Small Talk: Out of Genoa

[peacheslatour]

Attention Preverts!  The Season is upon us!  Now, here we have some of the best writers and the biggest imaginations on the internet.

 

Can we hear some scary stories?  Maybe some of us have had close encounters with unexplainable phenomena, ghostly visitors or strange phantoms.  Maybe some of us have favorite terrifying movies.  Let's hear it..  I want to be scared!

[Capricasix]

The scariest movies I have ever seen are Signs, Jacob's Ladder, and The Changeling *brrr, cold chills*

[valleycliffe]

for me, the scariest movie i ever watched was "the exorcist" with linda blair as regan.

 

i had nightmares for weeks.

 

then a long time later, i decided to watch "nightmare on elm st". at home one night.

my fave way to watch tv at night has always been in the dark, just the light from the tv on.

i was lying on the couch, watched about 10 min. then got up, turned on all the lights and turned the channel to something different it scared me so bad.  guess i am the ultimate fraidy cat..

 

congrats to the liberals who won the election in canada..

[PatsyandEddie]

Freddie Kruger scared the wee jobbies out of me from day one. I'll join up with valley at the scaredy cat table.

So glad the election is finally over!

Go Jays!

[peacheslatour]

 

The Changeling

The George C. Scott one? Oh, god yes!  "How did you die Joseph?  Did you die in this house?" *brrrr, indeed*  We also always watch The Legend of Hell House and The People Under the Stairs every year.  And of course The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[pearlite]

The Haunting of Hill House does it for me.

 

Funny, I used to teach courses in horror fiction and film, and basically nothing bothered me. Although slash 'n trash and the Japanese horror stuff that was so voguey a while ago always put me off.Then I got sick of teaching it, lost my interest in the area...

 

Now, most horror stuff scares the hell out of me.

 

But the new Guillermo del Toro thing, Crimson Peak has me sorta interested.

[Capricasix]

The George C. Scott one? Oh, god yes!  "How did you die Joseph?  Did you die in this house?" *brrrr, indeed*.

Yes! That goddamned rubber ball bouncing down the dark, creepy stairs *SHUDDER*

[MollyB]

Hands down for me was the Shining.  I read the book when I was pregnant and couldn't sleep.  Then the movie came out and scared the bejeezus outta me.  The elevator with the balloons and confetti when there was no one in the place and no way to get away from the place was bone chilling.  Among the other ninety things that were major creepy.

[peacheslatour]

 

Hands down for me was the Shining.  I read the book when I was pregnant and couldn't sleep.

I know what you mean.  I had read Interview With the Vampire previously. so when I was preggers and had a lot of time to read, I read The Vampire Lestat.  It ended up in the trash because it felt like it could poison the baby,  Stupid, superstitious nonsense I know. 

I'm probably the most morbid person I know, I own dozens of horror movies, mostly oldies because I think the oldsters knew about suspense, not this slasher crap you see nowadays.

The only movie that ever gave me nightmares was Eraserhead, now lets never speak of it again.

[Capricasix]

Another scary one that I remember from my childhood was "Are You In the House Alone?". It was a TV movie, I think, but pretty scary for all that! It starred Kathleen Beller (I think that was her name), who was on Dynasty; Blythe Danner and Dennis Quaid were in it too. It was about a girl who was being stalked, and one night the stalker calls her at the house where she's babysitting. I think the police caught the guy and he went to jail, IIRC, and then many years later she's out at a restaurant with her husband, gets a phone call and the caller asks her, "Have you checked the children?" which was the SAME THING her stalker asked all those years ago O_o

Edit to say that I got the name of the movie and the cast wrong, but the plot is accurate as far as I can remember. The movie was actually called "When A Stranger Calls".

Edited October 20, 2015 by Capricasix

[pearlite]

I'm probably the most morbid person I know, I own dozens of horror movies, mostly oldies because I think the oldsters knew about suspense, not this slasher crap you see nowadays.

