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Uncle Boogeyman
Jul 22, 2007

I do not believe in supernatural phenomena except for ghosts, ouija board ghosts, and cryptids, all of which are hella real

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Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit

Spatulater bro! posted:

Boy am I glad I'm not religious/believe in fake stuff. Life would be terrifying.

Life is terrifying enough without having some dude with horns trying to trick you into having premarital sex

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Religion based horror movies don't really scare me because if demons exist then that means the other thing exists, which is a much more comforting thought than the alternative.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Spatulater bro! posted:

Boy am I glad I'm not religious/believe in fake stuff. Life would be terrifying.

I know this was intended as an attack against me being religious but its actually the opposite: the comforting stuff far outweighs the "scary stuff"

Opopanax
Aug 8, 2007

I HEX YE!!!


Basebf555 posted:

Religion based horror movies don't really scare me because if demons exist then that means the other thing exists, which is a much more comforting thought than the alternative.

See I think that's worse, because it means if God is real he's at best he is a laissez faire guy who will let kids get possessed so as not to disturb anyone's faith, and at worst he's capricious/downright malevolent.

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

My mom has always told me never to touch a Ouija board because ofsomething that happened to her and her friends when they played it as teenagers but has always refused to elaborate on what that "something" was.

feedmyleg
Dec 25, 2004
She touched a boy's hand :eek:

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

FreudianSlippers posted:

My mom has always told me never to touch a Ouija board because ofsomething that happened to her and her friends when they played it as teenagers but has always refused to elaborate on what that "something" was.

We have the same mom.

For me even though I was raised Catholic I never really believed in literal demons and angels but from a very young age I took the position that if you want me to believe in one you gotta be willing to believe in the other. Eventually that just kind of evolved to "I know enough to know we don't know poo poo about the big questions and literal interpretation religious folk, paranormal investigators, and scientists talking about other planes of existence are all kind of trying to answer the same inherently human questions."

So like accepting "gently caress it, I don't know know what the universe has in store" leaves the door just open enough for me to enjoy a good, sink me in supernatural horror. I don't actually believe the stupid plastic Mattel game will conjure evil spirits. But its not really worth it to me to find out.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



to me just bc its manmade doesnt mean it cant be evil. A gun is manmade and can still blow my face off. Ik to all of you im just making myself look silly but i figured id explain my thought process for those wondering why im scared of a toy

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Kvlt! posted:

to me just bc its manmade doesnt mean it cant be evil. A gun is manmade and can still blow my face off. Ik to all of you im just making myself look silly but i figured id explain my thought process for those wondering why im scared of a toy

I actually think it adds an endearing layer to the Kvlt! story that we've all been privy to these past seven years or so.

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Basebf555 posted:

Religion based horror movies don't really scare me because if demons exist then that means the other thing exists, which is a much more comforting thought than the alternative.

The funny part is this isn't really true. Its one of those things we tell ourselves to feel better but just because some religion got 1 thing right doesn't mean their whole setup makes sense (especially since there's not a religion on the planet that all agree with each other). As many horror films have posited its entirely possible that the evil poo poo exists but the good poo poo doesn't. That any higher power that exists is capricious or disinterested, that any divine beings that have been written to be cold blooded warriors capable of falling are just monsters with a good image, or that the good stuff was just stuff we made up entirely to make dealing with the evil easier.

You know... "funny" in that existential terror way.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

STAC Goat posted:

The funny part is this isn't really true. Its one of those things we tell ourselves to feel better but just because some religion got 1 thing right doesn't mean their whole setup makes sense (especially since there's not a religion on the planet that all agree with each other). As many horror films have posited its entirely possible that the evil poo poo exists but the good poo poo doesn't. That any higher power that exists is capricious or disinterested, that any divine beings that have been written to be cold blooded warriors capable of falling are just monsters with a good image, or that the good stuff was just stuff we made up entirely to make dealing with the evil easier.

You know... "funny" in that existential terror way.

