There are always rooms in a house that gives people the creeps at night. The attic, the basement, and walk in closets are the most obvious rooms that invoke fear, because they are the rooms where most killers and monsters lurk in horror films.
I, on the other hand was always creeped out by the washroom. (Don’t laugh!) The washroom is the hardest place in the house to escape from. It’s a small enclosed space, there are usually no windows, (unless you’re on the second or third floor) you’re at your most vulnerable, and most importantly, there’s nowhere to hide. (Unless you think an intruder is going to be too stupid to look behind the shower curtain.)
WARNING – SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
Obviously I’m not the only one who shares the same fear, for horror filmmakers have been exploring and/or exploiting washroom deaths on screen for decades. Here’s my list of the most memorable death scenes in washrooms that have either given me goose bumps, nightmares, and many laughs.
1. Psycho
No matter how old you are, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic has most likely popped in your head when you take a shower from time to time. Psycho is the reason why I have a bathmat in my shower. Before I had the mat, I would nearly kill myself trying to jump out the shower every time I heard a slight noise in the bathroom. It may be the most obvious choice, but Janet Leigh’s death is by far the most memorable death scene in a washroom on film.
2. Jack Frost
This movie made it on my top ten list last year for the most ridiculous kill in a horror movie, and yet it may be ridiculous and absurd, it sure is a notable death scene in a bathroom. You can’t forget a killer snowman killing and raping a then unknown Shannon Elizabeth with his carrot in the bathtub. It’s one of those memories that will never fade away….no matter how hard you try.
3. Evil Breed/Samhain
I watched this movie drunk with a couple of my guy friends last year who were all hoping the movie was a porno disguised as a horror film. (The cast is full of popular pornstars) While my buddies were ogling Jenna Jameson and while I was continuously complaining about how awful Richard Grieco looks now, we watched a scene that made us shut up and stare at the screen in bewilderment. In the slasher, a man gets attacked by a monstrous cannibal and ends up getting his intestines ripped out through his ass! At first, we were laughing hysterically, but then the scene just kept going and going, and it went from being extremely hilarious to extremely f*cked up. It definitely killed our buzz to say in the very least.
4. Ghoulies 2
I used to love the Ghoulies franchise when I was little. Nothing in the series really gave me nightmares, until I saw the “infamous toilet kill” in the second installment. A man runs into the amusement park washroom and sits on the toilet, only to meet a grisly death by one of the ghoulies who was hiding in the toilet bowl. Sure, it was funny and not at all gory, but that seriously f*cked me up as a kid. I constantly thought something was going to bite my ass off if I went to the bathroom, and to this day, I avoid the washrooms at amusement parks.
5. Species
One thing I hate about nightclubs is the constant competition with other women. When a girl happens to steal a guy I’ve been talking to, I usually: a) trip her or step on her brand new shoes, b) “accidentally” spill my drink on her, or c) shove her out of the way while calling her a ‘slut.’ Although if you’re a human-alien hybrid like Sil in Species, revenge is a “little” different. When she had a man stolen from her at a club, she calmly followed the woman into the public washroom and ripped out her spine in the stall. (OUCH!) Thank god women don’t think like that, because in that case there would be a lot of dead bitches in nightclubs every night.
6. Maniac
Although this movie is full of unforgettable gory scenes for cult horror fans, the scene where the killer follows the nurse into the grimy subway bathroom is the one I will always remember the most. The length of the scene is almost unbearable as you wait for the killer to eventually find and strike the terrified soon to be victim. I recall turning my head away and shouting out, “Just f*cking kill her already!” A very suspenseful, frightening, and disturbing scene.
7. Friday the 13Th Part 6
I’ve never had the urge to travel in an RV, and this slasher flick may be responsible for that. After some quick sex, (that eventually costs them their lives) a couple drive off not knowing Jason is aboard the RV. He eventually grabs the girlfriend, drags her into the small bathroom, and smashes her head into the wall so far that it makes an imprint of her face on the outside of the vehicle. What makes this scene memorable is not the actual death itself, but the sound her head makes against the metal. One of Jason’s best kills if you ask me.
8. Scream 2
I don’t know about you, but I HATE public washrooms. When I go into a stall, I am constantly flushing the toilet, just so I can avoid hearing any noises or conversations beside me. If I had been in Phil Stevens’(Omar Epps) shoes, and heard some strange man calling out for his mommy, I would have been out of that stall quicker than Paris Hilton’s showers in prison. I definitely would NOT have put my ear to the wall. If only he used his common sense.
9. Slither
When I watched the infamous bathtub scene in Slither, I felt grossed out watching the slug make its way in the bathtub to Connie. I thought she was done for, but then she made a surprising turn and killed the slug with her curling iron. This is the only one on the list, where the villain perishes, but it’s one that definitely belongs in the top ten.
10. 976-EVIL
I love movies that root for the underdog. I especially love horror films that root for the geek, because he or she ends up killing the jocks and everyone who was ever mean to them. This was the case in 976-Evil, when the nerdy and possessed Hoax (played by Stephen “Evil Ed” Geoffreys) gets revenge on the school’s in crowd at a poker game. I always remember the scene where the head bully was cowering in a bathroom stall, only to get stabbed to death by Hoax. The sound of the guy screaming always sends chills up my spine.
