A brand spanking new year is ahead of us and it promises to bring more blood and gore than ever before.
World Horror Convention 2010
I always thought conventions sounded a bit geeky. No offence. But this is particularly appealing to me. For the first time in it's history the WHC comes to Europe and more importantly Brighton. And that's where I live! Is that fate or what?
They'll have a ton of guests including many authors and artists but most exciting of all perhaps is Queen of Horror herself, Ingrid Pitt! They will have horror art of sale too. Wonder if the other half will let me get away with putting a 6 foot demon carrying a human sacrifice in the living room? Only time will tell. I'm so going though, and that's the end of it.
The Ghost Walk of Brighton
I've only ever been on one ghost walk before and that was on a very cold November night in London. It was great. Very eery with a very knowledgeable guide. It's a great way to learn things about a city you wouldn't normally hear about.
Ghost Stories at the Lyric Theatre, London
"WARNING: Please be advised that Ghost Stories contains moments of extreme shock and tension. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending." Sounds like my kind of thing.
Sigmund Freud's 1919 essay of The Uncanny, attempted to explain the art of horror writing and ultimately why the things that scare us do so.
Fourteen authors were given the challenge of writing horror stories in keeping with Freud's findings and have compiled this featured collection of short stories, The New Uncanny - Tales of Unease. Freud concluded that we are all basically scared of the same things to a certain degree and these would include things like inanimate objects (dolls that come alive), being buried alive, evil people (the Devil or murderers) and doubles or twins.
Over the next few weeks I will feature each story and it is here I will begin with Double Room.
Short Story Review
Isn't it annoying when somebody, normally a sibling, starts to copy everything you say, every sound you make? "Stop copying me!" "Stop copying me!" Yeah, we've all been there but what if you couldn't see who was taunting you?
In this story our main character, middle aged Edwin goes to a hotel alone and tries to pick up some young ladies out of sheer boredom it seems. When he is turned down for a less fat, younger model he retires to his room. We feel sorry for sad Edwin. He goes in to the bathroom, unzips his trousers and starts to pee, but through the party wall he can hear someone else peeing. Then he brushes his teeth and hears his neighbour do the same.
It really starts to get creepy though when Edwin speaks, so does the voice next door, mimicking his every word. There's even a funny yet inevitable moment with the hotel's porn channel that I won't spoil for you! Eventually, and really quite cleverly, the two anonymous voices manage to have a conversation through the copying, we find out more about Edwin and so does he.
I can see why this theme resonated with Freud. What are mirrors or doubles or copies? Are they a true reflection of ourselves, truer than we recognise? Are they a warped view of how others see us? Or are they the complete opposite, maybe even our evil twins?
I once referred to this as American Psycho but not. Now you could be fooled in to thinking I was merely covering my bases but hear me out.
Sidney is an accomplished playwright. Well, he used to be. Living off the royalties of his past successes, everything he writes now is a flop. He is sent a brilliant first draft of a play called Deathtrap by a young unknown writer, and we begin with Sidney and his wife Myra half heartedly discussing the option of murdering the writer and taking the play for himself. So half heartedly in fact, that when the writer, Clifford, arrives at their house to work on Deathtrap, we can only assume the worst and Clifford's fate is quite eerily sealed within minutes. Much to the distress of Myra who must now help her husband move and bury the body in the back garden.
But of course things are not as they seem and soon enough we find Clifford is not dead. He storms back in to the house to seek revenge, killing Sidney in the process. Or does he? There are so many twists and turns right up to the end you soon resign yourself to not trying to work it out.
Being a play in some ways makes this story more shocking than if it were in novel format. The stage directions read so matter of fact it almost normalises the character's actions. They're not covered up in pretty , arty language. They're in your face.
"MYRA. My heart won't take it! SIDNEY. (He crouches again and unwinds the garrotte from CLIFFORD's throat, then turns the ends of the hearth-rug over CLIFFORD's body. Rising he wipes the garrotte with the handkerchief, and meets MYRA's wondering stare.) Your heart seems to have taken it."
If you like a story where you think you know what you're getting, then you get it with a vaguely sickening twist, much like Ira Levin's other works, A Kiss Before Dying or The Stepford Wives, then take a look at Deathtrap but do try not to fall in.
Alex and his friends like to drive too fast, go to clubs, listen to music, take drugs, partake in some ultraviolence, get in to fights and take advantage of women and young girls. This is one thing, shocking but not original. That is until you realise they are 15 year old school boys. Personally I find very little more shocking than crazy kids. They are, after all, our future. The actors were much older than the parts they played and I don't know if this was by accident or design but it added to the surprise. Then you see it; the innocence of their milk drinking (milk plus which contained drugs) and Alex's school boy bedroom.
