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Kid Fears II: Wrath of Ceti Eels

Sun., August 20, 2006

Continuing my series of reviewing movies or TV shows with bits that freaked me out when I was young, I recently rewatched Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, which I remember seeing on TV at some early point after it appeared in theaters in 1982. Other than Ricardo Montalban in general and several things Shatneriffic (toupee, girdle, halting speech, “Khaaan!”, etc.), there’s one big kid-freaky thing in this sequel: Ceti eels.

Y’see, to extract information about why Chekov and Captain Terrell are on Ceti Alpha Five, Khan drops a sluglike Ceti eel into each of their space helmets, then puts the helmets back on their heads and has their hands held tight behind their backs. The eels drop onto the faces of Chekov and Terrell, and as for what happens next, Khan explains:

[T]heir young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later as they [dramatic pause] grow, follows madness. Death.

Chekov and a Ceti eel, frame 1 of 5.

Chekov and a Ceti eel, frame 2 of 5.

Chekov and a Ceti eel, frame 3 of 5.

Chekov and a Ceti eel, frame 4 of 5.

Chekov and a Ceti eel, frame 5 of 5.

In closeup, this is quite blatantly a special effect, with ears sculpted from what appear to be glycerin-sweated blocks of Hickory Farms cheese, but it’s still unsettling. No one wants a bug entering that orifice. This scene ranks up there on my list of movies with Unsettling Body Part Torture, which memorably includes teeth (no, not Marathon Man; Cast Away gets my Tremulous Wince Award), eyeballs (A Clockwork Orange or perhaps Blade Runner) and fingernails (Syriana).

Tags: Movie, Screencap | Comments have been closed.

On August 21, 2006 at 5:07 a.m., andie wrote:

i couldn't even read this entry for fear i might actually look at the photos. yuck!