What makes a scary movie scary – Part 1

Let’s start off with the fact that blood and gore does not qualify as scary or at least not to myself. To me a good scary movie requires tactics that will cause the viewer to be scared. Such as a a suspenseful scene where you don’t know if the victim will escape the villain and you can feel their fear. Another great scare tactic to me is the unexpected when suddenly someone or something pops out of nowhere, it always makes me jump. I also think that a movie can be made scary by music and other various sound effects that leave you to imagine what may happen. I think a scary movie requires a lot more than just blood, guts, and people being tortured. My personal opinion is that some of the scariest movies you see have very little or no blood at all. Some of those movies include Halloween, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Shining and the original The House on Haunted Hill (1958).

Book reviews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone is the first American version of the wildly popular children’s book series which has taken the literary world by storm. This is the first in JK Rowling’s seven part series. It differs very slightly from the original British version. The most significant changes being trunk of the car instead of boot, elevator for lift, sweater for jumper and sneakers for trainers. Other than that the books are virtually identical.

The story is about a very ordinary eleven year old boy who suddenly discovers upon the arrival of a letter from a school called Hogwarts, that he isn’t at all ordinary and that he just so happens to be very famous in his world. What is his world? The magical world of witchcraft. He happens to be a wizard and the invitation is to the most prestigious school of witchcraft and wizardry. At first he doesn’t believe this but soon he realizes that it all makes sense.

Harry Potter, an orphan raised by his mother’s sister and her husband, is never shown love, is mistreated and practically a slave for his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and hardly more than a punching bag for his much larger cousin Dudley. He always wondered why strange things always seemed to happen to him and now he knows why. He was doing magic without realizing it. He quickly decides to go to this school and learn all he can. He doesn’t care what lay in store for him in the wizarding world. It couldn’t be worse than where he was. Or is it?

He soon learns there are great dangers awaiting him in the magical world as he sets off to his new school. He discovers his parents didn’t die in a car crash as the Dursleys always told him. They were murdered by the most evil and most feared wizard ever, Lord Voldemort. He had even tried to kill Harry. But why would he want to kill a one year old toddler? And why couldn’t the most powerful wizard kill a baby? It’s only two of many mysteries to be solved.

He acquires some wonderful and drastically different friends to help him enter into the magical world with a bit more ease but always with a lot of fun and some astonishing adventures along the way. He meets giants, witches, wizards, and finds that everyone expects him to be a great wizard. Talk about pressure! Will he make it in the magical world? Or will they kick him out because he’s horrible? Will he survive? Will he ever learn all he needs to learn to do magic? Such are his concerns. Pretty much like any other boy in a new school.

Not quite. At Hogwarts the suits of armor move around on their own, the staircases change at their whim, the portraits on the walls talk and ask for secret passwords, there are friendly and not so friendly ghosts hovering around every where, a poltergeist named Peeves who throws chalk at the new students and causes mayhem all day long, there are hatching dragon eggs nestled in fireplaces and there’s a forbidden forest on the ground with mystical creatures like unicorns and centaurs and so much more.

It’s a brilliant novel full of wit and charm, magic and whimsy but also with frightening aspects too. Harry needs to face those fears head on if he want to survive but will he manage? Only one way to find out. Grab yourself a copy and enjoy. From the very first paragraph to the last I can guarantee you a wonderful literary experience like none other. Through the fantastic use of the written word Harry Potter comes alive. JK Rowling has a masterpiece on her hands. Let’s hope the rest of the series delivers as well as the first installment. I don’t think we have to worry.

Do you believe in miracles?

I don’t believe in miracles, but my disbelief comes from a position of authority: I’ve experienced a few. As I don’t believe in any kind of divinity, I can’t believe in the kind of miracle agonised over by Vatican conclaves, whereby some divine power suspends the workaday rules of nature to make a point to his or her followers. I do however believe in the less ostentatious, secular variety of miracle, which is really nothing more than a remarkable happenstance. The two meanings are poles apart; yet one denies wonder while the other affirms it.

We live in a complicated universe which is only intelligible at a subjective level. We understand events in the ways that serve us best. If I were to walk away unscathed from a spectacular plane crash leaving every one of my fellow passengers dead, newspapers would call my survival miraculous. Various strands of supernatural belief might colour this response: Perhaps God had reached out to shield me from the impact; my guardian angel might have persuaded me to sit in Row Z behind the bulkhead; good karma could have paid me a dividend.

But would it then follow that my fellow passengers somehow deserved their fate, having all been less obedient to their deity, less respectful to their ancestors or less willing to hold doors open for strangers? Would it not have been simpler for the divinity to just prevent the mid-air collision, rather than orchestrating a complex sequence of flukes to save my very average self? If I were so favoured, what on earth did the divinity have against the others? The lazy, deus-ex-machina plot device makes us groan in the cinema but is less critically received in reality.

