#scream 1996 nc-17

[liverralonee]

does anyone know where someone (me) could watch the scream 1996 NC-17 version? ive been searching for it forever and the only things i’ve been able to find are the region 2 japanese DVD, from 1997 and 2002 which apparently have it, and some of the VHS tapes of the movie from 1997 do as well.

it’s not that big of a deal technically because it’s only about 20 seconds of added or slightly changed footage, but it’s my favorite movie ever and it just means a lot to me that one day i get to finally watch the full movie as it was originally intended before it was given the NC-17 and they had to remove some of these scenes

[weridobybirth]

Scream ( 1996)

Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving this mystery is going to be murder.

A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.

~ Scream (1996) facts ~

The original title of the film was Scary Movie, but it was changed to Scream by the Weinstein brothers—then the heads of the film’s production company, Miramax—in the middle of production. They allegedly decided on the change because Harvey Weinstein was listening to the Michael Jackson song “Scream” in his car with his brother Bob. They both liked the title for a horror movie.

The Weinstein brothers initially approached noted horror directors George A. Romero and Sam Raimi for directorial duties, but they both turned the project down. Wes Craven, who had directed the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, initially passed as well, but he signed on to direct after Drew Barrymore agreed to appear in the film in the lead role of Sidney Prescott.

Barrymore changed her mind about playing the lead five weeks before production was set to begin. Barrymore instead suggested she play Casey Becker, the teen terrorized by the killer in the opening scene, to cleverly subvert audience expectations that a star of her stature would survive the movie. Casting directors approached Alicia Witt, Brittany Murphy, and Reese Witherspoon to take over the Sidney Prescott role before eventually casting Neve Campbell.

Barrymore worked for less than a week . Barrymore shot all of her scenes in the first five days of production

The killer’s now-iconic mask was a simple off-the-shelf Halloween mask. Craven and a producer found it at a house they were location scouting.

Besides Scream, Roger L. Jackson’s credits include the role of Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls. Craven separated Jackson from the actors and had him actually talk to them over the phone to make their reactions feel more genuine.

The film was originally given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for being too gruesome, and despite the fact that Craven initially refused to cut anything, the movie was edited and resubmitted by the studio nine times before it was given an R rating.

The 42-minute final act, taking place entirely during the party at Stu’s house, took 21 successive nights to shoot. The cast and crew jokingly called it “The longest night in horror history.”

Eventually, the high school scenes were shot at a community center in nearby Sonoma because it didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of a school board. As a joke, in the “Special Thanks” section of the end credits it says “No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa city school district governing board.”

Linda Blair, the star of The Exorcist, makes a cameo as one of the news reporters outside of the school. She’s the one with the bright orange blouse. Later on, she’s the reporter who confronts Sidney in Dewey’s police car. Craven previously directed Blair in the 1978 TV movie Stranger in Our House.

[chaotic-bean-of-smolness]

Movie Recommendations: Horror/Slasher/Thriller Edition

This is a collection of some of my favorite spoopy movies. Just a warning, a lot of these movies have jump scares, blood, gore, violence, flashing lights, etc. Viewer discretion advised. Also, these movies are not in any particular order. Just whatever comes to mind.

