I remember a scene from a movie I watched around 2005-2010, and neither I nor my family can remember what movie that is from.
It was a somewhat cheap (though professional), live-action, American-style family-friendly horror movie. I don't remember anything about the movie itself except that very scene, which involves a stereotypical American family in their home, and a ghost that looked exactly like a normal human.
The scene goes as follows:
- A child and and adult man are in the child's family home, hiding under a table, probably the kitchen table. There is a tablecloth falling to the ground, allowing them not to be seen by other people in the room or nearby rooms. I believe they were specifically hiding from the parents of the child.
- The man has, at some point (either in the scene or before), told the child that he is a ghost. While hiding under the table, the child says he does not believe the man is a ghost. Indeed, the man looks like a perfectly normal looking man, including to the viewer.
- The man pulls a knife (or another similar sharp object) and proceeds to decapitate himself, in front of the child. He struggles to slide the knife through his neck, and it takes many seconds for him to finish (it didn't happen in one quick swoop). There is no blood at all, and the cut, although it was done in jerky movements, is remarkably clean.
- The camera places itself perfectly sideways (probably to avoid showing the internal organs) as the man-ghost places his head on the floor, in front of him, facing the child. The head then explains that he is indeed a ghost, and I distinctly remember the words "I am a ghost" (I was watching a French translation, so the words were actually "Je suis un fantôme").
Some extra info about the movie itself:
- It was horror, but it tried to remain somewhat family-friendly.
- It was American in style, but it was remarkably low in budget. There were very little special effects, other than the decapitation itself.
- The movie was probably already somewhat old; it wasn't brand new. My family was watching many horror (or similar) movies at the time, including Alien and Terminator. (I didn't watch those because I was too young and couldn't handle the scene in Terminator where the Terminator cut his right wrist in the bathrooms to fix something in his arm, and Alien because my mom warned me that movie was even worse.)
- I remember my family judging that it was a very bad horror movie. The quality I remember was professional, though. It's probably not a well-known movie (maybe it is?), but it's most likely not a very obscure movie.
- I lived in Quebec, Canada at the time. I'm not sure of the medium, most likely a CD/DVD. I watched it on the television, but it wasn't broadcast on a channel; I remember we watched it at a time that was convenient for us.
- The movie was translated to French, but not Canadian French.
- I'd say it was similar in general atmosphere as Mrs Doubtfire, although with more horror and a much, much lower budget.
- It may also approach the ambience of Beetlejuice, though with much less comedy and a much, much lower budget. (And less special effects.)
- This probably won't help much, but the sidebar asks me to state what I've already ruled out: Someone in my family suggested Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter. The movie was nowhere close to Harry Potter on about every aspect I can think of: special effects (both amount and quality), general quality, scenario, handling and efficiency of horror... Also, it wasn't just one child, they weren't under the kitchen table, they weren't hiding, Nick didn't cut his head by himself on the spot, and so on.
What movie could that be?
