Growing up I wasn't the world's biggest fan of George Lucas's space opera saga STAR WARS. I was one of those kids that preferred spending my time in cinematic space with Ridley Scott's masterpiece ALIEN. That said, I always felt the STAR WARS series could sustain a separate series of horror-based spin-offs. And it is with this in mind we wanted to look back at some of the sequences from the saga and admire the ones that could have been pulled from any number of 70's and/or 80's space horror films.
Find our VIDEO version of the list at the bottom of the article!
Now let's get to it!
There is nothing worse when you're trying to save a princess from an evil Empire than attempting escape and landing in a pit of pure garbage, as I can only imagine what the Imperial Army throws out. But add in a trash-eating creature proficient at pulling people into the shallow depths and this horror movie sequence from A NEW HOPE and it couldn't get much worse. Oh, wait. It totally can and it totally does! Someone just turned on the trash compactor and now it's a mere matter of choice: get your ass eaten by a trash-demon, or get your ass crushed like candy. Jeez, can't catch a break.
Hell, yeah. The Rancor is probably my favorite creature from the Star Wars series. Huge, mean, and ready to nom-nom anything that gets in its path, the Rancor from RETURN OF THE JEDI needs his own spin-off movie. Just imagine one of these things getting loose in Cloud City and razing Lando and his team of Space Pirates, or how about the Death Star? Could make for a great contained horror-thriller within the Star Wars universe. Sounds awesome, in fact. I don't know about you, but I'd watch RANCOR (and its inevitable sequel RANCORS) all day, every day.
Here we have another creature from the Star Wars canon that needs his own feature. Imagine it, a group of peeps crashland on Hoth and have to battle the elements and try not to go ALIVE on each other when all of the sudden they realize there is a much greater (and cooler) threat to their Donner Party. The Abominable Snowman of Hoth is vastly underused in the Star Wars saga. But his one scene with Luke in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is still pretty badass. Now let me blow your mind and purpose yet another spin-off film: RANCOR VS THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF HOTH. Why isn't Disney on this shite??
I debated heavily where exactly to include this entry from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on the list. At first, I thought it was only slightly a horror sequence, but then I rewatched the scene where Luke goes into the Darkside Cave on Dagobah and realized this shite is full-on fear in motion. From the creepy cave to Vader emerging like a black nightmare from the darkest shadows, the Darkside Cave test is classic horror through and through. Add in a decapitation, the psychological horror element and the above image of terror, and this is one of my favorite scenes in the Star Wars saga for sure. Pure horror.
How could this prolonged sequence from REVENGE OF THE SITH end up anywhere but number one on our list? I still can't believe this shite was allowed in a "kid's movie." It is beyond disturbing. After all, we see our hero turn evil, then his best buddy chops off his legs, and one of his arms, and then straight up walks off as the man catches fire, screaming the whole time. Not only that, but the sequence continues as he is gathered up and put back together in a dark, smoke-filled operating room from the bowels of George Lucas's nightmares. No wonder Anakin is such a dick for the rest of the series. I'd be pissed too.
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