News

Triskaidekaphobia: Fear of the Unlucky Number 13

Published

7 years ago

January 13, 2017

Trigger warnings for: triskaidekaphobia, the number thirteen.

Have you jumped on the Friday the 13th bandwagon–complete with loose screws and flattening tires? Take a look in all thirteen shards of the mirror you just shattered, and ask yourself why. (Actually, no–you should probably get that cleaned up first. We can wait.)

(Gif credit: giphy.com)

Once we grow out of the doe-eyed, inquisitive children we all once were, we no longer question such things. We know that that heinous day and date gives some the willies, and that’s just how it is. Always has been, as far back as we can recall.

Clearly, it’s coined as bad luck–and that is not news. Be it a laughable rumor or validated dread, every member of our culture (and many others, since the nineteenth century) have been made aware of the whyfor.

But those who fear the infamous anti-holiday the most aren’t animal shelter volunteers who just received a truckload of black cats, nor those who commute beneath ladders. Hell, it’s not even the campers up at Crystal Lake (Okay–so maybe they’re tied).

It’s those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia: the literal fear of the number thirteen.

That’s a tongue twister. Photo cred: Empire International Studios

And we aren’t here to pass judgment. This is the horror community: a kinship who’d swim through a heap of intestines with glee, like the ball pit at a McDonald’s–yet, some of whom would still piss their pants at the sight of a porcelain doll.

And that’s okay! Unpleasant, albeit, but perfectly fine. We cannot handpick our phobias. If we could, we would all be impenetrable, after all–and this entire genre would never have seen the light of day.

But with an estimated some seventeen to twenty-one million people being affected, this phobia should be further explored.

lorinotes.file

It gets debilitating: to the point where some victims will refuse to leave the safety of their beds, let alone operate heavy machinery, such as a car.

Wikipedia actually notes that, ironically enough, it’s actually safer to drive on Friday the 13th in the Netherlands, likely because so few people will be on the road. (And while Wiki can be edited by anyone, it’s doubtful that Jason Vorhees is all that tech savvy. Then again, he did go to space–and that’s more than most hackers can say.)

Some avoid the airways as well, rescheduling their flights to dodge the risks of the impending day.

They’ll engage in fewer business pursuits.

Finland even has what’s called “National Accident Day,” which–likely deliberately–always falls on a Friday the 13th.

The suspected origins of the fear seem to lie in religion. Judas was the alleged thirteenth guest to pull up a chair at The Last Supper, as was Norse god Loki the thirteenth guest to arrive at the funeral for a murder which he was said to be behind.

Ye olde fear-mongers likely preyed on the over thinkers of their time, who weren’t yet capable of knowing much better. (And, no… over thinkers has twelve letters.) The fear likely spread like a brush fire.

Every person affected likely has their own reasons–and some may not be consciously able to pinpoint their personal cause. But no matter the root of it, their fear–like every fear–is entirely valid. Work through it once you are able, friends. But until then, perhaps root for Freddy.

Gif credit: New Line Cinema, Crystal Lake Entertainment

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Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

^{High Desert Hell}

^{The Gemini Project}

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Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

7 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

^{Happy Sad Confused}

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.