#there wasn’t enough paranormal activity in this franchise

[pyyl0n]

happy october :o) i’m cooking up a ghost spark au where during the fight in stej 1 Fark accidentally kills Spark & is now haunted by the world’s most annoying ghost

[missanthropicprinciple]

How the Ghostbusters Franchise Became a Major Fixation: A Story No One Asked For. 

    When you’re born in the 80s you just automatically know who the Ghostbusters are. You can probably recognize the song, you know the logo, and “who ya gonna call?” is just a household expression. I absolutely recognized the logo and knew who Slimer was, but at one point I conflated the Michelin Man with Stay Puft. Ironically, I wasn’t far off as Aykroyd said he wanted the marshmallow man to be a “cross between the Michelin Tire Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy.” 

    Then I watched Extreme Ghostbusters when it came on in 1997. They’d been showing re-runs of The Real Ghostbusters to hype kids up for the new show and I was not interested. It was too corny for me. But Extreme GB was a fantastic canon divergent show, gritty and grotesque and I loved it. It was just really well written and genuinely scary at times. Maurice Lamarche’s older blonde hippie Egon was entertaining and endearing. So my introduction to the franchise was very much a 90s experience. 

    And then in October 1999 my English grandmother died and her death hit me pretty hard. It was difficult to watch my dad mourn his mom too, and I felt really bad for him. Because I was immersed in grief, both my own and my family’s, I started getting interested in paranormal studies. While I have been a sceptic my entire life I’ve always been fascinated by paranormal activity and creepy things and ghosts and monsters etc. Also being a very science-minded kid, paranormal studies was super appealing to me because of the way it was sometimes formalized. The pseudoscience is quite diverse but the text I read (and checked out of the library frequently) was The Paranormal and The Normal: A Historical, Philosophical and Theoretical Perspective by Morton Leeds and Gardner Murphy. I read most of this book at 13 or 14 and typed up various passages on the old family typewriter. I still have all my notes and I have since bought a copy of this book. Around that time an episode of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show aired: “Honey, I'm Spooked” (Feb 26, 2000) which prompted me to write several episodes of a paranormal studies based comedy-drama tv show which I eventually turned into the skeleton of a novel, but that’s a story for another time. So I was very much in my “paranormal phase” which culminated in my first viewings of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 in March 2001. 

    My impression of the first film? “It wasn’t bad. It was really funny, but was a lot more wacky than I thought it would be.” (Needless to say my writing has improved a bit in the last two decades.) A day after this I was already writing H.R. in hearts in my diary. It was an interesting way to start my teen years. I had already gotten into paranormal studies at this point and the well-crafted pseudoscience of Ghostbusters hit the right notes. I remember being sad that I didn’t watch the movies when I was younger but in hindsight it was actually great seeing them at 14 because I was young enough not to be too jaded but old enough to get the more sophisticated and adult humor. As I’ve gotten older I’ve deeply appreciated the subtly of the film. A lot of people, especially people who aren’t hardcore fans, remember the iconic campy stuff like Stay Puft and Slimer but in between all that is this beautiful, sometimes melancholy irreverence and drollness. It’s absolutely charming and for me that’s what’s kept me watching.

    While I’m a person of many passions and long-term fixations, Ghostbusters remains one of my all-time favorites. I watch the movies every year, I know how they were made, I still find the films and the lore fascinating, and I meet new fans all the time. Being a fan for this long is a testament to Ghostbusters, the writing, the directing, and the beloved characters. 

TL;DR: I watched Extreme Ghostbusters in 1997, and the original movies in 2001 and have been obsessed ever since. If you’re reading this, 1) you made it to the end so congrats!, and 2) I encourage everyone on here to share their Ghostbusters story.

[theparanormalperiodical]

The TRUE Story Behind Friday The 13th (1980), And America’s 7 Most Haunted Campsites & Lakes That Will Definitely Ruin Your #VACAY

It was sometime around midday when Nils Gustafsson’s body was found on the shore of Lake Bodom. The 18 year old was alive, however, despite his broken jaw and the concussion. 

The three people lying next to him were not.

In the early hours of June 5th 1960, Nils, Irmeli Bjorklund, Tuulikki Makiwer, and Seppo Boisman were attacked by an unknown person armed with a knife whilst camping at one of Finland’s most serene tourist spots.

12 years later, a former suspect confessed to the crime. The local kiosk keeper was known to be irritated by the presence of the youngsters in the area and it was assumed he took his rage into his own hands.

He alleged that he did indeed commit the murders in a suicide note before drowning himself in the lake that overlooked them. His wife has since provided evidence that refutes this.

This tragic story is still under investigation to this day, with the sole survivor being put up for trial for killing his own girlfriend and her friends himself. But what makes this tale quite so terrifying is that we’ve heard this story before.

We’ve read it on r/nosleep, we’ve heard it at a sleepover, and we’ve told it round the campfire. We’ve even seen it on the TV, too.

It’s been 41 years since the terrifying events at Camp Crystal Lake were recounted in the horror classic Friday The 13th (1980). But what happened at Lake Bodom is not the only time the stories we tell around the campfire actually happened. And right by the crackling logs, too.

Today we unmask the dark inspiration behind Friday The 13th and make some smores at the most haunted campsites in the US, each with their own tale as terrifying (and tragic) as what happened at Camp Crystal Lake.

First, Let’s Recap Horror’s Most Iconic Franchise, Friday The 13th

It’s not easy to summarise a franchise lumbered with 12 films, a TV series, and a gaggle of video games following in close pursuit. But I’ll try.

This American horror franchise follows Jason Voorhees, a serial killer who drowned as a child at Camp Crystal Lake while the camp councillors were having *sex*. Following this tragic event, the lake was rumoured to be cursed according to the superstitious locals and became the setting for several mass murders carried out by Jason or in his name.

It was one of the original slasher flicks released in an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween (1978) and was actually the highest grossing horror franchise of all time - until about 3 years ago.

The reboot of it’s arch nemesis, Halloween (2018), left Jason in the shadow of Michael Myers.

The franchise starts by introducing us innocent viewers to the mysterious folklore surrounding Camp Crystal Lake when the new councillors rock up to revamp it. Then Jason Vorhees’ mother starts pickin’ em off one by one in vengeance for the death of her son who was born on - yep, you guessed it - Friday the 13th.

There’s actually not much mention of the date in the franchise, with some claiming only on his birthday does Jason commits the murders. But this is what’s so great about the films: at its core it’s a story told around the fire by American kids at summer camp. 

Just like ‘The Hook’ or ‘Killer In The Backseat’, Jason’s murder spree fits a simple plot line copy-n-pasted for urban legends. There’s a mysterious killer with a mysterious motivation who does terrible things at a mysterious location.

We see the events of these baseless stories happen in the grainy footage of the 80s and the pierce-your-eyeballs HD of 2009, right where the stories are typically told. It’s meta. It’s mindful. It sounds like a boring 90 minutes stretched out of an urban legend you could tell in 45 seconds flat.

The franchise does sprinkle in a handful of bad luck symbols amidst the buckets of blood ‘n’ guts to fit the title, but it’s setting on this infamous day is merely a technicality to pull us headfirst into the not-so-urban and not-so-legendary plot line.

Most urban legends are just that: legends. Rumours pieced together from random scraps of information until they juuuuuust about make sense. But most of these rumours have basis in reality. Despite the creators claiming it was not directly based on a true story, we already know events eerily similar have taken place.

But what happened at Lake Bodom was not the only occurrence of such terrible events. We will get them later.

Even if Victor Miller wasn’t inspired by the cursed lakes and haunted campgrounds littered across the States, they clearly took inspiration from one paranormal phenomena.

(Hint: it’s in the title.)

Why Is Friday The 13th Considered Unlucky?

We’ve never had a good relationship with the number 13. Triskaidekaphobia can be traced back as far as Norse mythology when 12 gods were having a dinner party until Marvel-fan-favourite Loki arrived and arranged for someone to be shot.

The god that was shot, Balder, died, and it was then that the “earth got dark. It was a bad, unlucky day.” A similar dinner party, this time hosted by Jesus and his disciples, also gave ‘13’ a bad name.

Judas was the 13th to sit at the table during the Last Supper and his betrayal of Christ gave it its more mainstream reputation.

There are many more events like this, whether mythical or based in reality, that link the number 13 to bad luck. But what is about Friday the 13th?

Friggatriskaidekaphobia - or fear of Friday the 13th - lumps together the cursed backstory of the number 13 and the fear of the unluckiest day of the week. Eve gave Adam the apple on a Friday, their son killed his brother on a Friday, and Jesus was crucified on a Friday.

It’s not looking good.

But fear of the date Friday the 13th was only planted in mainstream Western culture in the 20th century. 73 years before Jason Vorhees mother slut-shamed those camp councillors, Thomas William Lawson published the book Friday, the Thirteenth (1907).

Lawson told the tale of an NYC stockbroker who used superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street and rake in the cash.

*sweats in GameStop*

From here furore about the date festered with every occurrence (which can be as much as three times a year). There’s no escaping it, even if a hockey-masked killer is interrupting your campfire sing along.

To this day, the American economy loses about $900 million every Friday the 13th. Flights are half-filled, spending is reduced, and some daren’t leave their homes until midnight strikes.

Funnily enough, the franchise only contains 12 movies so far, but this echoes the unluckiness of 13 that much further. Another reason we fear the number is because 12 is used so much to represent completeness. The months of the year, the hours in a day - 13 goes beyond that. 13 plays on that.

It takes what we know and twists it a ‘lil. But just enough to strike fear into even the least superstitious.

The 7 Haunted Campsites And Lakes That You Should Emotionally Block Out When You’ve Finished Reading This

Holy Ghost Campground, New Mexico

Nestled in the Sante Fe National Forest, this is an isolated but serene location perfect for pitching a tent and starting a fire. But 300 years ago, something happened there that might make the howling wind that much more terrifying.

The area is reportedly haunted by the spirit of a Spanish priest murdered there in the 18th century. But the entire area has a reputation similar to the Bermuda Triangle. People just tend to disappear into thin air over there. No clothing is found and no bones or bodies are discovered.

UFOs have been sighted overhead, shadows have wandered through the forest, and voices have echoed into the night. Just like the Bermuda Triangle and the lesser-known Alaskan triangle, there are claims of a ‘cosmic doorway’ where different energies and entities flit between realms.

Big Moose Lake, New York

Grace Brown was only 18 years old when she died. She was unmarried and she was pregnant by her boyfriend, Chester Gillette. This was a bad situation to be in in 1906.

She went with her soon-to-be-fiancee to the Adirondacks mountains assuming he would propose during the trip, saving her from a ruinous fate. But one day, she would not return to the campsite from which they stayed.

Knowing she couldn’t swim, Gillette paddled their boat out to the middle of the lake, grabbed a tennis racket from inside his bag, and smashed in her head.

She then fell into the water and drowned. To this day, campers have reported supernatural occurrences around the lake. She is often seen wandering the shores of the lake, visiting the local cottages nearby, or reliving her traumatic death.

According to local legends, she is trying to extinguish all the lights in the local houses. No one knows why.

Lake Morena, California

On the other side of the US, events similar to those seen in Santa Fe were playing out.

In 1983, these supernatural occurrences were reported in the local paper: “More than Fish Haunt Morena”. Park rangers and tourists have witnessed and reported a vast range of phenomena, not limited to heavy footsteps following visitors, noticing the figure of an old man in the corner of their eye, and even seeing people levitating.

One of the most infamous sightings of paranormal activity was when a ranger had a relative staying over in his house. The relative woke up in the middle of the night to see a baby’s christening gown float across the room.

“It floated to her, brushed her cheek, floated back where she had first seen it and disappeared.”

Lake Ronkonkoma, New York

To this day many locals won’t dip a toe in Lake Ronkonkoma - and it’s easy to see why.

Long Island’s deepest lake was once the setting of a tragic love story. Just like Romeo & Juliet, but far wetter. Legend has it back in the 17th century a Native American princess fell in love with a colonist on the other side of the lake.

The star-crossed lovers were forbidden from meeting, and the princess wrote notes confessing her love on a piece of bark and floating it across the lake. Heartbroken by the lack of response, she canoed to the middle of the lake, stabbed herself in her broken heart, and her body slumped into the icy waters below.

Some versions of the legend claim before she died she cursed the lake.

Whichever you believe, the routine drowning of a young man on a yearly basis is enough to stir up the story. There have been at least 160 drownings here from the 1850s to the 1970s. A majority were men, fitting the story.

Is she still looking for the man she could never be with? Or is she punishing the local community for the divide that kept her from her love?

Lake Lanier, Georgia

There are a number of ghosts seen at this lake. There’s the spirit of a woman in a flowing blue dress roams around this lake, and several pairs of supernatural hands have been felt reaching out of the depths and grabbing swimmers mid-stroke…

But this paranormal phenomena is nothing compared to what lurks underneath the water.

The lake was actually created in the 1950s by flooding valley communities. The local government wanted to provide surrounding towns and the city of Atlanta with water and power, but to do this they’d have to create ghost towns and then effectively drown them.

Locals that had sold land to the government gathered during the building of the dam and watched the waters rising above the place they once called home. But in these communities were cemeteries. The dead did not consent to this.

More than 200 people have died in mysterious accidents on the lake since 1994.

Manchac Swamp, Louisiana

The Manchac wetlands are known for being, well, grotesque. They’re thick with pea green ooze, riddled with bugs, and festering with ‘gators. But according to some, the greatest threat was the local Voodoo priestess, Julia Brown.

She was known for her charms, curses, and singing strange songs on her porch. But there was one verse which in hindsight makes a lot of sense: "One day I’m going to die and take the whole town with me."

On the day of her funeral a huge hurricane swept through Louisiana. On September 29th 1915, the 125mph winds killed 300 people with homes, buildings, and railways destroyed.

Locals claim this was caused by a curse created by Brown. She is even rumoured to still be seen cackling by the water’s edge.

Lake Tahoe, California

Tahoe-Truckea is steeped in paranormal tales, stretching back as far as the legends of the local Native Americans. Many hotels and cabins claim to have their own supernatural entities concealed within their hotel which you can see for yourself - for a booking fee, of course.

But the spirit that haunts Emerald Bay can be seen for free.

Captain Dick Barter was known for telling stories of his seafaring days in the early 19th century. His encounters with capsizing in frosty waters, grizzly bear attacks, and by the sounds of it serious alcoholism made him talk of the town.

Apparently Captain Barter just can’t stop reliving his glory days.

One night after goin’ heavy in the bar, Barker boarded his boat to sail home. But he was never seen again. Somewhere on the route back he capsized and died. His body was never found.

His spirit is often seen swimming in the area during foggy moments, trying to find his way back to the tomb he built years before he passed.

So that was depressing.

Anyway.

If you liked this post/it traumatised you but hey you’re living for the spooks, make sure you like and reblog to let me know!

And if you simply can’t wait for more articles on the paranormal, then you best be hitting the follow button. I post a new article every weekend AND a new ghost story everyday.

(That’s really sad, isn’t it?)

Oh well. See you next week, kids!

[kirishwima]

For scenarios... could I request rfa accidentally meeting MC before the party? no drama like "there's a bomb so I gotta run to your place" they just accidentally meet somewhere and MC recognises them from the pictures in the chatrooms and goes to greet them. Rika's apartment can't be far away from where the others live so it should be impossible. (if you can find a way to squeeze in V that's okay but you don't have to)

i really liked this idea! hope i executed it well ^^

YOOSUNG:

MC and he were actually studying at the same university, but different subjects!

They had a common elective course of modern history though, one that Yoosung’s friends convinced him to take with them since they could share notes, and MC simply had an interest in it, and well, needed the extra credits

Neither of them really noticed each other at first-it’s a big classroom and it’s in the afternoons, so oftentimes Yoosung just skipped lmao

Once though Yoosung’s friends couldn’t make it to the class so he offered to go and take notes for the day, and rushed into the class a little late, so he took the first seat available-right next to MC

He struggled to both write and listen to the professor at the same time, and eventually he got a little behind with his notes. MC noticed his cute frustrated face and shared their notes with him, tapping him on the shoulder as they quietly pushed their papers to him

Yoosung’s happy face was stuck in MC’s mind-he wore his feelings on his sleeve and it was so refreshing to see someone this innocent at this day and age.

