Scary Movies
Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)
MSN has announced a top ten of scary movies:
http://beta.entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=103115
I suppose it's in the spirit of Halloween, since they're also touting
places to buy costimes on the site. An interesting list, but I'm not
sure I agree with their choices 100%.
Clay Heery
Ron
You can say that again.
Jaws and Alien don't make the top ten, but Nightmare on Elm Street does
(and beats Halloween?)
Whatever.
KYLLRelite2v231
What's so scary about doped up twin gyno's, with homemade tools, sharing a
girlfriend who has 3 cervices (cervixes?)?
Not a damned thing to a man... or a woman (unless she happens to have 3
cervices).
Kyle
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Brian Christgau
message news:3da6071a.4505218@news-server...
An interesting list, but I'm not
> sure I agree with their choices 100%.
I don't agree with their list 100% (big surprise), but I amazed to see
so many uncommon, right-on-the-money choices such as "Eraserhead" (which
isn't even technically a horror movie, but is filled with disturbing imagery
and suffocating atmosphere), "Repulsion", "Don't Look Now" and "Suspiria".
I'd add "Cannibal Holocaust" and "The Living Dead in the Manchester Morgue"
to that list and remove "Nightmare on Elm Street" (which is a solid horror
movie, but not a very frightening one), but otherwise I'd say the author of
the article got it just about right.
Cheers,
B
nmstevens
I think any "top ten horror" list would have to include the original
"The Haunting" -- I think that it's still about the scariest ghost
story ever.
NMS
Alex Fink
> I think any "top ten horror" list would have to include the original
> "The Haunting" -- I think that it's still about the scariest ghost
> story ever.
>
> NMS
Hear hear.
I was fifteen when I first saw it, there were probably six or seven of
my friends with me. We had turned off all the lights in the house.
We paused it in the middle so the girls could go to the bathroom, I
stood up to get myself a drink and then decided I didn't want to make
the dark walk to the kitchen. The girls had come to the same
conclusion, they just kept their legs crossed for the next hour.
If any movie deserves the Criterion treatment, it's The Haunting.
...
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:8123ace0.02101...@posting.google.com:
> I was fifteen when I first saw it, there were probably six or seven
of
> my friends with me. We had turned off all the lights in the house.
> We paused it in the middle so the girls could go to the bathroom, I
> stood up to get myself a drink and then decided I didn't want to make
> the dark walk to the kitchen. The girls had come to the same
> conclusion, they just kept their legs crossed for the next hour.
>
> If any movie deserves the Criterion treatment, it's The Haunting.
Oh, those terrifying, horrifying, and WONDERFUL movies of my
youth that gave me cold chills as I lay in bed. They made me lay awake
at night, the covers firmly tucked under me, holding my breath and
waiting to hear whether that really WAS a faint shuffling sound that I
heard, or just my imagination.
I remember once, can't have been more than eight years old, my
closet door was distinctly rattling. Don't ask me how I found the
courage, but I got up (in the dark), walked up to the door, and put my
hand on it to make it stop. It was just vibrations coming from another
room. Still, I didn't open it. No siree, I wasn't THAT brave.
Movies that gave me the sweats for years (feel free to add):
- Poltergeist (the ^%@$% clown doll)
- Deadly Blessings (the devil at the end)
- The Amytiville Horror (the eyes outside the window)
- Carrie (the hand bolting out of the grave)
- Candyman (still can't bring myself to say it three times)
- etc.
Honorable mention:
- Almost any Stephen King book, pre-1989.
And yes, I can still work myself into a fright. Even now.
And if, like me, you want a taste of the fix that kept you on
edge, and live in Canada, check out Showcase on cable. They're having
their annual Halloweek horror film marathon beginning October 24th.
http://www.showcase.ca/movies/halloweek/
jay... BOO!
Dena Jo
> - Candyman (still can't bring myself to say it three times)
>
It was five times, and I watched the movie for the first time just *a few
weeks ago* and couldn't bring myself to say. Still can't.
--
Dena Jo
Ovum
clearly and distinctly hear something go "Oooo." It sounds *exactly* like the
noise you make when you're telling a little kid a ghost story.
My parents came up to visit and my Dad heard it and said it was the wind. He
said it's probably happening at other times of the day/night, but I only notice
it when it's quiet.
Uh huh.
Side note: I did a column one time about recent court cases involving haunted
houses. Did you know that in certain towns, there are actual *laws* stating
that sellers have to disclose to potential home buyers whether or not a
property is haunted? And in one lawsuit back in the '90s, the previous
homeowner tried to get out of it by testifying that the ghosts were "friendly"!
Lois
------------------------------------------------
Step Two: "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us
to sanity."
Dena Jo
> Side note: I did a column one time about recent court cases involving
> haunted houses. Did you know that in certain towns, there are actual
> *laws* stating that sellers have to disclose to potential home buyers
> whether or not a property is haunted?
My niece went to art college in Philadelphia. Everyone at the college was
convinced that the dorms, which had at one time long ago been a mental
institution, were haunted, and her friends told tales of continually
sighting a strange woman in a red dress and things in their rooms
rearranging themselves. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who grew up
in Philadelphia, and she casually responded, "Oh, yeah. There's lots of
haunted houses back there. The house I grew up in was haunted," and
proceeded to tell me very specific details about the ghostly things that
would happen in her house.
So Lois, do you believe in ghosts?
--
Dena Jo
Mordo
"Clay Heery" <clay...@aol.comNOSPAM> wrote in message
news:20021010181029...@mb-cu.aol.com...
Brian Christgau
"nmstevens" <nmst...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:a8f80314.02101...@posting.google.com...
