That Foreboding Sense of Dread....

Wacker

No, it's not the name of a new horror film, although I wish it was!

What scenes from the movies do y'all think purvey the greatest sense of impending doom? Where no one acknowledges how badly things are about to turn for the worse, but everyone can feel it coming? Please be as specific as possible and only mention one example per post.

My pick: Apollo Creed's entrance to James Brown's Living in America during Rocky IV, with the stoic Ivan Drago looking on. Everyone watching must have known how it would turn out.

I get the feeling that this thread will quickly turn into a post a video and leave it at that list thread.

I think it's hard to take a great suspense film and break it down into one scene/example which perfectly captures the sense of imepnding doom. The film Outpost, a low budget English horror is a great recent example. The last 15 minutes is absolutly fantastic and while it throws the rule book out the window the manner in which it slowly ratchets up the tension will leave you white knuckled.

Wacker

Deleted User wrote: »

I get the feeling that this thread will quickly turn into a post a video and leave it at that list thread.

That could well happen. I've thus edited the video out of the OP in the hope that it doesn't.

Raekwon

The most obvious example of this for me was the Nurses Station scene in The Exorcist 3.

The scene is only around 1 minute long and the camera is totally static (positioned down a long hospital corridor) so it forces you to focus on what is happening. The scene is totally silent apart from the nurse jangling keys and walking around locking doors etc but the foreboding sense of dread is really intense until suddenly bam! A possessed patient comes walking out of the room behind her with a pair of giant bone cutting sheers aiming directly for the nurses neck.....the scene cuts to a decapitated statue! :eek:

(I didn't want to embed the link because Darko is right, if people just post links of scenes then the thread would suffer accordingly, but here is a link of the scene for people who haven't seen it).

indough

what immediately sprang to mind was in the china syndrome when

the swat team storms the control room and kills Jack Lemmons character, you just know its being set up for something big to happen next

jaykhunter

Deleted User wrote: »

I get the feeling that this thread will quickly turn into a post a video and leave it at that list thread.

Every thread in this forum -if it's not about a specific film and asks for feedback- has the "danger" of turning into a list thread. Maybe start complaining when it does! Gotta think positive

Most recent excellent experience of this was at the end of [REC], when they're in the priest's/child's room and are exploring it, and they hear something behind them (i.e something between them and the apartment door); it's brown-trousers time. Oh man, you know it isn't going to end well! Since I watch a lot of horror films, it takes a lot for me to be genuinely tense and completely glued and fearing the worst, and this scene really did it. Fantastic stuff.

jaykhunter

jaykhunter wrote: »

Every thread in this forum -if it's not about a specific film and asks for feedback- has the "danger" of turning into a list thread. Maybe start complaining when it does! Gotta think positive

But if we start the thread with videos then people will instantly follow suit. A little debate and posting of opinion is far more interesting than simply posting "I like this scene" followed by a youtube video.

krudler

The Descent has some great moments like this, finding the old caving equipment, then the scene with the bone filled cave and the nightvision camcorder footage, brilliant.

Wacker

Raekwon wrote: »

The most obvious example of this for me was the Nurses Station scene in The Exorcist 3.

The scene is only around 1 minute long and the camera is totally static (positioned down a long hospital corridor) so it forces you to focus on what is happening. The scene is totally silent apart from the nurse jangling keys and walking around locking doors etc but the foreboding sense of dread is really intense until suddenly bam! A possessed patient comes walking out of the room behind her with a pair of giant bone cutting sheers aiming directly for the nurses neck.....the scene cuts to a decapitated statue! :eek:

(I didn't want to embed the link because Darko is right, if people just post links of scenes then the thread would suffer accordingly, but here is a link of the scene for people who haven't seen it).

That scene scared the crap out of me! In doing so, it reminded me exactly why I don't really like horror; too much of a pansy. The problem with looking at that link without having seen the film though is that the context is missed. The scare was fantastic, but no one minute long clip can really convey the sense of foreboding that I'm on about.

Another good example is in Mulholland Drive. I've not seen the film in about eight years, so my memory is a bit sketchy, but it's the scene where the two ladies are

exploring a house. There is little doubt that a body would be found in the bedroom, and indeed there was one.

Entirely predictable, yet it scared me half to death.

Handsome Bob

Rocky 3 where Mickey explains how he's been handpicking bums to fight for Rocky and Rocky's underwhelming preparation for the first fight.

A few scenes in The Wrestler, namely the scene where it's alternating between

the hardcore match and the Ram banged up in the locker-room afterwards. The final match of the film as well, you just know he's ****ed.

