script magazine: the horror issue

STUDENTS’ASSOCIATION

AT UNITEC

usu

horrort h e

i s s u e

great

to save someideasmoney

diy

Editor: ashley smith

Graphic dEsiGn: mark lovatt

advErtisinG and Editorial inquirEs ph. (09) 815 4321 ext 7927

[email protected]

6

30 34

9 10

26e d i t o r i a l

a s t o r y o f m i s s .

f o r t u n e

G h o s t s t o r y V o x

P o P s

h e l l o f r o m

s h a n n o n

a s o l e m n s t o r y

y o u s a y C r a z y , i

s a y B e a u t i f u l

nExt issuE: mind Body soul 21 May 2012

contributors: shannon Pennefather, andrea stills, harsha Goonewardana, abbey

yule, ellen Chitty, Jeremy haxton, steve ellmers, tessa robertson, Jayne king

spEcial thank you to: auCkland museum and Gordon maitland

advErtisinG and Editorial inquirEs ph. (09) 815 4321 ext 7927

[email protected]

Disclaimer Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Submissions and contributors are welcome, but the publisher reserves the right to select and edit the material submitted. Materials submitted will remain property of the publisher unless alternative arrangements are made.

contents7 m a y 2 0 1 2

34 38

10 23

G h o s t s t o r y V o x

P o P s

f a r f r o m t h e

m a d d e n i n G C r o w d

a s o l e m n s t o r y o V e r n i G h t i n

B u i l d i n G o n e

nExt issuE: mind Body soul 21 May 2012

spEcial thank you to: auCkland museum and Gordon maitland


AT UNITEC

usu

ghostsgoblins

oh my!I wIll be the fIrst to admIt It; I go out of my way to avoId the horror sectIon of the dvd rental store, cry In haunted houses and drIve way beyond the speed lImIt when I’m by myself In the car In the mIddle of the nIght. I am an absolute scaredy cat when It comes to anythIng InclusIve of pop-out scenes In movIes or talk of drIftIng reckless spIrIts. so as you could ImagIne, puttIng together thIs Issue was a bIt of a challenge.

6 HORROR ISSUE ED ITOR IAL

goblins

oh my!

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been

up until the late hours of the night

reading about murder cases and lunatic

debauchery. Needless to say, it’s left me

a bit unsettled. My poor flatmates have

fallen victim to my extreme case of nerves. I’ve

been an absolute spaz walking to the kitchen

at any hour after sunset.

to be honest, the history of Unitec in its

day as auckland’s leading lunatic asylum has

really caught my interest. there are so many

incredible stories, scandals and controversies

that create a massive archive of Carrington

Psychiatric Hospital’s past. Within the pages of

this issue, you’ll find many historical accounts

of real stories from 1865 onward. some of my

favourite stories include: the night of the 1877

fire, accounts of missing inmates…never to be

found or heard from again and the desperate

pleas for dismissal heard from “imprisoned”

inmates.

So the next time you find yourself studying

late night in Building one and get that cold

shiver down your spine, go ahead an dismiss it

away as the drafty old building. You’ll be lying

to yourself and you know it.

If you’re in for a bit of fun join us at Fright

Night in the Building one Chapel on may 8 for

the screening of Paranormal activity. see you

there!

godsPeed,

ashley

I wIll be the fIrst to admIt It; I go out of my way to avoId the horror sectIon of the dvd rental store, cry In haunted houses and drIve way beyond the speed lImIt when I’m by myself In the car In the mIddle of the nIght. I am an absolute scaredy cat when It comes to anythIng InclusIve of pop-out scenes In movIes or talk of drIftIng reckless spIrIts. so as you could ImagIne, puttIng together thIs Issue was a bIt of a challenge.

7HORROR ISSUEED ITOR IAL

DAY

INTERNATIONALFOOD

DAY

i n t he Hub (bldg 180)

10am - 2pm

OrRun a stall and represent your country by selling your national delicaciesTo register a stall please email [email protected]

Come along and tantalise

your tastebuds with the

variety of food on offer

from countries all around

the world

Thursday 17 May

usu Students’Associationat Unitec

www.usu.cO.Nzwww.FAcEbOOk.cOm/sTuDENTsATuNITEc

9HORROR ISSUETHATS SO SHANNON

Kiaora

I sometimes feel that our super natural

friends on campus get a bum deal. Haunting

is not the carrier opportunity it used to be.

