Happy Halloween! Check out part one of this series here, part two here, part three here, and part four here.
2020: His House
A blend of nightmarish horror and even more nightmarish social commentary, this scene from the criminally underrated His House is gold-standard ghost story stuff. Tremendous performances from Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku provide the emotional depth that this scene needs, drawing you in as a viewer as the camera roves through the dark corners of the house and exposes the creatures within. It’s a sequence that’s almost hypnotic with its tension, with a perfect payoff that earns the movie its spooky stripes.
2021: The Night House
The Night House is a truly intense and affecting horror film, and the kind that I love. Not only does it hit that sweet metaphor horror, in this case grief and depression over the death of a partner, it does so with a central performance from Rebecca Hall that is a special effect itself. I’ve picked this scene because it gets to the heart of what the film is about: Hall walking through the literal dead space of her husband’s workshop, trying to feel closer to him while only making herself more open and vulnerable to the entity invading her life. Instead of the traditional monster or ghost, it’s the very dimensions of the room that are corrupted.
2022: Nope
Sometimes, a scare is just that moment in a movie that genuinely turns your stomach. And this scene from Nope is so downright visceral, so unsettling on a deeply primal level, it’s enough to make you reconsider lunch for the next three days – there’s something about that shot on the inside of the creature as it digests its latest prey that marries the disgusting with the disturbing in a way that sticks in the gullet (literally). The briefness makes it all the worse, leaving you to fill in the rest of the process, and giving you plenty to digest (heh) in the meantime.
2023: Talk to Me
The scariest part of Talk to Me is Talk to Me, but, fine, I’ll be more specific. Riley’s possession scene is so fiendish due to how much that damn embalmed hand was used for recreational fun. Here is the youngest and most vulnerable of the teens and, before you can say “this is what your face looks like on drugs” the sweet lad is pulverising his features and laughing while he’s doing it. Seriously, who let him out? I blame the parents.
2024: Oddity
Oddity is packed full of killer spooks and scares, but this scene’s near-unbearable tension lands it as the best from this year for us. The gorgeous, bizarre prop drips with menace, and you’re practically begging for the moment where you’re given a relief from the nerves of waiting for something to go horribly wrong, but it never does. It’s a masterclass in playing on and subverting expectations, and in the inherent horror of sticking your fingers in a creepy thing’s mouth. What’s not to love?
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By Kevin Boyle and Lou MacGregor
(header image via IMDB)
No But Listen 