Scary stories: It’s Halloween time!
Once again, I’m all in for Halloween decorations! (Photo: DY, 2013)
As a kid, Halloween was all about trick-or-treating. It basically involved the short-lived joy of my brother Jeff and I returning home with our bags full of candy, dumping our catch on the kitchen table, and sorting out the A list candies from all the rest. A couple of weeks and a few gazillion grams of sugar later, it was over.
Truth is, I always felt kinda dopey dressing up in a Halloween costume. But you gotta do what you gotta do to get the annual haul of candy.
There also was the annual viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” It took a far second place to “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” but still managed to give us our fix of the Peanuts gang.
Nowadays…
I can’t recall the last time I went to a Halloween party, and more often than not I’ve found myself teaching on Halloween night. This year, scary movies are my way of ringing in the Halloween season. Here are the three I’ve viewed so far:
The Haunting (1963) (**** stars) — An old house in a remote part of New England has a bad history, and four paranormal researchers descend upon it to learn more. A very scary psychological thriller, enhanced by the black & white cinematography, starring Julie Harris and Claire Bloom.
Paranormal Activity (2007) (*** stars) — A young woman has been dealing with a paranormal entity for much of her life, and it’s not about to let her and her boyfriend (played by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) settle comfortably into this otherwise perfectly normal San Diego house. A low-budget movie that delivers some real goosebump moments.
The Ring (2002) (**1/2 stars) — I enjoyed this more than I expected after reading mixed reviews. Naomi Watts stars as a Seattle newspaper reporter investigating the unexplained death of a friend’s daughter. It’s already a “period piece,” as the story is driven by a VHS tape and use of extensive videotape technology.
I hope to squeeze in two more by Halloween, a couple of high-touted oldies that I’ve never seen before: The Uninvited (1944) (starring Ray Milland) and The Innocents (1961) (starring Deborah Kerr).
Ghosts and “chicken skin”
I can’t say for sure that I’ve ever seen a ghost or an apparition, but I believe they exist. I’ve never gone on an actual ghost hunt, but I enjoy going on ghost tours in cities I visit and reading about local ghost stories and supposed hauntings.
Over the years I’ve been on ghost walking tours in London, Cambridge (UK), Oxford, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, and Boston. I’ve also walked around parts of Hawaii, Gettysburg, PA, and Salem, MA, figuring ghosts must be hanging around. These occasional wanderings are supplemented by a small collection of books about ghosts and the supernatural that I enjoy dipping into now and then.
Technically, of course, none of this has much to do with Halloween, other than the general idea of scary stories. There’s a part of me that says you don’t wanna mess with this stuff too much, but I guess the “what if” is part of the fun of it all. It’s about what the Hawaiian folks call “chicken skin” stories, the tales that give you goosebumps.
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Related post
Comfort movies: What are your favorite subclassics?
(Photo: DY)
Do you have a list of movies that might not make it onto the critics’ all time great lists, but that you can watch over and again?
I have some favorite movies that just happen to be classics. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is my favorite movie ever, and I’ll be sharing a memory about that one soon. The Civil War movie Glory (1989) may be the best of its genre. Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) brilliantly captures both a great city and some of its neurotic people. For humor, Mel Brooks’s The Producers (1967 version) is at another level, while The Exorcist (1973) still rings the fear bell for me. And Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) gets me every time with that twisty story and gorgeous Bay Area cinematography.
But whenever I watch and enjoy these movies and others like them, there’s a part of me that feels obliged to study them, too. They’re so darn good, I need to appreciate them at an aesthetic level, as well for their pure entertainment value.
The subclassics
But then there are the comfort movies, what I call my subclassics, that I can watch repeatedly, without feeling tugged by my inner film critic.
They’re the movies that may get a solid three stars from the critics, though rarely four. They’re not dumb movies, but they don’t overly tax my brain either. I can miss a few lines and not worry about missing the whole point of the film.
