Kneel before the monumental horror-image

There are some scenes in horror movies that are more memorable than others. As a rule, not much happens in them. Mostly someone is staring at us. From the distance.

This text has been waiting for its turn for a good few years. It started with reading an essay by Sean T. Collins. It was with him that I first learned the phrase monumental horror-image. I seemingly knew what it was, and yet it was something completely fresh to me.

I bet that you can point out at least one such scene. From classic horror movies we can tell about the little girls in The Shining, the monument in 2001: Space Odyssey, images of King in Yellow from True Detective. From more recent movies let's point out It Follows and the old lady from Herediarity.

All of that movies, tv series, contain something what we can describe as monumental horror-image. It is the same It's as much a component of the genre as jump scare, gore or the fact that a couple having sex in one of the scenes will die at the hands of a murderer. Chances are good that if a movie has ever really frightened you, you have strange, standalone sights like these to thank.