HORROR MOVIE NIGHT

[goosemods]

HORROR MOVIE NIGHT

Micah St. Clair organizes another movie night, this time watching a SCARY movie. Excitingly, he's just received a portable projector from home, so tonight's movie will be projected IN LARGE on a bedsheet that's been hung up in the Atrium. The couches have been rearranged in front of the makeshift screen. The lights have been switched off. Popcorn is served.

As the sophomores tensely watch the plot of Sinister unfold, Casper Kim walks up behind them to ask what they’re doing. The sophomores, caught off guard, scream loudly and several fall off the couches. Ariadne Flint throws a bowl of popcorn at Casper in self-defense.

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN

• Seniors and juniors are not technically banned from movie night, but they don't get a seat on the comfiest couches. Front row admission for Micah's best friends only!!!!


• The lodge is sparsely populated by staff this Thursday evening, as the teachers are having a staff meeting.


• For those who have not seen the movie, HERE is a trailer, and HERE is the Wikipedia plot summary.


• For the record, Sinister is less gory than the plot summary sounds, and tends cut away from the violent parts and leave it up to the viewer's imagination. On the other hand, a horror movie involving a malevolent ghost-demon that steals children away is maybe... not great?


• The movie is timed to end just before 9 PM, when the lodge closes down and everyone must walk back to camp. In the dark. Remember, buddy system!

» Before the movie: Meet up with your friends, share snacks, claim the best seats.

» watching the movie: Midway through, Casper terrifies forty innocent children.

» elsewhere in the lodge: Since there are so few teachers around, is there anything else you rascals are up to? Classrooms and club rooms are all still locked, though.

» After the movie: Time to clear out and go home! Are you going to sleep well tonight?

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!

Comments

WATCHING THE MOVIE

[goosemods]

Calvin & Micah

[evercreep]

There's a lull in the action (it's been a little while since Calvin's had to watch anyone get murdered) and his stomach has started to unknot. It helps when he looks around at the faces of his classmates and friends, just to take himself out of the film for a moment. It reminds him where he really is, far(-ish) from any demons (maybe). Micah, sitting next to him, is completely engrossed in the moving images. He doesn't even look down as he lifts a piece of popcorn to his lips.

Calvin reaches over and steals some for himself, not even trying to be sneaky. When Micah looks over, Calvin smiles smugly and pops one of the stolen kernels into his mouth.

Calvin & Micah

[stclair]

Micah gives Calvin a silent look of outrage over the popcorn theft, which has zero impact at all when he starts grinning and moves his popcorn bowl over to sit between them. Extra buttery. Micah appreciates the classics.

"You know," he whispers, while on-screen the protagonist wanders around in the dark for the umpteenth time, "all you had to do was ask."

Calvin & Micah

[evercreep]

Calvin bites his lip as he grins back at Micah. Ree is still snuggled up next to him, and she can probably feel it as he laughs silently. The flavour of the popcorn is strong, salty, buttery. It's going to get caught in his teeth. He doesn't even know if he likes it that much.

He steals another piece anyway. "I don't have to, though, now do I?"

Calvin & Micah

[stclair]

Aghast, Micah moves a hand over the bowl to block Calvin. Which doesn't work because it's a pretty big bowl, but there's no way he's going to allow this ruthless Slytherin-ing to continue.

"I can't believe this," he laments. "We invite you into our school, our country, our hearts, and this is the thanks we get? Didn't Ree teach you any manners?"

Calvin & Micah

[evercreep]

Calvin lightly swats Micah's hand. That's what you get for trying to stop Calvin from doing as he pleases with your snacks. "Ree's not my mum," he counters, leaning in so he can whisper, "and you're not my prefect. Maybe if I'd realised you Americans expect so much gratitude, I would've never came here."

It's an extremely empty threat.

Ari & A Terrifying Interloper (& Open?)

[casperkim]

Finally departing from the library after a long study session that's left him burdened with a headache and in a bad mood, Casper begins to pass through the Atrium...but slows as he approaches the sophomores gathered around their makeshift movie screen. He looks at the sheet and at what the younger students are watching, scowling irritably as he recognizes that this is definitely a horror film and that his current position actually mirrors that of the protagonist in the movie, who's just found a group of dead children gathered around a film projector in an attic. To some, this would be totally creepy. To Casper, this is more thoroughly irritating.

"What the fuck is this?" he asks, almost reflexively, tone flat and sharp. It's unfortunate that, in the dark with his long hair framing his face, his silhouette looks somewhat like that of the demonic Bughuul from the movie.

Ari & A Terrifying Interloper (& Open!)

[untarnish]

Ari would not characterize herself as an easily startled person. She actually prides herself on being more unflappable than her ridiculous classmates. But even she has to admit that she's been on edge lately, and this movie... is not helping.

