kindertrauma

Name That Trauma :: Reader Ed B. on a Pre-Scissors, Suicidal Shut-In

Posted on By aunt john

I have been trying for many years to find the black & white thriller about a woman trapped in an apartment with many ways to commit suicide, but no way out. Probably made in the '50s, I remember watching it on TV in the early '60s. But I don't even remember the names of any of the players. I just remember watching a woman try to find a way out, only to find several ways to kill herself.

Does this sound familiar to anyone at KinderTrauma?

Sure would appreciate any thoughts you might have to help me find this flick.

Thanks!

— Ed B.

Traumafessions :: Reader David O. on Miracles (and Maggots) Still Happen

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I know you hear all the time about traumafessions that have been nagging people for years, and this is no different. I was ready to submit it as a "Name that Trauma" segment but blissfully found my answer and have been able to put 36 years of hunting behind me. Being a kid in the '70s, I was obsessed with all things Bigfoot and airplane disaster movies, so I remember being thrilled to find a repeat of a movie that was based on real-life events of a horrific plane crash with one lone survivor.

The film is called MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN (1975) and tells the tale of Juliane Koepcke who was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Peruvian rainforest. It has the usual suspense and expected terror of your typical plane crash movie, but the real excitement starts when poor Juliane has to trudge through the jungle to find help. After 10 days of solitary drudgery she finally finds some loggers who help her and eventually get her to civilization.

Right when you think all is well and you can eat your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the unthinkable happens: They start squeezing bugs out of her wounds. The entire theme is bad enough when you consider the horror she must have experienced, but then we're subjected to live maggots in bloody wounds, and that's all she wrote folks. All I kept thinking was "I wonder if they missed one and it's still living in her system?". I have no idea if this movie is available, and I doubt I'd want to watch it again. But at least I found it and can rest easy knowing she got all the bugs out all those years ago.

Streaming Alert :: The Dark Hours (2005)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Here's a twisty-tense thriller that deserves more attention. I mentioned my admiration for 2005's Canadian psychological thriller THE DARK HOURS a while back in our SNOWBOUND HORROR post. Now, I am happy to tell you that the film is available on Netflix Streaming. To make sure that this flick did not appear larger in my rear view mirror than it actually was, I recently gave it a second gander and found myself just as taken with it as I was before. The amazing thing is that THE DARK HOURS takes on several story elements that I am usually in no mood for and somehow makes me enjoy it just the same. Do I want to see a home invasion flick where people are made to crawl around and grovel while the attacker acts like a morally superior smarmy know it all? No, I hate movies like that! I myself would rather be killed than lectured by a psychopath. Still, somehow against odds, THE DARK HOURS works for me.

KATE GREENHOUSE stars as cool as a cucumber popsicle Dr. Samantha Goodman. If you think the glare she delivers her patients is frigid, check out how she robotically scans an X-ray of her very own brain tumor. (GREENHOUSE deserves big credit for remaining likable while aloof.) When her boss suggests she needs to chillax before she splits at the seams, she heads out for a weekend at her secluded cabin. Once there she finds her caught-off-guard husband and younger sister acting post-screw shady… or is she just being paranoid? A game of Operation does much to lighten the mood but soon the trio are unhappy to learn that they have uninvited houseguests in the form of one of Sam's sadistic ex-patients (piercing AIDAN DEVINE) and his creepy tag along disciple (JASON X's DOV TIEFENBACH.) Terrible things happen. So much so that I want to turn the movie off but I can't. I'm not a fan of involving pets in home invasion festivities. It bums me out.

It ain't what you do though, it's the way that you do it and THE DARK HOURS is never nasty for empty shock value alone. The set up may feel familiar but the theatrical way it's presented is impressively layered. Miniscule details are ten months pregnant with meaning and the coded dialogue weaves together a persuasive anxious mood. The cabin itself becomes a map of Sam's own troubled mind with mice scratching around in the attic and a fruit cellar built for hiding and denial. Eventually the surfaces of things are scratched away and we are made to realize that not only are several characters misrepresenting themselves but also, thanks to Sam's scrambled viewpoint, nothing may be what it seems. I know what you're thinking. I'm kind of over the "what is reality?" crutch casually kicked around in films these days too, but THE DARK HOURS is so intricate with its tinkering of appearances that it reminds me how effective the concept can be when handled with care.

