Halloween Movie Night: REC

Usually the best scary movies are American, but this is not the case: REC is a Spanish zombie horror film shot in Barcelona, Spain, and directed by Spanish producer Jaume Balaguerò. The movie has the same “shaky camera” techniques as The Blair Witch Project, and this makes the film really realistic. REC is filmed as a found footage movie, in which the protagonists are trapped in a scary house where strange and horrible things happen. A reporter and her cameraman manage to record everything that happens; apparently, there is an infection and they cannot be rescued from the situation.

The film was shown on several Festivals around the world (also at the famous Venice International Film Festival), and when the producer was interviewed, he said that the most important influence for their movie wasn’t other movies, as it usually is, but TV; in fact, they wanted to create an original horror movie, played like a TV Show, and analyzing the aspects of not being able to escape from your fears.

This movie has received very positive critics and is considered a really original movie, that catches the attention of the audience during the entire experience.

This is a movie recommended for Halloween night, because there is a solid story behind and it’s realistic.

Thanks to the success of the first movie, the crew was able to do a sequel in 2009, portraying the events that followed after the end of the previous film.

 

 

Halloween Must-See: The Addams Family

This is a brilliant show that can be considered a real classic Gothic Horror TV series. If you have not seen it yet, you just have to, and this is the perfect period; The Addams Family is an iconic TV show, and its enduring popularity had led to numerous references in popular culture, and has inspired artwork, music, films, games and musicals.

 

Charles Addams (1912 – 1988), has become one of the most popular American cartoonists after creating the first sketches of The Addams Family in 1938, that was published for the first time in the American magazine of reportage and satire The New Yorker. His idea was that of creating a satirical inversion of the classical American family, but with darkly humorous and macabre characters. The family lives near a graveyard in a Victorian mansion, sharing macabre interests. But, they are not depicted as an evil family, on the opposite, they are very kind with each other, and friendly with their visitors; the only thing is that they are very strange. And that’s the feature that makes this TV show so hilarious.

There have been several TV series productions during the years; the first of them was all shot in black and white and was produced in 1964 by the ABC TV network. The New Addams Family was filmed in 1998 in Canada. The original story was proposed, but with more modern elements and jokes.

 There have also been several film productions, as Halloween with The Addams Family, in 1977, where the family celebrates Halloween together.

The music is also a very important part of the show, and a CD compilation of The Addams Family TV series was released in 1981; there have been several musicals, and there will be more: in 2017 a brand new musical of the Addams Family will be played in the UK.

In 2010 it was announced that a film of The Addams Family would have been produced by the brilliant Tim Burton, a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams’s original drawings, but unfortunately, it has been cancelled. Let’s hope they will get again on this idea in the future because it would be awesome if Tim Burton directed a movie like this.

 

 

 

 

 

Ghosts Throughout the Centuries

The widespread believe in afterlife has supported the believe of the existence of the ghost, a soul or spirit of a dead person that can appear to the living. We have the first written proof of man that has seen a ghost already in very ancient literature, in particular in religious books and volumes; in fact, some practices of spiritualism and rituals, as funerals in the Christian religion (but also other celebrations in several other religions), are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the death.

 

A ghost can also be named poltergeist, and that’s a German word to indicate a very noisy ghost, and in particular one that manifests itself by moving objects, also violently.

The ghost is a very fascinating and mysterious figure and as such it has been analyzed in many human fields, like literature, religion, folklore, anthropology, science and mythology, to mention just a few of them.

In many cultures when you see a ghost it’s because it has some unresolved things on earth and it can’t rest in peace, or seeking revenge, so obviously most people would feel scared; many are both scared and fascinated, by something that is not known by mankind. Science try to explain the phenomena as light and air scientific phenomena, and optical illusions, but many of the proofs cannot be explained by science. So it’s a big mystery. As death itself; no one knows what’s going to come next, so the man is feeling helpless.

Ghosts are mostly seen as misty, white and transparent figures shaped in the air. But, there is a very important difference in sightseeing of ghost, because as they represent the good and the evil, there are ghosts seen considered “good souls”, but some not. In this case their names are demons.

Ghosts are often seen in ancient mansions or rural areas. A common legend is also that of the ghost ships, ships full of ghosts that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. These legends are both from the Pirate periods, but also from the period of the American Conquest.

Whatever you believe in ghosts or not, on Halloween night it’s a must to sit down with friends and tell spooky ghost stories in front of a bonfire and with a warm cup of tea.