Brokeback Mountain just has a constant air of impending doom.

The final few minutes in American History X, from where they

strip the room of Nazi memorbilia. You just know that film won't end on a positive note because you get the impression that Derek is going to pay for his past crimes. It's such a shock when it's actually Danny who loses his life.

johnny_ultimate

There are a couple of moments in Audition when there is definitely some significant creeping dread. It works well because the weird, uneasy scenes are in very stark contrast tonally to the rest of the film. It is the kind of film that lures you into a false sense of security with an outrageous comedy scene (such as the auditions themselves) or romantic scene, then snaps you out of it with a sinister phone call or

jumping burlap sack

. The film is basically an hour of increasingly odd incidents,

followed by a **** storm of pain

. I regret having seen a trailer for the film beforehand, as I'd say you could really appreciate the uneasy and constantly shifting tone watching it blind.

David Lynch in general is a master at this. Stuff like Eraserhead or the already mentioned Mullholland Drive are designed to make you feel uneasy, the soundtrack and visuals always implying that there is something wrong here. Mullholland Drive indeed is pretty masterly for this, using typical Hollywood conventions until the point where reality begins to unravel.

Hank_Jones

Pretty much the whole of Antischrist has a foreboding feeling running through it.
The Machinist also.

It's very hard for a film to get that kind of atmosphere correct.

TheIrishGrover

Directed by Uwe Boll

TheIrishGrover

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Directed by Uwe Boll

Boll has matured into quite a decent director with his recent films many of which have been well recieved by critics, including those who had previously labeled the worst film maker in decades. Tunnel Rats, Stoic, Rampage and Darfur show a rather competant film maker who not only can direct but also write interesting and original material.

jaykhunter

Deleted User wrote: »

Boll has matured into quite a decent director with his recent films many of which have been well recieved by critics, including those who had previously labeled the worst film maker in decades. Tunnel Rats, Stoic, Rampage and Darfur show a rather competant film maker who not only can direct but also write interesting and original material.

Checked 'em on IMDB... 4.5, 2.4, 4.4 out of 10 stars...not exactly a shining endorsement!

niallon

jaykhunter wrote: »

Checked 'em on IMDB... 4.5, 2.4, 4.4 out of 10 stars...not exactly a shining endorsement!

Personally if you ask me, IMDB is not a shining endorsement of anything! The Top 250 has two Star Wars films above Goodfellas FFS (I AM a Star Wars fan but come on!). As for Boll, I actually watch Postal quite a lot, fuggin hilarious film IMO.

Back on topic, it's not surprise how many mentions of horror films there's been, this is an area of excellence for the genre. And with no intention of counteracting that opinion:

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: I'd have killed to have seen this on it's first release because even now, after it's become part of so many horror clichés, the build up to the massacre has a huge impact on me. We all know by now that playing smiley happy families at the beginning of a horror film means curtains for you but I think TCM pulls it off the best.

The Descent as well, as mentioned, great use of tension and an incredible moment for viewers who aren't aware the film is about to become what it becomes. The tone shifts immediately in that one scene with the camcorder, fantastic work by Marshall and co.

krudler

jaykhunter wrote: »

Checked 'em on IMDB... 4.5, 2.4, 4.4 out of 10 stars...not exactly a shining endorsement!

imdb.com ratings mean precisely jack sh1t, this is the same website that declared The Dark Knight the greatest movie ever made about 2 weeks before it even came out.

jaykhunter

I'm not a huge fan of IMDB but it's the standard-bearer for internet ratings. I'm sure Uwe Boll's films didn't fare much better on other sites....besides uweboll.com

I hope he turns it around and makes some amazing films but i the "Uwe Boll" quip still stands :pac:

jaykhunter

jaykhunter wrote: »

I'm not a huge fan of IMDB but it's the standard-bearer for internet ratings. I'm sure Uwe Boll's films didn't fare much better on other sites....besides uweboll.com

I hope he turns it around and makes some amazing films but i the "Uwe Boll" quip still stands :pac:

It's far fromt he standard rating for films, the system is fundamently flawed and as such basing your viewing decisions on it is retarded. There are many truly great films with abysmal ratings on imdb.

Bloody-disgusting review of Rampage:

I had given up on Uwe Boll. I had taken the name and put it on my dusty shelf along with all of my bags filled with laughter. The joke was old. For all said purposes, he was dead to Bloody Disgusting and completely removed from the site. Anything announced was ignored, and anything resembling a Boll film was castrated from the horror community.

