Really, Gi?? Really? Pennywise? BTW, my nephew still randomly texts me, "We all float!"

TIS, the little kids usually start showing up between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, then they get gradually older until it dies off around 8:30.

SB,

Btw, I caught the tail end of your favorite Clown movie, King's "It" and the closing narration (By Richard Thomas I think) was speaking of the city of Derry. Isn't that the city in 11-22-63 as well? And, I think you mentioned King uses that city in several of his books no? Is it a real city I wonder? (I suppose I could pull out the book and look for myself...if it's mentioned in the first few pages).



TIS

Yes, he visits Derry in "11/22/63", and even meets two of the kids from "It", the boy and girl practicing for the talent show.

I'm not sure if it's in any other books, unlike the town of Castle Rock which was used in many.

Oh really? How cool. It's interesting that he does that. Tho, I can't say I'd remember the two character as being in It. Thanks!

TIS

I never have kept track of specific cities he uses (except for Derry because of the funny line about smelling the Derry-air ), but King uses locations in Maine for many of his novels, doesn't he SB? Oh, and one of his short stories in "Just After Sunset" referenced an article written by a Julia Shumway, one of the lead characters in "Under the Dome." I get overly excited when I see those kind of cross-references... makes me feel like an insider!

And SB, I didn't even send you a photo of Pennywise this time around. I've been very good! Though I did make my dad watch that scene with me: poor Georgie finding him in the drain and having the floating conversation. (Lesson learned: don't ever ask a clown about balloons.)

SV, I see that Paulie Walnuts and Richie Aprile are in your movie recommendation, too.. sounds like a winner!

Castle Rock was the home of the serial killer hunted by John Smith in The Dead Zone, as well as home to Cujo, that bad, bad dog. I also believe that Red from Shawshank originally came from Castle Rock. When Rob Reiner made Stand By Me, he changed the location from Maine to Oregon, but he named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment.

Gosh SB, you are so good at remembering these cities. I did see and enjoy Cujo but never would have remembered the city. What city was Pet Semetary in? (Testing) Maine I believe but don't know the city.



TIS

Pet Sematary was in Ludlow, Maine, which is also where The Dark Half took place. Ludlow is in central Maine, and it's very close to Derry and Castle Rock.

Wow!! You are good. Ok, what about Misery? That was Maine too I think. You don't win a prize mind you.. BUT I'll be "your number one fan."




TIS

Reason enough not to answer!

Ha ha ha....Just call me "Annie"



TIS

*shudder* TIS, you're sounding a little crazy..

I think the part that creeped me out the most about Annie - besides that whole sledgehammer bit, of course - were the wacky terms she'd use, like "cockadoodie" and "dirty bird." It sets off her character even more, makes her even stranger.

Yes, that was creepy all right. Definitely a scary movie character that's for sure.

TIS

The character of Annie creeps out every man, who's ever had a wife.

Kly, are you implying that all women are one bad move away from turning psychotic? Well, ARE YOU?!

(You're probably right.)

Wasn't it an ax in the book instead of a sledgehammer???

I think you're right, though it's been awhile since I read the book. I'd actually just recently come across this blog post, covering the Stephen King novel-to-movie adaptations, and in the Misery comparison, the writer mentions:
"Oh, and Annie uses a sledgehammer here instead of an ax, and it's up to you to decide if that's a canny callback to how Kubrick used an ax instead of a mallet in The Shining."

That's what I remember, is The Shining being different, so apparently King's original weapon of choice was changed in two of his stories!

Chris Christie reminds me of the Fat Guy in the Stephen King Movie Thinner if I knew how to post pictures on here I would do a comparison. I like the book better then the movie, the books a lot creepier
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3988494592/tt0117894

So for halloween i ended up ordering The Shining and The Exorcist from amazon! Was a good night taking my niece trick or treating and after watching some classic horror flicks.

