Month: March 2020
Name That Trauma:: Amanda Z. on a Madman's Torture Tunnel
Hey there and thank you for reading!
This has been driving me mad for thirty years. I caught a brief moment in a movie when I was very young, and all I can remember about it is that there was a madman who was murdering people in various ridiculously complicated ways (sort of like The Abominable Doctor Phibes) and one way was to force a person through a small tunnel or a hole or something. I think the contraption was set up like a model train table and a conveyor took the person along a track where they were compressed or pushed through this hole.
This would have been on network TV some time in the early 1970s. Could have been a TV show, or a movie shown on TV. I'm sorry I can't be more specific. I caught just enough of it to flip out, at which point my parents sent me back to bed. Does this ring any bells? Even remotely? Thanks in advance for your help.Â
Traumafession:: G.G.G. on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Like a lot of city kids, I would get shipped out to my grandparents' house in the suburbs for a week or two each summer, supposedly to give me an appreciation of grass, trees and fresh air. The candy was terrible, the plastic covers on the furniture annoyingly sticky in the heat, and the rules regarding "guest" towels and soap labyrinthine. The one glorious redeeming feature in all of this? The finished basement had a huge color TV, my grandfather's state of the art VHS, and a pile of tapes that would do a Blockbuster proud.
Bored on a rainy day and rooting for something to watch, I pulled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre out of the pile, since it was obviously something scary, and even 8 year old me loved horror above all. I had a steady diet of midnight B movies, Twilight Zone reruns, and silly slashers like Chopping Mall. I could TOTALLY handle this.
All of 3 minutes later, I bolted upstairs and hung on to a very bewildered cocker spaniel mix for dear life as my whole concept of terrifying rearranged itself. I didn't watch the rest of the film for several decades. It didn't have quite the same power, but I had twenty plus years to learn more sophisticated ways of torturing myself.
Traumafession:: Rob M. on a Classic PSA
Probably my greatest trauma happened every day just before the ten o'clock news. I grew up in the late 70's/80's in the NYC suburbs. During this time, there was a lot of real life horror (Stranger Danger, Toxic Tylenol, Satanic Panic, Son of Sam, child abductions, AIDS, Drugs, Cold War etc). But I digress… imagine being in this environment and unexpectedly before every ten o'clock news intro… a still motion shot of a lone child riding a bike on a deserted side street illuminated by a street lamp. Then comes the voice over -> "It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are?" The person who provided the voiceover was the great Lou Steele. He was known as "The Creep" btw. I'd have to run out of the room every time it came on. The reason it scared me was because of the images it conjured in my head. "Does this person know something?" "Geez, kids are getting snapped up left and right". "Why do parents need to be reminded to check on their children?" And ultimately reminded me of the infamous "Have you checked the children?" from When a Stranger Calls. The spot, the voiceover and the current social climate all made this a fearful moment of my youth. They later added another spot at 7pm which asked the question "Have you hugged your child today?" That also felt kind of creepy too… just the idea that parents needed a reminder.
Thanks,
Rob
The Invisible Man (2020)
Remember when I was telling you a while back that I brought my friend who was going through a salty divorce to see BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019) hoping she'd find it cathartic but instead she found it silly and was left questioning my taste in cinema? Well, I've redeemed myself by taking the same troubled gal-pal to go see THE INVISIBLE MAN which left her all riled up, scrappy and pleasantly pissed off. Don't worry, even though THE INVISIBLE MAN could be accused of overtly allegorizing timely #metoo grievances, I think anyone who has struggled with a bully, psychological abuse or a general lack of having their perceptions taken seriously is bound to relate. Writer/director LEIGH (UPGRADE) WHANNELL does a herculean job of breathing new relevant life into one of UNIVERSAL's least potent (imo) classic monsters and the end result is an undeniable success. Of course, I could have used a tad more clarity when it came to addressing who was feeding and caretaking a certain family pet who is left alone for long periods of time but that's my issue. I'm just going to assume rich people always have a bevy of employees we never see and let it go (Note: I'm still wondering what happened to Deckard's faithful pooch in BLADE RUNNER 2049 and I may forever).
ELIZABETH MOSS delivers a raw, fearless performance as Cecilia Kass, a woman who finds death itself is not enough to keep her controlling psychotic stalker boyfriend at bay. You see, it looks like Cecilia's tormentor may have faked his own demise and (thanks to his deep pockets and optical expertise) has figured out a way to make his presence imperceptible to the naked eye. The gas-lighting goon doesn't mind sabotaging her career, trashing her relationships and painting her as a short-fused, child-abusing lunatic. MOSS gets to burn bright as a cornered victim with nothing left to lose swinging from pathetic to ferocious without breaking a sweat; her multileveled, virtuoso execution pretty much puts most recent Oscar nominees to shame and it's too bad it'll likely go unheralded. It doesn't hurt that MOSS's Cecilia is surrounded by equally compelling characters, from the kindly father/daughter team that take her in that you hate to see endangered (ALDIS HODGE and STORM REID) to her tough as nails sister Emily (HARRIET DRYER) who you can't blame for being immensely skeptic. Even her ex's slimy weasel brother (MICHAEL DORMAN) is perfectly despicable and a great joy to see taken down a few pegs.
Besides sharing DNA with your standard "blank from hell" nineties thriller and your favorite made-for-TV woman in peril flick, a large chunk of THE INVISIBLE MAN reminded me of good old CANDYMAN (sans the romance). The two films do somewhat mirror (!) each other in the way that the female leads are put through the wringer, wrongfully committed and left holding the bag, accused of their phantom's murders. No spoilers, but in both cases escape and redemption are only possible by adapting their menace's skills and becoming a righteous variation of the monster (I'd even say that both are sorta subversive superhero origin stories at heart). It's really been a long time since I've experienced a film with such a rousing and satisfying conclusion. Clever, compact and refreshingly to the point- this sleek sci-fi/horror/thriller hybrid like THE THING, THE FLY & INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS before it; joins an all too tiny club of relevant remakes that are equal to or even surpass their source material. What can I say? There's no better way to put it, THE INVISIBLE MAN is a must-see, simple as that.
Name That Trauma:: Ruben V. on a Tree Contraption Death
Hey there,
I stumbled upon your website the other day after seeing a Facebook post. I've been enjoying the content, and even found a few movies I may check out. I noticed that you, as well as your fans have a deep knowledge of horror flicks and I was wondering if you could possibly pin down a movie that I only remember one exact scene from, which is quite brief, but ill give it a shot. It was on TV I believe when I was a kid (early to mid '90s possibly) and all I remember is a man running in the woods away from something/someone. He then leans against a tree and a vice contraption goes over his eyes and squeezes them. I'm not sure if this is completely made up or an actual film, but if you possibly know of a film similar to what was described that would be great. Thank you for posting great content, and I will be continuing to follow your posts.
Take care
-Ruben V.
UNK SEZ: Thanks, Rubin! I'm glad you found us! I may be wrong but that sounds like the death of Eddie Kelso in FRIDAY THE 13th: A New Beginning. Strangely, I just watched that the other night! Check it out HERE and let us know if that's the case. Otherwise, we'll keep looking. If any of our readers can think of any other possibilities, please comment!
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