Monday, October 18, 2010

Halloween Grows Near

Happy Birthday, Phil! The world's most perfect husband.


What's your favorite scary story, novel or movie? I doubt that any book scared me more than THE OTHER by Tom Tryon. Except maybe SALEM'S LOT, Stephen King.
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41 comments:

Margot Kinberg said...

Patti - I remember being really scared when I first read William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. For movies, though? Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt gets my suspense vote.

7:55 AM
Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Phil.

Movie - the first time I saw it (yes, I saw it twice!) I nearly jumped out of my skin during Polanski's Repulsion. The Exorcist had its moments too, but I think I'd put the 1963 version of The Haunting up there (along with Shirley Jackson's book).

A book that scared the crap out of me when I was reading it at 2 am was the non fiction Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi.

I know it's more than a little olf fashioned now, but "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs brought a frisson of horror.

Jeff M.

8:05 AM
sandra seamans said...

Scariest short story for me would have to be "The Cage" by Ray Russell. That ending still gives me the shivers. "Rosemary's Baby" gave me the creeps when I first read it years ago. And "Silence of the Lambs" for scary movie.

8:09 AM
Jerry House said...

Hands down, Joe Lansdale's "The Night They Missed the Horror Show". I also have a great fondness for Fritz Leiber's vignette "The Rats of Limbo" and Shirley Jackson's classic "The Lottery".

For novels, Salem's Lot. And for movies, it's a toss-up between Nosferatu (hard to beat Max Schreck!) and Tod Browning's Dracula, where Browning brilliantly used silence to amplify fear.

8:20 AM
Todd Mason said...

Congratulations to Phil! And to Megan. You meant to note, your favorite suspense novel so far is THE END OF IT ALL...

Wow...too many possiblities, of course. But, for novel, this morning's pick is CONJURE WIFE by Fritz Leiber, with Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE crowding it.

For short fiction, I'll plump for Robert Bloch's "Sweets for the Sweet" or "Final Performance" this morning, among so many others, and at least a nod to such favorites of youth as Joseph Payne Brennan's "Levitation," David Campton's "At the Bottom of the Garden" or "Running Wolf" by Algernon Blackwood or "Gabriel-Ernest" by Saki or Alfred Noyes's "The Midnight Express"...or...

For films, THE HAUNTING (the original, of course) and CARNIVAL OF SOULS (ditto), though QUATERMASS AND THE PIT might've made the biggest impression on young me.

8:47 AM
Todd Mason said...

Or, even, THE END OF EVERYTHING. Your favorite collection of suspense short fiction might be THE END OF IT ALL...

8:48 AM
le0pard13 said...

Both of those are great selections. SALEM'S LOT is the only book I ever read that gave me a nightmare. Thanks.

9:12 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Shadow of a Doubt was scary because it was her uncle, wasn't it?
God, I have never had the nerve to watch REPULSION again. Nor HELTER SKELTER. Or that book by Joe McGinnis about the marine who killed his family.
THE CAGE is new to me. I'll look for it.
Don't I have a book be Ed called The END OF IT ALL.
So many good ones. THE TURN OF THE SCREW was terrific.

9:13 AM
Todd Mason said...

Yep, THE END OF IT ALL by Ed Gorman futzed my short-term memory of THE END OF THE AFFAIR by Graham Greene (whose "The End of the Party" is another good horror story...). "Naples" by Avram Davidson. "Come Closer" by Joanna Russ.

9:23 AM
Anonymous said...

SHADOW OF A DOUBT is one of my favorite Hitchcocks too.

Jeff M.

9:26 AM
Fleur Bradley: said...

SEVEN scared me, and I didn't like it. Not a fan of horror.

9:30 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I don't like real horror as much as ghost stories. I loved THE OTHERS with Nicole Kidman, for instance.

9:32 AM
Todd Mason said...

SE7EN isn't horror, it's suspense, by the most common definition...it's a "realistic" (and not very good) film about a serial killer. Whereas ghost stories, involving the supernatural, Are horror.

When William Shatner's self-parody of SE7EN is Much better than the original film, you know you're in trouble.

9:48 AM
Richard R. said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope you blew out the candles at one try and that your wishes come true.

I don't read many "scary books", but HARVEST HOME was pretty darn scary. The one that has stick with me for decades is a short story by Philip K. Dick, "The Father-Thing". It still gives me shivers to think about. For films, a toss up between Alien and John Carpenter's The Thing.

9:48 AM
Margot Kinberg said...

Patti - Yes, it was her uncle and that does make it more scary. And....Happy Birthday, Phil!!!!

10:07 AM
George said...

