SOPHS Your Favorite Fears (journal #1 third quarter)
You've just finished studying two Edgar Allan Poe horror stories. Poe was a master of the genre, even though his characters, his plots, his diction, and his themes often were similar from story to story.For instance, his madmen never admitted to be, well, "mad," though it only took an evil eye, an insult, or a black cat to set them to killing.
You know, this is all "sopoe," as your English teacher would say.
Nevertheless, Poe, like few others, could elevate the soul to lofty heights, and lower it to somber depths.
He did so WITHOUT using elements of the supernatural. Too easy. Poe explored the psychology of fear. It was the imagined or hypochondriac fear of a madman, a fear more intense perhaps than the fear induced by the easy props and stimuli of ghosts and goblins.
Your next journal assignment is to tell me what gets your blood boiling, your veins pulsing, your heart thumping (notice how all of these are heart metaphors?).
In plain English, your assignment is to write about one of the following:
1. your favorite writer of horror or mystery fiction
2. your favorite horror or mystery novel or story
3. your favorite horror or mystery movie
4. You don't like the genre at all, you say? Tell me why, and cite specific experiences with these genres to make your response specific and interesting.
By the way, I used to be a huge Stephen King fan. I think his novel The Stand is a chilling masterpiece. Maybe someday I'll tell you why in my response to this journal.
posted by JTF @ 8:19 PM
21 comments
21 Comments:
My favorite horror or mystery movie would have to be "I Know Who Killed Me". It is a very confusing movie and it forces you to pay full attention to everything. It is about a 17 year old girl named Aubrey who mysteriously disappears. Her family finds her in a ditch unconscious a few weeks later. When she wakes up she swears her name is Dakota and that this is not her family. Of course, the doctors just think that it is amnesia and she will soon remember them. Once she is home she is not acting like the perfect obedient child they knew. She is drinking, smoking in the house, and having sex with her boyfriend. In the end, you find out that she is not her parents birth child and that she has a twin. Her father took her from a crack head so that her mother would not have to know her baby died. The real Aubrey was with a psycho serial killer who was slowly removing body parts to kill her. In the end neither of them die. This movie is one of my favorite horror/mystery movies because it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time and it is hard to figure out.
It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m laying in my cocoon of a bed with the covers pulled all the way around me and my eyes wide open staring at the same corner. As the seconds tick away, I jump at any little sound or any sign of movement coming from within my four walls that seem to have me trapped with something in my room. I can’t sleep because just hours before I had watch “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” with my sister and at my expense I now see it wasn’t a smart choice. This movie was a remake of a classic horror movie about a man living in a dead town in Texas that goes on a killing rampage to get back for his skin disease that has left his face scared and disturbing to look at. The six-foot man chases his victim’s around with a chainsaw and once they’re caught and killed he cuts their face off, and wears it as a mask. My first experience watching it was when I was driving down to Florida for summer vacation and I was watching it with my sister. That night in the condo I did everything but sleep. This film left me with horrible nightmares beyond anyone’s imagination for months. But now a few years later I’m in love with the movie. I watch it sort of frequently and now it doesn’t even scare me. I really enjoy this movie so much because it’s honestly the only horror movie that had me scared while watching it. I would look over my shoulder while in the car just to make sure that the big creepy, ugly guy wasn’t sitting behind me ready to take my face off. I’ve never done that while watching any other scary movie. Also, when I went to sleep that night the movie still had me scared, I did everything to get it off my mind but I couldn’t. My heart was pounding in my chest and I felt that someone would hear it and come from under my bed and grab me. I felt that I would never wake up it if went to sleep that night. To me that’s truly a wonderful horror movie. Today, when I watch these types of pictures I don’t get scared and I definitely don’t have nightmares. This film really left a mark on me. I’ll continue to watch it and I would recommend it to anyone who really wants to get a good fright from a movie.