Runes and Spells

There are two equinoxes every year, one in March and one right now, in September. When the sun shines directly on the Equator, the length of day and night is nearly equal. Ever since the birth of man, this period of transformation was celebrated with bonfires, rituals and particular pagan spells.

 

Before the conversion to Christianity, and consequently the adoption of Latin letters, both Germanic and Scandinavian populations used runic alphabets, a very controversial and mystic form of writing, in fact we don’t know the process of transmission of this script. What we know is that there are runic inscriptions and rune stones that are analyzed by linguists nowadays to find out more about them; Runology is a specialized branch of Germanic Linguistics. Runes were made on wood, stones and bone.

The fascinating mystery of the runes is that the first runes found were probably not used as a writing form for communication at the beginning; specialists claims they were mostly used as magical signs and for divination, in shamanic initial rituals in which the initiate underwent a physical trial in order to receive mystic wisdom. Strangely, the word “rune” means “something hidden”.

 

Also, many runes that have been deciphered by linguists contain solemn inscriptions of glorious people who died.

A long time ago, during this period of time, and during traditional harvest pagan festivals and feasts, runes have been fundamental to make spells preparing for winter.

Halloween Traditions: Scotland

Although Halloween is celebrated at his peak in the United States, it’s a very ancient celebration and there are several traditions related to this night wherever you go.

With its beautiful and mystic landscapes, dark castles, legends, and significant history, it’s not difficult to imagine that Scotland has several connections with Halloween.

In Edinburgh there is a spectacular festival that takes place every year at Halloween, the Samhuinn Fire Festival, organized by the Beltane Fire Society. A beautiful form of street theatre and performances, with music and dance, costumes and fire. The Celtic Festival mostly want to celebrate the changing of the seasons, the end of summer and the beginning of winter, with a very atmospheric event.

Obviously, another Halloween tradition also present in Scotland as well as all over the world, is pumpkin carving, and the creation of lanterns; following the tradition, this should send away negativity and demonic spirits.

 

Castle Haunted Tours are also celebrated during this period, and the guides often tells mystic stories and secrets of the fortress visited.

Scotland has a very ancient history, and a dark period that is often remembered in October is the Witch Trials in Early Modern Scotland.

In fact, in 1563, the Witchcraft Act made for the first time the use of witchcraft a real crime, and women supposed to be witches was persecuted and killed. It was a very dark and sad period of Scottish history and many innocent lives were sacrificed.

The King of Scotland James VI had an important role during this period; Agnes Sampson, a midwife considered to have healing powers, was convicted of using witchcraft to send storms against James’s ship. The king became obsessed with persecution of witches and insisted on torture for the suspects. He even wrote a book about how important it was to exterminate all the witches, the Daemonologie. Not everyone knows that this book was the background material of Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth.

Haunted House Tour: President Truman’s house, Missouri

A very huge part of Halloween and one of the most fascinating things to talk about in this period, is haunted houses you could visit. This is one of them.

President Harry Truman (1884 – 1972), the 33^rd President of the United States, spent most of his youth at his family’s farm in the city of Independence, Missouri. Truman’s home before, during and after his presidency, where he lived with his friend and wife Bess Wallace, is now a museum and you can get tours inside the beautiful mansion.

 

It’s all entirely Victorian Architecture, and very well preserved, surrounded by trees in a wonderful garden. Many visitors of the house claim to have seen a ghost very similar to the President on numerous occasions. The living room of the house is where he is often spotted (and that’s strange because he always said that that was his favorite place to be in the house); some people even claim to smell his favorite type of brandy walking around in the hallway of the mansion.

The site is now designated as National Historic Site. Harry was so happy to live in this house that, before the Truman Library was opened in 1957, the Truman Home served also as Harry’s personal office. Truman’s only child, Mary Margaret, was born in this house.

Something really interesting about the mansion and that not everyone knows is that the second floor of the house cannot be visited by the public; that’s because Bess wrote in her will that she didn’t desire to show that part of the house to anyone, until her daughter’s death. But, even if Mary Margaret died in 2008, the authorities have strangely decided to maintain the closure.

At the ground floor, however, you can find several interesting things that show more of Harry and Bess’s characters, as a piano Harry used to play on, a portrait of the First lady at the White House and several books of the Truman’s library.

Here is the link to the National Park Service of the United States, where you can find useful info if you decide to visit this mystic and interesting ancient mansion.

https://www.nps.gov/hstr/index.htm

Friday the 13th

For the Halloween night/period, a classic movie to watch is Friday the 13^th; actually, there are several movies you can choose to watch. This is a huge horror movie saga composed of 12 film (nine sequels, one spin-off and one remake). However, the first movie was made in 1980 by the American producer Sean Sexton Cunningham.

