2008 Woodie Awards
Ghost Story Heaven
Dr. Phillip S. Meckley
Issue date: 10/6/06 Section: Entertainment
Dr. Philip S. Meckley
Part I
With Halloween coming up, everyone wants a good scary movie. And there are, fortunately, plenty out there. Not so fortunately, most of what passes for suspense is pretty much, well, slop. The average moviemaker's idea of subtle terror is spurting blood, sucking chest wounds, and nubile teenaged girls being reduced to individual body parts. All of this is pitched intellectually to go over large with a bunch of mouth breathers at a monster truck rally.
But how interesting is that, really? After all, once you've seen one person being sprayed by a severed femoral artery, you've pretty much seen them all. ("Oh, look, Mommy. Eviscerated cadavers. What fun!")
So for this Halloween, skip the slashers. If you still have a few brain cells left, try one of the following:
The Big Three
Yeah, these are all in black and white, and no whimpering teenaged girls with heaving bosoms get stalked and slashed. Grow up.
The Uninvited (1944)
Brother and sister buy an old haunted house on the English coast. They each find love among the locals, while combating the grip the house is getting on them all. The problem is, they might be falling in love with the wrong people. The past is filled with lies, and that's just the way the house wants it.
The ghost contents itself with letting the living do the haunting of each other. It only shows itself once, when it is most desperate.
The Innocents (1961)
Who are the true innocents in this world? Is the governess a responsible caregiver, a victim, or a predator?
In this adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, the world is upside down. Not only are the lines between living and dead blurred, the roles of children and adults switch places. The movie was written by Truman Capote, so it has that leprous, unhealthy grease slick you would expect from him. The kissing scenes are icky almost beyond endurance.
The Haunting (1963)
An adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, perhaps the greatest haunted house story of all time. Four people gather together to expunge the malicious spirit from a home with a legacy of violent death and insanity. The house doesn't want them there.
Part I
With Halloween coming up, everyone wants a good scary movie. And there are, fortunately, plenty out there. Not so fortunately, most of what passes for suspense is pretty much, well, slop. The average moviemaker's idea of subtle terror is spurting blood, sucking chest wounds, and nubile teenaged girls being reduced to individual body parts. All of this is pitched intellectually to go over large with a bunch of mouth breathers at a monster truck rally.
But how interesting is that, really? After all, once you've seen one person being sprayed by a severed femoral artery, you've pretty much seen them all. ("Oh, look, Mommy. Eviscerated cadavers. What fun!")
So for this Halloween, skip the slashers. If you still have a few brain cells left, try one of the following:
The Big Three
Yeah, these are all in black and white, and no whimpering teenaged girls with heaving bosoms get stalked and slashed. Grow up.
The Uninvited (1944)
Brother and sister buy an old haunted house on the English coast. They each find love among the locals, while combating the grip the house is getting on them all. The problem is, they might be falling in love with the wrong people. The past is filled with lies, and that's just the way the house wants it.
The ghost contents itself with letting the living do the haunting of each other. It only shows itself once, when it is most desperate.
The Innocents (1961)
Who are the true innocents in this world? Is the governess a responsible caregiver, a victim, or a predator?
In this adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, the world is upside down. Not only are the lines between living and dead blurred, the roles of children and adults switch places. The movie was written by Truman Capote, so it has that leprous, unhealthy grease slick you would expect from him. The kissing scenes are icky almost beyond endurance.
The Haunting (1963)
An adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, perhaps the greatest haunted house story of all time. Four people gather together to expunge the malicious spirit from a home with a legacy of violent death and insanity. The house doesn't want them there.
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