They became fast friends afterwards-exchanging facebook accounts and talking via messenger often, sometimes about the class, sometimes about anything and everything else

They even had study sessions to help each other study!

Near the end of the semester, and right when this extra class ended, is when MC stumbled upon the RFA messenger-and one look at Yoosung’s name along with his shooting star emoji got them excited to realise there’s a familiar face amongst this strangeness

The rest of the members found their friendship cute, and Zen constantly tried to play match-maker for the two, telling Yoosung that ‘he should’ve told the RFA he has such a cute girlfriend’ lmao

(*cue Yoosung flushing redder than Seven’s hair*)

ZEN:

No, contrary to what you might think, MC wasn’t his fan-they did however hear about Zen through friends interested in musicals, and agreed he was handsome

No, instead, they met him whilst helping out a friend who was working backstage at one of Zen’s shows-they needed help finishing up painting of some background sets, and MC offered to help them in their free time, and as a return their friend offered MC tickets to the show

Zen met MC whilst rehearsing-he knew MC’s friend and went over to say hi, and met MC, who he of course instantly tried to flirt with, even though he was half-kidding about it

Well, flirtatious nature aside, the two really hit it off, and became good friends-not that they were super close or anything, but Zen would stop and chat with MC after rehearsals, and he invited MC out along with the rest of the crew after the first successful run of the show

He didn’t exchange any social media accounts with MC, because quite frankly, he doesn’t have any lmao, and MC’s phone was broken so they couldn’t give him their number either

Zen insisted that if they leave it up to fate, they’ll meet again, and well-he was right

Lo and behold, MC joined the RFA, and whose face is the first they see in an oh-so-modest selfie?

Yup, Zen the Knight it is

His first words when he realised who MC was were ’See? I told you fate would find a way!’

Sure Zen,,,sure lol

JUMIN:

MC actually scored an interview as Jumin’s executive secretary!

They were so thrilled about it, and did their best to calm their nerves before the interview, knowing that being jittery and anxious would lead them nowhere

Well, they were more than shocked at Jumin’s cold behaviour, but they did their best to match his pace, answering each of his questions without missing a beat, mentioning their credentials without bragging about them

Honestly, Jumin was very pleased-he saw a perfect candidate across him, albeit a little inexperienced due to age, but that didn’t really matter to him-with a little training they’d be perfect for the job

Well, eventually though a better candidate came along, so MC was left with the rejection e-mail in their inbox, disappointed but ready to move on

They had all but forgotten about Jumin Han until stumbling onto the RFA and meeting him again, confused and surprised at the difference of his character in the chatrooms

They didn’t mention the interview at all, but Jumin has the memory of an elephant-one look at MC’s name reminded him of how he met them, and he reassured them that they were incredibly good at the interview and left an impression on him

It takes some getting used to his different attitude, but it’s refreshing to see a man they thought of as cold and calculated be a complete cat-loving goof-and it’s honestly one of the things that makes MC fall for Jumin

And vice-versa, Jumin remembers MC’s serious confident attitude at the interview, and is pleasantly surprised to learn what a gentle, kind person they are in the messenger

When they meet Jaehee though….boy are they glad they didn’t get the job lmao

*pat pat* it’s okay Jaehee…hang in there baby

JAEHEE:

MC was working part-time as a barista at a coffee shop near C&R!

It was a small independent shop, hidden in-between bigger franchises, but their coffee was great, and if there’s one person that loves good coffee, well, it’s Jaehee

The first time she visited the shop she was at a loss of what to order, the possibilities endless with all these brews of coffee they offered, and MC found Jahee’s flustered face adorable

They chatted her up to see what kind of flavours she likes and dislikes, and ended up making her a delicious cold brew with vanilla cream-just sweet enough to give her that sugar rush she needed, but not enough to hide the flavour of the coffee itself

Well, Jaehee was more than thrilled both at the taste, and at the cute cashier *wink wonk*, so she quickly became a regular at the shop

Yes this is your good ol’ cliche coffee AU DON’T JUDGE ME

She’d always stop for a cup of coffee before work, and would secretly be happy on the days she ended up meeting MC during their shift-she’d try and visit during her breaks too, when time would allow it, and would sit and sometimes chat with MC when the cafe wasn’t too busy

MC eventually learnt some stuff about Jaehee, that she works as a secretary to some annoying cat-loving rich dude (lmao sorry Jumin), that she loves coffee, and that her dream is to eventually open her own cafe, if circumstances allow it

One day, Jaehee went to the shop, knowing that MC had a shift at that time, but they were nowhere to be found-their co-workers said MC called in that they can’t make it today because something urgent came up, so Jahee nodded along, wondering if MC was okay

….well, she didn’t have to worry for too long, as not soon after she got her coffee and headed back to the office, a familiar name popped up on the RFA chatroom

Yup, this is a coffee shop au alright-just with some hacker and cat-loving twists lol

SEVEN:

You can never convince me that this boy is not an active reddit user, and you most definitely can Not convince me he isn’t in any and all paranormal and horror forums either

So he’s scrolling around on reddit one day, posting memes and trolling people, when he stumbles upon a really interesting thread someone made about the origins of mothman and possible sightings outside the USA

He’s hooked and spends a lot of time reading through the thread, intrigued by the sophisticated way the OP wrote their points and how well-thought of their evidences were

He started commenting on the thread and talking with the OP, who he soon became online friends with-he loved to chat with them about spooky stuff, cryptids, conspiracy theories and so forth

He didn’t talk much about himself, and would sometimes even make up some lies because he didn’t want to seem like a creep that won’t even share his name, but he couldn’t give out his info that easily; he did however tell them his code name, 707

Eventually they started talking outside of reddit too, through facebook messenger (i mean…we already know this dude has a facebook account and posts his cars there lmao), and is thrilled to find out more about his new online friend, MC, and to even find out they live far closer than he thought!

Well, he gets used to talking with MC almost everyday, and it’s actually one of the few highlights of his day-he’s never really had someone care for him the way this person, someone he hasn’t actually ever met in real life does. He wonders if they’d change their mind about him if they ever met him in real life, but shakes the thoughts away-it’s not as if this could ever develop into something more than an online friendship anyway

Well…or so you thought, Seven lol

When a stranger comes barging into the RFA messenger, he’s instantly tracing their steps and finding out all their internet activities, and lo and behold-whose facebook account is this that he ended up finding? Why, it’s none other than MC!

The moment Seven found out, he got suspicious; was MC just pretending to be online friends with him to hack into the RFA? Were they stealing information without him knowing?

It hurt to have to think this way, but how else could they be linked?

When he slowly found out MC was actually innocent, he was more than relieved-he secretly happy that he could now chat with them both online and on the RFA app, that he could share parts of himself with MC that he couldn’t before

to say he fell for them is the understatement of the century lmao

V/JIHYUN:

When he first started with photography, he took some classes at a local university to learn more about professional photography, photoshop e.t.c

And MC happened to be taking the same classes as him!

They often sat next to each other, not talking at first, but then their professors would sometimes ask them to pair up to work on assignments, and MC ended up paring up with Jihyun more than once

They became fast friends-Jihyun was a little distant, but always friendly in a cold, aloof way, and always polite, and he found MC to be so warm and gentle, he was naturally drawn to them

He did feel attracted to them, but never made a move-he was still struggling with so many things himself, he didn’t want to drag anyone else into his mess. He just wanted to focus on photography and that’s that

So whilst they talked a lot during university, as soon as they graduated, V drifted away, and when he even changed his phone number all communication was lost between the two

Well, time went on, and MC slowly began to forgot about the mint-coloured man they met, until they stumbled into the RFA chatroom

They didn’t realise it was Jihyun at first-he did change his name after all, and everyone in the char referred to him as V, but the way he texted was very familiar, even though MC couldn’t quite understand why

When he finally introduced himself, they were stunned. They didn’t want to ask him if he remembers them though-it’d be too embarrassing if he said he didn’t

But of course V did remember them-the moment Seven told him their name after his background check, all the memories came flooding back, opening up a Pandora’s box in his chest where he locked all those feelings away

Even if they’re back within arms’ reach, and even if they seem interested in him though…it’s useless. He’s far beyond repair, and if he didn’t want to drag MC into his mess then, he most certainly doesn’t want to drag them into it now

So he becomes distant again, more so than ever before but MC isn’t having it-they call him out on his bullshit, and tell him to square up and be honest otherwise they’re leaving

So V reluctantly admits to it all-to remembering MC, to his feelings towards them, and to his own cowardliness back then, and how it’s now too late to change anything; even if he wants to. God, he wants to.

hi I’m soph and i love to torture my favs lol

-send me a mystic messenger scenario/prompt for character reactions!-

[tomeandflickcorner]

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Station Identification

Awesome, we got another fun episode! And with plenty of pop culture reference/parodies to boot!

It’s once again a period of low paranormal activity in the city, as the Ghostbusters haven’t gotten any calls in three weeks.   To try to alleviate the boredom, Winston and Peter begin a game of ping pong.  But their game is quickly brought to an end when Slimer eats the ping pong ball. Which is admittedly odd, as the ping pong ball doesn’t exactly resemble any food product that I know of.  (Unless you’re Pac-Man, of course, but last I checked, Slimer wasn’t Pac-Man.)  I guess the implication is that he mistook it for a marshmallow.  In any event, Peter really starts laying into Slimer for this, yelling at him for ruining the game and his life.  Which seems like a REALLY extreme reaction.  Yeah, I understand the show’s ongoing dynamic of Peter being the least accepting of Slimer’s presence, and that he’s usually the first one to get cross with him.  But it’s a freakin’ ping pong ball!  They cost, what, 5¢ a pop?  Anyway, Slimer essentially floats off with his tail between his legs, so to speak, and Ray points out that Peter was too hard on him.  But Peter dismisses this statement, asking what Slimer ever did for him. (I guess he’s forgotten how Slimer saved their lives in the Citizen Ghost flashback.)

Anyway, that topic of discussion is put on hold when Janine enters the scene, announcing that she has just the thing to get everyone’s mind off the lack of activity.  With those words, she presents them with a miniature TV set that she apparently won from some TV show as a child.  Though she admits she’s not sure it still works.  (Then why did you even bring it to the Firehouse?)  Regardless, Egon plugs it into the wall, revealing that it does indeed still work when an image appears on the screen.  Ray instantly identifies the show as Leave It To Woodchuck, an obvious parody of the 1950s sitcom Leave It To Beaver.  Though Winston voices his amazement that picture is appearing in color when the program itself was in black and white.  The strangeness is raised another notch when Janine reveals that it’s a black and white TV set.

As this revelation is sinking in, the TV screen suddenly flickers and the titular character of Woodchuck suddenly is replaced by an anthropomorphic woodchuck which emerges from the screen a la Samara from The Ring franchise.  The Woodchuck proceeds to attack the Ghostbusters, until Egon and Winston manage to capture it in a Ghost Trap.  But it’s not quite over yet, as something else is emerging from Janine’s TV set. The Ghostbusters return to the main office area just in time to see a monster toothpaste tube escaping from the screen.  Because the TV was currently showing a toothpaste commercial.  They manage to capture this Toothpaste Tube Monster easily as well, and Egon quickly unplugs the set to prevent anything else from escaping. Winston jokingly asks Janine if she won the TV set from The Outer Limits.  That’s when Egon notices that the TV set had been tuned to channel 1, to which Ray points out that no such channel exists.

Of course, it then turns out that it’s not just a case of Janine happening to have a possessed TV set.  Calls suddenly start coming in, with people reporting that they’ve also witnessed ghosts emerging from their television sets.  So the Ghostbusters promptly head out to investigate, with Slimer deciding to tag along.  Much like the TV Ghosts they encountered at the Firehouse, the Ghostbusters have no problems in capturing the others that are now roaming about.

As they’re gathering up the loaded Ghost Traps, however, they overhear a loudspeaker announcement coming from a nearby dining establishment called Bobo’s Restaurant.  The announcement invites everyone to stop by, as the food ain’t bad, and they have the biggest TV west of the Hudson.  Which is a pretty strange tagline for a restaurant.  Like, yeah, our food’s just kinda so-so, but hey, we got a huge TV.  Do people normally go to restaurants just to watch television?  Of course, in this case it’s relevant as ghosts are coming out of TVs.  So if the giant TV at Bobo’s Restaurant is switched on, who knows what will come out?  For that reason, the Ghostbusters hurry over to the place to try and stop the owner from switching the TV on.  But they arrive too late, as Bobo has just tuned into Power Guy, a cartoon show that Ray states was based off of a toyline. Judging from the show’s intro, it’s easy to conclude that Power Guy is a parody of He-Man.  In seconds, Power Guy emerges from the giant TV set (though for some reason, the TV becomes his body), and he proceeds to attack the Ghostbusters with his giant sword.  After this goes on for a bit, Power Man creates this vortex in his TV body, which starts to suck up everything.  So the Ghostbusters have to try and grab hold of anything bolted down in an effort to keep from getting sucked up, too.  However, the wall mounted pole that Peter grabs hold of starts to become loose, putting him in danger.  Slimer, who had been lurking back in the Ecto-1 per Peter’s instructions, hears Peter’s cries, and he immediately jumps into action, entering the restaurant through the wall.  To save Peter, he manages to secure him to the wall with his ectoplasm, which seems to take up the properties of really sticky glue for this episode.  However, Slimer’s efforts in keeping Peter safe result in him getting sucked into Power Man’s vortex instead.  Curiously enough, the moment Slimer gets sucked up into the vortex, the TV is instantly replaced by Power Man’s actual body.  That’s kinda strange.  I guess it makes sense that the TV body vanishes the moment it successfully sucked up somebody, but since Power Man himself vanishes from sight mere seconds afterward, it does seem a bit pointless to even show it disappear at all.

Regardless, Peter, suddenly singing a different tune in light of how he realizes Slimer just saved his neck, vehemently vows that they’ll find Slimer and rescue him.  The episode then cuts to nighttime, with the Ghostbusters driving along in the Ecto-1, following the PKE trail.  As they continue along, the Ghostbusters surmise that perhaps the reason why all the ghosts have been so quiet lately is because they’ve been organizing together to form a pirate TV station and are using television sets as gateways, enabling them to easily travel to and from every domicile that has a TV.  Which is a rather ingenious plan, as just about everyone in the world has at least one TV set in their homes.  At least to my knowledge.  The PKE trail apparently leads them to Central Park.  Conveniently, the moment they arrive, a power surge erupts in the center of the park and a large tower emerges up from the ground.  As the Ghostbusters watch, the image of a purple-faced clown appears on a monitor affixed to the front of the tower, which is apparently supposed to be the ghostly television tower that transmits the ghosts’ pirate TV station called WBoo, the Big Boo.  The Clown, whom the Ghostbusters Wiki refers to as The Unreal Shriek Squeal, announces that at midnight, they’ll have gained enough power to transmit their ghostly broadcast to TV sets all over the world.  So now the Ghostbusters have a deadline to deal with, as they’ll have to locate and rescue Slimer AND put a stop to the Unreal Shriek Squeal’s plans before the stroke of midnight.  As such, they venture into the WBoo tower.  But the moment they do so, the Unreal Shriek Squeal apparently notices their presence, as he quickly separates them from one another.

And it’s here that the episode decides to have a bit more fun. Winston, as he’s trying to locate his teammates, runs into the ghostly manifestations of the crew of the Star Patrol, which is an unmistakable parody of the USS Enterprise, the ship predominantly featured in Star Trek.  And the crew members that appear before Winston are obviously meant to represent Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy.  (The Bones spoof even announces ‘We’re dead, Jim!’)  Meanwhile, Ray runs into Gumbo, who is clearly meant to be a combination of Gumby and Rambo, with Gumbo stating he’s looking for an orange horse (referencing Gumby’s talking horse sidekick, Pokey).  Both Winston and Ray manage to get away, and reunite with Peter and Egon.  (I admit I’m disappointed we never get to see what characters Peter and Egon encountered.)  As the Ghostbusters try to think of a better strategy than just wandering around aimlessly, they notice the unmistakable scent of food wafting through the air.  They decide to follow the smell of food, knowing that where there’s food, Slimer can’t be too far away.  Sure enough, they find Slimer in the company of a large cake that came out of a cooking show.  As one would expect, however, the cake comes to life and begins to chase after Slimer in order to eat him instead.  Peter quickly steps in and comes to Slimer’s aid, getting rid of the monster cake and other food creatures that are chasing after him.

