The Resident Evil

Oh, Jodah! That is so interesting. I can see him being right for playing Oscar Wilde himself, who had all that edge and dangerous inner fire. I find it fascinating that he placed the roe in Leadville, Colorado, too. That place has such an aura of its own. I was amazed, though, that OW himself had been there on the same Opera House stage! I'm so glad that you found this piece and shared it with me! Thank you.

Thank YOU, John. You certainly stirred my curiosity to see if there was a version of Dorian Gray with Vincent Price. I looked for all versions of the film, as well as all the filmography of VP, and found none with that combination, though I wanted to find one! I'd want to see it, if there were one.

Seems that the original with George Sanders in 1945, and the one whose DVD I have which was Seems that the original with George Sanders in 1945, and the one whose DVD I have which was in theaters in 1973 and the most recent 2009 version, are the only versions of the Oscar Wilde story I could unearth.

Too bad, really, VP could have given the role a special raw edge. But then, the character as written by Wilde was at heart, quite casual about his conquest in being a bad influence on young Dorian, and enjoyed doing it with his extraordinary personal charisma and sophistication. He was a smooth aristrocrat with entrance into the highest society of the time and place, and intimate association with the lower levels. He introduced Dorian in both arenas. George Sanders’ whole aura was the epitome of all that, and while VP could display some of those qualities, his most striking aura is from bringing shadows of a character's base-drives, so he's always more sinister-appearing, with that underlying primitive essence of being driven by fierce ,evil self-service and some kind of inner pent-up fury. Especially at the time the movie was made, that was his screen image.

Later he played less primitively driven roles, though. He was at his best when the earlier personality showed through. The man who led Dorian astray really wasn't that personality. That character just loved being able to ruin an innocent and to win him for the devil's service. It wasn't even propelled by any huge resentment of 'good' or personal investment of emotion.

It would be interesting to have been a time-traveling fly on the wall when the casting was being decided! ;-)

Ah! I believe the corrupt older man was played by George Sanders, who would easily be mistaken for Vincent Price, a similar type. Vincent Price was in another dark movie based on a book I loved back then, "Dragonwyk", written by Anya Seton. I read it over and over again when I was a teen, as I usually did when I loved a book, and I loved a lot of them!

The young woman who fell in love with Dorian and killed herself when he rejected her was played by a quite young Angela Lansbury! Donna Reed was the grown-up little girl who was the ward of the portrait artist, and who'd loved him even as a chid and always planned to marry him. Then when she grew into a lovely young woman and re-entered his life he really did want and planned to marry her, until the portrait exposed him & ended that plan.

Thank you so much, Jodah. Since I was young, it was what 'normal' looking people were capable of in being evil that most frightened me. May have been started by a scary midnight Halloween movie titled "The Vanishing Corpse" which was shown at the same little Del Rio movie house way back in B&W movie-days as where I saw the first runs of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With The Wind" in 1939 when I was a young kid.

In the scary story an attractive looking woman is shown periodically to require the blood of a new bride to maintain her youthful appearance. Of course, the brides had to die n the process. Even as a kid, it was the woman's selfish evil motive and disregard for others' lives which impressed me.

Then, later when I was about 14, the movie "The Picture of Dorian Grey", based on the novel by Oscar Wilde came out. Dorian is a handsome, almost beautiful, very innocent young man whose portrait is painted as he looks at the time. He is pleased with his portrait and off-handedly quips that he'd give his soul to stay looking as he looked in it. Soon he falls under the influence of an evil older man who sees the young man's beauty in the portrait & whose intent becomes to introduce Dorian to every manner of sin and evil-doing. Over time, as Dorian indulges in all the evil, plus the consequences of it which lead him into even more evil-doing, - sure enough, he stays looking the way he did when the portrait was painted, while the portrait itself reflects the results in his painted countenance of the evil he's doing. He becomes obsessed with keeping anyone from seeing the portrait, which makes for some further evil acts. Anyway- the conclusion is truly frightening & quite effective on an impressionable 14-yr-old who could see that the horror is obviously the results of what is in the hearts of people involved.

