"We've met before, haven't we?"

August 22, 2012 1:36 PM

I love Robot Chicken. I love the 100th Episode. When our hero escapes, he returns home to find a dvd waiting to be played. What movie does this scene reference, when the Mad Scientist catches himself in the mirror?

The whole scene, to me, most definitely references Lost Highway, and at the least the whole "videotaping stalker/killer" trope. (bonus points if you can find a link to this on TV Tropes for me. Or maybe I've just seen Lost Highway too many times.) But I swear the mirror thing is so familiar. What's that from?

posted by Sayuri. to media & arts (10 answers total)

It reminds me of Saw.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:47 PM on August 22, 2012

The early scene with the female chicken strapped into the chair being forced to watch television is from "A Clockwork Orange"
posted by sarah_pdx at 3:52 PM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Possibly Strange Days? Specifically, from the first "blackjack" recording Lenny watches.

If you search the script for "POV Sequence", the first instance of the phrase is where that scene starts.
posted by Boxenmacher at 6:04 PM on August 22, 2012

It’s A Clockwork Orange.
posted by bongo_x at 7:34 PM on August 22, 2012

It seems undeniably like "The Ring" to me.
posted by ShutterBun at 12:40 AM on August 23, 2012

The specific inclusion of the head restraint and the eyelid-opener-thingeys is what makes it a Clockwork Orange reference, as sarah_pdx's link points out.

(It's earlier than the other suggestions, anyway, so they would be referencing it if they contain the same devices.)
posted by IAmBroom at 9:57 AM on August 23, 2012

I'm not asking about the head restraint and eyelid holders, though. I'm asking about when the Mad Scientist films himself in the mirror.

I know the scene in Strange Days, that's a really good call, but I don't think that's it. It doesn't have the jump scare/bold-creepiness of the Robot Chicken reference.

Why The Ring? Samara created the tape by imprinting on it telepathically while she suffered in the well, no one filmed that tape. Unless I'm forgetting something, there's no camcorder scene in that movie to reference.

It also reminds my boyfriend of Saw, but we haven't seen all these and googling doesn't help. What scene?
posted by Sayuri. at 3:47 PM on August 23, 2012

Come on people!
posted by Sayuri. at 7:00 AM on August 24, 2012

Maybe tweet Seth Green and ask him?
posted by Boxenmacher at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2012

I tweeted and no luck. I'm gonna go ahead and close this, concluding it's a combined reference to Strange Days and Lost Highway. And the Clockwork Orange folks need to learn to read questions better before they answer, perhaps.
posted by Sayuri. at 8:24 AM on March 14