Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with horror

WTF

Nattie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:44:18 -0800

Creep me out! Lately I've been on an "unsettling stuff" kick -- I like feeling unsettled and I find it creatively inspiring -- but I'm running low on things to explore. It's hard to articulate precisely what I'm looking for, but it tends to be stuff that almost certainly isn't true but for the few minutes you think about it, it's really unnerving. The underlying theme in what unnerves me seems to be that reality appears to be one way, but in fact it's this other, more sinister way. Examples of stuff is conspiracy theories -- New World Order theories, CIA experiments in mind control and paranormal stuff --, weird religious or spiritual ideas about "evil" supernatural phenomena, some theories of time and space (which I am not so quick to put in the "almost certainly not true" category), etc. Oh, and then lately Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video and all those articles about the occult symbolism -- she has a lot of unsettling pictures where she doesn't seem human. Weird mysteries fit the bill, too, like the Taman Shud case. Other pseudo-scientific ideas, like the Parasite Eve idea that because mitochondria have different DNA they might actually "take over" a person completely, work too.

Also, this is even more subjective, but the more plausibly expressed the idea is without actually being realistic, the better; it has to lead me on a bit or else I never feel unnerved. So, for example, your standard Bilderberg Group conspiracy theory has some element of feasibility that David Icke's "oh btw they're all blood-drinking reptile ppl from another dimension lol" doesn't; the former is unsettling until you give it a few moments thought, the latter is just too ridiculous out of the gate. Anything that starts from some kind of evidence, even if misrepresented or misunderstood, seems to work, which is probably why pseudoscience is good for this sort of thing. Also, I've noticed that stuff that uses apparently made-up evidence works too, provided that the made-up evidence is of the kind that sounds possible and you'd have to actually look it up to know better; conspiracy theories tend to do this a lot, like they say that so-and-so noteworthy person said XYZ, or they make up noteworthy people altogether.

In other words, the sort of stuff that if you take what's presented on good faith instead of scepticism, the unsettling conclusions seem plausible.

I'm looking mostly for shorter things, like ideas, short stories, and maybe short films. I'm not entirely opposed to books and movies, but my inability to "believe" anything creepy for more than a few minutes greatly dilutes my enjoyment of longer things. Long stuff takes an investment of seriousness I just can't muster for anything like that. When it comes down to it, I don't believe in anything supernatural and I don't think any grand scale conspiracies are likely. "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro, for example, didn't unsettle me as much as it would have done in a shorter format, although it was fairly unsettling. I'd be willing to try more things like that, even though it's less likely to be effective.

To be clear, fiction or nonfiction or fiction-masquerading-as-non-fiction are all cool.

Stuff I am *not* looking for:
- Certified real scenarios, at least for the most part, because those tend to be genuinely upsetting or just piss me off, and that's not the feeling I'm looking for with this question. However, if the certified real scenario *sounds* like something that's so bizarre as to be made up, it might qualify; so something like "however many people die because of Corporation X's negligence and that's unsettling" isn't what I'm looking for, but some real CIA experiments seem to fit anyway, like the mind control experiments are just weird to imagine. Things that allegedly happened but are under dispute work pretty well, too.

- Edging into "scary story" kind of stuff, gore doesn't unsettle me. When it comes to horror genre things, I need weird paranormal stuff going on to feel freaked out, not blood. I don't care if blood/violence is present as long as there's weird stuff going on, but it needs to be more inspired than something like the Jason movies. The Ring/Ringu is the best example I can come up with of something that was violent but that wasn't the main scary part; the scariness mostly came from how alien the girl was and how little was explained.

To put it another way, what's something you read/watched/heard about that gave you an eerie, upsetting feeling, even though you knew better? I realize none of my criteria are precise and I'll probably get a lot of answers that don't effect me much, but give it your best shot.

Horror Twists

Holly — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:10:21 -0800

Two horror films from about 10 years ago, M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" and Alejandro Amenábar's "The Others", basically have the same twist at the end (which I won't describe here). Are there any other films you've seen with the same twist or similar - released either before (ideally) or since?

Don't go into in the basement. Or the attic. Or the cabin.

