The Village of the Damned gave me nightmares. I was only about 11 when I saw it as a double feature with the scariest movie I ever saw (because there was nothing like it and I was only 11) was the other movie with it. Psycho.
They were both terrifying. But nothing comes near this:
Did you ever read John Wyndham's "The Midwich Cuckoos"? The movie was based on that book, but shifted Midwich from rural England to California. Wyndham did quite a few sf horror and dystopia novels - "The Day of the Triffids" is the best known but my fave yarn of his is "The Chrysalids".
I like John Wyndham a lot, too! (I think the original 1960 black-and-white "Village of the Damned" movie is set in England? The one from the 1990's with Christopher Reeve, I don't know where it's set.) I loved reading "The Midwich Cuckoos"! I've read it more than once. :) I think I've read all of Wyndham's books. I like them all. I really liked "Chocky" and "Out of the Deeps"(published in England under the better-to-me title of "The Kraken Wakes." :)
I enjoyed reading your comment. Slartibartfast!
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at February 5, 2018 1:29 PM MST
WOW. I saw a movie with Kate Hudson that had that same idea. It was really pretty good and the idea was horrific.
Plot
Caroline Ellis, a hospice aide, quits her position at a hospital and is hired as the caretaker of an isolated plantation house in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. The elderly lady of the house, Violet Devereaux, needs help looking after her husband Benjamin, who was mostly paralyzed by an apparent stroke. At the insistence of the family's estate lawyer, Luke Marshall, Caroline accepts the position.
After Ben attempts to escape his room during a storm, Caroline uses a skeleton key which Violet gave her, to investigate the house's attic, where Violet says Ben suffered his stroke. She discovers a secret room filled with ritual paraphernalia. Caroline confronts Violet, who reveals that the room used to belong to two African American servants who were employed at the house 90 years before. The servants, Mama Cecile and Papa Justify, were renowned Hoodoo practitioners, and were lynched after conducting a ritual with the owner's two children (from whom Violet and Ben later bought the house). Violet tells Caroline that they do not keep mirrors in the house because they see reflections of Cecile and Justify in them. Caroline borrows a phonograph record called the "Conjure of Sacrifice" from the attic, which is a recording of Papa Justify reciting a Hoodoo ritual.
Caroline surmises that Ben's stroke was induced by Hoodoo, but believes that his paralytic state is a nocebo effect induced by his own belief, rather than something supernatural. Taking advice from her friend Jill, Caroline accesses a hidden Hoodoo shop in a nearby laundromat, where a Hoodoo woman gives her tools and instructions to cure Ben. After conducting the ritual, Ben regains some ability to speak and move, and he begs Caroline to get him away from Violet.
Caroline tells Luke about her suspicions towards Violet, but he remains skeptical. They travel to a gas station that Caroline previously noted was lined with brick dust, which she was told is a defense against Hoodoo; supposedly, no one who means one harm can pass a line of brick dust. She asks one of the proprietors, a blind woman, about the Conjure of Sacrifice, which she learns is a Hoodoo spell wherein the caster steals the remaining years of life from the victim. Increasingly convinced of Hoodoo's authenticity, Caroline fears that Violet will soon cast the spell on Ben.
Caroline discovers that Violet is unable to pass a line of brick dust laid across one of the house's doorways, confirming her suspicions. She incapacitates Violet and attempts to escape the house with Ben, but Violet uses magic to chain the front gate. Caroline hides Ben on the property and enters Luke's office for help. Luke, revealed to be Violet's accomplice, brings Caroline back to the house. With strategic use of brick dust, Caroline flees to the attic (pushing Violet down the stairs and breaking her legs in the process), calls 9-1-1 and Jill for help, and casts what she believes is a protective spell. Violet, having caught up with her, reveals she actually trapped herself inside a protective circle. Violet pushes a full-length mirror at Caroline, which reflects one of the original owner's children, then Violet, and lastly Cecile. A recording of the Conjure of Sacrifice plays, and the two switch bodies.
Violet (revealed to be Mama Cecile, who had been occupying Violet's body through the Conjure) wakes up in Caroline's body, and force-feeds Caroline (now in Violet's body) a potion that induces a stroke-like paralytic state. Luke (revealed to be Papa Justify) arrives upstairs, and it is revealed that Mama Cecile and Papa Justify have been conducting the Conjure of Sacrifice on new people since their supposed lynching. Because Hoodoo is supposedly only effective on those who believe in it, Cecile and Justify had to wait for Caroline to come to believe in Hoodoo through her own investigation. Emergency services arrive the next morning and take Caroline and Luke away, trapped in the paralyzed dying bodies of Violet and Ben; "Luke" (Justify) tells Jill when she arrives that the Devereauxes left the house to Caroline, ensuring that Cecile and Justify will continue to occupy the house.
Very similar - but the Myrna worshippers who ended up doing the soul swap between Alison and Isobel Thorne were her adoptive parents which (I think) makes it even worse.
"Audition" is my choice. It is a 1999 Japanese movie starring horror queen Eihi Shiina. Most horror films are more silly than scary. This one is terrifying however. It begins with man's wife dying. In a few years, his son wants a mother, so he decides to find a new wife. He sits in on an audition that a friend of his is giving. He likes one girl who tried out for the role. He begins dating her. She is sweet and innocent, but weird things begin to occur. In her apartment, we catch a glimpse of a man with no tongue or feet. At the end, she plans the same fate for the hero. The gradual building up of horror is well-done.
The Rape of Nanking ....The Japeneese army killied every living Chinese man ,women, child and babies that lived in the city , 100,000 plus were killed in the most horrific ways imaginable .... It wasn't a horror film ,it was more a documentary.....
WelbyQuentin 