Has a book ever given you the willies? Ever scared you? When it comes to being creeped out, I'm pretty tough. I don't think I've ever been scared reading a Stephen King book -- never so afraid I couldn't turn the page. But there are some scenes that have stuck with me as pretty down right creepy.
- Pennywise appearing to Bev in her bathroom was pretty scary. Especially when the adult didn't see the blood. Also the opening, with George, is scary stuff.
- The two women killing each other in the middle of Castle Rock was scary.
- Digging up a dead body was scary in Pet Sematary. (The book has a lot more detail than the movie)
- The rats in 1922 were scary.
- Christine has some great moments when she is on the hunt. That car is scary!
- The flashes of the two dead girls in Kubrick's The Shining were frightening.
- Monsters coming from a mist. . . great stuff! And again, scary. In fact, I think the movie is just as scary as the book was. The novel is brought to life brilliantly.
Brian Keene Scared Me:
I got an Ipod for Christmas. Yes, we open presents early. This meant an entire world of audio was opened up to me. I've been slowly building an audio library at audible. An Ipod means that I have something to listen to when I go running.
I chose to take Brian Keene's Darkness On The Edge Of Town. I've read a good bit of this book before, but keep stopping. So, alas, I decided to drive in new.
Oh, you need to know, I run late at night. 10 or 11pm.
And, I run in a small down, with lots of fields and thick darkness.
I like to run at this time because it's nice and cold, and I'm naturally a night person.
But, as I ran last night, I found myself actually a bit scared! The characters finally go to the edge of town to see what is in the darkness. They encounter the dead! Strange writing on the ground, and then there are the screams! None of this is freak out stuff, unless you are running in the dark past long fields. You start to see things! That run the other night was probably the closest I've ever come to actually being scared while I read.
Of course, the Ipod was tucked deep in my cloths. . . I was stuck! I couldn't easily get to the Ipod to change the program. I just kept running. No, those shadows weren't dead people
So, what books have actually scared you?
Has anybody here ever heard or read Scary Stories to tell in the Dark, by Alvin Schwartz?
ReplyDeleteIt's a collection of old folktales slightly updated for modern audiences. What sets these books apart are the illustrations by Stephen Gammel.
HOLY FRICKIN' CRAP!!!!
I can honestly say I'd hate to find out where Gammel gets his ideas. Seriously, his images are GEEE-rusome, and their so freakin' cool!
Whats interesting is to try and guess the influences. sometimes it seems George Romero eighties gore influence and yet sometimes there seems to be a Lovecraftian influence as well.
It goes without saying that these books (there were three of them) were my Tales from the Crypt growing up.
Here's an article on Gammel's images for Scary Stories: http://tuneinrockon.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/the-15-most-disturbing-illustrations-from-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark/
And here, IF YOU DARE!, is a youtube video featuring Gammel's illustrations. The onyl thing Scarier than Gammel's pictures is having the voice of Heat Miser from Year without Santa Clause deliver the narration.
Merry Christmas, and to all a very pleasant goodnight!
BWHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rDW0kMYTaY
P.S. Wouldn;t it be so cool if HBO made a three season tv series out of this stuff?
ChrisC
I read 'It' when I was fourteen, I couldn't sleep properly for a week. I kept seeing Pennywise everywhere. Same situation with Desperation. I was fifteen when I read it and that scary chant 'Tak Ah Lah' etc, creeped my out quite badly. I had some bad dreams. But that's what made me love It and Desperation even more. For a book to scare someone so intensely, the author needs to have a lot of talent and that's exactly what Stephen King is made of. Sheer talent.
ReplyDeleteI think the some scenes with the car in From A Buick 8 are also quite scary.
Congrats on your iPod! :) I have yet to be acquainted with audiobooks but I really would like to listen to a particularly scary one on it, just for the experience.
The mist in 3D sound is pretty good, too. In fact, it's so good that it seems to keep everyone anyone from feeling the need to get the audio reading of it back on the market.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I read Stephen King in order to get scared either, now I think of it.
ReplyDeleteIn fact the main reason I read him is because his work in a way reminded me of Tolkien and the reasons I read his books.
Namely good drama through characterization through story. This may just be my own bias, yet I think anyone who comes to King for just the emotional rush of either fear, horror or revulsion will be missing the point of all his stories.
It's the same with his movies as well, yes, even the Garris adapts.
To go to King just for the emotional reaction and not the content is sort of like missing the whole picture by focusing on one particular part of the frame.
ChrisC
David, that's awesome you run at night listening to scary stories, that rules.
ReplyDeleteBe careful when it's windy though. I was surprised to see how many deaths happen bc people are crushed by branches while running.
Thanks for the info Chris I will look that book up. I also do not read SK for the scares but the parts that have scared me are:
When the woman wakes up in Gerald's game and sees that dude in the corner. I almost threw the book across the room.
The part in the Shining where the elevator goes up and down and they hear people. That threw me for a loop big time.
Pennywise screaming at them in the library that they will all die. I read part that under my kitchen light at 3am.
I found everything in L Ron Hubbard's book Fear to be terrifying. If you haven't read that book I highly recommend it, you can see how manipulative he is just from that book alone.
-mike