Day 14: 31 Days of Horror: Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Shining with Tin Man

I am a bit behind on my 31 Days of Horror and I apologize for that. I've been extremely busy, traveling to and from different states, attending my first college football game (MSU vs. U of M), meeting up with a close friend that I haven't seen in a year, and preparing for my first day at a new job. Busy, but with a bunch of great things!

The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies of all time. I've loved it since I was a little kid. It seems that I tend to associate horror movies with my childhood, but that's because I was scared by a bunch of movies back then! It takes a lot more to scare me now, but I appreciate the old scares too!

Four things freaked me out in the Wizard of Oz: (1) the Wizard, (2) the flying monkeys, (3) the evil apple trees, and (4) the witch! These didn't scare me to the point where I ever refused to watch the movie. In fact, I think I enjoyed being scared because I watched this movie practically every day when I was a kid. The Wizard freaked me out when he talked through the projection thing on the wall because he was super loud! All that fire, smoke and other loud sounds scared me too!

The flying monkeys freaked me out because they were monkeys that could fly...  That's just not right! Monkeys should not have the ability to fly! The monkeys look very strange and evil, even if you were to remove the wings! They have blue fur and freakish faces. It actually still frightens me to watch the part where the flying monkeys come and beat up the Scarecrow and take off with Dorothy and poor Toto. Leave sweet little Toto alone, you bullying flying monkeys!

I hate the apple trees that Dorothy and Scarecrow stumble upon during their walk on the yellow brick road. Apple trees should not have the ability to talk! They definitely shouldn't have the ability to attack, either!

The Wicked Witch of the West is severely deranged. Her constant messed up attitude towards everything is ridiculous. I could kind of understand why she disliked Dorothy, I mean with Dorothy's house accidently landing on and murdering her sister and then Dorothy ends up getting her sister's shoes, that must have been upsetting to witness. It's not like Dorothy did any of this intentionally though! Oh well, what more can you expect from a wicked witch other than insanity and wickedness?

Day 13: 31 Days of Horror: Misery (1990)

Having a number one fan can be pretty exciting! Someone really looks up to you and thinks you're amazing! On the other hand, it can be petrifying, due to the number fan acting more like a number one stalker. Stalkers are not cool, they are terrifying. You never know when they're going to show up or where they might be watching you from. Imagine having this person keep you hostage and you have no ability to escape or defend yourself! Scary, right?

Misery is about a famous author, Paul Sheldon, who, one day after driving on the icy roads of Colorado after finishing another novel, ends up crashing his car. Paul is severely injured from the crash, but is rescued by a woman, Annie Wilkes, who happens to be a former nurse and his "number one fan."

Annie is an extremely strange woman, very secluded from society and overly sensitive about certain words. She decides to take Paul back to her home in the middle of no where, without telling anyone. At first, she seems intent on helping Paul make a full recovery, but all of that changes after she reads the most recent novel Paul's written about her favorite heroine, Misery, killing her off. This causes Annie to go berserk and torture Paul, while also forcing him to write a novel bringing Misery back to life. Will Paul ever escape her or will he be forced to be her prisoner for the rest of his life?

Misery is a fantastic book and horror movie. The movie is great because of the acting in it. James Caan is hilarious and perfect for the role of Paul Sheldon. However, Kathy Bates is the one who really steals the show. No one, and I mean no one, could have portrayed Annie Wilkes better than Kathy Bates. Kathy gave the performance of a lifetime when she played Annie. She was utterly psychotic and completely believable. She's talked about how that people have actually been afraid of her because of Annie. That's pretty impressive, if you ask me.

Day 12: 31 Days of Horror: Jaws (1975)

Let me just say, it took a lot to make myself find a picture to put in this post. Nothing scares me more than being stuck out in the middle of the ocean in a sinking boat. Well, unless the boat was sinking AND being attacked by a bloodthirsty shark! I would probably die from being scared to death if I was in that sort of situation, which is why Jaws scares the hell out of me.

Sure, the shark doesn't look very real, but I still don't like the looks of it. Mainly because I can imagine it malfunctioning and actually killing me! That's why I will never go on the Jaws ride in Universal Studios. The chances of that mechanical shark malfunctioning and accidently killing people is probably 1 out of some ridiculously high number, but still, even if the chance is small, it's still possible!

I remember watching Jaws for the first time when I was a little kid. It terrified me at the same level as Pinocchio. How is this possible, you ask? Well, like I said, I hate the thought of me being on a sinking boat, especially is something is attacking it! The shark was like Monstro the whale, so I hated it! Strangely, it didn't keep me away from swimming in the lake, pool, or ocean. What can I say, I love to swim. However, it did make me panic a few times while I was swimming, so I'd run out of there if I saw something or if algae got tangled around my foot. Definitely thought it was Jaws trying to kill me.