With a more cynical population and a lack

of old buildings it is getting harder and

harder to find the time and opportunity for

a troubled soul to scare the jizzwollop out

of some one. Just the other day I was told

about a 3rd year architecture student working late

who had a run in with a ghost. this student did not

have the common decency to wet herself and run

away screaming however. No, instead she chose this

moment to critique one of our oldest friends from the

other side on his out dated appearance and clichéd

scare tactics. thanks to this insensitive hipster the

ghoul in question has lost all self confidence and

spends his days haunting a disused broom cupboard.

the time has come to stop ignoring this problem

and denying it even exists and start giving Unitec’s

haunting spirits the respect they deserve. they have

been here longer than you and will be here when you

are gone.

so next time you get shivers down your spine walking

through a dark corridor or hear a bump in the night

maybe give a sharp inhale and walk a bit quicker to

show your fear. If you actually see a ghost Jazz hands

+ scream + run is the proper response.

stay cool

shannon

Unitec

storya solemn

10 HORROR ISSUE FEATURE

all of the black and whIte photographs In thIs feature were taken by margaret matIlda whIte (1868-1910). she Is speculated to have been part of the nursIng staff at carrIngtons psychIatrIc asylum In the 1890s. these photos are part of a serIes she took durIng that tIme perIod that reflects on the condItIons of the hospItal staff themselves at that tIme. thank you to the auckland museum and gordon maItland for provIdIng these tImeless Images.

there Is a deep dark hIstory that haunts the corrIdors

of some of our old unItec buIldIngs. where we now drag

our feet to class or slump our way to long black café

for a mornIng coffee, auckland’s top mental patIents once

loomed. the buIldIng was desIgned and then buIlt In 1865. It

was funded wIth a loan from the provIncIal councIl In an

effort to erect more publIc buIldIngs In auckland. there

were a growIng amount of mental patIents In the cIty who

needed more space, hence the constructIon of carrIngton

psychIatrIc asylum. from 1867 onward to 1992 the buIldIng

was the home to scandal, mystery and controversy.

11HORROR ISSUEFEATURE

Female assIstaNt, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal

groUP oF Female assIstaNts, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal


The Unitec that we know and

love today has undergone

a remarkable change since

it’s heyday as auckland’s

scandalous insane asylum. the

campus, specifically Building

1, 6 and 76, was the quarters for “lunatics”

and nursing staff. the asylum existed

during a time where mental illnesses were

conditions taken more lightly. sorts of

behaviour that deviated from ‘the norm’

risked time sent away to the “loonie bin”.

the asylum underwent many changes,

upgrades, renovations and renames when

it was active. over its near 120 years of

service it was known as, “the auckland

mental Hospital”, “oakley Hospital” “Whau

lunatic Hospital” “avondale asylum” and

more familiarly as “Carrington Psychiatric

Asylum”. The Asylum saw its final days at

the start of the 90s when the building was

sold, and the patients were moved out.

over its years, Carrington Psychiatric

asylum saw its fair share of scandal.

Within the first couple of decades, the

hospital admitted far too many patients

for the capacity of the facility. at one

point, it is remembered that crowds of

patients were sent to sleep in the Chapel

to free up space. there were constant

discussions surrounding the overcrowding

at the asylum within the House of

representatives.

Female assIstaNt, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal


groUP oF male assIstaNts, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal

Hawera & NormaNby Star, Volume lXII, 27 December 1911, Page 5:

there were also many conversations in the

media and political spectrum regarding

the amount of available staff. the staff

nurses and guards often complained

about working conditions, hours and

expectations. there were not nearly

enough people employed at the hospital to

keep up with the stressful demand of the

job.

