Horror Movie Quotes Blogfest

Today, I'm posting as part of the Horror Movie Quotes Blogfest hosted by Ellie Garratt.

Up until about a year ago, I had never really watched horror movies. They usually scared the crud out of me and it just wasn't worth it to have horrible nightmares for a week afterwards. Then, I got the idea for my current young adult novel, High Hopes. I wanted to do a modern update of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. In the original, the heroine, Catherine Morland, becomes obsessed with spooky, salacious Gothic novels and then meets the dashing Henry Tilney who lives in a real life Gothic abbey. For my update, I decided that my heroine, Katie Morland, would become obsessed with classic horror movies and then meet Hal Tilney, who lives in a real life haunted house -- the same house where the events of The Amityville Horror took place!

Apparently, I like to torture myself because I've been scared senseless more than once over the last two years doing research for the book. Here's some of my favorite quotes from some of the movies that appear in the book...


The Amityville Horror

I wanted the characters in my book to visit a real life haunted house, so when I came across the story of the house in Amityville (which is still has people living in it to this day), I knew it was the perfect place for the Tilney family to live... and for Katie to visit.

A little bit about the house: in 1975, the Lutz family moved into the house knowing that the previous occupants had been murdered in their sleep inside the house. They ended up leaving 28 days later complaining that evil spirits and demons had terrorized them the entire time. Now, why someone would stay in house for almost a full month when they saw evidence that demons were lurking around is beyond me, so my favorite quote from this movie is...

"Let's get out of here, huh? Let's just pack up our stuff and go."



Because when you see blood dripping down the walls and don't start packing your bags, stuff like this happens (click on the link to go to the video)...

"It's the passage to Hell!!!”


The Shining

In my book, Katie goes to see a double feature of The Amityville Horror and The Shining. While Amityville is kind of cheesy, The Shining is practically a masterpiece. It's scary, but not in a keep-me-awake-at-night kind of way (except for those creepy twins). Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are both brilliant in it. Here's one of my favorite scenes...

"Here's Johnny!"



And, as a writer, I just have to love (obviously, this clip has swears in it if you're sensitive to that)...

"Whenever I'm in here and you hear me typing, or whether you don't hear me typing, or whatever the f*** you hear me doing in here, when I'm in here that means I'm working. That means don't come in. You think you can handle that?"




Night of the Living Dead

I knew Hal Tilney would love zombie movies for some reason. He's seen all of George Romero's zombie Living Dead series, but his favorite is still the original.

This is another eerie one that won't give you nightmares, but will make you marvel at how well done it is. It's really amazing when you consider that they shot it for just $114,000 (the movie's made more than $18 million dollars to date). This is probably the creepiest line in the whole thing...

"They're coming to get you, Barbara."




Shaun of the Dead

Anyone who's seen Night of the Living Dead should also rush out and watch Shaun of the Dead. It's incredibly funny and also pretty scary. It really does justice to some of the social themes present other zombie classics.

Here's a pretty hilarious meeting with a zombie...

"Oh, for God's sake, he's got an arm off!"




The Exorcist

Katie and her friends also manage to watch The Exorcist, which I imagine would freak her out a lot more than the others. As I was trying to find a clip, I was looking for something that wasn't profane (not easy to find), but still iconic. I think this scene will do nicely (click on the link to go to the video)...

"Your mother's in here, Karras. Would you like to leave a message? I'll see that she gets it."

And that's all I've got... I'm already shaking in my boots a little just posting this. Can't wait to see the scares that everyone else has put up!

-- Lisa