

Now, obviously there are plenty of scary films made in the 1990s to the present that are pretty good -- although, in my opinion, many of them rely too much on just jump scares alone rather than building up suspense and any true sense of menace. Maybe my perceptions of what constitute scary are different today? Perhaps horror movies of the 70s and 80s are the scariest because they use subtle psychological horror unlike the in-your-face CGI/makeup that modern horror movies use? Maybe society's perceptions of fear are different? Whatever the reason horror films today don't quite get to me the way they did back in the 80s and early 90s.

So today, in the spirit of Halloween, allow me to tell y'all about 20 of the most horrifying scary horror movie scenes that absolutely, positively, irrevocably scared the pure-T-sh*t outta me as a child of the 80s.

Counting down from least to best in terms of the effect these scenes and films had on me, here they are folks.

Warning: This list contains massive spoilers for these films!

(20) The Excorcist III (1990)  -- The Nurse Station Jump Scare

How about a little off the top?

Despite the fact the movie is, for the most part, the weird cousin of the Exorcist franchise; this is a brilliantly executed jump scare done in the best way from a cinematographic way -- thank you author and director William Peter Blatty (RIP)! 

 

The wide shot at the end of the hall looking at the nurse's station at the opposite end. The crackling of ice in a glass of ice water in the chapel that lures the nurse in, and the very effective red herring of the frustrated man whose sleep she unknowingly disturbed completely disarms the viewer by relieving so much built up tension. Then, we return to the original shot. The guards leave and the nurse shuts chapel door. Then she turns to walk away and them -- BOOM! Fast zoom in with loud musical sting that pierces the silence with all the force of a medieval battering ram. She's followed closely by someone possessed by the Gemini Killer in a white sheet armed with a very large cutting tool used for autopsies.

 

That haunting screech of sound when the demonic entity goes in for the kill is completely unexpected, and the headless statue in the next scene that lets you know what happened to the nurse....it's so simple and tasteful, yet so chilling.

 
Masterful and timeless cinematic execution. It made my heart jump out of my chest at age 13, and it still scares the pure-T-piss out of me.


(19) Jaws (1975) -- Ben Gardner's Head

 

My shark tooth!

One of my favorite jump scares of all time is the classic scene from Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster film, Jaws based loosely on the book by Peter Benchley. 

The scene was actually an extra scene filmed after the original production was completed and shown to test audiences. Spielberg felt there needed to be one more scare, so he added the scene where fisherman, Ben Gardner's head pops out of the hole in the hull of his fishing boat, scaring both Richard Dreyfus's character, Matt Hooper, and pretty much everyone else in the audience who saw it the first time. The shot was actually filmed in a swimming pool with several gallons of milk poured in the water to give it the consistency of ocean water.

Between the tension that you feel knowing that Hooper's character is in the water where a man-eating shark with a body count of (at that point in the film) two people and a dog -- with the third about to be revealed -- and him finding a tooth "the size of a shot glass" in the hull of a clearly damaged boat; the suspense level is already pretty high. Then the moment when the head pops out of the hull at the same moment the soundtrack in the film blares out this short, piercing shrieking noise was enough to scare the hell out of most people seeing the film in the theaters.

Now this scene didn't actually scare me, but I did jump the first time I saw it. My mother, on the other hand, told me that she went to the theater when the film came out a few months before I was conceived and saw it with my dad. She told me that most of the theater, herself included, let out screams when the head popped out of the hole. 

 

I always smile whenever I remember her telling me that story.  

 
(18) The Amityville Horror (1979) -- Jodie At The Window

Peek-a-boo!

Now this film has more than just a few scenes that scared me: the sudden upside-down blackened cross, the terrifying gateway to hell basement scene, and of course the creepy voice telling the priest menacingly to "Get out!"

For this Southern boy of about 9 at the time, when I first watched this with my parents, the scene that really got to me was when actress Margot Kidder's character, Kathy Lutz, was told by the daughter: "You scared Jodie, she went out the window." Naturally, in true horror movie fashion, the mom goes to the window.... and is confronted by a pair of deep red eyes! 

Yeah, needless to say, that was an image -- as well as Kidder's frightful expression following it -- that stayed with me for quite a long time after I watched it.