She's so focused on not looking scared in front of Jade and her friends that's wound up taut by the time Casper happens upon them. And she's not paying attention to what's behind, despite the fact that a literal ghost has managed to sneak up on her before. So when she does realize Casper's behind them, it's only when he speaks.

During the seance in the woods, her instinct had been to run, but unhappily for Casper he doesn't have a supernatural aura of fear radiating off of him, even if he is scary. Ari starts considerably when he speaks, spilling her bowl of popcorn all over the sofa, but before she even has time to process what's actually going on she flings the bowl at his head. She's no Quidditch player, but she is pumped up on adrenaline, and it was a good strong throw.

Ari & A Terrifying Interloper (& Open!)

[casperkim]

Casper had been almost as unprepared to take a bowl of popcorn to the face as Ari had been to have someone appear suddenly behind her. Fortunately for him, the bowl is a flimsy plastic thing and his pride is damaged more than anything else when it finds its target and douses him with the buttery snack. He utters a small, startled, indignant sound and immediately growls, "Flint!" But it's hard to take him too seriously when he's busy brushing popcorn off of himself and totally missing the two pieces that caught in his dark hair.

Lucas & Bash

[bubblewrapped]

Ah, yes, sophomore movie night. A night sure to be full of discomfort. At least this isn't Eyes Wide Shut. Lucas is a knot. Knees drawn up to his chest. Arms wrapped tight around his shins. Eyes wide. Horror movies are the worst thing ever but also kind of the best? It's complicated and complex and he doesn't really sweat the details because he's too busy sweating everything else.

"He's really dedicated to that one sweater," Lucas observes, knocking lightly against Bash as he leans into him to whisper.

Lucas & Bash

[professionalcorpse]

Bash watches horror movies with all of the narrow-eyed aplomb of someone who sat through 'Child's Play' at way too early of an age - perfectly fine with the possibility of brutal murder, but always braced for a fucking jump-scare. It sort of evens out somewhere between a sprawl and tight-knuckled death grip on the material of his hoodie.

Lucas' comment prompts a snort, volume loud enough to prompt him to cup a hand around the bottom half of his face. Whoops. His eyes widen apologetically and he tucks himself into a smaller amount of real estate, voice dropping low, "He has very strong feelings about maintaining his aesthetic."

Lucas & Bash

[bubblewrapped]

Lucas presses his face against the back of his legs to suppress his own laughter. The combined snort, shock and aesthetics joke are making it especially hard for him to keep it together. And he just giggles into the backs of his knees for a while. Off to a bad start so far, boys. My apologies to the rest of the sophomore class, because these two are going to ruin the movie.

As our selfish, lying hero stalks down another eerie hallway, Lucas unravels himself just enough to grab a handful of popcorn from the bowl of it sitting between them. "The cable knit says 'Mr. Rogers,' but the leather patches say, 'Don't forget about my PhD.'" He pops a few kernels in his mouth.

Lucas & Bash

[professionalcorpse]

This is why watching films in seclusion is so much easier. In seclusion, no one can hear you yelling vehemently at the screen when the people on it make monumentally poor choices. Well, no one that minds it, at the very least.

"Oh no," he replies, whisper going genuinely mournful for a moment as his brain superimposes beloved childhood television star and shoelace-tying expert Fred McFeely Rogers onto the current movie scenario. "Mr. Rogers would never pull this shit." Then, philosophically: "If this was Mr. Rogers, the ghosts would probably apologize to him for the inconvenience."

Lucas & Bash

[bubblewrapped]

"And," Still careful to keep his volume low, Lucas gestures at the projection, palm up and open. A bit of popcorn falls from his hand to the floor. "Mr. Rogers would've consulted his wife for a major purchase like a murder house. Because he understands the value of honesty."

Sensing a jump scare coming, he ducks his head against his legs and peeks out over his knees. When the creepy music starts to swell, Lucas adds, "It is not a beautiful day in this neighborhood."

Lucas & Bash

[professionalcorpse]

He nods, motion vehement and voice an affirming hiss, "Mr. Rogers is a fucking treasure."

When the jump-scare comes, and there's absolutely no way around its stupid and manipulative arrival, Bash is completely prepared. Which is to say that Bash's whole body jolts anyway, one eye squinting shut and death grip transferring itself to the side of Lucas' shirt.

After a beat, he uncurls his fingers, biting the inside of his cheek and smoothing out the material in what ultimately fails to be a casual manner. Again, whoops. "Imagine a children's choir singing that song. On a scale of 1 to 10, how awful would that be?"

Lucas & Bash

[bubblewrapped]

There goes the rest of Lucas' handful of popcorn. Up into the air when Bash grabs him. Fly free, little kernels. He gasps louder than is necessary, thinking for a split second that horror movies are terrible and not worth it, then looking at Bash, decides that they should watch more horror movies. He starts making a list of them in his head.

Eyes wide and frightened, Lucas' mouth curls into a grin, his expression split 50/50 between terrorized and pleased. "Eleven and a quarter," he scoots a bit closer. "The sort of song you use as a ringtone for your mom."

