FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

Aug 12, 2006

Ridiculous Faces of Death 2

I think we can all agree that John Carpenter's Halloween is a classic of the horror genre and a pioneering film in the slasher sub-genre. Even if you're not a fan, the film deserves its props, yo. While the film is still spooky after all this time and remains a favorite of mine, there's no denying the moment when one can only think..."Wow! Now that's a ridiculous face of death!"

I'm referring, of course, to my beloved Nancy Loomis as Annie. On her way to pick up her boyfriend Paul- yes, it's true...she can no longer stall- she's accosted by the backseat boogeyman Michael Myers. He pops up suddenly and chokes Annie, ascary scene made all the more frightening by the layer of foggy glass Carpenter puts between the viewer and the action.

Annie gasps and gaks and writhes until eventually Myers cuts her throat and puts her out of her misery. Terrifying...until Annie does her famous cross-eyed slide down the foggy windshield.

I'm noticing a trend...do people really go cross-eyed when they die? It never seems to happen in something like Terms of Endearment. Or Steel Magnolias...did Julia Roberts pull a face like that? How odd.

In other news, there's a new Horror Roundtable up at The Horror Blog, a fine fine site if I do say so myself. The question this week is "What is your favorite horror weapon?" There's some great answers up there...go forth, read, and comment. I love participating the Horror Roundtable. I feel like Dorothy muthafuckin Parker, y'all!

7 comments:

Trav said...

AHAHA!
GO Nancy Loomis, GO!
I love her too.
Her performances are, how can I saw, UNenergetic (to say the least)?
I love when she eats it, she really starts to have a personality, right as her face slides down the foggy car window.
We see an actual expression instead of the bored look she carried in this and The Fog.

Anonymous said...

This is great stuff! You could base an entire blog on this concept.

One of my favorite ridiculous faces of death images is of Philip Coolidge in The Tingler. You can see what I mean by clicking here. He's not quite cross-eyed, but he's getting there!

Amanda By Night said...

The best ridiculous face of death I saw was when Morey Lamply gets his in the Mutilator. I don't have a pic, but after he gets chainsawed but good, he looks like he's trying to fall asleep! Great stuff.

Nancy Loomis rocks my world hard, so I forgive her for a cross-eyed death. She made up for it by looking oh-so-sexy in The Fog!

Amanda By Night

Steve said...

I never understood why she was able to camp it up so much in that scene. I was showing this movie to my gf and singing its praise so much that I almost felt embarassed when that scene came up, haha. The only reason I figured it made it into the final version is b/c of the limited budget.

David Lee Ingersoll said...

Have you seen MI3? There's a silly death face in it. The crossed eyes completely ruin what is supposed to be a sad and tragic death. Makes you wonder what the hell the director was thinking when he let that pass.

Anonymous said...

You are totally the Dorothy Parker of the Horror Roundtable set, man. Did you get the most recent question?

Anonymous said...

Stace,I love these... and I think when you get enough of them, a nice montage needs to be made of the actual film clips... with some nice theme music. Maybe "I Go Crazy" by Paul Davis?

"I go crazy
When I look in your eyes I still go crazy
No my heart just can't hide that old feelin' inside
Way deep down inside
Oh baby, you know when I look in your eyes I go crazy.... "

Ahhhh... It would be very sweet and heart wrenching indeed.