Top Five Painful
Movie Moments
This week I had all my wisdom teeth removed. Even though it
went much better than I had anticipated it would, it still left me with quite a
bit of discomfort. It also got me thinking about some of the most cringe-worthy
moments in cinematic history. Scenes that had us wincing or biting our nails,
or even holding our stomachs and running to the bathroom to throw up. Scenes
where, whether thanks to great acting, clever direction, special effects, or
bit of all three, we could empathize with the pain a character was experiencing
on screen, and could swear we were in as much pain as he or she was just from
watching. Warning, some spoilers ahead.
5. Quint vs. Bruce - Jaws (1975)
Steven Spielberg’s first blockbuster, which put him on the
map as one of Hollywood’s most sought after directors and had people running from
the ocean for decades, is a nail biting experience from beginning to end, and
has some of the most universally feared scenes from a film ever. Everyone knows
the story: a giant great white shark decides Amity Island off the coast of New
England is the perfect smorgasbord of bathers, divers, and boaters. Once people
begin showing up for the Fourth of July weekend, the shark’s presence becomes
widely known, and the mayor hires veteran fisherman Quint (played impeccably by
Robert Shaw) to kill the fearsome fish. Tagging along is marine biologist Matt
Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) and Amity Island Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy
Scheider). Together, the three shark hunters chase after Bruce, which is the name
Spielberg gave to the shark when they were filming, because it was the name of
his lawyer at the time. Bruce proves more than a match for the three men, as he
thwarts their many attempts to catch him using harpoons, barrels, and tracking
devices. By the third act, the ship is malfunctioning, Hooper has been
seemingly eaten, and they are running out of options. Bruce leaps onto the
ship, causing it to tilt and send any loose objects down toward his gnashing
jaws, including Brody and Quint. Quint battles against Bruce by pushing at his
nose with his boots, but it’s not enough. Bruce chomps down on Quint’s torso,
and he screams in agony as he is thrashed two and fro. Blood gushes from his
mouth and wounds, and Bruce pulls him under the waves to be eaten. It’s bloody,
intense, and the pain on Quint’s face looks at least ten times more realistic
than the animatronic shark.
4. The Transformation
– An American Werewolf in London (1981)
John Landis’ horror comedy An American Werewolf in London was misunderstood when it was first
released, but has since gone on to gain a significant following from horror
aficionados, and is widely considered one of the greatest werewolf films ever
made. Though it takes a Jaws approach
in showing the werewolf as little as possible (Landis actually felt he showed
it too much), the scene it is most famous for is the first time David Kessler
(David Naughton) undergoes his transformation from unassuming American
vacationer into a carnivorous canine with the primal mindset to kill and devour
anyone in its path. Unlike The Wolf Man,
another famous film to feature a transformation from man to wolf, American Werewolf’s transformation scene
isn’t achieved through stop motion or gradual application of hair and claws
using lap dissolves. Rick Baker, who earned an Academy Award for his work here,
was tasked with developing full prosthetics to turn Naughton into the werewolf,
and the scene was shot in a fully lit room without the use of cutaways or lap
dissolves. Every stage of the change is shown, and Naughton portrays the
transformation as a painful, unholy experience. He screams, writhes, and sweats
as hair forces itself through his skin, his limbs stretch and warp, muscles
bulge, and most frightening of all, his face protrudes and extends into the
muzzle of a wolf’s.
3. Hobbling Procedure
– Misery (1990)
In the novel Misery by
Stephen King, a famous writer Paul Sheldon is badly injured in a car wreck high
in the mountains and saved by Annie Wilkes, who just so happens to be a nurse,
as well as Sheldon’s number one fan. When she discovers he has killed off the
main character of the novel series which made him so famous, Annie goes off the
deep end and forces Sheldon to remain in her secluded cabin home. She brings
back paper and a typewriter, and demands he write another novel and bring the
character of Misery back to life. As Sheldon makes progress on the novel and
begins to heal, tensions rise, and Annie takes drastic action. The process she
uses to keep him from running off is called hobbling; however the technique
differs from book to screen. In the novel, Annie puts a wooden block under one
of Paul’s ankles, chops off his foot, and cauterizes the wound with a blow
torch. In the film, it’s less gruesome, but in my opinion, even more gut-wrenching.
She wedges a wooden block between both ankles, and rather than an axe, takes a
sledgehammer and snaps first his left foot, then his right foot. Annie is
played by Kathy Bates, and is frighteningly unsympathetic as she performs this
gruesome action, believing “...it’s for the best.” James Caan plays Paul, and
the strained look of agony on his face is all too convincing. It’s amazing to
think the shot of his ankle going over was achieved using a rubber dummy foot.
It’s thanks to some clever editing and deft direction from Rob Reiner that the
scene is so distressing to watch.
2. Arm Removal - 127 Hours (2010)
The most recent of these five films and the only one not in
the horror genre (though it almost could be), 127 Hours tells the true tale of one man’s misfortune while
backpacking through the desert in Utah. James Franco plays Aron Ralston, who
falls down a narrow spot in a canyon and gets his arm trapped under a boulder.
He failed to tell anyone where he was going, and is unable to move the boulder.
He tries to chip away at it using his multi-tool, but it’s no use. For the rest
of the film, we are trapped alongside Aron as he struggles to survive and
maintain his sanity. Director Danny Boyle makes what could have been a dull
ninety minute film into a stressful but no less entertaining fight for
survival, by cleverly using Aron’s own video logs and maximizing the feelings
of claustrophobia and isolation. Aron quickly runs out of water, is forced to
drink his own urine, and discovers his arm—which lacks any feeling—is starting
to rot. When he finally runs out of food, water, and options, he is forced to
do the unthinkable. What occurs next is not for the faint of heart. He breaks
the bones in his arm and, after an excruciating test of wills, cuts through the
flesh with the tiny knife on the multi-tool and frees himself. It’s the
ultimate relief for both Aron and audience. James Franco’s stellar acting is
what really sells the scene, but Boyle’s unflinching direction and a clever
blend of music and sound effects enhance the overall feeling of dread.
1. The Chestburster –Alien (1979)
This sci-fi horror masterpiece, which is basically a haunted
house in space, features a grim look at the future, one of the scariest and most
original alien creatures ever created, and a heart stopping scene that has been
unrivalled by any other scene from any of Alien’s
sequels, prequels, spinoffs, or rip-offs. The scene in question occurs after crew
member Kane (John Hurt) wakes up, having previously been attacked by a face
hugging crab-like alien parasite hours earlier. When the parasite dies and Kane
comes to, everything seems to be okay. The crew all sit down to a happy final
dinner before returning to hyper sleep, but something happens which no one
could have seen coming. Kane starts choking on his food, then enters a
seizure-like fit and flails on the dinner table. Other crew members try to
restrain him and calm him down, but Kane continues to spasm. He screams,
thrashes, and wails, then lets out one final scream and his chest erupts in a
fountain of blood. The crew members freeze from shock, and Kane writhes a bit
more before a sickening worm-like alien bursts out of his rib cage and looks
around at them. It’s pure horror, and even though the scene has been parodied
and copied many times, it still packs a punch to this day. Director Ridley
Scott didn’t tell the cast what exactly was going to happen, so their reaction
is genuine, and Hurt’s acting makes it all the more believable and painful to
see.
Jaws image from www.metacafe.com
Misery images from onepagewonder.com
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