Most people subscribe to the idea that horror movies are supposed to scare you, or trade in fear, or something along those lines. But no horror movie is 100% scare-the-living-bejeesus out of you 100% of the time.  In fact, there are far more scenes on non-horror in a horror movie than there are actually scenes that terrify you. In fact, it is these scenes that often serve as the overlooked balance of imagery that fully flesh out our favorite scare flicks. And who celebrates those overlooked scenes? We do. Starting now.

The Movie: Motel Hell d. Kevin Connor (1980).

The Scene: Bumbling local sheriff Bruce courts Terry, a young woman who has been staying with Farmer Vincent after the death of her husband in a motorcycle accident. Bruce decides to take her to a drive-in to see The Monster that Challenged the World, but when they arrive, Terry realizes that he actually brought her to a local lover’s lookout filled with rocking cars and steamed windows. To ease her discomfort and break the tension, he turns on the cop lights and gives everyone a countdown to get out or be arrested. Panic ensues as cars slam into each other trying to get away and fully nude women inexplicably jump out of their cars to run into the forest. Eventually, Bruce clears the entire lover’s lookout of sexually charged teens. Terry points out that she still doesn’t see any drive-in to which Bruce hands her a pair of binoculars and tells her to look down the cliff. The movie comes into perfect focus just as Bruce calls the drive-in and has the employee patch the audio through his police CB. Voila! Instant date night awesomeness.

Why it’s Great: Every guy has been in that position, at some point in his life, of trying to find a cool way to impress a girl. The rituals of courtship are complex and strange, but what everybody wants to do is find a unique and interesting way to make yourself stand out. As Deejay always says “Every woman can get a man, but not every man can get a woman.” Bruce takes this to heart and does the best that a local backwoods sheriff can do to impress Terry. It’s a great scene that will make any male say “Damn, I’d love to come up with something like that!”. The film totally destroys Bruce’s sympathetic character in the very next scene with a very awkward, borderline attempted rape scene that is way out of place and ruins the character for the rest of the film. But the initial scene of him taking Terry to the drive-in for a cheesy monster movie via binoculars and car radio is a warm, fun moment in a film full of unpleasantness.

Filed under: Great Scenes of Non-Horror in Horror