Snakepit Movies (genre) - Revision history

Graham: /* Film List */ Added links to a copy of 'Midnight Warning' on YouTube, the wikipedia page for the film.

2019-03-22T01:56:56Z

‎Film List: Added links to a copy of 'Midnight Warning' on YouTube, the wikipedia page for the film.

Graham: /* Film List */ Consistency edit.

2019-03-22T01:54:44Z

‎Film List: Consistency edit.

Show changes

Graham: /* Film List */ Fixed link

2019-03-22T01:50:21Z

‎Film List: Fixed link

Graham: /* Reviews */ Added link to a newly posted audio review at Orphaned Entertainment of Midnight Warning.

2019-03-22T01:49:04Z

‎Reviews: Added link to a newly posted audio review at Orphaned Entertainment of Midnight Warning.

Ywhateley: Additional Details added

2018-11-09T22:03:13Z

Additional Details added

Ywhateley: Additional Details added

2018-11-06T00:19:49Z

Additional Details added

Ywhateley: Added wikilinks.

2018-10-31T01:10:48Z

Added wikilinks.

Ywhateley: Page created.

2018-10-31T00:23:43Z

Page created.

Ywhateley: Page created.

2018-10-31T00:21:18Z

Page created.

Ywhateley: Formatting.

2018-10-31T00:15:22Z

Formatting.

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 Films in which a protagonist is "gaslighted" - tricked into believing she is mad - typically by sadistic or unscrupulous authority figures:
-* ''Midnight Warning'' (1932 film) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023221/ IMDb]) - A mysterious bone found in the fire, a sniper taking pot shots at a hotel window and a girl with a missing brother form the basis of this mystery.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
+* ''Midnight Warning'' (1932 film) ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBFTVQPVNT4 watch]) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023221/ IMDb]) ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Warning Wikipedia]) - A mysterious bone found in the fire, a sniper taking pot shots at a hotel window and a girl with a missing brother form the basis of this mystery.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938 film) ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_Vanishes Wikipedia]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheLadyVanishes TVTropes]) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030341/ IMDb]) - An [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film; while traveling through the fictitious country of [[Bandrika]] in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''Gaslight'' (1940 film) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031359/ IMDb]) - Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband of the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden. (A less-known adaptation of the stage play.)

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 * ''Gaslight'' (1940 film) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031359/ IMDB]) - Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband of the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden. (A less-known adaptation of the stage play.)
 * ''Gaslight'' (1944 film), ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Gaslight TVTropes]) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/ IMDB]) - Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband. However, he has a secret that he will do anything to protect, even if it means driving his wife insane. (The best-known, award-winning adaptation of the stage play.)
-* ''So Long at the Fair'' AKA ''The Black Curse'' (1950 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042980/ link]) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_at_the_Fair Wikipedia]) - A young woman visits Paris with her brother only to discover the following morning he has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of his presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
+* ''So Long at the Fair'' AKA ''The Black Curse'' (1950 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042980/ link]) ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_at_the_Fair Wikipedia]) - A young woman visits Paris with her brother only to discover the following morning he has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of his presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * "[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955 series)|Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Into Thin Air]]" (1955 Anthology TV) - A young woman visits Paris with her mother only to discover the following morning the mother has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of her presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''The Screaming Skull'' (1958 film) - A newly married couple arrives at the home of the husband's late wife, where the gardens have been maintained by a gardener faithful to the dead woman's memory. Soon, eerie events lead the new wife to think she's losing her mind.
@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 The following are miscellaneous movies that might not fit any of the above descriptions; these might include some supernatural elements:
 * ''Gothika'' (2003 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348836/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Gothika TVTropes]) - A repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the asylum where she worked, with no memory of why she is there or what she has done.
 * ''Unsane'' (2018 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ IMDB]) - A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution, where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or a product of her delusion?
 == "Lovecraftian" Analysis ==

