10 Horror Movie Moments More Terrifying When You Know The Truth
7. Betty Buckley Was Genuinely Terrified Of An Untested Prop - Carrie
Carrie's iconic climax is absolute, incredible nightmare fuel, as the title character (Sissy Spacek) wreaks telekinetic havoc on the assembled prom night party.
One of the more brutal deaths is afforded to Carrie's poor gym teacher, Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), who during Carrie's outburst is crushed to death by a falling basketball backboard.
Buckley certainly sells the terror of Miss Collins' impending demise incredibly well, and that's because Buckley was genuinely scared of the rigged backboard prop hitting her for real, given that it hadn't been adequately tested prior to shooting. Buckley said in an interview with Vulture:
"This contraption they built for Ms. Collins' death scene was a basketball backboard that was on a pendulum. There was a foot of balsam wood that would take the hit against the body. They planned it so that we shot four takes with the pendulum falling and then stopping it right before it hit me. That was very scary. So what you're seeing on film is not acting at all. I'm absolutely terrified because they had not tested out the machine... Thankfully, it worked. We were all absolutely terrified."