> I think any "top ten horror" list would have to include the original
> "The Haunting" -- I think that it's still about the scariest ghost
> story ever.
Yeah, that one still packs a whallop and gets bonus points for being
faithful to Jackson's original novel, which is still the scariest, most
engrossing haunted house story I've ever come across. I'd also add Mario
Bava's "Kill, Baby, Kill!" to the list. Every time the burgomeister opens
that cabinet and finds that demonic little girl staring at him with those
big, luminous eyes, I practically piss myself.
Cheers,
B
Bluesea
"Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)" <Carolin...@hotmail.com> wrote in
message news:3da6071a.4505218@news-server...
>
The scariest movie I ever saw wasn't even a horror flick. "Judgment at
Nuremburg" had me distrusting neighbors and authority figures, checking
behind doors, and afraid of taking showers for days.
--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please remove "!" for a direct reply.
Ovum
<den...@csNOSPAM.com> writes:
>My niece went to art college in Philadelphia. Everyone at the college was
>convinced that the dorms, which had at one time long ago been a mental
>institution, were haunted, and her friends told tales of continually
>sighting a strange woman in a red dress and things in their rooms
>rearranging themselves. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who grew up
>in Philadelphia, and she casually responded, "Oh, yeah. There's lots of
>haunted houses back there. The house I grew up in was haunted," and
>proceeded to tell me very specific details about the ghostly things that
>would happen in her house.
>
>So Lois, do you believe in ghosts?
Yup -- angels and demons, too. We are surrounded by unseen multitudes.
nmstevens
Speaking of kids with glowing eyes, although I probably wouldn't put
it on the top ten list, the original "Village of the Damned" with its
blonde-haired children with glowing eyes, is a movie that still scares
the hell out of me.
Needless to say, the embarrassing, totally frightless remake is
virtually an object lesson on how *not* to remake a movie.
NMS
David-S
It has been up for sale for four years. Everyone who views it says "Oh
we love it, but isn't it haunted?"
In 1996 I added 1,600 square feet of living space in the enormous roof
space. At no time in the ten months it took me, did I even sense
anything out of the ordinary.
I researched the 'ghost story' and found that it was started by our
Chief Deputy when he was much younger. The previous owner of our house
used to work away from home a great deal, and his wife would call the
S.O. saying she could hear noises 'on the roof' or people on the wrap
around verandah. They would respond and never find anyone.
Eventually, the Deputy waited outside the house one night and noticed
that when the wind blew a little, branches from trees would brush the
roof of the house, and lower branches would tap on the windows.
As soon as it was dark, he received a call from the dispatcher saying
the lady had called again. He went over to the house, walked around with
her and said, "I think you have ghosts May-yam..." She said, "Really? Do
you think so?" He said "Yup, sure of it."
She never called again, and I'm stuck with a haunted house.
On Halloween, I make sure we are out...
David-S
MC
nmst...@msn.com (nmstevens) wrote:
> Speaking of kids with glowing eyes, although I probably wouldn't put
> it on the top ten list, the original "Village of the Damned" with its
> blonde-haired children with glowing eyes, is a movie that still scares
> the hell out of me.
>
> Needless to say, the embarrassing, totally frightless remake is
> virtually an object lesson on how *not* to remake a movie.
One of my faves too -- along with the Deborah Kerr "Turn of the Screw"
-- which is one of the most frightening movies I've seen -- and in which
nothing really happens.
Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)
<Dav...@aviation-procurement.com> wrote:
>I have a typical rural South Georgian house built in 1909.
>It has been up for sale for four years. Everyone who views it says "Oh
>we love it, but isn't it haunted?"
>In 1996 I added 1,600 square feet of living space in the enormous roof
>space. At no time in the ten months it took me, did I even sense
>anything out of the ordinary.
>I researched the 'ghost story' and found that it was started by our
>Chief Deputy when he was much younger. The previous owner of our house
>used to work away from home a great deal, and his wife would call the
>S.O. saying she could hear noises 'on the roof' or people on the wrap
>around verandah. They would respond and never find anyone.
>Eventually, the Deputy waited outside the house one night and noticed
>that when the wind blew a little, branches from trees would brush the
>roof of the house, and lower branches would tap on the windows.
>As soon as it was dark, he received a call from the dispatcher saying
>the lady had called again. He went over to the house, walked around with
>her and said, "I think you have ghosts May-yam..." She said, "Really? Do
>you think so?" He said "Yup, sure of it."
>She never called again, and I'm stuck with a haunted house.
>On Halloween, I make sure we are out...
>
>David-S
>
David, it seems to me you may not be taking the right marketing
approach. Just have your realtor widely publicise that the price is
twenty thousand dollars higher with the ghost than it is without. You
should have a buyer in no time. If they want the ghost, take the
money and move far far away. '-)
Caroline
Tom Wood
horror at the Austin Film Festival along with David Allen (Producer, Dog
Soldiers), Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark) and Les Bohem (Nightmare on Elm
Street 5). One of the most interesting concepts to come out of the
discussion was a metaphor. A roller coaster movie is like a ride on a, well,
rollercoaster. A Horror Movie is like a ride in a car crash, because you
can't trust the driver.
TW
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:RM3q9.1508$TA4.75...@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com:
Maybe it's late, but that metaphor makes absolutely no sense to me.
jaybee
Jeff Newman
>One of the most interesting
>> concepts to come out of the discussion was a metaphor. A roller
>> coaster movie is like a ride on a, well, rollercoaster. A Horror Movie
>> is like a ride in a car crash, because you can't trust the driver.
To which Jaybee replied:
>Maybe it's late, but that metaphor makes absolutely no sense to me.
Yes, I'd like some elaboration, too.
