What is it about this way of death in movies that gets me?

[adamjohnson]

I have developed a weird phobia. In between watching Vacancy 2, The Strangers and Funny Games I somewhere developed this odd terror of death while tied to a chair, most notably by stabbing.

I have no idea why. There's something unceremonious about it, like it's somehow more real. I would hope, if it was me in the chair, you werent gonna be able to keep me in the chair for long. If someone murders me, you can bet it will be anything other than execution style.

I dont know though. Anybody else??

[bigred760]

Well, I don't have a fear of being stabbed in chairs or anything like that. But continuing to watch the Saw movies does remind me that I don't want to die any of those fashions. It's not a fear of death for me . . . I think it's more of fear of pain.

Have you ever seen Suicide Kings . . . Christopher Walken spends 90% of the movie duct taped to a chair. He doesn't die, but some screwed up stuff does happen to him.

[Tagia_Romero]

Well, I don't have a fear of being stabbed in chairs or anything like that. But continuing to watch the Saw movies does remind me that I don't want to die any of those fashions. It's not a fear of death for me . . . I think it's more of fear of pain.


My thoughts exactly. Death is when you're dead, it all depends on how you go out. I'd rather die in my sleep rather than say drowning or being burned.

[ilovemovies]

15 Minutes. That was a tough scene to watch.

[drc5145]

To this day Elevators still freak me out a bit, mostly because of Speed to an extent but especially because of The Departed.

[Servo]

Because of Final Destination, I am terrified of flying....though I probably fly at least 5 times a year.

Mediums of entertainment-be it movies, books, videogames-expose us to death and life-threatening situations through the characters we empathize with so...in a way we experience a microfraction (did I just make up a word?) of the emotional experience...

My biggest fear is getting sucked out of through the hole in the fuselage of a plane...though a lot of deaths I see onscreen don't bother me, this particular scenario scares the SHIT out of me.

Oh, and getting dragged to Hell. That's actually a new one thanks to Sam Raimi.

[echo_bravo]

David Fincher's Zodiac has a ridiculously realistic stabbing in it. (the couple tied up at the lake). Pretty gutwrenching if you ask me.

[Monotreme]

The stabbing in the beginning of Goodfellas always got to me, when Joe Pesci stabs the guy in the car before De Niro shoots him - especially when I was younger. Just the sheer brutality of it... gives me the creeps just thinking about it, stabbing and all that. And I agree with echo_bravo - the stabbing in Zodiac had a similar effect on me.

[Bonham]

The stabbing in the beginning of Goodfellas always got to me, when Joe Pesci stabs the guy in the car before De Niro shoots him - especially when I was younger. Just the sheer brutality of it... gives me the creeps just thinking about it, stabbing and all that. And I agree with echo_bravo - the stabbing in Zodiac had a similar effect on me.

SPOILERS FOR CASINO










I think Pesci's death in Casino is my worst nightmare....eeeeeeesh.

[Raoul Duke]

http://www.geocities.com/cinemorgue2/adamgoldberg.jpg

*shudder*

[Monotreme]

http://www.geocities.com/cinemorgue2/adamgoldberg.jpg

*shudder*

Oh GOD... I first saw that movie when I was 14 and of all the scenes - Normandy, the ambush on the antenna/the Tom Sizemore scene, or any of the other brutal, brutal scenes - it was THAT one that got to me the most. Terrible, absolutely terrible.

[Hannibal21]

I really don't like to envision any kind of a scenario where someone gets sucked or falls into some kind of machine (ie: a woodchipper) that reduces them to nothing but tiny, not so visible bloody pieces and chunks.

Which is why I always get unsettled by

*SPOILERS*















-Syndrome's violent (especially for a Disney film) death in The Incredibles
-Carl Showalter's demise (after having been axed) in Fargo

[Pentangeli]

I think it's the inability to defend oneself mixed with the inevitability of torturous pain, which never fails to make me grimace and feel uncomfortable.

[syxxpac]

Someone being burned alive is one death that never fails to get under my skin, although thanks to Martyrs, SKINNED alive now runs a very close second. Those sick French fucks...

[Needaname]

Stabbing and torture are bad, but one of the things that really gets to me in a movie is waking up and realizing you've been buried alive....and not just in an avalanche or mudslide, but someone crazy or just hates you enough to put you in a box so you can die slowly.

Or being burned alive. That's another one that creeps me out.

[JCPhoenix]

I have developed a weird phobia. In between watching Vacancy 2, The Strangers and Funny Games I somewhere developed this odd terror of death while tied to a chair, most notably by stabbing.

I have no idea why. There's something unceremonious about it, like it's somehow more real. I would hope, if it was me in the chair, you werent gonna be able to keep me in the chair for long. If someone murders me, you can bet it will be anything other than execution style.

I dont know though. Anybody else??

I have the same kind of phobia a bit. The stabbing in Strangers is actually one of the most disturbing death scenes I've seen I think and for exactly the reason you're pointing out - the stabbing is just so simple and yet horrifying because it's done in such a clinical slow way. It does feel more real than most death scenes for me.

[xseanymacx]

Burned, buried, and beaten with a bat are my 3 worst.

[Lady Stardust]

I hate seeing wrists or ankles getting cut.

[Monotreme]

I hate seeing wrists or ankles getting cut.

Totally agree. There's this one episode of Oz that I can never get out of my head because of that...

[Tagia_Romero]

I hate seeing wrists or ankles getting cut.

That and ankles being BROKEN such as seen in 'Misery'.

[outsyder]

As someone who has broken that appendage, it looks more painful than it is.