1. Us (2019)

Rating: R

Time: 2h 1m

Director: Jordan Peele

2. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 35m

Director: Drew Goddard

3. The Descent (2005)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 49m

Director: Neil Marshall

4. Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 28m

Director: Robert Hiltzik

5. Cult of Chucky (2017)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 31m

Director: Don Mancini

6. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

Rating: PG-13

Time: 1h 47m

Director: André Øvredal

7. Sinister (2012)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 50m

Director: Scott Derrickson

8. Insidious (2010)

Rating: PG-13

Time: 1h 43m

Director: James Wan

9. Aliens (1979)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 57m

Director: Ridley Scott

10. Scream (1996)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 51m

Director: Wes Craven

11. Candyman (1992)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 41m

Director: Bernard Rose

12. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 30m

Director: Tobe Hooper

13. Halloween (1978)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 31m

Director: John Carpenter

14. Saw (2004)

Rating: NC-17

Time: 1h 43m

Director: James Wan

15. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 41m

Director: Wes Craven

16. Get Out (2017)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 44m

Director: Jordan Peele

17. Black Christmas (1974)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 38m

Director: Bob Clark

18. Final Destination (2000)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 38m

Director: James Wong

19. A Quiet Place (2018)

Rating: PG-13

Time: 3h 36m

Director: John Krasinski

20. Friday the 13th (1980)

Rating: R

Time: 1h 36m

Director: Sean S. Cunningham

[marcmyworks]

Ranking the Scream franchise.

In the aftermath of Scream franchise director Wes Craven’s death, the scandal surrounding producer Harvey Weinstein and the unpopularity of the Scream TV show, I fear we will never see a Scream 5. In this event I would like to say this is a groundbreaking film series that truly deserves to be watched, despite some of the horror sequel setbacks.

Now, for your enjoyment, here is the ranking of all four Scream films.

**SPOILERS**

4. Scream 3 (2000)

Scream 3 was disappointing in comparison to its early installments. The studio was under pressure to kill the film as the previous year slasher films had been the inspiration for several school shootings. Because of this Wes Craven had to cut down on the violence and gore. On top of this writer Kevin Williamson, who helmed the first two, was suddenly a hot ticket item in Hollywood, and as his time was limited he only could produce a rough draft script for the film. Dimension Films felt Williamson’s vision of setting the film back in the original small town of the original was too small and discarded his notes and hired newly famous writer, Erhen Kruger to take over the duties. Kruger set the film in Hollywood, during the production of a film called “Stab 3″, the fictitious sequel to the events of the first two Scream films.

Unfortunately due to the time constraints, the studio interference and the schedule of each of the actors, the script would sometimes be written the night before, with rewrites happening on set. Kruger’s initial script had two killers, one of which was main character, Sidney Prescott’s brother and the other an actress obsessed with being Sidney, both with making their own real life version of the original film only to kill each other in the final scene. The studio changed this ending for whatever reason and decided to have a multitude of red herrings leading the audience to believe there were multiple killers. The big reveal was mundane when there turned out to be only be one.

Without focusing on the scares, gore or character development, Scream 3 was not as successful critically or financially as the previous two installments. I now wonder, how it would have fared had they stuck to Williamson’s original notes.

Scream 3 = 5.5 = D

3. Scream 4 (2011)

A common theme in the Scream universe is the studio interference with the films, Scream 4 is no exception. Both the return of Craven and Williamson was a stroke of genius, but soon after production started the Weinstein’s demanded massive changes to the script, this lead to Williamson quitting during the start of production and bringing back Kruger as a (excuse the pun) ghost writer. Several actors quit during principle filming due to their roles being reduced and had to be quickly replaced. This included Ashley Greene dropping out of the role of Jill, Sidney’s cousin and Lauren Graham dropping out of the role of Jill’s Mother.

The plot of Scream 4 revolves around Sidney coming back to Woodsboro 15 years after the original Scream took place, she is promoting a book about her survival and is a media darling. The ideas are mostly developed; how youth culture is now not about pop culture but about being pop culture and how horror films are so saturated with gore and characters that audiences have become bored and complacent. Unfortunately the film becomes what it is criticizing, being too saturated with characters, gore and less about plot and tension, it becomes complacent.

On the positive side, the intro is a work of meta-horror art and the killer’s motivation is the most original of any modern slasher flick, it’s just the rest of the film that needed quite a bit of tweaking.

Scream 4 = 6.25 = C-

2. Scream 2 (1997)

Scream 2 is an almost perfect sequel and somehow, like the first, is funny and terrifying at the same time. I remember being 15 and seeing this in almost empty theater on my own and being too scared to use a bathroom stall (see the opening scene). Sequels generally suffer from either a convoluted plot, recycled ideas, far too many characters or all of the above, this film has none of these problems and does not fall into the typical horror movie tropes. Set two years after the original film, Sidney, a sophomore in college, and her friends are being stalked by a copycat killer.