Whether the patient to staff ratio played

into the next set of scandals or not, we

can not be sure. there are many accounts

of escaped or “cured and released”

patients who claim that the treatment of

“lunatics” within the hospital was totally

unethical and at times unwarranted.

often, patients who were brought to the

hospital were admitted under unconfirmed

circumstances of insanity. Here, we find an

example of a man who was admitted for

being “found wandering aimlessly around

epsom”. surely, there are quite a few of us

who are guilty of much more speculative

behaviour than some aimless wandering.

there were multiple accounts of the wrong

patients being withheld at the hospital as

well as those being released into public

again. the lack of a “half-house system” at

the time caused a major stir throughout the

discussion of asylums all across the span of

New Zealand.

on the night over 20 september 1877, the

hospital saw its first tragic fire. This fire

left the entire first floor of the east wing in

ruins. a man by the name of Philip Herapath

was brought in to redesign the wing of

the hospital. He drew up plans for the

extension of the hospital soon thereafter.

By 1880, the extension of the hospital was

completed in order to properly house and

accommodate for the growing amount of


groUP oF male assIstaNts, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal

Female assIstaNt leaNINg agaINst tree, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItalHosPItal

coloNISt, Volume lV, ISSue 13809, 25 auguSt 1913, Page 4


NUrses take tHeIr Break From tHe asYlUm For aN aFterNooN PHoto sHoot. From tHe looks oF It, someoNe deCIded

to JoIN tHem IN tHe BaCkgroUNd...

patients. Unfortunately, the extension only

exacerbated the overcrowding issue as

more and more patients were admitted to

the hospital due to its increased space.

at the tail end of 1879, the Crown

purchased the farm land behind the

Hospital. the farm introduced a new

set of ‘leisure activities’ for the patients

that focused their attention on physical

activities outdoors. Patients worked to

maintain and cultivate the property.

alternative medicines, treatments and

activities were experimented with over the

next hundred years for treating patients

at Carrington Psychiatric asylum. It is

rumoured that the electric shock therapy

room was located directly under where

long Black Cafe now stands. during the

early 20th century, there were also many

stories leaked to the media about patients

being mistreated and even abused at

times.

throughout the remaining years of the

asylum’s existence there were countless

deaths on account of murder, suicide and

“accident”. these deaths included those

of both patients and staff members. It has

been speculated that on certain nights,

the ghosts of these tortured souls still visit

the corridors of Building one.


tWo male assIstaNts, aUCklaNd meNtal HosPItal

tHameS Star, Volume XlIII, ISSue 10465, 5 aPrIl 1906, Page 1


Asylum Scandals from the Archives

Asylums C a n d a l s f r o m t h e a r C h i V e s


Or in 2mins, yOu cOuld

make a change tO

yOur cOurse!

yOu cOuld ....

www.ratemycourse.co.nz Creating positive Change in your Course

have a break

really ConneCt with somebody

find Coinage for the bus

Cram for your exam

indulge in some quality entertainment

win 1 Of 3 skinny smart phOnes


AT UNITEC

usu

rate your Course online now and go in the draw to

wOrth $500!

in 2 mins

make a nutritious meal prepare for a booty Call22 HORROR ISSUE FEATURE

Or in 2mins, yOu cOuld

make a change tO

yOur cOurse!

yOu cOuld ....

www.ratemycourse.co.nz Creating positive Change in your Course

have a break

really ConneCt with somebody

find Coinage for the bus

Cram for your exam

indulge in some quality entertainment

win 1 Of 3 skinny smart phOnes


AT UNITEC

usu

rate your Course online now and go in the draw to

wOrth $500!

in 2 mins

make a nutritious meal prepare for a booty Call

OVERNIGHTBUILDINGIN


on 19 aprIl, 2012 fIve student volunteered to stay overnIght In unItec’s most haunted of buIldIngs, buIldIng one! the old carrIngton psychIatrIc asylum Is rumoured to stIll receIve ghostly vIsItors In the wee hours of the nIght. watch the footage now to see what the students dIscovered about the buIldIng.

>CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE!

OVERNIGHTBUILDING1


on 19 aprIl, 2012 fIve student volunteered to stay overnIght In unItec’s most haunted of buIldIngs, buIldIng one! the old carrIngton psychIatrIc asylum Is rumoured to stIll receIve ghostly vIsItors In the wee hours of the nIght. watch the footage now to see what the students dIscovered about the buIldIng.

>CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE!