My favorite "horror" movie would have to be House of Wax. I would not necessarily call it a horror film, but it is deffinitely gory. I saw this movie for the first time this year. This group of people go for a ride and they come along the famous House of Wax. The house is located in an entire town made of wax, but they dont know that fact yet. As the group slowly starts to disappear, everyone goes looking in different directions for those who are missing. One person even gets turned into wax. The process is very cruel. First, the lips are super glued together. After that, they are strapped down and duct taped into a chair. A head piece is placed around their head with spikes in and and all around them hot wax is sprays out. One by one people are disappearing and the group is getting separated. The person who lived in the house is the killer and is chasing the people trying to capture them and kill them and turn them into wax. During the whole movie I was completely sucked in and wondering what was going to happen next, who was going to get caught or who was going to escape. The House of Wax was a thriller and a very exciting movie that kept my eyes glued to the TV, my feet off the floor and i was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
I normally don’t like any horror movies because I let my imagination go too wild. The movie The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis, changed this for me. The reason I enjoyed this movie so much was because the ending was so unpredictable and left me shocked for hours. The movie is about a child psychologist Malcolm. One night one of Malcolm’s ex-patients came to his house and shot him and then shot himself. A few months go by and he starts seeing a new patient, a little boy named Cole who claims he can see dead people. Throughout the movie he is with Cole all the time and tries to help Cole not see these dead people anymore. These ghosts who are haunting Cole don’t know that they are dead and have unsettled problems. They come to the conclusion that in order for the dead people to keep haunting Cole that he has to help them fix what they couldn’t fix on earth. At the end of the story they reveal that Malcolm has been dead this whole time. Throughout the movie I thought he just healed from being shot but he was really one of the ghosts who didn’t know they had died.
Horror is one of my favorite movie genres. I love the thrill and suspense you get waiting to see what’s going to happen next. My favorite scary movie is an old one not many people have heard of called People Under the Stairs. It’s about a young boy and his older friend that hear about a forbidden house in their area. The house is very creepy with locks on all the windows and doors, and no way to see in or out. One day the two decide to spy on the family and realize they leave the front door unlocked. They sneak in the house and find that they are hiding more than 15 people in their basement that had made the mistake of entering the prohibited house. There is also an abused little girl referred to as their daughter. The couple returns home and the 2 boys are trapped in the house where no one ever gets out. Suspense builds up as they fight to find a way out while the couple and the vicious family dog is seeking them dead. They finally get out, but they know they need to save the little girl trapped with the insane couple. They have to go through the entire gauntlet again in order to help her. As they leave the house they burn it down along with the couple and all their belongings. This was the most suspenseful movie I have watched and it’s very well played for such an old movie.
I'm a totaly horror movie fanatic. Ever since I was old enough for my parents to deem it appropriate that I watch them, I've been obsessed. No other category of movies entertains me like horror: they thrill me, chill me, keep me on the edge of my seat, and always leave me wanting more. I love that kind of fear! For me, it's fun to get scared in that kind of way. My all time favorite horror movies are the Saw movie series. I'll admit that while they are on the bloody side, and they could have ended about three movies ago, they're still my favorites. Each one actually has a story plot, that makes sense and for me keeps me interested throughout all 6 so far Saw movies. Not many other horror movies can say that, because horror films are all becoming predictable. Saw always has twists and turns that you never see coming! And the movies enjoy flashbacking to previous movies to tie in something you might not have understood at the time, so it's always a good workout for your memory! I don't like the fact that Hollywood is dragging the movies out to try and make as much money off them as they can, because its taking away from what could be a really amazing plot. Regardless, I still love them and am looking forward to future Saw movies, because they teach you in a dark, twisted kind of way to value your life, and not to throw it away with things such as drugs, cheating, etc. I love these movies!
My favorite horror and mystery movie is "The Ring". At first I only watched it because someone told me that the girl that plays Samara, the little girl that climbs out of the well, looked like me (the normal, non-wrinkled, blue skinned version, of course). I was about ten when I first watched this, and to be completely honest, I didn’t like it at all at first. I mean, I had nightmares for weeks after this movie, and part of it was because my ten year old self really did look like Samara before she fell into the well. The story is about a mysterious tape, made by an anonymous source and seven days after you watch it, you die. The main character, Rachel, decides to investigate the tape after her niece died (the niece had watched the tape seven days earlier). After Rachel watches the tape, she gets a phone call informing her that she has seven days to live. Rachel fully believes in the tape after finding out that other teens had all died mysteriously. With the help of her ex boyfriend and father of her son, Aiden, Rachel unveils the mystery of the Morgan family. Mr. Morgan, the only surviving member of the family won’t release any information about his late wife, Anna, and adopted daughter, Samara. With a little more digging, Rachel finds out that Anna Morgan had gone crazy, telling people that Samara was putting images in her head and eventually Anna killed Samara, throwing her into a well and then committing suicide. Rachel figures out that she has to copy the tape and show it to someone else in order to live, but they never really figure out why Samara kills, only that she just wants to get her message out to people. I went back and watched this movie again when I was twelve, and became obsessed with it because you never fully understand Samara’s reasoning. It’s my favorite for a few reasons - the fact that Samara won’t stop killing, no matter what keeps you entertained and thinking, and because I found out just a few days after telling my mom about the movie that the actress that plays Samara is a distant relative (which would explain the resemblance). I recommend this movie for anyone who likes suspense and mystery without too much gore.
