This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
In film, there is a common occurrence where a fun, exciting, family movie will, for a brief moment or two, scare the living crap out of everyone watching. That bit in GREMLINS when Lynn Peltzer battles a gremlin in the kitchen is maybe the best known example of this kind of thing. That scene is more like something out of an early Peter Jackson film than a family holiday comedy. Still, there it was, in all its gross glory.
Growing up, for many of us, those moments become our favorites, or in the least, the moments that stuck with us. Maybe they gave us nightmares, or maybe they set our imaginations ablaze, filling our minds with thoughts and images of full on insanity. Here, for your memory lane pleasure, are five moments in otherwise family friendly movies that caused more than one child to fill their pants with shit…
The Librarian in GHOSTBUSTERS
There are a few honestly scary ghosts in GHOSTBUSTERS - the taxi driving zombie guy is one of my personal favorites - but the Librarian Ghost is, to me, the most shocking one. She has the bonus of being the first, yes, but there is more to it. When we first see the Librarian Ghost, she appears pretty much normal. Her clothes are dated, sure, and she has no feet, but beyond that, she could be a living, breathing human being.
Then Ray goes and comes up with the worst idea since Carl Denham was all “We should take that ape home” and the soon to be Ghostbusters try and grab her. The Librarian turns into a monster that, when I first saw GHOSTBUSTERS made me jump out of my chair. In that moment, when she transforms from pleasant old lady to full on demon beast, the audience knows that they are in for a serious treat.
Lew Hayward in SCROOGED
Bingo! Bango! Bongo! Boom! With a series of shots from his gun, Bill Murray’s Frank Cross turns his dead mentor from a creepy zombie man into a true nightmare. Dust sprays from the rotting corpse, shortly followed by liquor. A mouse pops out of Lew’s head, pushing a gold ball out before showing it’s face and retreating to the safety of the empty skull. And then, after all that, the dude takes off his sunglasses, revealing his sewn up eyes! Super shivers!
There is nothing in the same ballpark of freaky in this movie, not the Ghost of Christmas Future, not the frozen body of Herman. Lew Hayward is the first spirit we see in SCROOGED but unlike the Librarian in GHOSTBUSTERS, he is not a sign of what is to come.
Large Marge in PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE is, to put it mildly, one of the greatest things ever put on film. It is the fever dream of a child as seen through the eyes of Paul Rubens, Tim Burton, and Phil Hartman. It is filled with giant dinosaurs, evil clowns, mean adults, battles at bathtub sea, and Large Marge.
Pee Wee, in need of a ride to Texas, finds himself in the 16-wheeler of a woman, a large woman. She tells Pee Wee a terrible story about a night just.. like… this… A story about a driver who went off the road and crashed. Dead when they were found, the driver looked, well, look above. That driver was Large Marge. I can’t imagine anyone not having seen PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, but just for safety, I won’t spoil what happens next.
The Spirits in the Ark in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
The second Indiana Jones film, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM would be a major reason why we ended up with the PG-13 rating, mainly for the scene when Mola Ram tears out a man’s still beating heart. I’ve always wondered how it is that the people of America felt that Lucas, Spielberg, and crew had gone too far with that moment, but had no issue with the ending of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
As the Nazis open the Ark, spirits, beautiful, angelic spirits rise out. It is, to the Nazi’s, wonderful. Indy, being smart as anything, knows better and keeps his eyes shut, telling his partner in adventure Marion to do the same. Sure enough, those angels turn real dark, and start killing everyone who has seen them. They melt a guy. Like full on melt him. On screen. His eyes pop out and everything. But the heart was the breaking point?
Old and Rotting Barbara and Adam in BEETLEJUICE
In fairness, BEETLEJUICE has lots of weird stuff. The shrimp that grab everyone’s faces at dinner is freaky as all get out, but to me there is nothing more frightening than when we see Barbara and Adam (Genna Davis and Alec Baldwin) as old, rotting corpses in their wedding outfits.
The thing that makes this stand out in a movie full of creepy, wacky looking stuff is that it is real. Geena and Alec don’t look cartoonish in that moment, they look like human corpses a little bit in. Their faces are painfully sad, but still there is happiness in them because they are together.
What are some of your favorite freaky ghosts that show up in otherwise not very freaky movies? Let us know!