I HAVE TO ADMIT, I have a real fear of quicksand. Still. What brings this to mind is an article in the New York Times about the cultural significance of quicksand and its disappearance from film as an object of terror. That there are quicksand fans, doesn't surprise me. I'm sort of an anti-fan. It was mentioned in the article that a reason for the vanishing of quicksand in movies as a fear factor was the quagmire we got into in Vietnam. I myself am not smart enough to draw that conclusion. I think it has more to do with advanced special effects. Or a more serious blood-lust.
A number of other fright inducing themes infected my childhood. I grew up in NYC. and the merest possibility of any of my nightmares having a basis in reality is as far fetched as a handsome, virgin vampire seducing me. Now.
But my list of primal movie fears still has the power of inducing a chill to run up and down my spine on a stormy night. I must say that #1 is definitely the Hound of the Baskervilles, which successfully incorporates sinking in quicksand, while being attacked by a slobbering mega-hound. Logic didn't enter into my vision of cracks in cement sidewalks shifting to quicksand beneath my feet, and hounds leaping for my throat.
Crowding each other for the next place on my scaredycat list, I have to place: Zombies. Walking dead lurked even in well lighted supermarkets. Next, Indians surrounding my wagon, thus, either a scalping or a kidnapping. And, last but not least, a ravenous Lion, leftover from some jungle movie or other, jumping out from the hedge in front of my apartment building.
I wonder if there are others out there, who have some movie induced hoo-haa's, and are even now running in horror from the Hound of the Bloggyvilles.
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18 comments:
Quicksand has never really entered my personal culture, and it didn't affect me as a child. The only time I ever remember coming across it was a scene in "Never-ending Story" where I faintly remember a part where a boy could not escape from it. That rather frightened me. Strange, how these things stay in one's mind.
"Them" 1954
A movie based on being attacked by giant ants. Really stupid yet kinda creepy if I think about it too long.
Hi Sam-
When I was a kid all you needed were shadows and squeaky doors....I think we've moved up to far more explosive issues..and it is odd what stays with us!!
Hi Little Messy Missy-
Them..of course, but I don't remember a thing about it! Ants, hmmm...
You know, I was just thinking about this very thing when I watched "Lawrence of Arabia" this weekend. I can't remember how I knew about quicksand, but I was deathly afraid of it when I was a girl, as well.
Recently watched Hound of the Baskervilles on TCM. Love-love that dashing Basil Rathbone.
Hi Willow-
I too watched The Hounds...on TMC,(what a station!) and Rathbone IS Sherlock!!
Whatever it was about quicksand..it must be primal...
the quicksand not so much, but any scary animal coming out of the woods still gives me a bit of a stomach ache - wolves mostly xxo
You should adopt my daughter's attitude Lyn: she refuses to watch or read about anything OTHER than vampires, werewolves, etc. as she says those other things are the REAL fears!
Good read.
Hi Jeane-
How could I forget wolves? Still coming down the street..yikes!!
Hi Gaston-
Thanks...I agree with your daughter..that other stuff(politics?)is way scarier!!Thanks for steering me in the right direction...
Quicksand was a part of my chilhood culture.Rumours of quicksand in the out of bounds area at school where a kid had been swallowed up .'Carrie' was very scary. Also 'Superman' and 'Frankenstein' 'Psycho' and just about everything really.
Hi Rallentanda-
Love rumors..and everything scared me too! Carrie..didn't you scream like a maniac at the end?
Oh, now I'm thinking of "The Wages of Fear" and the beginning of the BBC production of Wilkie Collins's, "The Moonstone".
Kat
Hi Kat-
Thanks for visiting..I think you're very classy with your choices!! I was usually scared by "B" movies..trash and flash!!
For me it was german sheperd dogs trained by the military hunting me down due to a mistake in identification? I know it was in one of those B movies but it still scares me...that and oversized scary bugs attacking from under the sink!
Hi Mary Ann-
This seems to have brought out a very wide spectrum of fears..so glad I could bring that out!!
And real bugs..scary!!
Most of what Basil did was scary stuff! And like Willow, my mind went to the quicksand in Lawrence of Arabia. And I never 'got' the instruction not to struggle?! Just let yourself sink with decorum! And what about Lon Chaney Sr. in Phantom of the Opera?? Only ever saw a clip from that and it was enough. I never watch modern horror!!
Hi Derrick-
And Basil was a terrific actor..the old scary stuff was good enough for me..watched mostly through fingers shielding my eyes..
I too won't watch modern horror..too much blood for me...ugh!
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