Well, not to get all depressing about it but I really wasn't referring to good vs. evil, I was referring to existence vs. non-existence. If demons exist then that means there is some sort of plane of existence other than this one, and that alone is a comforting thought compared to some of the stuff that I can sometimes find bouncing around in my head.

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

The scariest Ouija board

Origami Dali
Jan 7, 2005

Get ready to fuck!
You fucker's fucker!
You fucker!
Ouija is a brilliant product because it does literally nothing and still became this cultural thing that is now almost folkloric. It's like if the pet rock were an oracle and never really went out of style.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Kvlt! posted:

I know this was intended as an attack against me being religious but its actually the opposite: the comforting stuff far outweighs the "scary stuff"

Interesting. I don't really get it though. Sure the idea of heaven is comforting, but the idea that there might ACTUALLY be a demon under your bed seems like it would outweigh that. I dunno :shrug:

CelticPredator
Oct 11, 2013
🍀👽🆚🪖🏋

For real lmao: re ouija boards

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Kvlt! posted:

to me just bc its manmade doesnt mean it cant be evil. A gun is manmade and can still blow my face off. Ik to all of you im just making myself look silly but i figured id explain my thought process for those wondering why im scared of a toy

I am not a religious person anymore, but I do not think someone having faith or taking solace in a higher power is inherently silly. If someone's not using their faith or religion to persecute or oppress or self-harm, then who am I to question their spiritual journey?

I do think the Ouija board thing is interesting, because it's history as an "evil thing" is directly from The Exorcist film. Talking boards were parlor tricks inspired by spiritualists who claimed to talk to the dead. The name "Ouija" was made up to sound mystic. They proved popular so board game companies started making them. It's use as a means of contacting demons or the devil and dark worship was literally written into The Exorcist because they were a popular form of entertainment, and they thought it sounded good. Fundamentalist Christians jumped on that part of the film--and really a lot of the film--and declared it based in fact, when a lot of the stuff in the film was made up.

Now, if you believe that imbuing energy and belief that something works actually makes it real, then that's all well and good, and a different topic of discussion. But the Ouija board's history is very easily traced as a game and parlor trick has only been "evil" for a little over 45 years.

Origami Dali posted:

Ouija is a brilliant product because it does literally nothing and still became this cultural thing that is now almost folkloric. It's like if the pet rock were an oracle and never really went out of style.

Pretty much! Like if everyone thought Magic Eight Balls were a source of evil because using it lured Freddy Kruger in an Elm Street movie.

I feel like I've linked it before, but The Dollop has a really funny and informative history about how we got from Spiritualists to Talk Boards to it being labeled evil in the 70's: Episode 28: The Talk Board

Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Mar 24, 2021

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Spatulater bro! posted:

Interesting. I don't really get it though. Sure the idea of heaven is comforting, but the idea that there might ACTUALLY be a demon under your bed seems like it would outweigh that. I dunno :shrug:

Generally the idea is that demons be damned, we all know how fragile life is and how many ways there are to die and how everyone's gotta do it eventually. So if you believe that there's something beyond that that takes the edge off and gives you hope, and hope tends to be more powerful than fear.

Drunkboxer
Jun 30, 2007
Ouija was kind of a commodified version of existing planchette stuff in the spiritual movement anyway, so it wasn’t only a cynically produced boy-girl hand toucher.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Spatulater bro! posted:

Interesting. I don't really get it though. Sure the idea of heaven is comforting, but the idea that there might ACTUALLY be a demon under your bed seems like it would outweigh that. I dunno :shrug:

If you want my perspective (and I appreciate you actually asking rather than mocking me): in Catholicism you have spiritual "weapons" that are always stronger than demons (these arent weapons like a sword, they are prayers like the Rosary) so you're essentially always guaranteed to win a battle with a demon if you use the right tools. Again, it seems incredibly silly to you, but I figured I'd offer an explanation so you can at least see how I view it.