Now that the task of locating and rescuing Slimer is out of the way, the Ghostbusters turn to the main problem of disabling the WBoo network. And time is of the essence, as it’s nearly midnight.  But because there’s so much interference from the ghostly energy permeating from the multiple programs, Egon can’t pinpoint the source of the ghostly transmission.  Fortunately, Slimer is able to help them out by directing their attention to a power cord running along the ground, with the Ghostbusters realizing that if they follow the power cord, they’re sure to find the source of the ghostly transmissions. Unfortunately, the power cords ultimately lead them to a wall, and since they’re not ghosts like Slimer, they can’t pass through it.  So Winston has to blast their way through with his Proton Pack.  (Surprisingly, the blast apparently cut through multiple walls, as the next shot shows the Ghostbusters making their way through more than one broken wall, making me wonder exactly how destructive of a setting Winston had that thing on.)

Finally, the Ghostbusters reach the room that houses the station’s dynamo.  But before they can do anything, the Unreal Shriek Squeal appears before them.  He basically forms a suit of armor of some kind by coating his body with various TV sets and other random objects and proceeds to attack the Ghostbusters.  Slimer attempts to face the enemy, but to no avail, as the Unreal Shriek Squeal effortlessly blows him backward.

At that moment, a ghostly pendulum appears on the scene to announce that midnight has arrived, so the Unreal Shriek Squeal begins to transmit the ghostly broadcast internationally.  And because he’s still covered with his protective armor, the Ghostbusters can’t hit him with their Proton Streams in order to stop him.  Fortunately, Egon gets an idea and tells the others to fire at the dynamo instead.  Because without the giant generator, the ghosts won’t have the ability to transmit their broadcasts to anyone’s TV set.  Upon seeing what they’re doing the Unreal Shriek Squeal starts to charge towards them. But for some reason, he doesn’t actually do anything to stop them.  Instead, he just drops to his knees and attempts to bargain with the Ghostbusters in an effort to convince them to stop.  Maybe the Ghostbusters taking out the dynamo was sapping him of his strength or something.  If so, it’s not very clear.  Anyway, the Ghostbusters manage to destroy the dynamo, which results in the Unreal Shriek Squeal to turn to dust, and the WBoo tower starts to crumble around them, with the Ghostbusters making it out just in time, allowing them to celebrate their victory.  And on that note, the episode fades to black and the end credits start to roll.

I absolutely love all the parodies and spoofs that we got in this episode.  Though I do wonder how much those references will hold up today.  I’ll be surprised if kids watching the episode today aren’t able to pick up on the Star Trek spoof, as Star Trek is a rather timeless and easily recognizable franchise. And I suppose He-Man is still somewhat relevant, as Netflix is currently showing the She-Ra remake.  But do kids today know about Gumby or Rambo? And especially Leave It To Beaver?  Because that show was even before my time, and I know nothing about that show other than the fact that it existed.

That aside, I’ll say it again. The plan the ghosts concocted in this episode was very clever.  Because while there would certainly be some groups of people who wouldn’t be affected by their efforts as they don’t have access to TVs, either through personal choice or financial/cultural reasons, TVs are mostly universally owned.  So if they succeeded, the ghosts could have effortlessly traveled to virtually every single country in the world.  Though I do wonder why their leader, the Unreal Shriek Squeal, took the form of a clown.  Wouldn’t a game show host have been more appropriate?  Maybe this was a homage to something that went over my head. I suppose that’s possible.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

[kelseyraiyne]

Neo-Liberalistic Society, Online Identities and Gift Economy

The Hunger Games and a Neo-Liberalistic Society

The Hunger Games originated as a trilogy of novels but was made into a 4-part film series due to its popularity. The series can essentially be described as a science fiction dystopian adventure. At its core, The Hunger Games is about a totalitarian society where the masses are used and abused for the gain of those that in the Capitol, the place where citizens get to live in luxury whilst the surrounding ‘districts’ live in poverty and slave away to provide resources to the higher class. However, they do so with the hope of them being able live a better life by being chosen to compete in the hunger games – a real life survival of the fittest-esque arena game.

Panem is a metaphor for a global economic system, very much based on the neo-liberalism that we face in our society now; using Marx’s theory (1886), the bourgeoisie control the fates of the proletariats, they choose who survives and who will fall, they play God to the lower class who have no option but to look to the elite for guidance and survival. Neo-liberalistic views from today’s world apply to this; for example, our society will happily use technology made in China or wear clothes that have been made in Asia. However, it isn’t just the elite upper class that treat others below them badly, the middle class take advantage of those in less-fortunate third world countries and the cheap services that they provide.

Dystopian future themes are still growing increasingly popular even now, for example Divergent, The Maze Runner, even the X-Men franchise – and they haven’t just been produced in recent years either, past examples being The Matrix, Battle Royale, Lord of The Flies. All of these films show a higher authoritative governing presence that gets to dictate and rule those that are deemed unworthy and classed as common working folk. There isn’t any form of satire used in these production pieces either; especially with The Hunger Games, there is a very propagandised overlay that shows one individual being the face of a revolution and another being the face of capitalism, for example this being Katniss Everdeen and President Snow in The Hunger Games. They square off to one another many times throughout the film and book series, as if this will solve all the problems. What this does it convince the audience that one governing presence that gets to live a life of luxury is not ideal for our society whilst the working class has to slave away in order to survive with the bare minimum.

One article from The Guardian (written by Ewan Morrison) debates on the impact young adult dystopia has on children and teenagers. The underlying propaganda influences lead children to believe they should “question authority” and to be wary and suspicious of it. Whilst dystopian futuristic genres can offer some insight into a neo-liberalistic society that can relate to the ones we live in now, often enough they tend to be a very hyperbolic version of this intended realism. Another article from The Postcolonialists talks about the presentation of The Hunger Games, namely that it could be “a hyperbolic representation of youthful disobedience and rebelliousness … that can be easily confused for the hard work required for a social revolution” (Khader, 2014).

It makes one wonder what the intended reading of The Hunger Games really was. Was The Hunger Games intended to slate our very own neoliberalist society that we currently live in, and convince others to not settle for it? Or was it just simply a story with no underlying political or propagandised ideals within it?

Commodification of Identity Online

Throughout the years, especially with the ever growing developments and freedom of technology and the Internet, human identity has been “transformed from a ‘given’ into a ‘task’ and this “self-realisation” becomes a driving force that promotes consumption” (Palmer, 2010). Society is always changing, humans adapt themselves to become more flexible, they remake themselves to suit the current society and economy that they live in. This neo-liberalistic society heavily relies on and makes use out of the commodification of people and their identity – self-branding, micro-celebrities, life streaming, all these new terms invented for a society that wants to be someone they’re not. People are no longer happy just existing, they want to be able to be who they want, so they turn to social media to reimagine themselves, either to become a “micro-celebrity” which is someone who becomes mainstream and gains a following via social media or to find their true identity using the means of social media. The development of Web 2.0 hasn’t helped means there is even more diversity found online which gives the audience opportunities for self-identification and expression. Now more than ever, personality and identity online has become such a huge factor in our lives that is even used by employers to find out about potential employees.

Back in 2015, Shawn Megira was a big deal on Instagram, being deemed “insta-famous” and a micro-celebtrity at only 15 years old. A short documentary, Instafame, was made about him and his 81K followers. In the documentary (Instafame, 2015), Megira talks about how all he does is post photos on his account and suddenly everyone is following his account and liking his posts, he’s getting stopped in the street by fans and asked for autographs and pictures – all because he has a lot of followers on social media. Due to his popularity, brands and companies began approaching him with job offers and opportunities for paid advertisement via his social media; Megira became a commodity, a means to an end of becoming known, popular or famous yourself rather than an actual human. This is because the advancement and development of technology and social media means that people can escape their ordinary lives and have a chance at becoming someone new, whether this is a micro-celebrity or not, using methods such as endorsements, company branding or even self-branding (which is most commonly found on Instagram).

KittyPlays is a live streamer, gamer and a lifestyle vlogger. She is quite the opposite of the ordeal that Shawn Megira was. She is very open with her viewers about her life and invites them into it; she asks them for advice, show vulnerability and offers guidance on matters that her viewers may ask about. Due to this, many of KittyPlays’ viewers find they are able to find their identities when watching her content, they can open themselves up to the inspiration and guiding presence in order to find who they are. It may be debated that how we choose to present ourselves online allows individuals to become their own producer, director, star and critic, therefore there is the argument that vloggers aren’t showing us their true selves and instead choose which aspects of themselves and their identity they want to share, as all media is an extension of ourselves (McLuhan, 1994). On the other hand, KittyPlays has developed such a strong and loyal community and made a career out of this ‘serious leisure’ activity that she doesn’t feel the need to hide her true identity. If she is sad then she will tell her viewers this, she will cry, she will get angry and she will be happy.

The Internet has “provided a space for an ever-accumulating archive of personal visual experience, memory and emotion” (Palmer, 2010) where users are free to be themselves. The problem that needs to be addressed by this however is that users then become comfortable with the idea of becoming a micro-celebrity so are open to commodification of their identity without realising this. The fact that the internet is now a “mainstream, highly-developed commercial structure” (Marwick, 2005) however does not mean that all online identities are commodified and branded. Many social media celebrities, streamers, or vloggers such as KittyPlays manage to evade this neo-liberalistic market force and form stronger communities because of this.

The Gift Economy vs. The Rational Consumer

Following neo-liberalistic ideologies, it is highly appraised that we as a species are rational consumers; we will make decisions and choices based on those that will be most ideal, advantageous and utilisable for us as individuals. Market forces are huge driving factors in society even now, with them continuing to grow and develop into new areas. However, the idea of the gift economy has threatened the ideals of this neo-liberalistic stance on consumers with the introduction of services such as crowdfunding, free-cycling, Creative Commons licenses just to name a few. This wasn’t something that was expected to happen in this economy, but this idea of a gift economy has shown to be hugely popular and successful with the public and has slowly begun to change the way that consumers act.

A Creative Commons license is a way for the public to enable free distribution of otherwise copyrighted work. This is hugely used in the video game industry, for example with SCP: Containment Breach. This game is a free and open source indie supernatural horror video game developed by Joonas Rikkonen, based on the paranormal fiction stories found on the SCP Foundation website. Other examples of a Creative Commons license include music, short animation clips, images or graphics and logos that may be found online. In return, most creators tend to ask that they just get credited for their work in the video description for example. In his work, Post Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future (2015, p.276), Mason talks about how developments such as crowdfunding and the use of Creative Commons licenses shouldn’t be something that people become affixed and accustomed too fiercely to the non-profit parts of the activities relevant to them. Instead Mason believes it is all a part of a larger ever growing system of peer to peer transactions that are making the old ones appear as ineffective and cause them to slowly die out. In relation to the Creative Commons license, this is definitely accurate. People are more attuned to finding a good advantageous opportunity for themselves, as is the norm for rational consumers, that coming across a suitable or valuable piece for them that features a Creative Commons license is an opportunity that they can’t afford to miss. SCP: Containment Breach offers users a chance to play a full game for free using its Creative Commons license and allows it to be distributed freely to become more widely available for any potential consumers.

The gift economy in general is ideal for rational consumers; there are many opportunities for them to receive pieces and opportunities that suit them as an individual and will be the most advantageous. Furthermore, it begins to introduce a new system that proves the old economic systems and models ineffective and socially unjust. On the other hand, the gift economy does mean that those content creators that offer this free service and free valuables don’t get anything in return.

References:

IMDb. (2018). The Hunger Games (2012). [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

Instafame. (2015). [film] Sylvain Labs.

Khader, J. (2018). Mockingjay Delusions: The Hunger Games and the Postcolonial Revolution to Come - The Postcolonialist. [online] Postcolonialist.com. Available at: http://postcolonialist.com/civil-discourse/mockingjay-delusions-the-hunger-games-and-the-postcolonial-revolution-to-come/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

Marwick, A. (2005). Selling Your Self: Online Identity in the Age of a Commodified Internet. p.169.

Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1886). The Communist Manifesto. International Publishing Co.

Mason, P. (2015). Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future. London, Penguin, p.276.

McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding media. 13th ed. Cambridge (Mass.): The MIT Press.

Morrison, E. (2014). YA dystopias teach children to submit to the free market, not fight authority. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/01/ya-dystopias-children-free-market-hunger-games-the-giver-divergent [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

Palmer, D. (2010) ‘Emotional archives: online photo sharing and the cultivation of the self’. Photographies, 3 (2): 155-171.

 Scpcbgame.com. (n.d.). SCP - Containment Breach. [online] Available at: http://www.scpcbgame.com/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

Twitch. (n.d.). KittyPlays - Twitch. [online] Available at: https://www.twitch.tv/kittyplays [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

Yates, N. (2018). Instafame: The Rise of the Microcelebrity. [online] Social Media Week. Available at: https://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2014/04/instafame-rise-microcelebrity/ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

[nightcoremoon]

I think part of the reason why I hate horror movies is because of the overreliance on jumpscares and shock value and BWAH SUDDEN LOUD NOISES rather than on atmosphere, believability, tension, fear.

here's a list of horror movies from google and the reasons why I hate them, or why I love them, or that they're not actually horror movies.

A quiet place: haven't seen it yet but it's a thriller more so than a horror. thrillers can be scary though but then again so can comedies. and romances. 50 shades is definitely scary: it is psychological abuse after all.

Halloween: slasher film, automatically boring and shit. I'm including the entirety of the franchise here, by the way, and I'm also gonna be including Friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, etc. They're all the same brand of sensationalist garbage. maybe the very first in each series could be redeemable but the mass volume of shitty and terrible CGI gorefests have ruined them forever. "oh no the scary unkillable monster is coming after us and he's gonna kill us in overly violent ways" 💩

Hereditary: I don't even give a shit it looks trite EDIT maybe it's okay but I don't give enough of a shit to bother to ~give it a chance~ because hey. that's what fucking horror games are for.

Insidious: boring, not scary, 0/10

Get Out: haven't watched yet but will because it's a cinematic masterpiece that defies genre conventions

Bird Box: IM SO FUCKING SICK OF HEARING ABOUT FUCKING BIRD BOX SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BIRD BOX HOLY SHIT. It's just the goddamn happening by shyamagofuckyourself and it's an excuse to profit off of sensationalist suicide. oohh so spooky. eat my ass, boggart

It: too much bad cgi makes it a comedy. plus a bunch of kids say fuck a lot. good movie that's technically horror I guess but is it scary? nah.

Suspiria: I've never heard of this movie

Annihilation: same

Split: M NIGHT SHYAMALAN IS A SHITTY FILMMAKER and also it's ableist as fuck so

Mandy: google you suck none of these movies have any mainstream appeal

The Conjuring: 💩💩💩

Hush: ??? you know what fuck it I'm skipping the ones that don't matter

The Vvitch: 🙄 my mom's a witch, my best friend's a witch, I'm a witch. hey yeah maybe let's not buy into christian colonialism please? scary witches are boring as shit. gimme something actually scary. like Catholics.

The Nun: wait shit not like that! and by that I mean BORING AS HELL aside from the jumpscares. which are shit

The Babadook: clearly an LGBT movie, not horror

Cabin in the Woods: a parody and an excellent one at that. at least the gore is in homage, or hilariously over the top

Sinister: the fucking epitome of shitty jumpscares and shock value and lack of atmosphere and bad acting and bad plot and jesus fucking christ this is one of the worst and most boring movies I've ever had the misfortune to see DONT WASTE YOUR GODDAMN TIME

Saw: it's actually a thriller with Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Michael Emerson, and Tobin Bell. it's a campy cheesy low budget true to form horror film with adequate writing, good acting, AMAZING MUSIC BY CHARLIE CLOSER, and isn't over the top with gore considering it's all practical effects. top fucking notch but spawned a dozen terrible sequels.

Shaun of the Dead: it's a touching and heartfelt romantic comedy... with zombies, EXCELLENT CINEMATOGRAPHY, excellent acting, and sad parts that will rip your fucking heart out, stomp on it, and grind it to dust. literally one of the best movies ever made of all time, eat shit tarantino.