On a side not, after picking up the Elm Street flicks on bluray, i find that the order i put them in has changed!

At 9 years old: 3,1,6,5,4,2
At 28 years old: 1,3,4,6,5,2

And much like when i was 9....i still hate part 2!

King really has a hard time letting that go about Kubrick, doesn't he?

Seriously dude, he made a movie generally considered a horror film classic. God knows you've had many not so good movies based off your works. You could do a whole lot worse.

I remember hearing he didn't like Kubrick's adaptation, but was the weapon change actually one of his reasons? That six-hour miniseries version was supposed to have been closer to the book, but I'd take Kubrick anyday.

And I learned my lesson: I will never turn Geoff's Waldo avatar into a clown again!



Yeah, I thought so!

BTW, in the movie version of Thinner, Stephen King plays a character named "Dr. Bangor."


Signor V.

I've been thinking (which is always dangerous)... The previous posts jarred a memory:

Over 50 years ago, writer Robert Bloch wrote an essay analyzing horror movies titled The Clown at Midnight. I don't know if it has been recently reprinted, though I know it was out of print for many years. Anyway, I have an old issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine from 1962 that reprinted it, and I thought the essay's conclusion would be worth sharing. In the words of Robert Bloch:

****************************

Where our search will lead, I don't know. It may be that we'll discover the ultimate cinematic horror in a clown. Years ago, Lon Chaney [Sr.] said:

"A clown is funny in the circus ring, but what would be the normal reaction to opening a door at midnight and finding the same clown standing there in the moonlight?"

That, to me, is the essence of true horror -- the clown, at midnight.

***************************

Signor V.

Well, thanks for that, SV. I'll sleep again some time in August.

Poor SB! We still haven't gotten to see that photo of you as Beetlejuice, SV, so I think you owe her that to make up for the midnight clown.

I was Beetlejuice this year, and instead of buying the costume, I taped masking tape to my black slacks and dress jacket... a super cheap method, but it turned out okay!

My daughter was the Onceler from The Lorax. She bought jeans and a black vest from the Goodwill store. She put tape over the pants in a striped pattern and then spray painted them. When she took the tape off, they were the perfect stripe. Then she bought a short black wig and black hat from Party City and she was all done! She's also very into going to different conventions in CosPlay, so she's got one more. She and her friends have made most of their stuff from shopping at Goodwill. They've made a complete set of Warbler costumes (from Glee) and she was once Princess Bubblegum, pink wig and all.

That's awesome, SB - I love a good costume, and especially when it's put together like that rather than bought in one piece, because it's always a creative effort! I'd read online a tip about spray painting stripes for Beetlejuice so I'm glad to hear she actually tried it and it worked so well.

I may have found the negative the other day, but it's in an envelope with a lot of other negatives. The actual photo still has not turned up. I think I remember a close-up, maybe two, but I can't recall if there's anything more than that. I'm going to have to look through everything in that envelope before I know what I really have.


Signor V.

I looked ane looked, but the photos are nowhere to be found. I mean, they're somewhere, but not in any of the many boxes of pictures I've gone through.

So, what I did was scan the 35mm negative, and try and make a viewable picture from it. It seems the negatives have undergone a severe color shift, and I tried to get it to look relatively normal. The negatives were pretty old - I found they actually were from Halloween 1990. I remember this was a spur-of-the-moment idea, with no time to make a costume, so I threw together some eccentric clothes to wear from our "costume closet", which, unfortunately don't really show in the photo as well as I would have liked.

After terrorizing the local college where I was teaching, I came home and made up Signora V. as a lady vampire, complete with some custom-made fangs I had previously made for her. Back then, a friend owned a local bar in Brooklyn (the former Gemini Lounge!!!), and they were having a costume contest that night. The jukebox was blasting, and Signora V. and I lip-synched a song and dance to "Monster Mash" and took first prize - a bottle of champagne.



Those were the days...


Signor V.

Great picture, SV!