this is (not) a drill
October 22, 2023 11:36 PM Subscribe
EAS Scenarios, or Mock EAS, is a type of analog horror that uses emergency alert systems (generally televised) to tell a story about a fictional horrific event. Some examples include: SCP Realised (mock EASes based on the SCP Foundation); The Final Minutes' Zombie Plague, 2050 (futuristic international EASes), and The Tiangong Incident; V-DAY, the radio-based Absolute Zero, and a 1990s UK Black Hole broadcast. Also: don't look at the moon.
I used to design setop cable boxes, EAS was my bete noir, you could never really test it for real (we had a private cable plant, but it was always 'in the small'), and it absolutely had to work correctly the first time - too many potential law suits if it didn't
posted by mbo at 3:31 AM on October 23, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by mbo at 3:31 AM on October 23, 2023 [8 favorites]
As a child who grew up under the nuclear umbrella in the 80s, there's nothing more terrifying to me, more packed with forboding and the knowledge that armageddon is incoming, than the sound of an EAS.
Even today, decades later, I can't shake the core temperature drop that comes with hearing one even in a fictional setting.
posted by jordantwodelta at 4:43 AM on October 23, 2023 [16 favorites]
Even today, decades later, I can't shake the core temperature drop that comes with hearing one even in a fictional setting.
posted by jordantwodelta at 4:43 AM on October 23, 2023 [16 favorites]
Yeah, I'm another coldwar/GenX kid that lived in fear of that tone. When it was actually used in a realistic scenario, even scarier.
But then I also grew up in the midwest and we had constant weather alerts telling us all tornadoes were coming to destroy our houses.
It is also worth pointing out that you can't use EAS tones in TV/Movie programming to avoid making the alert less effective.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:43 AM on October 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
But then I also grew up in the midwest and we had constant weather alerts telling us all tornadoes were coming to destroy our houses.
It is also worth pointing out that you can't use EAS tones in TV/Movie programming to avoid making the alert less effective.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:43 AM on October 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
I was just watching videos about hole-making and this title confused me for a few seconds.
posted by clawsoon at 6:15 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 6:15 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I found these little scares surprisingly effective. There’s something visceral about that sound.
Labor Day weekend, 1998. I was working on a computer, designing a brochure for a client. The night was hot, humid and utterly still. It was just after 1:00 am.
A small weather radio which I used for camping suddenly let off a screech. It instructed me to immediately check local TV for info. When I turned the set on, that EAS sound—so incongruous when all else was silent—pushed my heart right up into my throat. The scroll at the bottom of the screen was tough to read as I was shocked to see a local weather guy excitedly reporting LIVE that something truly terrible was headed our way.
As the derecho approached and I frantically ran around closing windows, the only sound was that EAS signal squawking repeatedly. Seconds before the winds struck, the power went out and it stopped.
What followed was about 90 seconds of horror as huge trees crashed down on the house, car, neighbors…
And then silence again, and pitch darkness, and the shock of not yet knowing just how bad things had gotten. Did the house still have a roof? Were my elderly neighbors okay? Where was the cat?
Whenever I hear an EAS my pulse rate rises and my mouth goes dry. What could it be this time?
posted by kinnakeet at 6:58 AM on October 23, 2023 [16 favorites]
Labor Day weekend, 1998. I was working on a computer, designing a brochure for a client. The night was hot, humid and utterly still. It was just after 1:00 am.
A small weather radio which I used for camping suddenly let off a screech. It instructed me to immediately check local TV for info. When I turned the set on, that EAS sound—so incongruous when all else was silent—pushed my heart right up into my throat. The scroll at the bottom of the screen was tough to read as I was shocked to see a local weather guy excitedly reporting LIVE that something truly terrible was headed our way.
As the derecho approached and I frantically ran around closing windows, the only sound was that EAS signal squawking repeatedly. Seconds before the winds struck, the power went out and it stopped.
What followed was about 90 seconds of horror as huge trees crashed down on the house, car, neighbors…
And then silence again, and pitch darkness, and the shock of not yet knowing just how bad things had gotten. Did the house still have a roof? Were my elderly neighbors okay? Where was the cat?
Whenever I hear an EAS my pulse rate rises and my mouth goes dry. What could it be this time?
posted by kinnakeet at 6:58 AM on October 23, 2023 [16 favorites]
The Quiz Broadcast. Remain indoors.
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:03 AM on October 23, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by ursus_comiter at 7:03 AM on October 23, 2023 [12 favorites]
I remember stumbling on one of these several years ago. It was an emergency broadcast set in Australia against a nuclear attack, with occasional updates about which other cities had been hit. It was surreal and horrifying and I hated it.