The Ring: eh, the original Japanese was better (Japanese horror is its own genre and not a part of this criticism, I actually really like original Japanese horror unfucked up by american audiences as long as it doesn't just gratuitously glorify suicide as Japan does), but this was still a really good mystery thriller with some really cool effects, and is the only movie that has ever actually scared me for real. even now I hate that there's a tv with a vcr right at the foot of my bed.

The Sixth Sense: shyamalan made a couple of good movies. this was one of them. but it wasn't a horror movie and if you didn't know the twist IT WAS A FUCKING AMAZING ONE. like, goddamn empire strikes back levels of supreme and god tier plot twists. it went a little overboard on shock value but compared to the rest of the COMPLETE BULLSHIT on this list (AND IN HIS OWN MOVIES) it really could've gone way further.

The Descent: goddamn claustrophobia. too much horribly cgi'd gore and terrible decisions to be truly enjoyable though. would've been a much better movie without the mutants and the middle finger to physics throat stabbing and the JUST FUCKING KICK IT YOU GODDAMN IDIOT and oh yeah the subtle misogyny. the first half was good tho

28 days later: shitty remake of a merely ok movie EDIT I was thinking of 28 weeks later, 28 days was actually okay I guess

Scream: did not age well but it's okay for being meta, despite the fucking torture porn of drew barrymore at the beginning. allowed for scary movie 1 though, so I'm glad it exists.

Paranormal Activity: PARANORMAL FUCKING ACTIVITY CAN EAT MY ASS, ITS SUCH A SUBLIME FAILURE OF EXECUTION. I WANTED IT TO BE GOOD BUT IT WASNT. oh well at least it inspired five nights at Freddy's. I'll go ahead and throw all shitty found footage movies under this one, including unfriended.

Blair Witch Project: a fucking pioneer of its time. a genre definer. truly scary. good movie. I'll go ahead and throw all good found footage movies under this one, including cloverfield.

The Shining: a thriller, not horror. but goddamn is it the scariest not horror movie ever made. Stephen king you magnificent bastard

Alien: goddamn fucking alien. science fiction masterpiece. director's a little creepy but eh, sigourney weaver kicks ass, and alien isolation is such a good game (despite its many flaws), and it's just so iconic in terms of sheer scope of concept. it's the same horror movie as anywhere else but in space, and I still can't fucking believe this was made in the 70s. this and Star Wars were FUCKING AMAZING, and the xenomorph? THATS ALL PRACTICAL EFFECTS BABEY. NO OVERRELIANCE ON CGI GUTS AND SHOCK VALUE HERE, ITS JUST PURE HORROR AT ITS FINEST. good movie. aliens was better. everything else... eeehhh...

The Thing: same as the descent but with men instead of women, and EVEN WORSE DECISION MAKING. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE JUST HOW GODDAMN STUPID EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD POSSIBLY BE. and in the remake yeah the practical effects were mind blowingly fantastic and inspired dead space which I believe is one of the best horror games if not just best games or horror pieces of media if not just best pieces of media constructed. but the prequel? 🙄 no thanks

The exorcist: masterpiece of practical effects without an overreliance on jumpscares and gore

Jaws: it's Stephen fucking Spielberg in the 70s and one of the most influential horror films and just films in general

Hellraiser: okay I'll give all works by clive barker a pass here because goddamn is he a demented fucking genius if ever I saw one. if only Jericho was actually a good game, it could've been the next doom 3

Poltergeist: an actually good horror movie that depends on atmosphere and effects more so than jumpscares and gore? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

Evil Dead: campy but misogynist. the sequel was a comedy so it's okay. the next sequel is also a comedy AND ARMY OF DARKNESS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER FUCKING MADE. FIGHT ME. and fuck the remake. sam raimi should've retired after spiderman 3. maybe even before that.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: honestly not bad. it was actually freaky and believable. rednecks really are fucking scary with all their inbreeding and terrible music and hatred of black people. I refuse to acknowledge the original and the sequels.

Psycho: eh, hitchcock's worst is still better than most of the shit on this list.

The Wicker Man: OH GOD NOT THE BEES! AHHGUBLAHH MY EYES! AAAAAHHHHH!!! fucking excellent comedy. but it doesn't have any naked ladies in it like the original did. oh well, can't please everyone.

Night of the Living Dead: THOSE ZOMBIES ARE BULLSHIT. ZOMBIES CANT USE WEAPONS AND THEY SURE AS FUCK CANT TURN YOU INTO A ZOMBIE BY STABBING YOU WITH A TROWEL. THEY HAVE TO BITE YOU. FUCK YOU GEORGE ROMERO. Also, dawn of the dead was just sensationalist garbage. "They tore apart a real pig carcass tho so it looked like real intestines" what? the fuck??? who gives a shit????? I watch movies to escape from reality, dumbass. I don't beat off to chopped up human carcasses. If I want a zombie movie I want the walking dead sans the soap opera bullshit and the racism and then "no one is safe and everyone will die" boring mentality propagated by twd and got and other things I used to like but no longer care about (because why should I give a shit about it if everyone could die? I can already be sad enough about all the real people I know who die. enjoying the pain of the deaths of those important to us is a privilege the cishets have). the walking dead seasons 1&2 was pure horror and the very best kind. don't give me boring contrivances. "but sheena, night of the living dead was a trope definer! everything in it was original!" yeah, you know what else is original? *farting noise* George Romero is just rob zombie without a rock band. his best work was fucking call of duty. that's pathetic. "maybe you just don't like gore" HEY YEAH SURE I DONT WANNA SEE UBER REALISTIC INTESTINES AND ORGANS IF THEY ARENT PART OF A MEDICAL DEAL SO IM JUST A BIG DUMB HATER. I'm the one in the wrong. fuck me, right?

Don't Breathe: A FUCKING TURKEY BASTER FILLED WITH SEMEN. THATS SO STUPID I FORGOT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY. BEST CRINGE COMEDY OF THE YEAR :D

Tremors: legitimately great movie with a hundred shitty sequels. like saw but your faves win so you walk away filled with determination rather than sad and disappointed. enjoyment of tragedies are a privilege awarded to those who are neurotypical.

Zombieland: gore done right. the only casualty is mindless zomzoms and bill murray. good. granted it counts as a romance and a comedy but honestly last time I watched it I cried at the part where you find out buck isn't tallahassee's dog. god I love that movie. AND FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS IS THE MOST BADASS MOVIE OPENER EVER.

The Fly: Jeff fucking goldblum. amazing effects for good reasons. need I say more? the original doesn't exist because 1950s horror movies are all bad because all 1950s movies are bad. the 1950s should just be purged from america's records except for pleasantville.

All other Stephen king movies: hit or miss but mostly still good. although very few are actual horror.

10 cloverfield lane: more of a thriller like above's misery but still an amazing movie.

Peeping Tom: literally a movie about how creepy it is to fetishize the deaths of women WHILE LITERALLY FETISHIZING THE DEATHS OF WOMEN. like, come on man. how do you miss your own point so completely?

Invasion of the body snatchers: it's not horror and if it's made to be horror using gore it's shit. the whole thing is just an allegory to the joe mccarthy communism witch hunts anyway.

Cube trilogy: the ultimate b movies. so bad they're good. and it's such an interesting concept too!

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: fucking alien clowns come to earth to turn us into cotton candy by killing us using carnival fare. THIS IS THE GREATEST BAD MOVIE EVER MADE.

All horror movies based on horror video games: either irredeemably bad, or action movies

All creepy Netflix horror movies: wow any idiot with a camera and basic cgi skills can throw shit together to make a movie these days, huh

The Slender Man: I am literally too pissed off about this movie to insult it.

Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve, the Slender Man movie on YouTube: triumphs of meta, editing, found footage, proof of concept, and story. Slenderman is such a malleable entity for a perfect horror experience, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY FUCK THAT UP? YOUD HAVE TO BE INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGING YOUR WHOLE MOVIE TO FUCK IT UP AS BAD AS SOMEone who exclusively directs remakes... oh... oh no.

Wrong Turn: one mediocre movie and a dozen loathesome snoozefests coasting by on shock value

Troll 2:

oh god

they're eating her

and then

they're gonna eat me

...

oh my gooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

(Troll 2 is literally the worst movie ever made and I have to respect it for that at least)

but yeah, horror is just bad for movies. but for video games, though...

[mockymyths]

Jeepers Creepers: Jezelle Gay Hartman - Psychic, Informant, Badass Grandma? - In My Dreams

Aside from providing some tension, information, and giving the plot one final push to the finale, this character is relatively simple and disappointing as a whole. Now before you decide to comment, let me discuss her specific role and actions in the movie and WHY she ends up being relatively disappointing with very little payoff. I’m also going to bring up a few suggestions as to how her character could have been used better.

It’s gonna be a spoiler palooza up ahead so if you care about that kind of thing don’t read I guess?

1.) The phone call:

So the first time we meet Jezelle it’s through a phone call that Trish and Darry receive while waiting for the cops at a diner. She calls to warn them that they’re in danger and what will happen to one of them if they’re caught by the Creeper.

This introduction feels very confused for multiple reasons.

First of all, we’re told that she doesn’t remember/see every little detail in her visions which allow her to have this kind of information in the first place. It gives us leniency in what we are and aren’t allowed to know, thus leaving an air of mystery until the very end. The frustrating thing about this though is the fact that later on it’s implied that she kinda lied about what she does and doesn’t know (expanded upon in number 2). It’s implied that she DOES know who will die and somehow she’s able to figure out when the two will be at the police station for her to meet up with. But if she’s able to see and figure that out then she should also have known when they would have a run in with the cats as well. That, along with the fact that she calls the diner at the exact time Trish and Darry are there, basically make this phone call stupid for so many reasons; because let’s be real: either she calls that diner constantly to try and catch them or she’s got some weird ass spidey sense going on (if she doesn’t actively know when they’re going to be there).

The only purpose this phone call really provides is tension. Later on when the siblings get a police escort and hear an alternative song to the one Jezelle played for them, Darry begins panicking saying that they’re in real danger whilst Trish tries to explain to him that it’s not even the correct song and that they’re fine. Ironically, they actually ARE in danger, they just don’t notice it yet because the action is happening in the background. It’s a nice scare and tension builder, by all means, but it really only works once and could have been alluded to better.

2.) The Police Station:

So as I mentioned earlier, near the climax of the movie, Jezelle finally meets the siblings in person at the police station. It’s here that she expands upon the nature of the Creeper and what their fates will be when he finally catches his intended target. This provides an excellent tension builder because this also gives the siblings the chance to confront her about who it will be that the Creeper chooses. This allows for a proper climax and a wonderful “stepping up” moment for Trish whom tries to bargain with the Creeper to save Darry and it’s wonderful because it gives us the reaffirmation that she truly is the caring protective older sister that we only see hints of throughout the movie.

But as you’ve probably guessed by now, I have an issue with this too.

Jezelle being promoted as a psychic character just feels tired. No one believes her and everyone thinks she’s crazy. Just that one sentence alone makes me feel TIRED of that trope. Now that being said, I do understand the reasoning for it. There’s really only so many ways you can provide information on a supernatural creature, but when the movie recycles the “visions” trope on another character it just feels even WORSE because now it’s cliche in the franchise with barely any rhyme or reason aside from information. Realistically, it would have been fine to not have these bits of information. Everything we were told could have been gleamed from what we saw in the movie and the only real important piece she provides us with is that one of the siblings will die by the creature’s hands. That’s it.

Now i’m not saying that psychic characters themselves are tiring, but the way they were handled in this series itself was. And this will be something I will be discussing further in part 5.

3.) Jezelle’s Last Stand:

So then we go off to the climax and Jezelle tries to buy the kids some time to escape by using herself as bait for the monster. She faces off with him and either she isn’t actually scared or she has absolutely nothing the Creeper desires for himself. He promptly ditches her to head straight for the kids. This paired with the ending where she responds to Trish by saying “I’m just a crazy old lady.” really gives everyone the feeling of inevitability and uselessness. These scenes were the most impactful for Jezelle and can really give us a deeper feeling and emotion than what was probably intended. And this is also where I feel like her character was most powerful.

Jezelle goes out of her way to try and help them because she can’t stand the thought of anyone else suffering by the Creeper’s hands whilst she does nothing. She doesn’t listen to what the others say when they claim that she’s crazy and even puts herself in harms way to try and save the siblings. So the look on her face when the Creeper barely gives her a second look and immediately goes after Trish and Darry is a little heart breaking. It’s like she realizes that she wasn’t even good enough to buy them a few minutes, that there wasn’t much she could do in the end.

And then later on, when Trish confronts Jezelle about her lying about who the Creeper was going to take, that gives us even more heart break. Jezelle was probably hoping that by telling them that Trish would be taken, that Darry would become less scared and maybe make himself undesirable to the Creeper in doing so. But ultimately there was nothing she could do to help, in the end she really was a “crazy old lady”, and it’s in that pain and acceptance of failure that we can feel the most for Jezelle.

4.) Payoff:

This is also why I feel like the use of her character was disappointing and the payoff was too small. Two thirds of her scenes amount to very little aside from building tension and scares and the information she gives is wholly unnecessary. If she had a larger part in the film then perhaps her final scenes would have been even more impactful. Because as much as this movie is about the siblings, the ending really paints us a depressing picture that begs the question of “if you can’t change the outcome, is there even a point in trying?”

Because although we can hear and feel Darry’s terror build until the finale and shudder at the...sight... EVEN THOUGH we can feel the pain in Trish as she chases down the Creeper and is left to face the awful fact that she couldn’t do her job of the elder sibling properly and protect Darry despite everything else she’s done in the movie to protect him, Jezelle possibly contains the most widespread emotion I think that we as humans can REALLY get on board with the most.

“If you can’t change the outcome...”     “If you don’t succeed...”

“...Is there a point in trying?”

5.) Improvements:

So earlier I mentioned things such as Jezelle’s phone call, the information she provides on the Creeper, and her ability as a Psychic.

My primary complaints on her use as a character is that the scares and tension as well as information provided were ultimately pointless due to the lack of actual use. The information she provided on the Creeper, being a super old creature, reappearing for 23 days every 23rd summer, and can’t really die due to the fact that he can consume human parts to rejuvenate his body which is mostly why he hunts- All of this could have been provided in alternative ways and really kinda was. Things like missing people cases in the area, the Church of Pain (where all the bodies were sprung up like a mockery to the Sistine Chapel mural and others), and what we see in the later half of the film where Trish runs him over and then he eats cops to fix his parts, all of this was really all we needed in order to learn of the Creeper’s culture and motive. The only piece of information needed from Jezelle at this point was (ultimately) the ending. And even in this I have a simple solution.

One of my head canons happen to be that the close proximity to the Creeper allows for random individuals to have psychic abilities in order to combat him (he’s lived in that area presumably for at least a few hundred years, so if Jezelle lived in that area she could be one of the few who have insight to his habits. This would also be a great explanation for why Minxie was given the information needed on the Creeper.) This paranormal seepage into the world around him would also allow for technology to flicker and react to his presence and in the very first scene where he harasses the siblings in their car (as well as the second time) this could allow for the radio station to skip around and play bits of the song for Darry to connect to the Creeper later on. He’d hear bits in the car the first two times, hear the actual thing at the church of pain via a gramophone, connect it to the creeper when they have the police escort and start panicking, and then BOOM problem solved and we still feel that same terror at the end when it’s playing. No dumb phone call that has basically no real payoff; however Jezelle could still allude to it being Trish later on for the aforementioned reasons.

The only downside to this is that this would make Jezelle’s character SEEM completely unimportant and that’s where I say NAY! Because now that we’re not focusing on dumb attempts to build a one off scare we can actually USE her LOGICALLY. If she can track them well enough to know when to call them at the diner then she can fucking FIND THEM AT THE DINER HERSELF, or just as well, FUCKNG FIND THEM WHEN THEY’RE GETTING ESCORTED BY THE POLICE. Either way, she’s there when the escort get essentially FUCKED by the Creeper and Jezelle with a gun just shoots the hell out of the fucker and Trish runs him over for good measure (or the other way around, or they trade off, fuck it’d still be a cool scene either way!) Jezelle escorts them to the closest police station and THATS when she could tell us about her visions and desire to help out.