My favorite horror movie is Child's Play. This was one of the most interesting scary movies I've ever seen, and it still scares me to this day. Child's Play is about this little boy named Andy who gets this talking doll named Chucky for his birthday. Little does Andy know that the soul of a dead serial killer is living inside the doll. Chucky tells Andy about all the murders hes committed, but when Andy tells people, no one believes him. One night when Andy has a babysitter, Chucky waits until Andy is asleep and kills the babysitter by pushing her out a window of their NYC apartment. Now Chucky must put his spirit into Andy because he revealed his identity to him. This classic horror movie is my favorite because of how realistic it is. It starts off very sweet and innocent but transforms into one of the creepiest movies of all time. It's a classic, and if you've never seen it, I definetly reccomend it.
I’ve never really been a fan of the horror movie genre. Perhaps it’s because many modern horror movies have little depth, and they rely on gruesome deaths to try to invoke a sense of fear. For a genre that is often intended to shock and surprise, horror movies have ultimately become predictable and uninteresting. Knowing this, it was a huge surprise to me when I found one that I legitimately enjoyed: 1408, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. Based on a short story written by Steven King, the plot follows a writer of horror/mystery novels who travels the world in search of scary places to write his stories about. However, his books are not very popular, and he does not have a firm belief in ghosts or the occult, despite that being his main writing subject. When he learns about the Dolphin Hotel in New York, however, his views change, as his stay in the infamous room 1408 begins to take a toll on him. What makes 1408 stand out from other recently made horror movies is how it does not rely on death to instill fear in the audience. Instead, much of the terror Cusack’s character goes through is psychological. Instead of dying in the bloodiest way possible, he is forced to endure tests that nearly lead him to insanity, which is a million times more interesting. Despite not being a fan of horror movies, I am certainly a fan of good movies, and 1408 definitely falls under that category.
I don’t like the horror genre at all. Ever since I was little the movies had scared me and they still do to this day. I know that they are supposed to scare you but I hate being scared and thinking this might actually happen. One scary movie I remember watching was the older version of The Omen. I watched it one night with my mom, my dad, and my friend. My friend was just laughing at it while I was hiding under the blankets scared. When the movie was over we went up stair to go to sleep, the only thing was I was too scared to sleep. At one point I fell asleep and had a nightmare about the little boy killing me. I immediately woke up, turned on the light and woke my friend up. I told her I couldn’t sleep because of the movie. She had to talk to me and keep me from thinking about the movie until I fell asleep. Ever since then I haven’t been able to watch a scary movie without having a nightmare.
Though many people love horror and mystery movies and books I do not. I hate the genre, because, to be frank, most of the stories scare me. I think is a pointless genre, that should never have been invented, because who really wants to see a movie with a psychopathic killer in it? Why would somebody like such a thing? Do we humans have an innate love for violence and death? Just thinking about this makes me scared. Another reason I do not like this genre is because the plots are really boring and weird. The plots are boring, because they are too straight forward and un-surprising. What makes the plots worse is the fact that they try to put “surprising” twists into the plot, but the twists are not surprising at all. The twists are easily predicted and they are not exciting twists. For instance the murderer may appear to be the deranged lunatic in the beginning of the movie, but by the end of the end of the movie it is obvious that the real killer is the mother. These are the main reasons I do not like horror and mystery books, because they are poorly written and pointless killing.
I personally hate horror films. I'm the kind of person that gets scared so easily that I try to ignore horror films or stories as much as I can. I hate watching them because every single time I do I have to cover my ears and close my eyes. When my friends make me watch them though it leaves me with nightmares for the next couple of days. I always feel like something or someone in a horror movie will come and get me. Even though I dread them I have seen a couple in my days. Some aren't scary at all and I'm alright with them, but others tend to freak me out completely. I am a fan of mysteries though. A movie that just keeps you thinking for days. The other night I watched this movie called The Box. It takes place in the late 70s in Virgina. Its about this family, the Lewis's who has to make a really tough decision. This guy named Arlington Stewart comes to their house with a box. The scary thing about Stewart is the fact that half of his jaw is missing because he was struck by lightning. Now he has special powers like you would never imagine. He used to work for NASA(also where the husband in the movie works) which gives him the skills he needs to make this box or contraption. Inside the box is a button. If the family decides to push the button they will receive one million dollars, but someone they don't know in the world will die. They push the button thinking it is fake because when they took it apart, it was empty. That day Stewart came to their house gave them their money and a woman was shot at the exact time they pushed the button. Stewart told them that the button would now be reprogrammed and tested out on another family. They weren't allowed to tell anyone, but Stewart knew that they did because he had his employers watching every step they made. They were everywhere even their babysitter for their son was his employer. It was like they were all under a spell. In the end they had to make another tough decision. Since they told the police, their son could no longer hear or see. They could either let their son live in darkness for the rest of his life or the husband could shoot his wife right then and there. They decided it would be best if their son could have a nice life. At the exact time she was shot another family pushed the button. It was all a test. You had to decide what was more important to you. Money or life. This movie still has me thinking because it pretty confusing, but was also very intense.
