I can hear them! They're coming out of the walls! This place... needs caulking!

[uberreiniger]

I have been in this house for a week straight watching horror movies and playing Silent Hill. Surely this cannot be healthy for me. Fortunately, there's no hardcore rap music here so my odds of coming out a violent sociopath are greatly reduced. And I haven't been watching the tired, boring slasher crap either. Only the good stuff. Jacob's Ladder, Audition, Session 9... I am now more culturally aware...

If only scary movies made scary reality go away. One of my closest friends from high school is in a living nightmare right now. His son is battling some form of meningitis or other such illness. He spent sixteen days in a drug-induced coma and has been out of it for two days only to start having violent seizures again. There's nothing more that can be done where they are so he's being flown to Cleveland for brain surgery. There was already a distinct possibility of brain damage before the surgery was deemed necessary.

Justin and I haven't been close since high school, but we've kept in touch. Too much history not to. I even introduced him to his wife. To see them go through this is just... I don't know. I don't even know why I'm mentioning it here. It just seems like something I needed to say.

Comments

[yaqui.livejournal.com]

Dood! Are you not working tonight?

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I wasn't so I went to bed instead.

[mellifera.livejournal.com]

That's awful. I hate seeing bad things happen to good people.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it seem like they never happen to any other kind of people. I'm afraid to ask what this is doing to them financially. They're strictly blue-collar and have three other children to raise.

[ex-horrorhea561.livejournal.com]

Jacob's Ladder and Audition are two of my favorite movies, but Session 9? Too slow.

If you want some more good stuff I highly HIGHLY recommend Tomie, Tomie: Replay, and Tomie: Rebirth. I get the feeling you've got a fever for psychological horror and my friend, the only cure is more Asian horror. Ringu will always be classic, but there's other stuff you can grab off your video store shelf that'll own you too.

I highly HIGHLY recommend Tomie: Rebirth in particular. If you get bored with Tomie (it's very VERY slow), just try to finish it so you can watch Rebirth.

And toning down my moviegeekdom for a second...

I'm really sorry to hear about your friend and his son. That's hard to deal with; seems like everyone's got a lot to go through these days. I don't really know you and thus know your friend and his son even less, but send them my best wishes.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I didn't find Session 9 slow at all. Honestly, the pacing reminded me a lot of The Shining which is one of my favorite films of all time so perhaps I'm just conditioned to like that style of storytelling :) I saw the Tomie series in the video store last night and was curious. Based on your recommendation I might give them a whirl sometime.

Thanks for the good wishes. Honestly, at this stage in our lives I don't really know my friend that much better than you do. I don't even know what age his son is. I think it's his oldest. I guess if any good does come out of this it will be that I get reacquainted with he and his wife again. I just hope that if I do that it's to celebrate, not to mourn.

[ex-horrorhea561.livejournal.com]

I didn't dig on Session 9 because it lacked intensity for me. A film can be slow - for the sake of semantics, we'll say "deliberately paced" - but Session 9 never gave any clue where it was going, it just sort of stumbled aimlessly. I need my films to have a direction, to have something they're heading for.

The first Tomie sort of goes in a direction, but it does have a point and purpose; Tomie exists for what it's saying, not what it's doing. The second one is a cornball horror movie. And then the third is like watching a train wreck. But it's slow and deliberate and it serves a purpose.

I just couldn't get into Session 9.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

That would be the very Audition I spoke of. The DVD has a very extensive interview with Miike and it's fascinating seeing what makes him tick.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

No problem at all. Doing likewise.

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

After watching that movie, I sometimes, just to make myself squirm, say "uneekeedeekeedeekeedeekeedee" (the "deeper, deeper" singsong she says during the torture scene). Very interesting movie.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

You too, huh? She was a marvelous casting choice. She had the perfect voice to make that bit just downright nasty.

[cygny.livejournal.com]

I'd say that even if you didn't keep in close touch with your friend, try to be there for him now, or at least let him know from time to time that you are. I know how I feel when Alby is sick and in hospital, and even if he hasn't been mortally ill so far (*knocks on wood*). The fact of knowing that there are people who are with you through such an ordeal doesn't help much, but it does help.
*hugs* Hope they'll all be fine! My thoughts go out to them.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Like I said to someone else who commented, if any good comes out of this it will be me and them drawing closer together once again. I just hope it winds up being in order to celebrate rather than to mourn. If Michelle hasn't sent out an update by the end of this week I plan to call them and see what's going on.