Favorite Scene Friday! Insidious: Tip Toe by the Window

As usual, for the month of October we're looking at our favorite scenes from the world of horror. Today's post is from Lindsay Street of French Toast Sunday.

October brings with it many beautiful offerings – cooler temperatures, cozy sweaters and the comforting embrace of horror movies. While I will happily watch a ghost story or gory blood bath any night of the week, most people stick to Halloween for scary movies.  Over the past few years, there have been a number of great mainstream horror flicks and you can thank director James Wan for more than a few of them. Wan is responsible for the first Saw film and both of The Conjuring movies, but today I’m looking at a scene from the first movie of his that really got my attention.

I honestly don’t remember knowing anything about Insidious before I went into the theater. I do, however, vividly remember the loud imposing title card that filled up the screen. The whole thing had a retro vibe and I was digging it. Shortly after the opening credits I found myself fighting off cardiac arrest as Wan ratcheted the tension and played mercilessly with my emotions.

Insidious is a fairly straightforward Haunted House story with a dash of possession thrown into the mix. A suburban family starts to experience radial paranormal disturbances after their son suddenly slips into a coma. Terror ensues. Admittedly, it can be hard to choose a scene from the movie that is effective out of context but this one I choose demonstrates exactly what Wan does best.

 

Let’s break this down a bit. While our matriarch Renai (Rose Byrne) is busy expelling the trash from her gorgeous Craftsman house she sees a small child through the window. This would be strange for anyone but not necessarily creepy. What Wan does in this scene is enhance the suspense by letting the viewer in on just a few more key details: the first identifier being a short but still lingering camera pan to a back shot of the boy in the laundry room, then when Mom is out of the house the music changes. The audience is on the hook and terrified of what this will mean. Now back to Renai’s troubled reaction, “Who is that? Is he real? Am I really seeing this?” She rushes inside to scope out the situation. Nothing. Then a door slowly creeps closed. The audience shivers but Renai is startled, still not sure what to make of the entire scene. Then SHIT! That is a little kid! It just ran through the house. We all fucking saw it now! Stunned, Mom follows the kid into her son’s room.  It seems still but…that rocking chair is moving…it’s…FALSE alarm. But what about those boots? Now both Renai and the audience are shaking with fear. When the curtain pull reveals another false alarm, Wan wastes no time hitting us with a legit jump scare.

You see, Wan is so good at what he does because he knows exactly how to leverage dramatic tension. He knows when to show, when to fold and when to do whatever that other poker reference is that’s equivalent to scaring the shit out of you.

Favorite Scene Friday! Mulholland Drive: Winkies

This FSF was written by Lindsay from French Toast Sunday! Now try not to freak out, but this is just the first of TWO FSFs today. Lindsay wrote this one a little while back, but the scene vanished from the world wide inter-netz. It recently resurfaced on YouTube (split into two parts) and we jumped at the chance to feature it. It serves as a late addition to FTS' David Lynch. September. celebration, but it fits in quite nicely with our month of horror scenes as well. Enjoy!

iamgabz via JoBlo

Director David Lynch is best known for his bizarre, surreal films and Mulholland Drive might be his most recognizable. The movie kick started the career of the lovely Naomi Watts and was critically praised, but I don’t know if it’s a movie that is as easily accessible now. I first watched the film in high school after searching for movies that were "a little on the weird side." Well, this film certainly had that shit covered. It’s a dreamy masterpiece of the strange and confusing, changing narrative and character focus more times that the viewer can count. But I love it. I was mesmerized and curious and yearning for more after the credits rolled. Admittedly there are a lot of special scenes in Mulholland Drive, but none so perfect as the one chosen here. The scene below describes a man’s dream in eerie detail and prompts the viewer to question the reality of the event. The scene works wonders because of Lynch’s absorbing direction and an unnerving performance from Patrick Fischler.