War movies
Several World War II movies make my subclassics list. In Harm’s Way (1965) is a WWII naval flick, with John Wayne and Patricia Neal leading a star-studded cast. Its opening scene takes place in Hawaii on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack. Sink the Bismarck (1960) portrays the British mission to sink Germany’s most powerful battleship, starring Kenneth More and the incredibly lovely Dana Wynter. And Battle of the Bulge (1965) depicts Germany’s final major offensive effort of the war, featuring Henry Fonda and lots of other Hollywood stars.
As a Civil War buff, I’ve given Ron Maxwell’s Gettysburg (1993) repeated viewings. And going back in historical time, The Patriot (2000), a highly fictionalized story of the American Revolution, and Master and Commander (2003), a rousing naval actioner about the Napoleonic Wars, have received similar attention on my DVD player.
And more…
I’ll accept the twist of a blue state liberal enjoying war movies, but I like other types of movies as well.
For late Cold War-era humor and suspense, WarGames (1983) is thoroughly entertaining period piece, starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy as privileged teens who get caught up in the possibility of computer-generated nuclear war. I also love seeing the early 80s personal computer gadgetry playing a key role in the movie.
For more serious Cold War stuff, I love Thirteen Days (2000), the story of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as seen from the Kennedy White House (with a little bit too much Kevin Costner). And for fake international intrigue, there’s Patriot Games (1992), a Tom Clancy novel turned into celluloid, featuring Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan.
Another subclassic favorite, Twister (1996), stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as diehard storm chasers and weather researchers. I’m fascinated by tornadoes and have gone on five storm chase tours since 2008, and I can watch this (scientifically shaky) flick anytime. And the steak dinner scene at Aunt Meg’s never ceases to arouse my taste buds.
On the funny side, Major League (1989) is a favorite and hilarious sports flick (anything with Bob Uecker usually qualifies), and Hairspray (1988 version), starring a young Ricki Lake in one of John Waters’ tamer productions, blends slightly gross humor and great tunes. And That Thing You Do! (1996) is charming and funny story of a small Pennsylvania band that suddenly hits the big time, starring Tom Hanks, Tom Everett Scott, and Liv Tyler.
And yours???
There are many others I could add to the list, but you get the idea. These are the movies that put us in a good place or give us a respite from everyday stuff.
Feel free to add yours, either here or when I post this to Facebook!
The Wizard of Oz and Generation Jones
No single generation can lay claim to “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), but I certainly can attest that it holds iconic status in the eyes of many Gen Jonesers.
It’s a movie that we associate with our childhoods, replete with the annual anticipation of its fall screening on TV. It was an event in our lives, right there on the small screen. The songs became etched in our minds, especially “Over the Rainbow,” “Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead,” and “If I Only Had a Brain.” The scary parts, most notably the tornado scene, anything to do with the Wicked Witch, and the flying monkeys, had us huddled together on our couches.
And how many times have variations of memorable lines from the movie entered into our everyday sayings and quips? Such as:
- “Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!”
- “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
- “I’m melting! melting!”
- “…we’re not in Kansas anymore”
- “Shucks, folks, I’m speechless.”
- “There’s no place like home!”
(See the imdb.com entry for more!)
“It’s a twister! It’s a twister!”
Over the past five years, I’ve gone on a number of storm chase tours in an effort to learn more about severe weather in America’s heartland. The tours are led by expert storm chasers, and these experiences have put me in touch with dozens of other chasers, severe weather enthusiasts, and storm geeks.
Whenever we talk about the roots of our passionate interest in tornadoes, the twister scene in “The Wizard of Oz” inevitably comes up, early and often.
Spanning our emotions
Very few movies of our childhood so envelop a range of emotional qualities: Joy, longing, belonging, friendship, caring, love, fear, courage, shame, kindness, evil. We care about and identify with the core characters. Each has a quest, a challenge, and we root for them.
Yup, I could wile away the hours (sorry!) thinking about the lasting imprint of this movie on my generation.
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Movie poster: Wikipedia
Musings of a Gen Joneser 
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