Parallels to other works of horror

Any of the first 3? Aww, retarded emotionless Henry gets no love?

Anyways, onto the topic at hand - I think the parallels to Silent Hill are spot on (and awesomely written). I've not watched Donnie Darko all the way through so I can't form an opinion on that though... next time I see it on demand, I'll be sure to check it out.

The comparisons between Slenderman and Silent Hill are very well thought out. Win points all around. It makes me wonder... if I were to enter that town, would a projection of my fears turn Slenderman into some sort of final boss character? While I sometimes feel a bit desensitized to him, an actual sighting of him would scare me like none other.

I've always found this chaotic and scattered community of ours similar to the writing style(s) in House of Leaves. Between all of the blogs, pictures, videos and stories, we have created a very large and confusing universe. I thought this captured that same overwhelming feeling found in the book, with the constant changing of narratives and citing sources that don't even exist.

I've just started reading House of Leaves, the first three chapters so far (haven't really gotten much reading time lately) And I do see some similarities. The first person perspective, sorta, journal styled, how it starts out with just a vague foreboding feeling, and the hints at teleportation/alternate worlds. So far I like it.. It's bizzare, quite different from any other book I've read.

I read and completed House of Leaves before I got into this series (if I remember correctly). The biggest similarity you will ever find is this:

Entry 23 and the never-ending hallway. This hallway changes sizes and shape from each turn you take down to how long you believe it took to get from one area of the hallway to the next. This being what they refer to as The Grand Staircase. Going down it, you would believe it took roughly 5 minutes. However, going back up is an entirely different story.

The staircase freaking grows.

Time is of no use to you inside these walls. It is completely pointless to even carry a watch around, but as it is human nature to rely on time so much, you do and you are in agony that you chose to. These walls are pitch black. You need the most powerful lights in the world to sometimes get even close to seeing the ceiling in some of these areas of the hallway. Due to this color, no matter how many turns you make, each part of this hallway seems the same...as though you never left your starting point.

However, you try to turn around, thinking, "I'll just go back out the same way I came in," is a little harder than that. Again, note the growing staircase. Slightly problamatic.

What happens in 23? We get exactly that. We even get a taste of that in 18, where J is suddenly outside not knowing how he got there nor exactly how much time had past.

^Your post honestly reminds me of one of my favorite SCPs:http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-087

Sorry to get off topic!

I think that the comparisons thus far have been spot on, and I can't wait to see more. I don't have anything to compare Slendy to that hasn't been said on here already, but I am really intrigued by all this talk of House of Leaves. I'll probably have the time to finally read that after I graduate college.

I really enjoy House of Leaves, as far as I've read. The little anecdotes in the footnotes are a bonus. But I love hearing people geek out over stuff... even if the Navidson Record doesn't exist.

Wolf, I clicked on the link without realizing that you could have just put a link up for a screamer. God damn it! I even scrolled down and saw the face and I swear my heart stopped for a few seconds there!

I will, however, look all that up when I have the time. It sounds really
intriging.

House of Leaves is a must-read. It's a brillant piece of work and his writing style is breath-taking as you read further and further on about the hallway. Literally, you feel as though you are with these explorers and experiencing everything they are experiencing. One of my favorite books next to The Reader, Battle Royale and Let the Right One In.

Entry 18 and 23 is so difficult for me to watch due to the similiarites in HoL. It scares me every single damned time. Parts of it even remind me of a particular scene in Let the Right One In. Scares the living crap out of me and now that I've made the connection, it scares me even more...

Detective wrote:

I really enjoy House of Leaves, as far as I've read. The little anecdotes in the footnotes are a bonus. But I love hearing people geek out over stuff... even if the Navidson Record doesn't exist.

I, personally, NEVER want to see HoL turned into a film. I think it would completely and totally ruin the image inside peoples head. Inside ones head, it's far more terrifying than seeing it played out. Slendy, however, tends to be the complete opposite. Seeing him out and about, stalking people, makes him all the more scary.

I would die if I found out that The Navidson Record was real, but at the same time, I don't want it to be. It would ruin all the ideas and the characters little quirks that we've imagined for so long.

Perhaps it not being real and not being able to actually see it plays in it's favor.

gryugglpuff31 wrote:

Detective wrote:

I really enjoy House of Leaves, as far as I've read. The little anecdotes in the footnotes are a bonus. But I love hearing people geek out over stuff... even if the Navidson Record doesn't exist.

I, personally, NEVER want to see HoL turned into a film. I think it would completely and totally ruin the image inside peoples head. Inside ones head, it's far more terrifying than seeing it played out. Slendy, however, tends to be the complete opposite. Seeing him out and about, stalking people, makes him all the more scary.

I would die if I found out that The Navidson Record was real, but at the same time, I don't want it to be. It would ruin all the ideas and the characters little quirks that we've imagined for so long.

Perhaps it not being real and not being able to actually see it plays in it's favor.

