My Top Ten Willy Inducing Moments

Andre Dumas over at The Horror Digest recently posted a lovely little list of "Top Ten Willy Inducing Moments", in which she tells us just what moments in horror scare her. Furthermore, she's challenged other bloggers to do the same.
And although I haven't embedded video with mine (because I couldn't find many of them online, I'm not as savvy as Andre), I have picked out ten movie moments that freak me out and give me the willies!
So without further adieu, my list:

10) The Strangers - The first fright.
The moment that gets me most in this film is one of the first scares - when Kristen is in the kitchen, and unbeknownst to her, 'The Man in the Mask' is hovering near the doorway, biding his time. It is such an eerie moment in a relatively creepy movie. It gets under my skin and the first time I watched it, I saw that dude in every window and every time I closed my eyes. Effectively shuddersome.

9) Session 9 - The last scenes.
There are so many subtle moments of horror in this one - so many quietly terrifying flashes - that it was hard for me to choose. But I think the ending, where Simon is calling his wife and apologizing, and scenes of the empty asylum are shown...it is so disquieting, so haunting - that it had me thinking about it long after. Just those last words: "I live in the weak and the wounded...doc."

8) Halloween (1978) - Michael behind the hedge.
Walking home from school, Laurie, Annie and Lynda see Michael pop out from behind the bushes. Naturally, he isn't there when they look again. The when Laurie is up in her room, chatting and giggling nervously on the phone with Annie, she looks out the window. What does she see? The clothesline in her back yard. What else? Michael Myers staring at her from between the sheets. The first time I saw that it was a major startler for me, and each time I revisit the classic it gets me right here *punches chest*. There are a few more of these key moments in Halloween: when Michael is outside Laurie's school standing by Loomis's car, when Michael is carrying the dead girl around the house, and when Laurie thinks he's dead and he rises up and turns his head towards her.
This, my friends, is why Halloween will always be copied but never duplicated.

7) The Exorcist - Karras's mother.
I know, I know - the whole damn movie is willy-inducing. I'm well aware of that. But what gets me more than pea soup and demon faces is Karras's mother coming up the subway. Oh my god does that ever freak me out. "Why you do this to me, Dimi?" He's running towards her, intending to help in some way. And then we see the freaky devil face. But that doesn't get me like she does with her whiny cries and sad face. That darn Captain Howdy must be up to his old tricks...

6) Alien - Meeting the bitch.
Poor Harry Dean Stanton. Just imagine your surprise if you were just going about your business, doing a little walkabout on the Nostromo, checking things out and such - that's what engineers do, right? - then, to your ultimate dismay you get attacked by one of the god damned creepiest aliens ever put on the screen. The dread I got in my gut as that bitch of a monster reached out and... well, I think you can see where I'm coming from. And to see the ship's cat, Jones, just staring obliviously at the whole situation unfolding is the most terrifying moment of all.


5) Ghost Story - The snowy road.
This film has long been one of my favorites, and though there are several moments of absolute dread in this one, the picture above shows my favorite minute of terror. When Sears is traveling down that snowy road, trying to get back to town to being help for David and Ricky (back at Eva's dilapidated old mansion), Eva appears on the road in front of him, causing him to crash into a snowbank. Just standing there in her Sunday finest, looking every bit the ghoul she is, Eva/Alma induces a fear that sticks with you. She does it again and again in this film, and I could have picked at least four or five separate moments - but this one gets me most because you really don't expect it.

4) The Woman in Black - In the cemetery.
Speaking of terrifying women who can haunt dreams, my number four here is a film that was originally shown on television in the UK back in 1989. Based on the awesome book by Susan Hill, it tells of a solicitor who goes to a tiny village on the coast of England to see about closing an eccentric old woman's estate. What he gets is a pasty, horrifying specter determined to make him lose his freaking mind. He sees her a few times previous to this, but the moment above - when he sees her standing alone in the cemetery - sends waves of fear through me and my hair stands on end. And I mean that.