It doesn't seem very apt. In that situation, we would be riding along, scared
(assuming we're the passenger, and the driver was driving erratically), and
then we'd be scared and horrified when the big crash occurred.
But that's like saying in a horror movie, there is lots of suspense and
anticipation throughout, and then one big scare and/or horrific event near the
end.
Whereas yes, there should be lots of suspense and anticipation, but there
should be a number of scares, too, and not just of the "close call" variety, as
would be the case while riding in the car prior to the crash. We need several
"crashes," not just one at the end.
It seems to me the roller coaster metaphor could still work ... just a slightly
different kind of coaster. Such as a coaster ride that goes through a haunted
house attraction.
At any rate, those were some impressive writers there, so maybe if you explain
the metaphor as they utilized it, it would make more sense.
Jeff Newman
Tom Wood
> >> concepts to come out of the discussion was a metaphor. A roller
> >> coaster movie is like a ride on a, well, rollercoaster. A Horror Movie
> >> is like a ride in a car crash, because you can't trust the driver.
>
> To which Jaybee replied:
>
> >Maybe it's late, but that metaphor makes absolutely no sense to me.
Jeff wrote:
> Yes, I'd like some elaboration, too.
>
Well, basically what they were saying is that it is important to let the
audience know right away that there is no limit to what might happen on the
journey. That this is NOT a safe ride, that you WILL become involved in a
horrendous experience at any moment. It is about setting up suspense, the
bomb under the table as two people talk, but that the bomb is the monster
and the monster is the star. The entire experience is one elongated crash,
not just one at the end. (Maybe you just had to be there for this to make
sense. Sort of like when a class makes so much sense, but the homework is
unfathomable.) When the panel was asked which movies scared them the most,
they all agreed on The Exorcist, among others. That's my most scary movie
too.
On another note, Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Long Kiss Goodnight) was great
too. He was on the panel for action writing. The consensus there was that
9/11 may actually end up being a good thing for action movies because it is
making producers shy away from gratuitous violence. The violence must now be
"organic" to the story. What a weird concept....
I met Greg Beal (Nicholl Administrator) and he's a great person (yeah yeah,
I mean it). Our own Bill Broyles (Cast Away, Apollo 13) and Anne Rapp
(Cookies Fortune, Dr. T and the Women) were in attendance. I met Robert
Gordon (Galaxy Quest) and Lem Dobbs (Dark City) and Scott Rosenberg (too
much to list). I actually got a business card into the hands of a couple of
producers. Yay! This year's Austin Film Festival was great.
TW
I asked Robert Gordon a structure question about Galaxy Quest regarding the
hero's journey paradigm. He said he thought it was just a fish out of water
story about believing in yourself. Hmmm....
Mxsmanic
20021011225328...@mb-ca.aol.com...
> Did you know that in certain towns, there are
> actual *laws* stating that sellers have to
> disclose to potential home buyers whether or not a
> property is haunted?
If the seller says the house is not haunted, how does one prove that he is
lying?
Mxsmanic
a8f80314.02101...@posting.google.com...
> I think any "top ten horror" list would have to
> include the original "The Haunting" -- I think
> that it's still about the scariest ghost story ever.
I agree. Probably one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.
I make a distinction between gore, surrealism, and true horror, though. A
lot of movies seem to substitute gore for horror, or heavy surrealism for
horror. ("Surrealism" to me is the heavy use of significant departures from
reality in a film, which I find very disturbing and disagreeable, but not
necessarily scary.)
_The Haunting_ was nice because it included neither gore nor excess
surrealism.
Bluesea
with that email I was going to send you (it was so long ago you may have
forgotten!) but I moved a couple of times and was virtually off-line for
about a year.
cul.
--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please remove "!" for a direct reply.
"Mxsmanic" <mxsm...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:-KGcnWbN_9W...@News.GigaNews.Com...
SCREENPLAY MASTER
testimonials from other people that lived there.
When I was about 7, I remember a ghost situation when my family and I
lived in a trailer home on a farm.
I remember what happened to my uncle Jack. He was in the kitchen
looking for an ash tray. My parents were talking about how Jesus drank
wine and hung out with the worst type of people. Well, my uncle got his
ashtray as it flew from nowhere and hit him right in the face knocking
his glasses off.
I remember my uncle getting his glasses knocked off vividly, but I had
to ask my parents about the details when I was older.
My parents said that when they were in their bedroom in the Trailer
house, the room began to get very cold. A breeze was coming in, but
from where, they did not know. The breeze started to become a wind that
could been seen like a mist becoming a whirlwind right at the foot of
their bed. They both were scared, but my dad had the smarts to start
saying the Lord's Prayer. The "Our Father Who Art in Heaven one". My
mother joined in on the prayer. The wind started to slow, and the
whirling mist died out. I believe them.
There are real ghosts or demons. Whatever you want to call them. If
you want to see them, you have to really want to see them, unless you
got to places where they dwell. But if you do go to where they are, you
just might get one that will follow you home. "Satan Get Thee Behind
Me" usually works just fine as reported by many who had to say it to get
rid of the unwelcomed guest.
Don't believe. That works the best.
Brian Christgau
> Speaking of kids with glowing eyes,
Actually, the little girl in "Kill, Baby, Kill!" doesn't have glowing
eyes, just very big ones. Towards the end of his career Fellini bemoaned the
fact that he never made a horror movie but, in fact, he made the "Toby
Dammit" segment of "Spirits of the Dead", which borrows heavily from Bava's
film. You can get a decent copy on DVD these days for about $6 bucks or as
part of a 10-pack from Brentwood for $13. Definitely worth checking out.
although I probably wouldn't put
> it on the top ten list, the original "Village of the Damned" with its
> blonde-haired children with glowing eyes, is a movie that still scares
> the hell out of me.