I'm not entirely sure how this scene plays out of context from the rest of the film but on my first viewing of the movie I was stunned at just how effective it was. Within minutes, Lynch completely draws you into this small story. There is a foreboding sense of dread that starts to mount with such urgency that the viewer can't backtrack fast enough to figure it out. You don't know why the scene exists or how it will play into the rest of the story (it happens fairly early on in the film) but you submit that it must be important. As you follow Dan's (Fischler) recalling of a dream, you don't realize exactly what you're in for. The scene is telling, in a way that almost never fits on a first watch. As Dan becomes more nervous, so does the viewer. What cold possibly be behind this dumpster? How could anything that exists there be so awful? Luckily for us, Lynch answers those questions with a moment of arresting shock felt at the end of the sequence. This entire scene is without question one of my all time favorite scenes of any film I have ever watched. It solidified my quest to barrel through David Lynch's filmography and started my love/hate relationship with the challenging director.

This Favorite Scene was partially excerpted from the post 7 Scenes You Shouldn't Miss From Movies You Might Have.

You can check out all of Lindsay's FSFs right here.

What's your favorite scene from Mulholland Drive?

Favorite Christmas Scene Friday! Just Friends: "She's got her toothpaste."

This week's Favorite Scene Friday was written by honorary EH Team member Lindsay Street from French Toast Sunday.

It’s very possible that most of you reading this haven’t even heard of the 2005 comedy Just Friends. It holds a measly 42% Rotten Tomatoes score and it didn’t even rank in the top five films at the box office the weekend it opened. Although my love for the film is strong, I hesitated to suggest it to Robert for a Favorite Scene Friday. That turned out to be a dumb call on my part though, because as I should have known, my movie twin responded back promptly with “That would be awesome! I love that movie.” Our bond grows stronger every day.

Wikipedia

Just Friends stars a few notable names including Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein, and Ryan Reynolds in the lead role.  You remember early career, post-Van Wilder Reynolds, right? Where his roles were tailor made for his boyish charm and deadpan hilarious comedic timing. Well maybe audiences had grown tired of his shtick by the time Just Friends had rolled around and the actor himself certainly seemed turned off by it (Friends marked his last starring comedy role aside from The Proposal and The Change Up.)  - but I never experienced such an aversion. And while I continue to think double R is an impressive actor that winds up in shitty movies, I still yearn for the day when he will pop up, if only for a moment, as the former sardonic funnyman.

I had no intention of writing that much about Ryan Reynolds. Moving on then…

Okay, so the movie starts off following a chubby high schooler named Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds…yes…) that is stuck in friend zone hell with his best bud Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). After an embarrassing post-graduation falling out, he abandons Jamie and moves to LA. Over the years, Brander sheds the extra pounds, works hard to gain a shiny career as a record producer and transforms his nice guy image into desirable womanizer. Now present day, Chris is tasked with traveling and watching over “star” talent Samantha James (Anna Faris), an overproduced, over sexualized, completely vapid pop star. He reluctantly does so but things are further complicated when the duo’s plane is forced to land in his New Jersey home town. While reconnecting with his family and eventually Jamie, Chris soon falls back into his old ways and learns that he may not have changed very much after all.

There are a lot of parts that I find downright hysterical in Just Friends. Most are moments or lines coming from Faris’ Samantha character but I also get a kick out of Reynolds chemistry with his younger brother Mike, played by Christopher Maquette. So when I picked a scene from the film, I skipped over my actual favorite favorite scene (a scene at a small town bar where Faris is so over the top funny I can’t handle it) for a scene that features the best of both assets. Also, the YouTuber that posted the video kind of nailed it with his title.

Setting the scene: Young bro Mike was supposed to be escorting Samantha around town when she accidentally falls over a second story banister at a mall (yes, it’s that kind of flick.) This is what Chris comes home to:



I don’t know how well the scene works out of context, but I find everyone here just too damn enjoyable. Anna Faris is completely zonked out and stupid-stupendous. Did you see the way she delivered that blueberry line? Classic. Moreover, you get to see one of my favorite interactions between the brothers. The sibling rivalry continues throughout the film to similar results but some of the noises Maquette utters during the wrestling never fails to give me the giggles. Really any time he screams during the movie, I’m on the ground.

With Just Friends, it’s not so much the jokes written on the page as much as it’s the actors performing them. It might sit with you, it might not  - but for what it’s worth, I think the movie could make for a passable substitution for the overplayed Christmas movies you might find surrounding you this holiday season. Give it a chance if you’re looking for something new.

Favorite Horror Scene Friday! The Omen: "It's All For You!"

It's October once more here in the Escape Hatch and that can only mean one thing - well actually it means quite a few things but mostly it means FAVORITEHORRORSCENESOMGOMG!!!

