Dialogue from not-so-scary movies.

Monday: Dialogue, Lines, or Quotes

Today is Halloween, so I selected some fun dialogue:

 Ernest Scared Stupid (1991):

ERNEST (Jim Varney)

(sees Trantor the Troll)

Oh, I sure hope you're from Keebler!

Hocus Pocus (1993):

WINIFRED (Bette Midler)

Oh look, another glorious morning.

Makes me sick!

Young Frankenstein (1974):

DR. FRANKENSTEIN (Gene Wilder)

STAND BACK! ... HE'S GOT A ROTTEN BRAIN!

FRAU BLÜCHER (Cloris Leachman)

It's not rotten! It's a good brain!

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

IT'S ROTTEN, I TELL YOU, ROTTEN!

THE MONSTER (Peter Boyle)

(lunging at the doctor)

RRAAAAAA!

IGOR (Marty Feldman)

Ixnay on the ottenray.

Casper (1995):

KAT (Christina Ricci)

I can see right through you.

CASPER (Malachi Pearson)

Yeah, kind of happens when

you haven't got any skin.

Beetlejuice (1988):

ADAM (Alec Baldwin)

(reading)

"Handbook of the Recently Diseased".

BARBARA (Geena Davis)

... Deceased.

ADAM

Deceased?

BARBARA

I don't know where it came from.

Look at the publisher.

ADAM

"Handbook for the Recently

Deceased Press".

BARBARA

You know what? I don't think

we survived the crash!

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Costumes for the Coneheads.

Writing Prompt: A memorable Halloween costume.

In keeping with the focus of this blog, I considered costumes in film, and Coneheads (1993) rose to the top. Although donning a fake dome makes for a fun Halloween costume, I refer to the costumes the characters wear within the movie.

Aliens from the planet Remulak crash-land on Earth. Stranded, and awaiting rescue, they blend among the "blunt skulls" (humans) by using the name DeCicco and claiming they are from France. Like that explains their cone-shaped heads.

An immigration official and his assistant suspect the DeCicco family are aliens--illegal aliens. They hope to catch the family off guard by entering their home under the pretense of being Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Coneheads don't typically disguise their odd head shape, but on this night they are dressed for a costume party, inadvertently hiding their cones:

Beldar, dressed as Abraham Lincoln, wears a tall top hat. Prymatt's painted-red cone poses as lipstick in a tube. And their daughter, Connie, appears dressed as a medieval princess wearing a hennin (cone shaped hat). Perfect--and memorable--costumes for the Coneheads.

What movie comes to mind when you think of characters wearing costumes?

Writing prompt from:

11/22/2021 - correction made. I erroneously posted that the aliens referred to humans as "blood skulls" -- not sure where I got that!--and thanks to a reader letting me know of the mistake, I corrected it to "blunt skulls". 

Questionable Dating Advice

Friday: Comic Relief!

It's been a tough week, so I turned to Studio C for comic relief. In this sketch, The Phantom receives dating advice.

True courage.

Monday: Dialogue, Lines, or Quotes


In Peaceful Warrior (2006), Nick Nolte's character, Socrates, gives wise insight:

"A warrior is not about perfection, or victory, or invulnerability. He's about absolute vulnerability. That's the only true courage." 

Action

Wednesday: Point of View

(I found this in my drafts and it's a post that I needed today.) ...............

Action.

Imagine if Joan Wilder (Romancing the Stone) remained in her New York City apartment searching for tissue and feeding her cat. Or if Jean Valjean (Les Misérables) spent his time curled up in a ball, whining. We wouldn't feel engaged in their problem, or really care about them much.

At some point in compelling stories, the main characters take action to solve their problems. The idea or solution might come from an outside source, but the characters act on it--even when it pushes them out of their comfort zone--and we cheer for their success.

Think of a favorite movie. How did the main character take action to solve his or her dilemma? Did it make the character more interesting and likable?

I think of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. When Walter leaps onto the helicopter as it takes off, I thrill over his courage. His story becomes far more interesting at that point.

We are the characters in our own life story, and taking action to solve our dilemmas can make us more interesting, too.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. ~ Dale Carnegie

As I said... I needed this. Lately I've been rolling along letting circumstances dictate direction. I don't want to be that character. It's time to take action.

What kind of character are you in your life story?