t໐p ๓໐งiēŞ ค๖໐นt ๓ค∂ຖēŞŞ!
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We are going to try this and see how it goes. I will present a couple of pairs of movies at a time for this First Round. Cast your votes by commenting below.
My daughters, Emma and Kalen, helped me with this March Madness bracket. We labored over the selections to include in the field of 16. There are numerous films that just missed the cut, but these were terribly difficult decisions. Which films would you have added to the field?
Which Movie best represents the Madness Theme? Let us know in the comment section below.
Our journey begins in the “The Raving Mad Region” in the upper left of the Bracket.
We will begin with a couple of caretaker-slips-into-madness movies with “The Shining” vs. “The Lighthouse”.
“The Shining” (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a true classic Psychological Thriller, based on Stephen King’s bestselling 1977 novel by the same name.
Jack Torrence, brilliantly portrayed by Jack Nicholson, is a struggling author and recovering alcoholic who accepts a job as the Winter Caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, a lodge in the Colorado Rocky Mountains with a harrowing past. Jack is accompanied by his wife and young son, the latter of whom has a special gift. Jack soon struggles with isolation and the fatigue and frustration of writer’s block, and he quickly descends into madness. What are your favorite moments or quotes from “The Shining”?
“ЯɘDЯuM”
“The Lighthouse” (2019), an A24 film directed by Robbert Eggers and starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, tells the disturbing, hallucinatory story about two nineteenth-century Lighthouse keepers who struggle to maintain a grip on their sanity when they are marooned on the remote lighthouse island. The movie is rich with symbolism, mythological themes, and dreamlike imagery.
Have you seen this film? What are your favorite scenes or quotes from “The Lighthouse”?
“Boredom makes men to villians.”
The second pair of “killer” March Madness films for your consideration is “American Psycho” vs. “Halloween”.
“American Psycho” (2000), directed by Mary Harron, is a film adaptation of the 1991 Novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. “American Psycho” is told from the first-person perspective of Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a successful New York banker who hides his Jekyll-and-Hyde double life as a serial killer from his friends and colleagues. However, Bateman’s mental state makes him an unreliable narrator . . .
“Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don’t know why.”
“Halloween” (1978) is a slasher film directed by John Carpenter. This is the story of Michael Myers who is institutionalized after murdering his older sister when he was only six years old. Now, after 15 years of languishing in a mental hospital, Myers makes a Halloween night escape and returns to his small home town to kill again. This is not just your run-of-the-mill slasher movie, however. The back story is fascinating, and there is an artistic quality to “Halloween”.
“You can’t kill the boogeyman.”
Share your thoughts about each film, and cast a vote for your favorites in the comment section below!
This is being published as a companion piece to the March Madness Write Club Prompt. (I have not yet reached the 600-word threshold, so let me give you a glimpse of upcoming matchups . . .)
Here are the upcoming matchups:
In the Deranged Lunatic Region: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” vs. “Apocalypse Now” and “Mulholland Drive” vs. “The Silence of the Lambs”.
In the Bat-Shit Crazy Region: “Psycho” vs. “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Fatal Attraction” vs. “Fight Club”.
In the Non Compos Mentis Region: “Joker” vs. “In the Mouth of Madness” and “Taxi Driver” vs. “Shutter Island”.
I will add one Region at a time once we determine which films advance in “The Raving Mad Region”.
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Comments (14)
For this first Round of Regional Matchups, The Shining and American Psycho have advanced. I will post the next Regional matchups tomorrow! Thank you everyone for your votes and meaningful comments!
So, for now, we're voting on just two match-ups. Correct? I'm going with "The Shining" and "American Psycho" in these two brackets.
Lol, I can't vote because I've not watched even one of the movies from the Bracket! So sorry Rob. Also, speaking of Kalen, I read her piece about the monster and I absolutely loved it! She should write more!
Thanks for the review!😊
I love that you included Apocalypse Now on this list! I never met a Viet Nam veteran who did not hate that movie. Although one told me that the scene where a tiger chased Chief was the only realistic scene in the movie because a tiger had flushed him and his battle buddy from their foxhole once. It still makes me chuckle to think of it. I can't cast a votes for these pairings, though, since I'd have to see at least two of the paired movies to have a comment. I'll just have to wait until I have actually seen the pairings. As an aside, the only crazy person in One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest WAS NOT a resident of the hospital.
Fatal Attraction scares the poo outta me.
The Shining resonates with me in that pairing.
I gotta say that "The Lighthouse" wins this showdown. Given the supernatural overlap of both, I think the Lighthouse is better at showing the cause of the madness and rooting it in a specific culture/lore/mythos. "The Shining" Is great and I love it. However, the madness of Jack is a bit too out of reach. It’s also an adaptation of the book, which I feel does a better job at establishing the reason for the madness. "The Lighthouse" was made for the screen first, which I can feel, and it stuck with me much longer because of the creepy aspects to the horror. TOUGH choice, though! I haven’t seen "Halloween" but my husband has and he says "American Psycho" is a better example of the raving mad archetype you’ve established in the categories. I think "American Psycho" is fantastic, so no complaints from me, lol. He says that Michael Myers isn’t really depicted as a "raving mad" killer, more of an inevitable force that follows his victims. I’d say that even with the ambiguous ending of "American Psycho," his crimes betray Bateman as a deranged personality. Thus, he wins the round. Awesome idea, RM!!
I love the idea of this, sadly not a horror movie fan... maybe it's because I relate to villains too much 🤔 Anyways, just wanted to say this is wonderful and I like the idea!! You should keep this in your back pocket and maybe do a bracket for best Christmas/ holiday movie... that could get sooooo controversial and aggressive fast!!! (see, the villain feeds the chaos 😅)
Awesome Idea, Stockton family! The acting in both The shining and The Lighthouse is stellar, Jack Nicholson pushes it over the edge for me. Plus, The movie itself is a walk through living hell. I Vote The Shining. As for the second two, I have to go with American Psycho. Overall, it's a more believable story. I did love the first Halloween. Seeing it as a kid helped me become a fan of the genre. Can't wait to see who ends on top.
I find it quite disconcerting that many of these are in my Best Films lists. lol. Mulholland Drive, The Shining, Taxi Driver, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest, Fight Club, Halloween and Apocalypse Now! are standouts. Apocalypse Now! is probably my favourite war film. Well done for highlighting Jacob's Ladder. I would have included Dead Ringers and The Machinist.
ugh you're killing me....the shinning is like the pinnacle of telling stories of madness, buttttttttttt the lighthouse is one of my favorites of recent memory. I vote lighthouse with the upset! Second one is a bit tougher as I think both are a bit overrated. Halloween is a classic that doesn't quite hold up as well over time (unfortunate critic of most 80s horror) and American Psycho makes me feel gross. I vote Halloween as I think it's more influential
I've seen almost all. But the one that wins for me isn't there: Roman Polanski's "The Tenant."
I hit a home run...not seen any of them!