(17) Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (1962) -- The Mirror Scene

This old classic is one that haunted me for a couple days the first time I saw it at age 11 at the request of my grandmother who introduced me to this tragic story of jealousy, abuse, and murder.

In the movie, former child star "Baby Jane" Hudson, played brilliantly by legendary actress Betty Davis, now a mentally-ill alcoholic living in the dreams of her glory days and in the shadow of her sister, Blanche (actress Joan Crawford), another former actress who achieved success before becoming a paraplegic. 

During one scene, Jane is dancing around in a room with several large mirrors, still living in her fantasy world of being a famous child star -- until she pauses to look at herself in the mirror. Seeing the old, alcoholic woman looking back at her through all her caked-on makeup and former golden curls of hair, Jane's face goes from joy to horror and she lets out this blood-curdling scream that frankly gave me chills so bad my stomach hurt.

Certainly not a moment that will leave your memory once you see it.

(16) Alien (1979) -- The Chestburster Scene

"FEAR ME HUMANS! FEAR ME!"

Probably the most iconic moment of the original Alien franchise film, I believe that this particular scene is on the list of many people who saw this film as a kid. It was a completely unexpected and frightening moment -- even to the rest of the main cast!

Yeah, fun movie fact folks, the director Ridley Scott didn't tell the cast that this was going to happen because he wanted to get them by surprise. And he did!

The cast was aware something was going to happen in the scene, but were not given the details, aside from three ominous words on the script: This thing emerges. The cast was completely taken by surprise when the blood and gore splashed out on everyone and the newborn alien creature special effect burst out of actor John Hurt's fake chest. The looks of absolute shock, disgust, and horror on the faces of the actors was very much real.

I didn't know this when I first saw the movie at age 7, or so. What I do know was that I covered my eyes and yelled. Needless to say I had a nightmare that night -- thankfully the details of that dream are lost to me know, but I do remember crying and my mom holding me until I drifted off again.

Thankfully about half a decade later director Mel Brooks released the 1987 sci-fi spoof Spaceballs showing a parody of that particular scene. That parody of the newborn alien -- again bursting out of John Hurt's chest (poor guy!) -- dancing and singing on the lunch counter of a space diner was enough to overwrite the childhood trauma I received from the original. Today I can watch the original no problem, but back in 1982....yeah, totally messed me up! 

"Hello my baby, hello my honey...."

(15) The Watcher In The Woods (1980) -- The House of Mirrors

"OMG! Is that a zit?!"

I first saw this movie when I was about 9 years old in school, and believe me this one stayed with me for a bit after seeing it.

In addition to seeing from the point-of-view of an unseen force watching a new family moving into a house from the nearby creepy woods, this unexpectedly terrifying Disney film gave an entire generation of young people in the early 80s a case of the shudders for one moment, or another.

The scene where Jan (actress Lynn-Holly Johnson) goes into a Hall of Mirrors at a local fair. Jan enters a room filled almost completely with mirrors and she sees her reflection over and over again all over the room. Then her eyes suddenly widen in terror when, in place of her reflection, sees the blindfolded Karen -- who has been haunting her since the beginning of the film -- reflected back at her over and over trying to plead Jan for help.

Later there is another scene where Karen's spirit can be seen laying in a coffin, still blindfolded.

Now being claustrophobic for at least as long as I can remember the idea of being trapped anywhere like, or say, behind a mirror, or inside a coffin, is totally gut-wrenching. The idea of being blindfolded at the same time is even worse!

Watching the young girl in the mirror pleading and holding out her hands in fright was enough to give me more than just a few shivers whenever I thought about it for a few years after that first showing.

On an interesting note, Betty Davis also played in this film as the creepy old neighbor lady. He portrayal including a scene where Jan nearly drowns trapped under some tree roots and Davis character seemingly trying to drown her, but turned out was trying to get her out from under the roots. Drowning is also another mortal terror of mine, so that one gets half points. 

Double double toil and trouble....

Yeah, all around this film still manages to send a small shudder down my spine even after all these years. 

(14) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) -- Matthew Shrieks

There's the one who farted!!!