The Whelk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:20:11 -0800

Call it the Psycho Effect: Me: Lover of horror movies and analysis thereof. Problem: Having read so much analysis I've been either spoiled by or inured to most Classics Of Horror and have developed odd prejudices against certain devices. Help me scare myself silly with new movies. Prejudices inside. Some of my prejudices:

AsyYouKnow: I don't need a long "scientific" explanation and they never make sense anyway. Creepy, unexplained, magical, whatever. I don't care, just don't bring dimensions and genetics into it.
Handheld Cameras: Annoys the hell out of me,
Over F/X: Doesn't work on me (Drag Me To Hell was hilarious, not scary)
Over Gorey: Lazy and after while the "it's just corn syrup!" sets in and then I spend half the movie trying to figure out how it was done and that's not scary.
Torture Porn: You're gonna have to be better than people getting cut up. See above
People Generally Acting Like Idiots: But that's just good storywriting. The tighter the script, the better.

Stuff I Like

Low budget
Isolated or confined enviroment
Limited time-frame
Sparse effects
Unhappy endings

I've seen a lot of the recent horror movies (The Ring, Cabin Fever, Scream, 28 Days Later, The whole Evil Dead/Nightmare On Elm St/Jason collections, etc) and too many of the classics have been totally spoiled by reading about them (my fault) or having to write long papers on them.

The Cabal? Am I seeing Metafilter: The Movie?

Horace Rumpole — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:02:07 -0800

What movies will I be seeing at the horror movie marathon tonight, based on the hints from the theater? This year they aren't saying the titles for the movies after the first two, but I'm impatient, and I wondered if AskMe could figure them out from these hints:

Film 1: THE BLOB (1988)
Film 2: NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (1986)

Hints for Super-Secret Marathon Titles:

Film 3: Dennis Hopper's - CANNIBAL LUMBERJACK
Film 4: BAD SUBURBAN REAL ESTATE
Film 5: THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB
Film 6: THE CABAL

The Ethics of Horror

ageispolis — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:40:54 -0800

Where I can find resources inquiring into the ethics of horror films? Scholarly articles would be best, but popular publications will suffice. So no blog posts. Thank you!

Doesa anyone recognize this 80s horror short scenario?

joechip — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:03:46 -0800

Does anyone know of a horror short film/ ad/ preview from the 80s wherein a fisherman at the edge of a lake bites into an apple he finds on the ground, realizes there is a line coming out of the apple... ... grabs his throat which starts squirting blood, realizes there is a hook attached to the line that is sticking out of his neck, and then gets dragged, gurgling, into the lake?

Know it sounds silly, but I saw this as a very little kid and for years I've had this image of the fisherman being dragged into a lake in my head. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with a horror movie I was shown as a little kid (damn multiple older brothers.) Maybe it was a preview on an old VHS of Friday the 13th, maybe it was a screwy PETA ad, who knows. I can't say. Just curious if that scenario rings a bell for anyone.

'Gorecom' recommendations

abitha! — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:37:37 -0800

Movie recommendations! So, I watched Zombieland and loved it, I also loved The Host, beyond these recommend some other horror/gore-comedies for me to see, I have no idea if this is an actual genre but there has to be more out there.

Classics with a Twist

Edelweiss — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:40:06 -0800

What are some books similar to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? I'm aware of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which drops next month, but are there more? Is this a new genre, or are there more books out there that turn classic literature into modern mayhem?

Have you seen this weird movie?

Half-a-Dozen Paper Cranes — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:42:24 -0800

I'm trying to figure out the title of a movie I saw on tv a few years ago. It was an English language horror movie set in Japan; the main characters were a western family (I think they might have been from the US, but they could have been Canadian) who were living there because of some family member's job. There was a scene involving Noh masks, and I think there were ghosts with swords. There was definitely a scene with demon crabs and a little girl. I think the movie was from the 80s, but I'm not sure. I've done some searching on IMDB and Google, but I can't find anything helpful.

Finish this list: Lovecraft, Jackson, King, Ketchum, Barker, ?

Bookhouse — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:05:19 -0800

Can you recommend some good modern horror fiction to me? No vampires or zombies, please. I'd like to educate myself on the modern horror fiction scene/market. I've read several past "scary book" threads, but I'm looking for something a little more specific. I'm not only looking to scare myself, I'm also considering writing some horror fiction and want to get a good grasp on the current market. A few persnickety guidelines, if you don't mind:

1). By horror, I mean fiction that is meant to frighten and/or disturb, particularly life-and-death horror (as opposed to the psychological horror of, say, 1984). I'm more interested in supernatural horror, less in suspense novels. I'm not looking for fiction that plays with the tropes of horror fiction to achieve different ends (like Dexter or the Vampires Who Love to Hump novels).