3) The Blair Witch Project - The last scene.
While I wanted to totally clean Heather Donahue's clock after about a half an hour into this one, I cannot deny that the last five minutes totally got to me in the worst way. After investing all my time into the story and processing the "legend", when it came down to the part where Mike and Heather found the abandoned house and started wandering through it, searching for Josh (who could be heard screaming in the background), I was like putty in their hands. Friends of mine bitched that they didn't understand the ending, or that it was stupid. Well, they certainly didn't pay any attention to the story, or they would know why the hell Mike was standing in that lonely corner.
I couldn't go to my basement for a week.

2) Jaws - The Indianapolis Speech. I'm not quite as afraid of sharks as Andre, but they still do a number on me. Jaws is my favorite horror movie and I could pick any number of scenes that freak me the hell out. Naturally the opening and first kill would be high on anyone's list, but I'm thinking outside the box here. When the three men are relaxing below deck, showing off their scars and drinking to their legs, Quint then quietly relays the story of the sinking of the Indianapolis during WWII. Combined with John Williams' stellar score, the tension just rises with each word. You become so involved in the speech you forget about the damn shark stalking them outside. "I'll never put on a life-jacket again..."
My absolute favorite moment in film.

1) Psycho - Norman's end speech as "Mother".
At the courthouse, once he's been apprehended and is awaiting his fate, he's all Mother.
And I quote: [voiceover in police custody, as Norman is thinking] "It's sad, when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son. But I couldn't allow them to believe that I would commit murder. They'll put him away now, as I should have years ago. He was always bad, and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man... as if I could do anything but just sit and stare, like one of his stuffed birds. They know I can't move a finger, and I won't. I'll just sit here and be quiet, just in case they do... suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching... they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, 'Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly...' "
My love for Norman supersedes my fear - but it still is the creepiest moment for me.

*And now, because I had such a rough time picking just ten moments, I give you an extra five. Why? Because I can....



*) The Serpent and the Rainbow- The Bride.
Wes Craven's ode to voodoo is an underrated gem in my opinion. Dennis Alan is hanging out in Haiti trying to discover more information about a drug that acts as a type of anesthesia. Instead he becomes embroiled a country's revolution and the possibility that the 'drug' is being used to make zombies. The scene above shows a veiled bride who reaches out to Dennis in the midst of a horrifyingly real dream, and the tension as she raises her veil...I can still feel it.


*) Carnival of souls- The ghoul.
What makes the scene above even more surreal is the fact that it is actually the director of the film (Herk Harvey) portraying this part. When Mary survives an over-the-bridge car accident that kills three of her friends, she stumbles out of the water disoriented and disillusioned. She takes a job out of town as an organist in a church and on the way there she sees an abandoned amusement park, and soon after - the ghoulish dude above. He haunts her every move and appears out of nowhere constantly. She even sees him in her own reflection. This is one of the spookiest old films I've ever seen, and the image of the ghoul still haunts me today.

*) The Devil's Backbone (El espinazo del diablo) - Santi.
Foreign films all seem to have their moments - seems not being able to understand the language most certainly doesn't prevent frightening moments from affecting me. In fact, sometimes not knowing is even more effective. The Devil's Backbone is quite frankly one of the best ghost stories I have ever seen. Set during the Spanish Civil War, it centers on the story of Carlos, a young boy who discovers a ghost in the orphanage he has been sent to. The first time he actually sees Santi, in all his floating, disembodied goodness, is a moment of pure exhilaration and fear. Good stuff.

*) The Ring - Samara coming out of the well.
Come on...can anyone really tell me that they weren't wigged out when she started crawling out of that damn hole in the ground? I don't believe you if you weren't. It's a startling epiphany. Oh shit, she's SO not dead. Or maybe she is. The long hair covering her face, that ghastly strut of hers, those eyes... Truly effective, and I will remember this scene as one that terrified me for days. Days.

*) The Abandoned - Doppelganger hell.
This film might not be everyone's cup of tea, as it has rather confusing, disjointed narratives and a meandering plot, but I found it eerie as hell. A woman, trying to settle an old family estate in a remote area of Russian back country, runs into a problem when she discovers how her parents actually died. Her fate is then shown to her, and she meets both a brother she never knew she had, as well as doppelgangers that warn them of their impending doom. The first time she runs into hers is just a damn disturbing piece of film - even more unpleasant for me because the ghostly apparition looks a lot like a girl from my high school that attempted to kill herself. So not cool.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Hannibal



The Reaping



Terror Firmer



Pathology



Blood Feast 2

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Inside



The Devil's Rejects



Skeleton Crew



Laid to Rest



Xtro 2

J-Horror Missteps : Guest Post

Recently I was approached about the possibility of someone else guest posting here at Fascination with Fear, and at first I was a tad apprehensive, as this blog is my baby, and though I've added a regular gig at The Blood Sprayer, I didn't want to hand over the reins or anything that drastic.
But after reading through what was sent my way, I was happily agreeable to accepting the article. After all, I could use a little help keeping up.