This would lead to an even greater payoff with her character because now we can feel more engaged with her (imo). This wasn’t just someone who kinda tried to help and then finally at the last minute decided to come in to still do essentially nothing- No, NOW it’s someone who was so fed up with being unable to help that she gets off her ass and ACTUALLY HELPS. She gets badass granny moments, maybe even bips him a few times in the police station while also acting as bait and is STILL IGNORED AND STILL FAILS.

That would be THE BIGGEST KICK and makes her failure and pain even more palatable in the end. Just imagine it and tell me that wouldn’t be badass and depressing as hell with the same amount of horror aspects built into it.

[conspiracvvvvv-blog]

ace thinks that the creators of paranormal activity need to come back and make more because ‘six wasn’t enough’

the dumbest horror movie franchise and she needs more 

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Real Urban Legend Behind The Grudge (2020) Franchise And The 13 Other Japanese Urban Legends That'll TERRIFY You + Plot Summary And Review

We are living in the age of the reboot.

Maybe it’s our search for nostalgia in a time of Trumpian and post-Brexit uncertainty. Maybe it's a desire to reflect on our past pop culture icons as we enter a new decade. Or maybe it's just a cash grab by greedy producers as they squabble over the latest bonus.

Either way, let’s just hope The Grudge (2020) was better than Cats. 

(Spoiler alert: EVERYTHING was better than Cats.)

The first horror film to signal our entrance into the new era was a true champion of the genre, from the ungodly aesthetic to the nothing’s-off-limits Japanese take on the genre.

Dragging herself into the new year - fit with deathly white face, locks of dark hair, and a vocal style that would give Billie Eilish a run for her money - the ghost of Kayako and son, Toshio found a new way to terrify viewers.

And they weren’t even in the movie. 

(Here’s the trailer:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo_c5lu0W0k

But the true terror behind the film doesn’t start with you paying that much for a small popcorn and Dr. Pepper. 

It doesn’t even end with the credits. 

The Grudge - yes, all 11 movies from 2 separate franchises - is actually based on an urban legend that has haunted Japan to this day.

And if that wasn’t enough, the films capture components of paranormal activity that are awfully accurate to real ghost stories that go beyond the borders of the small island nation. 

So, as your favourite blogger of all things spooky, I thought I’d take us on the express train to Suginami, Japan, to the house that started it all. Today’s post is going to recap the films, explain why the franchise is freak-a-liciously for-real, and go through the other Japanese urban legends you really don’t want to know about. 

What’s The Plot Of The Franchise?

Like most Japanese horror films that have been subject to the American treatment (ahem, The Ring, ahem) too many films have been shat out via the silver screen. 

But that’s not to say The Grudge film series isn’t worth a watch. 

Nevertheless, to save you 20 hours worth of the same jumpscares, jealous ghosts, and attempts to sound out Japanese names, I thought I’d give you the tl;dr on ‘lil Toshio’s afterlife.

The Grudge franchise is actually made up of two films series: the Ju-On (the original Japanese series made up of 7 films) and the Grudge (the 4 American reboots). 

Although the original series follows a much more twisted tale, the American version cuts ‘n’ pastes a couple of scenes from the original scripts replays them in the English language. But nevermind the ogre-like layers of films - the premise is the same in each film:

A curse - also known as the Ju-On - created in a house destroys everyone that comes in contact with it. The curse is reborn with every person that encounters it and is passed like a virus among family members.

Question is, where does this curse come from?

The story goes that a happy family were livin’ their bestest life when some bloke called Takeo believed his wife Kayako was having an affair with their son’s teacher.

In a fit of rage, he kills Kayako, Toshio (their son), and their pet cat.

According to the canon, when someone is murdered whilst angry or jealous, a curse is born and gathers where they died. The curse (or the haunting) then repeats itself, killing anyone that comes into contact with it.

“Hol’ up - a woman with a chilling pale face, a mop of black hair, a curse that kills everyone that comes near it… Doesn’t this sound a tad familiar?”

Yes, the Grudge series is basically the domestic abuse version of The Ring…

(Which you can read all about here - including the terrifying true stories behind it)

But did you know that it’s supposed to be? 

The brains behind the Japanese-American franchise, Takashi Shimizu, was not only inspired and assisted by the brains behind Sadako’s tragic story, but also took inspiration from things that had haunted him throughout his own life:

He cites dancers painting their nude bodies white as the basis of the aesthetic for the film as made evident by the lookbooks of the leading roles, and noted that around the time of watching said dancers there was a notable rise in the number of domestic abuse cases. 

Urban legends or domestic abuse - which scares you more?

Regardless of the backstory to the big screen, what actually happens in the films?

Here’s a quick summary of the Ju-On film series:

The series starts with a handful of abstract short films which dip into the hauntings, then evolving into a couple straight-to-dvd movies. Think Bring It On but with more dead people and less Rihanna. 

Following on from their success, the cinematic hit Ju-On: The Grudge was sent to the big screen.

This is where the story properly starts.

(Here’s the trailer:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyPTyXlT9w

We finally see Kayako’s and Toshio’s story unfold and the curse attach to all those that come to the house. And this starts with social worker, Rika Nishina, who was summoned after the former social worker mysteriously disappeared.

As with all horror films, paranormal activity goes down, and Rika discovers the truths behind the house. But unlike the other films which just explore the hauntings of the families that just so happen to enter the house, this film explores the rebirth of the curse. 

The basis of this film is that Rika is set to die the same way Kayako did and fulfil the Ju-on. At the same time the powers of the curse are further unleashed as its time travelling capabilities are uncovered: a victim from a past film sees her father just before he encountered Kayako himself, even though he died years before. 

The next film - the final one is the Japanese franchise - sticks to this theme of rebirth, and sticks to it quite literally. 

It starts with a pregnant actress who gets in a car accident caused by Toshio and miscarries.

Well, she thinks she has. A doctor does doctor stuff and discovers she is still carrying a healthy child, but this baby ain’t no normal baby. It’s Kayako. 

Good luck getting on Maury with that.

It is then uncovered that she worked for a paranormal documentary TV show that visited the house haunted by the curse.  

This is confirmed years later, when a young Kayako pushes her mother off an overpass and kills her. The last we see of this franchise is the young girl wandering off into the distance.

Now it’s America’s turn. Here’s a rundown of the Grudge film series:

The first film is a reboot of the Japanese Ju-On: The Grudge, but this time its horror-film-fave Sarah Michelle Gellar who is stepping up to the plate as Karen (aka Rika). But this time Buffy Karen burns the house down at the end of the film.

(Or does she?)

(Oh and here’s the trailer I’m just Oprah for trailers today:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC3bzK_i9_s 

The sequel then follows a school girl who is pressured to enter the house by her friends a la every urban legend ever. But this time, Kayako hits the road and follows her back to Chicago, cursing her apartment. And the schoolgirl ain’t the only one struggling with spooky stuff.

When Karen falls from a hospital roof and dies, Karen’s younger sister investigates the circumstances of her death and stumbles into the legend. This time she attempts to stop the curse. 

4 more films follow this movie, and all stick to the recipe of schoolgirls daring to go into the house or people being through from hospital roofs.

No, I’m being serious. 

The final film prior to the latest reboot takes a different turn, however, and takes inspiration from The Ring to a whole new level. Sadako vs. Kayako is a crossover of these iconic female spirits, and climaxes in the spirits merging into the ultimate ghost: Sadakaya. 

What Happens In The Grudge (2020)?

The film follows 4 different families as they encounter the curse, creating a domino effect that ties each of the stories together. The thing is, only one family actually encounters Kayako and the original haunting that made this franchise famous. 

Nevertheless, in true Grudge style, Kayako possesses the mother of a family who then goes on to kill her family members. 

These ghosts then begin to haunt the following inhabitants of the house and affect all those connected to it. For each story, someone either ends up in an asylum, or kills their entire family, or some chaotic cocktail of the two. 

When I first heard a new Grudge was set to hit the big screen, I was honestly a bit surprised; I hadn’t heard anyone mention it! 

The thing is, I only found this out last week, a whole month after it first premiered. 

I was shooketh. 

How had I heard f*ck all about it? Unfortunately, there’s good reason for that:

A unanimous decision has labelled this film a sequence of boring, dull, thin plots all tied together with a smile depressing aesthetic. No, the reviewers did not hold back.

"I saw this movie in the middle of the day, having had a great night's sleep, and I had to slap myself awake a few times."

Nevertheless, The Grudge (2020) does buck the trend of former films, introducing a new plot style and welcoming a new brand of paranormal activity we haven’t seen fall under the franchise just yet.

But honestly, the franchise - like all horror films - gets messy, twisting into a mop of black hair and a sound byte of a death rattle on a loop.

All you really need to know is there’s a spooky-ass house with some dead-ass people and you either die or end up in a mental hospital. 

And it's not like any horror film has ever done that before, right?

But even if the films aren’t keeping you up tonight, the story it's based on should do the trick - especially considering the films portray it so damn accurately…

What’s The Urban Legend That The Films Based On?

The Grudge franchise might not go down in horror history for a dense plot chock-full of cinematic innovation, but there’s no doubt that Kayako and Toshio will.

The thing is, the characters of this iconic franchise all started as real people with real lives. Well, as real as an urban legend can make them out to be, that is. 

The story goes that Kayako grew up neglected by the members of her family, retreating into her shell and becoming shy. And so, she would write diaries to keep herself company.

In one of these entries from when she was younger, she mentioned a crush. 

Flash forward to years later, and she’s married with a child. Problem is, her husband, Takeo, stumbles upon one of these diaries, and believes she’s having an affair. 

So, like all rational people, he decides to kill her and his son, Toshio. 

How he kills her is a little confused, but we know that at some point she tries to crawl down the stairs and escape, at some point Kayako and Toshio are drowned in a bathtub, and at some point Takeo gets strangled by Kayako with her hair. 

Either way they are all very dead. 

But it's Kayako that returns from the afterlife as the vengeful ghost we all know and love. 

And that’s because Kayako fits perfectly within Japanese folklore, and is an onryo - a vengeful ghost. 

“Hold up - does that mean Sadako/Samara is one of these onryos?”

Nope - Sadako is a yurei, which you can learn all about here.

An onryo is a spirit from japanese folklore, or, more specifically, a ghost that has often been wronged by brutal men. And Kayako is far from alone in the afterlife:

Oiwa has earned her name as the most famous onryo to haunt Japanese literature, and claimed her title by being murdered by her unfaithful husband whilst she was pregnant. At first he tried poison, but she survived the attempt - it just disfigured her face and made her miscarry.

To complete the attack he pushed her off the cliff. And yes, that did the job. 

Or did it?

Oiwa returned as a vengeful ghost who sought to destroy him and everyone around him. 

Sound familiar?

So we know that Kayako’s story doesn’t fall too far from the urban legend inspiring the films, nor the reality of domestic abuse in society - is there anything else that is uncomfortably real about the movies?

*Nods head*

They hit the paranormal activity dead on. 

(Emphasis on the dead bit.)

How Accurate Is The Paranormal Activity?

I could rattle off the movies minute by minute and explain why that door creaking is, like, totally accurate to supernatural theories. But even as a paranormal blogger, I’m not that sad. 

(Yet.)

However, there are 2 key pieces of the paranormal that I wanted to explore to confirm that these films are c-ree-pily real.

1. Possession by a yurei or onryo

Most horror films tend to follow the same ‘ol trajectory:

There is ghost. Ghost does ghosty things. People are scared of ghost. Ghost possesses one of the people. 

All the writers have to do is fill in the blanks. 

The thing is, this only happens a couple times in this franchise, most notably in the 2020 reboot. But it got me thinking:

The whole point of Sadako and Kayako - although different kinds of spirits - is that they want to spread dread and darkness, and that at some point they simply want to be reborn to ensure their ambitions are met.

But aside from waving a rather mangled feminist flag, they don’t fill in the blanks like most horror films. Possession by onryo is supposedly possible, however, and has even been captured by a rather famous if lacking-in-detail case:

Hirotsugu possessed some bloke called Genbo way-back-when and affected his health. Yeah, that’s about it. 

2. Residual hauntings

Another theory the franchise taps into is that of time travel which is known amongst paranormal fanatics like me as a residual haunting.

Also known as Stone Tape theory, this is belief that events with a high energy atmosphere can imprint onto the surroundings like rocks, objects, furniture, and maybe even houses.

Ever heard of Borley Rectory? What about Bethnal Green Underground? 

These are just a few cases of residual hauntings from which these events are replayed in a haunting fashion. 

The 13 Other Japanese Urban Legends That Should Make You Avoid Visiting Asia In The Near Future In Case You Encounter The Slit-Mouthed Woman

Trips to Tokyo, breakfast under sweeps of cherry blossom trees, walks around the temples of Kyoto.

Japan knows how to showcase its culture.

But your next trip to this island in the Pacific might leave you a little more terrified than tourist. And given the size of the island, I don’t think you can hop on a tram without bumping elbows with some legend conjured up from the darkest recesses of the web.

In that case, grab your fanny pack and chuck your passport in the hotel safe - let’s find us an urban legend!

#1 - Aka Manto // Red Cloak

Our first legend haunts toilets. No, I’m not kidding. He’s not even the only Japanese urban legend that specifically haunts the bogs!

This urban legend reportedly haunts the last stall in bathrooms and is cloaked in a red cape.

The story goes that, whilst your mid-shit, he will offer you red or blue toilet paper. Whichever one you pick decides on how you die. If he offers you yellow, however, he will just shove your head down the shitter. 

To avoid either of those fates, don’t pick any toilet paper. Just ignore, and escape.

Drip dry; don’t die.

#2 - Hanasako-san // Hanako Of The Toilet

Our next bathroom related urban legend is clearly much more explicit about her haunting, but bears a striking resemblance to her male counterpart.

With pale skin and a red uniform, she hides in the 3rd bathroom stall, but doesn’t offer you any TP.

Instead, you should knock on the stall door 3 times, ask if she’s there, and wait for her to whisper and confirm her presence. Well, that or she’ll stay silent which is really helpful.

Anyway, once you’ve alerted her that you’re there, she will straight up drag you to hell.

Okay, fine, the legend sounds simplistic - I mean, you do just go to hell - but her backstory is slightly more imaginative. There’s actually 2 potential tales that explain her haunting:

The first is that he hid in the bathroom during a bombing in WW2 and the building collapsed around her; or she was bullied and committed suicide in the bathroom. 

(I mean, I don’t know what you expected, its an urban legend, okurr, shits gon’ be depressing.)

#3 - Jinmenken // Human-Faced Dog

Let’s lighten things up, shall we? I think a comedic dog with the face of a human which is popularly spotted by surfers mid-joint should do the trick...

Jinmenken are dogs with human faces often seen in urban areas. Not only can they talk, they can also be rude - and specifically homophobic - according to some reports. 

The most popular sightings can be traced back to surfers in the 1950s, but the most famous tale can be found in 1810 from which one was supposedly exhibited at a museum.

Gnarly, bro. 

#4 - The Cursed Kleenex Advert

This urban legend has already featured in one of my posts as an iconic cursed video, but here’s the lowdown for people that don’t waste their time looking this up:

A Kleenex advert was released in the 1980s in Japan and featured some rather odd goings-on.

There was a baby painted red like an ogre and sitting on a bed of straw, there was german music singing ‘die’ repeatedly, and there was the sudden deaths or spiralling of all of the film crew and actors into mental health crises.

You know, the usual marketing campaign.

Oh, and I nearly forgot - everyone that watched it had sudden suicidal thoughts!

It was quickly pulled from air due to complaints, and is now known simply as an urban legend.

*mysterious pipe music plays in the distance*

#5 - Kuchisake-onna // The Slit-Mouthed Woman

Equally as famous as Kleenex firing most of their TV advertising department (before they all died, anyway) is the slit-mouthed woman, an onryo just like the main characters of The Grudge. 

A woman (gasp) supposedly wanders the streets of Japan, and, in the dark of the night, wanders up to those walking alone. 

She then asks them how she looks.

If you react with disgust, she will kill you via the scissors she just so happens to have on her. If you react positively and clearly think she's beautiful, she will smile weirdly at you, revealing the slits giving her a permanent smile and repeat the question. If you compliment her, she will give you the same cuts that have slit open a permanent smile. 

If you say she looks average or distract her with food or sweets you will be free to go.

And the moral of this story?