I wouldn't say it's one of the "scariest" films ever made, but it's got
creeps aplenty and remains the quintessential "Evil Child" movie. The fear
of children is one of the more interesting themes in horror (going all the
way back to Bradbury's "Small Assassin"). I believe that Larry Cohen is
currently working on remaking his own Terror Tot movie, "It's Alive!".
> Needless to say, the embarrassing, totally frightless remake is
> virtually an object lesson on how *not* to remake a movie.
You can say *that* again. I'm a huge John Carpenter fan, but that's a
truly awful, embarrassingly bad film. I'm of the opinion that a good remake
of a classic movie should be like a good cover of a classic song, which is
to say that should say something new and/or be a commentary of sorts on the
original (i.e. Kaufman's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"). Revisiting
"Children of the Damned" in an age when America fears (and, as a
consequence, hates) its children seemed like a great idea, but Carpenter was
obviously operating on auto-pilot when he made that one.
Cheers,
B
Brian Christgau
> I was fifteen when I first saw it, there were probably six or seven of
> my friends with me. We had turned off all the lights in the house.
> We paused it in the middle so the girls could go to the bathroom, I
> stood up to get myself a drink and then decided I didn't want to make
> the dark walk to the kitchen. The girls had come to the same
> conclusion, they just kept their legs crossed for the next hour.
*LOL* Oh boy, that brings back memories of my own, specifically of two
films. The first was Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". I'd read a lot
about this movie in my monster magazines (i.e. "Famous Monsters", "Castle of
Frankenstein", etc.) and, lucky me, had very permissive European parents who
had no problem letting me stay up late on a Friday or Saturday night to glut
myself on horror movies. So I turned off all the lights, lit a couple of
candles (I had a whole horror movie watching ritual) and hunkered down to
watch it.
Fifteen minutes later I turned on all the lights.
Thirty minutes later I was getting up periodically to take a peek out
the windows.
I didn't sleep a fucking *wink* until dawn.
> If any movie deserves the Criterion treatment, it's The Haunting.
Hell yeah. Criterion is pricey, but you get your money's worth.
Especially beautiful are their editions of Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"
and Lean's "Great Expectations" (still the best damn Dickens movie ever
made). Now, if only they'd come out with "Santa Claus Conquers the
Martians". };)
Cheers,
B
David-S
"Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)" wrote:
>
> On Sat, 12 Oct 2002 15:45:27 -0400, David-S
> <Dav...@aviation-procurement.com> wrote:
>
> >I have a typical rural South Georgian house built in 1909.
> >It has been up for sale for four years. Everyone who views it says "Oh
> >we love it, but isn't it haunted?"
>
> David, it seems to me you may not be taking the right marketing
> approach. Just have your realtor widely publicise that the price is
> twenty thousand dollars higher with the ghost than it is without. You
> should have a buyer in no time. If they want the ghost, take the
> money and move far far away. '-)
Right, thank you for that ploy
> Caroline
Jacques E. Bouchard
> You can say *that* again. I'm a huge John Carpenter fan, but
> that's a
> truly awful, embarrassingly bad film. I'm of the opinion that a good
> remake of a classic movie should be like a good cover of a classic
> song, which is to say that should say something new and/or be a
> commentary of sorts on the original (i.e. Kaufman's "Invasion of the
> Body Snatchers"). Revisiting "Children of the Damned" in an age when
> America fears (and, as a consequence, hates) its children seemed like
> a great idea, but Carpenter was obviously operating on auto-pilot
when
> he made that one.
Speaking of Carpenter, add his remake of "The Thing" to my list
of movies that impacted me. It wasn't the latex monsters, but the
isolation and suspense.
Oh, and the segment from "Creepshow" featuring the creature in a
crate under the stairs. That one freaked me out for years.
jaybee
Hercule Platini
Jacques E. Bouchard <jacques_...@NOSPAMhotpop.com> wrote in message
news:Xns92A68C053AA1Bj...@66.11.168.195...
The opening section of Mario Bava's "Black Sabbath" (A Drop Of Water) scared
me so much I couldn't watch the rest of the film. Sadly, when I did return
to it, the last two stories weren't a patch on that opener.
--
Richard Street - stre...@btinternetAARDVARK.com
Alex Fink
> In certain parts of our house, during certain times of the day/night, you can
> clearly and distinctly hear something go "Oooo." It sounds *exactly* like the
> noise you make when you're telling a little kid a ghost story.
>
> My parents came up to visit and my Dad heard it and said it was the wind. He
> said it's probably happening at other times of the day/night, but I only notice
> it when it's quiet.
>
> Uh huh.
Here's my name-dropping ghost story. When I was in an acting program
in Vermont for the summer, all the students were invited to the annual
fourth of July party at William H. Macy's house. I saw David Mamet as
soon as I got out of the car and decided to introduce myself because
I'm a big fan (and I'm sure he'd never heard that line before).
I went up, said hi, and suddenly a theatre owner (I think his name was
Alan Schubert--he owns the Booth Theatre among others) appeared and
told Mamet that his new apartment was one Mamet had lived in several
years prior. Mamet leaned in close and said:
"[Theatre owner], that place is haunted."
The guy made a face and Mamet followed it up.
"There were scratching and dragging noises all night above my
daughter's bedroom. It used to wake her up."
"Yeah, we heard that too. I went into the ceiling to check it out.
There was a crawlspace filled with about fifty pigeons. We cleared
them out and the noise stopped."
