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Stories about repressed/recovered memories

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cantoohide	Stories about repressed/recovered memories	Lead	[-]
Jul 16 11 4:10 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This board got me to thinking about which movies and tv shows have scared me the most, and I realized that the ones that always haunt me--there have only been a handful of them--are the ones about repressed memories that are then recovered; and the remembering is as scary as the forgetting. The one that got to me as a kid was Spellbound, where Gregory Peck was traumatized by things like tracks in the snow. Then in my teens it was Freud, where Susannah York has a recurring dream that makes no sense to her or to Dr. Freud, until she remembers what she's REALLY been dreaming; that one shock cut scared the p*ss out of me. Then in middle age ST:NG, of all shows, did an episode where some crew members had lost several hours of their lives and used the holodeck to reconstruct, little by little, what had really happened to them. That really played on me, since it stretched out the recovery of the memory, one tiny piece at a time. I don't know why this one motif affects me so strongly, unless I'm repressing a memory of my own. I have a feeling it's related to the type of movie that strikes me as being about my own life--offhand I can only think of two examples, Time Out and Conspirators of Pleasure--which are both about someone concealing the truth of his life from everyone else. But they're funny-awful rather than scary-awful. I guess the scary ones are about hiding the truth from oneself rather than others.
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Jonatwork		#1	[-]
Jul 16 11 4:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	cantoohide, My disdain for STTNG is on the record, but I stumbled on that episode you discuss here and it really held me, until the ending, which I didn't think lived up to what came before. I recall the scene where a number of crew members are in the holograph deck and are creating an image based on fragments from their dreams, making adjustments until they come upwith the thing they all dreamed of, a kind of examination couch. Whitley Streiber seems to have written about this sort of thing. I'm responding here because this is an example of how what fascinates some doesn't work at all for others. I think repressed/recovered memory stories are just too much for me to buy, in the same way that loss of memory stories are. I find them both annoying because they just seem to be grist for lazy writing. The one movie I really like in this area is ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, which isn't what you're looking for, but I love that one. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
Friend of Daniel		#2	[-]
Jul 16 11 11:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MARNIE comes to mind. Marnie's helpful flashback of her repressed memory pretty much explains her psychosis involving men, thunderstorm, the color red, and ripping French horns.
cantoohide		#3	[-]
Jul 17 11 4:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jonatwork wrote: I think repressed/recovered memory stories are just too much for me to buy, in the same way that loss of memory stories are. I find them both annoying because they just seem to be grist for lazy writing. I agree with you about the laziness of amnesia as a plot device. I just finished watching a bunch of shite movies (Pandorum, Cube Zero, Eden Log, etc.) about people with amnesia waking up in places they don't remember, and in every case the story got boring very soon because it was clear that its premise existed only to provide the writer with a built-in Act 1 and to tease the viewer on as long as possible. But I don't think that holds for stories like the NG episode, in which the main action consists of the therapy needed to recover the memory. I think therapy is a human experience that's a legitimate subject for fiction. I might also argue that it's really just the psychological version of a detective story, with mental rather than physical clues, but I'd have to admit that as such it's generally unfair, in that it doesn't reveal the entire range of possible clues, only a small number, and it conceals the significance of the significant clue from the viewer (otherwise the subject and the therapist or therapist-surrogate would recognize it too). But it's really not out to pose an intellectual challenge; it's out to evoke fear of what's lying in one's head unremembered and unsuspected; and pretty obviously, that works for me.
hermanthegerm		#4	[-]
Jul 19 11 9:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	cantoohide wrote: ...it's generally unfair, in that it doesn't reveal the entire range of possible clues, only a small number, and it conceals the significance of the significant clue from the viewer... This is really the subject of the Mystery Film Board, but in my experience most movie mysteries cheat. Quite a few, notoriously so. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
cantoohide		#5	[-]
Jul 19 11 12:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	hermanthegerm wrote: This is really the subject of the Mystery Film Board, but in my experience most movie mysteries cheat. Quite a few, notoriously so. I was going to check this assertion against the most popular mystery movies, as identified by IMDB, but once I got through the junk on the page to the list itself, it turned out that six of the first ten were Harry Potter movies and the others were Source Code, Super 8, Limitless, and a movie not yet released, so I couldn't make a comparison. I would probably claim that all real mystery movies play fair, but it would be a circular argument because it's only the ones that play fair that I define as real mystery movies.
scotpens		#6	[-]
Jul 20 11 2:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Amnesia can be overused by lazy writers, particularly in comedies where a character loses his memory after a blow to the head (and regains his memory after conking his head a second time!). But a good writer can avoid the cliches. MIRAGE (1965), starring Gregory Peck, is a taut thriller that makes effective use of amnesia as a central plot device. It's worth noting that amnesia, like multiple personality disorder, is FAR less common in real life than it is in the movies!
Grant		#7	[-]
Jul 20 11 6:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	One of my favorites is "Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol." It showed up in Dave Sindelar's section, but I think no one commented. Does anyone here know it?
SiBurning		#8	[-]
Jul 21 11 12:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Have you seen The Cabinet of Caligari? No relation to the silent Somnambulist film. Written by Robert Bloch, it's kind of about a sadistic & impotent doctor that lives vicariously off people's secret fears, repressed memories, and particularly their sexual fantasies. Have to warn you, though, that it creeps along at an exceedingly slow pace. Not exactly what you describe, but partly along the same lines in some important ways, particularly "about hiding the truth from oneself rather than others". Guide to Resources on CHFB Last Edited By: SiBurning Jul 21 11 12:51 AM. Edited 1 times.