So there I was at the AFM talking to some chaps here and there about what films were hot, and which were not. In one of my colleague’s breath he uttered the title Rampage. “What’s that?” I asked. “An Uwe Boll movie…no, no, no…a good Uwe Boll movie,” he replied. Get the f*ck out of here. I looked to the sky and there were no pigs to be seen. I looked around the hall and no fat women were pelting out tunes. I sat and pondered this for a minute. “I’ll do it,” I exclaimed aloud pumping my fist into the air. I felt like a superhero taking on the genres top supervillain. “I will win once again,” I thought.

Flash forward to the screening. I was actually kinda excited to see what all the fuss is about. Within just minutes, it was like night and day. Who the hell really filmed this movie? There’s just no way Boll shot this. I’m used to the over-exposed, blown out, 80’s look of his films. Rampage is stylish from the cinematography straight down to his handheld camerawork. Boll, know to be “inspired” by other’s work, has obviously taken cues from films like Cloverfield and MI:3.

Again, in sole Boll fashion, it also appears that there wasn’t much of a script as Matt Frewer (Max Headroom!), Lynda Boyd and Brendan Fletcher improv around a breakfast table. While some of it comes off as cute, a hefty portion is sheer agitating (Boyd just couldn’t handle this assignment). Thankfully, these segments are far and few between, and most of the film follows Fletcher on his mission of self-indulgence and annihilation.

In the film Fletcher plays Bill Williamson, a teen stuck in a rut. He’s an out of high school mechanic and living an unsatisfying life. His best friend is an activist and openly protests the government and world we live in. They don’t see eye-to-eye and Bill is sick of “all talk and no do.” He’s an angry young man disgusting by “things”, yet he understands that money makes the world go round. He takes it upon himself to send a message, while achieving the ultimate goal of financial gain. It’s the American dream, right?

Boll tensely shoots Fletcher working up to his methodically ploy, while editing in short sequences of the violence to come. It’s no secret as the viewer knows exactly what’s coming, and watching Bill workout, purchase guns, and construct armor is incredibly stressful. He’s about to go f*cking balls out ballistic (or can we say Bollistic?).

Now this is the part I find incredibly interesting. Bill goes bat sh*t crazy. He blows up a police station and them embarks on a massive killing spree at a small local outdoor plaza. First, only someone like Uwe Boll would have the balls to shoot a sequence this violent in a big budget movie. It’s obviously something that could scare away buyers and big studios from ever releasing the film. Second, I really want to commend Boll on his use of violence. If you’ve seen his horrific Seed, Boll goes out of his way to punish the viewer. The flick opens with animals being tortured and within the first 15 minutes a baby is slammed against a pole in a bus. What I learned from Seed is that Boll is trying wayyyyy too hard to shock his audience. While in a film like Rampage Fletcher’s character could have easily splattered his victim’s brains against the wall, he doesn’t. In fact, there’s a scene where Bill walks into a bingo hall for old folk, and while I expected an onslaught of dentures, it actually ends up being quite a charming moment.

Boll is learning and he’s evolving as a filmmaker. Once stubborn (refusing to accept any blame) and always angry with the press, it’s almost as if the German Ed Wood has taken a deep look into the mirror, reflected on his films, and made a turn for the better.

While Boll’s message can be slightly confusing and/or construed differently by each viewer, Rampage is a controversial film that’s not only relevant to our bleak times, but also politically daring. It’s not 100% coherent, and the acting can be painful at times (with the exception of Brendan Fletcher, OMG), but in the end Dr. Uwe Boll has delivered a film that I can finally recommend. While it might not sit well with every viewer, most of you might actually enjoy this.
Score: 7 / 10

LA Tiems review of Tunnel Rats:

TUNNEL RATS Changes in the German tax laws have changed the way that infamous director Uwe Boll (BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark) does business. No longer able to rely on tax write-offs to raise capital, he’s been forced to go back to basics ... and against all odds, this approach seems to be working. Tunnel Rats, not based on a video game, not featuring crappy CG effects, and not featuring big-name actors in ridiculously miscast roles (Michael Pare is the closest thing to a familiar face), is easily Boll’s best film to date. Admittedly, in some quarters, “best Boll film” is a phrase roughly akin to “least unpleasant diaper change,” but Tunnel Rats really does evince some actual talent. A Vietnam war movie focused primarily on the underground tunnels dug by the Viet Cong — and the unfortunately naive American troops who found themselves fighting inside said passageways — it’s an effectively shot, ultraviolent, ultranihilistic, moderately claustrophobic vision seemingly inspired equally by We Were Soldiers and The Descent. Only when the soldiers open their mouths and engage in overly accented casual conversation does the Boll badness factor become evident; this, however, is rare enough to give one an actual sliver of hope for the eight other films that the Notorious U.W.E. apparently has on his slate for the next two years.