Williamson wrote a treatment for Scream 2 while he wrote the first film and it was to his benefit. Though he initially envisioned the franchise to be a trilogy his first draft, called Scream Again had Sidney and suspect/ex-con Cotton Weary stabbing each other to death at the end of the film, with the intention of leaving the audience in utter horror that no one survived.

Again, the film had many rewrites. This was due to the original script leaking online, there being too many killers (in the original script there were four) and worrying about the MPAA rating the film an NC-17, which in North America equals box office suicide. Again some scenes were being written and improvised on set but somehow the final product was a masterpiece and managed to have even more critical praise than the original.

Scream 2 = 8.5 = A

1. Scream (1996)

In my humble opinion the original is best film in the series. The genius behind this film was taking a chance by killing off the film’s biggest star, Drew Barrymore, at the beginning of the film. The idea was actually the actresses. She was hired to play Sidney, but she had concerns about being type cast in horror/sci-fi films, as she was when she a child-star. Her career was also starting to flourish again which caused her schedule to become quite busy. She instead opted for a smaller part using her stature to attract other actors and even director Wes Craven to sign on. Horror films were a gamble in the mid-90s and to see a star of her caliber join made others intrigued.

It was popular at the time to cast actors in their 20s as high schoolers, and each character perfectly portrayed  intuitive and analytical teens. The level of humour, intelligence and tension was perfectly written and executed and Scream became an overnight sleeper hit.

The only actor who chose not to be credited in the film was Henry Winkler who excellently played Principal Himbry. At the time he did not want his name attached to the film as he felt it would take away interest from the films young stars. Himbry’s death scene wasn’t in the original script and was added during filming. There were for two reasons for this; first to break up the almost 45 minutes in which no deaths had occurred and secondly to be the main reason most of the kids left the party at the end of the film, leaving Sidney and her friends to be hunted down by the killer.

Overall the main reason this movie is so iconic is because it influenced a new influx of horror movie, none of which could match Scream’s success, but still tried damn hard.

Scream = 9 = A+

And there you have it, the Scream films in a nutshell. I would like to say to the Weinstein’s or whoever is taking ownership over these films. please make a Scream 5, and make it more gutsy, edgy and brutal than any of the originals. Perhaps it’s finally Dewey’s time to meet the reaper. (Update: Scream 5 will be released January 2022, and will be added to this list)

[852recordstores]

Back in the 1990s, the Scream franchise helped reinvigorate a dying genre as dozens of onscreen teens lost their lives to masked killers. A movie is a holy trinity: the screenwriter (Kevin Williamson), director (Wes Craven) and musical composer. In the case of Scream, Marco Beltrami is this third pillar. Without falling into the clichés of typical horror composers, he wrote something scary, beautiful and full of personality - which emphasized his career. Currently he is one of Hollywood's most sought after songwriters and is present in the entire Scream franchise. This 15-track collection brings together his scores for the franchises first two films, Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997) with selections 1-6 from the former and 7-15 from the latter. 1. Sidney's Lament  2. Altered Ego  3. Trouble In Woodsboro  4. A Cruel World  5. Chasing Sidney  6. NC-17  7. Stage Fright Requiem  8. Love Turns Sour  9. Cici Creepies  10. Deputy For A Friend  11. Hollow Parting  12. Dewpoint and Stabbed  13. Hairtrigger Lunatic  14. Sundown Search  15. It's Over, Sid Release Date: 19 July 2019

[luxshine]

Wow. It’s so WEIRD to read fics from OLD fandoms (say, fandoms that started circa 1994 instead of circa 2004), and see how much the slash fandom has advanced.

Back then, ANY fic with slash undertones was automatically rated R or NC-17. Even if the slashy undertones was character A thinking “mmm... I MAY like my best friend a bit too much”, the fic was rated R at a minimum for “mature subjects”

There was a TON of Rape fic, at least in the fandoms I have been reading.  Both the Rape by Evil Villian trope (that ended with Characters A and B together after a modicum of hurt/confort. Usually the sex was the healing cock trope) and the Character A rapes Character B for reasons, then after a small ammount of groveling, True Love (Tm) saves the day and they end up together trope. That not counting the sex pollen thing that... ok, even then was out of control.