And so I give you the first post (because I'm hoping she'll do more!) by Camiele White.
Do give her a rousing welcome.

"J-Horror Films that Missed the Mark"

For anyone who is a fan of horror and has found themselves pining for something of the real fright and fantasy of the horror films of the 60s and 70s, Japanese horror (or affectionately named “J-Horror”) has become something of a godsend. Fanatics and freaks had seemingly found the safe haven that they’d been looking for from killer dolls and, worse, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. And just like the underground anime lovers before them, fans of J-Horror had been introduced to something that would yet again awaken imagination and curiosity. The subtlety, the atmosphere. Everything that came from Japan seemed to wring itself free from the annals of mindless gore and milkshake plot lines that made up the American films that came from the late 80s and have now found themselves seeping with the ooze-like reckless abandon of The Blob into American pop culture. Not only were the story lines better, they were better tied up. Even the gore was more extravagant, but the controlled chaos of Japanese directors allowed that the gore followed a purpose, if not to simply indulge in the insanity of a title character.

However...

As with anything that we know and love, there are those J-Horror films that just miss the mark ever so slightly. Few and far between as they may be, there are those films that even made me miss the camp fodder of 1988. Whether silly, cliché, or just plain boring, these are the select few films that really didn’t do much to bring me back to J-Horror (thank God I saw The Eye first).

Ju-On: Though its American counterpart, The Grudge, was nothing more than a half-assed attempt at giving Buffy fans another dose of their muse, Ju-On didn’t necessarily win any awards for creativity. After having been a fan of Japanese horror for quite some time, after a while any fan would’ve noticed the same plot line twisting itself around relatively thin dialogue. It isn’t so much the photography of the film that distressed me --if anything that’s what gives it such a lasting impression. Given the budget restraints within which director, Takashi Shimkizu, had to work, it’s a masterpiece of cunning cinematography. The actual problems I had with the film have nothing to do with the film’s ambition. The acting is slipshod and the incessant meowing becomes more monotonous than the now infamous throat groaning. Of course, then the sin to end all sins: the film takes a turn for the American and a cute tutor chick climbs into a creepy attic --because logically if I’m in a house all by myself, the first thing I’m going to do is investigate why there’s a hole in the cupboard leading to the attic. Obviously! It’s the almost brutally obvious turns and twists that the film takes that, unfortunately, makes it fall flat --a sheer case of potential unfulfilled.

Rasen: Though the Ringu series was and remains very successful, there was one film that managed to escape even the watchful eye of the Japanese. Rasen, Ringu’s original sequel, was released at the same time as the first film in hopes of both films garnering a bigger buzz. However, Rasen was quickly swept under the rug, forgotten by even the studio. Written and directed by two different sets of crew, yet sharing the same cast, the film was seemingly doomed from the start. It almost gets you involved when it suddenly just becomes ridiculous. When dissected cadavers start talking to doctors in attempts to create the atmosphere of tortured psychology, you’ve basically taken me out of the film. What’s even more off-putting is after having watched the notorious film, our protagonist, Dr. Ando, gets a freak fest instead of a phone call. I’ve actually never seen a film do so little with so much --it’s like watching Spain lose to the Swiss in the first round of the World Cup.

Shikoku: Now, don’t get me wrong. I love a good ghost story/exorcism. However, Shikoku sort of throws viewers for a loop. Opening up with a supposed demon extraction, the film initially shows promise. However, directly after this four minute foray into classic cinematic history, the film goes all lovey-dovey and sort of misses the boat. A spoiled brat who wants to leave her village mixed with a recurrent theme in most J-Horror (the ghost bitch with a grudge) sort of leaves the audience yawning before the second half of the film. It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad horror flick, as far as horror flicks go, but it suffers from the same curse as Ju-On --predictability (only this brand of prediction doesn’t exactly comfort the audience into believing that the film will get any better). There’s always a little girl; she always dies; a family is torn to pieces and leaves a village in the throes of a demon curse that just won’t quit. What else is new?