Little White Lies review of Stoic

Independent upstart, jack of all genres, lover of video games and driven self-publicist… Uwe Boll comes with so much on-line opprobrium and critical venom attached to his name that it can be difficult to view his films without prejudice. But while the straight-to-DVD Stoic might leave some viewers feeling outraged, horrified or suicidally depressed, such reactions will be in response to the film’s bleak, provocative content rather than to any obvious flaws in the direction.

Based on events in a German prison in 2006, Stoic begins with a man (Shaun Sipos) waking up at night in his cell, fashioning a noose out of a sheet, and quietly hanging himself in the moonlight. If the death is aestheticised, even sentimentalised, then everything that follows will serve as a Rashomon-esque deconstruction of that opening scene, as flashbacks to the chain of prosaic atrocities surrounding the death are intercut with the conflicting testimonies of the three surviving cellmates (Edward Furlong, Sam Levinson, Steffen Mennekes).

What emerges is a blistering tale of group psychosis and Darwinist brutality, as caged men turn on any perceived weakness, their escalating violence inspired by fear as much as cruelty. The cons, when they are not engaged in verbal evasions, express themselves through humiliations, beatings, rape and torture, making this a film to be endured rather than enjoyed. Yet as an attack on the prison system, it is far more coherent and focused than Boll’s critique of the death penalty in exploitation shocker Seed (2007), and also, for all the unpleasantness of its story, far more visually restrained. Here Boll’s weapon of choice – and it’s an effective one – is the close-up, deployed both to highlight the claustrophobia of the cell, and to probe unflinchingly the characters’ faces. The results, though a little stagey, are raw, confronting, and unremittingly grim. It is Boll at his best.

Goes some way to prove that imdb can't be trusted but then again any site which allows you to rate a film before it even enters production is flawed.

Raekwon

Deleted User wrote: »

I get the feeling that this thread will quickly turn into a post a video and leave it at that list thread.

It's a pity that you didn't get the feeling that this thread would quickly turn into a pointless and completely off topic debate about Uwe Boll and IMDB's rating structure :pac:

Wacker wrote:

That scene scared the crap out of me! In doing so, it reminded me exactly why I don't really like horror; too much of a pansy. The problem with looking at that link without having seen the film though is that the context is missed. The scare was fantastic, but no one minute long clip can really convey the sense of foreboding that I'm on about.

I'm not sure what you mean then because to me that one scene, regardless of it's length, conveys a the perfect foreboding sense of dread that this thread title suggests. In other words KNOWING something is going to happen and waiting nervously while the tension builds.

Another scene like this that comes to mind is in Platoon when Charlie Sheen's character has just come off nightwatch duty.

He is drifting in and out of sleep when suddenly his blurry eyes spot silhouettes of Vietnamese soldiers slowly advancing on him in the distance. The scene is even more powerful due to the fact that the current solider on nightwatch duty has fallen asleep and Sheen's character is frozen to the spot, his weapon is out of reach and he just sits there awaiting his fate (most likely in his own filth!)

Raekwon

Raekwon wrote: »

It's a pity that you didn't get the feeling that this thread would quickly turn into a pointless and completely off topic debate about Uwe Boll and IMDB's rating structure :pac:

But it hasn't 1 or 2 posts about the subject and it was quickly back on topic. Far from a case of the thread going off in a completely new direction, in fact you could say that it's par on course for a discussion on what gives a foreboding sense of dread, I certainly get that feeling when people talk about how the imdb rating system is seen asa respected system.


Rewatched Pride and Glory and the scene where

Farrell threatens the baby with the iron

is a truly fantastic moment which is nearly unbearable. It's one of the films strongest scenes and one which will have your heart in you throat.

Martyrs is pretty much one endless film of foreboding, the entire film just builds and builds until the sense of unease is nearly too much to take. It's a perfect example of how extreme violence and atmosphere can be geled together into somethign much more than cheap thrills.

On the subject of films which squander any sense of foreboding, watching Mullholland Falls and it has opportunity after opportunity to craft an interesting and suspense filled film only to turn into a cameo filled neo noir which is more concerned with looking pretty than anythign else.

jaykhunter

My bad Darko & OP; didn't meant to derail the thread. But hey it's not a list thread Anything more I say on the matter will derail the thread further. So *zipp!* (mouth, that is :pac:)

Back to foreboding dread!

