People of Red Hook: October 2026

People of Red Hook column, October 2026

Last month’s column, commemorating the 25th anniversary of one very bad day in September, was about sad fear. This month’s column, evoking lighter memories of little ghosts and goblins bouncing through the streets swinging bags full of candy, is all about fun fear. In honor of Halloween I decided to ask people if they love scary movies, and I was shocked—Shocked!—to learn that not everyone appreciated the cinematic display of Linda Blair’s head turning around in a circle. 

Hugh Cramer:

I used to enjoy scary movies, but because there’s more violence happening all around us now, my escape and entertainment now do not involve violence nearly as much as it used to. Because I’m trying to get away from the increased violence that’s all around us. 

That absolutely makes sense. You say you have enjoyed horror movies in the past. Can you think of one that was one of your favorites?  

I guess The Shining. 

Oh, yeah! The two girls in the hall! “Come play with us Danny!”

(Hugh’s wife:) I couldn’t watch it. 

Hugh: We watched it together, and she was holding on to me the whole time. 

What did you think was the scariest part?

Remember the typewriter scene? 

Yeah, where the wife sees what her husband has written over and over and she realizes that he’s gone insane. 

There was so much in that movie that was implied, like, beneath the surface, rather than showing graphic violence. There was one scene with the blood going all over the floor or whatever. But even that was kind of implied. And the actress—I forgot her name now—who plays the wife…

Shelly Duvall.

Yeah. I thought she was cast as a character that a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily identify with. She was a little bit of a caricature. Her performance was so over the top that you couldn’t totally relate to her. 

I had that same experience about her. She kept running around screaming.

I think the Jack Nicholson character was actually easier to identify with. I mean we all know somebody who is sort of on the edge, maybe they’ve had a problem with drug abuse or alcohol, or has been on the edge for another reason, so I found [Nicholson’s] character to be actually more real than Shelly Duvall’s character. And much more scary because of that. 

Well, and of course, it was Jack Nicholson playing the role.

Yeah, that’s true, it was Jack Nicholson. That didn’t hurt.

Deborah Ugoretz (A neighborhood artist and a key organizer of Red Hook Open Studios events):

Deborah, you saw The Shining a bunch of the times. That’s interesting that you didn’t just see it once. You liked it so much that you watched it over and over. 

Well, let’s say three times. 

What was it about that movie that you liked much? 

It’s really, really scary. I actually stayed in that hotel once. I was in Colorado for a wedding.

Really? I didn’t know you could stay there. I just thought that was a big old building that people went to look at.

No. You can stay there. It’s called the Stanley Hotel. (Note: The Stanley Hotel was used as the filming location for the 1997 The Shining TV miniseries, not the movie, which was filmed at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon, and at Elstree Studios in England.) 

Was it an unsettling experience, staying there?

Yes. Because I was lying in bed, and in the middle of the night, I heard noises, like thump! Thump! Thump! 

Kelly (Deborah’s friend): They do that for all the guests. 

Me: (Naively) They do? They set it up that way? 

Deborah: No, she’s just joking. But that did scare me. At one time I really believed in ghosts.

What about now? You’re not a 100% skeptic?

No, not 100%. Which is actually why I don’t watch a lot of horror movies anymore. But I still prefer the psychological horror to the [slasher films]. 

Well, that’s the better kind of horror because it gets under your skin. There wasn’t a lot of blood in The Shining, but it was terrifying. 

Kelly: Have you guys seen Get Out? I thought it was a great movie because it really revived the genre (of psychological horror). It wasn’t the same old misogynistic women getting stabbed and raped.

Deborah: I used to watch a lot of Hitchcock. Remember The Birds?

That was great psychological horror. It was a Hitchcock classic. Every time I see hundreds of birds lined up on a wire it scares me because I think of that movie. 

Deborah: The birds around here are actually very aggressive!

Kelly: Can I tell you guys a story about Rear Window? (1954 Hitchcock movie.) I used to live in the West Village, and once I was watching Rear Window with my boyfriend. This was about 15 years ago. And James Stewart is looking out the window at his neighbors and sees the murderer, right? And he says the address where the murderer was, and my boyfriend and I realized that if the murderer was actually at that address on Christopher Street, he would have been looking right into our window on West 10th Street! 