Perhaps one of the most chilling endings in horror movie history is the final scene in the 1978 Philip Kaufman directed remake of the classic 1956 sci-fi horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is well known for its shocker of an ending: Veronica Cartwright’s character, Nancy Bellicec, crosses paths with Donald Sutherland’s Matthew Bennell character and confides in him that she is still indeed human -- only to discover that he has ultimately succumbed to the pod people. He then points at her while delivering that infamous pod shriek. 

I don't remember exactly when it was I first saw this movie (I know I was less than ten at the time) but the combination of the look on Sutherland's face, the shriek, and Cartwright's horrified reaction still send a chill down my spine today.
 

(13) Rosemary's Baby (1968) -- He Has His Father's Eyes

One scene that still sends a chill down my spine to this day is the climactic scene at the end of director Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby where Rosemary see's her child and learns of his true parentage -- the Devil himself. The way the camera pans around her as she turns to all of the maniacal people in the room proudly proclaiming their loyalty to Satan. It helps the viewer feel the same frantic chaos as Rosemary. 

The fact that we didn't see the baby's eyes, or his face, and leaving it up to the viewer's imagination, was a much better choice on the part of the director than some cheap jump scare. Imagining what could bring such a look of complete and utter terror to Rosemary's face is scary enough. Nothing can be more frightening than the demons we conjure up in our own minds. 


(12) Damien: Omen II (1978) -- The Crow Killing Scene 

Nevermore!

Speaking of the son of the devil, the next place entry on this list is another one that I had a very hard time getting out of my mind after I first saw it at a young age -- the terrifying death of female reporter named Joan Hart (actress Elizabeth Shepherd) at the hands of a demonic raven in the second movie of the Omen series.

After seeing the teenage Damien and realizing he is the future antichrist (in another scene that is jarring, both with the musical score and her terrified reaction), the reporter attempts to flee, only to end up stranded on the road as her car stalls due to demonic powers that seemingly protect Damien's continued existence. The creepy bird appears as she is stranded on the road and attacks Joan by brutally pecking out her eyes and blinding her. She is then killed by a semi-truck after wandering blindly into its path with two empty and bloody holes where her eyes were.

If you are scared of birds, or the idea of being blinded, this scene will definitely keep you awake for more than a few nights. 


(11) Poltergeist (1982) -- The Possessed Evil Clown Doll

Come under the bed, Robbie! We all float down here!

Nearly a decade before actor Tim Curry brought to life Stephen King's evil clown Pennywise in the two-part television 1990 mini-series version of IT, another clown gave many kids from my generation nightmares: the unnamed creepy clown doll that terrified Robbie Freeling (actor Oliver Robins) in Poltergeist.

There are actually several scenes in this movie that gave me the creeps, but the scene at the climax of the film where Robbie is viciously attacked by the now possessed clown doll that sat starring at him terrified him from a chair across from his bed throughout the movie is probably one of the movie's most talked about and remembered scenes -- and one that utterly shocked a then 8 year old me the first time I saw it. 

This scene definitely pushed a lot of night terror buttons in young people from my generation. One cannot read a review of this film without someone mentioning this scene and the horror it brought them in particular. Some people even specifically site this scene as the beginning of their lifetime phobia of clowns.

Like Mel Brooks did for the chestburster scene in Alien, a generation later, the 2001 comedy horror spoof film, Scary Movie 2, provided another take on the version of the creepy clown doll -- only this time the roles reversed on him in a somewhat hilarious and deeply disturbing way. 

Thank you Wayne's Brothers!

(10) Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) -- Library Scene 

"And then Buffy staked Edward...."

Like The Watcher In The Woods, Disney offered up another terrifying bit of nightmare fuel for younger 80s kids in the form of another dark fantasy film, this one based on a 1962 novel of the same name by author Ray Bradbury, who wrote the screenplay for this film.

Some of us can agree that carnivals have their own creepy vibe to them. But when Dark's Pandemonium Carnival arrives late in the year, and sets up a matter of moments in a really terrifying sequence; it offers the people of the small town of Green Town, Illinois their deepest desires and temptations in exchange for their souls. This creepy take on Ray Bradbury's novel does not hold back on the terror; even if the scares are all over the place at times.

What could it tempt you with? With whatever you wanted the most, of course.

