Stephen King names the scariest scene in cinema history: ‘It reduced me to jelly’
Stephen King is widely known as being one of the founding fathers of the horror genre, with terrifying stories that have inspired films such as The Shining, The Green Mile and IT. The writer has a masterful understanding of suspense and fear, being able to twist these emotions in new ways to provoke and terrorise his readers. Because of this, his stories have been spun into several on-screen adaptations, with his tone perfectly translating to the language of cinema and leading to immersive and all-encompassing tales of things that keep you up at night.
While he hasn’t always been delighted with the way his words have been interpreted in the movies, he is a big fan of the medium overall, always expressing his love for the projects that most scare him.
The horror genre has been endlessly reworked and revitalised over the years, with directors like Jordan Peele injecting new life and meaning by adding a socio-political edge to his films, with Get Out and Us having a deeply layered and unsettling web of messaging. The genre is slowly starting to be taken seriously as an art form, with horror typically being snubbed by the Academy in the past and not seen as worthy of critical praise. However, it seems as though this is changing, with The Substance recently being nominated for an Oscar during this awards season and Demi Moore also winning a Golden Globe for her performance.
However, one film was truly revolutionary within this genre and ended up sparking a long fascination with zombies and reanimated corpses: the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.
Directed by George A Romero, the film follows a group of strangers who find themselves trapped in a farmhouse during a zombie invasion, struggling to survive the endless horrors of the night. It was genuinely ahead of its time for many reasons, with the cinematography standing out as one of the most beautiful and intentionally shot horror films of all time, with a creatively bold approach to the visual style. In addition, it was one of the first films in the world of zombie storytelling and inspired future films such as Shaun of the Dead and The Evil Dead.
King also described his love for the film and for one scene in particular, saying, “The scariest sequence I can remember is in Night of the Living Dead. The cemetery-visiting heroine, Barbara, is chased back to her car by a lurching zombie with white hair and dazed eyes. She locks herself in only to discover her brother has taken the keys. The zombie reaches down, finds a rock, and begins to bash it strengthlessly against the car window. The first time I saw this (and twice after), the scene reduced me to jelly”.
The moment is truly terrifying, as it hammers in the cold, hard truth that these creatures are practically inescapable and can overcome nearly any obstacle, with very few ways for living people to protect themselves. It revolutionised the genre and is still considered as one of the most modern and timeless horror films of all time.