We are all beautiful in our own way. Also pls don’t kill me. 

#6 - Benzaiten’s Curse

Benzaiten is the goddess of everything that flows: time, water, knowledge, the linings of my womb from my nether-regions every 5 weeks.

But, as made clear by the latter, she isn’t necessarily a positive force. Let’s say you take your partner to the Imokashira pond for a romantic row across the river. As the pond and the park containing it are full of her shrines, for some reason she takes delight in ending relationships.

Jealous of the happy couples enjoying the peace of the park, she curses them, leaving them to split down the middle.

Mwahaha?

#7 - Kunekune // Wriggling Body

There’s no backstory, there’s no explanation, and there’s no evidence of the kunekunes. But this doesn’t stop this story being perhaps the most chilling to haunt this blog. 

Kunekunes are slender white figures that stand tall on fields, lingering in the distance. 

Get too close? You go insane.

Touch one? You dead. 

It is believed that this legend could be linked to claims of scarecrows coming to life at night or if you stare at them too long, but regardless of where it evolved from, this shizz be spooky.

#8 - Teke Teke

Got any more room for another onryo? Good. ‘Cause this one involves a woman who was sliced in half by a train. 

Having fallen on a railway and lost her legs to the accident, it is claimed she drags her torso along with her arms, her elbows making the noise titling the legend. 

Don’t fancy an encounter with her? Stay away from urban areas. But if she does happen to, uhh, bump into you, here’s what you have to do to avoid your legs being scythed off. 

(Actually, sorry to interrupt - how in the hell does she do that like surely a scythe is a long boi and like shes only got her arms as her height so how does this work)

She will ask you where her legs are and you either have to tell her that they are on the Meichin Railway or say in perfect Japanese “mask death demon”.

And no, I don’t think she allows you time to pull up Google Translate. 

Oh, and I also just found out that anyone that learns of her story will encounter her within one month. Soz. 

#9 -  Kāneru Sandāsu no Noroi // The Curse Of The Colonel

Honestly, this be a fucking meme. Like this is hilarious. 

This is why I started this blog: for ghosts, for horror films, and for curses relating to fast food restaurants. 

The story goes that in 1985 the Hanshin Tigers basketball team won the Japan Championship series. On the night they won, a statue of Colonel Sanders - yep, the KFC guy - was thrown into a river.

Since 1985 they haven’t won the series, something that has been attributed to the bad luck from the statue still being in the river.

In 2009, they began to recover their lucky charm, and all they need now is to find a hand and his glasses. 

#10 - Cow Head

Sure, this urban legend might not have a descriptive title, but it is probably the most perplexing. Heck, there are even two stories behind it, both of which I assume are related. 

The first claims that a teacher once told his students a story of ‘Cow Head’. They all began to experience strange symptoms over the following days, from seizure-like shaking to their eventual deaths. This slow demise is traced to the story, but only fragments are available to find.

(And, because I’m only gonna let you be haunted by teke teke, I thought I’d let you find that one out for yourself cause I’m nice and also scared.)

The other side of the story goes a little something like this:

A town is cursed after they eat the head of a cow.

Yeah, that's the end of the story.

Or maybe the urban legend is from Ukrainian folklore? A woman received good fortune after offering shelter to a disembodied cow head. 

#11 - Kokkuri

This is a classic: it's basically a Japanese ouija board. 

A favourite among high school students searching for a quick buzz, all this requires is someone that can write out hangara symbols and someone else willing to cough up a coin. 

And all you have to do is ask kokkuri-san a question. Well, the question might go unanswered - they can only tell you of your death. 

If you do so happen to stumble into a sesh, make sure you say goodbye to kokkuri-san, spend the coin she used to point out the answer, and use us all the ink from the pen used to draw the symbols.

Other than that, you’re good to find out when you’ll meet the Grim Reaper!

#12 - Kisaragi Station

This one’s fresh from the new age of the urban legend.

It’s 2002, and we are probably on some dodgy 4-chan-before-4-chan website. 

The story is pretty simple, and claims there is a railway station that is unmarked on maps which someone has reportedly visited. This unmanned station is spook central, with the name of the station roughly translating to ‘demon station’.

The original story claimed a commuter train which normally frequently stopped took a different route and only a few other passengers - all fast asleep - were on board.

No taxis, no buildings, no guards, no timetables…

All aboard the not-sleeping-ever-again train!

#13 - Hasshaku-sama

Similar to the urban legend previously described, this is ripped fresh from the early days of the web. 

It is claimed that a woman towering over 2 metres tall attempts to lure young people into the arms of death, mimicking the voices of their family members. Or, in more simple terms, if she likes you, you gon’ die. 

The story attempts to explain her backstory, claiming she might be a divine spirit, or that she is attached to a village the protagonist of the urban legend must escape to avoid her powers. 

Who Else Ain’t Sleeping Tonight?

(Or taking a bath/shower/going into the bathroom ever again?)

And which urban legend traumatised you the most?

Why not fall further down the rabbit hole and check out my other articles exploring the reality behind your fave horror flicks? 

And while you’re there, be sure to hit follow to see a new ghost story everyday.

(Also this is now you trying to live life but now thinking about the urban legends I told you about lol c ya byeeeeeee)

[samilovesyou-blog1]

Was Steven Universe: The Movie even necessary?

Not only was this year the closure of a chapter for Avengers fan with the release of Endgame, Steven Universe fans also saw a chapter of the franchise end with Steven Universe: The Movie, which followed the finale of the fifth season. But was the movie adaptation worth the wait or was it a step-down from the 45 minute season finale “Change Your Mind”?

I never was a fan of Steven Universe because I would be constantly put into an on/off relationship with the series: every time it would tease me with an epic story of love, war and space, it would annoy me with handfuls of redundant fillers that increasingly lost their charm through the time. Despite that, the second half of the fifth season kept me on edge as it unraveled, and the season finale really changed my mind on the quality of the show: I don’t know if fillers are over for the show, but I think it’s safe to say that we can expect a more mature Steven in the future, and that has caught my attention full on.

Only, I watched the film recently and it was completely different from what I expected. Surprising? Sure. Satisfying? Um...

It’s as if the show had two finales, or rather, an ending and an epilogue. Another franchise had a second finale (technically the second part of a finale), Avengers, who hit us with Endgame right after the shocking end of Infinity War. I think both franchise shared a lot of similarities in their endings, so I want to compare them to express how I felt about SU: The Movie better.

In brief, Avengers: Infinity War was the end of The Avengers, it ended the chapter on the Infinity Stones and tied all of the super teams together at last, only to end in The Avengers’ greatest failure (rather a delayed win, I should say)

Avengers: Endgame was more of a closure of all of the original Avengers’ personal character-arcs, all of them growing as character for one last time, facing their demons in a climactic finale: Iron Man and Black Widow sacrificed themselves, Bruce Banner made peace with Hulk, Hawkeye got his family back, Thor stepped down as the ruler of Asgard and gave it the mantle to someone more worthy, and Captain America finally acted for himself. Endgame was necessary because these characters, some who had their own franchises, needed a conclusion to their personal stories.

The season finale of Steven Universe, Change Your Mind, was a closure to all we knew about the Diamonds, Rose Quartz, and Homeworld. Everything that we were introduced to in the series, from the Off-Colors to the corrupted gems, was resolved at last. Just like endgame, the series was concluded to let place for a new beginning.

Steven Universe: The Movie, like Endgame, re-explored the original Crystal Gems-- Steven, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst, by making all of them amnesic and requiring them to re-live what made them who they are in the first place. Pearl was independence, Garnet was love, Amethyst was friendship, and Steven was change.

The problem is that, in Avengers, these characters needed these closures in order to tie their story-arcs; in SU, these characters already had those closures. SU: The Movie didn’t made these characters grow or change, it was merely a recap of what made the Crystal Gems the Crystal Gems, which wasn’t necessary. Where Endgame shined a new light on these characters, SU: The Movie showed us the same old thing. When Endgame has a time-skip, it shows us how different these characters are after the end of the last film, but in SU: The Movie, the time-skip just gives Steven a neck, the rest is the same.

My second and last criticism of the film is its redundancy. Usually, what makes cartoon films exciting is seeing the characters face a new threat that can’t be resolved the same way they used to, so I was expecting Steven to face a foe he cannot talk out of fighting. But in the end, Spinel was talked out of fighting and that was the end of the film. The film had a chance to present us with a different formula, with something we had never seen in the show before, and they didn’t take that chance to make the characters grow or at least hit us with something epic. Not convinced? Here’s a list of the most epic cartoon films and with short summaries.

In Kim Possible, international spy Kim fights off Dr. Drakken’s plans over and over again, but since he’s not at all competent in being evil, she always triumphs in saving the day. In A Sitch in Time, the more competent Shego takes a shot at being the main villain and Kim doesn’t save the day. Time travel ensues.

In Scooby-Doo, the Scooby Squad investigates paranormal activities, but at the end of the day they always find out that it’s just a guy in a mask. In Zombie Island, the Scooby Squad finds out that this time it’s not just a guy in a mask, and that they’ll have to survive a real zombie outbreak.

In Billy & Mandy, the duo (usually the former) constantly gets into trouble, but it’s Grim’s paranormal powers that ends up fixing everything, even when they were the cause. In Big Boogey Adventure, Billy & Mandy mess up for one last time, and Grim’s powers are taken away from him, meaning they’ll have to fix the problem by themselves for once.

Here’s the same for Steven Universe, just for comparison.

In Steven Universe, Steven and the Crystal Gems saves the day by using friendship at their advantage, and Steven always talk the villain out of fighting, which often results in a new friend. In the Movie, Steven and the Crystal Gems saves the day by using friendship at their advantage, and Steven talks the villain out of fighting, which results in a new friend.

Try and convince me that the whole Spinel story couldn’t have just been a story-arc over a couple of episodes. I understand that the Crystal Gems being “back to basics” was the main gimmick of the film and I did find it charming, I did, but that’s not enough. I’ll tell you that Spinel shouldn’t have been talked out of fighting, and that for once Steven should have taken a completely different approach this time, and you’ll tell me that the show has already been there, with the whole Jasper thing (and even Bismuth and Lapis to an extent) having happened already. Sure, but Steven continued to talk villains out of fighting after that, so nothing did change did it?

In Change Your Mind, Steven talks the Diamonds out of fighting. Was I annoyed? No, because it was worth it: it was the only way to de-corrupt the gems, and having an alliance between Steven and Homeworld will change the whole climate of the show. In the Movie, all that changed is that now the Diamonds have a new friend.

I liked the finale because it cancelled what I found most annoying about the show: redundancy, and a promise for a change in the future.

I was annoyed by the movie because it was redundant, the same formula. 

So if I could fix SU: The Movie to my taste (I completely understand if SU: The Movie was exactly what you wanted and expected), I’ll say that Steven shouldn’t have been able to talk some sense into Spinel, that the chaotic villain should have remained the arch-nemesis of Steven for the next season(s), the film should have ended up in a huge cliffhanger teasing Spinel’s importance in the remaining of the show, and just imagine the Batman/Joker relationship that could’ve bloomed between Steven and Spinel. Maybe in a later season, Spinel could’ve been shattered by Steven in one epic scene, because he understands that if he doesn’t, she’ll just get away again and destroy more innocent lives. (I agree that’s OOC, so imagine something more like Arkham City, where Joker kills himself accidentally). Lastly, the time-skip could’ve been an amazing opportunity to show how characters changed with time-- but it didn’t take that opportunity.

So was SU: The Movie necessary? ...

Of course it was! Anyone who loved the show wanted a movie, and we got a movie. Sure, it wasn’t as epic or show-changing as I expected, it was different. It was a lover-letter to the show, sure, some kind of a recap, but we got a lot from the film anyway: new fusions, great songs, a bit of fan service. I expect another SU film to be made in the future, and that one has to be an epic, show-changing film, but for now, I’m happy with it. It didn’t blew my mind but it didn’t cancel what Change Your Mind did-- I’m still excited to see what’s next for the show.

[ramajmedia]

5 Horror Franchises We Hope Get A New Sequel (& 5 We Don't)

As seen with the new Halloween movies and producer Jordan Peele’s upcoming Candyman reboot, old-school horror movies getting long-delayed sequels is one of the genre’s biggest trends today. In doing so, horror series from yesteryear (or from just a few years ago) are given a second chance at life, to either give their overarching stories the ending they deserve or redeem themselves of shameful sequels that came before.

RELATED: 10 Movies To Watch If You Liked The Halloween Reboot

Seeing the likes of Michael Myers return to his murderous roots in Haddonfield brought a tear to many a horror fan’s eye, leaving them wondering who could be up next for a new sequel in the coming 2020s. Without further ado, here are 5 horror franchises that need a new sequel, plus 5 more that should be left in the past for different reasons.

10 Needs a Sequel: The Real Leprechaun

In 2018, the Leprechaun came back in Leprechaun Returns. Normally, this would be reason to celebrate among Lep’s fans, but there was one big problem: Lep wasn’t portrayed by Warwick Davis.

Davis’ goofiness and enthusiasm made the Leprechaun series a cult favorite despite Lep having two questionable sequels already, and the newest entry lacks this charm. Now that long-delayed horror sequels are the trend, there’s no better time for Davis to properly conclude Lep’s saga.

9 Doesn’t Need a Sequel: Paranormal Activity

Found footage movies have been around for a long time, but Paranormal Activity arguably made the popularity of the concept explode. The first movie’s surprise success led to five sequels, all of which diminished in quality with each passing entry. Not only is the Paranormal Activity series floundering, but found footage has fallen out of favor.

RELATED: 5 Awesome Found Footage Horror Movies (& 5 That Don't Work)

With few exceptions, these low-budget movies have been exposed as lazy cash grabs that are indistinguishable from one another. There are rumors of a seventh Paranormal Activity, but maybe it’s better for this fad to fade away, beginning with the one that started it all.

8 Needs a Sequel: The Original Child’s Play

The case of the Child’s Play movies is a strange one. The original run is still ongoing and will be followed up in an upcoming series, and it still got a reboot this year that’s bound to spawn some sequels.

The reboot has its strengths and merits, but its mere existence runs the risk of rudely overshadowing a beloved long-running story that has yet to end. The events of Cult of Chucky ended on an inspired cliffhanger where Charles Lee Ray is free once more, and his killing spree deserves a proper conclusion before a new generation takes over.

7 Doesn’t Need a Sequel: Jeepers Creepers

One of the few original and recognized horror franchises of the 2000s is Jeepers Creepers, a trilogy (at the moment) about a flying cannibal who awakes every 23 years.

Jeepers Creepers 3 was so poorly made and received that it killed any interest in the sequel it was building up to. The third movie was mostly filler with watered-down kills, lacking its predecessors’ dread. It's one of those franchises that seemed to lose its momentum, and that's a very difficult thing to recover from.

6 Needs a Sequel: Hellraiser

The production cycle of the Hellraiser movies is a mess. With the exception of the first two movies, the Hellraiser series has almost no involvement from its creator Clive Barker. The celebrated horror author wrote the first two films and even directed the original, but lost creative control of anything after that.

To say the sequels missed the point of Barker’s vision is an understatement, as they degraded his uniquely Gothic vision into typical slasher gore. A return to form is reportedly in the works, thankfully with Barker back in the fold.

5 Doesn’t Need a Sequel: The Amityville Horror(s)

Believe it or not, there was an Amityville movie released in 2018… a year after another Amityville movie opened in 2017 following years’ worth of delays. The Amityville movies went from being decent haunted house fare to becoming a cliché of their own.

RELATED: The Best Haunted House Movies Of All Time

These movies are always about a hapless family moving into the legendarily spooky house, only for them to get spooked on and killed later. Unless a team of visionary filmmakers takes control, Amityville movies are probably better left dormant in their grave of cinematic obscurity.

4 Needs a Sequel: The Evil Dead

Unlike most horror properties, The Evil Dead  boasts a good original franchise and a well-made reboot. The Evil Dead remake may be a bit more serious than expected, but it deserves a follow-up after director Fede Alvarez showed what he’s capable of.

Meanwhile, the original The Evil Dead trilogy continued in Ash vs. Evil Dead, which was canceled after three seasons. Ash Williams’ story closed with an open enough ending, but it still feels a bit lacking. Whether it’s through a crossover with the new generation or a definitive final chapter, Ash deserves a proper last hurrah.

