Describe a piece of horror entertainment that you enjoyed but can no longer remember the name of.

Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat

When I was in elementary school I was super-scared by any horror that wasn’t of the black-and-white classic-monster variety, but I was big into “enigmas”–the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Atlantis, UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts and so on. The school nurse, to whom I was a frequent visitor, had a little paperback book on them that contained two tales that haunt me to this day. One was on the mystery of Flight 19, the group of Naval bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda triangle, leaving only the cryptic echoes of their increasingly distant-sounding call numbers over the radio waves behind. The other was the story of a 19th-century farmer (I did a little googling a couple weeks ago and his name was David Lang) who disappeared into thin air while walking in his field; the only trace of him were faint cries for help from the ether and the dead grass on the spot where he vanished. This one had a creepy illustration with a guy waving in the middle of a field, only instead of really seeing him there’s just a dotted line to indicate he’s invisible. Even though both of these stories have basically been debunked, the whole “vanishing/desperate voices from beyond” thing still gives me the willies. I wish to god I knew the name of the book it was in so I could add it to my bookshelf, next to my Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Omnibus and the abridged and illustrated Tales of Mystery and Terror by Edgar Allen Poe, two other proto-horror touchstones.

Actually, while we’re on the subject, there was this magnificent series of thin orange hardcover books, each spotlighting a different classic monster (the Universal stable, King Kong, Godzilla, etc.), that I took out from my elementary school library CONSTANTLY. The back page was always a picture of Kong plugging the other books in the series via a word balloon reading “I SUGGEST YOU READ ABOUT MY FRIENDS!” A similar series of purple hardcovers covered ’50s sci-fi/horror flicks. Please, please tell me someone out there knows what the hell I’m talking about.

Jeff O’Brien

This odd Czech film that featured these HUGE sets and actors playing miniature people moving out of the walls, over the furniture. WAY pre CGI, damned if I can find the title though…

Nathan - MicroHorror

First is a movie that got screened at Camp Airy, circa 1990 or thereabouts. All I remember was a bunch of short little troll guys creeping around– I think they were wearing hooded robes– and a boy with longish hair who inspired me to burst into an impromptu rendition of Aerosmith’s seminal hit “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” to the amusement of the other campers. In hindsight, I think the movie was “Phantasm” or one of its sequels, but as of right now I’m still not certain.

The second, on the other hand, was found on late-night television at my friend Will’s house, also many years ago. It was an old movie even then, and the plot concerned a killer, possibly giant, crocodile. I remember that Our Hero, your standard Great White Hunter type, had a cowardly native sidekick who at one point cried out in his phony accent, lamenting, “I would make some croc a tasty dee-ner!” Yeah, it was bad, but I’d love to know what on earth that movie was.

Mark - Exclamation Mark’s SciFi/Horror Review

When I was eight years old I saw a made-for-tv-movie that haunted my memory until I was into my 40s. All I could remember was that at one point a woman is placed on the ground with a large board over her body. A procession of what appeared to be pilgrim women came by and placed large stones on the board eventually crushing the woman to death. The point of view would change from a shot of the tortured woman’s face, to her view as she watched another stone being placed on the board. As an adult I talked to other people my age and they, too, could remember the scene but nothing else of the movie. Thankfully, years later, with the help of the internet, I was able to put my curiosity to rest. The movie is called Crowhaven Farm, a film about witchcraft and reincarnation. Apparently the “pilgrim women” were witches . I’ve still not viewed the movie as an adult, but I would love to see it again.

Kimberly - Cinebeats

There was one movie I saw on TV when I was a kid that (if my memory is serving me right) involved a bunch of college age kids (maybe with an adult or two?) going on a camping trip and being attacked and terrorized by some kind of monster/mad man/thing in the woods. The group was traveling in a camper and I think most of the film took place at night. It had to have been made in the 70s or maybe the late sixties and I’m pretty sure it was an American movie unless it was dubbed. I’ve always wanted to find out what it was since it scarred me silly and I couldn’t watch it all because my mom made go to bed before it ended. I’ve tried looking for it over the years, but I haven’t had any luck. If anyone knows what it is, I would love to know!

It’s quality over quantity week at The Horror Roundtable. If you can help any of this week’s participants, won’t you please ease their minds in the comments below? Or if you have your own Unholy Grail, drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do for you.

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