WHATS THERE TO BE

AFRAID OF?

on fIrst thought for the horror Issue, I consIdered the hIstory of carrIngton hospItal, whIch was known over the years by varIous names IncludIng whau lunatIc asylum, auckland lunatIc hospItal, avondale hospItal and oakley hospItal. however, It became apparent to me that the allure of hearIng about ‘mental asylums’ or as they are perhaps more commonly, and InapproprIately, referred to ‘nut houses’, was that mental Illness Is largely unknown, and what we don’t know, we fear. sInce I personally have several close famIly members who suffer from schIzophrenIa, It made sense to talk about what I know about mental Illness, gIven our mt albert campus’s hIstory and what IrrItates me In relatIon to the way the Illness Is perceIved.


Occasionally we may hear of

someone who has schizo-

phrenia murdering some-

one, or perhaps several

people as was the case with

aramoana and raurimu.

However, even though the murder of in-

nocent people is undoubtedly a tragedy;

the pain and suffering of the person who is

unwell, delusional and paranoid, is largely

ignored. this may seem like a sensational

claim, after all, how can anyone feel sym-

pathy for a murderer? I suppose if you are

a close family member of someone with

schizophrenia, or other mental illnesses,

there is a greater understanding of how

mental illness impacts a person. I empa-

thise with the families of those who have

been victims of people who are mentally

ill; however I also empathise with the fami-

lies of those who are mentally ill and have

committed violent acts. more often than

not, these violent acts are against them-

selves; however these often go unreport-

ed as there is sensitivity around reporting

such matters in the press.

Previously people who were mentally ill

would have been institutionalised in facili-

ties like Carrington Hospital, they would

have had eCt, or electric shock therapy

as it is more commonly known. often

times this would happen without their

consent and sometimes used as punish-

ment. they were put in straight jackets,

at times to pacify them, or punish them,

or simply because the institutions were

understaffed. the patients were locked

in cells, abused by staff and other pa-

tients in worst case scenarios, and heavily

medicated, with little consultation with

families or the other patients themselves.

someone I loved very much was a patient

at Carrington Hospital who in the later

stages of her life she suffered from de-

mentia. despite many of her memories

fading and not being able to recognise

family and people she once knew, she re-

membered the hospital and suffered from

a fear of the area when she would drive

past Unitec. she would beg ‘please don’t

take me there’.

thankfully there has been progress in the

care of psychiatric patients; people who

suffer from mental illnesses have been

more involved in their treatment these

days and medication is not the only assis-

tance they receive. steps toward a more

holistic approach have been taken, with

diet, exercise and trying to get people

with mental illness to do things that may

be simple for the rest of us, in an attempt

to encourage independent living. It is

now acknowledged that mental illness af-

fects mind, body and spirit, and there is

a need to address all these issues, rather

than just the physical symptoms of the ill-

ness. Charitable trusts in the community

help with everyday things like shopping,

hygiene and social interaction. these or-

ganisations such as Walsh trust and Chal-

lenge trust receive some funding from

the government; however they also rely

on donations and other forms of funding.

they encourage social interaction and

have regular physical activities for clients

to attend.

although the media only seems to pick up

on issues surrounding mental illness when

things go wrong in the wider community,

there are many instances of personal suf-

fering among people who suffer from

mental illness which go unre-

ported. a family member

of mine, who suffers from

schizophrenia has had

the armed offend-

ers squad called out

when false claims

were made by

another tenant

in assisted ac-

commodation.

He has had to

seek medical

assistance for

tissues that

he had put

in his ears

to stop the

voices that

taunted him.

He has been

on medication

that made him

pace inces-

santly, sleep

for more than

24 hours at a

time, gain exces-

sive amounts of

weight, and various

other side effects

that these powerful

and largely ineffective,

drugs have for many pa-

tients. He currently takes

the ‘last-stop’ medication

Clozaril (Clozapine), which is re-

served for patients who have tried

all the other antipsychotic medication

available. It is restricted due to risks as-

sociated with the medication, which has

included deaths in the past. Clozapine


"Thankfully there has been progress in the care of

psychiatric patients; people who suffer from mental illnesses have been more involved in their treatment these days

and medication is not the only assistance they receive. Steps

toward a more holistic approach have been taken with diet and

exercise"

has several side effects and is

available only with regular

blood tests to monitor

white blood cells. on the

whole it can take years

to get medication

right, for my fam-

ily member it took

about 15, which

can lead to con-

stant upheaval

for the person

suffering from

mental illness

and their fam-

ily/support

people. If

the medica-

tion works

however, it

gives back to

people who

suffer from

schizophrenia

some of what

the illness took

from them. It’s

kind of a best

case, worst case

scenario.