 

Oh, yeah, the 1930s Universal originals--I remember being a teenager and babysitting, and Karloff's The Mummy came on. Freaked me out for days. Curse of the Cat People [40s Val Lewton one] was pretty good too.

 

But, speaking of horror flix, Hammer! They had the best taglines! The one for their version of The Mummy was "Beware the Beat of the Cloth-Wrapped Feet." C'mon, tell me you don't love it. There was another of their movies, something about a biker gang of the undead or whatever, and the poster had a rider with its skull looking out from under the visor of the helmet--the tagline? "Death Lives." That's art.

[peacheslatour]

I love all that Hammer stuff.  There's a horror movie host called Svengoolie who is on every Saturday night. He shows a lot of Hammer films.  I think the last time I saw Curse of the Cat People was on his show.  Oh, and of course The Brain that Wouldn't Die (affectionately known as "Jan in a Pan)

I was  going through my DVD's this morning to remind myself what I have, I think the oldest one is The Old Dark House, the original "car breaks down in a storm, can we use your phone?" movie starring Boris Karloff, Raymond Massey, Charles Laughton and Melvyn Douglas.  Directed by James Whale, the director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.  I wish I had Nosferatu.

[pearlite]

I was  going through my DVD's this morning to remind myself what I have, I think the oldest one is The Old Dark House, the original "car breaks down in a storm, can we use your phone?" movie starring Boris Karloff, Raymond Massey, Charles Laughton and Melvyn Douglas.  Directed by James Whale, the director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.  I wish I had Nosferatu.

The Old Dark House is a great one! All those big-budget guys doing a horror!

 

You put me to mind of a couple of things here--those movies and TV episodes [i'm sure there might have been a Twilight Zone] where people get phone calls at night during a storm, only to find out that the whole town's phone lines are out...dun, dun, dun, dun...except theirs. Where is the other end of these folks' phone lines? In a grave, of course!

Speaking of phones and fear, this one's not specifically a horror, but a suspenser--Sorry, Wrong Number with Babs Stanwyck [whom I adore] and Ray Milland.

 

And speaking of James Whale, I really enjoyed Gods and Monsters--thought they did a great job of showing 1930s Hollywood. That's a whole neglected area where more movies could be made.

[valleycliffe]

OK, forgetting the name but it was a movie about a babysitter i think, she was getting stalker like phone calls, i think she called the police and they monitored the line, then stalker phoned again then the babysitter was told to get out of the house cause the call was coming from inside the house..

 

when i was around 12, my big brother used to take me to the "dawn to dusk" drive in marathons and we watched all the old frankenstein, dracula movies and things like the blob or creature from the black lagoon.  not scarey at all but sometimes scenes where you were startled...i remember laughing during the creature from the black lagoon cause you could see the zipper down the back of the costume.

[peacheslatour]

The Old Dark House is a great one! All those big-budget guys doing a horror!

 

You put me to mind of a couple of things here--those movies and TV episodes [i'm sure there might have been a Twilight Zone] where people get phone calls at night during a storm, only to find out that the whole town's phone lines are out...dun, dun, dun, dun...except theirs. Where is the other end of these folks' phone lines? In a grave, of course!

Speaking of phones and fear, this one's not specifically a horror, but a suspenser--Sorry, Wrong Number with Babs Stanwyck [whom I adore] and Ray Milland.

 

And speaking of James Whale, I really enjoyed Gods and Monsters--thought they did a great job of showing 1930s Hollywood. That's a whole neglected area where more movies could be made.

Oh La Stanwyck!  A true great.  That gets me thinking about when Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Olivia DeHavilland made those psycho biddy films.

Believe it or not James Whale also directed the musical extravaganza Showboat.  I always thought that was odd.

[pearlite]

Oh La Stanwyck!  A true great.  That gets me thinking about when Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Olivia DeHavilland made those psycho biddy films.

Believe it or not James Whale also directed the musical extravaganza Showboat.  I always thought that was odd.

