12 Startling Moments In Cinema

6. Eyeball Slicing - Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Unh One of the most revered startling moments in cinema which happened all the way back in the 1920s, thanks to Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. They created a surreal, non linear silent film in Un Chien Andalou and they were all about startling the heck out of people. This was achieved in the film's opening scenes in which a man sharpens his razor, tests it on his thumb and then goes over to a calm young women sitting on a chair. He slits her eyeball open with the razor and we can sell all of the vitreous fluid coming out. I think it is the woman's serenity about having her eyeball sliced which is the most shocking thing in the film. Bunuel and Dali wanted to shake audiences up and they expected a riot, but received a rapturous welcome from the French bourgeoisie - the very people they were slating in the movie. They were welcomed into the arms of the surrealists by Andre Breton and the ocular mayhem in this film has ensured its legendary status to this day.
Contributor
Contributor

My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!