Jade and Ari? Pre-Popcorn Murder?

[odder]

Jade grew up without watching many no-maj movies at all. Pureblood families weren't film buffs, usually. Jade's an actress, though, and her introduction to movies has been interesting. She's trying very hard to watch this as a character study. Not that there's deep characters that need studying, but watching humans mis-manage their decisions is far more comforting somehow than acknowledging this is rather creepy.

She isn't the best person to watch movies with, though. She scoffs at everything in order to convince herself, and her neighbors, that she's in no way afraid. "Possession better not be that obvious, how would demons ever get away with it?" Is her most recent complaint, hissed out in a whisper.

The fact that she crouches down in her chair and it's almost spoken into Ari's shoulder is irrelevant.

Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[untarnish]

Ari is also kind of a movie-talker. She didn't have movies growing up either, and nobody's ever really explained the proper etiquette to her. Besides, the sophomores can't keep their mouths shut on good day. Talking during movies in this group was really inevitable.

She's not sure why they had to pick a scary one, though. She understands it as a genre; she'd tell scary stories to her friends at Hogwarts late at night in the Slytherin common room to spook them. She understands the entertainment value of fear. Right now, though, she doesn't really appreciate it.

"I'm sure it's not. If it were subtle, nobody would be afraid of them in the first place," Ari reasons in return. Being clever and cutting is her last defense against being scared, and she's been doing it a lot this movie. If anyone's noticed that her fingers are white-knuckled around her bowl of popcorn, though, it's probably Jade.

Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[odder]

"That's true." Jade concedes, "But it's still just asking to be exorcised." This makes her look at the screen with distaste, but doesn't do anything to offset her mild discomfort at the blank faces of demon-infested children. She will never admit it, but it feels closer to home than it maybe did before. That's stupid, she knows. But Ari's grip on the bowl doesn't go unnoticed-maybe she's feeling similar. Jade acknowledges this in no way, instead just slides closer so she can take a few dainty kernels of popcorn. "And that's got to be the most useless father in the world." She says regarding the man in the sweater. He's an easy target

Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[untarnish]

If there was a way to get Ari to relax, Jade moving closer to her wasn't it. She does relinquish her grip on the popcorn bowl to offer it to her, but her body language is still tense. She's always aware of Jade, but in the darkened atrium with the horror movie playing in the background, everything seems to be happening especially slowly and deliberately. She watches Jade eat a couple of kernels before turning her attention back to the movie.

"Maybe he's possessed as well," she offers, a beat too late, after clearing her throat.

Re: Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[odder]

If it's late, Jade doesn't notice. The lull in the action for two seconds means she can sit properly back and nibble at the popcorn kernels. This is a perfect food for movies, she decides. Eating one tiny piece at a time gives her something to do, as her face remains properly impassive. It only twitches once at a swell in the music.

"If that means demons picked out his clothing. I believe that." Jade muses, looking over to Ari, conspiratorially, for a second. "I wonder if that's the surprise end-twist." Breaking movies down into their parts probably ruins them, but Jade thinks that's fun.

Re: Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[untarnish]

"If it does end that way, perhaps I should go into writing," Ari says, glancing over at Jade and then quickly back at the screen as she realizes Jade's looking at her. She takes a handful of popcorn for herself, although she doesn't really like it. It doesn't taste like much and it's always getting stuck between her teeth. Still, she eats it, since everybody else does. "I could write better dialogue than this with my hands tied."

Jade and Ari Aren't Scared

[odder]

"You should go into writing." It's a passing comment, but it would make sense. Jade raises her chin at the screen, now. Her smile is quickly growing challenging. "What do you think they should be saying, right now?"

Solomon & Sam

[theniceboy]

Solomon isn't an easily startled person. He isn't visibly startled either. But sporadically throughout the movie, his fingers would tighten on Sam's arm - he's not entirely sure when he grabbed her arm, but it's in his fingers now. That's the only reaction he has to the movie. It doesn't show on his face, or anything else, just those minutely, sporadic tightening fingers. Once whatever tension is on screen ends, his fingers loosen, but he never fully releases Sam's arm for the rest of the movie.

Solomon & Sam

[oh_girl]

Sam is honestly a bit surprised that any of the whole... baby ghostbusters group wanted to watch a horror movie but hey, more power to them. She wasn't about to miss out on a little soph party, horror movie or not. Honestly, Sam loves horror movies. Not because they're good or scary but because the atmosphere is always more fun with friends - it's just better to watch with a whole group of people, making fun of the stupid parts and whatnot.

But Solo doesn't seem to be enjoying it all that much. He's holding onto her arm, whenever anything particularly spooky happens she can feel when he tenses up and grips her arm a bit tighter. Leaning into him, she sets her head on his shoulder and removes his hand from her arm, instead lacing her fingers through his. "You okay?" She whispers, so only they can hear.