 

Well, where Whale was concerned, he did love a musical...hem, hem...

[peacheslatour]

Well, where Whale was concerned, he did love a musical...hem, hem...

*snerk*

[crowswork]

Whale -like Ed WOOD was a war hero and also directed Hell's Angels (But isn't credited because Howard Hughs)

Edited October 20, 2015 by crowswork

[crowswork]

The Uninvited 1944 version. Excellent ghost story.

Edited October 20, 2015 by crowswork

[pearlite]

Whale -like Ed WOOD was a war hero and also directed Hell's Angels (But isn't credited because Howard Hughs)

 

Yes, but his WW1 history is usually washed away under his Hollywood history. He fought in the trenches and wrote a play about it.

[crowswork]

Sorry for the screwy posts. I was up all night sending my book to kindle and amazon. It's a process... but Jens Mitchell, my pen name is a picky bitch.

Ed Wood was one of few survivors of horrific battles in the Pacific while wearing a bra and panties under his uniform. 

[peacheslatour]

Say what you will about Ed Wood, he LOVED movies and all he wanted to do was make MOVIES, dammit!  I don't love everything Tim Burton has done, but "Ed Wood" was a valentine.

 

 

[Petunia13]

OK, forgetting the name but it was a movie about a babysitter i think, she was getting stalker like phone calls, i think she called the police and they monitored the line, then stalker phoned again then the babysitter was told to get out of the house cause the call was coming from inside the house..

when i was around 12, my big brother used to take me to the "dawn to dusk" drive in marathons and we watched all the old frankenstein, dracula movies and things like the blob or creature from the black lagoon. not scarey at all but sometimes scenes where you were startled...i remember laughing during the creature from the black lagoon cause you could see the zipper down the back of the costume.

The first movie was When a Stranger Calls .

I think lots of things in RL are scary.

I was present when a neighbors dead body was found several years ago - he had committed suicide. I was in the hall when the landlord opened the door and I saw his body. Also not long before that another neighbor in my apartment building at the time stabbed her bf to death. I was home and heard them arguing before. But that day it was pretty silent. The building always had an eerie vibe it was very old. I never felt at ease or alone. Often doors would open by themselves or my apartment main door would burst open and I chalked it up to the wind in the hall, even though it was locked. Sometimes the elevator would get jammed and I'd be trapped between floors. Or there'd be knocking and no one would be there when I looked through the peep hole. It was a vintage creepy building.

Also years ago when I was in hs someone tried to break into my house when I was home alone and I called 911. He was arrested and was a paroled sex offender.

I had a friend who worked at the Winchester House and she swears up and down it is indeed haunted. I'm not sure since I wasn't there o_O but there's weird stuff at night at Graceland Cemetary.

[peacheslatour]

Whoa, Petunia13, you've been through some scary shit.  Please tell me you moved far away from there!

[crowswork]

...i remember laughing during the creature from the black lagoon cause you could see the zipper down the back of the costume.

 

and seeing Clint Eastwood as a young college student?

 

Petunia - EEEEK....

[peacheslatour]

I just thought of another fav- Arsenic and Old Lace! It's where I got my handle. Oh, those two adorable old serial killers! So sweet!

And a young Cary Grant. So many good lines.

 

Dr. Einstein: You cannot count the one in South Bend. He died of pneumonia!

Jonathan Brewster: He wouldn't have died of pneumonia if I hadn't shot him!

Dr. Einstein: No, no, Johnny. You cannot count him. You got twelve, they got twelve. The old ladies is just as good as you are!

[Snaporaz]

I always thought Rosemary's Baby was pretty scary, and it's all implied scariness. You don't actually see anything. And who hasn't had pushy, nosy neighbors like that?

LOVE Arsenic and Old Lace! Thanks for reminding me that it's saved on my DVR, peacheslatour. It was on TCM months ago, and I saved it to watch for Halloween.

[Petunia13]

Martyrs was pretty spooky.