Holy shit the casual homophobia. Where the homophobes are portrayed as the characters we can understand because gayness is the “other” to be tolerated. Where of COURSE people are against gayness (bisexuality is non existant in these fics. It’s all ‘you’re gay’ stuff) because is not natural, but damn it Character A/Character B love each other so maybe they can hide it a bit from the homophobes? Because the homophobes are not that bad. And when they see A/B are in love they may make an EXCEPTION.

HEll, even in fandoms that historically SHOULDN’T have homophobia due to setting (and became doubly historical due to their decision to stop queerbaiting at the very end) the homophobia is the norm! (Seriously, I can’t imagine how I actually read, back in 1996, a story with HERCULES thinking that his father would be ashamed of him if he had sex with his best friend Iolaus, because men do not sleep with men, without yelling at the scream that mythological Hercules WAS Iolaus’s lover -even when Iolaus was his nephew- and that in Ancient Greek there was no such thing as homophobia!)

So... seeing how fics have changed, how fandom has changed in 20+ years... I think there IS something to say about how fanfic writing CAN be activism (passive activism, not something really big). Because I mean, I haven’t followed the authors who wrote those stories to see if they changed tunes with their common tropes, but now a days, Slash is not automatically mature. Homophobia si not accepted in fics (And it’s usually acompanied by a trigger warning), and while there are still a lot of rape fics, now there’s a clear division between rape fics as a genre, and rape fics because well, how else we’re going to get to the gay loving?

Fandom evolved. What was acceptable back then, now would be incredibly problematic. And holy shit, what was kinky back then, now is completely vainilla (I couldn’t find a SINGLE “turns into X” fic before 2000 that was not from a speciality site dedicated to kinks... ah, popslash and your kinks). So problematic fics or not nowadays, I chose to think those writers will change and evolve too. And what is not an actual kink and is just writing problematic stuff because one doesn’t see how it can be problematic, will weed itself out as time passes. (Kink stuff will remain. We’ll just get better at labeling and warnings, I hope)

[ralphmorgan-blog1]

10 Of The Most Shocking Murder Cases That Happened During The Holidays

1. Ashland Tragedy, 1881, Ashland, KY

On the night of December 23, 1881 on a small town near the Ohio River in Ashland, Kentucky, three teenagers were staying at the Gibbons household while the father was off working in another town and the mother was away until the next day visiting her eldest daughter. 17-year-old amputee, Robert Gibbons, his 14-year-old sister Frannie Gibbons, and their friend 15-year-old friend Erica Carico (Thomas) were fast asleep when three assailants entered to wreak havoc.

Emma’s mom, a nearby neighbor, looked out the window earlier in the night to check the kids and the house, everything seemed normal normal then. Later, the sound and sight of flames caught the attention of neighbors. The three victims were found dead inside. An axe and a crowbar, the murder weapons, both saturated in blood and hair, were also found on the scene. The physicians that attended the crime scene reported that the victims had died been bludgeoned to death, their skulls smashed to pieces. There was also evidence that the two girls had been brutally raped. It was concluded that the arson was committed in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Dawn broke on Christmas Eve and word of the gruesome murders spread through town. Although crimes like robbery and drunken fights were of the norm in this town and in this era, homicides of this nature were not and the townsfolk were left shocked and appalled. After days of investigation and questioning various people, George Ellis, after displaying signs of guilt, soon confessed to the crime, thinking it would buy him leniency, and implicated William Neal and Ellis Craft.

