Topic Tuesday where I refused to decide

This week's Topic Tuesday post, as suggested by Kage Alan, is an either/or kinda deal. The topic is "What 5 Halloween films are your favorite and why" or "Which 5 Halloween films scared the bejesus out of you and how"? I decided to do both. I could pick, but why should I?

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, or season, or whatever you chose to call it. I don't have the money to do what I'd really like...you know, go batshit crazy with decorating and such. My kids would love it if I could, I'm sure. I'd love to have a haunted house. Not a "haunted" house...I already have one of those, but a Halloween haunted house. My kids would love that, too. LOL

Anyway, back to the real reason we're here...Topic Tuesday.

What 5 Halloween films are your favorite and why?

(In no particular order):

1.  Salem's Lot (1979)--I loved the novel, adore King, and what more do you need in your scary movie? It's got the creepy house at the top of the hill overlooking the town, the servant of the dark lord willing to do the dirty work while he waits for his master to arrive, and the towns people who fall like Lemmings under the vampire's sway. Two thumbs way, way up for this one!

2.  Rose Red (2002)--This was a TV mini-series, but it rocked! Once again a Stephen King creation written specifically for television. Rose Red is a house with a long, convoluted history of deaths and disappearances with the premise of the film being an unorthodox college psychology professor, along with a group of psychics, gaining access to Rose Red for a weekend in an attempt to prove the existence of paranormal activity. Yeah, this can't go wrong, right? It's a King, and he spins a tale of creepy and "what if" in a basis of reality with his house being modeled after the Winchester Mystery House in California. It combines several of my favorite things--creepy, mystery, and a touch of an actual haunted house.

3.  The Changeling (1980)--After the death of his wife and daughter in a horrible accident, composer John Russell rents a mammoth house in an attempt to write and overcome his grief only to discover he is not alone. The spirit of a murdered child haunts him, trying to revel the circumstances around his death decades previously. If you haven't seen this one, I think you need to check it out. The plot has the right amount of creep to have it on the "scare the bejesus" list with the seance playback, the ball on the stairs, and the wheelchair scenes, but I can watch it after dark and alone, so it can be on this list instead.

4.  The Other (1972)--Set in summer 1935, 9-year-old twins, Holland and Niles, live with their family on a Connecticut farm. When deaths begin to occur with the twins seemingly at the center, their grandmother takes matters into her own hands. It's a classic tale of creepy, and the epitome of good and evil. As you move farther into the story, you discover nothing is as it appears, and things are about to get real.

5.  The Haunting (1963)--Based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, the movie follows the book surprisingly close. An eighty-year-old house with a history of violent death and insanity is the setting for a researcher, a psychic, a shy woman with paranormal history, and a relative set to inherit the property. The inhabitants experience supernatural occurrences with Eleanor, the shy woman, becoming the increasing focus of the house and the forces at work there. I love this movie. It's a 1963 release, but the creep factor is off the charts. When the...whatever it is...tries to get into the bedroom where Eleanor is, that is freaky! It might be a 1963 release, but the cinematography and camera angles make this movie.

This concludes my favorite five Halloween movies. Now, on to my list of scare the bejesus out of me.

Which 5 Halloween films scared the bejesus out of you and how?

(also, in no particular order):

1.  Hostel (2005)--This film is one I watched with a look of horror. The plot is three guys backpacking across Europe get more than they bargain for when they are kidnapped and taken to a factory to be the human specimens in a macabre business of torture and mutilation. I watched this film once. I couldn't stomach more than that. It was a combination of "HOLY OH MY JESUS. WHAT IF THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED?" and "OH MY GOD, I'M GONNA BE SICK." It is the height of blood and gore, and this could happen. That's enough to scare the hell outta me.

2.  The Exorcist (1973)--Ah, what to say about this film? As a person raised as a Catholic, this movie is THE movie I will not watch at night...alone...with my back exposed. Not happening. No way. Ever. I know it's the special effects which make this movie frightening for me. I've read the book. It didn't scare me. The movie? Every time. I'm not going to summarize this one. It's been around a while now, and most people know this one.

3.  The Conjuring (2013)--Okay, this one is a new release (out on DVD today, as this will post on Tuesday). It had just the right amount of creepy to make me jump in the theater, and the right amount of creepy to make me sleep with the light on. I have plans to purchase the DVD  but it's gonna go into the watch it only with others, in the daylight, with my back against a wall category.