@@ Line 105: / Line 105: @@
 * ''Unsane'' (2018)  Review by David Dent at Dark Eyes of London ([https://darkeyesoflondon.blogspot.com/2018/04/unsane-usa-2018-dir-steven-soderbergh.html link]), Review by  Matt Donato at We Got This Covered (2/5 Stars) ([https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/unsane-review/ link]), Review by Richard Scheib at The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (3/5 Stars) ([http://www.moriareviews.com/horror/unsane-2018.htm link]), Review by Thomas Humphrey at Screen Anarchy ([https://screenanarchy.com/2018/02/berlinale-2018-review-unsane-a-stellar-piece-of-psycho-fiction.html link])
 * ''So Long at the Fair'' (1950) Review by Richard Cross ([http://www.2020-movie-reviews.com/reviews-year/1950-movie-reviews/long-fair-1950-movie-review/ link]), Review by Kimberley Lindbergs ([http://moviemorlocks.com/2013/07/25/oh-dear-what-can-the-matter-be/ link]), Review by Colin McGuigan ([https://livius1.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/so-long-at-the-fair/ link]), Review by David L. Vinyard, ([http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1236 link])
-* ''Midnight Warning'' (1932) Review by John Grant ([https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/midnight-warning-1932/ link]),  Review by Mitch Lovell ([http://thevideovacuum.livejournal.com/797909.html link]), Review by Dave Sindelar ([https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2015/07/03/midnight-warning-1932/ link]), Review by Hans J. Wollstein ([http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-midnight-warning-v32576/review link])
+* ''Midnight Warning'' (1932) Review by John Grant ([https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/midnight-warning-1932/ link]),  Review by Mitch Lovell ([http://thevideovacuum.livejournal.com/797909.html link]), Review by Dave Sindelar ([https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2015/07/03/midnight-warning-1932/ link]), Review by Hans J. Wollstein ([http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-midnight-warning-v32576/review link]) Review by Lydia and Christopher at Orphaned Entertainment ([http://www.orphanedentertainment.com/midnight-warning-1932/ link]).

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 * ''So Long at the Fair'' AKA ''The Black Curse'' (1950 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042980/ link]) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_at_the_Fair Wikipedia]) - A young woman visits Paris with her brother only to discover the following morning he has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of his presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * "[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955 series)|Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Into Thin Air]]" (1955 Anthology TV) - A young woman visits Paris with her mother only to discover the following morning the mother has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of her presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056687/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane TVTropes]) - A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
 * ''Dementia 13 (1963 film)'' - A scheming widow hatches a daring plan to get her hands on her late husband's inheritance, unbeknownst to her that she is targeted by an axe-wielding murderer who lurks within the family's estate.

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 * "[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955 series)|Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Into Thin Air]]" (1955 Anthology TV) - A young woman visits Paris with her mother only to discover the following morning the mother has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of her presence.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056687/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane TVTropes]) - A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
 * ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1979 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079428/ IMDB]) - Whilst traveling in pre-war Nazi Germany, a young couple realize a passenger seems to have been kidnapped off their train, but, no other passenger aside from themselves, recalls her.
 * ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1991 film) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103242/ IMDB]) - Remake of the 1962 film in which an elderly, bedridden former movie star is "cared for" by her sister, who hates her and keeps her a virtual prisoner in the family mansion.
@@ Line 44: / Line 46: @@
 Films about sensationalized mental illness:
 * ''Maniac'' (1934 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025465/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Maniac1934 TVTropes]) - To get around the newly-implemented Hayes Code, this film (which contains violence, nudity, and sexual content that could still shock some audiences today), about a former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself, purports to be an "educational" film about mental illness and its symptoms. Can be considered a graphic, uncredited adaptation of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Black Cat (fiction)]]".
 * ''[[Spider Baby (1967 film)]]'' - A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father's death.
 * ''[[Psycho (1960 film)]]'', ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Psycho TVTropes]) - An [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film based on the novel by [[Robert Bloch]]; a Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the bizarre domination of his mother.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 Films in which a protagonist is "gaslighted" - tricked into believing she is mad - typically by sadistic or unscrupulous authority figures:
 * ''Midnight Warning'' (1932 film) ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023221/ IMDB]) - A mysterious bone found in the fire, a sniper taking pot shots at a hotel window and a girl with a missing brother form the basis of this mystery.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
-* ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938 film) ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_Vanishes Wikipedia]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheLadyVanishes TVTropes]) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030341/ IMDB]) - An Alfred Hitchcock film; while traveling through the fictitious country of [[Bandrika]] in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
+* ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938 film) ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_Vanishes Wikipedia]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheLadyVanishes TVTropes]) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030341/ IMDB]) - An [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film; while traveling through the fictitious country of [[Bandrika]] in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.  Based on the "vanishing lady" Victorian Era urban legend.
 * ''Gaslight'' (1940 film) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031359/ IMDB]) - Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband of the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden. (A less-known adaptation of the stage play.)
 * ''Gaslight'' (1944 film), ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Gaslight TVTropes]) ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/ IMDB]) - Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband. However, he has a secret that he will do anything to protect, even if it means driving his wife insane. (The best-known, award-winning adaptation of the stage play.)
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 * ''Maniac'' (1934 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025465/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Maniac1934 TVTropes]) - To get around the newly-implemented Hayes Code, this film (which contains violence, nudity, and sexual content that could still shock some audiences today), about a former vaudevillian gifted at impersonation assists a mad scientist in reanimating corpses and soon goes mad himself, purports to be an "educational" film about mental illness and its symptoms. Can be considered a graphic, uncredited adaptation of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Black Cat (fiction)]]".
 * ''[[Spider Baby (1967 film)]]'' - A caretaker devotes himself to three demented siblings after their father's death.
-* ''[[Psycho (1960 film)]]'', ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Psycho TVTropes]) - An Alfred Hitchcock film based on the novel by [[Robert Bloch]]; a Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the bizarre domination of his mother.
+* ''[[Psycho (1960 film)]]'', ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Psycho TVTropes]) - An [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film based on the novel by [[Robert Bloch]]; a Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the bizarre domination of his mother.
 ** ''Psycho II'' (1983 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086154/ IMDB]) - After twenty-two years of psychiatric care, Norman Bates attempts to return to a life of solitude, but the specters of his crimes - and his mother - continue to haunt him.
 ** ''Psycho III'' (1986 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091799/ IMDB]) - Norman Bates falls in love with a fallen nun who stays at the Bates Motel alongside a drifter and a curious reporter. Meanwhile, "mother" is still watching.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:23, 31 October 2018
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	The following are miscellaneous movies that might not fit any of the above descriptions; these might include some supernatural elements:		The following are miscellaneous movies that might not fit any of the above descriptions; these might include some supernatural elements:
		+	* ''Gothika'' (2003 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348836/ IMDB]) ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Gothika TVTropes]) - A repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the asylum where she worked, with no memory of why she is there or what she has done.
	* ''Unsane'' (2018 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ IMDB]) - A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution, where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or a product of her delusion?		* ''Unsane'' (2018 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ IMDB]) - A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution, where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or a product of her delusion?