He claimed that they had been discussing the crime for months. William Neal had supposedly claimed that he was going to have “carnal communication” with Emma before Christmas day. In his first confession, one of a few and one recanted, he said, “A few evenings prior to the 24th I met Craft who stated that he was going to see Fanny Gibbons and take her some black candy and that he was going to have intercourse with her and he wanted me to come along. About midnight, the fatal night, we all started Craft, Neal and myself and when we got to the house Craft raised the window with an old axe and stepped in first. Neal followed and I stayed behind on the porch and afterwards I went in. Robbie was the first aroused and started to get up when Craft said ‘you had better lie still.’ Craft then went to the bed where the two girls were sleeping and began to take improper liberties with them. Robbie said, ‘you had better stay away from there’, when Craft hit him with the axe. He fell back on the lounge then plunged forward and fell fully six feet from the bed under the stairs were he was found. The girls screamed when Craft jumped on the bed and they both said ‘George Craft, what are you here for?’ Emma also started to jump from the bed when Neal choked her and pulled her onto the floor. She fought him and I held her while he outraged her. Neal then struck her on the head with the big end of the crowbar and she instantly died after throwing up her hands. Craft also had some trouble with Fanny Gibbons and called on me to come and help him. He then outraged her and killed her. Neal proposed killing the girls and after they were dead I took some coal oil, poured it over the bodies, and set fire to them with a match. We then left the house.”

Though we may never know the real story after numerous versions of confessions, William Neal was executed in 1883 and Ellis Craft was executed in 1885, both by hanging. George Ellis was given a life sentence, but was later killed by a lynch mob.

2. Lawson Family Massacre, 1929, Germanton, NC

Wikimedia

Today, the last and one of the only portraits the Lawson family took remains infamous. Just a few days before Christmas, 43-year-old Charlie Lawson, a rural and working class sharecropper, took his family shopping for new outfits to get their portrait taken. Back then this wasn’t a normal occurrence for someone of his social standing and financial means. Some in that era may have even called it peculiar and odd, which would later go on to surmise that what happened had been a premeditated act on his part. Fast forward to the afternoon of Christmas Day, and all but one of the Lawsons would be dead.

Waiting by his barn for his two daughters, Carrie (12) and Maybell (7), to head out to their aunt and uncle’s, Charlie saw them walk out and shot them both with a 12-gauge shotgun and proceeded to bludgeon them almost unrecognizably. He moved their bodies into the barn and then stalked towards his other family members, shooting his wife Fannie (37) who was on the porch.

Alerted by the shotgun, his sons James (4) and Raymond (2) tried to seek refuge and escape him by hiding. He shot his daughter Marie (17) and then both boys. He then bludgeoned his youngest 4-month-old infant baby girl Mary Lou to death. He then walked into the woods and killed himself. His oldest boy, 16-year-old Arthur had been the sole survivor as he had been sent into town to run an errand. Had he wanted to spare his life? We will never know.

The bodies of each family member were found with rocks beneath their heads and their arms crossed. To this day the motive and reason behind the murders remains a mystery. It has been speculated, due to statements by relatives of the family about Fannie voicing concern, that Charlie carried an incestual relationship with Marie. Whether this had something to do with this familial massacre, we will never know.

3. Los Feliz Mansion Murders, 1959, Los Angeles, CA

YouTube

L.A. is no stranger to grisly murders, but in December of ‘59 it became home to one of its biggest murder mysteries with the Perelson family murder-suicides at a Spanish revival home at 2475 Glendower Place in Los Feliz.

At around 4:30 AM on December 6th cardiologist Harold Perelson struck his sleeping wife Lillian with a ball peen hammer and bludgeoned her to death before she could even know what was happening and before she could even scream for her life. She died by asphyxiating on her own blood.

The case would be different for his teenage daughter Judye, who wailed and wailed, screaming for her life as he made his way into her bedroom. Neighbors could hear as she yelled, “Don’t kill me.” Reportedly they could also hear her father instructing her to lay still and keep quiet. Using the same hammer he did on his wife, he struck his daughter, but not with good enough aim.She was able to escape and after seeing her mother lying dead in a pool of her own blood, she ran to a neighbor’s to get help.