Monsterpal		#9	[-]
Jul 21 11 8:37 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE HAUNTED STRANGLER
DocZilla		#10	[-]
Jul 21 11 10:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Grant wrote: One of my favorites is "Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol." It showed up in Dave Sindelar's section, but I think no one commented. Does anyone here know it? When I was 9, I saw it back in late 1972 when it re-ran on the CBS LATE MOVIE. It was a good story and being about POWs at the time was pretty rare for TV. It got to me because a family friend was MIA at the time and I could only wonder about his fate. His remains were only recovered in 1999 and were not identified until 2005. My dad was in the war zone at the time as well, adding to some more personal angst. How about ANGEL HEART, THE NINTH CONFIGURATION, CYPHER or DEAD AND BURIED?
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cantoohide		#11	[-]
Jul 21 11 10:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	SiBurning wrote: Have you seen The Cabinet of Caligari? No relation to the silent Somnambulist film. Written by Robert Bloch, it's kind of about a sadistic & impotent doctor that lives vicariously off people's secret fears, repressed memories, and particularly their sexual fantasies. Have to warn you, though, that it creeps along at an exceedingly slow pace. Not exactly what you describe, but partly along the same lines in some important ways, particularly "about hiding the truth from oneself rather than others". I have seen it, twice, once at my only Worldcon, years after I'd read the report of the movie in FM, then again after it came out on video. The first time, I thought it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been made out; the second time, I thought it wasn't nearly as good as I'd thought the first time. FM also reported that Robert Bloch hadn't liked it. That would seem about right--not too bad, not too good; interesting ideas, sometimes evocatively done, sometimes very obviously. I hadn't associated it with this topic, but I guess you're right. Maybe that's why I wanted to like it.
SiBurning		#12	[-]
Jul 21 11 10:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I can certainly understand why people don't like it. It's one of my favorites because it's such a unique concept that's quite mature and realistic. It's easy for me to feel the movie, as if it were an Italian horror, and that makes it alright, because it does flow pretty well in a dreamy slow sort of way, even if it slows down in places. It's also somewhat mysterious, or maybe rather a mystery, though those are the same in a touchy-feely dreamy sort of way. Oddly, it sits next to Carnival of Souls on my shelf, both being from 1962, and they sort of go together as surrealistic dreams of denial. Guide to Resources on CHFB
Puli		#13	[-]
Jul 23 11 8:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	hello people,im new here and i got a question maybe before 2 years i watched some horror movie with repressed memories,some woman maybe about 30 years old she already had kids,but she was seeing few hallucinations,like male person with ax trying to smash some door,she was seeing all the time some church which she could see from her house @ window,she was remembering one by one everything from her childhood what he couldnt do before,i liked that movie very much and would like to watch it again if possible,i hope someone knows the name.and i remember some guy which sells at gas station helped her to find some parents which lost their daughter and at the end it finded out itself that she was adopted and got repressed memories.sorry for my english considering im only 12 years old and from Croatia Best regards,Puli.
Jonatwork		#14	[-]
Jul 23 11 10:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Puli, I'm sorry, I can't recall that one but check back, people around here are very smart about these movies, and somone will probably know soon. Your English is excellent. Welcome aboard. John “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
Jonatwork		#15	[-]
Jul 23 11 10:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	cantoohide, I loved the look of EDEN LOG and it's a great movie to put on late at night when you and a friend want to crash in front of the tube after midnight and talk about junk, just something to look at but not get involved with. But what a rotten 'revelation'. This isn't a horror movie but THE PRINCE OF TIDES dealt with this issue. A PURE FORMALITY PANDORUM “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley Last Edited By: Jonatwork Jul 24 11 2:47 AM. Edited 1 times.
cantoohide		#16	[-]
Jul 24 11 3:52 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Puli wrote: maybe before 2 years i watched some horror movie with repressed memories,some woman maybe about 30 years old she already had kids,but she was seeing few hallucinations.... In some ways your description reminds me of "The Return," with Sarah Michelle Gellar (a movie I liked a lot), but I don't remember it completely. What country did the movie happen in? What did the woman look like?
Jonatwork		#17	[-]
Jul 24 11 5:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	THE ABANDONED is another one. Very moody, creepy film about a woman who returns to the home she hasn't been to since she was a baby and starts seeing what looks like a zombified version of herself walking around. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
Puli		#18	[-]
Jul 24 11 7:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	haha thanks about compliment on my english , well anyways im not sure how woman looked like..but those 2 movies im sure are not,i remember that woman having i think daughter and husband and they were just walking around some place going for a random walk and then she just started running ,recognised place thought she didnt even know what it is and just started to dig,and found some stone plate,all the time she was thinking that guy with ax is her enemy but at the end it showed as he saved her from fire..excellent movie,i really wish someone can help me i would be really happy
Grant		#19	[-]
Jul 24 11 8:32 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I saw Cabinet of Caligari once and kind of liked it. It might be saying the obvious, but if it hadn't used that title, it might be a lot better-liked. That was just asking for it. I've mentioned it in other places, but one of the great stories of this kind is The Ninth Configuration / Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane.
bipolarber		#20	[-]
Jul 25 11 2:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Um... no one's mentioned "The Alligator People?" "[The audiance] will populate the darkness with more horrors than all the horror writers in Hollywood could think of. If you make the screen dark enough, the mind's eye will read anything into it you want! We're great ones for the dark patches." -VAL LEWTON
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Stories about repressed/recovered memories

Stories about repressed/recovered memories