Ghost Stories

Hi Guys,

Ghost movies have never awestruck me, though some of those movies have been bizarre comedies.

Last week I went to my friend Siva’s home and he asked, ‘Karthick, say me some good horror movies that you have seen’. I said him some of the movies involving serial killers or fantastical creatures. He said, ‘No, no! I’m not asking about those movies. I’m asking about ghost movies. Movies in which ghost really appear and frighten’. I said that I have not seen any movie in which ghost appear and in most cases either ghost takes another person’s body or it is invisible and even those movies are great humour stuffs.

He replied, ‘What is this? Even in our Tamil movies, ghosts wear white sarees and come. You are saying there are no such movies in Hollywood. It’s amusing’. I said that there may be some and added that I left watching ghost movies long time back as they have never impressed me. I expect ghost movies to frighten us to the core and none has done so. Siva too accepted and said that he was expecting one such movie and is able to find none.

Few months back I saw a movie called ‘They Wait’ and it ended to be a frustrating one. Particularly the climax was the best comic scene. As the heroine breaks the wall of a building, piles of human bones will fall out and the bones will pull the villain groups inside the wall. I don’t know how they think of such stories.

These days I have completely lost my interest in watching ghost movies as most of the movies have monotonous stories. Either a ghost enters the body of a small boy or ghost’s surface in a home to take revenge or someone moves to a new home and ghost chases them throughout the movie or a new born baby is a ghost. Of the movies I have seen, the one which impressed me a lot was ‘The Grudge’. I watched the original Japanese version and it was a good one.

I don’t like ghost movies, but hearing or reading ghost stories is different. I still remember my childhood days in which my brother used to tell me ghost stories very rarely. The spot would be perfect. He used to say it only during night time, when there is a power cut. I don’t remember any of those stories he said, but I remember that I won’t be able to sleep properly that night.

Imagination is the biggest advantage in hearing or reading stories. Watching a movie diminishes the perspective of imagination. Hearing a story will take you to the spot of the story and it will bring the ghost right in front of you. Even a small sound around you creates troubles (read my Ghost Paper post).

After saying all these things, readers may ask whether I believe in ghosts and my answer is NO. The main reason is ‘I haven’t seen one’.

Happy Reading!!!