Happy Birthday, Phil! When I first saw ALIEN, I was on the edge of my seat. Favorite scary novels...Lovecraft's SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH and Harris' SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

10:35 AM
Charles Gramlich said...

Ghost story by Straub will always be the book I associate most strongly with a scary October.

11:07 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

And that was a gem. I remember reading it well.

11:36 AM
Steve Langton said...

As far as books are concerned, Straub's Ghost Story, Matheson's The Legend Of Hell House and Marilyn Ross' The Curse Of Collinwood.

Films would have to include The Exorcist, The Stone Tape and Session 9.

11:49 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

THE STONE TAPE is a new one to me.

11:50 AM
Paul D. Brazill said...

I prefer ghost stories. The Ophenage was a scary and sad film. When i was a kid the TV series Doomwatch was a super chiller.

12:19 PM
Charlieopera said...

The Exorcist, hands down (with or without the spider crawl, although that makes it even more scary).

12:33 PM
Todd Mason said...

THE STONE TAPE was written by Nigel Kneale, who also wrote QUATERMASS AND THE PIT. Probably the most famous of horror teleplay writers in Britain, and most of his teleplays also filmed for cinematic release.

12:38 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Oh, THE ORPHANAGE was a gem, wasn't it? Incredible atmosphere.
I only got up the nerve to see THE EXORCIST a few years ago. It was unrelenting, wasn't it?
Thanks for the research, Todd. I gave up my netflix so I may not get to see it.

12:45 PM
Todd Mason said...

That Shatner parody of SE7EN:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4487108880480995121#

or hit the link on my name.

12:45 PM
Todd Mason said...

Oh, I wouldn't call top-of-the-head connection research, Patti...Kneale is an old favorite. But you're quite welcome...Netflix didn't seem to be value for money with your sdhedule of theatergoing? Oddly, I've never been a member, though Alice has been tearing through season one of THE GOOD WIFE from them of late.

12:49 PM
Naomi Johnson said...

I vote with you, Tom Tryon's THE OTHER was just the creepiest thing ever.

Someone mentioned THE MONKEY'S PAW. That was the first scary story I ever read. Who could forget it?

1:22 PM
David Cranmer said...

A big happy b-day to Phil!

2:00 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

THANKS! He says this is the most happy birthday wishes he's ever received from people he has never met, in some cases.

2:06 PM
K. A. Laity said...

I think the best recommendation I can give is to echo the recommendations for Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and the 1961 film version helmed by Robert Wise with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. Extremely well done and effective -- I still get students spooked out by it in my horror film class.

2:25 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...

Both the book and the film version are the essence of subtle yet uncanny writing, fine performances, the true union of like minds with the film. I doubt anyone will top them.
But they didn't scare the **** out of me like some of the others did!!

2:30 PM
Randy Johnson said...

Silence of The Lambs, both book and film, comes the closest to scaring me. I'm not bothered very often by things I read or watch. Not in the scary sense anyway.

The Other was sort of creepy. As was Harvest Home. Some of Tryon's later work I didn't much care for.

Salem's Lot was the first King for me(I backtracked to catch up later) and i loved it.

I've never read, or watched the film, of The Exorcist.

4:47 PM
Mike Dennis said...

THE EXORCIST gets my vote, Patti. I saw it in the daytime, midweek, and couldn't sleep for two nights afterward.

5:16 PM
Todd Mason said...

I am amused. My father, who generally didn't and doesn't like horror, found himself all but evacuating with the "breathing door" of the first film of THE HAUNTING...while 'SALEM'S LOT didn't do much for me at first attempt, my first King disappointment (I like CARRIE and several shorter works a lot better).

5:22 PM
Todd Mason said...

CAT PEOPLE (the original), in a theater or with a sufficient sound system, is my official nominee, ahead even of THE HAUNTING, CARNIVAL OF SOULS and QUATERMASS AND THE PIT...and such other not quite horrors as COMPULSION.

5:24 PM
Todd Mason said...

Ha...the crime drama COMPULSION conflated with the psycho-suspense film REPULSION...

5:25 PM
Fleur Bradley: said...

Thanks for this SE7EN parody link, Todd!

5:29 PM
Todd Mason said...

You're quite welcome, Fleur. TJ Hooker as the Brad Pitt lunkhead seemed particularly inspired.

6:10 PM
Tollywood said...

Thanks for the information great to share.

6:00 AM
Steve Langton said...

Sorry to say The Stone Tape was only available in the UK and is now out of print. A real shame as it's a top-notch spooker. I've seen copies on Ebay before so might be available for anyone interested.

8:50 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...

I hate that. So many good British shows not available here.

9:28 AM

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