That’s pretty funny. You were able to get to sleep that night? No repercussions?

Yes, we got to sleep. No repercussions. But ever since then whenever we talk about that movie we think of that scene, and imagine the murderer looking at us through our window.

Daisy Ortiz:

So you don’t like scary movies. Can you tell me why? 

I just never found them interesting. When I was little my brothers used to scare me. Like put on a Jason mask and chase me around. My kids like scary movies, but I do not. 

Do you ever find it thrilling to be scared? Do you like roller coasters?

No. No roller coasters. No haunted houses. 

What if somebody said to you right now, Daisy, there’s this fantastic pop-up haunted house right around the corner, and I’ll pay you twenty dollars to go in it. Would you do it?

No. I would not.

Would you do it for fifty bucks?

No. I wouldn’t do it for any money. 

So it would be very unpleasant for you to be in one of those little chairs in an amusement park and be taken through a haunted house.

I would not go. I would stay behind with the kids.

Are there any particular movies that when you think about it, it would be like the worst possible movie that you would ever want to see? 

The Chainsaw Massacre, or whatever it’s called.

Oh, yeah. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. With Leatherface running around with that chainsaw. That was one of the scariest movies ever made! Not just because of the violence, but that creepy family that saw that poor girl at the table…Yeah. You definitely would not want to see that.

Zoe Biel:

So you enjoy scary movies. Could you tell me one or two of your favorites? 

I just watched Aliens. It got to me emotionally. I was not necessarily scared, but I was definitely tense watching it, I was shaking my head at the decisions that the people in the movie were making. It definitely kept me engaged.

Where did you see it? 

I watched it on a plane.

Really? And you were able to concentrate on the little screen they have on planes?

Yeah, they had the lights down, and, I mean, Sigourney Weaver’s awesome in it also. 

Where were you headed?

I was flying home from California. So I had plenty of time to watch Aliens and I found it very compelling. I think one reason thrillers and horror movies are fun to watch sometimes is because you are able to get all the information better than the characters. You watch them making decisions you would never make.

Yes, like, don’t go in the basement! Can you mention another scary movie that you really liked?

I really liked Jennifer’s Body when it came out. (A 2009 horror/comedy.) It’s about high school girls. It’s about a girl who gets possessed by Satan, or a demon or something. It was definitely a movie of its time. It’s become kind of a cult classic. 

And what did you especially like about that movie?  

I like that it’s all about the ladies. The two main characters are in conflict with one another, one was the villain and the other was the heroine. I think having teenage girls be at the center of a horror movie and not both be the victims is an interesting concept. 

Alex Carreno:

I used to like horror movies but not so much anymore. 

So when you were younger, what movies did you like?

The Exorcist. That was one of my favorites. 

 What was the scariest part for you? 

When the priest is with her. Oh, my God, that was very scary for me.

So now you don’t like horror movies. What changed?

Back in those days I wasn’t under a lot of pressure at work. Now I’m a project manager for a large company. There’s a lot of pressure. I have to manage a lot of projects at once. This has to be done, that has to be done. It’s always about the schedule. 

What kind of company do you work for?

It’s a woodworking company. We have about fifty people working there. 

That’s a lot of managerial responsibility for you. So you’re not into going home at the end of the day and watching a horror movie, with blood and guts.

No, now I want to go home, be with my wife and kids, have dinner and relax. 

What other movies besides The Exorcist do you remember enjoying in the old days?

I’m from Peru, and there was a TV series, Los Cuentos. Each episode was a different story. And I remember one story about a haunted castle. It was very scary. 

Is it a real place? Or fictional?

Oh no! It’s real. It’s a very old castle in Lima. 

But you don’t like to watch even TV episodes about scary stuff anymore.

No. I like to watch documentaries. Programs about history or the planets, things like that. 

Well, a lot of people these days feel the same way that you do. They’re saying, we don’t need to be any more scared than we already are by real life!