[crowswork]

My cousin and I laughed at the first Paranormal Activity. Young people (mostly) were screaming and for a while we were lost. (Cupboard doors?)Then it occurred that they had never seen 'suspence'. All the dead teenager/saw/Jason movies have NO suspense. Everyone dies. If one survives they get hacked up in the sequel.

 

It reminds me of when Hitch did in Sabotage (very early) where he had a boy with a time bomb on a bus and they kept driving past clocks. And looking at the people on the bus - including a child with a puppy and then back at the clocks. People who had never seen suspense actually ran out of the theater. It's different from gross or scary or jump-scares.

 

 

[Petunia13]

I like the American Horror Story Anthology it's pretty campy and gory.

[peacheslatour]

“There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.

We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"

In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.” 

Hitchcock on suspense.

[peacheslatour]

I always thought Rosemary's Baby was pretty scary, and it's all implied scariness. You don't actually see anything. And who hasn't had pushy, nosy neighbors like that?

LOVE Arsenic and Old Lace! Thanks for reminding me that it's saved on my DVR, peacheslatour. It was on TCM onths ago, and I saved it to watch for Halloween.

Lol.  I tried to watch Rosemary's Baby last year when I was home alone.  NOPE.

 

Guess what I'm watching right now?  DARK SHADOWS!!!  It's on Decades if any of you get that channel-they're having a marathon and so far it's all black and white episodes.

[pearlite]

Lol.  I tried to watch Rosemary's Baby last year when I was home alone.  NOPE.

 

Polanski really did it up! Around the house, "Roman, you're in Dubrovnik" gets quite a work-out, as does Tanas Root, whenever the daughter and I see a particularly vile pendant.

 

I think Rosemary's Baby is kind of like The Godfather series in that a couple of good directors get hold of sorta mediocre novels and really turn them into something first-rate.

[Thumper82003]

Lol.  I tried to watch Rosemary's Baby last year when I was home alone.  NOPE.

 

Guess what I'm watching right now?  DARK SHADOWS!!!  It's on Decades if any of you get that channel-they're having a marathon and so far it's all black and white episodes.

There's a Dark Shadows forum here. But I was & am an easily frightened viewer. DS never frightened me, since it was so campy.

[boes]

Polanski really did it up! Around the house, "Roman, you're in Dubrovnik" gets quite a work-out, as does Tanas Root, whenever the daughter and I see a particularly vile pendant.

 

I think Rosemary's Baby is kind of like The Godfather series in that a couple of good directors get hold of sorta mediocre novels and really turn them into something first-rate.

 

And we tune in on the same wave length.  The Dubrovnik like gets used here too, along with - when I can't remember something easy - The name is an anagram.  And What have you done to his eyes?  He has his Father's eyes.....and lately, with Show, the phrase This is no dream! This is really happening!.

 

And who can ever forget the way Minnie says , You're PREGGANAUNT??

[peacheslatour]

 

He has his Father's eyes..

Now, get them out of his mouth!

 

There's a Dark Shadows forum here.

I did not know that!  Off to check it out!

[glowlights]

Okay, I have a burning question of utmost importance, and if anyone will know the answer it's you guys:

 

Twinings Tea. Do you pronounce it twine-ings, or twinnings?

 

p.s. Hammer films, Dark Shadows... youse guys are my people. :)

[pearlite]

Okay, I have a burning question of utmost importance, and if anyone will know the answer it's you guys:

 

Twinings Tea. Do you pronounce it twine-ings, or twinnings?

 

p.s. Hammer films, Dark Shadows... youse guys are my people. :)

 

Twinings as in twine, not twin. FWIW

[Petunia13]

Yes Twine -nings.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Petunia13

[glowlights]

Thank you!!!! That's how I've always pronounced it but have now had three different people say "twinnings", and I started to wonder if I've just been saying it wrong all these years and everyone was too polite (or mean) to correct me, and maybe my whole life has been A BIG LIE.

