20 Horror Movies Everyone Remembers For Just One Scene
19. Dead Of Night - The Dummy Short
No disrespect to Dead of Night, for it is unquestionably one of the best and most frightening horror anthologies out there, and it's still shocking that it was made by Ealing Studios, who are primarily known for their comedies. Nevertheless, it would also be a lie to say that one short hasn't lingered much more in the public consciousness than anything else in it. That is the picture's concluding story, in which ventriloquist Maxwell Frere (Michael Redgrave) falls victim to a malevolent dummy named Hugo.
If you think Chucky's scary, wait until you see this guy. This entire segment is spectacularly creepy, and that cursed dummy might just give you nightmares. Unsurprisingly, it's had a pervasive impact on popular culture - in fact, author R.L. Stine was inspired by this to create the iconic character of Slappy the Dummy for his beloved Goosebumps series.
As well as being the overall picture's greatest achievement, it is unquestionably one of the best segments ever to feature in a horror anthology. At the end of the picture, its protagonist (Mervyn Johns) has an elaborate hallucination involving all of its shorts, and Hugo makes one final, nightmare-fuel appearance, cementing him as an absolute icon.