over the years I have

heard and seen so

many misconceptions

surrounding the illness:

that someone who is mental-

ly ill could ‘flip’ at any moment,

the idea that they are all scary

and violent and should be avoided,

the common perception that people with

schizophrenia have two, or more person-

alities, which is simply not true. there are

many more, you know: the funny cartoons

with the person talking to himself. Hilari-

ous! (Not!) In fact some people like to

say schizophrenic (not PC, don’t say it)

a lot, for any and everything. the ‘know

me before you judge me’ campaign had a

good point however it essentially failed to

educate people about the illness itself.

People with mental illness are like you

and me, they have hopes and dreams and

fears. they need love and support and

consideration, in larger doses than the rest

of us at times. However, they also have a

lot to offer in return. Having a close fam-

ily member with schizophrenia has been

painful at times; this person has said hurt-

ful things, done things I will never under-

stand, and heard and seen things that do

not exist in my world. However, this per-

son is also generous and kind; is intelligent

and caring, and although their illness is

a curse, I would not change the fact that

they are my family member for anything in

this world. People should not be defined

by an illness they happen to have, hence

my irritation at the term ‘schizophrenic’.

this illness is something which happened

to them, through no fault of their own.

they did not deserve it, nor did they want

it, however it is the everyday reality for

some people and at the very least they

deserve our consideration.

so next time you think about the history

of our campus, or see someone who you

think is ‘mental’, please be considerate of

the people who suffer from these illnesses

everyday of their lives. they are the ones

who really suffer. For us it is merely an

imposition.


"Thankfully there has been progress in the care of

psychiatric patients; people who suffer from mental illnesses have been more involved in their treatment these days

and medication is not the only assistance they receive. Steps

toward a more holistic approach have been taken with diet and

exercise"

Miss. Fortune

AStoryof


Miss. Fortune

Story

It certaInly was not the fIrst tIme that she had threatened It. only last week durIng her bathIng hour, mary ann had screamed straIght Into cynthIa’s face, “I’m goIng to do It. I’m goIng to burn thIs mother fucker down”. afterwards, she’d had a slIght feelIng of remorse; cynthIa was actually one of the nIcer nurses on the ward. she’d never stepped out of lIne the way some of the others had. she just happened to be In the wrong place at the wrong tIme; dear cynthIa.

This story is based upon true events that occurred before the1877 fire at Carrington Asylum.

By: ASHLEY SMITH



Regardless, miss. mary ann

B. Fortune meant what she

said this time. the dreaded

isolation within her cell had

to come to an end. the only

company she knew was

that of the plate of undistinguished slop

shoved in her direction at 8 am, noon and

5 pm; like clockwork. mary ann had grown

so accustomed to the near silence and

seasonal lighting shed from the nearby

window, that she’d began to manifest an

internal clock in which she could nearly

predict the moment that the door at the

end of the corridor would swing open and

the food trolley wheels would squeak their

way down the narrow hallway.

she’d mulled over the reasons. Was it the

monotony that had aCtUallY driven her

to the near point of insanity? or was it the

dreadful scream of neighbouring patients

at midnight as they were jacketed and

escorted to the basement? mary ann had

once suffered from severe nightmares.

she would wake in the wee hours of the

night screaming and sweating, sometimes

bleeding from her shoulders where her

sharp nails had dug so deep in to a self

offensive embrace. Within four months at

the asylum, mary ann’s nightmares had

subsided; soon after, the hygiene nurse

discovered the etching near the floor of

her cell that read, “sleep yields no fear.

these walls contain all the dread one will

ever know”.

mary ann knew how to walk the line in this

place. she knew where and with whom to

bite her tongue to avoid a midnight visit

from lars. lars had a reputation for his

brute strength and empty soul. mary ann

reckoned that the 20 years employed at

the asylum would damn right steal the soul

from anyone, she couldn’t exactly blame

him. only last week on her way to the bath

room, she spotted lars out on his cigarette

break under the front tree. she could have

sworn she caught a glimmer in his eye that

indicated the bit of heart he had left in him.

