TRAUMAFESSIONS :: Reader David E. on Superman 3

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The moment that upset me something chronic wasn’t from any horror film, it was the horrific scene in SUPERMAN 3 when that seriously ugly woman gets tortuously transformed into some steel-plated, killer cyborg for dispatching Superman. I was only very young when I saw it and I don’t know what in particular it is about it that upsets me…maybe that grotesque wailing she does and the supernatural way the components fly onto her body via reverse photography. I looked at my brother after that joyous little sequence and said, “I don’t want that to happen to me,” to which he said, ‘There’s nothing I can do to stop it.” Course once he knew how much that clip messed me up, he then in the coming weeks took great pleasure in sitting me down in front of it over and over with the volume cranked all the way up to the top and pushing my face right into the screen while I cried in utter horror (we’re like THAT me and my brother). Ever since I still get chills down my spine when I see SUPERMAN 3 is on TV and that killer ZX Spectrum starts to attack him. I actually get tense when they try to outrun the computer, then she gets sucked inside… STILL!      

 

UNKLE LANCIFER SEZ: Wow, who knew that SUPERMAN 3 was such a traumatizer! Between this great TRAUMAFESSION from Dave, the one we got BACK IN MARCH, a recent post on MY NEW PLAID PANTS and the confessions spied over at the SUPERMAN 3 IMDB MESSAGE BOARD, it appears that this little scene involving the cyber-molestation of TWISTED jazz singer and BASKETCASE broad ANNIE ROSS really did a number on more than a few kiddies! Who can explain it? Some claim it’s ANNIE‘s screams or the overall claustrophobia it evokes that gets to them. Some cite its depiction of a rapid loss of humanity to an alien force as a fundamental element to the scene’s ability to unnerve. You got me; your Unkle Lancifer must have been too old when he saw SUPERMAN 3 because I find the whole scene hilarious. Oh well, I can’t judge. I still have a horrible fear of MR. SIX, the nightmarish monstrosity/ Six Flags spokesperson! 
Mister Six
      

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chadhelder
chadhelder
15 years ago

I have to admit–this scene gave me nightmares too. For me, I think it was the silver eyes that really freaked me out. But this scene didn’t scare me nearly as much as the maskatron women on the Bionic Woman–come to think of it, do you remember an episode of the Bionic Woman with people who melted? Yikes. Major nightmares.

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Jeff Allard
Jeff Allard
15 years ago

I was too old by the time Superman III came out to get rattled by Annie Ross’ transformation but I have younger friends who always cite this as something that freaked them out. When I look at that clip now, all I can think of is that it’s better than anything in Superman Returns!

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mamamiasweetpeaches
mamamiasweetpeaches
15 years ago

Hmmmm….maybe I should rent this flick again. I loved the first two SUPERMAN movies and hated the rest. I dont even REMEMBER this scene….I don’t remember MUCH about Part 3 except that I thought it sucked! (Was this the one with Richard Pryor? Jon Cryer? The Atomic Man?) Now that Im a “grown up” I can at least watch bad movies and drink myself into THINKING they are good!

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mamamiasweetpeaches
mamamiasweetpeaches
15 years ago

Ooops….my bad….I referred to “NUCLEAR MAN” as “ATOMIC MAN”. Somewhere a bunch of SUPERMAN fans are going “Nuh-uhhhh! His name wasn’t ATOMIC MANNNN, it was NUCLEAR MANNNNNN. Like duhhhhh!” To them I say : You’ve wasted your time and lives with this insane SUPERMAN worshipping. Newsflash: He’s NOT real!!!

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