The two younger siblings, Joel and Debbie, had by now woken up. The patriarch of the family told them to go back to sleep and said his last words to them, “This is only a nightmare.” He then took two doses of Nembutal and 31 pills believed to have been a tranquilizer or some form of codeine. By the time emergency responders arrived to the scene he was dead.

The estate was sold at a probate auction to husband and wife, Julian and Emily Enriquez. Here is where it gets even creepier. The Enriquez family apparently never moved in. After their deaths, their son Rudy inherited the house and he is quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying, “I don’t know that I want to live there or even stay here.” The house reportedly sat uninhabited and still in time for 50 years and was only used as storage by Rude Enriquez. Those who peeked and those who had been inside the house say that the house remain unchanged, and appeared abandoned in time and in place as it had been before the murders.

Rudy died in 2015. Before the house went up for market and was cleaned up, pictures were taken of it as it was by photographer Alexis Vaughn. One word: eerie. The house looks lived in, things seeming to be left as they were before the murders, the mail still piled together even. There is even cat litter from the long gone family’s pet. Though the origins are unknown, gold ribbon for presents could be found inside the house. You can find these pictures online today, with even video footage taken by the photographer.

4. JonBenét Ramsey, 1996, Boulder, CO

Wikipedia

If you don’t know this story, or this name, I don’t know what rock you have been living under. Use the internet, please, and inform yourself, and be prepared to be sucked into one of the biggest murder mysteries of American history. I, myself, have become lost for hours in the vortex that is the death of JonBenét Ramsey. This one is a world of its own.

5. The Wholaver Murders, 2002, Middletown, PA

Murderpedia

On Christmas Eve in 2002, Ernest. R Wholaver, Jr. broke into his former home with help from his brother, after being prohibited entry from the courts after being charged with sexual offenses involving molestation of his own daughters, Victoria (20) and minor Elizabeth (15). He had been evicted after his wife Jean obtained an order under the Protection From Abuse Act. And although this also prevented him from purchasing, possessing and carrying firearms, this didn’t stop him from using one to slay his family.

His brother waited about a block away and acted as a look-out as Ernest approached the house and cut the telephone wires and forcibly entered the home. He shot his wife Jean and two daughters Victoria and Elizabeth. He left Victoria’s infant daughter unharmed.

Days later, Wholaver was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His brother who aided him, Scott Wholaver acted as a Commonwealth witness aiding the prosecution. Ernest Wholaver has sat on death row since 2004, while his brother was sentenced to serve 15-25 years.

6. Covina Massacre, 2008, Los Angeles, California

Wikimedia

Dressed as Santa Claus, Bruce Pardo knocked on his ex-wife’s family home’s door on Christmas Eve 2008, where 25 people were gathered at a party to celebrate the holiday. The 8-year-old niece of his wife answered the door and as she attempted to greet him, he shot her in the face.

He had come prepared with a gift-wrapped package containing a homemade flamethrower and with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and three additional handguns. He then began to shoot senselessly at everyone in attendance, and purposely executing some. His ex-wife’s parents, two brothers and their wives, her sister, and her nephew were killed. The 8-year-old girl survived with injuries.

After he was done shooting he unwrapped his “present” and used the flamethrower to set fire to the home. One of the survivors that managed to escape ran to a neighbor’s for help. After the attack, Pardo changed into his regular clothes and took off his Santa ensemble, and drove to his brother’s where he died from a self-inflicted gun wound.

The fire reportedly took approximately two hours to extinguish and victims were so unrecognizable that dental and medical records had to be used for identification.

7. Texas Christmas Massacre, 2011, Grapevine, Texas

Another Santa Claus tainted Christmas for another family in 2011 in Texas. Aziz Yazdanpanah, in the same manner of Pardo, knocked on his estranged-wife’s door on Christmas, dressed in a Santa Claus suit as the family was in the middle of opening presents.

