# Horror book/movie lovers: which scene was too much for you? (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 14, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868 "2004-08-14T21:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/21 "2004-08-16T00:17:08Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > I had been reading the comic book _The Sandman_ regularly from the first issue and was getting to be a big fan of the series, until one about issue 6 or so. It was about a bunch of people who were trapped in a diner with a supernatural mass murderer (was that The Corinthian? Or did he come later?). That was Dr Destiny (who, with the death of his mother, was able to go back to his real name (Dr Dee).), an old Justice League villain with the ability to manipulate dreams - because he had possession of Dream’s jewel, it turned out. That story (24 Hours) was the one that cemented my love of Sandman - and it remains my favourite. The Corinthian wasn’t introduced until the Doll’s House story arc - which ties into 24 Hours, because one of the victims of the massacre was a friend of the main character in The Doll’s House. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/22 "2004-08-16T00:21:55Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > I had been reading the comic book _The Sandman_ regularly from the first issue and was getting to be a big fan of the series, until one about issue 6 or so. It was about a bunch of people who were trapped in a diner with a supernatural mass murderer (was that The Corinthian? Or did he come later?). It described how he would control the minds of the customers to make them do sexual and violent things to themselves and each other, eventually killing everyone in the diner. It was pretty graphic and disturbing, but the part that got me the worst was a single panel where he said something like “for one hour, he gave the people back their minds and made them realize everything that they had done.” I believe that was Dr. Destiny. Doubly chilling because he was a fairly standard villain for the guys-in-tights before Gaiman got his hands on him. What got me was the scene where he carjacks a woman to get away from Arkham. They spend the drive talking to each other, he comes across as pretty sympathetic and almost likable, and then he shoots her. That really got to me. Well, that and the girl in the diner with the skewers. “I can see! Sweet lord, I can see the glory!” Gah! > [@](#): > > There’s an issue of _Preacher_ by Garth Ennis, where one of the characters is talking about the plane flight from Dallas after JFK was assassinated. He tells the story of going into the cargo hold of the plane, right after LBJ was sworn in, to find LBJ fucking the bullet hole in the president’s skull, screaming “Who’s in charge now, huh? Who’s in charge now?!?” > > That was about the most obscene thing I’d ever seen, and it turned me off the rest of the series. I mean, I think I “get” black humor and exaggeration, but that just crossed the line for me. That wasn’t _Preacher_, that was _Hellblazer_. Same writer and artist, though. I loved that scene. Not just because I like the idea of a Kennedy getting skull-fucked, but because its John Constantine who tells the story… and he’s telling it to the ghost of John F. Kennedy, who’s standing there with his hand on the back of his head to keep his brains from falling out. I thought it was hilarious. Then again, my “line” is pretty far out there. (Although, they didn’t actually _show_ LBJ porking the presidential brain pan, which probably would have been a bit much, even for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Pyrrhonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pyrrhonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyrrhonist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/23 "2004-08-16T01:26:06Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > 1. In Graham Masterton’s _Ritual_, a scene where the protagonist is forced to cut off, cook, and eat his own finger to prove his sincerity in wanting to join a cult of self-cannibals. You got that title wrong, the book was _Feast_. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart. I thought the kitchen scene near the end exceed the finger scene for over-the-top grossness. I squirmed all the way through the movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s \* Persuasion \*. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/24 "2004-08-16T02:37:11Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > 1. In Graham Masterton’s _Ritual_, a scene where the protagonist is forced to cut off, cook, and eat his own finger to prove his sincerity in wanting to join a cult of self-cannibals. For that matter, lots of Masterton’s stuff is pretty over the edge gorewise, but that was the worst and the only one where I had to put the book down for awhile before I could continue. King has already topped that – he wrote a short story (forget the title) where a corrupt surgeon is shipwrecked in a desert island – and when I say “island,” I mean just a volcanic outcropping in the sea, with nothing growing on it. He has nothing but the heroin he was smuggling when the ship went down. He breaks his leg trying to catch a seagull, gangrene sets in and he knows going to lose the leg anyway – so he dopes himself up with the heroin, amputates it with a jagged plank of wood, and eats it. It **starts** there . . . ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/25 "2004-08-16T02:40:46Z")
That would be _Survivor Type_ ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/26 "2004-08-16T10:52:27Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > And yet some dark voice keeps tempting me to read her EXQUISITE CORPSE! > :eek: :eek: :eek: I love Poppy Z. Brite, but _Exquisite Corpse_ is really fucked up. As much so as _American Psycho_, I think. > [@SolGrundy](#): > > There’s an issue of _Preacher_ by Garth Ennis, where one of the characters is talking about the plane flight from Dallas after JFK was assassinated. He tells the story of going into the cargo hold of the plane, right after LBJ was sworn in, to find LBJ fucking the bullet hole in the president’s skull, screaming “Who’s in charge now, huh? Who’s in charge now?!?” I may be deranged, but that struck me as being terribly funny. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/27 "2004-08-16T12:44:46Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Elenia28_ > A Stephen King short story, can’t remember the name, but he’s got golden eyeballs in his fingers. UGH. Then he cuts his hand off and it appears in his chest. Double UGH. This would be _I Am The Doorway_ in the collection _Skeleton Crew_. Creeped me out, too. ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/28 "2004-08-16T12:53:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That wasn’t _Preacher_, that was _Hellblazer_. Same writer and artist, though. I loved that scene. Not just because I like the idea of a Kennedy getting skull-fucked, but because its John Constantine who tells the story… and he’s telling it to the ghost of John F. Kennedy, who’s standing there with his hand on the back of his head to keep his brains from falling out. I thought it was hilarious. Then again, my “line” is pretty far out there. (Although, they didn’t actually _show_ LBJ porking the presidential brain pan, which probably would have been a bit much, even for me.) Preacher’s got its share of pretty out-there stuff as well. The bit where we find out that Odin from the meat factory has sex with a giant vagina made out of raw animal parts was so sick it actually cured me of my munchies. No kidding. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/29 "2004-08-16T12:57:50Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > This would be _I Am The Doorway_ in the collection _Skeleton Crew_. Creeped me out, too. Ooops, I was wrong about the collection it appears in: it’s _Night Shift_, which also contains the amazingly disturbing _Trucks_. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/30 "2004-08-16T13:33:01Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Back To The OP > > That would be the a text file I found on this, my spare computer, when forced to stop using the laptop due to spyware. I was halfway through before the memories came back. It was my diary. I had erased nearly all the entries and blocked out the memories of my romance with Talia. > > Warning-The following may be disturbing That was…that was awesome. I mean, just awesome. I…I _am_ in awe. Bravo. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/31 "2004-08-16T13:43:18Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > In “From Dusk til Dawn” there’s a scene where the vampires are all over this Asian guy, I think he’s the minister’s adopted son. Anyway, as the vampires start their feeding frenzy, he realizes that he’s going to become a vampire if they kill him, so he begs his sister to kill him first. It’s a pretty awful scene with him shouting “Please Kate, kill me!!!” I always thought the minister’s (Harvey Keitel) late wife was Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/32 "2004-08-16T13:51:38Z")
I often surprise myself with the depths of gore and depravity I am willing to subject myself to in the name of “entertainment”. Every now and then I’ll shudder a bit, and I’ve been known to yell “Ewwww!” at a book sometimes, but I rarely get thoroughly freaked out. But every time I watch _Sleepaway Camp_, the scene with the boiling pot of corn freaks me the hell out. It’s not terribly graphic–in fact, at this moment I can’t even recall if we even _see_ anything happen. Maybe it’s the fact that while it’s unlikely someone’s going to bury me up to my neck in a garbage pile and then take a lawnmower to my head, it’s entirely possible that I’m going to spill a giant pot of boiling water on myself while making corn. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/33 "2004-08-16T15:35:02Z")