Jason Voorhees, the main character of all the movies, is now considered a classical character in horror history and he is known also by people who have not seen Friday the 13^th. In fact, this character has been represented during the years in several novels, video games, comic books; and he has also been the protagonist of a film with another iconic horror character: Freddy Krueger. Jason is one of the leading cultural icons of American popular culture.

The main place of the movie is a lake called the Crystal Lake, surrounded by woods, where Jason lives as a hermit. In one of the films, five American teenagers have the idea to set up a camp there, and they will be killed by the mysterious Jason. What also surprise the audience is that the man is completely silent throughout most of the movies. There is an explanation of how Jason became such a monster, and what he had to go through. You have to watch it to understand why this saga is considered a classical horror story, sad, cold, and scary. Also, great makeup artists and stuntmen made his character very realistic.

 

 

 

 

Halloween and Poetry: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I think almost everyone with a passion with fantasy and horror related stuff is now looking forward to Halloween. I love Halloween and everything related to this day, so from now on I’ve planned a lot of articles Halloween related I want to share with you and talk about. Expect to read about Halloween traditions around the world, horror movie reviews and recommendations for this period, my favorite Halloween and dark related books, as well as decorations and recipes for a perfect Halloween night alone or with friends.

 

I’ll began by writing about something that is not so usual to analyze, but in my opinion it’s a very interesting field:  the correlation between Halloween and poetry.

There are so many amazing dark writers and so many beautiful works that I just had to pick one of my favorites. Every week I’ll write a different dark poem that in my opinion is a perfect reading for this period. Feel free to tell me about your favorite poem (and writer) in the comment section.

 

The first author I want to talk to you about is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), one of the most known New England poets. He was politically very active and a public supporter of abolitionism of slavery, as well as a professor and translator (he was the first man who translated the Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri in American). He wrote several poems, but one of his most beautiful ones is “Haunted Houses”. Here it is.

“All houses wherein men have lived and died

Are haunted houses. Through the open doors

The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,

With feet that make no sound upon the floor.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,

Along the passages they come and go,

Impalpable impressions on the air,

A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts,

Invited; the illuminated hall

Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,

As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see

The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;

He but perceives what is; while unto me

All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;

Owners and occupants of earlier dates

From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,

And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit world around this world of sense

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

Wafts through these earthly mists and vaporous dense

A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise

By opposite attractions and desires;

The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,

And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar

Of earthly wants and aspirations high,

Come from the influence of an unseen star

An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud

Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,

Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd

Into the realm of mystery and night;

 So from the world of spirits there descends

A bridge of light, connecting it with this,

O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,

Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.”

 

 

How beautiful is this poem? He talks about ghosts, but he also talks about the correlation between life and death and he wonders on man’s life on the earth, and how he feels on being alive.

 

What’s your interpretation of the poem?

 

The History of Fantasy: when the genre arose

Fantasy is a very ancient art, and it has developed throughout the centuries in various subjects: cultural studies, history, literature, music, art, plays, music, cinema… and I could go on and on. But what are the elements that make a fantasy work? The predominant characteristics of Fantasy are tales or stories in which we have myths, imagination, supernatural, symbolism and surreal elements; but we can also have dark elements, magic castles and creatures, and most of the times, a really close correlation with nature. Fantasy has many subcategories.

 

We have the first written forms of the Fantasy genre in ancient Classic Latin, Egyptian and Greek mythology, but also in the Celtic and Scandinavian tradition.

The Medieval period played a very important role in the distribution of written Fantasy fairytales and stories; in fact, scribes used to spend years writing down several copies of ancient literature, so they would be transmitted to the future generations and their work is very precious today (despite many works was destroyed and burned by repressive censorship, if it was believed that the work was against the religion of the moment).

 

A fundamental role was played, as I already said, by J. J. R. Tolkien, from 1954 and until now. He is considered the “father” of Fantasy because he managed to take this genre at its peak and make it one of the most important and followed today, by young generations and old ones.

Some names of talented fantasy authors today are J. K. Rowling (how can we not mention her?), Stephen King, George Martin, and Christopher Paolini; these are some of the names that have greatly contributed to make the Fantasy genre successful today.

 

We also can’t forget that from the seventies the first Fantasy role plays was created, as Dungeons & Dragons. Nowadays there are fantastic role plays that you can physically play with, but with technology the development of computer and Play Station video games are real (as Final Fantasy or The Lord of the Rings).

Fantasy is wonder, imagination. You get to know new worlds and fantastic stories.

What’s your favorite Fantasy work?