I had a real and nasty cycling accident last year: I was hit by a car at speed and I broke my back. I was improbably lucky in many ways. I wasn’t wearing a helmet but nothing hit my head. I was hit by a small car and I’m a big guy. I bounced onto the verge and not into oncoming traffic. Unusually for the road, the verge was wide, grassy and free of concrete, barbed wire and thorny plant-life. One of my vertebrae disintegrated but I retained full use of all my limbs. I feel enormously lucky, but that luck is dumb and non-judgemental. For every accident like mine, many more end in death or paralysis. Conversely, others result in nothing more than bruised pride and road rage. I feel I should be grateful, but grateful to what? I don’t believe in any supernatural force capable of being thanked.

When I let my eyes drink in the night sky, I find the appalling immensity of creation miraculous. The fact that my eyes are here to see it at this precise point in an incomprehensible span of space and time is miraculous. When my sister gleams with joy at the sight of her firstborn, a ruddy, kicking and bright-eyed affirmation of life, she’s looking at a miraculous end to a long struggle, both personal and evolutionary. When I read about the torments that have defined human life for most of recorded history, I find it miraculous that I live in centrally-heated comfort without fear of hunger, disease or war. The miracle is that all of these wonders are within the scope of nature, not in the gift of something outside it.

We need thank no supernatural entity, but if we have known any joy or wonder, and have been spared the worst that human history has to offer, we should acknowledge our debt to pure dumb luck and human endeavour. After all, if you flip a coin enough times, you’ll eventually get heads ten times in a row.

Romance book reviews: The Demons Daughter, by Emma Holly

*Warning* This book has adult themes mostly erotica.

Emma Holly, writer of “Personal Assets” and “Strange Attractions” as well as “The Demon’s Daughter,” is an up-and-coming romance erotica author. Normally I don’t recommend erotica because the sex can overtake a story, but in the case of Holly, this writer knows how to tell a really good story.

“The Demon’s Daughter” is about a Inspector Adrian Philips, who has been enhanced so that he can be a peacekeeper between the demons and humans. He was enhanced by a demon doctor, who is an amoral scientist willing to experiment on demons or humans for science and power. The other protagonist in this story is Roxanne McAllister, who is a daughter of a famous singer. Her mother was known throughout the world as having a marvelous voice, but also infamous for her sexual exploits.

One of the twists to this story is that the demons drink some essence from humans that gives them emotional experiences (somewhat like a drug). The higher demons can drink this essence with no problems, but the lower demons can be affected like drug addicts in our own world. It is a big problem because children have the purest essence and are stolen by procurers, humans working for demons, and sold to demons.

Inspector Philips on his own time goes to the slums to find kidnapped children. Unfortunately, the slum-dwellers think he is a procurer and beats him badly. He drags himself to a building that is owned by Roxanne… and so they meet. Roxanne has had many jobs since her mother died, including painting boudoir pictures, but now she is a famous painter in her own right.

Another character in this story is Avvar. Avvar is the city very similar to the Victorian cities of our past. There are the very poor, the very rich, and those who have been able to make a living in unfortunate ways – prostitutes, chimney sweeps, procurers, etc. If you read about the Industrial age in England, you will recognize much of the history of Avvar. In a way, it was like meeting an old friend. In others it reminded the reader of past horrors.

In this background, Roxanne finds that she is the half-human daughter of a higher demon. It is impossible for demons and humans to mingle seed, but it was done. The demon doctor/scientist and the prince of the demons become interested in Roxanne for reasons of their own.

Even though I skipped through a lot of the sexual exploits (yea, I can be a prude), the story line was interesting enough to carry me through the entire story. Emma Holly has put two characters into a fascinating world. I think I would like to read more of her books.

Movie reviews: The Exorcist – Part 1

All exorcist movies are very scary! The first movie contained some really amazing scenes such as walking in a ‘crab back’ position down a staircase, the green vomit, stabbing of the private parts, moving of the furniture just to name a few. This movie really scared me when i was younger, i could not sleep by myself for days. Then the sequel with a much mature Regen did not fail to entertain, i really loved the scenery and the demon bozuzoo in the form of an insect the writers were really creative in this movie especially in battle scene at the end of the movie where the house was eventually destroyed by these creatures.

THE BEGINNING; really had me jumping and gripping my boyfriend’s during the movie. The history of the burial ground, The demon posses boy( especially the scene with the hyenas) Last but not least the circumstances surrounding the uncovering of the church. I really enjoyed the ending of the movie with the priest and the little child it was really touching how they defeat the demon together as a team.