The bottom floor of my parent's house makes that same anthropomorphic
ghost story "ooo-woo-ooooo" sound. It still freaks me out when I'm
alone there in the wee hours of the morning, but I notice it only
happens when it's windy enough. I just think to myself "Hey self,
where do you think people get the ghost story sound from in the first
place? Freaky voice-sounding wind, that's where!" I'd be surprised
if a real haunting consisted of one spooky noise as opposed to freaky
shit like bleeding walls and invisible pigs named Gordie.
...
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:8123ace0.02101...@posting.google.com:
> The bottom floor of my parent's house makes that same anthropomorphic
> ghost story "ooo-woo-ooooo" sound. It still freaks me out when I'm
> alone there in the wee hours of the morning, but I notice it only
> happens when it's windy enough. I just think to myself "Hey self,
> where do you think people get the ghost story sound from in the first
> place? Freaky voice-sounding wind, that's where!" I'd be surprised
> if a real haunting consisted of one spooky noise as opposed to freaky
> shit like bleeding walls and invisible pigs named Gordie.
If you stare into a mirrir and say the name "Gordie" five times,
you can never eat bacon again.
jaybee
Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)
Love the Mamet ghost story! I hope he looked sheepish.
As for sound effects, immediately after my last divorce I moved into a
town house in Santa Teresa, NM. It was on the 2nd and 3rd floors,
with my bedroom on the 3rd floor, and an outside door leading from the
bedroom into the stair well with a huge half moon shaped open "window"
facing it. When the wind blew (and in the springtime it blows around
the clock for 4 to 6 weeks!) the ghostly noises from the cracks around
that door in my bedroom could be heard throughout the house!
Sometimes it even sounded like it was trying to talk...
OOOoooOOOoOo...
My landlord dropped in for coffee one day, heard it and said he could
fix it with a little weather stripping. I threatened him with mayhem
if he even tried! It was great b.g. atmosphere for writing, and it
helped me sleep better because it sounded very much like the 100 year
old Victorian house I grew up in. Great sound effects!
Caroline
On 13 Oct 2002 12:46:12 -0700, finkmeans...@yahoo.com (Alex
Brian Christgau
news:copeSPAMZAP-B3BE...@newsfeeder.total.net...
> One of my faves too -- along with the Deborah Kerr "Turn of the Screw"
> -- which is one of the most frightening movies I've seen -- and in which
> nothing really happens.
I believe you're talking about "The Innocents" and, yeah, it's a creepy
classic of the first order. Like the original story, it's a masterful
mind-fuck and an enduring classic.
Cheers,
B
Alex Fink
> Movies that gave me the sweats for years (feel free to add):
>
> - Poltergeist (the ^%@$% clown doll)
Ever see that Simpsons where Homer makes Bart a clown-shaped headboard
for his bed? "Can't sleep, clown'll eat me."
> - Deadly Blessings (the devil at the end)
> - The Amytiville Horror (the eyes outside the window)
> - Carrie (the hand bolting out of the grave)
> - Candyman (still can't bring myself to say it three times)
It's the rare movie that scares me (though I'm not as jaded now as I
was in my teens), so it's with some reverence that I add:
- Audition (the sack moves)
- Night of the Living Dead (the little girl, I couldn't watch
that scene the first few times I saw it)
- Don't Look Now (the final reveal)
- Session 9 (the coin scene especially)
- The Haunting (the whole damn thing--the cold spot, the
knocking at the door, "who was that holding my hand?" and the rest)
I just saw "Session 9" tonight and it was far better than expected. A
lot of folks were disappointed in the end, I thought it was pretty
great. It's made me want to go break into a few old abandoned houses
like I did in my misspent youth...as long as it's during the day.
MOO-HOO-HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!
Alexei Fink, urban explorer
...
Jacques E. Bouchard
> I just saw "Session 9" tonight and it was far better than expected. A
> lot of folks were disappointed in the end, I thought it was pretty
> great. It's made me want to go break into a few old abandoned houses
> like I did in my misspent youth...as long as it's during the day.
> MOO-HOO-HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!
I thought the ending was a bit subdued as well, but it definitely
stays with you. Very creepy.
However, I'm not surprised to see that it did badly with the
popcorn stuffers, who probably expected CGI and bedsheets.
jaybee
Ovum
>If the seller says the house is not haunted, how does one prove that he is
>lying?
One case I read about involved a NY stock broker and his wife. The house they
bought was haunted, and when they confronted the seller (whom I think had moved
to Florida) she claimed that it wasn't haunted. The NY couple then did some
digging, and found out that:
(a) the woman had boasted that the house was haunted in a Readers' Digest
article, and
(b) the house was listed in a brochure for a haunted house tour.
That's when the former owner went on the witness stand and claimed that the
ghosts were "friendly."
Then there was the couple in England, whose new home started oozing green slime
from the walls. Plus there was the frequent appearance of a "pig-nosed boy"
and some other "troubled spirits." I think they sued the landlord.
Do a google on "haunted houses" and "lawsuits."
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:20021014180413...@mb-ms.aol.com:
> One case I read about involved a NY stock broker and his wife. The
> house they bought was haunted, and when they confronted the seller
> (whom I think had moved to Florida) she claimed that it wasn't
> haunted. The NY couple then did some digging, and found out that:
>
> (a) the woman had boasted that the house was haunted in a Readers'
> Digest article, and
>
> (b) the house was listed in a brochure for a haunted house tour.
>
> That's when the former owner went on the witness stand and claimed
> that the ghosts were "friendly."
>
> Then there was the couple in England, whose new home started oozing
> green slime from the walls. Plus there was the frequent appearance
of
> a "pig-nosed boy" and some other "troubled spirits." I think they
> sued the landlord.