Opening fire on his family, he killed his wife Fatemeh Rahmati, their 14-year-old-son, Ali, and their 19-year-old daughter, Nona. Also victims to his rage were his wife’s sister Zohreh Rahmaty, her husband Mohamad Hossein Zarei, and their 22-year-old daughter Sahra. At some point before all the slayings finished taking place, someone had called 911 from inside the apartment. After spreading bloodshed and committing the murders Yazdanpanah committed suicide.

When the family was found dead by police that Christmas morning, wrapping paper lay scattered throughout with opened and unopened presents splattered in blood.

To add to chill to the tragedy, the last text Sahra Zarei would send would be to her boyfriend, just as her uncle had shown up, expressing annoyance at him doing so and his Santa ensemble saying, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year because he fucked up before.”

8. Dead Body Hidden Beneath Christmas Presents, 2011, Jacksonville, FL

Murderpedia

Michelle O’Dowd (67) never imagined that her giving and welcoming spirit would be what would lead to her death when she offered her friend Patty Michelle White (41) a place to stay after she had found herself homeless.

By early December of 2011, somehow the friendship had gone awry, and things had began to sour between the two. O’Dowd’s twin brother was always suspicious of White and grew concerned when she failed to show up to work or answer her phone. He went to her home to check on her and found her foot sticking out from beneath presents under the Christmas tree. Her dead body laid there, buried beneath masses of Christmas presents intended for her family and grandchildren, her face bloodied.

White had strangled her and beat her to death and hid her body there. She also stole her debit and credit cards and was arrested in South Carolina after being found when she used two ATMs.

Family members said that White was part of the family and couldn’t begin to comprehend what had transpired. They were sickened that she would bury the body beneath gifts meant for children and under the Christmas tree O’Dowd took so much pride in. Christmas was her favorite holiday and she put much effort and time in decorating for it.

White was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

9. Valdez’s Christmas “Present”, 2013, Chicago, IL

18-year-old Alexis Valdez lived with his aunt and her boyfriend Silvestre Diaz when the two males got into an argument in late December of 2013 about him living there rent-free and not contributing to the household. After this, Valdez was told he would have to move out if he continued this way.

On Christmas eve, while his aunt was out, and after drinking, Valdez, angered and in an unjustified uncivilized rage, smashed Diaz’s head with a hammer. He reportedly shut the windows, closed the blinds, played some music and jammed while he used a butcher knife to cut off Silvestre’s ears, nose and mouth. He also cut off his arms and used his bare hands to pull out his eyes. He then decapitated him, leaving his head on his aunt’s pillow as an “early Christmas present.”

After becoming tired of mutilating the body he called 911 to report a dead body. Upon arriving, police found him saturated in blood. He confessed to the murder and said he would have killed his aunt too had she been home. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

10. Star Baseball Teen Snaps, 2013, Gulf Breeze, FL

YouTube

On Christmas Eve 2013, 17-year-old star pitcher for Gulf Breeze High School, William Brandon Aydelott, killed his mother, Sharon Aydelott, in what would be described later by his defense in a moment of insanity.

The teen swung at her with a baseball bat, striking at her head and her body. Using a knife, he slashed her throat, then later stabbed her in the eye plunging it in. The mother was later discovered by a friend in an huge puddle of blood.

When confessing to the brutal murder, the teen reportedly did so as a matter-of-factly and with a smile on his face as he described how he killed her. When explaining to authorities why he committed the crime he said that he was angry his family placed him in a substance abuse program and for mistakenly believing he was on drugs. The relationship between mother and son had been strained due to divorce between the parents.

Detectives asked Aydelott how he felt about killing his mother and he simply replied, “Like I did the right thing.” Despite his demeanor and the savagery of the crime, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity after psychiatrist Dr. Robert Scott Benson testified that he suffered from schizophrenia, He claimed that in the moment of the crime the teen believed he was doing the right thing as he had “auditory hallucinations” commanding him to kill his mother. The psychiatrist also told the judge that he would be a danger to society if let free.

Aydelott was ordered to be involuntarily committed at a state mental hospital. His case is to be reviewed periodically. Although the State Attorney’s office is said to oppose any effort that will take place for him to be released, he could technically be a free man in the future.

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