THE DARK HOURS may be too unnerving to be called "fun" but if you are down for something with a toasty fireside parlor game atmosphere and you can appreciate a more adult approach to horror this is worth your time. It has all the right screws loose and it actually earns the right to lie to you.

Traumafessions :: Filmmaker Chris Moore On Suspiria

Posted on By unkle lancifer

SUSPIRIA came to me a little later in life, around 9 or 10 years old, but it left me with the same lingering fear that (my previous traumafession) did. I discovered it in an issue of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's 50 (or was it 100?) scariest movies of all time. It sounded interesting and had a black & white picture of STEFANIE CASINI tangled in barbed wire, which, at the time, I thought was simply a woman hiding in some very tall grass.

I rented the VHS from my local video store after school on Friday and popped it in. After the first 15 minutes, I had to turn it off. I was scared out of my mind. It was just so brutal…and yet beautiful and surreal…and confusing. It felt like every nightmare I had ever had. At that point, I became a DARIO ARGENTO fan for life. For the first time, I had seen an expression of my nightmares on film. It was phenomenal and truly scary.

As a kid, I had many nightmares similar to SUSPIRIA. I know many people say we dream in black & white, but I don't believe that at all…not after seeing SUSPIRIA. My dreams consisted of similar color schemes, velvet curtains, long corridors, evil witches, strange music, people acting odd, things not making sense…everything SUSPIRIA had to offer. Actually, I even remember having a dream that looked and felt almost exactly like the ARGENTO produced, DEMONS! It took place in an old theatre and everything, but I was only 3 or 4 years old when I had this dream. Spooky, eh?

It's probably one of the main reasons why I wanted to become a filmmaker. If audiences have embraced DARIO ARGENTO's nightmares, maybe they'll embrace mine!

UNK SEZ: Thanks CHRIS! I could not agree with you more about the power of SUSPIRIA! Folks, CHRIS' movie PERVERSION is now available to watch anytime you like on Amazon Instant Video HERE! Check it out!

Name That Trauma :: Reader Chas on a Body Burned as Guy Fawkes

Posted on By aunt john

I'm trying to track down the title of an old black & white suspense/thriller movie set in England in the 1940s or '50s I saw on T.V. that included a killer who disposes of a (woman's?) body by disguising it as a Guy Fawkes effigy and then putting it on one of the public bonfires on Guy Fawkes night.

It kind of had the air of some of the ALFRED HITCHCOCK shows, but I couldn't find it in a list of his T.V. episodes?

Any thoughts?

— Chas

Name That Trauma :: Reader OnlyChild1213 on Creepy Commercials

Posted on By aunt john

Hi Guys. It's been too long. Had to drop by after spending my morning chasing down old anti-drug PSAs. I was disappointed with DARREN ARONOFSKY's new ones for the Meth Project – too sleek for my taste, perhaps – which made me nostalgic for some of the ads from my past that *really* traumatized me.

There's one I can't seem to find, probably from the late '90s or early 2000s, that I could never sit through after the first time (which unfortunately was late at night, wrapped in a blanket on the sofa in the dark). I always assumed it was made by Partnership for a Drug-Free America, but after researching their ad history, I'm beginning to doubt it.

In the ad, a glamorous woman, heavily made up and possibly in a long evening gown, seats herself before a lighted vanity mirror. She starts taking off normal things, like her makeup, maybe some fake eyelashes… though even that is very striking in the unflattering light. You begin to dread what is coming next, and then, affirming your worst fears, she removes her wig, revealing no or very thin hair, and finally, yes, false teeth. I'm assuming these were the effects of meth, but I'm not certain. I have no recollection of what the ad sounded like, in terms of music, effects, or voiceover.

And while I'm at it, I'll mention another commercial – this one not drug-related, but obviously still employing a scare tactic – that I've also been unable to find. Up until recently I was positive it was for Liberty Mutual Life Insurance, but now I'm doubting my memory. A teddy bear is falling from the top of a tall building in slow motion, while a child's voice sings some type of chant or nursery rhyme. The camera is looking up from directly underneath. The teddy bear gets closer and closer to the lens as it falls, and finally there is an impact that seems to crack the camera lens. The suggestion is clearly of a child's death.

Man, that was a depressing contribution. Sorry! Advertising execs are sick! If you guys can assist with either or both of those, I'd be obliged.

Much Love,

OnlyChild1213