Let's walk through the set up shall we? John Trent and book editor Linda Styles are traveling to an unmarked and apparently fictional town out of Sutter Cane's novel. John has fallen asleep forcing Linda to drive aimlessly through the desolate and foggy nighttime roads of New England. Suddenly she comes upon a boy on his bicycle.
He's pedaling fast and looking like he's in some kind of terrible anguish.
The camera focuses on the playing cards in his spokes. Linda drives on by.
As she continues to drive we see a reflector up ahead, this time coming at us. Linda slows down a bit as the camera slowly brings into focus an old man riding a bicycle and wearing the same clothes as the boy!
Wait a minute---IT IS THE BOY.
Yeah. Fucked up is right. I've watched and studied this scene over and over again and it never loses its creep factor. It just may be the most gloriously creepy scene to ever have been invented, am I right? It's the perfect combination of an eerie and quiet road at night, flawless soundtrack delivery, and complete surprise. It's one of the more perfect instances of placing the audience directly into a nightmarish landscape. God bless you John Carpenter.
But seriously, what the fuck!!? Somebody should be this for Halloween. On second thought don't because then I'd have to punch you in the throat.