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer

Kvlt! posted:

If you want my perspective (and I appreciate you actually asking rather than mocking me): in Catholicism you have spiritual "weapons" that are always stronger than demons (these arent weapons like a sword, they are prayers like the Rosary) so you're essentially always guaranteed to win a battle with a demon if you use the right tools. Again, it seems incredibly silly to you, but I figured I'd offer an explanation so you can at least see how I view it.

When I was growing up, I was regularly taught that as a Christian, you are protected from possession, but you are still open to demonic oppression. Being followed by a demon, tormented, hosed with, etc, but not able to be taken over. I wasn't Catholic, though, it was Baptist. Do you believe that too, or is it different?

Drunkboxer
Jun 30, 2007
Since the threads talking about religion anyway I might as well bring up Satan’s Slave (1982) and its remake Satan’s Slaves (2017) since I watched them both yesterday. They’ve both been on Shudder for awhile now so I’m probably late to the party but it was pretty neat seeing occult horror movies from an islamic perspective rather than a christian (usually catholic) one. The original is a pretty straight forward morality tale where a secular family is beset by zombies and ghosts because they aren’t devout enough. The ending has the family being saved by a group of pious townspeople who show up at the last second and literally chant “allahu akbar” at the villain until she bursts into flames. The remake isn’t so preachy and has a more familiar set up for an occult movie but I thought it had some solid scares and was overall a better film. Watching them back to back was pretty cool too because it felt like watching Evil Dead and the 2013 remake back to back except with two movies I knew nothing about.

Spatulater bro!
Aug 19, 2003

Punch! Punch! Punch!

Kvlt! posted:

If you want my perspective (and I appreciate you actually asking rather than mocking me): in Catholicism you have spiritual "weapons" that are always stronger than demons (these arent weapons like a sword, they are prayers like the Rosary) so you're essentially always guaranteed to win a battle with a demon if you use the right tools. Again, it seems incredibly silly to you, but I figured I'd offer an explanation so you can at least see how I view it.

It doesn't seem silly. In fact I'm being a little disingenuous. I was a devout christian for 25 years (protestant). My dad's a United Methodist pastor. I get what you're talking about.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Franchescanado posted:

When I was growing up, I was regularly taught that as a Christian, you are protected from possession, but you are still open to demonic oppression. Being followed by a demon, tormented, hosed with, etc, but not able to be taken over. I wasn't Catholic, though, it was Baptist. Do you believe that too, or is it different?

It's similar yes but its less a demon is going to make loud noises to scare me or attack me with its claws (i am scared of that but thats more my own superistition and too many horror movies rather than Church teaching) but more lead me away from spiritual healthiness.

To give you an example: I've struggled with addiction and being opressed by a demon might make me give in and buy a bag of dope. Whereas if I use a spiritual weapon and tell that demon to gently caress right off, then I won't go and buy the bag of dope. It's worked for me, religion has kept me off of abusing hard drugs when therapy and medication failed.

alf_pogs
Feb 15, 2012


Kvlt! posted:

It's similar yes but its less a demon is going to make loud noises to scare me or attack me with its claws (i am scared of that but thats more my own superistition and too many horror movies rather than Church teaching) but more lead me away from spiritual healthiness.

To give you an example: I've struggled with addiction and being opressed by a demon might make me give in and buy a bag of dope. Whereas if I use a spiritual weapon and tell that demon to gently caress right off, then I won't go and buy the bag of dope. It's worked for me, religion has kept me off of abusing hard drugs when therapy and medication failed.

that's about the same as the non-denominational christian viewpoint i was raised in. it's more the safety of my spiritual body, rather than my flesh-and-blood body

Hollismason
Jun 30, 2007

Witchfinder General

I grew up in a religion that believed in demonic possession as well so it's not weird to me that people believe that stuff. Although I'm not a big fan of religious horror.

Sab Sabbington
Sep 18, 2016

In my restless dreams I see that town...

