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9. Time Is On My Side
Sam: "Doc Benton. Real-life doctor, lived in New Hampshire. Brilliant man obsessed with alchemy, especially how to live forever."
Dean: "Whatever he was doing, it was working "“ he just kept on ticking. Parts would wear out; he'd replace "˜em."
Now who doesn't want to live forever?
This is a classic tale of horror. It reminds me in some small way of the Edgar Allen Poe story "Telltale Heart," for some reason, though they aren't similar. In this episode, a doctor discovers the secret to immortality - but at a price. He kidnaps people in the dark of night, using chloroform to knock them unconscious. They wake up strapped to table next to a jar of maggots. Then they're operated on without anesthetic, left awake while an organ is ripped from their body. But that's not the scariest part. The scariest part is that Doc Benton is still alive "“ will always be alive - buried with his secrets somewhere six-feet under. It's scary because there's always the possibility that one day, somehow, he'll get free.
Gives me the chills.
Dean: "Whatever he was doing, it was working "“ he just kept on ticking. Parts would wear out; he'd replace "˜em."
Now who doesn't want to live forever?
This is a classic tale of horror. It reminds me in some small way of the Edgar Allen Poe story "Telltale Heart," for some reason, though they aren't similar. In this episode, a doctor discovers the secret to immortality - but at a price. He kidnaps people in the dark of night, using chloroform to knock them unconscious. They wake up strapped to table next to a jar of maggots. Then they're operated on without anesthetic, left awake while an organ is ripped from their body. But that's not the scariest part. The scariest part is that Doc Benton is still alive "“ will always be alive - buried with his secrets somewhere six-feet under. It's scary because there's always the possibility that one day, somehow, he'll get free.
Gives me the chills.
Comments
I totally agree with Bloody Mary. When she crawled out of that mirror, the way she moved was just so freaking...unna tural, it creeped me right out. Same with those feral kids in Family Remains. That scene where the girl thinks it's her dog? Yikes!
Honestly, I'm a bit of a horror junkie, and so is my mom so a lot of the stuff doesn't really bother me that much since I've been watching it since I was old enough to not get sent to bed (and a few times I snuck back too). I think what tends to get me, at least on this show is when it turns out to be humans. I think that's why I was so disturbed by Repo Man, too. It was a person who was actually the messed up one. "Demons I get, people are crazy"
Creepy is way scarier than gory. Dean being close to the Scarecrow (which IS moving!) is one of those moments. Sam has a similar moment where he is close to the waxwork of Abraham Lincoln. All the Bloody Mary reflections are scary too.
However my scary moment is from 'The Usual Suspects'. It is the scene where the ghost appears to the police woman in the basement and gets really close to the screen very suddenly. I was watching that episode while falling asleep (wearing earphones) the music gets loud suddenly and I opened my eyes just as she runs at the screen - this is not something I recommend doing unless your heart is good and strong
Last thing - watch the very opening scene of the first episode. There is a branch shadow crawling along the wall of the house in a way that doesn't appear possible - that's pretty spooky!
"No Exit" really creeped me out, because I had read "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen, about H.H. Holmes during the Chicago World's fair. Pick it up, it's well worth it. Also "Home" scared the bejesus out of me for the same reason as "Poltergeist" did. My whole childhood I was afraid of whatever was in my closet. To this day, I will not sleep with the closet door open and I will always face it before going to sleep. That way, when something jumps out, I'll see it and run (hopefully). In "Bloody Mary", the girl at the end was like the girl coming out of the tv in "The Ring". Sooo scary! But one of the episodes that scares me a whole lot is "The Benders". There's just something about hillbillies getting their jollies off by catching people and chasing them like animals. There was an episode of the X-Files (season 4 I think) called "Home" (I think) about a family that turn out to be inbreds. It's one of the scariest hours of tv I've ever seen and "The Benders" reminds me of that episode. And if I'm not mistaken, Kim Manners was the director.
Thanks for the creepy walk down memory lane.
Scarecrow gave me the creeps and still does after many many viewings. Scariest scarecrow ever! Dude, you fugly!
indeed.
Provenance is one not mentioned here, but it gets to me every time with that weird creepy painting and that menacing little girl with the straight razor and dolly. Yikes!
The cannibal Benders are frightening because they are human and I remembered a news story about a farmer in the country who had people strung up like cattle carcases in his house and books with human skin covers, so it can happen really! Stomach turning human monster stuff! And that X-Files episode "Home" was an absolute creep-fest!
First time I saw Bloody Mary I was chilled spotting her in the mirrors. After seeing it many many times the fright has faded, but I still enjoy it immensely. When I was a kid I heard an episoe of "The Shadow" (yes I'm that old!) in which a guy gets up in the night to visit the john and sees a floating greenish skull in the bathroom mirror which freaks him out obviously. Turned out he had some kind of disease that made his bones glow in the dark, and it was himself he was seeing. After that, for years, at night I would NEVER look in a mirror I walked by. And in the daytime I was always looking for something in them that shouldn't be there. Maybe part of the blame should be on "Alice Through the Looking Glass" which I loved as a kid.
Great article!
But for me, the scariest episode is "My Bloody Valentine" Famine creeped me out like no other Supernatural monster. I STILL hide behind my hands for him! I've even, on occasion, simply fast forwarded through his parts even though I know what the end is!
I don't find Bugs scary at all though so it wouldn't be on my list, its such a silly episode!
Great list!