> [@Pyrrhonist](#): > > You got that title wrong, the book was _Feast_. Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart. I thought the kitchen scene near the end exceed the finger scene for over-the-top grossness. Nope, I’m sure it’s _Ritual_. Maybe it was released under different titles–I know some of Masterton’s stuff has different titles in the UK and the US. Maybe one or the other was the original title. Must go hunt that up now for my own knowledge (I’m a big Masterton fan). Yeah, good point about the kitchen scene. Thanks for reminding me. 🙂 :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/34 "2004-08-16T15:36:26Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > King has already topped that – he wrote a short story (forget the title) where a corrupt surgeon is shipwrecked in a desert island – and when I say “island,” I mean just a volcanic outcropping in the sea, with nothing growing on it. He has nothing but the heroin he was smuggling when the ship went down. He breaks his leg trying to catch a seagull, gangrene sets in and he knows going to lose the leg anyway – so he dopes himself up with the heroin, amputates it with a jagged plank of wood, and eats it. It **starts** there . . . Yeah, I’ve read that one, and yeah, it was pretty awful. I think _Ritual_ was worse, though. I’d blocked out the kitchen scene **Pyrrhonist** mentioned. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/35 "2004-08-16T16:24:41Z")
There are a few scenes in the movie Dead Alive, but none so turning as when the zombie mother bleeds out in the pudding, and the fat man is just slurping it up. I could retch just thinking about it. In print form there was a collection of zombie stories out a few years ago called “Book of the Dead”. It was my first introduction to David Schow. His story is called “Jerry’s Kids meet Wormboy” and his descriptions of Wormboy eating the guts of recently dispatched zombies it just as horrid an idea as can be described. ---
**Author:** ![Pyrrhonist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pyrrhonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyrrhonist)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/36 "2004-08-16T17:36:06Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > Nope, I’m sure it’s _Ritual_. Maybe it was released under different titles–I know some of Masterton’s stuff has different titles in the UK and the US. Okay, different US and UK titles. Look [here](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Graham_Masterton.htm) for a complete list; other books by Masterton have different titles as well. As long as we’re on the savory subject of cannibalism, _Off Season_ by Jack Ketchum has some gory servings on the menu. The BBQ scene and inside the cave were rough. All though I’ve never read it, yet, _Bighead_ by Edward Lee is supposedly one of the grossest books ever written. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/37 "2004-08-16T17:58:58Z")
I think I read somewhere that Stephen King once said he tries to scare the bejesus out of people, and if that doesn’t work, he will try to gross you out. Anyone notice the creepiest things seems to be violence against eyes and against children? The vignettes in _Insomnia_ or _The Stand_, where children are either murdered or dying, get to me every time. For that reason, I’ve only been able to read _Cujo_ once. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/38 "2004-08-16T18:04:10Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > I had to stop reading a book by Joyce Carol Oates called “Zombie”, which is a first-person singular account from the point of view of a serial killer. He was trying to make people into zombies (for sex slaves) by doing home lobotomies with an ice pick through the person’s eye. The specific scene which made me put down the book was when he was trying to lobotomize his first victim, and the person thrashed so hard in the bathtub that he broke the piano wire around his ankles. The narrator was so disappointed that the victim didn’t survive the “procedure” to become his slave. Oh, so that’s what happened. Once the ice pick went into the eye, it was “Goodbye JCO!” for me. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/39 "2004-08-16T19:35:08Z")
1. _Jacob’s Ladder_ - Various scenes are too freaky for words, particularly when Tim Robbins is being wheeled around corridors. 2. _The Hitcher_ - When the girl gets pulled apart by 2 semis. I wasn’t really watching the film up to that point & have never seen the remainder. 3. _A Clockwork Orange_ - Saw the first part of this film & couldn’t take any more after the rape scene started. The way they slapped the woman, as if she was just an inanimate object, was scarier than anything they could’ve said. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868/40 "2004-08-16T22:57:24Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I always thought the minister’s (Harvey Keitel) late wife was Asian. Could be. I haven’t seen this movie since it came out, but the scene with him begging his sister to kill him has stuck in my mind forever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horror-book-movie-lovers-which-scene-was-too-much-for-you-spoilers/259868.md?page=3)