Her absolute mortification towards the man

was only gently outweighed by her deep

sorrow for him.

she had waited long enough. the time

had come, she knew it was right. she was

to begin her own personal revolution

to free herself from this prison. she had

no idea where she would end up, but it

would surely be a place free of torture and

belittlement and mania.

In the visiting hours three weeks prior,

mary ann had been released to the gardens

to enjoy a smoke with her brother. arno

was sweet. He was the only one who had

managed through the years to continue on

with regular conversation and behaviours.

He never visited with superficial gifts. Her

mother had made the mistake only the year

before. she handed the pearly parcel to

mary ann with a dreaded look of sympathy

and sadness, which bewildered mary ann;

wasn’t her mother the sole decisionary

force behind her confinement? Mary Ann

opened the package to find a shiny new

fascinator, reminiscent of her heyday at

the races she was sure. Her mother was


so kind. she really shouldn’t have. It was

then that mary ann actually lost her grip

and awareness; the world around her

faded to black inward and her inner ear

began to swell with the haunting sound

of accelerating eagle wings. she took the

fascinator and delicately attached it in her

short stringy hair. she looked up slowly and

meticulously right into her mothers eyes

and slapped her across the face as hard

as she could. mary ann doesn’t remember

much afterwards. she still couldn’t recall

if she had passed out immediately or been

swiftly tranquilized by one of the staff.

arno had not been there that day, but

surely he’d heard the stories. Nonetheless,

on his next visit, there was no mention of

the incident. He and mary ann enjoyed their

conversation of edgar allen Poe and eccles

Cake.

on this past visit, arno had seemed a

bit more jublilant than usual. mary ann

reckoned he had finally found some decent

sex. He was always involved with the most

humdrum of girls. as the two of them

strolled under the canopy of trees, arno

passed mary ann his pack of matches to

light her cigarette. He was so engulfed in

his recap of current events outside the

asylum, that his usual instinct to reach

back for the matches did not register. mary

ann slipped the matches into her brassiere

and took a long distracting drag from her

cigarette, nodding in submissive agreement

into his opinion on foreign trade.

since that day, the matches had not left

the underside of her breast. mary ann had

actually developed a slightly obsessive

compulsiveness about them, feeling

for their whereabouts nearly every five

minutes. It was for this very moment that

she had been musing over since that day

in the garden with arno. the pale half

light from the high-moon left just enough

light into her cell to find her bearings with

the matches. at 2 am on september 20,

1877, with a confident and sure hand, Mary

ann B. Fortune struck her match of death.

The immediate gleam from the flaming

match instinctively widened her eyes in

the dark cell. She held the flame close to

her face for a moment before she tossed

it to the opposite corner of the wooden

cell. Mary Ann sat calmly on floor, arms

wrapped around her bent knees watching

the flame erupt into a violent and hungry

fire. As the smoke began to fill her cell

and escape out the assistance window,

mary ann took a deep long breath, closed

her eyes and accepted the destiny of miss.

Fortune.

On the early hours of the morning on 20

September 1877, the entire first floor of

the East Wing of Carrington’s Asylum

was lost to the historical fire. All but one

patient were able to escape safely. The

only casualty listed in the Auckland Star

was Mary Ann Fortune.


V o x P o P s


>>

CLICK TO PLAY

CLICK TO PLAY

f a r f r o m t h e

Ma38 HORROR ISSUE FEATURE

f a r f r o m t h e

MC r o w d

By: HArSHA GoonEwArdAnA

InsanIty and the physIcal manIfestatIon of It In the form of mental InstItutIons have been reoccurrIng themes In cInema; mostly In horror. even as the suburban baby gangstas gIvIng mad props to each other’s’ crazy rIdes to davId brent promIsIng after work festIvItIes to be mentally

In order to attract a shIny young temp, mental InstItutes are often portrayed In cInema as creepy

palaces where unspeakable acts take place (wIth a bIt of ghoulIshness

thrown In for good measure).