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:15, 31 October 2018
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	For the sake of this wiki page, the genre has been extended to cover other senational non-supernatural exploitation dramas involving mental illness told from a dubious, dated, pseudo-scientific perspective, as well as a couple subgenres of psychological horror/drama that involve characters tricked by trusted authority figures into believing or acting as if they might be losing their minds (a form of manipulation that has since come to be known as "gaslighting", thanks to the now famous film ''Gaslight'' and the play it was based on).		For the sake of this wiki page, the genre has been extended to cover other senational non-supernatural exploitation dramas involving mental illness told from a dubious, dated, pseudo-scientific perspective, as well as a couple subgenres of psychological horror/drama that involve characters tricked by trusted authority figures into believing or acting as if they might be losing their minds (a form of manipulation that has since come to be known as "gaslighting", thanks to the now famous film ''Gaslight'' and the play it was based on).
−
−
−
−	~~== "Lovecraftian" Analysis ==~~
−
−	The primary cross-over with Lovecraftian fiction in these sorts of dramas will come from the presumed mental breakdown of Lovecraftian characters in the face of the ultimate Truth of the "[[Cthulhu Mythos]]" and its relationship to human "reality", and the bizarre, hallucinatory, helpless, hopeless horror of institutionalization - perhaps in the hands of cultists and worse - in the wake of that mental breakdown. That the exploitation elements of these films are more than slightly "pulpy" in tone also suggests that these sorts of institutions might exist within the same pulp horror universe as the Cthulhu Mythos.
−
−
−
−	~~===Mythos Elements===~~
−	~~<!-- Any locations, monsters, or other elements that might be reused in Lovecraftian stories...-->~~
−	* location:
−	** [[Arkham Sanitarium]] (Arkham MA, city)
−	** [[Sefton Asylum]] (Sefton MA, country)
−	** [[Bellevue Hospital]] (New York NY, city)
−	** [[Essex Institute]] (Salem MA, country)
−	** [[Waterbury State Hospital]] (Waterbury VT, country)
−	** [[Huntingdon Asylum for Lunatics]] (Huntingdon PA, country)
−	** [[Greenwood Asylum for the Deranged]] (Greenwood MA, country)
−	** [[Conanicut Island Private Hospital]] (Conanicut Island RI, country)
−
−
−	~~===Keeper Notes===~~
−	* <!-- Plot hooks and story ideas based on a sample of films in this genre; alternative interpretations of Lovecraftian stories or scenarios set in this genre, etc. -->
−	* (Seemingly?) sane investigators find themselves in a mental hospital - perhaps to rescue a fellow investigator, to interview an NPC witness, or through their own misadventures - and are then subjected to outrageous "treatments", ranging from the usual electro-shock, lobotomy, hydrotherapy, aversion therapy, etc., to more exotic treatments involving Mythos horrors.... (general "Snake Pit" tropes)
−	* The investigators are enlisted to help a neighbor at a hotel by retrieving a doctor for a mysterious illness, only to return to the hotel to find the hotel staff denying that any such person as the ill NPC ever existed. (''The Lady Vanishes'' and other variations on the "vanishing lady" urban legend)
−	* A woman committed to an asylum enlists the investigators for assistance, insisting that the missing child returned to her by police is an imposter; the child might be an ordinary imposter, an unnatural doppelganger, or a matter of mistaken identity or police misconduct, depending on what amuses the keeper the most (''The Changeling'')
−	* An NPC enlists the investigators for help, fearing he/she is going mad, describing various strange things seen at home which trusted authorities - family, servants, loved ones, etc. - deny being real. The NPC's experiences may be real and supernatural/Mythos in origin, or they might be symptoms of real madness, or they might be a conspiracy by those the NPC trusts the most to drive the NPC mad for their own malevolent purposes (gain control of a fortune, torment the victim for laughs, as part of their strange cult activity, etc.) (''Gaslight'')


