Imagery
Do you remember the first time you saw Gore Verbinski’s remake of Ringu? If so, then you probably remember the opening scene featuring a then-unknown Amber Tamblyn. You probably also remember the quick-cut to her corpse when Rachel (Naomi Watts) attends her funeral.
Out of all of the moments in the film, this particular image stands out the most and is the one that pretty much scared the shit out of everyone who saw it. Rather than rely on gore, Verbinski used a monochromatic blue/grey color palette (aiding to create the atmosphere of the film) and shocking and/or grotesque imagery. It’s remarkable that a PG-13 J-horror remake contains what many people consider to be one of the most horrific images in film history. Still, Tambyn’s corpse with her distorted face is effective. So effective, in fact, that it still makes people turn away from the screen when it happens.
Cloverfield also take a respectable “less is more” approach (mostly due to the fact that they were aiming for a PG-13 rating) when it comes to Marlena’s (Lizzy Caplan) death by popping (I don’t know any other way to phrase that). After being bitten in the subway tunnels by a parasitic creature, she begins to bleed from her nose before being rushed behind a curtain, where you see her silhouette expand and finally explode.
Obviously, Matt Reeves and his production team couldn’t actually show Marlena’s death since they were going for a PG-13 rating, but that works in the film’s favor. It all happens in the blink of an eye (which has been slowed down in the GIF above), and because the graphic details are left to the viewer’s imagination, it makes the whole experience more disturbing.
For me, Marge’s death in Jaws 2 is one of the most horrifying images I have ever seen in a film. It’s not even gory, and you only see the shark swallow her from behind, but there’s just something so affecting about it. It probably didn’t help that I saw this movie at a very young age, but it gave me nightmares for years.
Just to give you an idea of how much imagery effects me: my stomach has been in knots the entire time I was writing this section because these are all images that haunt my dreams to this very day. These examples may not be as striking as the images in, say, The Fly or The Shining, but they’re all examples of imagery that really messes with my mind.
As I mentioned earlier, I am in no way qualified enough to effectively analyze what scares people, so this post is merely comprised of my musings based on my own experiences and my observations of other people. It seems that people require jump scares or constant action to be scared, which is a lamentable fact.
My question to you is this: What scares you? What do you find scary? Out of the four scare tactics I have listed (and there are undoubtedly more that I have not mentioned), which one is the most effective at scaring you? Let us know in the comments below or feel free to shoot me a Tweet!