In arguably one of the most famous scenes (which the press later blamed for a copycat attack), one night Alex and his Droogs drive out to a secluded house, the interior of which looks like it's stuck somewhere between the 1970's and The Future. They knock on the door, and in childlike sincerity call through the letter box and ask for help. This fills you with dread. What would you do? The lady opens the door and once in they attack and disable the husband then strip and rape the wife. All this while Malcolm McDowell dances about singing "Singing in the Rain." This film has changed that song for good for me. They then make their escape, so happy, with no remorse.
When I first saw this film I was under the influence of some mind altering substances. This however did not detract from the startling technicolour, the hypnotic blues and brilliant whites and fashions that you cannot place in any time or part of the world. The fascinating language (Nadsat) that has made it's way in to the everyday, invented by Anthony Burgess and mostly made up of Russian. It makes you feel like you are an alien looking down on a new scary planet, too scary for words. It's nothing like you have witnessed before or since.
Now for the soundtrack. Alex loves Beethoven and it is used heavily here occasionally adapted with electronic synths that give this film its dark, eerie and hopeless atmosphere. If you can please give it a listen. The best examples are "Theme From... (Beethoviana)", Rossini's "Thieving Magpie" in it's purest form and my favourite, "Title Music" which is an adaptation of "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary". Give them a listen and feel like Alex.
This film is about independence, control, fear, betrayal, revenge and do gooders gone wrong. The government's idea of curing violence and criminality makes you feel for the perpetrators even more. You know you should be scared of Alex but you can't help but hope he succeeds in curing his cure even though you know what ultimately that means. He is no different to the boy who lives in your street and perhaps that makes the old adage of "you wouldn't get that violence in my day" a bit defunct.
"A human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange - meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil." - Burgess.
"Being the adventures of a young man ... who couldn't resist pretty girls ... or a bit of the old ultra-violence ... went to jail, was re-conditioned ... and came out a different young man ... or was he ?"
Malcolm McDowell is amazing here. One of my all time favourite films. Beautifully shot, gorgeous soundtrack, one of a kind. Might even throw in a comparison to the novel too!
Deathtrap (1978)
In this play an accomplished yet failing playwright comes across a murderousopportunity to boost his career. Think American Psycho, but not.
I love these old classics. They’re not going to give you nightmares but considering they didn’t really have a lot of blood and gore to play with in those days, Doris Day flicks in particular, they don’t do too badly with the old scare factor.
We begin in the London fog, the type of fog you only really get in movies. Doris Day is walking home, minding her own business when suddenly a creepy sing-song voice, which she later describes as “like a puppet”, calls her name, “Mrs Preston...over here Mrs Preston.” She cannot see anyone but he then threatens to kill her before the month is out. She runs home passed some building works which helpfully display a sign with the word DANGER in big red letters. Love it.
Mr & Mrs Preston have been married for only 3 months and already she is feeling neglected. She tells her husband (Rex Harrison) what happened to her and he dismisses it as a practical joke. Here we see the first of the anti-British references with the “that’s just what these Londoners do.” Going on to joke about the research they will go into to give someone a good scare. I won’t dwell on this too much but it is interesting that all the friendly characters are her fellow Americans, but this is nothing new. On the other side this may be a vehicle for showing how isolated she is in a foreign country. You decide.
When the prank calls start we no longer hear the voice, I’m guessing this is to heighten the tension in the end scene, but also because Doris Day tells of the caller talking “filth” to her. I’m not sure what this low-down scoundrel thinks he’s playing at by talking filth to Doris Day, but here we are allowed to make up our own minds about what he is saying. Or our own filth, if you will.
Pretty soon we are presented with some prime suspects; the money grabbing Malcolm (Roddy MacDowell); scary-eyed property developer, Brian (John Gavin, Psycho) who always seems to be hanging around; creepy man with a scar on his cheek who seems to be following her...
All in all this is a pretty good example of the gaslighting theory. Yes, the clues are obvious and yes, it’s blatantly trying to pull off a Hitchcock but the performances are sound. And when the perpetrator is finally revealed he becomes suitably twitchy, as you would expect any heavy breather worth his salt to be.
This film was written and Directed by Bryan Bertino. When Bryan was a kid, one night a stranger came to his door and asked to speak to someone they had never heard of. His family later found out that empty houses in the area had been burgled that night. So it begins...
We see Kristen and James (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman respectively) arrive at their summer house one evening, mid-argument when they hear a knock at the door. They open it to find a woman standing on the doorstep, her face obscured by the darkness. “Is Tamara home?” she asks. They tell her she has the wrong house so she leaves. Boyfriend James then goes out to buy cigarettes and leaves Kristen alone. Pretty soon the woman comes back a’knocking, still asking for Tamara, but Kristen is a bit creeped out, understandably, and doesn’t open the door. Now, if this were you, changing your clothes would probably be the last thing on your mind but, cue obligatory nude scene! Pretty good one too if you like Liv Tyler, definitely worth the money you spend on renting the DVD!
