Horror Scenes in Non-Horror Movies

In Apocalypse Now, Frederic Forrest finds out why you never get out of the boat.

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Sometimes, the most effective horror scenes are not even from movies that can be classified as horror, sci-fi, or thriller. Off the top of my head, here are five that either creeped me out or stuck with me in a really unpleasant way.

For readers of my blog, what are your favorite horror scenes from non-horror movies?

Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Apocalypse Now has many horrifying scenes, not the least being the tortured corpses and severed heads that decorate the mad Colonel Kurtz’s outlaw compound in the jungle.

But for me the killer scene occurs when Chef, the sauce-maker from New Orleans (played by Frederic Forrest), decides that he has to hunt mangoes in the deep, dark jungle. He and Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) are shambling around looking for the non-existent mangoes, when a huge, roaring tiger suddenly jumps out of the bushes and runs straight towards them. It’s a great jump scare and a strong metaphor for US involvement in Vietnam, i.e.
bogging down in a war in a faraway country with a vastly different terrain and culture.

Requiem for a Dream (2000), directed by Darren Aronofsky. This grim drama is one of the most disturbing and upsetting films I’ve ever seen, but it’s not technically a horror film. It’s about about four interconnected drug addicts who sink to unbelievable depths in order to maintain their addictions. One of the four is Harry, played by Jared Leto—a small-time drug dealer who gets high on his own supply. Throughout the film, we see Harry shoving a needle into the same hole in his arm. The hole gets wider and more infected every time Harry shoots up, until his arm turns gangrenous and must be amputated. When the camera focuses on that suppurating, pus-ridden hole--which it does frequently--it’s a very effective example of body horror.

Mulholland Drive (2001), directed by David Lynch. Lynch's most famous film features a lot of creepy, mysterious imagery as befits a typical Lynchian atmosphere. However, most audiences think the notorious “Winkie’s diner scene” is by far the creepiest. In the scene, two men are breakfasting in the diner. One of the men explains that he’s been having a recurring nightmare about the very same diner. In the dream, this man goes behind the dinner and finds a person with a horrific face, who terrifies him. The other man tells him he must go behind the diner and face his fears to get rid of the dream. He does and is met by a jump scare featuring a homeless man with a blackened, terrifying visage, same as in the dream, and he collapses in terror.

Spartacus (1960), directed by Stanley Kubrick. This sword-and-sandals epic debuted in an era when Biblical and Ancient World films were very popular in the U.S. and Europe. It’s not typical Kubrick fare, but it does contain some of his patented startling imagery and themes of power abuses and violence against the weak. At more than 2.5 hours (depending on which cut you watch,) this epic is about a massive slave uprising in ancient Rome, based on an actual historical event. The revolt ultimately fails and thousands of the rebels are captured and executed by Roman soldiers via crucifixion, on crosses erected on each side of the Appian Way. Toward the end is an unforgettable shot of the road, with endless miles of crucified slaves as far as the eye can see. Chilling--and a lot more graphic than would have been shown in similar epics of the era.

Little Children (2006), directed by Todd Field. Little Children is a dark suburban drama in the American Beauty vein. It mostly deals with an affair between two unhappily married suburbanites, played by Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson. Intertwined with that story is a subplot concerning a child sex offender named Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley), who has just been released from prison. Ronnie lives in anguish as he doesn’t want to be what he is. Eventually he “solves” his problem by castrating himself with a butcher knife. In a super-creepy, disturbing scene,Ronnie rocks back and forth on a swing in a deserted playground, bleeding to death from his self-inflicted wound. Unforgettable.