Being scared...

[fajrdrako]

Possibly because of Supernatural, I've been thinking a lot about Halloween this year. There are holidays I conceptually love, and Halloween is one of them. A celebration of what scares us! That's perfect.

So - what's your favourite Halloween story?

What would be good food to serve (not counting candy) at a Halloween dinner?

It seems a good moment to feature the fannish friday 5 from a few weeks ago: List the five scariest characters ever.

1. Mr. Green, the Prime Minister of England in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
   
2. Tien Vorsoisson, Ekaterin's husband in Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold.
   
3. The Stone Angels in "Blink", a Doctor Who episode by Steven Moffat.
   
4. David Allen Griffin, played by Keanu Reeves in The Watcher.
   
5. The guys with blue rubber gloves in the Firefly episode "Ariel".

That doesn't leave me room for a #6, Christopher Eccleston as Iago in Othello. You may include from the above that I am scared by (a) the banality of evil, (b) people who rationalize evil acts, and (c) demeaning of women by men. And by time-travelling statued who jump when you blink, but I haven't met many of those.

Tangentially, the scariest author I know is Alan Garner. He writes beautifully, but for some reason he can write, "The sky was blue," and scare me to death. It's been a long time since I've read one of his books; I wonder if they'd have the same effect on me now?

Comments

[cleverthylacine]

I think my top 5 would have to include Virginia Gray and Bobbi Stakowski. Maybe I will do this one when I get home. Tien is scary too, but less so, because I married one and got rid of him and feel more or less okay. Virginia Gray (Sylar's mother) is much scarier to me because I have never successfully got to the point where I can be in a room with my mom and not get sucked into her badness, and I had almost the exact same fight with her that Sylar had complete with religious delusions, except that I don't have TK and didn't stab her with scissors, I just stood there in utter horror and realised that the person who had made me feel terrible about myself for years was actually completely fucking batshit.

[fajrdrako]

Crazy people can do that, and it can be easy to be sucked into their delusions. But I couldn't think of a fictional villian who fit quite that parameter for me; and Sylar's mother doesn't do it. I found Sylar scary enough, but he doesn't make my list either.