I've never forgotten it. In fact, though I couldn't find a DVD of the original movie with Hurd Hatfield as Dorian, I found one which followed the original story as well, with an unknown British actor, Shane Briant, cast in the role. There have been later versions which, to my mind, seem to have been made more 21st century than Oscar Wilde. haha.

Anyway -so much for the background of my perception of the resident evil, which may have seeds in any human being if or when they're nourished into growth. That is the really scary part of it.

Not my intention to leave you without words, since yours are well considered and presented! I am a communicator, there's little doubt, and I value it. It's always a pleasure to discover a fellow-communicator with whom to exchange ideas. Whatever influence I may have is just in being who I am and what it is. Yes, the exchange of truth among those able to participate is wonderfully expressive of equality and equity for those who are and do! Nothing excluded except by choice.

Thank YOU!

Thanks again, Robert. Oh, yes, one needs to keep all interactions 'in balance', not getting in a rut - stagnating - but staying dynamic and fully alive, to be responsive to all the experiences and opportunities one encounters along life's path.

I'm a bit of an iconoclast, which seems to prevent me from becoming too "fixed" & fastened, especially to externally-controlled ideas and 'rules' of behavior in which I do have the 'say' for myself. I truly respond to what "it is" as 'it' is happening in the here and now, and to how it honestly grabs me. Sometimes I wish I were more responsive to some things, but I can't force it. Fortunately, my response usually turns out to be interactive and truly interested in the other person(s). There almost always is something positive to which one can respond, besides.

But, deeply, I'm a loner and, for myself, would prefer 'none' to 'just any old thing', if you know what I mean. I just find I'm not looking for something or someone to 'plug into', although I welcome mutual exchanges of responsiveness as they spontaneously arise, and they often do.

As I meant to describe in my last reply, I'm fully aware that others are often in a place in which, for them, even that may not fit their goals or their possibilities at the time. So I respect that as being their need and easily accept that I have no need to insist on or expect more or anything on my terms. I would not even prefer that. I treasure authenticity too highly. Again, I'd rather do without than to demand or even expect what's not forthcoming. That's the surest way to miss what really is forthcoming - from whence ever! :-)

That's probably more of my personal philosophy that you want or need, but there it is. One nice thing about being an octogenarian is being able to get by with more stiff and nonesense. hehe.

Yes - CHANGE is the nature of LIFE. Everything alive is in constant motion and changing. Without that, is just static - unalive. Pretending it's not changing - much of it out of one's control, is not being fully aware. One of my favorite books & authors on that subject is "The Wisdom of Insecurity", by Alan Watts.

I'll look forward to your hub about your Texas roots!! (in part or in whole fictional!)

I appreciate your popping back over to read my responses to your nice comments, Robert! I truly value the dialog opportunity of HP's comments threads. I realize it takes more time & effort to follow up when people respond, and that is time and effort that could be invested in the first purpose of being here, - to write hubs, publish them & gain whatever from that which one is pursuing. But a response, to me, is a gracious gift, not obligatory, so it is both right & gracious to not only acknowledge it, but to offer meaningful responses back, at least 'in kind'. If a comment is plainly cursory, then a cursory acknowledgement may be more appropriate. Not everyone prefers to interact, & at times, it's impossible or inconvenient. I respect that. It should never become an obligation. I'm just old-fashioned enough to still believe in courtesy & interest in people as priorities; and that means caring about their best interests as well as my own.

There are so many great folks on this site! So the cameraderie here is one of the great perks, IMHO! Besides, if one loves to write, why miss a chance? ;-)

Robert, thank you. Where are you, so that you now miss Texas? I've lived elsewhere, so I understand how one misses 'home'! Texas really does 'get in your blood'. My parents came here in the early 1920s and lived out their lives here. Three out of four of their children were born here. My eldest sister was born in Seattle, though. Then they moved to Electra, where the 2 in-between siblings were born. The family lived there until Dad got into the water-well-drilling business in a roundabout way and forged many of the ranch roads with his Model T drilling rig while drilling many of the wells in remotest Terrell County, where they eventually became ranchers. I still have one of the ranches there, which is the West-of-the-Pecos location I mentioned. But we always also kept a home in Del Rio because there were always kids in school and there was none out there within about 100 miles. Sanderson is the one 'live' town in the county and is the county seat, but it's a very small village even now.

