4. Route 666 - The Machinist (2004)
Big, big spoiler warning for this post. If you are, at any point in your life, planning to watch The Machinist Id skip this entry. For the majority of The Machinist, theres a little voice in the back of your mind speculating, Its not going to pull a Fight Club is it? Christian Bales malnourished insomniac Trevor Reznik is hounded by fellow machine worker Ivan, but as the film develops Ivans physical existence seems less and less likely, until it is revealed he is a fragmented part of Trevors psyche. However, this partially expected twist remains shocking because even though it shares the basic nature of that in Finchers masterpiece, the film takes such a different approach to it. The Machinists standout scene, and a perfect example of it's stylised nature, is the Route 666 ride. A haunting and genuinely scary scene, Trevor and the young son of his airport working confidant take the ride, which becomes a window into Resniks tortured soul. The startlingly horrific images on the ride are heightened depictions of the films events presented with incredibly vivid colour, contrasting sharply against the washed out pallet of the rest of the film. The sequence ends with young Nicholas suffering an epileptic fit after taking (in one of the films running motifs) a wrong turn and in the flashes we get brief images of Trevors past; hes been down the road to hell before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHjMkWT5HJQ