Perish the Thought! HoL turned into a movie?! It could never work. How in the heck could they translate the wonderful prose into visuals appropriately? It just... no. Just no.

Half the fun of the book is it's parody on literary and 'academic' texts. I don't see that working in film, even if the Navidston Record itself is a film.

In some aspects Stephen King's books are the same way, they dont translate all that well to film, you lose things like the little strange ramblings that go on inside the character's head, for one... Which happens to be one of my fav things about King's writing

Hellebore wrote:

In some aspects Stephen King's books are the same way, they dont translate all that well to film, you lose things like the little strange ramblings that go on inside the character's head, for one... Which happens to be one of my fav things about King's writing

I don't know if you'd be interested in this, but you should check out thatguywiththeglasses.com. Basically, he makes fun of films from the mid 80s to the late 90s that turned out to be crap. Click on Nostalgia Critic reviews, scroll down a little ways until you see a review titled IT. Yes, he reviewed the made-for-tv movie and he hates it. It's pretty great, but I suggest you watch a few of other reviews first if you haven't seen him before. Surf Ninjas, Titanic: The Animated Musical, Red Sonja and Old vs. New: Willy Wonka are some of my favorites and ones I use to introduce people to the site.

Speaking of inner ramblings, the annotations through-out all of HoL are exactly that. Some of the annotations even say, "Mr. [Johnny] Truant refused to comment on the importance of this passage" or the editors (who make annotations like the above) will come up the translation of some of the foreign language brought up that Johnny just couldn't get. He'd even forget what his point was in the annotation to begin with.

What I wrote in the Facebook when I was reading the book through the first time basically sums it all up. "[gryugglpuff31] is dizzy from the upside-down, ascending, descending, spinning, corner hugging, claustrophobic, backwards, red, dark blue, purple, crossed out, X out, missing, Courier, Times, Bookman, German, French, Italian and Latin text that is within the book House of Leaves. I am loving this book."

The only way I could see HoL turned into a film is if it were presented as Johnny Truant doing a documentary about the documentary he finds with Zampano's stuff, and even then it wouldn't be as good. Johnny's segments would have to be filmed MH-style, with Attenborough-documentary styled interviews as Zampano's own documentary, with lots of interviews and analysts, and then the Navidson record itself only briefly shown and given glimpses of. The Navidson level would have to be filmed by Stanley Kubrick in collaboration with Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky directing Truant's layer or something...

But it still wouldn't be as good as the book. It might be an adequate substitute for people who can't read, but only in the way anti-freeze is a good substitute for Dom Pérignon.

I liked the House of Leaves.

Anyway, as for mythos connections, have we done any discussions with Lovecraft and cosmic horror stories? The whole mythos rings of H. P. Lovecraft. The descent into madness, the paranoia, the constantly gnawing suspicion that the world is a never-ending pit of uncaring blackness that only cares about humanity insofar as humanity is interested in ants.

Uh.

There are some theories that Nyarlathotep is Slendy (or Slendy is Nyarlathotep, whichever way that goes.) Reading "The Rats in the Walls" reminds me a lot of Dreams in Darkness, and The King In Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers has a very Slender man-ish air to it. Playing the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game gives me the same sense as when I read a particularly good side story, as well. At least, those are my two pence.

This was brought up on the old forum, so I thought I'd bring it up here as well.

If any of you have read The Masque of Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, the way he describes the Red Death is very reminiscent of our Slender friend. I can post links, if you'd like.

Vincent Price's amazing campness pushed all memory of the original story out of my head. I'll have to flick through that story again at some point, and I'll keep an eye out for Mister Slim.

http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/

That's a link to Masque of Red Death for you. You'd be surprised how similar the description is.

I've heard mixed things about House of Leaves. Might give it a read if I find it.

Zander wrote:

I've heard mixed things about House of Leaves. Might give it a read if I find it.

...I heard it was crap. XD

Judge Claude Frollo wrote:

Zander wrote:

I've heard mixed things about House of Leaves. Might give it a read if I find it.

...I heard it was crap. XD

Me too, but I want my own opinion about it.

I fully endorse House of Leaves, if that means a thing to you. Though I am such a sucker for footnotes. Mmm.

LuciaInFurs wrote:

I fully endorse House of Leaves, if that means a thing to you. Though I am such a sucker for footnotes. Mmm.

That's what I usually hear people complaining about. Haha.

LuciaInFurs wrote:

I fully endorse House of Leaves, if that means a thing to you. Though I am such a sucker for footnotes. Mmm.

Question for you: Why are people coloring the word "House" blue?

OH you'll just have to read it to find out!

Spoiler:

AH! Alright, I got it now.

I fully endorse thatguywiththeglasses.com, since I heard him mentioned earlier in this thread.

I just started reading HoL, and I like it so far. I'm currently debating whether or not I should read it when I'm sick, in order to get some fever dream variety.