My favorite horror or mystery movie would be the Saw series. Normally I’m not big on horror movies but this one really caught my interest with the plot of the whole movie. Even though it’s rather graphic and disgusting the way there’s blood, body parts being cut off, and all the different ways of torture, it’s still fascinating to watch. I think it’s really interesting because it has to deal with fooling the mind to do different things, and plays mind games in a way. The jigsaw killer goes by the name Misnomer, and he’s brilliant enough to find a way to teach people how to make their lives worth something. If everyone follows his ideas about living life to its fullest, then the world would be a better place. It’s like a classic Disney movie with killings and horror, rather than happiness and cheap cheesy lines. The guy was insane though, as you could tell. If you look deeper into the story and all the characters you’ll realize that ‘Misnomer’ not only wanted people to live their lives, but he was punishing those who cheat on their spouses. Lawrence, one of the men trapped in a bathroom, was being photographed and stalked by Adam, the other man, who shows him pictures of Lawrence cheating on his wife. Although Zep, a minion of Misnomer, was going to kill Lawrence’s wife and kid, Lawrence chooses to shoot Adam in an attempt to save them; no matter if he was cheating on her. Adam also brings up the point that he was indeed stalking Lawrence and invading his privacy, something that made him a victim of the game. The movie also can be contained as showing new friendships can be made and the past forgotten when Lawrence makes it out of the bathroom and promises Adam that he’ll come back. Even though Lawrence should have killed Adam, they had a new bond, trying to save their own lives. That’s why Saw is my favorite horror movie, because of the whole plot and what it teaches; if you look close enough that is.
Nicholas Sparks is by far my favorite author. He’s known to write sweet love stories, such as The Notebook and Dear John. The Guardian is another one of his heartwarming novels, but I would also describe it as a horror. Julie Barenson becomes a widow at age 25 after her husband Jim dies of cancer. After his death, a Great Dane named Singer is delivered to her house with a backdated note from Jim stating that he wants her to move and be happy. She falls into the dating loop and meets a guy named Richard. She breaks up with him after a few dates, but he doesn’t seem to want to let go. She starts talking to Mike, Jim’s best friend, and he becomes suspicious of Richard’s unusual behavior. Eventually, they find out he is a murderer, who killed his father as a child. He has an obsession with Julie because she reminds him of his ex-wife Jessica, who he also murdered. Julie, Mike, and even Singer begin fighting for their lives as Richard tries to kill them as well. This book kept me on the edge of my seat while biting my nails. At some points when it got really intense, I just had to put the book down. At the same time, I wanted to know what would happen next. I love the suspenseful feeling Sparks creates as he balances it with a love story.
I happen to be a huge fan of the horor and gore genre. I've watched so many different horror films ever since I was a child and loved them all. The most recent one that I've seen that caught my interest a lot was the movie Hostel. It happens to be more on the gore side since it is full of blood and gore situations. It is about 3 college kids who go to Europe to look for women and narcotics. While in Europe they end up sharing a room in a hotel with these 2 very attractive ladies. All of them end up going out to a bar to eat and drink and have a good time. While at the bar one of the college kids goes missing and the other 2 guys go crazy looking for him. They find out that he was taken to some place called the Hostel, where people pay money to torture other people. After they sneak into hostel both boys end up getting caught and get somewhat tortured. One of them kills the man that was torturing him and saves an innocent girl. The boy and girl end up getting out of there with missing limbs and missing eyes..
The movie is pretty much like Saw, so if you're a fan of the Saw series then you'll enjoy Hostel.
