Heavy Dose of Spontaneity

I went to my niece’s 2nd birthday party on Sunday. It was great! Granted, it is not super difficult to get me to smile, but the sight of the next generation of my family, running around, playing, and interacting with her great grandmother, is a really fun thing.

I couldn’t stay long, because of a prior engagement, but I was at Roger’s Lakewood Park for a few hours, enjoying some fresh air, a bonfire, and a freshly roasted hot dog from my sister.

It was a really cool themed party, too. Lady bug themed, with tons of cute balloons, and the birthday girl dressed up in a red and black fleece bug outfit. Way cool!

Fleece would have been a good idea, however. It just so happened to be chilly outside. My little wind breaker didn’t make the cut. Tis the season for colds!

So I’ve had the sniffles this week. Don’t cry for me, folks. Nothing a little Nyquil won’t take care of, and a nice hearty double dose of sleep.

Sleeping is always at a premium for me, but apparently also for my roommate. As I woke up this morning, my roommate was still awake. I found that a little odd. His excuse was particularly entertaining. He watched the movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose on demand. I can see why he was having trouble sleeping.

Ok, in fairness, that movie looks creepy. So creepy, in fact, that I refuse to watch it. I am not insinuating that my roommate is not your everyday guy, or that he is not particularly courageous. What I am saying is that everybody has a series of movies that have given them sleepless nights.

Here are 10 movies that have given me some degree of sleeplessness.

10. The Never Ending Story (1984). Perhaps I was too young to really understand what was going on here. I will say that any movie with a creepy, talking, flying dog-thing that you can ride, is purely made for the horror of young children.

9. Diary of the Dead (2007). Yes, this is a zombie movie. I have an affinity towards zombie flicks. This one isn’t particularly scary, but the concept got my attention. Some aspiring young film students accidentally make their way into a zombie infestation. The entire movie is shown from the perspective of these students, who (instead of making a bad horror movie) are documenting the happenings. That always made me think of how I would react in that situation.

8. The Shining (1980). Jack Nicholson is fantastic. That is all that needs to be said.

7. The Replacements (2000). Yes, a football movie. The reason that this movie makes me miss sleep, is because no matter how many times I’ve seen it, if it’s on TV, I watch it. I don’t even like the movie, really. I just keep asking myself “Can ‘Footsteps’ Shane Falco do it again?” … and he normally does. ‘Footsteps’ Falco is the man.

6. The Ring (2002). This movie was so frightening for its time, for a year afterwards, every time I began to watch a video, I thought about this.

5. The Brothers Grimm (2005). How does Matt Damon keep getting work? I can’t wrap my mind around it.

4. Dawn of the Dead (1978). This is one of the classic zombie flicks that keeps you on the edge of your seat. A great watch for the zombie fan in all of us.

3. A Clockwork Orange (1971). This is one of my favorite movies, particularly because of its creepiness. The wicked costumes, the concept of mental manipulation, and the twisted undertones really creep me out.

2. Un Chien Andalou (1929). This movie was produced by Salvador Dali. This surrealist film frontrunner has kept me up a night or two. 1. The Exorcist (1973). Arguably the most frightening movie ever made. Either way, it is frightening to me. Good luck getting me to watch this one again. You see, not all of the movies that keep me awake at night are ‘horror’ movies. I guess it doesn’t have to be a horror movie to make people frightened or confused enough to lose sleep.

So what are some movies that provoke such a reaction out of you that you can’t sleep, and why? There’s a prize in it for whoever’s is the most hilarious!