In the case of actor Jason Robards' character, Charles Halloway, an aging small-town librarian with a young son, what he wanted the most was life and youth -- two things his character worries are slipping away. The challenge set him is a difficult one. If he can resist that temptation, he can redeem the whole town, and protect his son, Will, from being taken by the evil Mr. Dark, played brilliantly by actor Jonathan Pryce.

Of course, it’s Charles’ insecurity that Mr. Dark preys on, tempting him with youth over and over again. In one of the most memorable scenes, he walks through the library stalking Charles, ripping out pages of the book on the town’s history as he offers Charles various years of his life back in exchange for his son and friend, who are hiding in the library. 

The intensity of this scene always shook me whenever I watched this moment. Almost as scary is the quiet and suspenseful game of cat and mouse played by Mr. Dark as he hunts down and catches the two boys a moment later.

 
(9) Race With The Devil (1975) -- Ending Scene

This was actually one of the first films to truly terrify me as a kid. As an adult it still makes me wary of going off-road onto hidden paths. Once I even remarked on that to a girl I was seeing at the time when she pulled her van off to a private area one late evening. I mean, you never know when you will accidentally run into a satanic cult and be endlessly stalked by said cultists. 

From the moment two hapless couples are caught seeing what they shouldn't have, the creepy vibe in this film comes from the fact that our four main protagonists are unaware of how far this killer cult goes and whom to trust as they try to escape it. From all the creepy sideways glares from strangers on the streets, their dog being killed and hanged, to rattlesnakes showing up in their RV, our terrified heroes quickly adopt the DTA (don't trust anyone) approach -- and ultimately end up being right.

There is no dark magic, no supernatural monsters. The evil around them comes in the form of seemingly everyday, normal-looking people.

After nearly an hour and a half of watching the two couples escape a network or small-town cultists chasing them through the desert, including one really intense car chase, the nightmare seems to be over at last as they pull over due to damaged headlights and celebrate their escape -- only to have the film ending with the couples hear the cultists chanting outside and light a ring of fire around the RV, trapping them inside while the chanting continues. There is no salvation for them as just about everyone they encountered in the film ends up being a part of the satanic cult.

Watching this terrifying ending made me first realize that not all films always have a happy ending. The same thing with the real world.


(8) Friday The 13th -- Swamp Boy Jason Jump Scare

The Friday The 13th movie franchise is probably one of the most iconic slasher film genres. One cannot think of horror films without a reference to the hockey mask wearing, machete wielding Jason Voorhees....except it didn't exactly start out that way.

Hardcore horror fans know that it was in fact Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees (played brilliantly by actress Betsy Palmer) who was the original killer in the first film. Jason himself didn't show up until the 1981 sequel, Friday The 13th Part 2. 

Actually no, that is not entirely true. Jason did in fact make one very brief, but certainly unforgettable mark in the original Friday The 13th.

Having decapitated the murderous Mrs. Voorhees, surviving camp councilor Alice (actress Adrienne King) boards and falls asleep inside a canoe, which floats out on Crystal Lake. Just as she wakes up the following morning, a young Jason pops up unexpectedly out of the lake and attacks her. She later awakens inside a hospital with the local sheriff deputy and hospital staff tending to her. When Alice asks about Jason, the officer says there was no sign of any boy, leaving a shocked Alice to say quietly, "Then he's still there." as the eerie lake is shown at peace.

Even today, first time watchers of the original Friday The 13th react with complete shock whenever the young Jason pops up out of the lake. I don't think anyone who was a child in the early 1980s will ever forget that particular introduction to one of slasher horror films most iconic killers. 


(7) The Bad Seed (1956) -- Christine's Horrifying Realization 

What else can be said about this 1956 classic about the original evil kid, Rhoda Penmark, except that this adaptation is brilliantly written and directed. There are no jump scares, no gore, or even any onscreen killings -- even though we do hear Leroy the groundskeeper roast to death.

No, what scares us the most about The Bad Seed is how this psychological thriller keeps our attention with a building suspense as Rhoda's troubled mother, Christine, (played brilliantly by actress Nancy Kelly) begins to suspect her perfect daughter, Rhoda, (Actress Patty McCormack) committed murder just to gain possession of a medal she felt she was denied. The buildup of suspense as we learn more and more about Rhoda's strange psychology, and Christine's descent into the dreadful realization that her daughter may be a murderer, keeps those watching on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next.