When my older siblings had grown and flown and I was about 10, Dad acquired a farm in San Angelo to raise feed for the livestock at the ranch, especially during droughts. My parents lived there for the remainder of their lives (commuting to the ranch frequently) and I spent several years of my junior and senior-high school there, till my Senior year, when I went off to Abilene to finish at ACHS, the on-campus academy connected with ACC (Now ACU); & then started college there. Finished last 2 years of college at SMU here in Dallas, worked in Houston for a period before returning to school for a semester in grad school @ UT in Austin, and to earn my teaching certification. Almost taught in Mason, but married instead, living in Waco while he was in the Air Force. Then I was captured and taken to Kentucky and Indiana, but escaped back to Texas after being up there "in the frozen north" as my Mother called it, for 15 years. I've been back - in Dallas - for 40 years, and shooting for another 20 or so at least. I'll be 82 next February. My siblings lived in Dallas, Blooming Grove and Mineral Wells at the times of their deaths. Makes me the last of my siblings living; - of my natal family, actually.

So, you see, I have a checkered Texas past! :-)

As for my next hub, I write and publish hubs consistently; over the 3-1/2+ years I've been on HP, have reached a point that there are 220 of my published hubs as of now. You may find some of them interesting. Many of them are collections of my poetry (155, to be exact), which seem to be most favored by my readers, perhaps because most of my poems are brief but understandable while my prose is lengthy and sometimes ponderous, as evidenced by this reply, though it may be one of the more concise bios I've ever written! ;-)

Hello -JPB0756, or Robert, if I may call you by your name. I've not visited this hub since I wrote it for Halloween last year. It's a bit different from my usual literary perspective, though no less authentic. I've always thought the evil lurking in the hearts of humans the scariest of all scary themes. One expects it of monsters, but one doesn't expect monsters to be ordinary humans!

Yes, I'm from the Lone Star State and home is several of its areas, from Dallas, where I live now; to Del Rio where I bagan; to out West of the Pecos, close to the Rio Grande, shy of the Bend(toward El Paso on US 90) & where much of my childhood was spent & where I still have strong ties.

Oh, not to feel badly. It's a broad subject, and a worthwhile one. We're all different. The Q&A was just to see what our different slants on it are. I don't see it as resentment if comments aren't left, but more a preference.

I certainly pick and choose what I'll read. Not every topic interests me, and I don't read or comment out of a sense of duty! But if I choose to read a hub, I'm personally impelled to tell the writer that I did and how/why I liked it. Since we're all writers honing our craft, it is valuable to read responses of what others find interesting about what we've written, and we have the means to give that back to their work.

Perhaps my background sent me into the direction of commenting. I had NO intention of participating when I joined HP. None. I came in just to support & encourage someone who had joined, not knowing what to expect & not expecting much which I'd either need or want. I'm not much of a joiner and hadn't sought or expected others' support for what I've always done privately all my life, - write, among other creative things.

But from the moment I joined, there was a welcoming which amazed me & truly warmed my heart. As I realized the opportunity to really know writers from all over the world through reading their work & exchanging ideas via comments, I was more engaged and delighted.

One of my early hubs, written 5/14/10, a couple of months after I came aboard, was on this subject, titled "Following Other Hubbers"; - and is the only hub for which I've received formal recognition from HP itself! haha. Obviously, they appreciate support too!

My own policy is to read & comment on at least one hub before following the Hubber, and I don't follow without leaving a note, i.e.: fan mail. I don't follow just because someone follows me, but because they and their work attract me. After I've left a comment on a hub, I usually follow up to see what the Hubber has responded back, and to reply to that, as well, if appropriate. I definitely acknowledge comments made to my own hubs. If I am in a time crunch and can't get to them quickly, so be it. It's not iron-clad that I'm always current. But it's what I prefer.

