Halloween Countdown #29... 1408

  

 "Hotels are a naturally creepy place... Just think, how many people have slept in that bed before you? How many of them were sick? How many... died?

 

Mike Enslin (character)

Based On The Short Story, 1408

By Stephen King Stephen King 

 

Tonight's film is 1408, starring John Cusak and  Samuel L. Jackson. If it's a story by Stephen King, it must be a psychological horror story, capable of spinning you into a nightmare, even if all you are doing is sharing a bowl of popcorn with your favorite person, and hugging your favorite cat! I used to enjoy going to movie theaters to watch scary movies, but not so much since Covid-19. For me, it's much more terrifying allowing movie monsters and all things supernatural into my home. How do you sleep right after having the candy corn scared out of you? Suddenly, unfamiliar shadows are everywhere! This story points out how terrifying it can be to leave home! If you've ever had a horrible vacation, you will certainly have had a better time than Mike Enslin did! 

 

 

 

Today's Halloween Countdown... #31 The Birds

 

“Then he saw them. The gulls. Out there, riding the seas.
What he had thought at first to be the white caps of the waves were gulls. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... They rose and fell in the trough of the seas, heads to the wind, like a mighty fleet at anchor, waiting on the tide. To eastward, and to the west, the gulls were there. They stretched as far as his eye could reach, in close formation, line upon line. Had the sea been still they would have covered the bay like a white cloud, head to head, body packed to body. Only the east wind, whipping the sea to breakers, hid them from the shore.” 

~Daphne du Maurier,

  The Birds

 

 I have a love affair with this movie. I remember watching it, for the first time, when I was about 8, or so, and being terrified by the eeriness of the pace of the film. It built slowly. It made you wait for what you knew was inevitable, for the final attack, and oh boy did Du Maurier, and Hitchcock, make it easy to identify with Melanie Daniels! After all, there are birds everywhere, and how long before they lose their every loving shit on the stupid people who ignore the ecosystem of the Earth. So much could go wrong. Anyhoo, I grew up loving this movie and I thought it would be great as our first choice for the month of October! Mid-century movies let your imaginations run wild. And in that we are on our way to Bodega Bay today, you bet I will be keeping a close eye on, THE BIRDS!