One part in probably my favourite movie ever, Terminator 2, when the T-1000 goes through the prison bars in the mental asylum. You hear the music, and everyone stops in terror. The fact that the gun gets caught on the bars is genius! I remember seeing it (and still do) and thinking "ah crap!!" :pac:

Skinfull

Ahhh this question can be answered two fold!

I initially thought the OP meant an impending sense of doom that the movie you were enjoying was about to take a nose dive...for that angle I nominate Avatar...it soon became apparent to me that this flick was going to be an exercise in style over substance when I saw another swooping shot, another running through landscape shot, another boring conversation...Christ! Then to name the one substance that you NEED to get "unobtainium" Terrible movie.

Then to think that this post my be about something else like when you know a movie is about to make you hurt... La vita é bella When he

started playing hide and seek with the kid while the nazis were killing all the jews

I sensed this coming and I just knew it was gonna hurt. Great movie.

podgemonster

The scene in the Dark Knight with Harvey and Rachel tied to chairs surrounded by fuel tanks.

They talk on the phone to each other saying 'Everything is going to alright'

faceman

Interesting topic OP, nice to see the thread hasnt descended into a list.

Ive got 2 but I could probably think of better ones if I put time into it.

The Exorcist The infamous scene with the crucifix. The devil has no boundaries and not even the innocent are safe. Not only is it one of the most important scenes in the film but it also gave you a real "Jesus wept" moment.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) When yer man gets bitten in the lift and turns. His memory has him break down the false wall thus bringing the zombies into the room. It creates this sense of hopelessness especially when the black character decides that he will take his own life as the hopelessness is shared by both the audience and characters. The lingering shots of the zombies roaming the shopping mall while the credits roll reinforces that sense.

Schism

I might not be getting the idea of this thread but the scene in Goodfellas where

Jimmy is standing at a bar and Sunshine of your Love starts playing. You just know Morrie's done for.

Great little moment, amazing how one man can look so bad ass just standing there.

uncleoswald

Was going to mention The Descent, the moments leading up to the first encounter were superb.

I'd also say Ringu,

at the end when the ex husband is at home thinking its all over yet we just know Sadako isn't finished.

I was willing him to get out of the apartment. Yeah its pretty standard horror fair,

the false ending, followed by the final scare,

however it doesn't play for a cheap jump, instead by the atmosphere creted by the director we know its coming and the sense of dread is fantastic.

One that doesn't quite fit your description, as the characters know what's coming but what the hell: the scene with Javier Bardem and Woody Harrelson in No County For Old Men. It has an almost suffocating sense of dread and Harrelson's performance in that scene was award worthy.

geekychick

+1 for "The Machinist" (every time Christian Bale has a look at the 'Hangman' on the fridge door).

"Full Metal Jacket", when Modine hears D'Onofrio mumbling to himself.

There are so many beautiful examples, but since I have to restrict myself to one per post, some other time!

LittleBook

Wacker wrote: »

What scenes from the movies do y'all think purvey the greatest sense of impending doom? Where no one acknowledges how badly things are about to turn for the worse, but everyone can feel it coming?

John William's "shark theme" from Jaws ... "a classic piece of suspense music, synonymous with approaching danger" ... only two notes but we know that girl is dead meat (pardon the pun ).

paulanthony

The start of Shutter Island.

Music and greyish picture adds to this.

Dont be at yourself

The opening (I think...) scene of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, where The Bad comes into the guy's house. So tense.

DazMarz

The Silence Of The Lambs

The slow, long, walk down that dank, ill-lit corridor in the bowels of the mental asylum... Not knowing what sinister horror would be lurking at the end. That single, small, folding chair sitting waiting in front of the cell... You knew you were dealing with one twisted hombre coming up.

Then the superbly edited final scenes of the

FBI S.W.A.T. Team making their 'move' alongside Agent Clarice Starling making her own. Superb and classic.

razorblunt

Inglorious Bsterds

Obviously the opening scene, I'm not a huge QT fan and went into this with little expectations, still don't like the overall film, but with the German car coming down the road, the tension built.

mikhail

podgemonster wrote: »

The scene in the Dark Knight with Harvey and Rachel tied to chairs surrounded by fuel tanks.

They talk on the phone to each other saying 'Everything is going to alright'

That film had a couple of them for me.
The first was the first long shot of the police van transporting Harvey. The second was

The Joker riding to freedom in a stolen squad car.

Alien is one of my favourite films. The sense of foreboding is probably at its peak in the scene in the ducts with the flame-thrower.