Before Peter Jackson became world famous for his Lord of the Rings film adaptation, the New Zealand director made a name for himself primarily with horror films in the 1980s and 90s. Works like Bad Taste, Braindead and The Frighteners were dark horror comedies with often a strong body horror element.
However, Jackson did not completely turn away from the horror genre later in his Middle-earth adventures: several scenes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (currently on Amazon Prime *) reveal his roots as a horror filmmaker. As part of Moviepilot’s horror month, it’s worth taking another look at the three fantasy films with new eyes 7 scariest Lord of the Rings scenes to find.
7th place in the greatest Lord of the Rings horror moments: The dark Galadriel
Lothlórien, with its golden leaves and secure borders, is a much-needed refuge in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lady of the Forest welcomes the travelers mourning Gandalf with open arms. In this atmosphere of security, the transformation that Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) undergoes when Frodo offers her the One Ring is all the more frightening. The scene of temptation is staged by Peter Jackson Haunted in the Elven Forestby revealing to us in a ghostly and menacing manner what dark ruler Galadriel would become if she took Sauron’s ring.
6th place in the Lord of the Rings horror: Spider attack by Shelob
It’s not just people with arachnophobia, a fear of spiders, who will probably agree that the monstrous Shelob is one of Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) worst challenges. Like Peter Jackson in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Giant spider emerging from the shadows staged that guards the Mordor Pass of Cirith Ungol, no Lord of the Rings fan will soon forget. Long hairy legs, oversized and with paralyzing stingers, it’s not just the ring bearer who falls into this monster’s web of fear.
5th place in the Lord of the Rings horror: Ringwraiths as living shadows
In all three Lord of the Rings films, our heroes get it Sauron’s most loyal servants, the Nazgûl, to do and every time their performances give you goosebumps. Whether as cloaked riders in the Shire sniffing around for the hobbits, as ghostly kings when Frodo puts the ring on, or later as deadly opponents from the air: the nine ringwraiths are always good for a horror moment and Peter Jackson knows very well how he has to stage this threat on the borderline between tangible and faceless in order to depict evil.
4th place in the Lord of the Rings fears: The body horror of Uruk-hai creation
But horror can also be of a physical nature and in one scene Peter Jackson fully immerses himself in body horror: when Saruman (Christopher Lee) begins to breed his army in the first Lord of the Rings film. Here Uruk-hai leader Lurtz awakensis peeled from the clayey ground, breaks through its slimy shell and kills an orc first. A threat couldn’t be more sinister and disgusting to introduce into Middle-earth.
Third place in the Lord of the Rings horror: The Army of the Dead
With nine Ringwraiths and countless corpses in the Dead Swamps, there are plenty of ghostly characters in the Lord of the Rings films. But the scariest thing is still the shimmering green army of the dead that Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) seek out through a horror corridor in the mountains. With the rotting ghost army Peter Jackson leans heavily into the zombie subgenre. To make the visit to the dead even scarier, the very last Lord of the Rings scene shot was created for the Extended Edition months after the theatrical release of Part 3 in the form of falling skulls.
Second place in the scariest Lord of the Rings moments: Evil Bilbo
A popular device in horror films is a Jump scarei.e. a sudden moment of shock that unexpectedly shocks the audience at the image and sound level. Peter Jackson doesn’t miss out on this in his film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings either. When Frodo meets the aged Bilbo (Ian Holm) in Rivendell, he suddenly attacks him hissing shadow of himself after the ring. The scene is all the more painful because “dear Uncle Bilbo” mutates for a second into a monstrous attacker (similar to the deleted Frodo transformation). The evil influence of the ring could hardly be conveyed better.
1st place Lord of the Rings horror moments: Sauron’s mouth
Only those who know the extended version of The Return of the King can enjoy the most horrifying scene in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. As Aragorn gathers his army at the Black Gate of Mordor, Sauron sends a messenger outside: the Horror figure of Sauron’s mouthpiece. The Lone Horseman’s armor, officially called “Sauron’s Mouth”, actually only exposes his face’s lips and teeth. But when the gaping wound in the dark servant’s face speaks with a grin and he presents Frodo’s mithril shirt as proof of his death, no one can avoid goosebumps. Watch this scene at your own nightmare risk.
Lord of the Rings series podcast: Rings of Power finale and what awaits us in season 3
After 8 episodes, the second season of Amazon’s big fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has come to an end. Middle-earth fans Esther from Moviepilot and Sebastian from Filmstarts draw conclusions after the grand finale and discuss highlights and missteps of the return.
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Did the wizard reveal succeed? Does the great battle deliver what it promised? And what do Sauron, Galadriel and Co. plan to do next as we look at Season 3 theories?
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