Yes, it does require an allotment of online time and of course, some folks have very tight schedules to be juggled. It does cut into one's own writing time of new hubs. Prioritizing is essential, as with any other set of activities.

Sometimes I realize I could have and probably should have simply written a hub instead of detailed comments and replies, but I responded at the time to the impetus being shared. It's a dialog, sort of on the order of the old "salons" in which intelligent folks exchanged ideas in pleasant surroundings. It's never a chore & should not be regarded as one or as a necessity. If it is what one wants to do, great. If not, there are no tracks left by what isn't done! :-) NP! Do what suits your needs and style.

Trust me: I feel no resentment if others differ about any of this. We all have different obligations and views. I totally respect others' views whether similar or different to my own. It was edifying to see the different views expressed in the answers to Pagesvoice's question. I'm seldom so vocal on Q&A, but it tickled my interest. I admire his openness to the different views it brought out, too. Shows his character & demonstrates to me, the value of interacting with other Hubbers on here.

Thank you for sharing your views!

Dear d.william. I've peeked into your profile and hub site, which I prefer to do when someone visits my hub site and honors it with a comment.

I like what I see on yours! Thank you for your approving comment here!

Of course I doooooooooooooooo! ;-p

I ADORE Ella's rendition of "Bewitched" - thank you, with kisses. She always outshines all others with hers, whatever the song.

Have you visited my hub "Bewitched or beWitched" which I wrote after this Resident Evil one to try to bring the scope back 'round to my real character? I used another version of the song on it & included a silly video of me wishing Happy Halloween in my silly pumpkin headband.

Darling, I did/do like it. I'm just a slow reader and haven't finished reading it. I know. I'm unconscionable! I used to real constantly and still read slowly. Now I read less often and still slowly. I need to just take off and read more.

I've praised the book and author on many occasions, though, both on and off line.

I treasure that you sent it to me. Now I'm embarrassed.

Would a scary vampire make promises?

As an innocent, you must simply be alert and aware, hehe.

Somehow, I doubt that! hehe. Vivid imagination, coupled with a probing philosophical mind & vocabulary is all it is. It was for Halloween! It's not my primary characteristic coming out of the dungeons of my soul or anything! But if it makes you ponder, all the better! Hugs. (You're entirely safe! No vampire bites or anything!) ;-) (Need a Band-Aid?)

Thanks for a fun response!

Ah, Genna! You've left a striking comment, for which I'm grateful!

Yes, the fun of Halloween is one thing but then there's the real illness in human nature - - or is it actually our birth-nature? Have we, perhaps, been born innocent & then learned from repetitive examples to which our own curious nature responds one way when it might have even more 'naturally' preferred the other response, without specific 'evil-loaded' influences coming in after birth. . . especially those coming in disguised as something different than their truth?

I dunno. But I'm afraid we allow the proliferation of UNnatural impulses because we fail to 'own up' to helping to proliferate them by example and influence - and worse, by oblivion or self-delusion.

Anyway - when I wrote this piece, those were the kinds of things going through my mind on a day rooted in some questionable evil influences, but not really my every-day mental dwellings. My normal emphasis leans toward support of the better choices and influences, seen with as clear an eye as I can manage.

So it's distressing to me, when I can't avoid noticing how often the really evil shows itself for what it is, making it easy to choose or reject on its 'merits' by those in its path, while hypocritical 'good' covers a different kind of insidious evil or the vehicles & building blocks for evil to slip in almost unnoticed, so as to poison vulnerable minds.

I remember watching my kids watching cartoons when they were young - back in the early 60s and seeing the sneaky messages riding in on the fun. That was mild compared to what is pounded in 24/7 now, on every side. And that's just one small segment of it.