This is the point where you first get a glimpse of a Stranger in the mask, lurking behind Kristen. This is authentically creepy. And I mean, ear-achingly surprising. There’s nothing better in scary films where the killer just stands there staring, like they’re daring their victim to run and make it more fun for them, but this is normally when killer and victim are face to face. Here, before they even properly introduce themselves, they’re in her house, hiding in the shadows. This definitely has a feel of Funny Games to it, making you suddenly feel like your own home is the most unsafe place in the world.
Some people didn’t like the ending but I don’t need to know why a killer kills. In fact, “they’re just crazy” is the best excuse of all. There doesn’t need to be any reason or rhyme. If you like a lot of running around, stabbing, screaming, Liv Tyler naked, killers in masks and country music, go get ‘em.
“Unequivocally the most terrifying movie I’ve ever seen” – After Dark Magazine
I watched this film before I even knew what unequivocally meant but I was sure it was to be scary.
The film begins in darkness which is to be its setting for the majority. In cut scenes of the street and views of the house from the street you can barely see a thing apart from glinting lights in the distance. This echoes that it’s the things you cannot see that are what you should be most fearful of. This is overlaid with a wonderfully subtle and haunting percussion and string soundtrack, not dissimilar to something you’d get on Columbo and must be a 70’s thing, but don’t let that put you off, it’s amazing.
Our star, Jill (Carol Kane), who I assume is supposed to be a school girl but looks nearly 30, arrives at the Mandrakis household for her new babysitting job. Immediately they set up the rest of the story and Jill’s impending doom. “The children are asleep and just getting over colds so don’t go upstairs to check on them.” Oh dear, “if we’re not home by 10 we’ve gone on to see a movie so won’t be back until after 12.” You won’t be back until after 12 then...
Soon after Jill is left “alone” in the house the phone rings. It’s one of those shrill rings you get on old phones and seems to resonate throughout the house. Of course when she picks up the receiver, nobody answers and this happens a few times before the caller finally dares to speak, in a calm sinister English accent, “Have you checked the children?” Jill gets spooked and calls the cops who make her feel stupid but nonetheless take her details and promise to put a trace on her line. They insist she’s safe if she stays in the house.
Baring in mind this is just the first 15 minutes of the film it could easily be the entire film. The remake recognises this very well.
This film does the famous babysitter urban legend proud. At times over dramatic with the surprisingly sexy Colleen Dewhurst playing a troubled character who later is terrorised by our psychopath (Tony Beckley). Other times beautifully shot with hints of Hitchcock when stills are placed in to the film to accentuate the shock the viewer should be feeling at that moment. And the great Rachel Roberts plays the physiatrist to a T, just like something from One Flew Over the Cooker’s Nest.
In short, if you want an excuse not to babysit your nieces this weekend just tell them this story and walk away. Even if they are offering you £10 an hour, just walk away.
This one literally is good for a wet afternoon. Nice sinister story starring the amazing Kim Stanley as the slowly-losing-it wife and Richard Attenborough as her hapless husband turned kidnapper.
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
This is the original and, if I remember rightly, made-for-TV movie starring Carol Kane and Charles Durning. I hate to go on about originals being better but this one is, by miles. Have you checked the children...? Love it!
What better post to kick off with than my first ever steps in to the scary stuff. I must’ve been about ten when I bought this book, and I know what you’re thinking, it can’t be that scary if a kid’s reading it. Well, it still produces the required chill factor, albeit probably PG rated or equivalent.
This slim and perfectly formed book is a collection of 150 ghost stories which the cover write-up insists are “all true!” I’m in no doubt! Recently, in a fit of nostalgia, I trawled through the internet to try to find a second hand copy, as I’d left mine on a bus somewhere probably. As soon as I saw the childlike cartoon illustrations I was immediately taken back to ten-year-old me. Reading alone in my room. Memorising every line.
Some of the stories are light-hearted, like ghostly hands on the Devon moors taking control of steering wheels, a naked apparition appearing in Sunderland and a killer bus in Kensington that disappeared after it caused another driver to swerve out of the way to his death. My favourites though were the ones that went in to more detail. The Phantom Hitch-hiker tells the story of Harold, who one night picks up a hitch-hiker (NO, DON’T DO IT!!) who regales him with tales of accidents that have happened on that very stretch of road. A few months later he picks up the very same hitch-hiker, who again goes in to gory detail of the road accidents that had happened there. It culminates in our Harold running the man down after he jumps in front of his car only for him to reappear in the rear-view mirror unharmed but angry...
If you want to be able to entertain next time you find yourself round a campfire or just feel like scaring the kids then this book is for you.
"WARNING: Please be advised that Ghost Stories contains moments of extreme shock and tension. We strongly advise those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending." Sounds like my kind of thing.
Amazing Ghosts and Ghouls by Peter Eldin