This was an odd little documentary about ventriloquist, Nina Conti, who takes the bereaved puppets of her now dead mentor (Ken Campbell) to a convention in Kentucky. Venthaven is the resting place for old puppets and getting me inside such a place would be akin to getting me into a coffin while still alive.
Dummies, as we used to call them, have always been one of my horrors and it probably comes from a Twilight Zone episode where the puppet controlled his master.
Do puppets freak you out? How about animals dressed like humans? Okay, what does?
16 comments:
Not really, Patti. I haven't seen many live puppet shows except on television. Indian puppets are pathetic and the ventriloquists far from convincing. About a year ago I watched Jeff Dunham's ventriloquist act with "Akhmed the Dead Terrorist" on YouTube. He was an absolute riot.
Yeah, those are kind of creepy. The spookiest one by far was Michael Redgrave and Hugo in the 1945 episodic DEAD OF NIGHT. Now that scared the crap out of me.
Jeff M.
Animals dressed like humans don't freak me out. I just feel sorry for the animals.
Jeff M.
The only irrational thing that really freaks me out in this way is "demons." I don't really believe in them, but they scare me anyway.
They don't freak me out and you have me interested in this documentary.
It is only one hour and is slow going at that. But the ending is freaky good.
I assume it's noted that Conti, apparently quite a well-respected ventriloquist comedian on her own, is Tom Conti's daughter? I've heard a brief interview with her, but haven't seen her perform yet.
Needles going into skin. While seeing a throat cut inspires a sympathetic pain reaction, nothing is as visceral as seeing needles puncturing. You can imagine how much I enjoyed seeing THE FRENCH CONNECTION II in the theater, on a rare outing with solely my father. (Leaving aside how much it took, later on, to get my own blood glucose samples.)
I have no fear of puppets (though I really liked that TWILIGHT ZONE episode, "The Dummy." There was another creepy puppet TWILIGHT ZONE episode, "The Living Doll." "My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you!"
Damn, George. I woke up screaming the other night. Now it will happen again. Talky Tina!!
Needles used to bother me. Now it's IVs. Always afraid air will enter a vein.
The Muppets don't bother me, but some of the kind of puppets you refer to do. If there's a horror element, count me out!
"Devil Doll" was a surprisingly not dreadful British movie about an evil ventriloquist which was given the MST3K treatment. Ventriquists, clowns, dressed up dogs, doll collections--none of that bothers me; but technology that turns on by itself--that freaks me out. That scene in Close Encounters where the boy's mechanical toys all start up still scares me.
Still haven't figured out how to post on here from my ipad. Anyway, the movie with Anthony Hopkins scared me many years ago also.
I was like only 40 when I saw it.
Well, CHILD'S PLAY was one of only two movies to cause my ex Donna and I to walk out of theaters before they ended, the other being the first abysmal dramatization (of two, apparently) of NIGHTFALL, the Isaac Asimov short story, which was making her ill...I was more than willing to leave CHILD'S PLAY since the inability of the characters to escape the animated doll required utter idiocy at all times and it was already on my nerves thirty minutes in, and Donna decided that her own thing against animated dolls had been exercised enough (NIGHTFALL wasn't quite as nauseating to me as it was to her, but damn it's insanely bad).
I kept my distance from this one. And its sequels.
I fear nothing, unless you count being stuck in a social setting with my in-laws.
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