Transcend horror to the higher virtue of dread.

[Zero Gravitas]

After recently watching a few of the 'New French extremism' horror films such as Frontière(s) and À l'interieur I can't help but feel that the frights are a little cheaply delivered, unwavering shots of flaying and scissor surgery though granted disturbing don't linger with me in the same way as say the final confrontation in the recent Whistle and I'll come to you.

Perhaps a good example is my and a friend's recent reactions to Mulholland drive, they being a fan of the gore porn style horror they said the reveal of the person behind the diner was the scariest thing they had seen in years, yet didn't find the fainting of the singer in club silencio at all disturbing nor the final chase sequence through the house which I think is one of the best prolonged scenes of terror I'm aware of.

Or for example in the Funny Games US the stripping and shooting leaves me relatively unaffected, yet the tension as the egg scene begins to break social convention and slip into belligerency always unnerves me.

Any non-horrific horror scenes that you think are scarier than a thousand eye gougings?

[Ignatius_S]

....Any non-horrific horror scenes that you think are scarier than a thousand eye gougings?

Interesting (and good) call about the egg scene in Funny Games.

Although I wouldn't necessarily say this fits in awfully well, but there's a scene in Kiss Me Deadly, where Mike Hammer gets information out of someone by smashing one record after another from their collection - these are operatic recordings (if I remember rightly) and some (all?) are the only copies in existence. It's a scene that I find disturbing - the owner is in absolutley agony, whilst Hammer gets a sadistic pleasure from it and there's the factor that art is being lost to the ages.

[Ignatius_S]

In the Higson-penned, King of the Ants, the main protagonist is being kept prisoner. To cut a long story short, he has information on certain people that they don't want him to reveal this but rather than kill him, they  intend cause severe head trauma over a period of days – the idea being that this will induce brain damage.

Initially, he's being held down, whilst forced to drink whiskey and then foam material is tied around his head, before one of the Baldwin brothers hits him with the golf club.

A little while later, it gets a little more twisted when the character doesn't need to be forced and, as soon as his prisoners come in, he starts tying the material to his head.

[Steve Lampkins]

the reveal of the person behind the diner was the scariest thing they had seen in years

I'm a big wimp - and I found that the scariest part by far.

[BlodwynPig]

[Zero Gravitas]

^ Not displaying properly, but I only noticed on the last viewing that he's sitting in a fake body.

[Serge]

In the Higson-penned, King of the Ants, the main protagonist is being kept prisoner. To cut a long story short, he has information on certain people that they don't want him to reveal this but rather than kill him, they  intend cause severe head trauma over a period of days – the idea being that this will induce brain damage.

Initially, he's being held down, whilst forced to drink whiskey and then foam material is tied around his head, before one of the Baldwin brothers hits him with the golf club.

A little while later, it gets a little more twisted when the character doesn't need to be forced and, as soon as his prisoners come in, he starts tying the material to his head.

EEGAH! I remember that scene all too well. Can't believe it's by the same man who plays Bob Fleming.

In John Boorman's 'The General', which tells the story of Irish criminal Martin Cahill, in amongst all the amusing scenes of his getting one over on the police, there is a scene in which he attempts to get some information out of one of his men by nailing him to a snooker table. Although you don't see the actual nailing, if I remember rightly, the sound of the guy screaming in pain is appalling, and I found it far worse than anything I'd seen in, say, 'Reservoir Dogs', and wondered how 'The General' managed to get a '15' certificate. (though I'd still recommend it, it's a great film, and Brendan Gleeson possibly gives a career-best performance.)

[Zero Gravitas]

ooh and Stalker even if I do think it's a better film if you miss out the black and white bit.