The best movie IS THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE! what an excellent movie. The only reason i did not walk out of the cinema was my pride. I was scared from beginning to end. During her unexpected demon visitations, toucher, first visit by the demons,the church scene,boyfriend sleep over,priest attracts in the room before the actual exorcist exercise began,failed attempts to remove the demons and of course the very sad finale. I enjoyed every part of the story and cant wait for Another exorcist movie, to view on opening night.

Exploring the vampire in cinema – Part 14

You’ve probably heard it said that “Sex sells”, and there are few places where this is more true than in Hollywood. Hardly surprising, then, that the vampire should prove such an enduringly popular subject in cinema over the years. Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula’ – undeniably the most famous example of the vampire in fiction – is incredibly sexually charged considering the times in which it was written, and the term “vamp” has long been used to describe a person (usually, but not exclusively, a lady) who uses their sexuality to exploit others. Indeed, in the first film to bear the word vampire’ in the title, the 1909 silent film The Vampire of the Coast”, the vampires are femmes fatales, rather than the undead creatures of Stoker’s tale.

It did not take long for the kind of vampire which will be more familiar to a modern audience to emerge, and a spate of vampire-inspired films followed. It is interesting to note that several of the vampires portrayed in these films act almost as vamps’ themselves; there is, for instance, a latent sexuality in the almost balletic movements of Bela Lugosi in the role of Dracula in the 1931 classic. Even those of us who may not have seen Lugosi’s interpretation of the character will recall, if nothing else, the smooth movement and long, swishing cloak of the vampire in so many other films which belies the sexual predator, waiting to strike.

Of course, as society, and cinema, have become more tolerant, so the portrayal of the sexual nature of the vampire has developed. This is exemplified in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire’ and its sequel Queen of the Damned’, based on the books by Anne Rice. Here, drinking blood is not only a necessity for survival, but a sexual pleasure sex being something the vampires have left behind when they become undead. The main character in the second film, Lestat, is even seen hiring prostitutes – not for sex, but in order to terrify and kill them, and the sexual element of the vamp’ is obvious in the character of Akasha, the Queen of the Damned. Perhaps most interestingly, Queen of the Damned’ sees Lestat as that other, more modern sex symbol fronting a rock group.

Yet behind the portrayal of vampires as beings who live this seemingly free, rock n’ roll’ lifestyle lurks something else when we begin to sympathise with the vampire, then we must wonder why we continue to be afraid of them. The obvious answer is that they suck blood, and kill people. Yet their victims do not die,

Spiritual research into the existence of ghosts – Part 2

Into the existence of ghosts we certainly search for spirituality

because all the supernatural world is forcing us to search explanations

for spiritual things. If we believe in eternity and the survival of our

soul it is clear that we are looking for spirituality and a new world

after life.

Ghosts belongs to a soul, which survive after death there some people

gifted to see ghosts, not everybody have the ability to see or feel them

In believing in ghosts we are looking for answers about the after life

But certain people only believe with proof of existence of the ghosts

or do not believe in the afterlife.

Spirituality pertains to things that belongs to our soul or beliefs

If we are witnessing some supernatural things this forcing us to

ask question certainly about the afterlife. So I think that all

those subjects are related to one other. Things on the earth and

people on the earth pertains to people who live but ghosts belongs

to things that we cannot see with everybody eyes so this happens

only in special situations or special place with particular persons.

And spiritual things or spirituality belongs to people who have faith

and believe in an afterlife like in the Bible.This belong to a life

that we cannot understand now because we live on this earth and are

human. Maybe having faith in God and in the afterlife make us believe

in supernatural things but doesn’t mean that we can explain why this

sort of things happens in this world like ghosts or extra censorial things.

It certainly make us asking question about spirituality and forcing us

to believe in spiritual things.

But we cannot have all the answers just some sort of investigations and

research to establish there is a spiritual world out there.

Most of these research are made by researchers or gifted people or

spiritualists people, but ordinary people have to believe those facts

or experience because their ability are limited to do research on those

subjects. Some books and researchers talk about the afterlife

It is our judgment to believe or not believe on those sort of things.

Ghost Hunting – Televised Events

What I think we need to understand is that televised ghost hunts are edited to the point where they give the impression that there is continuous activity.  This is very understandable when you consider that they only have an hour to demonstrate 2 days worth of ghost hunting time.  This is obviously edited and therefore the paranormal activity seems relentless.  As a ghost hunter myself I can sometimes feel very envious of how televised events present themselves to the eager observers.  I wish that on an untelevised event we could get that much activity.  However, this is not the case.  On many ghost hunt events it could be a long arduous night with very much happening at all and when it does there is no repetition or replay of the moment.  We have to be alert and eagle eyed throughout the event.  The best thing about having a lot of people there is that there are more people to hear and see activity.  The downside is obviously that there are also a lot of people who can make noise which can be misinterpreted.

