Ghost Stories-or Ghost Movies to be more specific

Before I had kids, I used to spend Halloween eating pizza and watching a good horror flick while passing out candy to the five or six Trick or Treaters that stopped by.  Now I’m out Trick or Treating with my kids.  Which of course is so much fun, but I do miss my pre-kid Halloweens a little. 

Ghost stories have always been my favorite of the horror genre.  I enjoy more eeriness and mystery to shock and gore, and a good creepy ghost story can scare me a little more than a vampire or werewolf mostly because, I hate to admit it, but part of me believes that ghosts might exist.  Embarrassing confession aside, ghost stories have always been my favorite Halloween picks.  So I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.

I haven’t watched very many horror movies since I had kids (partly because I have to wait until the kids are in bed to watch anything scary and partly because for some reason my mommy brain has a hard time with the horror elements, especially when they involve children which surprisingly so many do), so this list is going to be a little dated.

Anyway, in no particular order, here are my favorite ghost movies.

Sixth Sense (1999)-I love a good, big twist, and a while back I wrote this post on how perfectly this twist is pulled off.   This is one of my all-time favorite movies.  The story is amazing and while it isn’t really scary, there are some truly creepy moments, but it is the characters that make this film so compelling.  

Every character int he movie is in so much pain.  Malcolm feels like he failed a former patient and needs to help someone to redeem himself.     Cole can see ghosts which not only terrifies him but makes him different than everyone else, and he is afraid that if other people know, they will see him as a freak.   It is the great characterization that makes this movie.

The Others (2001)-This movie also has a great twist ending.  This movie centers around two mysteries of who are the intruders and what the mother did to the children that caused the rift between her and her daughter.  Both of these mysteries are really compelling and kept me riveted throughout the movie even though it had a slower pace.  Although like with Sixth Sense, this movie isn’t really scary, there are some very creepy moments, and the house itself and the darkness they must live in because of the children’s condition add to the eeriness of the movie.  But once again it is the characterization that really makes this movie.  

The mother is very conflicted, highly devoted to her children, there is no doubt that she loves them, but their condition has trapped her and isolated her.  There is great pain there, and this all leads to a really compelling and heart breaking story that I thought was amazing.  This story would have never worked without the complex characterization of the Mother and her children.

Poltergeist (1982)-This movie really freaked me out when I first saw it.  I still remember it.  I was about eight or nine at a slumber party, and I remember being so terrified once it was over that I couldn’t sleep.  All my friends had fallen asleep, and I just kept staring at the dark stairs, and I swear I saw the scene where the white spirits descend the stairs.  Maybe not, but I always had a way too active imagination.  

But I think this was the first movie that every really scared me.  I know it is a little old now, but I think it holds up pretty well as a scary story.  There were a lot of freaky moments:  like the clown attack and the vortex in the closet and the little girl talking to the static on the TV.  I thought overall it was a good story although the house disappearing may have been a little over the top.  Still I think it is a classic.   

The Ring (2002)-This movie was pretty freaky, and I was in college when I first watched it.  It had a creepy concept and lots of eerie imagery.  But ultimately it was the mystery of what happened to the girl that kept me watching, and it did have a nice twist in the ending that wasn’t as big as The Sixth Sense or The Others, but still I liked it.

The Shining (1980)-Just the premise of this movie was freaky enough.  The idea of spending a winter trapped in a huge, empty hotel in the middle of the wilderness is creepy all on its own.  But there were some really disturbing elements in the movie like the little boy saying “redrum” in that creepy voice and the ghost twin girls in the hallway.  And the father, who are supposed to protect their families, turning on the mother and the little boy in a murderous rampage truly made this story horrifying. 

So there you have my top picks.  Did I miss any good ones?  Let me know, I’m in the mood for a good ghost story.

Happy Halloween,

~MaryAnn

We Know Why We Write...Now Why Do We Publish?

My incredibly dorky phone

Like a lot of people these days, I have a smart phone.  One of the many benefits to owning it is being able to check my email, Facebook, etc., any time of the day.  I can look up movie times, place a library hold, or post pictures of my kids doing crazy things in real time.  There's really only one drawback to owning a smart phone: I can check my email, Facebook, etc. ANY TIME OF THE DAY.  It's not usually an issue.  I'm not one of those obsessive Internet junkies who spends all my time trolling forums or creating memes.  I don't even have to check in with my apps, because they are all set to alert me if I get any incoming messages.  Convenient, right?  Except when I am waiting for an answer to a query.

Yesterday, I sent off my first submission in two years.  As a result, I have checked my email no less than fifty times.  Possibly more.  Which is kind of hilarious, considering I just posted about dealing with rejection two weeks ago.  The thing is, I'm not afraid of being rejected.  I've had rejections in the past, and I survived.  I think what I'm really afraid of is being accepted.  The thought of being published--and the expectations my family and friends would have of me after that--makes me shake in my boots.  (Okay, fine, slippers.)

I think there is a second factor causing me to eye my phone nervously once every ten minutes.  I have always said I'd never be able to write a) short stories and b) horror.  I am awful at limiting the plot of a story, and more times than not, my short story idea hits 40,000 words before I realize what's happening.  At that point I usually shrug and forge ahead.  It doesn't really matter if I'm writing a short story or novel.  As long as I'm enjoying it, I'm happy.

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The horror genre is another matter.  I've read my share of Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe.  I love Mary Shelley.  I own a couple of Clive Barker books and they are in my TBR pile.  I love classic horror or a well-written contemporary piece.  But something has happened in the last twenty or thirty years.  Cinema has grossly distorted the entire genre to be something akin to the snuff film.  You can't watch an R rated movie these days without encountering too much sex and not enough plot.  Glorified, goreified porn.  And maybe that's okay with some people, but that's not what horror is about for me.  Unfortunately, books have followed where Hollywood is leading, and I've given horror a wide berth for the last few years.

Then, at the beginning of the month, I had an idea.  I'm not going into it here because it is horror, after all, and isn't suitable for polite company.  Let's just say it was a persistent idea, and eventually I got to the point that I couldn't ignore it.  I sat down to write, and when I finished, I realized that this is the sort of horror story I want to read.  It just so happened that a local magazine was looking for stories for their Halloween edition, so I screwed up my courage and sent it in.

Which brings us up to the present.  The question pressing on me now is, "What do I do if they like it?  What if my family wants to read it?"  I think my dad would be fine.  He'd buy extra copies and force his co-workers to read it, too.  My mom, however, would probably be horrified.

Which is kind of the reaction I was going for, though I'd like to avoid that awkward conversation I'd be stuck having about "writing things my grandparents can't read."

I guess my real question this week isn't "Why do I want to write?"  It's more along the lines of, "Why do I want to publish?"  I thought I understood, but this panic over submitting has forced me to reevaluate the question.  While I work on that, let me ask you:

What's your reason for seeking publication?