I happen to be a huge fan of the horor and gore genre. I've watched so many different horror films ever since I was a child and loved them all. The most recent one that I've seen that caught my interest a lot was the movie Hostel. It happens to be more on the gore side since it is full of blood and gore situations. It is about 3 college kids who go to Europe to look for women and narcotics. While in Europe they end up sharing a room in a hotel with these 2 very attractive ladies. All of them end up going out to a bar to eat and drink and have a good time. While at the bar one of the college kids goes missing and the other 2 guys go crazy looking for him. They find out that he was taken to some place called the Hostel, where people pay money to torture other people. After they sneak into hostel both boys end up getting caught and get somewhat tortured. One of them kills the man that was torturing him and saves an innocent girl. The boy and girl end up getting out of there with missing limbs and missing eyes..
The movie is pretty much like Saw, so if you're a fan of the Saw series then you'll enjoy Hostel.
My favorite horror movie is definitely "Halloween". This is a very old movie that came out way before I was even born. When I was in about fifth grade I started watching the horror movie marathon that was on TV all of Halloween day and night. Of course, "Halloween" was part of the marathon. It is about a killer who when he was younger killed his older sister and got away. Later, he became a known killer throughout Haddonfield, Illinois. The killer's name is the one and only Michael Myers. They have made a series of "Halloween" movies, and I love every one. I like these movies so much because you never know if he is going to catch the person he is trying to kill, or not. The movie does a great job of using music to creep people out and bring an eerie feeling to the scene. It is especially scary because when anyone thinks they have killed Michael, he always managed to live or come back to life. Another reason why I love this movie so much is because whenever I watch it, I always need to have a blanket to cover my face. It never has a dull moment and it always keeps you asking yourself, who will die next?
As a kid growing up, horror movies were not one of my favorite things to watch, but after a while I got used to them and began to like them and watch them much more. One of my favorite movies is SAW. So far there are six SAW movies. These movies combine horror with mystery and are full of suspense and blood. Even though most of the movies are very gruesome, it doesn’t bother me much. These movies are not predictable like most horror movies. SAW always has you guessing and wondering what will happen next, and most of the time it is always a surprise. Also because there are a series of six movies, each movie has flashbacks that answer questions that you may not have understood before and tie the whole story line together. Personally the first four movies are my favorite. The last two movies seem to be dragged out and have to many repeating themes. They are not as suspenseful and are not as mysterious. But other than that, the SAW are my favorite horror films.
My favorite horror movie has to be Paranormal Activity. The movie starts out in a suburban home which two people live in, Mika, and his fiancé. Mika's fiancé has been haunted by what she fears is a ghost since she was a little girl. Now that she is living with Mika he decides to get to the bottom of this mystery and buys a camera to document all of the strange happenings. As the movie progresses the hauntings escalate and get worse and worse. First they start out as simple noises or the moving of an object from one end of a counter to the other. As the hauntings get worse they call in a physic to help them deal with the hauntings and the physic instantly tells them that there is a demon in the house that is angered by his presence and leaves hurriedly. this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat because of its ability to make you think one thing, and throw something completely different at you.
Horror movies always make me sit on the edge of my seat. My personal favorite horror movie would have to be Drag Me to Hell. This movie stars Christine Brown, a bank worker who denies and approves loans. One day Mrs. Ganush, a gypsy women comes and begs Christine for a third loan. Christine denies the loan to prove her boss that she can take tough decisions. Mrs. Ganush begs for the loan but Christine shames the woman calling the security. In the night, Christine is stalked by Mrs. Ganush in the parking lot and they struggle. Out of the blue, Mrs, Ganush removes a button from Christine's coat, curses it, returns the button to her and vanishes. Later, while going home with her psychologist boyfriend Clay Dalton, they pass by the fortune teller Rham Jas, and Christine decides to consult him. He advises her that Christine has the fiend Lamia, the Black Goat, upon her. When Christine is haunted by the dark spirit during the night, at home, she tries to fix the situation releasing the loan of Mrs. Ganush. In the end, Chrisine is dragged to hell by the curse. This movie is one of my favorites because it had many surprising scary moments in it.
My favorite horror author is Stephen King and I am also a big fan of his movies. It normally takes a lot to scare me so I like looking for something that will. One situation I remember was several years ago when I was being pestered to go to this movie that was being called the “scariest movie of the decade.” But when I did go to see it all of my friends were screaming and freaking out but I was just sitting there and everyone was asking why I wasn’t scared. I still remember, on the other hand, the first time I watched The Shining when the mother and son were shown running through the maze then it showed Jack Nicholson looking over the model of it and it kept zooming in on the model with the music getting faster and louder but the screen goes black with the word Thursday in the center I was scared out of my mind. I don’t know how the word Thursday scared me so much more than “the scariest movie of the decade,” could. Stephen King really amazes me because he can think of such terrifying stuff and he hasn’t gone suicidal or insane yet. He is the only author that I read from just because he wrote it.
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