Anyway - thank you for appreciating, I think, what I was trying to say -- at a time set aside for goblins and ghouls - and what is more ghoulish than insidious evil attempting to steal the minds and hearts of the innocent? Years ago I predicted that the next so-called 'world war' would be for the minds and hearts of people. What more can I say?

Thank you my friend. I won't be lingering on this emphasis. What I see as a remedy is to emphasize REAL goodness in a realistic way, to see what IS good and support & practice it as best one can, one person at a time, which is really all there is to "everyone", just as one moment at a time is all there may be to eternity.

I'm so glad that, after all was said, you could just feel like a little girl going trick or treat for the first time! That's triumphant and as it should be.

My purpose wasn't to rain on the parade or to discourage! I admit that when my mind accepts the challenge to write about 'darkness', as at Halloween, it leaves no stones unturned to find the scariest words and ideas to be infused in the piece! It always kind of surprises me, to be honest! ;-) Perhaps that answers the question as to whether we're born with both natures. . . . hmmmmm ;-}

Colin - Of course, I set it up to lure you to visit! I'm so happy that it worked!

Yes, it is different from most of my writing, but I do have a vivid imagination! It was a bit of a shock to my followers, though, so I wrote a second hub for the season, titled "BEWITCHED - or - beWITCHED". You might like it. It's a little less dark than this one, but still has some subtle shadows.

All is well with me; thank you for the kind wishes. As for or weather, our nights are getting longer and colder too, but it's a relative thing, not like Ontario. Yesterday I drained & put away the garden hoses and secured the outside water pipes because we're flirting with our first freezing temperatures, but it's not heavy coats and fur-lined boots weather yet. In fact, there've been recent days when I've started off in sweats, changed to capris and then to bermudas, then back to the sweats. It's been a warm autumn after a VERY hot summer, but they're saying it may be an especially cold winter. Well, it's Texas. Weather is traditionally erratic in these parts. The wardrobe is multi-tiered, ready for whatever is required!

Thank you for the lovely visit, comments and kind compliments, Colin! I appreciate them, coming from an outstanding poet!

Jim - I don't know how I missed this comment till now! How delightful that must have been, talking and visiting with Alan and Randi over breakfast! Did you straighten out the cabbages and kings issues? ;-) Would have made a lovely movie! hehe.

Ah Jim! I'm just pleased you've come by now! It does capture that evil that is the other side of the coin of goodness. Thank you!

Yes, it is, Christopher! It's always a fun challenge to get my imagination and vocabulary stirred 'down' to something appropriately dark for Halloween, but to have it be something containing some truth & significance which doesn't have to resort to trite silliness to bridge that chasm. I confess that I get into it during the writing of it but as soon as it's done, I'm tired of it and can't wait for the 'time of the year' to pass so I can change back into my normal colors and fully embrace my light again! I'm working on a bit of a transition piece for reentry. Hope to have it finished before 'trick or treat' time has slipped past! It will be, I think, more of a treat - to get the dark taste out of our mouths.

Thank you for coming by and reassuring me that I haven't been reclassified as a 'dark' poet! Hugs!

Martin, yes - you've detected I am ready for Halloween, - at least poetically. I've no candy handy, though. And neighborhood kids have become accustomed to being greeted at the door by a lady in costume with plenty of sweets for their treats! I'd prefer to give them more healthy treats - which might just stop their coming by! haha. I guess if the Obamas can let healthy eating dangle and give candy at the White House door, I can let go of my principles that much further! I've already traded them in poetically here for gore and guts!

Thank you for your visit!

Rasma - dear lady - thank you! You've certainly introduced a scary element to Halloween 2012 which I'd missed! Monday! Oh, dear - it's too gruesome! hehe! A school night, too! Shudder!

Vincent - I thought you might appreciate my venture into dark Poe-try! Thank you! Now then, if I can depart into darkness, no reason you couldn't break out into light on occasion. (Not to desert the dark, of course, any more than I'll desert the light!) hehe!

I did relish the challenge and proving that words have the power for such conversion! As you say: - not an easy task to manipulate them to scare YOU, the protege of the master of dark poetry himself! (Patting myself on the back!)

