Horrific items.

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:13 am

I'm home sick today and feel like crap, so I thought I'd start something here. There are a number of normal items that seem to fit in well with the whole horror genre, for whatever reason. I thought it might be interesting to start a list of some of those things. For instance:

1-Clocks- particularly grandfather clocks. I don't know if its because of the rythmic, constant ticking or the issues with passing time, but I like them in scary stories.
2- Lanterns- the old oil burning type. Shedding light on the dark things lurking in the shadows maybe.
3- Keys- I particularly like the old skeleton style key. I've always liked the idea of finding an old key that has been obviously hidden and then forgotten, and then trying to find out what secrets it could unlock.
4- Fireplaces- The crackling fireplace is a great place to tell a story, I like them in the story as well.
5- Mirrors- the whole what is watching from the other side thing.

Well, there's a start for the list. I'm sure I left out a ton. Anybody have any to add to it?

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Down to the more basics we'd have knives, cleavers, hammers, chainsaws and the all-mighty chimney poker.

Asian horror is well-known for its use of (at least in almost every Asian horror movie I've seen) water, hair and freaky toddlers.

Other stuff I can think about:

- The drummer monkey (or the cymbals-playing monkey) - with adequate lighting they are freaky as hell

- The foe of foes: the ventriloquist dummy

- Music boxes; for some reasons they are harbingers of disaster

- Old radios

- Attics (not a thing, but a place; ever-present in horror)

- Doorknobs: If they jiggle or turn for no apparent reason you know you're in trouble

- Dental instruments

More to come. Feel better, Matt!

Cesar

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:15 am

Good list!
I guess you could add:

- Old Time Photographs

and

- Surrealistic Artwork- I always loved Rod Serling's Night Gallery, and I feel like the weird artwork added a great deal to the show.

- Creepy Old Books- Especially for Cthulhu based stories.

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

The noose. Always inspires dread.

How about corn stalks as far as the eye can see?

The telephone. In my case it always causes me anxiety. Not the phone itself but the ring. Whenever I hear the phone start ringing I get this feeling of unease. Hate it.

CPG

PS: Know what a true horrific item is? Suits! The worse part of a job interview

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

jjclpell · **Joined:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:22 am **Posts:** 13

Rocking chairs

mannequins

gumball machines

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:00 pm

jjclpell · **Joined:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:22 am **Posts:** 13

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:22 pm

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

ristow · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:06 pm

DUST!

Where would old school gothic tales be without that?

Lemme see....

Dolls? But somebody had to have mentioned that by now.

You now, part of my mind is stuck on places and locations...hallways, corridors, secret passages, and basements...but maybe I've been reading too many house related stories recently?

Let me think more about this one...

ristow · **Posted:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:08 pm

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:55 am

- Candelabrum- I read a short story last night called The Fifth Candle by Ceril Mand, in which a family curse brought the ghost of a father to five adult sons to slay them, in the order of their birth, each year on March 21st. Their was a family Candelabrum with a candle for each son, when the specter appeared at 8:00 it would light all the candles and then snuff out one. This would coinside with the death of the oldest surviving son. After many had died they melted the candelabrum down and had the peices of it distributed to several strangers in hopes of ending the curse. It failed and the candelabrum returned in its previous unmolested form to carry out the curse. When the last surviving son saw it he "mused endlessly as to what strange hands had hammered it again to its old shape, what weird tools had again formed its graceful branches."

ristow · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:10 pm

Dead things in Jars!

And I don't know if this counts, but I've been reading shlock meister Shaun Hutson's spawn, which leads me to....

aborted fetuses!

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

jjclpell · **Joined:** Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:22 am **Posts:** 13

bathtubs, especially with the shower curtain closed.
Not just because of Psycho. How many movies have we seen where the protagonust is searching for something and comes to the bathroomand has to approach the shower curtain and pull it aside to find...usually nothing. But its an effective tension mounter.

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:25 am

-Antiques- Like lamps, or those old style purple couch's you tend to see in the pictures of haunted house interiors (forgive me if you have no idea what I'm talking about here but I can picture them in my mind). Something about items that have collected that much age seems to give them a weird aura about them.

ristow · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:22 am

Monty Grue · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:30 pm

Demoniacally Possessed Condoms. They shrink, and keep on shrinking, until the wearer's penis is crushed and flattened

Raven Bower · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:37 am

Ow...that can't be good.

I keep thinking of places too - like stairwells. Staircases freak me out - especially ones that have the open stair design where things can lurk beneath them and reach out and grab your ankle and...and...

Rafts - Those ones that people anchor out in ponds or lakes and use them to dive off of or sunbathe on.

Strange jewelry - the kind with symbols on it or necklaces with box type designs that you can put stuff into.

ristow · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 10:48 pm

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

I recently sat through Troma's "Terror Firmer." It was awful. It's the only Troma release I've ever seen...might be the only one I bother with.

ristow · **Posted:** Sun May 06, 2007 12:03 am

The ones I've tried to sit through, like CLass of Nukem High and Surf Nazi's Must Die were all unwatchable and got turned off after ten minutes.

The exception is Toxic Avenger -- which sucks, but has some entertaining moments.

Still, you will have lived a culturally productive life if you lived into Old age and never saw a Troma feature. I do have to give them the credit for having enough balls to show up at Cannes every year, though.

Horrific items.

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