This is, obviously, by no means an exhaustive list --I’ve left out the obvious game-to-movie (or vice-versa) genre which has a very low success rate even in Japan. I also haven’t seen tons of J-Horror films. I’ve seen my fair share, but not enough to suggest that I’m an expert; that’s why this list is so small.

Although there are only three that actually got me riled up enough to write this blog, these three actually deterred me from J-Horror for about six months --if I’m just going to get the same rehash over and over again, what’s the difference between this and the other American movies that have been released in the past 20 years? What about it, though? Since the topic has been broached, in what films have the beloved Japanese just seemed to allow their cinematic skills to fall short? After all, everyone can’t be Takashi Miike.

Article writer by day, renegade poet by night, Camiele White loves any and everything film. She chases only the original (or incredibly funny) and has been known to talk for hours about subjects that most people just don’t care about. Right now, she gets her jabber-jaw jollies at Halloween costumes StarCostumes.com. If you want to give her a buzz, she can be reached at cmlewhite at gmail.com.

Sunday Bloody Sunday: JAWS edition

In honor of the 35 anniversary of Jaws, various pics from the movie series (original thru part 4)...

"Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women!": Sharkathalon fever catches on!

So, I had to get in on the SHARKATHALON!!




Over at Radiation-Scarred Reviews, they are having loads of fun with their shark week, aptly named SHARKATHALON! (which I simply had to say again because I like the way it rolls off my tongue!).... and though I didn't write anything new, I thought I'd put a link up for my little JAWS discussion that I did last fall.

You see, Jaws is my favorite horror movie, and I just can't help myself.
So check out my thoughts on 'serving up the citizens of Amity as a smörgåsbord!' HERE...



...and enjoy all the sharky entertainment over at RSR!!

Oh, and you ARE gonna need a bigger boat, by the way!

Splice of life..

Often a movie comes along that gets mixed reviews from my fellow horror bloggers - we all have varying opinions, even within the genre we love so much. But I'm here to tell you I loved Splice, regardless if each and every one of my cohorts disagrees. I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan, I generally take the straight horror fork in the road more often - but I am certainly down with good science fiction - after all, one of my favorite television shows was The X-Files.

Splice (if you've been living under a rock and don't know) is the story of two genetic engineers who are in the top of their field and on the cusp of huge success and fame with their recent hybrid race made from splicing the DNA of different animals together. It's thought that the new "species" can assist in vastly important medical discoveries and advancements.

However, our couple (and they are a 'couple' as well as work partners) persists in asking their pharmaceutical corporate sponsors for permission to try using human DNA in their experiments, believing this could be the breakthrough of the century. Naturally, due to ethical and moral reasons, the powers-that-be adamantly refuse.

This doesn't stop Elsa and Clive (great Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein homages by the way!) - they secretly blend the animal DNA with human, and after countless failures finally strike gold. They get the right combination and the splice takes hold.

Soon, their hybrid mix is growing beyond comprehension, and waaay too fast. They incubate it in a hush-hush manner, hiding away in the lab to work on an 'undisclosed' experiment. Soon Elsa and Clive are the proud parents of a... creature, for lack of a better word. It comes into the world many months early and fairly pissed off. But soon Elsa makes friends with the little sprout, who grows like a weed both physically and mentally.

Before long, the hybrid is putting Scrabble letters together, making words and astounding her 'parents' at her hyper intelligence. When she spells the word NERD after seeing it on a t-shirt, Elsa decides calling her by a lab number is no longer acceptable and she reverses the word, choosing to name the little one DREN.

At one point in their cloak-and-dagger venture, Dren develops a fever - an unknown illness that seems to drag her down to the point of death, until Clive - after placing her in a cold bath to drop her temp - realizes she needs to be under the water, like an amphibian. Only after Dren regains consciousness does Elsa figure out Clive was helping her, not drowning her. So it's decided she needs access to a body of water at all times, though she is certainly not limited to it.

