 Horror/Scary: May 28, 2008 Issue [#2412] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Edited by: darkin
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Reading a horror story, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page, is what every horror fan dreams of. Being scared, to the point that sleep is almost impossible, makes the read all the more worthwhile. Does that make us crazy? You bet!!!
My name is Darkin, and I'm your host this week for the Horror Newsletter.
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Technology Gone Awry
Recently, my husband bought me what might seem to be an odd Mother's Day present. He got me a Roomba™. Yep, a little robotic vacuum cleaner. You set it up in a room and it moves around picking up dirt until the entire space is clean. For a little machine it's pretty through.
Of course, while watching it clean the kitchen, we were joking around a little. What if Roomba™ ever got the idea that we needed to be cleaned up...permanently? Would it go nuts and decide we needed to be killed off?
Yeah, I know, it's never going to happen. But what if...?
Imagine, instead of a cute, little Roomba™ a super computer trusted to run our daily lives. What if it suddenly has an epiphany and decides it would be better off without us? Pretty scary thought, especially if this computer had the ability to control not only our environment, but our very freedom.
The "deadly" computer is the plot for many a sci-fi/horror tale. I can think of at least five novels with just that premise. Not to mention movies with the same theme. Just about any machine we humans take for granted has the ability to do us harm, if it suddenly became self-aware.
While normally considered a Sci-Fi vehicle, the machine gone mad theme is one that is well played out in the horror genre. Don't believe me? Try reading Stephan King's Maximum Overdrive. Now there are some machines you don't want to run into in a dark alley.
Horror doesn't have to be about monsters, demons and the likes. Sometimes the simplest thing can be the most frightening. Want to know what scared me the most about Maximum Overdrive? The electric knife killing the cook. Yep, you won't find one of those in MY house! Which saddens my hubby to no end, and is a tribute to using something so mundane to scare the pants off a reader.
So get out there and start scaring!
Thank you for taking the time to read. Happy Writing!
darkin
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Here are some items I found while traveling the highways and byways of Writing.Com!
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Thank you for allowing me to enter your world. If you have any comments, or questions, feel free to drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you!
And now for the moment you've been waiting for, the winners of the Intentionally Bad Horror Contest from last time....
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Second Place:
Congratulations!! GPs and Awardicons are on their way!!
Until next time,
darkin
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Submitted By: Annje - Jewel of Darkness 
Submitted Comment:
Bad Horror?? Check this out - "Zombie Strippers" is a movie due out this summer. Someone was actually paid to write that. Absurd, I know.
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LOL, I saw that on IMBd not too long ago. All I can say is, it's going to be bad...really, really bad.
Of course, that means I'll want to see it.
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Submitted By: Mavis Moog
Submitted Comment:
Sheep turning vicious is a great premise for a horror movie. Recently, even squirrels in European parks have been turning violent. A few weeks ago a dog was killed by a gang of squirrels, and I've definitely noticed sheep and squirrels becoming threatening, in the woods and fields around my home.
I tell you, ignore the warnings of "Black Sheep" at your peril.
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Oh I know first hand how dangerous squirrels can be. Just ask my cousin Vinnie, he's a Central Park squirrel. Now there are some dangerous squirrels in Central Park. But I digress.
I promise not to take the dangers of sheep revolting lightly. I plan on installing security cameras and sheep fences all around my home. Just let those little buggers try to get inside MY yard!
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Submitted By: Mark
Submitted Comment:
Great idea, but what happens when we are stuck writing bad horror? Do we then try to write good-bad horror, or bad-good horror? Oh dear, I feel block coming on.
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Hmm, excellent question. Maybe you can try writing bad-good-mediocre horror. That way, you've got all the bases covered. Worst case scenario, you could try writing romance.
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Submitted By: zwisis
Submitted Comment:
I've ordered that film "Black Sheep" from Amazon! I subscribe to a film magazine, and they gave it a great write up. I think it's billed as "black comedy" or "horror comedy", and it's actually won four international film awards - not one of them a "Razzie"! Sheep have really horrible eyes, don't ewe think???
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You'll have to give me a critic's review of the movie when you get it. I got to sit through a few scenes, but they didn't make me want to buy the movie. Let me know what you think of it.
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Submitted By: writetight
Submitted Comment:
Darkin, as for "mundane" animals as the subject of a horror film I submit "Night of the Lepus." What could be more innocent and unlikely than giant bunnies?
Also, though you mentioned animals and insects, you failed to mention fruits/vegetables. Who can forget "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"?
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*slaps forehead* How could I possibly forget "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". That had to be the best, bad horror movie ever made. I mean, the scene with the students running from the tomatoes across the football field is priceless. Made me want to avoid salads for months!
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Submitted By: bazilbob
Submitted Comment:
Black Sheep is a comedy, or a comic-horror, not a bad horror. I haven't seen it but it was marketed as such. It's like Shaun of the Dead, rather than Dog Soldiers, one of them is comic, the other, just bad. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing comic-horror as a story in its own right.
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I realize they are trying to be funny with the movie. While I loved Shaun of the Dead, enough that I bought it, I just can't seem to get behind Black Sheep. It might be the fact that I just don't find sheep scary or funny. But that could just be me. I'm hoping it'll come out on cable soon so I can see it for myself.
There's nothing wrong with comic-horror writing. If done right, it can be both scary and funny, which makes it pretty darn good in my opinion. 
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