The Bad Seed was likely one of the very first films to explore the topic of genetics and heredity being a factor in insanity. Patty McCormack's outstanding performance as the psychopathic child serial killer, Rhoda, is one of the most iconic in movie history.

Perhaps the most chilling moment in the movie comes about halfway through when Christine talks with her father, confronting him about a confusing dream/memory that has long haunted her since childhood. Her father finally reveals that he is not her biological parent, that she was adopted by him and his wife.

Already upset, though not shocked by this revelation, Christine's retelling of her dream, a repressed memory resurfacing, leads to the horrified realization that she is actually the daughter of a notorious serial killer. The freakout that follows is gut-churning in its delivery.

This moment still makes me want to get up and leave the room until the scene is over. The horrified look on Christine's face and her emotional collapse following the revelation of her true parentage and what she might have passed onto her daughter, is one of those terrifying moments that never quite goes away after you watch it.


(6) The Thing (1982) -- The Dog Kennel Scene

If you are a dog lover, like I am, then this next one you might wanna skip.

John Carpenter's remake of the 1951 classic The Thing From Another World has more than its share of gruesome and terrifying moments. None more so than the infamous dog kennel scene.

After rescuing and kenneling a seemingly innocent sled dog, the other dogs go crazy realizing that it is no dog. The alien creature soon metamorphoses and starts to absorb the station dogs in a very gruesome way. This disturbance alerts the rest of the polar team and actor Keith David's Childs' character uses a flamethrower to incinerate the Dog-Thing creature.

As a really young kid, I had to cover my eyes at this part because I hated seeing the dogs being killed by the creature. Obviously I know now that no animals were actually harmed and that the creature in the movie is a very well done practical special effect. Still, every time I watched this scene to this day I am reminded of how I felt that day in 1983, at the tender age of 7, when I first saw this horrifying moment with my parents. 


(5) Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982) -- Ending Scene

Turn that commercial off! I can't stand hearing that f*cking
Silver Shamrock song anymore!!!

When Halloween III: Season of the Witch first came out, it angered many franchise fans by excluding the now legendary slasher film character Michael Myers. In the years since, it has developed a cult following as more and more fans have come to realize how awesome the film really is. It’s truly a unique standalone film with an ending that’s probably freakier than any of the other flicks in the series.

 

In the closing moments of the movie, Dr. Challis (actor Tom Atkins) races to get a special Halloween broadcast taken off the air. If allowed to play, millions of children watching it wearing their special evil magical stone fused Silver Shamrock mask will die an absolutely horrifying death -- which the audience was introduced to earlier in the film. 

Yeah, I was eating popcorn the first time I saw this part too.

His only hope is to convince the TV station managers to cut the broadcast. Though he manages to get it removed from two channels, it remains playing on a third, with the film ending with a horrified Challis screaming for them to stop it.

Oh well, if anything those who died were spared ever having to listen to that creepy Silver Shamrock song again. The rest of us aren't so fortunate.



(4) Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) -- Do You Wanna See Something Really Scary?

Eh, I've seen worse.

One of the first really scary scenes I ever watched that truly kept me up at night after seeing it was the famous opening scene of Twilight Zone: The Movie, a four part anthology movie based on the original 1959 television series.

Two men are in a car driving along a lonely country road late at night. The conversation turns to what episodes of The Twilight Zone they found most scary. The passenger then asks, "Do you want to see something really scary?" and says to pull over. He turns into a monster and attacks the driver.

As horrifying as listening to actors Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brook singing along with "Let The Midnight Special" by Credience Clearwater Revival in a car was moment before, that little jump scare was enough for 8 years old me to keep the lights on at night for days after seeing it.

Strangely the rest of the movie didn't bother me at all.


(3) Creepshow (1982) -- I Want My Cake!

"Where's my cake! I want my cake!"

Speaking of horror anthology films, I don't think there is a single member of my generation of 80s kids who didn't develop some form of night terror after watching the first Creepshow anthology movie.