Line 81:		Line 53:
	* ''Unsane'' (2018 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ IMDB]) - A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution, where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or a product of her delusion?		* ''Unsane'' (2018 film), ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7153766/ IMDB]) - A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution, where she is confronted by her greatest fear - but is it real or a product of her delusion?

		+
		+
		+
		+	== "Lovecraftian" Analysis ==
		+
		+	The primary cross-over with Lovecraftian fiction in these sorts of dramas will come from the presumed mental breakdown of Lovecraftian characters in the face of the ultimate Truth of the "[[Cthulhu Mythos]]" and its relationship to human "reality", and the bizarre, hallucinatory, helpless, hopeless horror of institutionalization - perhaps in the hands of cultists and worse - in the wake of that mental breakdown. That the exploitation elements of these films are more than slightly "pulpy" in tone also suggests that these sorts of institutions might exist within the same pulp horror universe as the Cthulhu Mythos.
		+
		+
		+
		+	===Mythos Elements===
		+	<!-- Any locations, monsters, or other elements that might be reused in Lovecraftian stories...-->
		+	* location:
		+	** [[Arkham Sanitarium]] (Arkham MA, city)
		+	** [[Sefton Asylum]] (Sefton MA, country)
		+	** [[Bellevue Hospital]] (New York NY, city)
		+	** [[Essex Institute]] (Salem MA, country)
		+	** [[Waterbury State Hospital]] (Waterbury VT, country)
		+	** [[Huntingdon Asylum for Lunatics]] (Huntingdon PA, country)
		+	** [[Greenwood Asylum for the Deranged]] (Greenwood MA, country)
		+	** [[Conanicut Island Private Hospital]] (Conanicut Island RI, country)
		+
		+
		+	===Keeper Notes===
		+	* <!-- Plot hooks and story ideas based on a sample of films in this genre; alternative interpretations of Lovecraftian stories or scenarios set in this genre, etc. -->
		+	* (Seemingly?) sane investigators find themselves in a mental hospital - perhaps to rescue a fellow investigator, to interview an NPC witness, or through their own misadventures - and are then subjected to outrageous "treatments", ranging from the usual electro-shock, lobotomy, hydrotherapy, aversion therapy, etc., to more exotic treatments involving Mythos horrors.... (general "Snake Pit" tropes)
		+	* The investigators are enlisted to help a neighbor at a hotel by retrieving a doctor for a mysterious illness, only to return to the hotel to find the hotel staff denying that any such person as the ill NPC ever existed. (''The Lady Vanishes'' and other variations on the "vanishing lady" urban legend)
		+	* A woman committed to an asylum enlists the investigators for assistance, insisting that the missing child returned to her by police is an imposter; the child might be an ordinary imposter, an unnatural doppelganger, or a matter of mistaken identity or police misconduct, depending on what amuses the keeper the most (''The Changeling'')
		+	* An NPC enlists the investigators for help, fearing he/she is going mad, describing various strange things seen at home which trusted authorities - family, servants, loved ones, etc. - deny being real. The NPC's experiences may be real and supernatural/Mythos in origin, or they might be symptoms of real madness, or they might be a conspiracy by those the NPC trusts the most to drive the NPC mad for their own malevolent purposes (gain control of a fortune, torment the victim for laughs, as part of their strange cult activity, etc.) (''Gaslight'')