5 Of The Best: Eyeball Mutilations

I'd like to think I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to horror movies. I've watched about as many of the 'most depraved' movies I could get my filthy hands on and I can easily deal with rape, cannibalism, torture, incest and just about every other vile thing that movies can throw at me. Having said that there is one thing that always makes me squirm: eyeball mutilations. They don't make me feel sick or anything but I do get a strange uneasy feeling whenever I see it happen. But at the same time this feels kind of good. And there are surprisingly a lot of different ways that eyeballs can be hacked, slashed, gouged or plucked from somebody's skull. Here is only a tiny sample of what's out there - 5 of my favorites in no particular order.

Big Fucking Splinter - ZOMBI 2

Admit it, you all knew this one was coming. Fulci's ZOMBIE (or ZOMBI 2) has two of the most iconic scenes in horror. The first being the totally awesome underwater zombie vs shark fight and the second being this painfully prolonged eye gouge. There is a fundamental flaw (does she not have hands?) but who cares when it leaves you with such a great scene?

Scalpel - THEY CALL HER ONE EYE

This is an amazing rape / revenge style flick starring cult queen Christina Lindberg. Also known as THRILLER - A CRUEL PICTURE it has probably one of the most disturbing eyeball mutilations of all time, primarily because the eyeball being used is 100% genuine. A real female cadaver was used to film this scene. Juicy.

Bullet - OPERA

One of Argento's better films and one of my favorite eyeball shots ever. The bullet not only travels straight through the peephole and then Daria Nicolodi's head but also destroys the telephone leaving Cristina with no way to call for help. And all of this in slow motion. Brilliant.
OPERA also showcases another impressive eyeball mutilation scene wherein the killer is attacked by ravens.

Big Rusty Nail - THE BEYOND

Man does Fulci love his eye mutilations or what? There's the infamous ZOMBI scene, the eyeball slice from NEW YORK RIPPER and then there's this one from THE BEYOND (the movie also features another nice eye gouging scene) where Martha's eyeball gets up close and personal with a mean looking rusty nail.

Straight Razor - UN CHIEN ANDALOU

Salvador Dali's UN CHIEN ANDALOU from way back in 1929 has one of the most well known eye mutilations of all time. Apparently a (dead) calf's eye was used and lighting was set up to make it look more like a human eye. The more you know.