Hello, World!
Labels: fright, NewsRadio quote, picture, spooky
Labels: bookstore haul, fright
Labels: creature feature, fright, movies
Labels: fright, tis the season, Twelve Days of Christmas
Labels: fright, NewsRadio quote, spooky
Still, there's one vampire tale that I like a whole lot: Stephen King's Salems Lot. The night I read it I had to stay up until dawn because I was too scared to put it down and turn the lights off. The Glick kids could've started scratching at my window if I did. Even to this day, it is the one vampire story I can say I like. Most likely, this affection results from the novel's heroes are the vampire hunters. It sides with those who are vanquishing the scourge that are the vampires of the story like eradicating a virus. Kill all vampires!
Today's like is a nice roundtable read about the CBS miniseries explaining how it fits into the vampire story pantheon. I watched the miniseries as a youngster and I can tell you how frightening it was. Only later when I read the book did I feel the terror of it all.
http://moviemorlocks.com/2011/03/25/the-horror-dads-in-salems-lot/
First things first, these rambling posts were inspired by watching the summer anime series, High School of the Dead. The first episode is standard zombie fare: the dreaded zombie outbreak with no explanation as to its cause. A school in Japan is where the mayhem takes place with students being attacked and attacking alike. The zombie hoard of recently killed students eating the remaining living students. Lots of blood flying in this one. I watched the episode with pleasure. Its fanservice was stupid fun, but it kept me wondering about zombie attacks and our reactions and responses to them.
Zombies (the monsters, the stories, and the movies) don't do too much for me. The George A. Romero, slow zombies aren't too frightening. The fast twitch, neu zombies do, but they are not what I'll be discussing today. I can't believe in fast zombies. The dead, because of rigor mortis, shouldn't move very fast. Plus, fast zombies are even more scarier. I just don't want to deal with them.
Why is it that in dealing with zombies the major problem arises from stupid mistakes of the survivors? "Don't open the door!" "Don't go out and save her!" "Don't let him in! He's infected!" Your chance of survival is directly proportional to doing common sense stuff and keeping away from them. I guess that's why the Zombie survival book was a big hit. It made explicit the common sense things to do in order to avoid death when the dead rise.
In the anime, the kids did the stupid things to die. If you do the stupid things, you'll die. The only way to live is to not do the stupid things.
And that's my problem with zombies. Through proper, rational thought, you should survive. Keep your wits about you, and you should live. By being sentient, you should live. Avoid being stupid. You'll be dead. Smart equals living. Dumb equals dead. Your intelligence will get you through the zombie infestation. It's that easy.
That said, if it's fast zombies, all bets are off.
Thomas Paine, "Dissertions on First Principles of Government"
You know that feeling, right? You leave the theatre at 10. You hang out for a little while, joking all the while. You walk to your car looking over your shoulder. You drive home checking the backseat in the rear view from time to time. Then you're back home, the lights are off, and you switch on all the lights plus the television to keep from realizing that you are alone in the house. The creepy crawlies visit your imagination. The hair on your arms stand up. Is that something upstairs?
Yes, Paranormal Activity has me slightly freaked out. I was restless when I got home and was somewhat afraid of going to sleep in my bed with the lights off. But I did because it's only a movie.
Paranormal Activity follows the fate of a couple who move into a home that they believe to be posessed. In a brilliant move to forestall the audience from talking to the screen, the story assigns the frightening activities to a demon who haunts the girl throughout her life. You can't even say, "Girl, just leave," because it will always follow. The girl's boyfriend is typically sceptical. He doesn't believe the demon to be real. It will take a demonstration of supernatural force to change his mind.
The movie was filmed, as all reviews must tell you, in the fake documentary style of The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. It's supposed to signify that this is real. There are no credits, beginning and ending, which contribute to the reality. But there are no ghosts. It's a demon which haunts the girl. For me, this was less disturbing than a good old ghost, as demons are not real, but ghosts, the spirits of the dead, could be.
Yet, as with all fake movies, Paranormal Activity leaves you scratching your head. Am I to believe this? Did I just go along with the joke? Why am I still creeped out hours later? Did the curtains move? Is that footsteps in my bedroom? What's the deal with the shadow in the corner? Paranormal Activity plays on you psychologically. There was no gore or dismembered bodies shown. Just good old fashion dread throughout the movie. As they fall asleep, what's next? And isn't that just plain creepy the way she...? What's with that noise? No respite even when it's over. The lack of end credits continues the dread and you can't just leave. Is this thing over or is there the final scare?
It's the anticipation of something bad is going to happen that hits the right marks. It's worth it just for the fright.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/
3 of 5 stars.