Every story in the movie Creepshow is pretty damn terrifying. This movie has it all: walking corpses, killer cockroaches, a guy turning into a plant, and creepy monsters in hidden crates. Add to that an outstanding cast of actors leading each story and you have one of the best things that 80s horror ever produced.

The sequels, not so much.

Out of all the stories, the first story, Father's Day, written by Stephen King, is the one that really REALLY made me afraid of cemeteries for a very long time as a kid, where the rotting, maggot-infested corpse of the family patriarch comes back from the dead and slowly kills the daughter who drunkenly confesses to having killed him years before.

I saw this when I was 7, so it was a couple of years before I ever got out of the family car whenever we visited dead relatives at the cemetery. 


(2) John Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness (1987) -- All The Dream Sequences 

"This is not a dream. Not a dream. We are using your brain's electrical system as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast as a dream. We are transmitting from the year one, nine, nine, nine. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness, but this is not a dream. You are seeing what is actually occurring for the purpose of causality violation."

This cult-classic horror film directed by John Carpenter is perhaps best remembered by 80s and 90s kids for this eerie dream sequence which includes an ominous, static-filled message and a weird visual scene where a shadowy, demonic figure is seen emerging from a church. The hazy transmission, which resembles a fever dream formed from VHS-static and disorientating camera moves. This scene changes slightly with each occurrence of the dream throughout the film, revealing progressively more details to the dreamer. The deeply distorted narration of the transmission each time instructs the dreamer that they are witnessing an actual broadcast from the future, and they must prevent this possible outcome from happening.

To create the surreal, otherworldly look of the transmission message from the future, Carpenter first shot the sequence on video, then filmed it from a TV set. The end result looks appropriately nightmarish. It feels like a genuine nightmare.

Despite the weird premise, this film is, in my humble opinion, one of his most underrated in terms of delivering sheer terror. This scene alone was chilling and even today, has a seriously dark and ominous feel. The demonic, silhouetted figure moving his arms a bit is terrifying as hell. Today it would be a CGI demon or something that looked ridiculous and probably cost about $2 million to animate.

Thank you for the nightmares, Mr. Carpenter!


(1) Salem's Lot Miniseries (1979) -- The Jail Scene 

Peek-a-boo!

 

I am now 44 years old and this movie/mini-series still terrifies me as much now as it did when I first saw it in 1982 at age 7. The two-part miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King probably stole more sleep from me as a child than any horror character in existence.

Holy shit this movie scared the f*ck outta me!

 

Long before garbage like Twilight when vampires became sparkly emos attracted to frigid teenage girls with no personality, they were portrayed as truly frightening undead monsters.

 

Actor Reggie Nadler's horrifying vampire character, Kurt Barlow, has a terrifying look that serves as an outstanding nod back to the classical vampire style of Count Orlok's Nosferatu. With the possible exception of the former, he's probably the most scary looking vampire put to film. Ghastly, unsightly, and just evil as hell to look at -- this is what a vampire is supposed to look like folks!

 

Mr. Barlow is introduced to us in Salem's Lot in the now infamous jail cell scene where he unlocks the cell door with the wave of his hand and suddenly appears to the sleepy occupant with a jump scare that's timed perfectly with the sudden high-pitched blaring of the soundtrack. The man is so terrified he is scared beyond the ability to scream. The look on his face is priceless in its sheer terror.

Seven year old me was sitting close to the television watching this with my parents. When Barlow jumped up, I was so terrified I hugged my legs, buried my face in my knees, and screamed. My parents also jumped, which didn't make me feel any better at the time. The rest of the movie: flying vampire kids, crosses burning into skin, and the staking scene in the old house -- all of which kept coming back to my mind over and over again long after seeing this miniseries. It terrified me so bad, I didn't watch it again until I was about 17, and even then some of the vampire effects still creeped me the hell out.

Today, knowing what I know about the making of the scene, I can appreciate it for what it is and how it was filmed, but I will never forget my initial reaction to meeting the master.

So tell me, what did y'all think of my list? If y'all grew up in the 80s and 90s please let me know in the comments sections what horror movie moments scared y'all as kids.

Have a wonderful Halloween weekend, and y'all come back now, ya hear!