Day 11: 31 Days of Horror: Village of the Damned (1960)

Like I was talking about during the Orphanage post, little kids in horror movies are creepy! Some of the creepiest kids are in Village of the Damned. The similar awful blond hairstyles and frightening glowing eyeballs that all the kids have makes them a bit unsettling to be around. Not to mention, all of them were mysteriously conceived while everyone in the village was under a deep sleep and all have the ability to brainwash any of the other villagers if they decide to stare into their eyes...

I can't decide what these children are. I think that they are aliens, but why do they all have to have such ugly hairstyles? A weird alien must have been responsible for impregnating all the women or a crazy evil scientist. The kids are clearly intellectually superior compared to the rest of the villagers. That, along with their ability to read minds, makes them a huge threat to the society.

This horror movie is awesome because Martin Stephens is in it. Martin plays David in the film and he is one of the best child actors I've ever seen. Another notable role he plays is Miles in The Innocents (1961). He really put himself into each of these roles and was absolutely believable in both of them, which is why the characters he plays are so petrifying.

Day 10: 31 Days of Horror: The Little Mermaid (1989)

Some of you are probably laughing right now, thinking that The Little Mermaid isn't scary! You're wrong! It is terrifying! Maybe not as scary as Pinocchio, but it's pretty close. For those interested, I wrote about Pinocchio during last years 31 Days of Horror, to read what I wrote, click here.

I find it strange that Ariel falls madly in love with Prince Eric with just one look. Yeah, he's pretty good looking for an animated character, but it's pretty psychotic that she's willing to give up her fins and voice just to have a chance with him. She should have never trusted Ursula!

Ursula is one of the creepiest villains ever. She's evil, obsessed with torture, and capable of tricking almost anyone with her witchcraft. It's pretty messed up when she transforms herself into a beautiful human in order to possess Prince Eric with the shell pendant she makes with Ariel's voice locked in it. It's equally messed up when she turns merpeople into those weird, mossy looking sea creatures. Sick!

I hate watching the part when Ursula becomes a gigantic sized octopus and bursts out of the water. My biggest fear is being stuck on a sinking boat, so you can imagine that this scene scares me quite a bit when Ursula is making the swirling tidal wave in her attempt to kill Eric while he's on that boat. She is insane! I don't like what she looks like and her evil laugh gives me the chills.

I love this movie. It's a Disney classic. The music is fantastic and the hand-drawn animation is spectacular. The horrific elements they have in it makes the film even more memorable, in my opinion. Great movie, no matter how old you are.

Day 9: 31 Days of Horror: El orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007)

Little kids in horror movies are always creepy. They are usually either dead or they know something that no one else does about a spirit that is haunting the house. Either way, they are all extremely creepy, which is why The Orphanage is so frightening. 

The Orphanage is about a woman, Laura, who decides to bring her husband and adopted son back to to home where she grew up, which happens to be an orphanage. When there, she soon realizes that her son seems to be communicating with invisible friends. She doesn't think much of it at first, thinking it's part of his highly active imagination.

Laura decides that she wants to reopen the orphanage in order to help handicapped children. She throws a party in order to celebrate the opening. During the party, her son keeps trying to bring her to look inside of his new friends' cabin, but she keeps ignoring him because she thinks that the friends are only imaginary. However, her attention quickly goes back to her son when a little boy in a mask shows up and her son disappears. Where did he go? Was he stolen? Did the 'friends' he was talking about actually exist? Laura doesn't know what to think, but she is determined to find him again. 

The Orphanage scared me to the point where I couldn't sleep. I kept waking up because I was thinking about the little kid in the mask and all that went down at the orphanage. This film reminds me a bit of The Changeling (1980), it's disturbing, sad, and freaky. Definitely not a film you should let your kids watch, if you have any. 

Day 8: 31 Days of Horror: The Sixth Sense (1999)

Seeing dead people is not cool. It's terrifying. So terrifying that my sixth grade self almost left the theater after the first 10 minutes. I ended up watching the film all the way through, but the nightmares I had after watching it lasted for about two weeks.

The Sixth Sense is frightening because it's psychologically disturbing. Seeing ghosts is one thing, but being a child who is constantly being sought out by ghosts who have proven that they have the ability to hurt him is an extremely scary concept to think about. Of course, not all of the ghosts who come see Cole are malevolent spirits, some are very kind, but look scary on the outside. Some of them just require help from someone who is still alive and able to communicate with them and Cole is one of the few humans capable of doing this.

The scariest moments in The Sixth Sense, in my opinion, include the psychologist's encounter with his first patient, Cole being trapped inside the cupboard with a crazy ghost, the old woman in Cole's kitchen, and the girl in Cole's tent. These scenes always successfully creep me out, no matter how many times I watch them. Great acting in this film, especially by Haley Joel Osment.