What's so nice is that it still works as a "Happy" greeting for this morbid season!

DRBJ - sigh. I know what you mean. S-p-o-o-k-y! I've just about scared myself out of going out; - maybe even out of opening my door on such a gruesome night!

Plus, I just updated & refreshed my 2010 Halloween poem, another spooky one to scare the bejoobies off. It had been called "Perish The Thought of Sinister Seraphim". I've shortened its title to: "Thoughts of Sinister Seraphim". I'd originally planned to completely republish it for this year's tribute, but then got into writing this one for 2012 from scratch. Anyway, I really didn't want to lose all the lovely comments on the first one, which now are intact still.

If you do decide to risk it and go trick or treating, the earlier hour or so is probably safest! Maybe you should have someone stand out on the sidewalk or stay in the car and watch to be sure you're all right till you race back with the yummy loot.

Yes, Alan - 'lively' is a bit ambiguous. So many adjectives are! Thank you for saying it's fitting for me. (I used it because it feels a better fit than other adjectives which were in the running.)

I'm certainly honored that you would gather my poetry to your heart. I'm aware of your great treasures kept in that resting place, so it is a real honorary and a cozy place to be admitted. Thank you.

Dear CD, - thank you for coming by and leaving your lovely comment! I love the Fugue too, but have never attempted to play it! I'm quite impressed that you've played it! I've a Yamaha "Grand Piano" keyboard which George gave me and which I love playing. His Lowrey organ hasn't been functional in years, though he used to play 'at' it. He always had such a fine touch, playing by ear, as he did his Hohner harmonicas. He loved music, though he had no formal training, just a keen musical sensitivity. I miss hearing his sounds wafting up the stairs.

I suppose if I were to attempt to play some Bach, it would be Air on a G-String, from his 3rd orchestral suite in D major, because it played a significant part in my healing during the summer of 1972, being completely isolated & alone after 18 years of being a constantly 'there' mother and wife for everyone to come home and find there. I was recovering from the traumas of May and waiting for the conclusion of that chapter of my life in August.

The Air was on a vinyl record with another favorite, Elvira's Theme, - based on Mozart's Concerto in C Major, 2nd movement. That record and an album of "Madame Butterfly" were my audible company, along with my own playing the old upright piano in the old farm house. I got quite a bit of practice in that summer - and wrote a lot of poetry, as you know, despite my son's boa constrictor eyeing me from its cage in the middle of the living room! (Forgot to mention that 'company' I all that summer!)

The score of the opera was included with the album and I became very familiar with it, too. I'm sure some of my poetry then was reflected dreams from these musical 'friends'.

Yes, no matter what kind or size our monsters are, we all have some.

So happy for your visit! Big hugs!

Good morning, dear Alan and thank you for the visit; they're always welcome.

I admit that I realized a need to give up claiming innocence upon becoming a great-grandma. The truth will out! ;-)

Most of my photos (if that's the photo being referred to here) do show transparent twinges of my nature, which is lively. As always, perception of an image is in the eye of the beholder. An interesting one this time.

I don't know whether to be flattered or stunned that my writing's effective enough to activate your fertile imagination to experience from it and to attribute to it J.M. Barrie's Tinker Bell pixie dust and Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll & Hyde! . . . I prefer to be flattered. :-) Nice!

Any penalty experienced from your visit would be product of that refreshing & interesting imagination! I perceive neither Tinker Bell nor Hyde in you! You're securely my hero; I welcome your response and comments.

I can't define

Perfection.

But if a perfect

Human being

Is being

Perfectly human,

You are!

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

Thank you, Billy! I've always been even more terrified of the scary things which real people are capable of doing & motivated to do than of make-believe scary characters and scenes. So these poems reflect those actual feelings! Glad you noticed!

Nikki, my friend, thanks for the visit and comment! It's always a pleasure to see you here

Hugs.

Janine, thank you for such an awesome first comment. And, of course, thank you for the votes! Happy Jack-o-lantern! :-)