•
Five-link Friday: Halloween and election links
What a week coming up, no? Halloween and the election, and no one is sure which is scarier. This week's Five-link Friday dips into both events.
• Warning: For strong stomachs only. Create your Halloween message via . The site notes that "no real fingers were harmed" to create BloodyFingerMail. (Thanks to Teri for reminding me about this one!)
• I-Mockery has a great , including the , the , and, my favorite, the .
• Quite possibly the creepiest Halloween mask I have ever seen: , "fabricated directly from Manson’s actual face casting." (Via .)
• After you've delved through the leftover Halloween candy, how about unwrapping it all and trying this little ? It's a Web oldie but a goodie from the science museum in my home state of Minnesota.
• And finally, one, just one, election link, but it's a good one. . My favorite tips: "If you are a Flintstone, make sure to put the granite slab arrows-first into the dinosaur’s mouth," and "The new electronic voting machines are complicated. But don’t worry: Octogenarians will be on hand to troubleshoot any technological problems that might arise." (Oh, come on, even my octogenarian mother laughed at that one.) Vote early, vote often!
•
Scariest movie lines
Wha-what's that? That noise there in the basement? Oh, whew, it's just the family cat....AAAUGH!
Sorry, but reading through all the has put me a leeetle bit on edge.
And it probably didn't help that I saw this weekend, huh? I started covering my eyes before the opening credits had rolled. (Even creeps me out.)
The number one movie cited for its scary lines? No surprise, Stephen King's "The Shining," which is chock full of great ones.
Here's a rundown of some of the lines you suggested, sorted alphabetically by movie. I included some of your comments on why you chose the line in question as well.
Warning: You might not want to read these at night. And Happy Halloween!
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
• "Goodbye, Dave."Comment from Dave: "HAL to a locked-out David Bowman in '2001' It may not seem scary now, but I was a kid when I first saw it in 1968 - the whole movie was scary."
"28 Days Later"• Note to Jim from his parents: "With endless love, we left you sleeping. Now we're sleeping with you. Don't wake up."
"Aliens"• "They mostly come at night. Mostly."
"The Blair Witch Project"• "I'm scared to close my eyes, I'm scared to open them."Comment from Marilyn: "Curious to see what’s comin’ at ya, but perhaps it’s too horrible to look at. Curiosity kiiled the cat!"
"Dawn of the Dead"• "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth."
• "Many have died, last week, on these streets. In the basement of this building, you will find them. I have given them the last rites, now, you do what you will. You are stronger than us... But soon, I think they be stronger than you."
"The Exorcist"• "What an excellent day for an exorcism."Comment from Beverly: "While this line doesn’t sound very scary, it actually is. It’s the portent of what’s about to happen and in the context that it was said and we all know it and don’t know what to do about it. Like a trick the Devil would pull. To this day, I shiver ever so slightly when someone begins a sentence with, ‘What an excellent...’
• "Is there someone inside of you, Regan?" "Sometimes."
• "It vants no straps."
• "Dimmie...why you do this to me, Dimmie?"
• "Where is Regan?" "In here. With us."
"The Haunting"Comment from Bernie: "Can I nominate a non-line? In ‘The Haunting,’ with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom there is one scene where they are bedded down in the same room with the beds close together. The lights go out, the room gets cold and they hold hands. One of them complains about how tight the other is squeezing her hand. The lights come back up and the beds are on opposite sides of the room. Who was holding who’s (or what’s) hand? The first time I saw that my hair stood up — I swear, and I’ve never forgotten it. I still tingle a little when I see that scene."
"It"• "They float, Georgie, they all float. And when you're down here, you'll float too."
"Jaws"• "We're gonna need a bigger boat."
"Lost Highway"• "We've met before, haven't we?" "I don't think so. Where was it you think we met?" "At your house. Don't you remember?" No. No, I don't. Are you sure?" "Of course. As a matter of fact, I'm there right now."
"The Mummy"• "My master also thanks you for your eyes."
