What film is this from?

[The Masked Unit]

I have a very hazy, almost dream-like memory fragment of a scene in which a male protagonist, possibly with a beard, rips the very "screen" he's on. He reaches out and grabs the air and rips it like it were made of paper, and I think he rips it across himself.

Having caught a few minutes of The Golden Child last night I think it might be that as it seemed to have some very good effects for a film from 1986, and the main baddie would fit my bearded man description. Have somehow never seen it all the way through though.

[Bad Ambassador]

"In the Mouth of Madness"?

[Cerys]

^ That's what I was going to say, so if it's a false memory then I'm glad I'm not alone.

[The Masked Unit]

I dunno. Is there a scene in it such as the one I described?

[Cerys]

I can't remember.

[Endicott]

Disclaimer: I haven't seen this film.

Spoiler alert

After giving Trent the manuscript, Cane tears his face open like a piece of paper, ripping a hole that leads into darkness and creating a portal to the dimension of Cane's monstrous masters.

from

[close]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madness

[Famous Mortimer]

I was going to suggest the other great Charles Dance villain role, "The Last Action Hero", but while they messed with reality a bit, nothing quite as nightmarish as what you mentioned.

[Blumf]

As an aside, why does Sam Neill always turn up in these kind of horror films? Is he type-cast or does he love doing them?

[Jerzy Bondov]

I think it's from Fern Gully 2

[The Masked Unit]

I suppose it must be from this scene at the 2.30 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agWPEWophEU - in my mind it was an outdoors scene in the desert or somewhere like the desert, but unless another film has exactly the same sequence, I can only assume that's just my memory playing tricks.

Well done, whores!

Edit: I guess he could pull the same trick at another point in the film.

[Ignatius_S]

As an aside, why does Sam Neill always turn up in these kind of horror films? Is he type-cast or does he love doing them?

He doesn't really - I'd put him in the category of hard-grafting jobbing actor, rather than associating him with particularly genres. Personally, I think that his casting in In The Mouth of Madness was pretty canny.

[Blumf]

He doesn't really - I'd put him in the category of hard-grafting jobbing actor, rather than associating him with particularly genres. Personally, I think that his casting in In The Mouth of Madness was pretty canny.

Yeah, looking at his filmography it seems he's been in more period dramas than anything. I think I've just ended up watching his horror stuff more than anything else he's done.

[Ignatius_S]

Yeah, looking at his filmography it seems he's been in more period dramas than anything. I think I've just ended up watching his horror stuff more than anything else he's done.

Although I suspect that Neill likes working and may be reluctant to turn down too many roles, I wouldn't be surprised if doing horror is a refreshing change of pace to those period films!