Friday brings the theatrical release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third entry of the Tom Holland starring MCU Spider-Man films. The sequel sees Spider-Man turn to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help, then a spell goes awry. What that entails remains a mystery until the film’s release, but we know that we can expect to see Alfred Molina reprise the role of Doc Ock from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. In that film back in 2004, Raimi went to his genre roots to ensure Doc Ock had one remarkable rise to villainy, with an intense hospital scene that felt more at home in a horror movie than a superhero sequel.
Nuclear scientist Dr. Otto Octavious (Molina) begins Spider-Man 2 as a mentor to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). He wears robotic, tentacle-like arms powered by A.I. when handling dangerous materials in his experiments. During a public presentation, a fusion reactor destabilizes and goes critical, resulting in the death of Otto’s wife and the fusion of the harness into his back, the inhibitor chip destroyed.
Cut to the scene straight out of a Raimi horror movie. At the hospital, surgeons prepare to remove the harness from his spinal column surgically. Otto is unconscious, face down at the center of the room with the lengthy tentacles splayed out for easier access to his body. One doctor cracks a joke as he revs up a circular saw and pulls the whirring blade up to eye level as the room goes silent. The pregnant pause gives the camera time to zoom in on a swinging pulley before the doctor ignores it and prepares to cut into the harness. As the blade descends, the tentacled arms take on sentience and attack.
Blood-curdling screams erupt throughout the large med bay as the arms find brutal ways to dispatch their bodies. Crashing sounds and a chainsaw revving- a wink to The Evil Dead– add to the chorus of terror. Just under three minutes long, and Spider-Man 2 racks up an impressive body count. Raimi demonstrates how to deliver a bloodless slaughter that still unsettles in the process.
The staging of this scene is brilliant. The camera constantly toggles between wide shots and extreme close-ups. The movement is quick and dynamic. Shadows of tentacles torment their prey, and, though bloodless, the deaths are brutal. All captured with the style and manic energy that Raimi developed a reputation for when working in horror.
It ends with Otto waking up amidst the debris and corpses, screaming in rage. It’s a glorious parting shot of shadows, lighting, and staging. The message is clear to viewers; Otto is gone, now replaced by a formidable killing machine.
Of all the superhero movies released since, Doc Ock’s transformation and grand entrance by hospital slaughter stands apart. While the character’s appearance in No Way Home likely won’t come close to capturing the horror of this scene, it helps build anticipation for Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With the filmmaker’s vibrant personality, penchant for horror filmmaking, and the MCU’s promise of a horror-fueled sequel, well, let’s just say the hype is building here in the world of horror. And for good reason.