"Night of the Living Dead"
• "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
"Pet Sematary"• "First I play with Judd, then Mommy came, and I play with Mommy. We play Daddy! We had a awfully good time! Now, I want to play with you!"Comment from Will: "Just a chilling line as the voice floats down the stairs. The scariest part is Gage's voice — so childlike and so filled with menace at the same time."
"Poltergeist"• "They're heeeeeere."
"The Ring"• "Seven days."Comment from Clay: "Yet another scary line delivered by phone, but this time the voice is that of a little girl who's been dead for more than 20 years and who really is going to kill you in seven days."
• "You helped her? You weren't supposed to help her."
• "I can't imagine being stuck down a well all alone like that. How long could you survive?" "Seven days."
"Ringu"• "I need you to watch something for me."
"Scream"
• "Why do you want to know my name?" "Because I want to know who I'm looking at."
"Se7en"• "What's in the box?"
"The Shining"
• "Heeeeeere's Johnny!"Comment from Brian: “As he takes an ax to the door to the room where Shelly Duvall is hiding from him, he sticks his head through the opening and says the line. What makes it so scary is the menacing expression on his face as he is saying it.”
• "Danny isn't here, Mrs. Torrance."
• "Come and play with us, Danny."Comment from Dyan: "Yeah I had to turn the volume off and watch the rest of the movie muted. I only got as far as Jack running through the hotel, and he passed the room with a guy in a rabbit suit and some people partying. I had to turn it off then. Even muted, ‘The Shining’ caused my electricity bill to soar as I slept with the lights on for a week."
• "REDRUM! REDRUM!"
• "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...."Comment from John: "To me, the scariest movie line was in script, not spoken. ‘The Shining’ stars Jack Nicholson as a man who is writing a novel. To facilitate this, he takes a job as caretaker of a mountain resort, in the winter while it is unreachable. He sits by himself and types day after day. After a series of bizarre and unsettling events, his wife, played by Shelly Duvall, discovers his manuscript, which is hundreds of pages of ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ Suddenly, all hope of things being under control is gone; reality shifts; chaos is here.”Comment from Mark: “When Wendy happens to take a gander at the novel her psychotic husband has been so diligently writing for the past several months, she is horrified to find that all of the pages consist of one simple sentence repeated thousands of times: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” It is at this very moment that you realize Jack has gone completely over the deep end and that the poor unfortunate family members trapped in the hotel with him are in grave danger."
• "Hiya, Lloyd ... a little slow tonight, isn't it?" Comment from Ben: "Jack Nicholson's character, Jack Torrance, has just had a row with the wife and finds himself seated at the bar in the dance hall of the Overlook Hotel. The dance hall is empty and the bar has no liquor to be seen. Jack rubs his face with his hands, making a comment about selling his soul for one lousy drink, and then looks up. ... This line is not, of itself, very scary. The scare comes when you realize that, if Jack Torrance hasn't actually gone off the deep end by this point in the film, he has now."
• "Darling. Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in."Comment from Chris: "I was 11 when I saw that movie and it was the nonchalant way he delivered that line that freaked me out. Like, after he bashed in her head he was going to go get some coffee and maybe eat some toast or something. Creepy! There were several parts of that movie that scared me, but they were mostly visual images. However, this line has stuck with me ever since I first heard it."
"Silence of the Lambs"• "Hello, Clarice."
•"His pulse never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue."
• "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
• "I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner."
• "Ready when you are, Sergeant Pembry."
• "Good morning."Comment from D.L.: "For me, this is the scariest of all lines and all scenes. Clarice's first meeting with Hannibal Lecter. She walks down that long hall of cells housing the criminally insane, who are yelling at her and all but frothing at the mouth. And in the last cell is a perfectly sane-looking man who says 'Good Morning.' Think of that as you look at all the perfectly normal people you encounter during your day."
"The Sixth Sense"• "I see dead people."
• "Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone? I do. I do."
"What Lies Beneath"
• "The first time I met you, all I wanted was to spend the rest of my life with you. Not gonna happen now."
"When a Stranger Calls"• "Have you checked the children?"
• "We've traced the calls. They're coming from inside the house."