4.  Event Horizon (1997)--This is a combination of gore and "oh *&^%".  The Event Horizon is an experimental spaceship capable of opening worm holes to travel through them. It disappeared on its maiden voyage and returned after a seven year absence bringing with it more questions than answers, and no crew to speak of. This one has a major creep factor for me for two reasons. One, the gore. Lots of blood and nasty business. Two, the "life-force". The idea of this intelligence being able to manipulate and control the members of the rescue ship is just plain freaky.

5. 

I've thought about this, and I can't come up with a number 5 on my scare the bejesus outta me list. I've tried. It's not working. There are none I can think of that fall into the category with these four movies which keep me awake, with the light on, and only able to watch them every so often. So, for now, my list will have to be a top four.

I've enjoyed this topic, and I have to say Thank You to Kage for the suggestion. I hope you enjoy my list and maybe you'll check out these shows if you haven't seen them already.

Be sure to check out the lists of the other usual suspects here, and see what their top fives are.

Topic Tuesday: What book helped make you a reader?

It's that time again…Topic Tuesday. First, I know I'm kindarunning late. What the hell's new about that, you may ask. Well, this week I'm writing from the (not so beautiful) view of the 5thfloor (cardiac unit) of Memorial Hospital in lovely Gulfport, Ms.More on that mess later.

This week's Adkins Topic Tuesday addition is:

What is the book that made you a reader?

I think this is a great question. What book made me a reader? What book made me want to pick up a book, and turn the pages? Don't get me wrong…I read as a child. Golden Books stories,The Ghost on Windy Hill, some of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, but I wasn't an avid reader.

No book held me captive. No book took me away when I read. I read because I had to read, not because I wanted to read. My sister read to me every night, or most every night. My bedtime stories were The Watchers and Phantoms by Dean Koontz, The Moon Pool by Abraham Merritt, and The Hobbitt by J. R. R. Tolkien, to name a few.

The first time I picked up a book because I wanted to read it was late spring/early summer 1984. The movie Firestarter had been released at the movies, and my sister took me to the show. Iloved the movie. I could not stop talking about it. I was bouncy.Ain't gonna lie. LOL

My sister said "It was okay, but the book is WAY better." Now, you have to understand my sister. First, she's fourteen years older than me, and this made our earlier years together a mother/daughter relationship more than a sibling one. We were always together and I was the baby. So, she was really another parent. (And that's a story no one really wants to hear. LOL)

I loved my sissy. Wanted to be way cool like my sissy. My sister is an avid reader and has been since childhood. She read the complete works of Shakespeare in 5th or 6th grade because she needed something to read. (Tell you anything? Lol)

I asked "Do you have it?" My interest was piqued. I wanted to READ this book. I had to have it. I craved it like a thirsty man craves water.

In typical Lemmie fashion, she reeled me in. "I should. Do you want to look when we get to the house?"

My bouncer was in overdrive at this point. We were ten minutes from the house, tops, and I wanted to be there that instant. I didn't want to wait. I didn't want to do the speed limit. I didn't want to wait behind slow people who were keeping me from THIS. BOOK!!

Didn't they understand? The superest, most wonderful, GLORIOUS book in the world was waiting for me. I didn't have time for this. I needed to be home, looking for the book. I had several bookshelves and boxes to go through to find what I was needing.

I raced inside as soon as we got back. I tore into the bookcase, moving things out of my way in my search. Lemmiestrolled in more sedately. She knew she had me. "Need help?" She exuded indifference. Hell, she'd read the damn thing. She didn't need it like I did.

"Where's it at?" Mind you, I'm still pulling books off the shelves in my mad hunt.

I swear to you. She reached into the bookcase and the FIRST book she pulls out is a hardback book with a stark white cover. At the bottom of the book is a depiction of flames in an overlay of a female face, or more precisely, a nose and mouth in the flames and bright green eyes in alignment above the flames.

I disappeared with the book, and only immerged when someone insisted I participate with the family. I don't remember now how long I took to read that book. At that point, it probably would've taken me a week. Today, I can plow through a book like a wildfire in the middle of a dry spell…just ask Logan.(LOL. Love ya, Red!)

Anyway, I'm sure you've listened to me ramble on long enough now. Thanks for stopping by the find out what book started me reading. Check back next week, and we'll discover together what new ideas the World's Greatest Promohomo has cooked up for our enjoyment.

While we wait, you may want to hop on over to see what these wonderful authors had to say about their first real book experience:

Kage Alan, Joelle Casteel, Monique Thompson, and Jeff Adkins.

I'll get back to the reason behind my current incarceration another time. Maybe it will be an extra post sometime soon. When I feel up to it…or when the damn hospital stops restricting the webpages on their *^&#^%@ WIFI.

Until then,

Peace Up!