No video to go with this one folks, because, well, I can’t find one. And since I’m pretty dumb at the whole youtube thing, and don’t want to get sued, well, I won’t be uploading it. Instead, you’ll get to hear me describe it. Sounds like fun no?
For the last few days I’ve been trying to come up with a Halloween-related post, so I Googled “favorite scary movies” and spent an hour or so looking over various lists. I was a bit surprised by some of the movies that popped up, mostly because I don’t find them to be scary at all. One of those films was Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
There’s a lot to love in that movie. It’s easily one of the best sequels ever made, and one of the rare few that advance the story from the first film rather than try to recapture the magic that made the first one great. No scene illustrates that more than Sarah Conner’s escape from the mental hospital.
When we get reintroduced to Sarah Conner it’s pretty startling. At the end of the first film she was a young beautiful woman, pregnant with the child who’s going to save the world. Riding off into the sunset. But, when we see her in T2 she’s a completely changed person. Obsessed, tired, haggard and desperate.
Like I said, I don’t really think this is a scary movie, it’s more a sci-fi/actioner, but there is definitely an extreme amount of fear that comes in this scene. When she successfully breaks away from the hospital staff and is headed towards the elevators. Right as she reaches the doors, out steps Arnold’s T-800. As she falls to the ground, scrambling backwards and screaming, you REALLY believe this woman is afraid for her life.
The next moments of the film are filled with some of the greatest scenes of bad-assery in existence. But, it’s that moment, Sarah’s fear, that sticks with me most. Linda Hamilton should have won an Oscar for that scene alone.
EDIT: Found the scene at youtube, but I can’t embed, feel free to make with the clickety and watch though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuiJBeC8mEk