Dren soon becomes a bit too much to hide in the basement of the lab anymore, so they move her to Elsa's family farmhouse, which has obviously been abandoned for many years. There is a mini side story about Elsa's mother in which we aren't given full disclosure but it is apparent that her mother had mental problems and probably didn't treat Elsa the best. Nevertheless, they stow Dren away in the large barn, taking turns watching her and keeping her occupied and her mind stimulated.

They lavish her with toys and gifts but continue to tell her she cannot go outside. Dren attempts to keep a barn cat, but Elsa forbids it, causing Dren obvious sadness and distress. By this time she is fully grown and appears to be a young woman, albeit a bit of a strange-looking one. Dren is quite bored, and when she escapes and runs up on the roof, Clive and Elsa follow her, imploring her to come back inside. It is only when Clive tells her they love her that she turns around and runs into his arms.

From that point, things get a little hairy. Folks at the lab (including Clive's brother Gavin) become suspicious about Elsa missing work and Clive's lack of enthusiasm on their (legit) project. Then a major accident involving said project brings the calamity of the situation to the forefront - and that, combined with Dren's increasingly unusual - bordering on violent - behavior - wreaks havoc on their happy little home.

Splice put me through a lot of different emotions when watching it. Nothing actually scared me, truth be told, but I think it only fair to give credit where credit is due. I loved wee Dren - she was like a puppy at the pet store you beg your mom to let you bring home. As she grew, my emotions stayed steady - I felt for the little bugger. She was an outcast - a reject of science - yet so darned cute all the same. Her own feelings seemed intact, with her desiring both a physical and emotional connection with her faux parents. She wanted love.

But in all experiments, things rarely go as planned. Clive warns Elsa going in that what they are doing is morally wrong, but neither can help themselves - and even as Clive comes to his senses after thinking about killing Dren on a few occasions early on, Elsa very nearly does a bit later in the film. Whether or not it was intentional, I won't say. I will mention that things get very ugly, very quickly. And any aspirations budding geneticists may have about DNA splicing may go right out the window after seeing this film.

The acting is very good, in particular by the two leads. Anyone who thinks Adrien Brody (Clive) cannot act has never seen The Pianist. He's great here, attempting to be the voice of reason against all the increasing madness. And what do I need to say about Sarah Polley (Elsa)? She's an actor (perhaps most famous to genre fans as Ana in the remake of Dawn of the Dead), screenwriter and director (Academy Award nominated at that, for Away From Her), singer, and political activist. But let's face it, she's just good at what she does, and is beyond credible in this role. Together, Polley and Brody exude both compassion and compunction about their dealings with Dren. On one hand, they want very much to see her grow to her full potential, even though they have NO idea what that potential might be. And at the same time, they are trying to be fair and appropriate parental figures for Dren. Certainly a conundrum in the truest sense of the word.
Well, you know what the 'Stones say: You can't always get what you want.

I believe the special effects were done quite well here. The lovely Delphine Chanéac played Dren, and obviously whomever gave her the eerie, wide-eyed look of our spliced hybrid knew their stuff. She is hauntingly beautiful, even as the eccentric lab-grown cross-species. And though I've never been privy to what goes on in a first-class, highly funded medical genetics laboratory, I have to say it all looked reasonably legit to me. But then again, I'm not one of these people who picks apart details just to be crass. Again I say, looked pretty damn good to me.

All in all, I guess I feel I have to defend Splice because I've actually heard some fairly derogatory remarks about it. I don't get why. What are you fans expecting? Another Alien? We may never see that again, people! Splice had a decent storyline, even if watered down a bit from the sci-fi gore some are used to. It had sex, nudity, violence, action, and blood. Furthermore, the acting was really good and the effects above average.
But it was the actual character of Dren that had me loving the movie - you feel yourself sucked into her dilemma, her boredom and lack of self-worth that hit me in the gut. You really hoped things got better for her. Once she finally started to blossom though, the film moved to a whole other level. An even better, more disturbing level, in my opinion.

Directed by Vincenzo Natali and exec produced by none other than Guillermo del Toro (which should say something already), Splice is a hybrid itself in a sea swimming with re-makes, re-imaginings, and re-hashes - a sliver of hope in the vast universe of monotonous horror and sci-fi.