My apartment is haunted. Every time I put a clean comforter on
the bed, within 12 hours I will find an ectoplasmic manifestation right
smack in the middle. It is very similar to a hair ball, but naturally
my cats know better than to puke on the bed.
Do you think Reader's Digest will print my story?
jaybee
Ovum
>My apartment is haunted. Every time I put a clean comforter on
>the bed, within 12 hours I will find an ectoplasmic manifestation right
>smack in the middle. It is very similar to a hair ball, but naturally
>my cats know better than to puke on the bed.
>
> Do you think Reader's Digest will print my story?
Readers Digest should do a story about how you actually think cats will comply
with your demands. The fact that you are way delusional, and yet can hold a
job and fool normal usenet posters into thinking you're sane, should get a
Readers' Digest cover story.
:-)
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:20021014211738...@mb-ms.aol.com:
> Readers Digest should do a story about how you actually think cats
> will comply with your demands. The fact that you are way delusional,
> and yet can hold a job and fool normal usenet posters into thinking
> you're sane, should get a Readers' Digest cover story.
My cats listen to me. They listen all the time. They just don't
comply...
They also decide when I've worked enough for the night.
http://ns.istop.com/~jebouchard/Catwork.jpg
jaybee
Dena Jo
> http://ns.istop.com/~jebouchard/Catwork.jpg
Is that Patchouli?
--
Dena Jo
nmstevens
I think that the actual issue, from a legal point of view, doesn't
look upon "hauntedness" as legitimate phenomenon (at any rate, it is
essentially silent as to the issue of the legitimatcy of hauntedness).
Rather, it's considered a matter of concealing a house's "bad
reputation" -- because concealing that reputation, in fact, is the
same as a concealed defect.
It would be much the same if, say, a notorious murder or suicide had
taken place in a particular house, and that fact was well known in the
community -- but not known to an out-of-town buyer.
Well, that fact, concealed from the buyer, in fact, makes the property
less valuable -- and it will likely be less valuable when the time
comes for the poor sap to try to sell it. That that fact was concealed
was an act of deception.
Whether it is rational or not for people to value a "murder house" or
a "suicide house" or, for that matter a reputedly "haunted" house as
being of less value than it would otherwise be worth is, from a legal
point of view, beside the point. It is generally understood that
people do consider those things to be undesireable -- even if they are
strictly undesirable qualities that reside purely in our imagination.
And that's the issue.
Now, if I sold somebody a house that had absolutely no reputation for
being haunted and they came back a year afterward and said that they'd
discovered, after the fact, that it was -- I doubt that they would
have a leg to stand on, legally.
NMS
Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)
What a cute kitty, but s/he has lousy posture for a touch typist!
Caroline
Brian Christgau
"Dutch" <lewmi...@insightbb.NOSPAMcom> wrote in message
news:o_np9.46013$hb4.10960@sccrnsc02...
> Eraserhead is a horror movie??? I think there's something wrong with
these
> people.
I suppose you might call "Eraserhead" a "metaphysical horror movie". of
sorts.Certainly, it's creepy, claustrophobic and nightmarish. Every time I
see that damn movie it frays my nerves and leaves me feeling absolutely
drained, which is exactly what a good horror movie should do. I've *always*
wanted to see what would happend if Lynch tried his hands at making a
straight horror flick
Cheers,
B
Alex Fink
I think it was also barely marketed or distributed--I've heard that it
only played San Francisco for two days. It did stick around in New
York for a few weeks and I'm kicking myself for not going to see it
then.
Alex
...
SCREENPLAY MASTER
believing the seller's claim or evidence of it being *not* haunted, the
seller still would have a chance to prove the fallacy with sound
evidence compared to other light cases of hauntings as long as there is
a *reason* for the claim with restrictions to a buyer's possible
fraudulent change of heart, which would also have to bare reason
concerning all of a buyer's possible motivations in the matter.
%Craig%
message news:3dabadf3.34240488@news-server...
It looks like the one I dissected in Zoology.
Jacques E. Bouchard
$f05.22...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca:
> It looks like the one I dissected in Zoology.
That's right Craig, it's back from the grave and it's gonna get
you.
jaybee
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:Xns92A7D902F31CDd...@130.133.1.4:
> "Jacques E. Bouchard" <jacques_...@NOSPAMhotpop.com> wrote:
>
>> http://ns.istop.com/~jebouchard/Catwork.jpg
>
> Is that Patchouli?
That is a boarder. It's my sister's, but is staying here while her
dog recovers from a fractured hip, so it won't chase it around the house.
However, it's getting along great with the other cats, who've taken
to him. So it might have to stay.
jaybee
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:3dabadf3.34240488@news-server:
> What a cute kitty, but s/he has lousy posture for a touch typist!
He only does 35 wpm. What a dumb cat.
jaybee
nmstevens
Hey, your cat can type one-pawed *and* upside down -- but isn't the
diet coke a little bit far away -- or did you forget to get him his
straw?
NMS
Dena Jo
> However, it's getting along great with the other cats, who've
> taken to him. So it might have to stay.
Compare the boarder cat's white markings in this picture with the picture
of Patchouli.
--
Dena Jo
nmstevens
> I think if the house become haunted after a buyer bought the house
> believing the seller's claim or evidence of it being *not* haunted, the
> seller still would have a chance to prove the fallacy with sound
> evidence compared to other light cases of hauntings as long as there is
> a *reason* for the claim with restrictions to a buyer's possible
> fraudulent change of heart, which would also have to bare reason
> concerning all of a buyer's possible motivations in the matter.
>
> {}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}<>{}
>
I don't think you understand what I'm saying.
I don't believe that jurisdictions, even ones that validate claims for
rescinding a sale based upon concealment of an alleged "haunting" are,
in fact, asserting that hauntings are, themselves valid -- that there
are real ghosts, and that they really "haunt" houses.