3 Doesn’t Need a Sequel: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The horror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre lies in how little is known about Leatherface and his cannibalistic clan, yet the franchise keeps on adding prequels and reboots that needlessly reveal their backstories. In this series’ case, it has to stop churning out origin stories and restarts no one asked for.

RELATED: 10 True-Crime Movies That Will Keep You Up At Night

If anything, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre needs more sequels because it’s known for making some of the strangest follow-ups in horror history. Given the film-makers’ obsession with exploring Leatherface’s childhood, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get something as amazingly weird as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 again.

2 Needs a Sequel: Friday the 13th

Unlike most other horror reboots of the 2000s, the new Friday the 13thwas actually good, if not great. It breathed life into Jason Voorhees and introduced the classic slasher killer to a new generation, properly modernizing his myth in ways that the futuristic guilty pleasure Jason X failed.

A sequel (or another reboot) has been in the works since 2009, but the series’ legal battles bogged everything to a screeching halt. The modern horror genre is in dire need of some good old fashioned slasher fun, which is something Jason can provide.

1 Doesn’t Need a Sequel: A Nightmare on Elm Street

If Friday the 13thdid its job in 2009, A Nightmare on Elm Street failed catastrophically in 2010. Despite Jackie Earle Haley’s best efforts as the new Freddy Kruger, the Elm Street remake was a dull retread that lacked any of the franchise’s signature horror, creativity, and fun.

There are rumors of another remake, but thankfully, New Line Cinema is occupied with The Conjuring movies. Also, as iconic as he is, Freddy – a shape-shifting killer who preys on fearful children – has been somewhat usurped by the new Pennywise in the IT movies, making his return all the more unlikely.

NEXT: The 10 Best Horror Movies Of 2019 (So Far), According To Rotten Tomatoes

source https://screenrant.com/horror-franchises-sequel-best-worst-idea/

[ravenswood]

ed (if no one has asked), vivi, aaand leopardpool! you asked me about a cat i ask you about a cat,

ed

as much as i call him out constantly for his creepy-ass paintings, he has actually made something of an effort on denny to tone it down, especially with lorraine around. he’s kind of gotten the feeling it might upset her after the whole valak thing, which is also the reason he’s hidden that one with the Collection after it showed up in the icc attic. silent hills may or may not completely destroy this tho

ed is the absolute 100% most lukewarm person when it comes to halloween. he gets enough of that spooky stuff on the job okay leave him alone with it for the rest of the year. he’s a total sap when it comes to handing candy out to the neighborhood kids tho

he gets really domestically into christmas tho and yall can BELIEVE its gonna be An Event on denny this year considering that he actually has people to celebrate with now. 

he’s also 100% That Husband who will just like bring home flowers or something for lorraine for no occasion other than the fact that he was just thinking about her. Disgusting

alright listen to me. listen. this is a thing i had to briefly ponder last night for his icc with volle but if u think for a second ed would be like..... anything-phobic u need to get the hell out of my christian home in jesus name ah pray. like listen there was absolutely that kinda shit going on in the 70s but have you MET this man. can you imagine him with that kind of hatred like honestly

this one’s based on a dumb inside joke but the only reason he thinks exorcist 2 is better than the original is that a) he’s never seen the original exorcist and b) i don’t....think exorcist 2 is a traditional exorcism movie? i’ve only seen reviews of it but anyway he was kind of :/ when the original exorcist came out because it felt like capitalizing on and sensationalizing what’s actually a dangerous ritual irl. i’ve put way too much thought into this for a joke wtf

he and lorraine don’t/didn’t (depending on whether we’re talking about them on denny or not) actually have too many like Close Adult Friends. neither of them are super eager to place that kind of trust in people not to be skeptical/dismissive of their work and thus, they just kind of keep to themselves and the few people they’ve managed to meet through their work. drew is a good example of this.

in that vein, ed usually tries to keep in contact with the people he and lorraine help out, especially in the wake of a case that was particularly hard on a family ie the perrons and the hodgesons. it’s usually just a phone call or something to make sure that everything’s okay and they’re not experiencing any kind of activity, but he and lorraine have been back to the perron house a couple of times for casual visits and he’ll occasionally like write a letter or something to the hodgesons. 

literally the only reason he has a normal-ish sleep schedule on denny now (even more normal than it would be at home) is that there’s like literally nothing more comforting to him now than getting to have lorraine next to him while he’s falling asleep. he may or may not be mildly clingy when it comes to curling up with her at night. 

HE’S A GRYFFINDOR im cementing this now.

vivi

she has a mild caffeine addiction and will legit get migraines if she doesn’t have her morning coffee. 

she’s dyslexic, which is a fact that tends to surprise people considering how much she likes to read. the pink tint of her glasses helps her eyes to better make sense of the words on the page in front of her, and tbh she’s really into stuff like comic books and manga, where she can follow the story through visual pictures, and also audiobooks.

this isn’t headcanon but she plays electric guitar! and acoustic too, but she prefers the Loudness of the former.

listen mystery ben can pry the fact that vivi build arthur’s prosthetic arm out of my cold dead hands. she actually has a bachelor’s in engineering, particularly robotics, but given that she’s pretty focused on her paranormal investigating, she hasn’t done very much with it.

also not headcanon: her favorite video game series is silent hill. 3 is probably her favorite of the franchise and she definitely has Opinions regarding the later games in the series. 

in that vein, she ran an cr1tikal-esque lp channel back home where she played a lot of horror games straight-facedly and rolled her eyes at a lot of them. sh4 and homecoming were definitely among these. 

she’ll take any nicknames you wanna throw at her. ‘vivi’ is actually already short for ‘vivian’ but phoebe and arthur both have occasionally called her ‘vi’ or ‘viv’ and ‘blue’ and ‘blueberry’ were both affectionate nicknames from the latter. lewis would probably also have dorky nicknames for her if he did the talking thing.

mystery is her familiar and, back home, he typically shied away from talking around random strangers. on denny, he’s way less cautious about it and just kind of openly talks to anyone. it’s v freeing, if you ask him.

she has a fondness for spicy food and one of these days she’ll remember it’s because it was a specialty of the restaurant lewis’s family ran. she’s also big into cultural food, especially japanese, given her heritage.

she’s a ravenclaw if we’re doing hogwarts house sorting for all of these.

leopardpool

she’s Very Gay although given that she’s staunchly against taking a mate, this isn’t very likely to come up in her life.

she has a scar running down between her shoulder blades from a kithood incident -- she and tangleclaw and dappledawn were a Trouble-making Squad when they were younger

herb-gathering is a v relaxing thing for her, particularly because her knowledge of what different herbs look like is one of the few things she’s fairly confident in re: med cat skills.

she never knew her ~biological father, harepath, and never really considered him family (he died in a border dispute before she and her siblings were both), given that she was raised by a pair of Gay Moms. she’s met him in sharing tongues with starclan, though, and their relationship is only slightly awkward. 

her main starclan guide, though, is rowanfall’s old mentor, ratnose who will prooobably be a starclan npc at some point on denny. he’s played a big part in soothing leopardpool’s insecurities and anxieties after rowanfall left and is kind of quietly disappointed in his apprentice for this nonsense. he’s fond of sagepaw too tho.

her relationship with sagepaw is.........a work in progress. she’s tried her hardest not to let memories of her mother taint their mentor/apprentice stuff, because even if it was against the warrior code and resulted in so much shit hitting the fan, it was dappledawn that kind of bluntly pointed out to her that it wasn’t sagepaw’s fault. it’s lucky that patience are some of sagepaw’s virtues tbh.

she adores dappledawn’s daughters, nettlepaw and smokepaw, and was eagerly anticipating being made an aunt again before the rifts took her -- tangleclaw’s mate was with kits at the time. 

med cats are taught a little of how to defend themselves and how to hunt, but leopardpool has never been particularly good at either of them. at best, she relies on her dark pelt and light pawsteps to get close to prey, but she has a bad habit of not paying too much attention to where she’s stepping, resulting in a lot of snapping twigs at the last second.

which is kind of a shame, since her mothers named her leopardkit in the hopes that she’d be as quick and stealthy as a leopard one day. whoops!

i’ll just finish these all off with hogwarts houses -- she’s a hufflepuff.

[placetobenation]

Steve’s Box Office Report: October 2010

Top 10 Films for the Month of October:

1. Jackass 3D – $117,229,692

2. The Social Network – $96,962,694

3. RED – $90,380,162

4. Paranormal Activity 2 – $84,752,907

5. Secretariat – $59,713,955

6. Life as We Know It – $53,374,681

7. Saw: The Final Chapter – $45,710,178

8. Hereafter – $32,746,941

9. My Soul to Take – $14,744,435

10. Case 39 – $13,261,851

Honorable Mentions:

1. Let Me In – $12,134,935

October Winners: Jackass 3D, the Social Network, RED, Paranormal Activity 2, Secretariat, and Saw: The Final Chapter

We continue on through the year of 2010 with the month of October and after September ended up being a pretty dismal month, October was more than likely being looked at to try and regain some momentum going into the holidays. There was a wide variety of films being released this month and they all had the chance to make some good money, and amazingly enough we had quite a number of films from this month that make it into this category. The first film from this month that makes it into this category is the comedy film Jackass 3D, the third in the trilogy where the cast of “Jackass” pull out even more outrageous and dangerous stunts. Coming out 4 years after the second movie, this film received positive reviews from critics who felt it was simply more of the same yet there was obviously still an audience for it given that it made close to $120 million. The next film from this month that makes it here is the biographical drama the Social Network, a film that follows the launch of the website Facebook and the subsequent fallout for creator Mark Zuckerberg. The film would receive critical acclaim with many calling one of the best of the year, and the film would just miss hitting the $100 million by finishing with $96 million though it was still a great success for this film. The next film that makes it here is the action comedy film RED, based on the comic series of the same name of a retired agent who is brought back into the field after an assassination attempt. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with just over $90 million meaning that the possibility of a sequel was more likely now which we will see down the line. The next film that makes it here is the horror film Paranormal Activity 2, the prequel to Paranormal Activity that follows paranormal events surrounding Katie’s sister Kristi and her family. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics who felt it was better than the original without straying from the norm, and it would make close to $85 million as we will talk about it more later in the recap. The next film that makes it here is the sports drama film Secretariat, a film that follows the life of the horse Secretariat and its journey to the 1973 Triple Crown championship. The film would receive positive reviews from critics and finished with close to $60 million which was a solid win for this film. The sixth and final film from this month that makes it here is the horror film Saw: The Final Chapter, the seemingly final film in the franchise that sees Jigsaw’s legacy come fill circle as more people are forced to survive a series of traps. The film would receive negative reviews from critics who felt it was more of the same and it finished with just under $46 million as we will go into this more later. It is always good to see multiple films be able to make some good money despite the theaters sometimes being crowded, and this month has proved to be a major step up from the previous month.

October Losers: None

Looking at the slate of films that were coming out this month, there was a wide variety that appealed to all audiences and given that it was October, there was no shortage of horror films coming out this month. Anytime that you had a lot of films in either this category or the previous one, there was a good chance that the other category was either going to have very few films in it or possibly none at all. Sure enough, we have no film from this month that makes it into this category as the films that didn’t do well in terms of grosses had small enough budgets that it wasn’t considered a major loss. It seems like we are having at least one month of each year that doesn’t have a film in either this category or the previous one, and we will see going forward if that trend continues.

The Surprise/Story of October 2010: Comedy overcomes horror as Jackass 3D crashes its way to the top spot of October 2010

We have a seen a trend happening over the last few years where even though October is typically associated with horror obviously with it being the month of Halloween, other genres have managed to succeed as well as a horror film has not taken the top spot for the month since 2007. Despite the fact that there were five horror films released this month, only one managed to make it into the top 5 and the top spot of the month went to a comedy film being Jackass 3D. Coming out four years after the second film, there was some question if the appeal of Jackass had finally faded away though it was clear that there was still an audience for it and coupled with the success of the Social Network and RED, the horror films ended up being held down with Paranormal Activity 2 being the only one to really break out and succeed. It will be interesting going forward if the horror genre can battle back and reclaim the top spot for the month, or if other genres will continue to dominate the month and horror films will have to find another month to take control of.

Overachiever of October 2010: Paranormal Activity 2

At this time last year, Paranormal Activity came out and became an unexpected success which was primarily due to its low budget, but it also felt very fresh when compared to the Saw franchise which was starting to feel played out by 2009. The success of Paranormal Activity pretty much guaranteed that a sequel was going to happen, and now one year later we have the release of Paranormal Activity 2 which acts primarily as a prequel and continues to build on the story of the first one. Unlike the first one which started as a limited release before going wide, this one was a wide release right off the bat and despite having a more mixed reception than the first one, the anticipation for this film was pretty high and it certainly paid off even though it didn’t quite match the gross of the first film. Despite that, the film was still a major winner thanks to its tiny budget and you knew that a third film was going to be in the works, but you did have to wonder if this franchise would end up going the same route as Saw and become a bloated franchise down the line. We will continue to track that over the years, but as for this specific film it was a big winner and also ends up earning the title of overachiever of the month.

Underachiever of October 2010: Saw: The Final Chapter

In 2004, the first Saw came out and it was seen as a breath of fresh air in the horror genre while going onto have a very successful run, and while the first one felt more like a psychological thriller its subsequent sequels over the years started becoming more about the blood and gore while seemingly coming up with new ways to cause gruesome deaths. The next two films were also pretty successful and one would think that they would’ve stopped there, but they kept going and by the fifth film it was clear they were coming out to diminishing returns with Saw VI from last year being the lowest grossing film of the franchise. As a result, it was decided that Saw: The Last Chapter would be the last one with an 8th film being scrapped and even though this film was an improvement on the last one and made a decent amount of money against its budget, it was clear the franchise had reached its last legs as it was completely dominated by Paranormal Activity 2. As a result, Saw: The Final Chapter ends up becoming the underachiever of the month and seemingly ends this franchise on a downer.

October 2010 Awards Watch: The Social Network, RED, and Hereafter

As we come to the end of the year, we now see some of the big award contenders start to come out though this October is a bit lighter than previous Octobers in that there are only three films from this month that make it into this category. Now most of the films out this month are horror films which are probably not going to ever make it into this category, so it was up to the other genres to get a film in this category. The first film from this month that makes this category is the Social Network which would win three Academy Awards (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Film Editing) while being nominated for five more (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Cinematography). It would also win four Golden Globe Awards (Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score) while being nominated for two more (Best Actor – Drama and Best Supporting Actor) which solidifies its spot as one of the top films of the year. The next film to make this category is RED which was nominated for one Golden Globe Award (Best Picture – Comedy or Musical) which it wouldn’t win, but the fact it got a nomination was a pretty big win for the film. The third and final film to make it into this category is the disaster drama film Hereafter, a film about three people who are affected by death and they become intertwined with each other. The film would receive mixed reviews from critics and only made just over $32 million, and it would receive one Academy Award nomination (Best Visual Effects) which it wouldn’t win though it was a success for the film to get an award nod. It is interesting to have multiple films in this category yet only one of them really dominates while the others only get one or two nods, and it will be interesting to see how the last two months of the year do in this category.

Overall Thoughts of October 2010:

Overall, the month of October for 2010 ended up being a pretty solid month and was easily one of the better ones of the year while also marking a major improvement from last month and even from August as well. Typically, October can either turns things around for the year going into the holidays or keep the status quo which isn’t always the best when September ends up being poor, but thankfully this October was pretty successful and turned things around. 2010 as a whole has been a fairly solid year as the better months have been really good, and no month has been nearly as bad as January which started the year on a really bad note and things seem to be optimistic as we go into the holiday season. As for the month of October 2010, it is a good month that is about in the higher end of the middle of the year.

