The supermarket is one of the centers of the community. It’s a place where neighbors go to buy their groceries while catching up with each other. They exchange stories, laughs and gossip in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. That’s a nice picture, but unfortunately it’s not always the case in reality.
In fact, as we get further and further from the “Leave it to Beaver” era, the supermarkets we visit are usually “superstores” and almost never owned by a member of the community anymore. But maybe there is something to be said for a place where you can go to buy a pound of baloney, a prom dress and get an oil change all in one stop…and we wonder why “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is the hottest show on television. Save us from the superstore.
To celebrate the release of Bait 3D, we’re taking a look back at some past supermarket nightmares (and we’re not talking about the price of coffee, although that is frightening enough – yowza!). We mean horrific scenes like you’ll find in Splinter or the memorable peaceful moment amid a world of insanity in 28 Days Later. Or how about the hilarious (and bloody) intro to From Dusk Till Dawn…well, that was a liquor store, but one man’s vice is another man’s staple. Anyway, those are just the honorable mentions! Plenty of bad things happen in the supermarket. Take a look at our Top Seven Supermarket Slaughters.
The Mist (2007)
The Mist is certainly one of the crown jewels of horror films set in a market. It’s a classic, claustrophobic Stephen King tale of desperation and hopelessness…and it has an OMG ending that no parent can watch without experiencing the sensation of a dagger stabbing through their heart. The Mist is the story of a diverse group of individuals trapped in a local grocery store after a mysterious fog drifts over their town. Unfortunately for them, this particular fog contains horrendous, unspeakable horrors which terrorize the survivors inside the store. And fans of “The Walking Dead” know that The Mist was an early collaboration among some of the key players from the show with writer/director Frank Darabont and performers Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn and Melissa McBride all working together years before they would get lost in a zombie apocalypse in Atlanta.
Zombieland (2009)
Perhaps no one has ever risked more for a Twinkie than Woody Harrelson’s character, Tallahassee, in Zombieland. In pursuit of the soon to be extinct snack, Tallahassee and his partner, Columbus (Jesse Eisneberg), venture into a supermarket that just happens to be loaded with large, bloodthirsty zombies. Containing a beautiful tribute to Deliverance, which includes Harrelson’s rendition of “Dueling Banjoes” and the line “You got a purty mouth”, the supermarket scene in Zombieland is wonderfully humorous and gruesome. And it may be the only scene in the history of horror where a guy beats a zombie to death with a banjo.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Although not a large amount of time was spent in the actual market in Shaun of the Dead, the store was Shaun’s destination during one of the funniest scenes in the film. Shaun walks to the market totally oblivious to the zombie infestation around him. Upon arriving in the market, which also happens to be overrun with walking dead, Shaun not only doesn’t notice the bloody handprints on the soda cooler door, he actually slips in a puddle of blood and also thinks nothing of the fact that the clerk (who is no doubt zombie food at this point) isn’t even there to take his money, which he simply leaves on the counter (“a few quid short!”). This stroll to the supermarket was the perfect start for what became one of the genre’s most beloved horror-comedies in a long time.
Army of Darkness (1992)
“That’s right…Shop Smart: Shop S-Mart. You got that?!” Who could forget that our favorite slayer of Deadites, Ashley J. “Ash” Williams, had quite the showdown with an evil baddie in his place of employment, the S-Mart, in the culmination of Army of Darkness? The S-Mart provides a great background for Ash to go wild one last time. Decked out in his snappy S-Mart uniform, Ash is seen describing how he could have been king to a co-worker (played by Ted Raimi) when suddenly a Deadite appears with bad intentions and Ash is forced to go all medieval on her ass. A great finish to a legendary horror series.
Universal Soldier (1992)
Okay, so maybe Universal Solider isn’t known as a horror film, but you can’t deny the brutality of this scene. Sgt. Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) has gone off the deep end. He drags two dead bodies into the market cooler while wearing a necklace made out of ears. He’s also accompanied by a guy eating raw meat from the supermarket butcher’s counter. In between trying to make dead guys stand at attention and shooting police officers in the head, Sgt. Scott goes on an impressive paranoid rant about traitors and how we need to fear and destroy them. This supermarket scene really injects a horrific element into this memorable movie.
Alien Raiders (2008)
Directed by Ben Rock, this film is all about the supermarket. Alien Raiders begins with what appears to be a late night supermarket hold-up/hostage situation, but we find out there is much, much more going on here. As it turns out, the attackers are not after money, but an alien parasite that is inhabiting the people barricaded within the market’s walls. The film is a mysterious whodunit kind of experience that originally carried a working title of…that’s right…Supermarket.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
After getting bitten by a rattlesnake in the desert, Mickey and Mallory Knox need to find an antidote for the venom and invade a drugstore. This is one of the most outrageous and game-changing scenes in this legendary film. The action begins with Mickey icing a clerk for hitting the alarm and ends with Mallory getting apprehended by the police, a big shootout and Mickey’s capture and beating at the hands of the police force. This is a huge transition scene that not only ends up with our two anti-heroes in custody but shows the insane lengths to which Detective Jack Scagnetti is willing to go to capture them.
There you have seven supermarket adventures that should get you primed and ready for Bait 3D, which drops on DVD and Blu-ray today!