gnn

addE i39HORROR ISSUEFEATURE

only 40% sought any form of assistance.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 5

New Zealanders experience some form of mentaldisorder within the last year and

T he device commonly used

to invoke terror is the fear

of a sane person sent to an

asylum forcibly. Coupled with

a catch-22 scenario where the

patient asks to be released

because he is actually sane, thus he must

not be sane, and cannot leave. this creates

the perfect setting for terminal despair

and inescapable terror. In gothika (2003)

Halle Berry finds herself in an institution

after she blacks out during a car accident,

supposedly after murdering her husband.

although she has amnesia, miranda is

convinced a ‘not so holy ghost’ is the

main culprit. Yup tell that to medical

professionals for an early release.

another interesting take on the theme is

twelve monkeys (1995), set in the year

2035. Bruce Willis plays the thinking

man’s terminator, where he retuns to the

past to collect a sample of a killer virus

that devastates the earth in the future.

the good citizens of 1990 do not give his

amazing tales of time, travel and future

dystopia much credence and Bruce gets a

cookie and a one way ticket to an asylum.

girl Interrupted (1999) is based on an

autobiography of a teenager whose parent

thought the best cure for teenage angst

was electric shock therapy. the story is

related through a set of flashbacks by

Winona ryder, who is diagnosed with

a borderline personality disorder as

she reflects upon the despair of a sane

person treated as insane .The film is a

mishmash of crowded rooms, fists full

of hallucinogenic drugs, electroshocks,

senseless ranting, cold baths and wearing

handcuffs to bed; not far removed from a

typical kiwi oe experience in london.

a variation of this theme is when a sane

person pretends to be insane to infiltrate

an asylum. In shock Corridor (1963), a

reporter with everything going for him

(a steady job, stripper girlfriend, shot at

a Pulitzer) pretends to be crazy so he

can be admitted to an asylum to solve

a murder. Populated by a bizarre cast

of characters including a black college

dropout convinced he’s a ku-klux-klan

leader (surely there must be easier ways

to avoid student loan payments), the

movie documents Peter Breck’s journey

into insanity as he get closer to solving

the mystery and getting his mitts on the

Pulitzer.

the movie which features a man getting

transferred from a prison farm to hanging

out with the asylum “nuts” is initially

the best thing that ever happened to

Jack Nicholson in one Flew over the

Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). almost immediately,

he begins to sow chaos and disorder,

40

"HORROR ISSUE FEATURE

only 40% sought any form of assistance.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 5

New Zealanders experience some form of mentaldisorder within the last year and

skirmishing with the deceptively sedate

Nurse ratched, who makes lucretia Borgia

look like Florence Nightingale. In this place,

revenge is best served via lobotomy.

Finally, based on the autobiography of

a certified New Zealand treasure, Jane

Campion, an angel at my table (1990),

provides an uncomfortably frank look at

mental illness in New Zealand society.

after a panic attack and an attempt to

swallow copious amounts of aspirin,

Jane played by the kerry Fox is treated

for schizophrenia for 8 long years at an

asylum.Finally, proving that the pen is

indeed mightier than the drill bit, she is

saved from a lobotomy by the timely

publication of her poems.

While we get a guilt free peek at Bdsm

complete with clichés of spooky settings,

creepy patients and deranged employees

secure in our own self-declared sanity,

it is important to acknowledge that

extent mental illness effects our own

society. according to the mental Health

Foundation, 1 in 5 New Zealanders

experience some form of mental disorder

within the last year and disturbingly only

40% sought any form of assistance. so if

you or some one you know is affected by

mental illness, go ahead and tell someone.

It’d be crazy not to.

"


ExpoMonday 21 May

Unitec WaitakErE CaMpus

Yoga- 12:30 PM and Meditation- 12 PM classes in RooM 1041Free Massage

There wil l be

and Healthy Food Options on the day

check oUt WWW.usu.Co.nz foR the fUll schedUle.


AT UNITEC

usu

Proceeds raised from ticket sales will be donated to RMHA so please support this great cause. Book tickets online at: http://tinyurl.com/rainbowu

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script magazine: the horror issue

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