Such claims are based upon solely upon the "concealment" of something
that has an impact upon the value of the house -- the "allegation" of
haunting.
That is, if a house is considered to be haunted, and you sell the
house and they try to rescind the sale on the grounds that you
concealed that fact, you wouldn't be able to bring in your psychic
experts and get off by demonstrating that, in fact, the house "wasn't"
actually haunted. That's because the issue of it's putative "actual"
hauntedness is irrelevant. It's only the fact that it's believed to be
haunted, and thus has a "bad reputation" that is relevant.
It's just as if a house can't sell because everybody in the county
knows that old man Mullaby tortured his children to death in the
basement fifty years ago. Well, it may very well be that old man
Mullaby *didn't* torture his children in the basement. It could be a
complete myth. Doesn't make any difference. You, as a seller, might
still be required to reveal the "bad reputation" to the buyer --
because it has a material impact on the value of the property.
But something that happens after you sell it that subsequently endows
the house with a bad reputation -- that's the problem of the new
owner, not yours.
Whether that *something* is a real haunting, a reputed haunting -- or
whether there is, in fact, any difference between the two, is beside
the point.
NMS
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:a8f80314.02101...@posting.google.com:
> Hey, your cat can type one-pawed *and* upside down -- but isn't the
> diet coke a little bit far away -- or did you forget to get him his
> straw?
That's writer food for late-night writing, Neal: cheese doodles and
diet coke. Everyone knows that.
And you call yourself a writer... tsk-tsk-tsk... ;-)
jaybee
Geoff
"Jacques E. Bouchard" <jacques_...@NOSPAMhotpop.com> wrote in message
> nmst...@msn.com (nmstevens) wrote in
> news:a8f80314.02101...@posting.google.com:
>
> > Hey, your cat can type one-pawed *and* upside down -- but isn't the
> > diet coke a little bit far away -- or did you forget to get him his
> > straw?
>
> That's writer food for late-night writing, Neal: cheese doodles and
> diet coke. Everyone knows that.
The road to Hell is paved with Cheese Doodles, my friend.
Geoff
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:aohv25$misr4$1...@ID-151874.news.dfncis.de:
> The road to Hell is paved with Cheese Doodles, my friend.
Tell that to my undernourished, over-caffeinated brain. Went to bed
at nine this morning after having FINALLY finished and delivered a
script, with the intention to take a couple of days off. Woke up this
afternoon to find e-mails and phone messages waiting for me. I now have
three new projects added to my already overflowing table.
jaybee
Alex Fink
Do I have to get circumsized, too?
...
Alex Fink
> Love the Mamet ghost story! I hope he looked sheepish.
He sorta laughed it off. I've met Mamet a few times, he stikes me as
incredibly intelligent but something of an egotist--he doesn't like to
acknowledge his faults. If he could admit that he was wrong, he'd
have had to recall "True and False."
...
Ovum
> http://ns.istop.com/~jebouchard/Catwork.jpg
Admit it: you sometimes let your cat post under your screen name, don't you?
With all these people allowing their pets, friends, and Test Version Artificial
Intelligence Units to impersonate Usenet posters, how can anyone tell who the
"real" MWSers are?
Jacques E. Bouchard
news:20021015195457...@mb-mk.aol.com:
> Jaybee writes:
>
>> http://ns.istop.com/~jebouchard/Catwork.jpg
>
> Admit it: you sometimes let your cat post under your screen name,
> don't you?
>
> With all these people allowing their pets, friends, and Test Version
> Artificial Intelligence Units to impersonate Usenet posters, how can
> anyone tell who the "real" MWSers are?
For that matter, how can you tell THAT'S not the "real" MWS
poster?
jaybee
SCREENPLAY MASTER
most terrifying things in man's mind? There is one fear they forgot.
Anyone here know what that fear is?
KYLLRelite2v231
>
> Do you all realize that they have not yet made a film about one of the
>most terrifying things in man's mind? There is one fear they forgot.
>
> Anyone here know what that fear is?
Why don't you just tell us.
Brian Christgau
succeeded in that regard already), but I believe very strongly in the
possibility of the existence of ghosts. Why? I've never had a close
encounter with one, but I've simply known and met too many damn people who
have to dismiss "ghosts" as simple folklore.
You'll be amazed at the things you'll hear from people when you inform
them that you're open to the possibility of their existence. I'll be at a
party or some other such function, the subject will come up, I'll let it be
known where I stand and this look will come over a certain individuals face,
they'll pull me aside and say, "As a matter fact..." It's like this big
secret that many people know but that no one is talking about because they
(quite rightly) are afraid that others are going to think they're loony or
lying sacks of shit.
When I was attending SUNY Binghamton (which I not-so affectionately
refer to as SUNY Gehenna) I had a professor whom I admired greatly, so much
so that I took a class she was teaching on a subject that I didn't think I'd
find very interesting (I suppose I also had a little bit of a crush on her).
One day I brought up the topic and she proceeded, in a very matter-of-fact
manner, to tell the entire class how she and her daughter had once lived in
a house that had a ghost in the attic.
When I later grilled her for further information in her office, she
informed me that the "entity" was female, was always facing the window,
radiated a powerful feeling of melancholy and seemed to be surrounded by
what she described as "black pollen". According to her, visiting friends
would see the thing when pulling up her driveway. She and her daughter tried
to let it understand that they didn't have a problem with her presence and,
as a result, the three of them got along quite nicely. When they moved, she
says the thing seemed sad to see them go.
