Tag: scary

Books

What makes Hannibal Lecter So Terrifying

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Hannibal Lecter… For those who know who this man is, does the only mention of his name give you goosebumps? What do you feel when hearing about him if not fear? Well, maybe you think he is somehow nice, and you feel empathy for him, but either way, Lecter is a very interesting character, and this is why I decided to see what makes him so frightening for most people. The novel I will take as a reference in this post is The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, originally published in 1988.

The first thing is that he is in fact a very charismatic man. For example, when Clarice Starling, the investigator, goes to the psychiatric hospital to meet with Lecter, a patient called Miggs talks to her in a crude and rude way, which would suggest that this man may be mentally deranged. On the contrary, during her first visit at the hospital, Lecter is extremely polite with her, and acts like a gentleman. Indeed, his gentleman-like behaviors make him even more scary since there is no way someone can know whether he is “good” or “bad” without previously knowing from the beginning that he murders people to eat them afterwards.  

Lecter needs information to use his psychological power. Without information, he is lost. This means that without information, he has nothing. This reminds us slightly of Dracula from Bram Stoker’s novel, right? Dracula’s power comes from the information he obtains from the blood he drinks, or from the years he has lived. Hence, to stay alive in this modern world, he seeks information. It is similar in the case of Hannibal Lecter. He is indeed a surgeon, but also a psychiatrist. Psychiatry requires a superior knowledge of how the human brain works, and also of social behaviors, which can often be associated to different mental illnesses. Therefore, a psychiatrist must know his or her patients in order to help them properly. The problem in Lecter’s case is that he may be too good at his job, for he instantly knows much information even before the person tells anything. Moreover, once he is told some information, he is able to play with one’s mind to make him or her do what he wants to a certain extent. An example of his need of information is when Clarice Starling investigates the case of Fredrica Bimmel, and for all the information he gives her, he asks for information about her in return, despite the fact that Crawford clearly told her to avoid revealing to him any personal information.

Briefly, if you are boring, according to his standards, you will not last long. The issue is, we do not know how Lecter defines “boring”. This means that there is no way we can adjust to him to avoid being killed because we do not have any clues as to what he considers as boring or not. Therefore, we are kept in obscurity when it comes to Hannibal’s thoughts while this knowledge is the only thing that could possibly save us from a horrible death. In other words, Hannibal does not need to have a motif to kill. It does not matter to him whether we did something wrong or not. That is, he can decide to kill someone because that person did something he disliked, or just because a person is not entertaining enough for him.

Finally, the previous characteristics make him the “perfect” serial killer, but they also show that from the outside, he is the most ordinary human being. Hence, from this fact, another frightful thought arises: there could be a Hannibal Lecter everywhere we go. We do not know what is going on in other people’s minds, and if Lecter is able to hide his true nature so well, then, how many people are able to do it too?

After reading these traits of character, are you now scared of Hannibal Lecter? I know there are many opinions about whether he is good or bad, and it is actually quite interesting to see that a serial killer can make people hesitate in that manner.

Are you one of those who think he is fundamentally good, or fundamentally bad? Or neither?

DelphineC

Tales and Legends

Haunted Places in the World

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If you are a travel lover as well as a haunted-place amateur, then keep reading, because I decided to do a list of some places in the world that might interest you.

Čachtice Castle, Slovakia

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The Čachtice Castle dates back to at least 1276, but was given around 1575 as a wedding gift from her husband to a Hungarian countess named Elizabeth Bathory. Her husband was a soldier, and so he often was away from home to fight. In the meantime, she hung around the various family properties. Her husband died in 1604, and this is when the real trouble began as she moved permanently back to the castle. The real trigger for the following behaviors is not known today. It may be her husband’s death, or some other unknown event. Still, what follows is quite disturbing. She was aging, and as time passed, she developed an obsession for eternal youth found in the blood of virgins. She was hiring young women to work in the castle, but some doubts were starting to rise in the neighboring villages, due to the young women never returning home. Thus, parents stopped sending their daughters to the castle, but to oppose this change, Elizabeth created a school for young women, which attracted many girls from aristocratic families around the world. In 1610, as the girls were never returning either, the families sent the local authorities to the castle. They discovered injured and dead young women within the walls of the castle, and estimated that around 600 young women were tortured or killed by Elizabeth and her three accomplices. The collaborators were all condemned to death whereas Elizabeth was walled in a tower of the castle for four years where she was found dead in 1614.

Aokigahara Forest, Japan

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This forest is found at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan and dates back to approximately 1200 years. This place is also known as the “Suicide Forest” and is one of the world’s most popular suicide locations; in 2003, 105 dead bodies were discovered in it. It is said by Japanese spiritualists that the suicides permeated Aokigahara’s trees, creating paranormal activity and preventing many people who enter from leaving the forest; people entered, but never returned.

Isla de las Munecas, Mexico

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In English, this island is called “The Island of the Dolls.” As its name suggests, this island is the shelter of hundreds of dolls, each in a different state of decomposition. It all started when a man named Julian found a little girl on the island, but she was not in good shape; she was drowned. Unfortunately, he was not able to save her and when he looked around, he saw a doll, most probably the little girl’s doll. He decided to hang the doll in a tree to honor the memory of the child. But then, he decided to gather more and more dolls, and it finally developed into an obsession, presumably due to the fact that he was not able to save the girl. It is said that the spirit of the little girl now possesses the dolls since some witnesses reported that they the dolls move their heads, their arms and open their eyes. Moreover, some people said they heard the dolls whispering, and some others said the dolls lured them to come to the island while they were passing near the island on a boat. Strangely, after 50 years of collecting dolls, Julian was found drowned in the same spot where he found the girl many years before.

The Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

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The Hill of Crosses is located 12 km north of the county town Šiauliai. The town was founded in 1236 and occupied in the fourth century. In 2006, the number of crosses on the hill already exceeded 100,000. However, no one really knows when or why people started to leave some crosses on the hill, but it is now one of the most popular pilgrimage places in all the country and is a symbol of desire for freedom, national pride and piety. Even though this place is more for religious purposes, it can still be quite creepy to stand in the middle of all those crosses of an unknown signification.

DelphineC

Movies

For Brave Children Only

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According to the director of the movie Coraline, this movie is destined to be seen by brave children only. What does that really mean? Don’t you think being brave is a little subjective? How can you make sure your child is brave enough to watch this movie, even is it is categorized as general?

I think this statement is completely inappropriate. If the director really wanted it to be watched by brave children, could he have categorized it to a specific age group? Right now, but especially when the movie first came out in 2009, children from all age groups were watching it and were afraid by it. I guess it is completely normal given that the main character, Coraline, lives with “false” parents that have buttons sewn over their eye. Which children would not be afraid of the fact that her parents have been replaced with scary doubles?

Like this wasn’t enough, she is trapped in an alternate world and can’t escape it. She is experiencing completely unreal but scary things, which not all children from all age groups are able to understand. Children from younger age groups could easily take this information for granted and think that it could happen to them.

I simply don’t really understand how the aspect of bravery is relevant to this situation given that it is presented as a general movie. Personally, when I was younger and I watched it, I was very scared of this movie, so I assume that it happens to several children in the same situation. I don’t know if you agree with me, but if you have children in your entourage, just be aware of it and maybe take some precautions to make sure it doesn’t “traumatize” them.                         

                                                                           Cheers, Rosalie

Books

From Fear to Love

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In this post, I will provide you a little explanation of the evolution of the gothic genre through time with different examples of books that were really popular in this genre.

First of, I will describe how The Castle of Otranto set the standards for the future gothic pieces. This story was written by Horace Walpole in 1764. It was the first story that follow the gothic genre we know today. This story really set the standards for this genre and, even nowadays, some gothic pieces are inspired from it. At first, the gothic genre really focused on the aspect of setting. The setting of a story is really the base because it will decide whether or not the reader will be frightened by the piece or not. In The Castle of Otranto, the setting is, in my opinion, the most important elements of the story. Actually, the fact that it is set in strange places really far from anything else is what makes the reader afraid. On the contrary, if the story was set in the middle of the city in a beautiful house, the tension in the book would certainly be destroyed.

Following the same idea, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written in 1897, also put emphasis on the setting of the story. In this book, the fact that Count Dracula’s castle is far from the city makes the readers believe even more in the “evilness” of the character. Even in the story, the protagonist, Jonathan Harker, is afraid to go to the Count’s castle because it is set in a far and strange place and no one is really sure of what’s happening there. Once again, the tension found in the book is essentially created by the setting of the story.

On the other hand, more recent gothic pieces put emphasis on completely different motifs to create tension. For instance, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, published in 2005, created tension based on the archetype of the damsel in distress and forbidden love. The forbidden love situation is mainly represented in Bella and Edward’s relationship. The fact that he is a vampire and she is a human, makes it technically impossible for them to fall in love, even though this is exactly what happens. Adding to this situation, Bella, one of the main characters, is essentially represented as a damsel in distress. Meyer puts Bella in different situations that sometimes put her in danger, but mainly creates vulnerability. It is in those cases that the archetype of the damsel in distress will create tension for the readers because they will fear what will happen to the girl.

With this glimpse of information, I hope you understand a little better the evolution of the gothic motifs through time and that it makes you realize how the authors create the tension you like so much about gothic novels.

                                                                                      Rosalie                                                       

Movies

Keep Quiet!

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Don’t breathe or he’s gonna catch you! That’s the essential statement of Fede Álvarez’s movie called Don’t Breathe. Essentially, the movie is set in an old blind man’s house because three young adults try to steal the money the rumors say he is living with. Since the old man is blind, his earing is impeccable, which the three friends did not expect. The old man ears each and every single noise they make in the house. During their chase for the money, the young adults try to escape from the dangerous old man, but he actually is able to keep them locked into his house, which allows him to try to catch evildoers. While trying to escape, they realize that the old man is getting nearer to them and that they are more and more in danger. When they see the old man around, they try not to breathe to make sure the blind man doesn’t find them. That is the principal reason why the movie is titled that way, but I’ll let you discover whether or not the young adults were finally able to get out!

The American horror movie focused mainly on the aspect of terror. During then whole movie, the three offenders are really scared of what the old man could do because they didn’t know him, and they weren’t aware of what he could potentially do to them. The apprehension of the actions of the man was the aspect that frightened the most the delinquents. During their adventure in the blind man’s house, they finally discover what was the old man really hiding in his house, once again I’ll let you discover it by yourself, and the young adults reached a state of horror. The fact that they could see the old man as well as the scary things in his house let the delinquents change their feeling from terror to horror. The scenarist really focused on those two important gothic motifs to create suspense and tension in his movie, which makes it that good.

If you love horror movies, I really suggest you watch it. And if you’re more afraid of this kind of movies, I suggest you still watch it, but in daytime maybe! 😉

                                                                                                                                 Rosalie