 

Rosemary's Baby always makes me laugh my ass off. Rosemary comes across to me as so insufferably stupid that I have to cheer for Satan and his friends. On the other hand, The Tenant freaks me out.

[peacheslatour]

^^^^^Ever seen 1977's The Sentinel?  Christina Raines, Eva Gardiner, John Carridine and very young Chris Walken and Jeff Goldblum, among others.  Kind of the same deal, young woman in a old building full of weirdsmobiles.  Much different ending though.

[crowswork]

For some reason - reminded of a very lame movie starring a lesser 21 jump streeter about a handsome dancer who... dying of a muscle disease... is cured by an infusion of feline DNA. He starts acting like a cat. Amoral but cuddly. Anyway he drives his car into the bay to avoid cops and is presumed dead.

 

See heroine sniffling as she says he hated water so he must have drowned.

 

Me: "Cats can swim, they just don't like to."

 

Later the hero turns up in her apartment. Hero smirks: "Cats can swim, they just don't like to."

 

I always found it hilarious. My Romeo - who liked to sleep on the hot tub cover, tried to levitate up one day when it was open. I found out how really annoyed a cat can look while swimming.

Edited October 27, 2015 by crowswork

[glowlights]

^^^^^Ever seen 1977's The Sentinel?  Christina Raines, Eva Gardiner, John Carridine and very young Chris Walken and Jeff Goldblum, among others.  Kind of the same deal, young woman in a old building full of weirdsmobiles.  Much different ending though.

 

Yes! I watched that last year during my annual pre-Halloween movie marathon. I started out all huddled up expecting to be scared (I am a sucker for "strange noises in the house"), but got bored about half-way through. Maybe I was in a bad mood. Raines told an interviewer that she's never seen it because filming was such a miserable experience. She claims the director was abusive. :(

 

I just recorded The Glow, which seems to be along a similar line, although it looks cheesy so I don't have high hopes...

 

Has anyone seen Hausu? WOW. If a young Jean Luc Godard teamed up with Sid and Marty Kroft to make a Japanese horror film, with a very drunk Heidi Anne Heiner consulting on the story, this is what you'd get. !!!

[peacheslatour]

 

Maybe I was in a bad mood. Raines told an interviewer that she's never seen it because filming was such a miserable experience. She claims the director was abusive. :(

I believe it.  It was considered very controversial at the time because of the use of real "freaks".  The critics hated it. I remember seeing it while at a friend's house and I just wasn't ready for it at all.

[crowswork]

Speaking of freaks....FREAKS!

[peacheslatour]

Speaking of freaks....FREAKS!

"One of us......."

 

Hammer Films Alert!  Today on TCM.

[glowlights]

Some Val Lewton films on TCM today, too!

 

Last night I tried watching Eye of The Devil with David Niven, Deborah Kerr, and... Sharon Tate. Holy smokeballs was it sloooowwww. I bailed at the forty minute mark. Yeesh. 

[Capricasix]

"One of us.......".

http://youtu.be/YgKhEmxgSMs

I wish I knew how to embed a video!

[peacheslatour]

Has anyone ever seen The Hypnotic Eye?  I saw it at a neighbor kid's house when I was about eight and I ended up running screaming out of there and straight home in a fit of terror.  It was on a few years ago and I stayed up late so I could point and laugh at my eight year old self.  Nope, I had to turn it off. Yikes.

[glowlights]

Haven't seen The Hypnotic Eye, will look for it! Isn't it fun to revisit our childhood cinematic traumas?

 

Yesterday I watched a bad (in the best way) flick from 1972 called Tower Of Evil. Terrible special effects, hilarious script. At one point zip is used in place of fuck. "Yeah, zip me. Zip me, baby, zip me." Oh, how I love a bad film before dinner.

 

WARNING: The Glow was a boring piece of made-for-tv junk. Avoid.

 

(anyone else having trouble with video ads in this thread? they keep freezing the page and then crashing my browser)