2). Speaking of vampires, no vampires or zombies, please. I'm tired of them.

3). Let's define "modern" as the past decade/fifteen years, although the more recent, the better.

4). I'd welcome suggestions for novels, short story collections, quality magazines or even comic books (especially if available in trade paperback). Who are your favorite authors who haven't made it into the limelight? What publications consistently publish the best short stories? Which anthologies aren't 90% filler?

5). Favorite websites that can steer me in the right direction are also welcome.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

In space no one can here you scream, he wrote

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:41:29 -0800

What's the best literary equivalent of Alien/Aliens? Well obviously there's the Alan Dean Foster adaptations for a start... and the comics.

And I'm not limiting it to 'monster on a spaceship' or 'monsters on a planet + space marines' but anything that successfully merges Space Fiction/Opera and Horror.

How to make the Sound of Music sluttier?

Sully — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:55:40 -0800

Most Halloweens I have a small Rocky Horror Picture Show party at my place. But this year I wanted to screen a different musical. Still, I want people to dress up, and I want the night to carry the same raucous, raunchy tone. How can I "slutify" The Sound of Music?

So are they zombies, or what?

orrnyereg — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:36:58 -0800

Question about the Spanish horror film [REC]. Spoilers ahoy! I watched [REC] last night and am a little confused about the last 15 minutes or so.

There's the clear implication that the infection is linked to demonic possession (a nice touch). So what was the business about "enzymes" on the tape that Angela and Pablo were listening to? How did the infection initially spread? Finally, what happened to the doctor speaking on the tape?

Sorry if I'm being a bit dense. Overall, a great little movie.

We don't need any more doom tokens!

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:18:25 -0800

(Where) can I buy *just* the board for the Arkham Horror boardgame? My boyfriend (occasional metafilterer, hence the anon) loves the boardgame Arkham Horror, made by Fantasy Flight games. This is one of those boardgames with a jillion decks of cards, lots of little cardboard pieces, etc. The board (but not any of the little pieces) got water damaged a few months ago, and while the game is still playable I'd love to get him a new board.

But how? Last resort is obviously to purchase an entirely new (or used) copy, but I'm curious if there's anywhere I can buy just the board. Surely people must lose all the little pieces and have boards sitting around that they want to sell? I haven't been able to identify useful ebay searches for this, so even hints on that would be helpful :)

pretty lady v. mime

moxiedoll — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:56:53 -0800

Childhood Trauma Filter: Please ID this frightening memory... Long ago, I saw a scene so terrifying that I have never forgotten it. Maybe you'll remember the name? Here are the clues:
1. I saw it on television in the early eighties.
2. I saw it before we had cable, so it was almost certainly on Boston's WLVI - which was the sort of station that played really cheap syndicated movies and shows. It was the kind of station that played Creature Double Feature on Saturday afternoons, dig? This was not a Creature Feature, but I'm guessing that it was widely syndicated, and that's what gives me hope that someone else remembers it.
3. So - probably a movie from the mid or late 70s.
4. There was a big, empty building at night with long corridors. The corridors might have been lined with offices, or with storage units, but the building was blank and desolate with flickering florescent lights.
5. Our heroine was a beautiful young lady with dark hair.
6. AND SHE WAS BEING CHASED!!!
7. And the person chasing her was A SCARY MIME!!!

I would give anything to see this movie again.

Escape from Chase

zenpop — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:27:20 -0800

Credit union virgin. Several questions re CUs in Seattle area. I want to get out from Chase, who took over Washington Mutual this year. I can't stand them. Totally subjective reasoning, but that's not what I'm writing about. Would like to understand the benefit of using a credit union. And understand what credit unions are about in general. Totally innorant. And finally, can someone recommend a credit union in West Seattle or near that area (I live on Vashon Island). One that has online banking abilities and will be able to handle my personal AND business accounts.

Sculptor / artist who creates lifelike horror / alien scenes?

FuckingAwesome — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:49:30 -0800

Sculptor / artist who creates lifelike horror / alien scenes? I have seen extremely realistic images by a certain artist online before depicting people running in terror from some kind of monster/alien. One in particular I remember I think was set in a school canteen. If anyone can help me out as to who this is I'd be very grateful!!!

What is this book about a viral outbreak apocalypse?

HuronBob — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:27:58 -0800

Name this book, I thought it was a Stephen King book, but going through a list of his books, I couldn't pick it out. Basic story line: A group of people traveling through the northeast after some sort of outbreak that turned folks into mostly zombie types, who initially only come out at night... There's a residential school that some of the travelers come from (boy's school?). One individual is searching for his wife and son who may or may not be infected.. The group is looking for sanctuary....... They arrive at a huge gathering of the "zombies", there's a bomb involved at the end... Someone PLEASE tell me what this book was!

Skinned Goats and Film Reel

Juliet Banana — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:50:45 -0800

I'm on a search to find a movie that can live up to The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Please recommend trippy, surreal, psychedelic cult movies. I'm having trouble finding these films because I'm not looking for what "cult movies" are traditionally defined as. No zombies, no horny female prisoners, no giant bugs, nothing that could be shown on MST3K.

We've been calling them Fucked-Up Movies, for the lack of a better term. They blow your mind. They creep you out. As soon as you finish one, you want to inflict it on someone else. You can't stop quoting them. They're visually stunning, and have enough philosophical, intellectual, and spiritual depth to invite viewing after viewing.

Holy Mountain, as mentioned, is the epitome of Fucked-Up Movies. I honestly don't think I'm ever going to find another movie I love as much as Holy Mountain, but I know there's more out there for me to find.

I've seen most of Jodorowsky's work (El Topo is a close runner-up to Holy Mountain, Fando y Lis was crazy surreal and I'm still confused by it, La Cravate was adorable early work). I'm still looking for Santa Sangre, and I'm not sure if Rainbow Thief will be disappointing.

I watched Zardoz, a retro-futuristic parable laced with sex and violence and almost-naked Sean Connery, based on the recommendation of Hipster Musings. I also stole the term "Fucked Up Movies" from her. Zardoz totally changed my life, and gave me hope that Holy Mountain hasn't ruined all other movies for me forever.

Clerkdogs recommended Space is the Place, a trippy 1970s Sun Ra vehicle about liberating the Black race from Earth and into outer space, and I loved it.

Liquid Sky was chockablock with acid-trip neon visuals and certainly extremely weird, but it was also really eighties and terrible. Not perfect, but it's definitely a fucked up movie.

Head (the Monkees movie) is a lot more light-hearted than the rest of these, but undeniably drug-inspired and nonsensical.

I'm trying to stay away from too much gore, but Salò or the 120 Days of Sodom seems to be plenty fucked up, with politics switched in for spirituality. Still trying to muster up the stomach for it.

I also probably haven't seen as much Lynch and Cronenberg as I should, so recommendations for specific movies in their filmographies is welcome.

There's got to be more out there; I'm sure you're all about to embarrass me with my lack of film knowledge. Please do.

Please scare me.

Addlepated — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:35:23 -0800

I want a book that I have to put into the freezer. I've read this question, which was looking for thrillers, and this post looking for short stories, but I can't seem to find a thread looking for scary, engrossing novels where supernatural is okay. I read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova a few months ago and was positively enchanted with it. Not only was it creepy as hell, the descriptions were so well-drawn that I felt like I was there and ended up buying Bulgarian folk music on iTunes and looking up pictures of the locations for days after. Similarly, Scott Smith's The Ruins also really stuck with me and put me in a pensive mood for a couple of days after reading - it was just so, so awful, what happened. I want more books like these.

Things I've read (most of it recently): everything by Stephen King, Matheson's I Am Legend and Hell House, Straub's Floating Dragon and Julia, everything by Ellis except for Lunar Park, House of Leaves, Relic, Joe Hill's short stories and Heart Shaped Box, Sebastian Fitzek's Therapy, all Thomas Harris, Barker's Sacrament, all Shirley Jackson, and The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons.

Honestly, I liked The Historian and The Ruins so very much that I've been avoiding reading anything since then because I feel it will be hard to find anything to measure up! Heart-Shaped Box was close, but not dark enough; Therapy was dark, but went by too fast; The House Next Door was great but I thought it was more sad than scary. Help?

Oh Dear.

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:47:05 -0800

My life is kinda fucked up and I'm at a complete loss at the steps I need to take in order to not be so fucked up. I am 25. I weigh nearly 300 pounds. I went to a very exclusive high school. Flunked out of one of the best small liberal arts colleges in the US. Went to a "college"(more like a high school in the UK) in the UK. Attended, for three years, one of the UK's best schools and flunked out. Attended a community college in San Francisco. Transferred to a UC. I failed to attend the last half of my classes and exams at said UC last quarter.

I drink very heavily. My doctor prescribed .5 mg of alprazolam for anxiety 3 times a day. I don't know what to do at my school in order to stay a student.

I want to quit drinking. I spend all of my time online. I am afraid that I have alienated myself from all of my friends except for drinking buddies. I don't know anyone in my UC town.

I am a genius, according to most non-specialized standardized tests. I am very good at math, coding and I love literature. I feel that if I can quit drinking I can do well in my classes. I may still be a student here for another quarter and can provide documentation about my mental problems if it comes to it.

I love and trust metafilter. What should I do with my life? I am scared.

Feel free to contact me kali.scot@gmail.com.

The curious incident of the dog in the painting.

OolooKitty — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:13:37 -0800

What scary black-and-white movie, involving bleeding portraits and howling black dogs, did I see back in the '60s? This has been driving me crazy for years, and and even my biggest movie geek friends have been unable to come up with any possibilities. I saw this movie on TV in the early sixties, when I was five or so. I think it was a showing of an old film on some kind of horror theater or something. The movie in question was in black-and-white and took place, as I recall, in a big dark scary English house --you know, the kind with massive wood paneled walls and giant staircases. The look and feel of it makes me think that it was a 1940s film. I seem to remember British accents, or at least faux British accents.

The scene I remember most clearly involves a portrait that shows a seated man with a large, black dog on each side of him. The dogs look like big black Great Danes. At one point, someone throws a dart or a knife at the portrait, and it bleeds. At another time, the dog in the portrait begins to howl, scaring the hell out of a man who is looking at it.

If anyone could shed some light on this, it would make me very happy. I have Googled it to the nth degree and have never come up with anything.

Oh, and I am pretty sure that it's not "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Twitch cry.

Phire — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:43:19 -0800

How can I minimize the effects horror stories have on me? I'm a total scaredy cat. I cannot watch horror movies, or read horror stories, because I don't stop thinking about it for hours and days and weeks and it makes me entirely too jittery to function. I also abhor suspense. Even a cliffhanger ending of a detective show, or something, will freak me out to the point where any small noise or surprise will trigger defensive reactions. I considered The Others scary, for heaven's sake.

I've dealt with this problem so far by mostly avoiding anything in the horror/thriller genre, at all.

Once in a while, though, either through carelessness or curiosity, I come across horror stories, or find myself in a position of watching a horror movie, and I'm a complete neurotic mess unable to do anything else for the entire day, if not more.

Example: I clicked on a somewhat enigmatic topic link on a forum I occasionally visit, because the seemed kind of intriguing. It ended up being a horror stories thread. By the time I realized what it was, 3-4 stories in, momentum had gathered and I was reading all the stories that people were sharing. Twenty minutes later, I click out of the page again, thoroughly freaked out, and can't for the life of me bring myself to stand up and walk over to my closet to find what I need to get ready for an event I had later that night, because there is a mirror in front of my closet.

The problem of horror stories, for me, is the fact that there's really no way to disprove them. I mean, they're entirely unlikely and probably won't happen, but what if! Especially all the ones that involve people being horrific to other people.

So how do I talk myself down from these situations?

Scare me!

odayoday — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:15:11 -0800

My boyfriend and I watched "Them" or "Ils"(the French title) this weekend and loved it. We're looking for other horror/suspense movies that aren't TOO heavy on gore, but have great atmosphere or are outstanding in some other way. We've also enjoyed Suspiria and The Vanishing (Spoorloos). Any ideas for other movies (foreign or not) that we should check out?

Does an Oscars for horror film only exist?

Jenna Roadman — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:08:47 -0800

What is the Oscar equivalent for horror films? Or rather, what is the most recognized venue for celebrating the horror films of the past year? Are there classy or raunchy ones even? Which is the most popular.

If you know of one, is it easy to attend them?