Lindsay (no stranger to the Favorite Scene Friday business) from French Toast Sunday is kicking the month of horror scenes off with an absolute classic. It's from a horror film that needs no introduction...in fact, I'm gonna just let Lindsay take it away. You can follow her on Twitter - @lindsay_fts.

frenchtoastsunday.com

Far and away my favorite classic horror film is 1976's The Omen. Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and David Warner, the film deals with the horrific repercussions of a father's difficult decision to adopt a child without the mother’s knowledge on the same night her baby died during childbirth. Years later the couple starts to suspect something unthinkable of the child. Could little Damien be a bonafide example of evil incarnate?

Wikipedia

The chilling religious horror film is filled with memorable moments, but one of its best is displayed early on. Contrasted with the backdrop of a normally joyous occasion, Damien's fifth birthday party turns out to be anything but when an unexpected death occurs.



“Look at me, Damien! It’s all for you!” Could this be the disturbing ramblings of a mentally ill woman or something much more ominous (see what I did there?!)  The scene is effective on every level for the audience. Shocking is an understatement as we follow the nanny's last footsteps to death. The camera lingers on her body for longer than one might expect only to be interrupted by Lee Remick's expression of utter disbelief. The entire sequence is quite upsetting but when the close up changes to Damien's unaffected face, that's when the real scope of terror starts to settle in. The Omen remains a classic for a reason. If you haven't had the pleasure already, seek out the film and see for yourself. It would be the perfect October treat.

Favorite Scene Friday! The Social Network

Happy Friday, Hatchlings! It's time for another special guest to do the Favorite Scene Friday honors and we've got none other than French Toast Sunday Grand Poobah Lindsay Street! Lindsay is, as her bio states, "kind of a big deal". She founded French Toast Sunday and runs it with pals Jess, Rob, Will, Marc, and Nick. When not writing reviews and columns like "The Gore Report"(yup, a feature on all things horror), Lindsay co-hosts the French Toast Sunday Podcast with her aforementioned buds. 

You can find Lindsay on Twitter @lindsay_fts.

frenchtoastsunday.com

It was a difficult task trying to pick a movie moment to be a part of the prestigious Favorite Scene Friday feature. With no set genre or category to choose from, my head was running wild with ideas. But much like deciding what restaurant to eat at or T-shirt to wear, I figured it would be best not to over think my choice. I pulled from a film that I recently purchased on Blu-ray (about a year too late) that is one of my favorite films of the last decade. The engrossing masterpiece from director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin: The Social Network. To briefly gush, this is a high stakes film to begin with. One of the most talented working directors collaborating with a screenplay king on a project about the world's youngest billionaire. It wasn't exactly "the Facebook movie" most people coined it early on. It was an achievement of filmmaking at every possible level from direction to script to performances to editing to score to ... you get the picture. I'm a big fan.

The part of the film I chose to highlight might be a semi-obvious selection to some, but it's an impressive moment nonetheless. Setting the scene: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is currently in the middle of two lawsuits surrounding the creation of the website. In this scene, he's in a deposition for the lawsuit filed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, two twins that claim Mark stole their idea of a networking website based on exclusivity. Their lawyer has just made a point that Mark was increasingly aloof in communicating with the Winklevoss brothers about his lack of involvement in the site they contracted him to code. It's been a long day and Mark is fed up with sitting in a boardroom trying to even out fact from fiction. This happens:



FUCK. In a sea of verbal attacks throughout the film, nothing stings quite like this one. Again, all the film's elements are working at full force. The score creeping in is built to menacing perfection thanks to the now Oscar winning duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Unfortunately, there isn't interaction with the perfectly acted side characters but it's Eisenberg's show and he nails it. He is amazing throughout the film and this scene is a brilliant sneak peek at that. Of course, Aaron Sorkin’s writing shines as Mark delivers the classic "smart guy being a smart ass" lines that Sorkin uses frequently. The pays off is huge. I could have chosen any number of scenes from this film. There are so many well-crafted ones and others that I personally love, but this is an easy favorite. The bite left by Mark’s caustic statement gets me every time, no matter how many viewings I sit through. The setup and then Mark's delivery serve as a brilliant sucker punch to the audience. And did I mention that damn finger point?! I mime that shit right along with Jesse every single time.