Stephen King on the scariest horror sequence of all time: “The scene reduced me to jelly”
Creating some of the greatest horror tales of the 20th century, including titles such as The Shining, Carrie and Pet Sematary, American writer Stephen King is nothing short of a modern master of the genre. Well-known for his seminal literary investigations that have spawned countless film adaptations, King is an indispensable part of pop culture, with his stories having been adapted numerous times for television and cinema.
Rising to prominence in the 1970s, the writer, who later became known as the ‘King of Horror’ found his first big break in 1974 with the release of Carrie, a coming-of-age horror tale about a teenager who enacts revenge on her persecutors thanks to her telekinetic powers. While popular upon its release, its movie adaptation at the hands of Brian De Palma two years later would make King a household name, establishing him as a star of Hollywood horror at the very same time.
By the end of the decade and the dawn of the 1980s, King was well-renowned as an era-defining author, and during the course of his domination over the public sphere, King utilised his platform to comment on the state of horror on multiple occasions. As a columnist for major publications, the legendary writer tried to introduce his fans to some of the horror masterpieces that have influenced his own artistic sensibilities during his journey.
Such can be seen in his love for many of the underappreciated genre classics, claiming that Robert Mitchum’s bone-chilling performance in The Night of the Hunter remains one of the very best in the history of horror. A surreal horror experience that remains unparalleled, King said of the movie, “In the film version, Robert Mitchum gave him the face that caused a thousand nightmares”.
In contemporary society, he’s a little more cynical, being openly critical of big horror productions handled by Hollywood today, despite still acknowledging modern pioneers like Zack Snyder and Robert Eggers for their cinematic vision. He is particularly fond of Eggers’ fantastic 2015 debut feature The Witch, which actually terrified him, unlike some of the other horror films in the current landscape.
However, King maintains that the scariest horror scene that he has ever witnessed came in George A. Romero’s unforgettable classic Night of the Living Dead, which has now become a definitive work of the genre. According to King, horror is an extremely intimate experience, and Romero’s 1968 gem knew how to exploit that to the fullest, introducing horror lovers across the world to the concept of the walking dead.
“The scariest sequence I can remember is in Night of the Living Dead,” King declared while writing about the true meaning of horror in an article in which he attacked the horror conventions adopted by studio executives today.
Continuing, he added: “The cemetery-visiting heroine, Barbara, is chased back to her car by a lurching zombie with white hair and dazed eyes”.
Writing about the scene in question, King explains just how effective the moment is, adding: “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”.
Night of the Living Dead is truly the perfect example of what King is talking about, being a masterpiece made on a relatively tiny budget that ended up becoming a huge commercial success. The film proved that transgressive art with cultural value can still be financially viable, especially as horror fans so desperately seek original content that challenges their own fears of the wider world.
The film prompted the creation of an entirely new movie monster, with Romero following up the early classic with two even more beloved releases, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead and 1985’s Day of the Dead. While being violent gore-fests, such zombie flicks maintain a core that speaks to some sort of pertinent social truth, helping the sub-genre to stay relevant for generations.
