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What’s The Batman Returns Scene, And Why Is It Disturbing?


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Let’s face it, Tim Burton’s highly quotable films are filled with surreal and unsettling scenes. His pair of Batman movies have a few moments that’ll throw you for a loop, too. (The Smylex commercial, which is a small part of Joker’s plan, from the 1989 film is legitimately creepy.) The main villain of Burton’s 1992 superhero film is Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. Penguin, who’s played by Danny DeVito. Burton’s version of Cobblepot isn't the refined gentleman gangster of the comics, though. Instead, he’s a deformed and crass man, who resembles a bird.

The drooling, raw-fishing eating antagonist truly made me gasp about halfway through the film. During the scene, sleazy businessman Max Shreck convinces Oswald to run for mayor and, early on, Shreck introduces the former sewer dweller to his two image consultants named Jen and Josh. While speaking with Cobblepot, Josh insults his looks when he muses that there aren’t a lot of reflective surfaces in the sewer. Penguin initially laughs and states that his nose could be gushing with blood, before he lunges and bites Josh’s.

It’s a shocking scene and one that’s quite gruesome. The sheer sight of the blood spewing from Josh’s nose is certainly enough to make a squeamish person uneasy. What’s even wilder is that Cobblepot doesn’t even think much of it and, within a span of just a few minutes, he makes an overt sexual pass at Jen as she tends to Josh. Danny DeVito and Steve Witting (who plays Josh) do play the scene to perfection, and the makeup team’s work is certainly on point. The craftsmanship aside, though, this scene just gives me chills.


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What's even wilder is how all the citizens of Gotham just embrace such an ugly looking weirdo and are happy for him to do whatever he pleases even when he does disgusting things like biting the guy on the nose.

The citizens of Gotham in this film don't have individual thoughts it seems.

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Terrific scene in a terrific film.

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