All ghost hunts are fascinating.  Every location is unique as is every ghost hunt event.  The people attending the event all bring something different in terms of energy and belief about what they are doing.  I wonder how interesting it would be for a public ghost hunt to be televised and how controls could be enforced in order to make it entertaining.  It would of course be quite an active event as the timeframe would be filled with the movement of the public and re-settling into various locations.  However, I could see how this could work.  It would be a bit like the public who watch the televised versions of a ghost hunt physically going into the Television to be part of the televised event.  No longer being an observer but a participator. 

 

Have you ever considered going on a ghost hunt event?  If so then please visit our website at http://www.hauntedhappenings.co.uk and we will ensure that you will have an experience that you will never forget,

TV show reviews: Ghost Hunters

The Sci-Fi Network has had many hit shows in its past, but one of their top-notch shows, Ghost Hunters, has easily found one of TV’s biggest fanbases. It’s fan unite all over the world. The website for this show accumulates millions of hits and new members every single week. Obviously, this show isn’t slowing down any time soon.

I’m a big fan of Ghost Hunters. I’ve watched since season 1. I own the first 4 seasons on DVD. I thought it was one of the best shows ever. And back in the day, when I first started watching, it never failed to spook me. Some of the things they’ve caught on video and audio are just amazing. But there comes a point where every show gets boring to even some of its biggest fans. It has happened to me already, which is a sad thing. The show was so original in its first 3 seasons. The team members were interesting and entertaining, and the cases were different. They went to people’s homes, searching for ghosts. They were big name stars yet, and they didn’t let success go over their heads. If a case didn’t have any ghosts in it, that was okay. They didn’t care.

But now, it’s different. From season 4 onwards, they don’t really visit homes anymore. It’s all big name haunted places, with a lot of ghosts. If a case doesn’t have a ghost in it, they don’t even care to air it on TV. The predictability has also taken its toll. Nearly every episode is now the same thing, which is very disappointing, because it never used to be that way. The stars of the show have let success get to them, and it’s sad. The spook factor is completely gone, which doesn’t help. Seeing that they caught a ghost saing “Hello” on an audio device just doesn’t impress me any more. Seeing a ghost-like figure on camera, or a dark shadow, or a strange mist doesn’t scare me any more. The spinoff, Ghost Hunters International, is absolutely terrible. I can’t stand the lead investigator, Rob, who annoys me like you wouldn’t believe. The show itself is just bad. That’s all there is to say.

But overall, if you’re looking for entertainment, and if you’re looking for ghosts, tune into Ghost Hunters Wednesdy at 9pm on Sci-fi. The DVDs continue to get released, so if you missed the first 4 seasons, buy them for a very reasonable price. It’s still a good show, and I still tune in from time to time. But hopefully, in the near future, to save viewers from being further disappointed, Sci-Fi will put this show to rest.

Paranormal investigator or ghost hunter? – Part 3

My husband lived in an old house in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. He was about 3 years old when his mother discovered that he use to sit up and talk to the ghost in the night and he had no memory of it the next day. He would have conversations with her. They called her Phyllis. She use to close and shut doors and would hide things away from the family. She did all sorts. One of the doors use to squeak and the council fixed it and Phyllis was not pleased and was quiet for a while. The family loved the house as the boys use to have the attic and the girls were in the other bedrooms as there were seven children all together.

The council had decided to demolished all the houses as they would take a lot of money to be done up as the council said. The people who lived in the houses were not pleased at all but the council had built some new houses and they had to live there. However, if the truth was out really the council wanted to split the tight community up as there were several houses and they formed like a square, so everyone use to call it the square. They all looked after each other. They borrowed each others washer and helped each other if the needed coal and things like that. They all looked after each other when the police use to call. They would never let the police tackle anyone in the square with out all of them being there to protect the person in question. That is what I mean about it being a tight community.

Anyhow, Phyllis was angry and things started to move around and was not pleased at all. The family had to move and so did Phyllis. Phyllis grew attached to Ian and what ever the house he moved to she use to follow him. When Ian and I met she made herself known and she use to pinch my bottom or she use to hide things away. I use to ask her to bring it back and she did. We liked each other which was a blessing as Ian and I got married. When we did get married, Phyllis moved in with us.

Ian use to smoke and she hide his cigarettes a lot. She use to like music and then lit up the stereo and put out the CD. She wanted music. I had trouble getting a top off the jar of pickles and I came into the room to ask Ian if he would take it off for me. As I entered back into the kitchen the top flew off the jar. I chuckled and said thank you. She also switches the telly over too and put on a dvd. It would be playing when we came into the house even if no one had been in. If Ian had shouted at us she use to and still does hide things

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