I'll probably watch some of these.
In this same vein, I recommend the comic Subnormality ("a comic that uses too many words") and this strip in particular, "I can hear you." which is sort of an EAS scenario comic that spookily similar but came out a bit before "A Quiet Place."
"Information does suggest that it may be possible to wait out the event if your home is sufficiently prepared, that if a region seems to have already been depopulated it may simply move on, however we are unable to advise viewers regarding-"
posted by AlSweigart at 7:55 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'll probably watch some of these.
In this same vein, I recommend the comic Subnormality ("a comic that uses too many words") and this strip in particular, "I can hear you." which is sort of an EAS scenario comic that spookily similar but came out a bit before "A Quiet Place."
"Information does suggest that it may be possible to wait out the event if your home is sufficiently prepared, that if a region seems to have already been depopulated it may simply move on, however we are unable to advise viewers regarding-"
posted by AlSweigart at 7:55 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
I absolutely love this little genre. But then, I'm someone who's put Conet Project numbers stations on their personal work playlist.
As a kid, I was regularly scared out of my wits by alerts. We have lots of tornadoes locally, but personally we were always safe, although I couldn't know that then. I was also terrified of nuclear war and, as a teen, of asteroid strikes. I slept with the radio or TV on for a long time because I figured there'd be an alert -- or worse, snow -- if something went wrong. Even today I am uneasy when I spend nights in the country or somewhere else that's dead quiet and dark at night.
Funny thing. I was so impressed by the "don't look at the moon" short that I showed my dad, who loves horror and who grew up in the original nuclear terror days of the 50s and 60s. Totally missed him. He couldn't relate at all. I guess it's that when these technologies were developed, he was grown, and they don't trigger a sense of utter helplessness.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:09 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
As a kid, I was regularly scared out of my wits by alerts. We have lots of tornadoes locally, but personally we were always safe, although I couldn't know that then. I was also terrified of nuclear war and, as a teen, of asteroid strikes. I slept with the radio or TV on for a long time because I figured there'd be an alert -- or worse, snow -- if something went wrong. Even today I am uneasy when I spend nights in the country or somewhere else that's dead quiet and dark at night.
Funny thing. I was so impressed by the "don't look at the moon" short that I showed my dad, who loves horror and who grew up in the original nuclear terror days of the 50s and 60s. Totally missed him. He couldn't relate at all. I guess it's that when these technologies were developed, he was grown, and they don't trigger a sense of utter helplessness.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:09 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
(Also, as a tiny thing, I loved to watch the Weather Channel. Not to see what the weather was -- just to watch it. Drove my mom crazy, apparently. But a lot of analog horror vibes come from people who seem to have done the same)
posted by Countess Elena at 8:11 AM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 8:11 AM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
ursus_comiter: The Quiz Broadcast. Remain indoors.
Came here to mention this too. Comedy team Mitchell and Webb parody the BBC emergency broadcast system in a series of sketches & satirize human need for TV entertainment even after most people have died (including all children) in an apocalyptic event. It's super dark.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 8:20 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Came here to mention this too. Comedy team Mitchell and Webb parody the BBC emergency broadcast system in a series of sketches & satirize human need for TV entertainment even after most people have died (including all children) in an apocalyptic event. It's super dark.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 8:20 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not exactly the same thing, but I love how the video for Twerk by City Girls feat. Cardi B (maybe NSFW: twerking, butts) has a section near the beginning where a newscast implies that all of the twerking going on is causing some sort of emergency.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:15 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:15 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
In the same vein, I must recommend Local 58. Specifically Contingency (cw: suicide, death)
posted by signsofrain at 9:27 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by signsofrain at 9:27 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
I found these little scares surprisingly effective. There’s something visceral about that sound.
I won't link to them here but if you scrub YouTube you'll find people that play faked-up EAS alerts on their home TV in front of family members. Incoming nuclear missiles, etc. Some are funny and some...not so funny. It's really cruel.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:33 AM on October 23, 2023
I won't link to them here but if you scrub YouTube you'll find people that play faked-up EAS alerts on their home TV in front of family members. Incoming nuclear missiles, etc. Some are funny and some...not so funny. It's really cruel.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:33 AM on October 23, 2023
Yep, nothing like having the EAS play at the end of Ant-Man and The Wasp to undo all the happy feelings from everything that had just happened.
posted by RakDaddy at 9:36 AM on October 23, 2023
posted by RakDaddy at 9:36 AM on October 23, 2023
But then, I'm someone who's put Conet Project numbers stations on their personal work playlist.
And I thought I was the only one...
When I was a little one (also living under the spectre of the cold war and imminent nuclear annihilation) we didn't have the EAS. All we had were the old air-raid sirens. The same ones that were used to warn of tornado sightings.