Final Grade: B-

[psvrdeals-com]

PSVR This Week

I'm Brian and that's Ted's and every week on psvr this week we take a look at the new VR games that are coming to the PlayStation Store this week we gather up all the trailers we can find all the descriptions we can play your eyes and condense them down to this short video for you sometimes we look at the late games updates DLC or new game announcements so without further ado here's psvr this week [Applause] developer beat games dropped three free new songs and the beat saber on Thursday from Japanese EDM artists camellia camellia according to beat games is extremely well known amongst the rhythm game community and beat saber players and everyone agrees these songs are by far the hardest beat saber tracks yet in stark contrast to the relatively easy imagine dragons pack that launched recently but that's not all in addition the patch also brought with it some new one Sabre maps for existing songs [Music] I'm a professional don't pay Batman for a joke off I'm gonna tee man over bottom ball getting closer and closer saw Thursday was also a big day for fans of PSV our exclusive blood and truth the DLC is finally here and features a ton of new content from my most anticipated edition new game+ which will allow you to keep all your guns modifications and collectibles from your first playthrough to a new harder difficulty leaderboards and new challenge stages what truth is already one of our favorites but this update gives us plenty of reasons to go back play again we need to push back hard or we're finished [Music] the PlayStation store is having a huge summer sale and they're including a ton of PlayStation VR games the sale runs until August 20th and although not every game is on sale in every region there's a ton of crossover on this list these 14 games might not be the best games for PlayStation VR but they're definitely ones I think you shouldn't miss at their current prices [Music] it's no secret that we didn't love Arizona sunshine at lunch and that $40 price tag doesn't really help anything but after a bunch of patches updates new four-player horde modes dlc incoming and tons of zombies to take down it's tough to argue with its sale price of $14 it's rare that we get triple a flat-screen games ported over to PlayStation VR Borderlands is proof as to why it should be done more often the developers have already patched in aim support and are promising all the DLC from Borderlands 2 proper to drop sometime this summer so consider grabbing it now while it's cheap [Music] Farpoint was the first game to show us just how amazing the aim controller could be in VR but a fun single-player campaign wasn't enough for developer impulse gear they also gave us free two-player co-op missions and the 1v1 mode unlike any I've ever seen before if you have an aim controller power point should be in your library [Music] when I live streams here they lie a few weeks back it was just for fun but as I was playing I couldn't stop admiring the amazingly detailed scenery and couldn't stop gawking at all the perverted denizens of this disturbing City it's a walking simulator at heart but it's well-designed scary and beautiful everything runs downhill here it's tough to argue with severing limbs and blasting away zombies in VR and killing floor incursion does it the style stunning graphics insane bosses and a two-player co-op campaign is just a beginning with this excellent story driven action game bollocks now things are getting serious this virus is mucking up everything [Music] koan is somewhat of a rarity on playstation vr while it's true that the graphics are some of the blur iasts ever seen in the headset it's also a fully fleshed out fully realized adventure in a small mysterious snowy town it takes a while for things to heat up but once they do it's hard to stop playing [Music] paranormal activity is one of my favorite horror franchises and the VR game doesn't disappoint the controls are somewhat of a hurdle to overcome and the game isn't terribly long but there's a lot to do and see in this house and if it doesn't scare you you're probably not human [Applause] it's seldom that games were really looking forward to actually meet nevermind exceed our expectations but that's exactly what the persistence did last year as a rogue light sci-fi action game the persistence lets you play the way you want upgrade your weapons shields and abilities every time you die which you will a lot [Music] whereas originally debuted on the Dreamcast in ps2 back in November of 2001 but even then it was obvious that this rail shooter' music rhythm game was destined for something more in the first time you see resident Ben in a VR headset you'll know that this is how res was always supposed to be played [Music] as possibly one of the best-looking crow enhanced psvr games robinson the journey lanes you stranded an alone on a planet overrun with dinosaurs but don't mistake this for an action or survival game robinson is a massive puzzle solving exploration collectathon filled with stunning visuals and a white but effective narrative Robinson almost never goes on sale so grab it while you can [Music] the people come to the static institute of retention of volunteers every time there's a huge PSN sale static always seems to be there ridiculously discounted and we're always there right alongside telling you to pick it up so if you haven't yet I'm not sure what else to say static is such a unique puzzle game probably my favorite on the platform where your hands are trapped inside a box and every box has different controls to unlock it just buy it a release party I think you'll enjoy it [Music] outside a beat saver thumper might be the best rhythm game on PlayStation VR the concept is crazy as are the sights and sounds your chrome beetle flying down a track through hell at top speed while growing to maneuver the twists turns and obstacles with the appropriate button presence will have you scared to blink they ask you a question why does your God swim in such filth when people ask me what my favorite psvr game is I always tell them Resident Evil 7 but the Exorcist holds a special place in my heart because it's one of the few games that was so scary I often had trouble pushing forward with demonic themes and evil lurking around every corner this one shook my Catholic school operating to its core there's nothing better than horror movies roller coasters and light gun shooters except for maybe when miraculously developer supermassive games was able to combine all those things into one amazing psvr exclusive until dawn Russia blood was panned by mainstream media at lunch for being a cheap cash in on the untilled on franchise but as usual the critics were dead wrong big screen VR is already popular another VR headsets but the developers confirmed this week that the app is finally coming the PlayStation VR in either late 2019 or early 2020 big screen allows you to hang out with your real friends in virtual reality and watch movies together in a virtual theater it also features cross-platform play public and private rooms and variety of environments [Music] million sky big VR update could drop any day now the official word is summer 2019 but that window only gives us a few more weeks to work with so we want to be prepared starting tomorrow Monday the 29th I'll be streaming the non VR version of no man's sky daily to prepare for the inevitable VR patch so come along for the ride as I take on my first non VR game in quite a while help me figure out what I'm supposed to be doing and eventually I'll be sending out multiplayer invites to some of oil game cats to drop into the stream and be part of my adventure [Music] thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of psvr this week we'll be back next week to tell you about all the VR games coming to the PlayStation Store but keep in mind that no one outside of Sony really knows what games are coming win but we'll do our best to keep you up-to-date each and every week on psvr this week

https://youtu.be/qh9aphw4djE

[hottytoddynews]

We’ve gotten used to the Christmas holiday season beginning around Halloween, but how often has Halloween thriller season begun the week after Labor Day? As the studios and moviemakers have learned, there’s a huge audience for horror. If you are skeptical, look at the grosses for new latest in Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise. Major record-breaking!

For the longest time, producers/studios would grind out assembly-line horror, capitalizing on mindless or copycat sequels of original hits that would make you groan, “Been there, seen it.” But even the usual suspects have come around; and there seems to be a newbie at the game: Blumhouse Productions, which this season could be crowned Prince of Horror.

You might say that horror season began way before Halloween — even in February. That’s when Get Out! (Blumhouse Productions/Universal), featuring Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Allison Williams (TV’s Girls) and young Brit Daniel Kaluuya (TV’s Babylon; upcoming Watership Down mini-series based on Richard Adams novel) hit cineplexes. It wasn’t a cookie-cutter, standard-issue thriller, but smart and well made – and had a sense of humor. It also offered a thoughtful look at the race issues making headlines.

Young Anglo woman (Williams) invites Afro-American young man (Kaluuya) for a meet-the-parents getaway, where he finds the family overly accommodating — an effort to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship. As the weekend progresses, disturbing discoveries come to a head and lead him to a truth he never could have imagined. Something different, yes? And, going even further, it was R-rated. That usually can be the death knell to a film pitched for teens, the catalyst for a film’s opening weekend. They came, whether accompanied by an adult or with fake I.D.s. A film budgeted at a minuscule $5 million has raked in over $175.5 million. 

Jeepers Creepers III (Infinity/Screen Media) quickly followed. Set between the first and second film, it was quickly obvious it was in the lesser category. Sergeant Tubbs (Brandon Smith) went about attempting to learn the secrets and identify of Creeper (Jonathan Breck), the monster terrorizes a local farming community. Lovely Trisha (Gina Phillips) was sort of pushed aside for the introduction of Gaylen Brandon (Meg Foster (TVs Pretty Little Liars and Ravenswood), stealing the film, as someone with a history with the Creeper. It didn’t help. Initial audiences were bored, word-of-mouth was a downer. Made for $18 million, it grossed a paltry $2.3 million (JC1 exploded at the box office with sales of $35.7 million). Maybe the gross will rise – a bit – with the DVDs’ December release.

Oscar nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne (Boo!: A Madea Halloween; TV’s Famous in Love, Big Love), Thomas Mann (Kong: Skull Island), and Kurtwood Smith (TV’s That 70s Show) weren’t enough to turn the lack of horror in Amityville: The Awakening (Blumhouse Productions/Dimension/TWC) into a silk purse. After a two-year shelf life, it was comatose (like Belle‘s twin brother) on arrival.

Then Came September   

“When you are a kid you think the world revolves around you, that you’ll always be protected, care for. Then, one day: a friend goes missing.” The opening words of It (New Line/Warner Bros./RatPac-Dune Entertainment), the cinema adaptation of the 1990 three-hour mini-series based on Stephen King’s terrifying best-seller, leads audiences on a thrill ride as satisfying as any on a mega coaster. The plot line involves kids of a small town, rumored to be cursed, disappearing in bloody spades. A gang of seven, led by Richie (Finn Wolfhard, Mikie on Stranger Things), united by their horrifying and strange encounters with the evil Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård), mount their bikes determined to kill “It.” Been there, seen it? But, even with parallels to Stand By Me, The Goonies, and TV’s Stranger Things, it rises to the occasion. Here, though much condensed, it’s all about bonding and the paranormal, but the paranormal’s never been quite like this: Atmosphere (that haunted house; and especially the horrific finale, which even tops David Lean’s in The Third Man), piercing score by Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, Annabelle: Creation, Hidden Figures), jump-scare sound effects, and, best of all, the brotherly-love kiss to bring back the living dead. Argentine Andy Muschietti (2013 horror thriller Mama) is set to helm the 2019 sequel.

Oddly, with a cast of youngsters, the film’s R-rated for violence and, something you don’t hear often, F words cascading out of the mouths of babes. That hasn’t stopped it from blockbuster status – grossing $179 million in less than two months, ($189.5 million worldwide) on a budget of $35 million.  Reminder: whether pouring cats and dogs or not, on Jackson Street or any other, never look deep into those corner drains!

Happy Death Day (Blumhouse Productions/Universal Pictures) is a dark comedy mystery horror thriller borrowing lavishly from the classic Groundhog Day. On her birthday, teenager Tree (excellent Jessica Rothe) concludes that it will be her last one. That is, IF she can figure out who her killer is. To do that, she relives the day over and over – dying in a different way on each one. No way you’ll snooze, as you get sucked in even before the film begins [You’ll see]. Keep a keen eye on Tree. Christopher Landon (Disturbia, Paranormal Activity) knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. Shooting in New Orleans’ Garden District, home to the streetcar and fabled mansions, adds tons of atmosphere.

In Boo 2: A Madea Halloween (Tyler Perry Company/Lionsgate) Madea, Bam, and Hattie venture to a haunted campground where they end up running for their lives from a boogeyman, goblins, and monsters, goblins, and the boogeyman are unleashed. Perry has an audience for his sometimes amateurish movies that  segue between embarrassing and somewhat funny. He comes up with great ideas and one has to be envious of his multi-talents and following. In his films, he  plays a lot of characters – some, such as Madea, much better than others. Maybe the mistake is in doing it all: writing, directing, and co-producing.  Boo! 2. But the film shot out of the gate October 20 and astonished the industry selling performances out. Budgeted at $25 milion, it has already grossed $35.5 million. Boo! 2 became an instant hit. Budgeted at $25 million, it’s close to exceeding that in just over a week.

Jigsaw (Serendipity Productions/Lionsgate) is the eighth title in the Saw franchise, which became a popular slasher series with face-cringing, spine tingling twists to the serial killer saga and a look at the day’s social mores. Then it ended, until this past weekend when it’s been reborn in hopes of bringing in more moola. As bodies drop everywhere – each with gruesome demise that fit Jigsaw’s style, police find themselves chasing the ghost of a man presumed dead for over a decade (Tobin Bell), and become embroiled in a new cat and mouse game. Is Jiggy/John Kramer back? Is this a copy cat? Or  are they falling into a trap set by another monster? The story is told in such a fast pace that there’s little time for character development. However, it gets props for the show-stopping, head-rolling finale. The film got a knife in its back from critics and moviegoers. One reviewer’s assessment: “Watching Jigsaw is a dumb, ugly waste of energy.”

There Was Another Horror at the Weekend Box Office

Suburbicon (Paramount/Dark Castle/Black Bear Pictures) – It had the cache of George Clooney as director when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, but was received with a few boos. Conceived by Joel and Ethan Coen (remember their 2016 misfire Hail, Caesar!, about a tough Hollywood studio “fixer”), Clooney (a Hail, Caesar! co-star), and Grant Heslov (co-writer, Matt Damon’s Best Picture Argo), is a racially-charged farce that “draws parallels between the U.S.’ ugly past and the situation today.” Damon, Julianne Moore, and Oscar Isaac, Summer of 1959, are in an Eden to raise a family: an idyllic community with affordable homes and manicured lawns. However, tranquility changes to disturbing reality in the town’s s dark underbelly of betrayal, deceit, and violence [including flaming Confederate flags]. Come critics went “Huh?” and “Huh!” The often kind Rotten Tomatoes wrote: “It’s A Raisin in the Sun Meets The Donna Reed Show. Only occasionally does an image strike a lyrical blow and yield the creepy effect Clooney is aiming for.” Worse, audiences weren’t camping overnight to be the first at box offices. Maybe it will develop a cult following.

At Home 24/7 Horror and Halloween Fright Fest  

Is this not the best time of year to revisit famous Halloween spook with everything from zombies and slashers to séances and lots of screams? There’s so much horror to enjoy spread on the couch with a beer or soda and chips and dip. Can anything top the original Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, Hitch’s Psycho, Kubrick’s The Shining [Where’s Jack? Bring him back!]? Maybe a bit of Poltergeist; or some Stephen King? How about Halloween, The Fog, Christine or anything by John Carpenter, because he knows how to scare your pants off? There’s Wes Craven’s bad ole Freddy in  Nightmare on Elm Street; or the original Saw; contemporary grand guignol of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; and any season of American Horror Story – because Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck know how to creep you out. Then, there’s family-friendly “horror” in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein/Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/The Invisible Man.

3-D is having a much-longer shelf life than expected. For a great at-home theatrical experience, check out the Blu-ray 3-D edition of the edge-of-your-cushioned-seat 1953 blockbuster House of Wax [Warner Home Entertainment, SRP $40]. Vincent Price, so fantastic playing madmen, is perfect casting for demented Professor Henry Jarrod. The Technicolor, pre-digital 3-D two-projector image realignment, and sound track have been meticulously remastered with a 4K scan. Don’t spill your popcorn as you experience one of the most incredible horror flick finales. Beware: You can’t escape the flames!

If your dream is a near lifetime of at-home horror, get 50 Horror  Classics (Mill Creek Entertainment; 3,743 minutes/12 discs; $15.65 on Amazon). The massive set contains some classics – keep in mind the majority are from the 30s and 40s and most, if not all, fall into Public Domain, so they haven’t been remastered: The Ape (Boris Karloff), Bluebeard (John Carradine), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (John Barrymore, Silent), Allan Dwan’s comic romp The Gorilla (Ritz Brothers, Bela Lugosi), William Castle’s The House on Haunted Hill (Vincent Price),

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Lon Chaney, Silent), Roger Corman’s  Little Shop of Horrors (Jack Nicholson),  Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Murnau’s Nosferatu (Max Schreck, Silent), The Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney, Silent), and, among numerous others, White Zombie (Lugosi).

Universal Studios’ horror period produced first-rate thrillers. Six have been remastered for Blu-ray for Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection (Universal Home Entertainment; eight discs/710 minutes; $45 on Amazon): James Whale’s  Bride of Frankenstein (Elsa Lancaster, Karloff, Colin Clive) – many feel this sequel surpasses its predecessor, Tod Browning’s Dracula (Lugosi) – note how the mood is set with a lack of score, Whale’s Frankenstein (Karloff, Clive, Mae Clark), The Invisible Man (Claude Rains) – with humor to offset the horror, The Mummy (Karloff), and The Wolfman (Lon Chaney Jr.). There’s bonus material galore, including an alternate Dracula score by Philip Glass, performed by the Kronos Quartet.

Ellis Nassour is an Ole Miss alum and noted arts journalist and author who recently donated an ever-growing exhibition of performing arts history to the University of Mississippi. He is the author of the best-selling Patsy Cline biography, Honky Tonk Angel, as well as the hit musical revue, Always, Patsy Cline. He can be reached at ENassour@aol.com. 

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