[someguy]

Takashi Miike's episode for Masters of Horror has a torture/death scene that works well for this thread.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I have developed a weird phobia. In between watching Vacancy 2, The Strangers and Funny Games I somewhere developed this odd terror of death while tied to a chair, most notably by stabbing.

I have no idea why. There's something unceremonious about it, like it's somehow more real. I would hope, if it was me in the chair, you werent gonna be able to keep me in the chair for long. If someone murders me, you can bet it will be anything other than execution style.

I dont know though. Anybody else??

My opinion is that this fear would stem from the fact that you know death is coming and you have no way of preventing it. Or are you just afraid of being tied down in general, because I have that fear too?

[spacemonkey]

I guess you hate that scene with the cop tied to a chair while getting his ears cut off in Reservoir Dogs huh?

[Reigh Kaufman]

A few people exited the cinema after the stabbing scene in Last House on the Left.

(Weirdly, nobody left after the rape scene).

As for me, beheading is my least favourite method of paying the bill and checking out. If I get to pick, and it isn't dying comfortably in my own bed, then I would prefer to drown in an ocean during a massive storm.

[BadCoverVersion]

Takashi Miike's episode for Masters of Horror has a torture/death scene that works well for this thread.

I can't actually watch that scene. I am extremely squeamish about fingernails...and well, ya know.

[Heisenberg]

Anything out of hostel, that would be my worst fucking knightmare.

It's the thought of being helpless against it that is the most terrifying.

[NuclearMisfit]

The stabbing in the beginning of Goodfellas always got to me, when Joe Pesci stabs the guy in the car before De Niro shoots him - especially when I was younger. Just the sheer brutality of it... gives me the creeps just thinking about it, stabbing and all that. And I agree with echo_bravo - the stabbing in Zodiac had a similar effect on me.

I have nightmares about that sometimes where I'm the one doing the killings. It gives me the heebie jeebies to think about how cold blooded that kill was. Just ruthless but I love crime movies.

Also the first 10 minutes of The Departed.:eek::eek::eek:

I also hate deaths that involve teeth being yanked out or jaws ripped apart.

[Tagia_Romero]

As someone who has broken that appendage, it looks more painful than it is.

That was my point. 'Misery' made it LOOK hellishly painful that the visual of the action has stuck with me ever since.

[adamjohnson]

I can't actually watch that scene. I am extremely squeamish about fingernails...and well, ya know.

Youd hate my new script.

[g1ng3rsnap9ed]

I can't actually watch that scene. I am extremely squeamish about fingernails...and well, ya know.
Me too, like REALLY bad. I feel your pain, man. :)

I also hate deaths that involve teeth being yanked out or jaws ripped apart.
I'm right over here wit'choo too. :D

[adamjohnson]

Me too, like REALLY bad. I feel your pain, man. :)

I'm right over here wit'choo too. :D


I actually figured this out. On THE THING commentary Carpenter states that the thing that made the audience MOST squeamish was whatshisname cutting his thumb open, or the bit with the needles. It was simply because that was pain you can identify with.

You cant identify with getting your leg blown off or whtever. But something under your fingernail? Ouch?

Thats why my script focused entirely on that "little pain"

[NathanRomano]

That scene in Pet Semetary when he gets his tendon cut.
:o!

[BadCoverVersion]

Youd hate my new script.

I'm officially curious.

I actually figured this out. On THE THING commentary Carpenter states that the thing that made the audience MOST squeamish was whatshisname cutting his thumb open, or the bit with the needles. It was simply because that was pain you can identify with.

You cant identify with getting your leg blown off or whtever. But something under your fingernail? Ouch?

Thats why my script focused entirely on that "little pain"

That makes sense.

I remember back in High School in my textiles class there were kids who would put sewing needles under the skin of their fingers just to freak me out...

I also hate my boyfriend using nail clippers...I have an irrational fear that he will take the top of his thumb/finger clean off...it's pretty ridiculous really.

[Reigh Kaufman]

I also hate my boyfriend using nail clippers...I have an irrational fear that he will take the top of his thumb/finger clean off...it's pretty ridiculous really.

Did you ever read Roald Dahl's The Man from the South at school?

Might explain things.

And in your defence, I reckon he is capable of doing himself a mischief.

[NuclearMisfit]

Me too, like REALLY bad. I feel your pain, man. :)

I'm right over here wit'choo too. :D

Spoilers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmm5AxuU-Q


Yikes.

[Danger^Cart]

I have a resounding fear of being crushed to death. I can't actually recall ever seeing a movie where someone is shown being crushed to death, but anytime a character is even remotely in danger of such a fate, no matter what the film (The Mummy, for example) I completely shut down. As someone who is so desensitized, and who is around violence in real life, not just in media, I am genuinely shocked by my reaction to this form of demise. I can never believe how terrified I am by it.

Though It's not as irrational as my fear of midget doors.

[John Galt]

Being locked in a room with a bunch of birds is probably the worst.

[PSU80]

I know that ever since I saw Zodiac I have a wierd feeling anytime I watch a scene where someone is bound and then killed. Doesn't really matter if it's tied to a chair or whatever. Tied up period is spooky, probably because your left at the complete and utter mercy and imagination of your killer.

On a second note, I've always had a phobia of hangings. Not really of myself being hanged but seeing that pair of feet swinging is just super creepy to me.

[adamjohnson]

The thing Im writing right now has a lot of people tied to a chair and then stabbed. Long takes, no cuts. Very, very simple/realistic situation.

This might freak me out.

[Bahs]

The fingernail coming off always makes me cringe

, also when The Captain is stitching his cheek up from Pan's Labyrinth
AGHHH!:eek: