Halloween Movies

Since this is the last blog entry before we begin the 13 Nights of Hallowe'en I thought it only appropriate to talk about Halloween movies. Some people call most to all horror movies Halloween movies. Personally, I think only certain classes of horror movies should earn that moniker. Halloween is about the time of the year when the veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead is at its thinnest and things bleed through from one side to the other. This means that Halloween movies should be firmly rooted in the supernatural vein. I like a slasher flick as much as the next fan, but most of them lack that certain something, the unnatural element. Of course not all of them are rooted in mortal killers. Some even make the transition from one style to the other through sequels.

On the flip side there has been a recent trend of non-supernatural horror movies coming out around Halloween that the newest crop of horror fans will gladly call Halloween movies. This is of course the Saw franchise. The sixth film in the series is set to premier October 23, 2009. The IMDB already has an entry for Saw VII in 2010. As usual it is all a matter of perspective and preference.

So what of the division in supernatural movies? There are monster movies including vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Then there are the possession and haunting movies. Is one of these groups more a propos than the other? I would say not really. The costumes and scares of Halloween were meant to say to spirits, don't mess with me I'm no more natural than you and maybe even scarier. The others of course fit right into the fear of being haunted on All Hallow's Eve.

No matter how you slice it or label your movies the point is the same, a fun scare in the Halloween season, or just any time. See you on the 19th for the first night of our extravaganza.

Mood: creepy.

Music: The Unforgiven by Metallica and Haunted by Evanescence.

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13 Nights of Hallowe'en: Night #4 The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The theme of this year’s thirteen nights seems to be comparison.
The second word in the title of tonight’s movie is all that anyone needs to start making comparisons. Tonight the movie choice is “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. This movie is anything but an “Exorcist” rip. The movie’s creators bill the film as a supernatural court drama. They take the idea a bit too far in the extras claiming it as the first. While the focus may be tighter on the court scenes, it’s certainly not the first time the supernatural has affected the courts in movies. Sam Raimi’s “The Gift” is a prime example. Even going back to “Amityville Horror II: The Possession” we have possession on trial. Still, it was a good idea and gave the film an excellent grounding upon which to build its supernatural ideas.

“The Exorcism of Emily Rose” is something of a joy to watch. The story is one divided into two timelines. In the past is the actual story of Emily Rose, a college student suffering with a demonic possession. Here is meat of the horror for the film. It is told through flashbacks in the current timeline of the film. Father Moore was the priest tasked with Emily’s exorcism and after her death is charged with negligent homicide. Emily’s ordeal is definitely not a rehash of previous possession. Some bits at the start bear some resemblance to some haunting stories in parts, but this is not uncommon in the initial stages of possession cases. The entire story is based on a true story for what that is worth, but the message of Emily’s story is definitely worth something.

Mood: content.
Music: Haunted by Poe off of Haunted.

Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-18: Something Came Over Me

No matter what setting it happens in one of the most frightening things that can happen to a person is for them to be possessed. People innately need to feel in control, if of nothing more, than at least their own bodies and their actions. This is merely the first level of this insidious invasion. Invasion is actually the next level. Not only do the possessed have the vital loss of control, but also it is lost to something else, some invader--making it worse than mere mind control. At the next level there is a divergence that happens with two different kinds of torment possible. On the one hand the possessed person blacks out and does not know what happened when the invading force is in control. The other hand is that the possessed person helplessly watches everything that the invader is doing.

Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest fears. The imagination comes up with all sorts of vivid, frightening images. It sees endless actions and consequences as terrible, depraved, and terrifying as the imaginer is capable of thinking. The blacked out possessed suffers not only the indignity and shame of their uncontrolled actions, and the inability to stop it. They learn piece by horrible piece what happened, and have the looming dread of what is yet unlearned. By contrast the suffering is immediate for the possessed that witnesses it all. That awareness brings with it greater guilt that they cannot stop it. These aware ones may even know what will happen just before it does. Either they are tapped into the consciousness of their possessor or it gleefully tells them what horrors await.

There are two ways that possessions happen in a magical horror setting. Possession spells allow someone’s consciousness to inhabit and control the body of another person. The tightest control comes form the magic being the possessor so that they can make sure everything goes as planned. A trusted bodyguard is required while the caster’s body is bereft of its intelligence. If the needs are less stringent the magic user may use an agent to be the controlling force of the possession. These agents can be other humans or summoned beings willing to entrust their bodies to others. The other way to possession comes from incorporeal beings that are naturally able to possess other beings. Brushes with the mind of an unnatural possessor are always an added terror.

Mood: impulsive.
Music: Public Animal #9 by Alice Cooper and Mr. Brownstone by Guns N' Roses.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-17: Mind Games

In a magical horror setting the spell casters need to deal with the same sorts of logistical details in covering their tracks and maintaining a facade of a normal life, as do the empowered in a psychic horror setting. They share more of the strategic considerations beyond that though. In some cases, with the use of certain spells, they share the same abilities of control over others. The first case in point is controlling the minds of others. The magic user’s control over others comes in different forms with different levels of malleability. They can put people into trances where the individual stands or is recumbent and does nothing, not even think. They can make the individual do their bidding. This greater control involves anything from puppeting the person to possessing them.

The first step to most of these forms of controls is snatching the person, or otherwise getting them into the caster’s possession, so that they can work their magic upon them. Once the abduction is achieved, by whatever means, then comes the actual spell or ritual. These spells are just like any other, with any and all of the same requirements. The result of the spell is that the target person falls under the thrall of the caster. A prime example is similar to the control of hypnotic suggestion from the psychics where instructions need to be given to the enthralled. Then a trigger is needed to set off the execution of those instructions, unless what the controlled is supposed to be doing is ongoing. This trigger does not necessarily need to be implanted in the enchanted individual’s mind.

Spell casters have at their disposal spells in the limited, but exceeding useful, category of scrying. Here as with the psychic’s ability to astrally project within the material world, the caster can watch anything they want, anywhere that is not specifically protected from scrying. Since the magic user is watching they can trigger the hypnotic suggestions remotely. This forms a great layer of protection between the caster, the suggestions, and those who might otherwise easily see the influence under which that person is enthralled. This protection comes with some costs attached to it. The caster may not be able to scry at the appropriate time, the amount of control is limited, and the up front planning is heavy. One obvious alternative is to turn to a form of total control such as possession.

Mood: harried.
Music: Bestrafe Mich by Rammstein and Of All The Gin Joints In All The World by Fall Out Boy.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #8: Psychic Crime and Villainy

Hello, and welcome to the 200th posting of R.G. Male's Dark Corners.

Up until now these discussions have looked more or less at the large impersonal scale or at society's defenders and champions. The real fun characters of these psychic settings are the villains. They are most fun for the writer, the game designer, and the game master who runs the completed game. Crime and the doing of evil are easier for a psychic than for a normal wrongdoer. This much is a given. The ways to put psychic powers to use in criminal acts range all across the spectrum from petty crime, to white-collar crime, to the most heinous acts some of which are unique to psychics. The one different thing about psychic evil is that amongst all of the kinds of evil out there psychic evil has a common theme. That theme is violation. Except for psychic crimes using only machines, or prognostication, the psychic violates someone.

A truncated list of petty crimes tailored to the use of psychic powers, most notably telekinesis, involves things like petty theft, simple assault, trespassing, and vandalism. A woman's bank machine withdrawal is yanked from the machine before she can grab it. A man beats another man without using foot, fist, or any weapon that witnesses could see. A psychic temporarily disables an electronic lock to enter an office building. White-collar crimes include fraud, bribery, and insider trading each of which can be perpetrated by the use of mind reading or prognostication. Then there are computer crimes committed by technopaths. These psychic manipulators of machines and technology are only one path to the duplication of currently mundane cyber-crime and fraud.

The other path of fraud slips into the realm of the more undesirable psychic form of collecting information, mind reading. At the most harmless level purposely plucking thoughts out of someone is violating them in a molestation kind of sense. Taking this idea further we come to forms of mental manipulation upon a person that anyone would consider seriously violating the victim such as psychic possession. Then there are the ways to use psychic powers to kill such as pain manipulation, crushing hearts, exploding heads, and spontaneous bleeding. Beyond the terrible deaths are the fates worse than death such as induced insanity, being trapped in nightmare filled comas, constant horrific hallucinations, and permanent paralysis for no physical reason at all.

Mood: celebratory.
Music: Tales Of Another Broken Home by Green Day and Kill Devil Hill by Bruce Dickinson.

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The Fear Relegated to Thrillers

Sorry about the last two times. I was sick and then I was trying to get over the after affects of being so sick. I thought it was only fitting that coming back I should talk about illness as one of the fears used in horror stories. For some reason, as frightening as real illness is and the fact that there are some really horrific diseases and medical conditions out there, illness is generally relegated to thrillers instead of more mainstream horror.

Some illnesses certainly lend themselves to thrillers, such as those spread on purpose as a biological weapon. Others like mysterious plagues could go either way depending upon on the nature of the plague. Certainly supernatural plagues or diseases lend themselves to horror stories better. A stand out in that arena would be a book like Graham Masterton's Night Plague. Of course we cannot forget the absolute biggest disease in horror, though only select stories refer to it as such. That disease is called vampirism.

Diseases of the mind crop up in horror stories now and then. The most famous of these toes the line between mental disease and actual supernatural phenomenon. That illness of the mind is called possession. The best thing about the novel over the story for The Exorcist is that novel never really settles on whether or not Regan is actually possessed or if it's all in her head. Certainly the telekinetic goings on do not prove anything given that in the framework of the story it could be either the demon or just a case of RSPK (recurrent spontaneous psycho-kinesis) presenting itself as just another symptom.

It is apparent that sickness can go either way, so we are left with the question, just why is it that it doesn't appear in horror more often? Does the audience—readership or viewership—prefer to avoid it because it's too real (excepting when it isn't) or do the writers—authors or screenwriters—just not want to craft such stories? What do you think?

Mood: animated.
Music: A Tyranny of Souls by Bruce Dickinson and Fright Night by Stratovarius.

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