Pam's acerbic comments never failed to amuse us. She wondered which one was scarier: Donald Trump's faithful supporters who were more than willing to cut down anyone standing in their leader's ways or Donald Trump's hair. We thought Omarosa would make us step back.
She was giving us tips on how to turn our place into a setting of "The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde." A pumpkin planter at the entrance, deathly drinks, and freaky food. We were dumbfounded, as we wondered if she got her ideas from a reality TV show. Tom brought us to memory lane, as we laughed at the Halloween party we attended last year. John dressed up as a dinosaur nun, dancing to the tune of "Beat It". It was rather underwhelming until we noticed Pam's reaction. She couldn't find the right words to describe it. I thought it was priceless. It was a good thing that Allan suggested a game. Horror films featured a lot of "I told you so" scenes. A real character wouldn't do such things.
In the case of "Psycho," Marion fleeing Bates Motel after her first meeting with Norman Bates. Someone from the Math Department thought that the bedroom shouldn't be the final scene in "The Exorcist". There were intrigued faces, as the events would be less dramatic if it happened somewhere else. It couldn't be the shower room, not even the living room. I figured that he wished that there won't be casualties at the end of the film. But this (horror) film was about redemption. We all agreed that it would be better off to get rid of the table. It reminded us of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even the nightmares on Elm Street.
A night to remember
We played the doughnut game, where some of us ate a doughnut on a piece of string. No hands were allowed. It should be done in the quickest time. And the winner would drink a glass of milk, water, and food dye. Ross, who hosted the party, assured us that no one would get the flu. The others tried to show off their knowledge in horror movies, which was quite a spectacle. It took less than half a second for Charlie to answer the first question. ("The Omega Man," "The Last Man On Earth", and "Night of the Living Dead", were either based on, or inspired by, which hugely influential horror story? The answer would be "I Am Legend.") The succeeding questions were challenging enough; I wasn't familiar with Daphne Du Maurier's works. I wouldn't know which Hollywood actors played a werewolf. And I wasn't interested in how many books did Stephen King sold worldwide.
We ended up talking about our favorite horror films. Someone suggested the Citizen Kane of scary flicks. (We won't mind watching "The Wicker Man" one more time.) Tom wished that he would write an essay on Carl Theodor Dreyer sooner or later. I was thinking of "Peeping Tom," which my tutor mentioned in passing. I haven't seen a film by Michael Powell, and British Cinema won't be one of my modules next year. How about "The Shining"? Everyone saw it, and no one seemed to mind a second (or third) viewing.