Okay, I know this sounds crazy and that I probably sound stupid or
gullible for believing her and others who have told me similar stories.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that there might be a perfectly rational,
scientific explanation for what we call "ghosts". They might not be the
spirits of the dead but "psychic echoes" - electrical or magnetic
impressions that people leave behind them (which would explain why in so
many stories ghosts seem to be playing on a loop). Of course, they might
also be the earthbound souls of the dead, or perhaps there's a variety of
different kinds of "ghosts". Who knows?
Do I believe aliens have visited Earth? Hell no; but I believe that
there's *something* going on with the U.F.O. phenomenon. I think many of the
people who have seen ghosts are crazy, delusional or are tellers of tall
tales, but I also think that some of them have actually seen something that
defies (current) scientific explanation. I'd love to go on a ghost hunting
vacation someday and perhaps get the confirmation I've desired since
childhood that the dead are indeed among us, but I also know I'd probably
piss myself were I to get my wish.
Cheers,
B
nmstevens
Well, I tend to be of a very skeptical bent, and so I always hate
trying to invoke one explanation for an odd phenomenon that's as
remote from any solid grounding than another, but it does seem as if
most so-called hauntings seem to be almost "slippages" in time --
where a subject essentially catches a repetitive glimpse of some
fragment of the past. What's odd is that there are even cases where
people see the "ghosts" of people who are, in fact, not dead. Rather,
they seem to be seeing them at some past time.
Of course, the trouble is, it's not as if we have a more satisfactory
explanation for "time slippages" than we do for the spirits of the
dead coming back to haunt the realms of the living.
Ever see "The Stone Tapes" -- similar kind of idea -- the notion that
certain kinds of stones can act as a recording medium, with events
impressing themselves upon certain stones capable of being "received"
by sensitive human minds, years, even millenia later.
NMS
RonB
> Of course, the trouble is, it's not as if we have a more satisfactory
> explanation for "time slippages" than we do for the spirits of the
> dead coming back to haunt the realms of the living.
>
Interesting concept. That would fit with reported hauntings where the
"ghosts" seem to be oblivious to the observer and just doing what they
would have been doing in their own time -- sometimes on floors several
feet lower than the current one.
It wouldn't quite work as well with reported hauntings where the
"ghosts" interact with the observers, unless there were different kinds
of "time slippages."
--
RonB
"there's a story there...somewhere"
Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)
>
>Ever see "The Stone Tapes" -- similar kind of idea -- the notion that
>certain kinds of stones can act as a recording medium, with events
>impressing themselves upon certain stones capable of being "received"
>by sensitive human minds, years, even millenia later.
>
>NMS
Many years ago (never mind how long!), I met an ex-criminal turned
wire tapper for the FBI. He had a theory that sound waves impact on
*all* surfaces, and that all that was necessary to "lift" sound
recordings from any surface was devise a method of reading them.
Apparently he wasn't successful because I haven't heard anything about
it since.
Or maybe the FBI can keep a secret...? '-)
Caroline
doug lauber
> In article <3da6071a.4505218@news-server>,
> Carolin...@hotmail.com (Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen)) wrote:
>
> >
> > MSN has announced a top ten of scary movies:
> >
> > http://beta.entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=103115
> >
> > I suppose it's in the spirit of Halloween, since they're also touting
> > places to buy costimes on the site. An interesting list, but I'm not
> > sure I agree with their choices 100%.
>
> You can say that again.
>
> Jaws and Alien don't make the top ten, but Nightmare on Elm Street does
> (and beats Halloween?)
>
> Whatever.
I thought Alien was very scary. Especially the scenes on the planet.
Scary music. Scary sets. Awesome. -doug
Brian Christgau
news:a8f80314.02101...@posting.google.com...
> Well, I tend to be of a very skeptical bent,
I do too, but at the same time have to confess to being rather
superstitious. I've had a fascination with the occult since early childhood,
when my mother encouraged me to read by brining some Montague Summers books
about vampires and werewolves home from the library, but I've never dabled
in the stuff. As a (questionably) rational human being I know that there's
nothing to be feared from a Ouija board, but you couldn't get me to touch
one of those things if you put a .44 to my temple.
and so I always hate
> trying to invoke one explanation for an odd phenomenon that's as
> remote from any solid grounding than another, but it does seem as if
> most so-called hauntings seem to be almost "slippages" in time --
> where a subject essentially catches a repetitive glimpse of some
> fragment of the past. What's odd is that there are even cases where
> people see the "ghosts" of people who are, in fact, not dead. Rather,
> they seem to be seeing them at some past time.
Yeah, I've heard of that too and consider it a valid theory. It
certainly would
explain a llot.
> Of course, the trouble is, it's not as if we have a more satisfactory
> explanation for "time slippages" than we do for the spirits of the
> dead coming back to haunt the realms of the living.
Which is why it would be nice to see science take a greater interest in
the subject. Parapsychology departments at places like UCLA are a start, but
they're hardly taken seriously and usually face a lot of derision. I recall
an article in Twilight Zone Magazine by Richard Christian Matheson
describing his experiences there, including an encounter with an "entity"
that would go crazy whenever they played Black Sabbath (!). I strongly
believe that one day this riddle will be solved, but that it probably won't
happen in out lifetimes.
> Ever see "The Stone Tapes"
No, actually, I've never even heard of it. Sounds like something to add
to my "to see" list. I checked the IMBD but came up empty.
-- similar kind of idea -- the notion that
> certain kinds of stones can act as a recording medium, with events
> impressing themselves upon certain stones capable of being "received"
> by sensitive human minds, years, even millenia later.
That might also be an explanation for ghost stories involving "phantom
voices", though it wouldn't explain why they're usually described as angry
or mocking in tone. I have no idea why, but I always find those yarns the
scariest.
Cheers,
B