Flagstaff, Arizona
Despite my family being vaguely religious growing up (in the Joel Osteen on Sunday Morning TV kind of way) even as a young kid I never really bought into it, and as a result don't have a whole ton to add re: Ouija and demons specifically, but I do wanna echo that being uncomfortable/wary/afraid/etc of something other people find innocuous isn't something to feel silly about. Especially when the feelings are also harmless.

One thing I think horror fans have an advantage in understanding is that fear is complicated and nuanced and most of us end up with a thing or two that doesn't hit someone else the same way. My buddy was bit by a dog when he was a kid and absolutely does not gently caress with dogs--which is why I won't show him Green Room even though he'd love the rest. I don't get it, dogs rule, but that doesn't undo the very real poo poo he had happen and the fear it might happen again. Spirituality can be just as real for people as dog attacks are.

On a different note:

The Braindead talk a few pages back made me bring it up to my buddies tonight during our weekly movie stream, and after mentioning it was on youtube we ended up doing a double feature. Holy poo poo that movie loving rips, I went in incredulous about it being the "goriest movie ever made" and was very, very pleasantly surprised.

Doubly rad was that we watched it as a follow up to an old Buster Keaton flick--which was really jarring to our less horror-focused friends--but it was cool as hell to see how effective and timeless a lot of physical comedy and slapstick is. Braindead has a sequence that involves a character running in place due to a big gently caress-off pool of blood, and it was some straight up silent era or Three Stooges poo poo. Braindead was a lot, uh, goopier than Buster Keaton or his more overtly silly contemporaries were, but there's a thread there that was a joy to see.

Lurdiak
Feb 26, 2006

I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do.


All the scammers and moral-panicking religious zealots who conflated ghosts and demons in the general "spirit" category can eat my nuts. Totally annihilated centuries of interesting lore for both.

FreudianSlippers
Apr 12, 2010

Shooting and Fucking
are the same thing!

People returning from the dead being demons or devils in disguise, or possessing the actual corpse in some cases, goes back awhiles:



From Strange Histories: The Trial of the Pig, the Walking Dead, and Other Matters of Fact from the Medieval and Renaissance Worlds (2004) by Dan Oldridge.

But there was a massive revival in that by then obscure belief by the time the Exorcist came out and it became hip again.

FreudianSlippers fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Mar 25, 2021

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



now i have to dress up as a demon and go spook the protestants

Lurdiak
Feb 26, 2006

I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do.


"This is either the work of the devil or Catholics." - basically all Protestant history.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Basebf555 posted:

I actually think it adds an endearing layer to the Kvlt! story that we've all been privy to these past seven years or so.

I mean, if you haven't yet figured out that Kvlt is Regan MacNeil I don't know what to say.

MacheteZombie
Feb 4, 2007

Lurdiak posted:

"This is either the work of the devil or Catholics." - basically all Protestant history.

Checks out

Iron Crowned
May 6, 2003

by Hand Knit
What if it is both the Devil and Catholics at the same time?

Halloween Jack
Sep 12, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 8 hours!
Jack Chick Was Right

Splint Chesthair
Dec 27, 2004


Iron Crowned posted:

What if it is both the Devil and Catholics at the same time?

Curses, they’re on to us!

feedmyleg
Dec 25, 2004

Halloween Jack posted:

Jack Chick Was Right

This is why The Mist rules.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."
Cryptid/Wendigo chat, I'm still eagerly waiting for Antlers.

EDIT: trailer is up for Ben Wheatley's new film, which looks like a companion piece to A Field in England:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lqkfo7IymU

The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Mar 25, 2021

Flavius Aetass
Mar 30, 2011
Can I get some recommendations on recent (past 10 years or so) movies that would make me scared that there is a malevolent spirit waiting for me to fall asleep?

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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Flavius Aetass posted:

Can I get some recommendations on recent (past 10 years or so) movies that would make me scared that there is a malevolent spirit waiting for me to fall asleep?

It Follows

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