As kids, we always joked that, if the Russians had any sense, they'd launch the nukes whenever we had really shitty weather or during the weekly Friday 11:00am siren tests. It's not that we didn't fear nuclear obliteration, it's just that, even at 8 years old, we knew there wasn't really anything we could do to escape it, so we might as well laugh at it.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:55 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
And I thought I was the only one...
When I was a little one (also living under the spectre of the cold war and imminent nuclear annihilation) we didn't have the EAS. All we had were the old air-raid sirens. The same ones that were used to warn of tornado sightings.
As kids, we always joked that, if the Russians had any sense, they'd launch the nukes whenever we had really shitty weather or during the weekly Friday 11:00am siren tests. It's not that we didn't fear nuclear obliteration, it's just that, even at 8 years old, we knew there wasn't really anything we could do to escape it, so we might as well laugh at it.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:55 AM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was reading through the post in increasing surprise not to see Kris Straub's Local 58 mentioned but then you stuck Weather Service in there at the end, well done. My introduction to him was Contingency, linked by signsofrain above. That one is especially disturbing to those of us of a certain age who remember falling asleep in front of broadcast TV and watching American flags waving in a weird liminal state at 2am.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 10:23 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 10:23 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'll never forget standing in a parking lot in Waimea, Hawaii early one Saturday morning when suddenly everyone's phone lit up with this.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:44 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 10:44 AM on October 23, 2023 [6 favorites]
I was once camping out in Oregon and had enough bars to get the "CIVIL EMERGENCY" texts, but not enough to get the "BOIL NOTICE" part. Good reason to have AM/shortwave around.
posted by credulous at 11:07 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by credulous at 11:07 AM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
You used to be able to find a video of the US Marine Band playing the national anthem sometime in the 80s -- very simple, no graphics or commentary -- which was apparently what Ted Turner put aside for CNN's last broadcast in the event of apocalypse. I can't get it now except as part of a different video that I don't want to link.
It was eerie to watch, and now I feel sad thinking about it. The concept presumed that there would be a last broadcast, that there would be a sharp end to things instead of a continuous spiral into bullshit. CNN's last broadcast will be a late-night infomercial before the morning programming of the new network conglomerate that it merges with someday.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:20 AM on October 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
It was eerie to watch, and now I feel sad thinking about it. The concept presumed that there would be a last broadcast, that there would be a sharp end to things instead of a continuous spiral into bullshit. CNN's last broadcast will be a late-night infomercial before the morning programming of the new network conglomerate that it merges with someday.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:20 AM on October 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
CNN wasn't planning to play the anthem at armageddon sign-off — it was going to be Nearer My God to Thee (YouTube link that's just the band playing the song).
I kind of hope they have an updated HD version of that in their video bank somewhere.
posted by Ampersand692 at 11:28 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
I kind of hope they have an updated HD version of that in their video bank somewhere.
posted by Ampersand692 at 11:28 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
For some reason I thought it was a good idea to watch "don't look at the moon" at 11:30 at night while brushing my teeth in front of my vanity. At least my bathroom window is frosted. I clicked away before the end because of the moon. BRB going to frost all my windows.
posted by muddgirl at 11:40 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 11:40 AM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
At least my bathroom window is frosted.
Frosted windows don't help.
Ask me how I know.
posted by The Tensor at 12:11 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Frosted windows don't help.
Ask me how I know.
posted by The Tensor at 12:11 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
As a child who grew up under the nuclear umbrella in the 80s, there's nothing more terrifying to me, more packed with forboding and the knowledge that armageddon is incoming, than the sound of an EAS.
Even today, decades later, I can't shake the core temperature drop that comes with hearing one even in a fictional setting.
Same GenX experience here, jordantwodelta. Those tones go right to my soul.
There were some good late 20th century examples of this genre, precursors like Special_Bulletin and the one about asteroids whose name I always forget.
Now, I admire how these videos take that terror and run with it.
Thank you for this post, creatrixtiara.
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Even today, decades later, I can't shake the core temperature drop that comes with hearing one even in a fictional setting.
Same GenX experience here, jordantwodelta. Those tones go right to my soul.
There were some good late 20th century examples of this genre, precursors like Special_Bulletin and the one about asteroids whose name I always forget.
Now, I admire how these videos take that terror and run with it.
Thank you for this post, creatrixtiara.
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
june_dodecahedron, that one takes me back, too.
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2023
posted by doctornemo at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2023
I'm pretty immune to the EAS tones because in South Florida there are severe thunderstorm warnings all the time, and usually by the time the warning goes the thunderstorm is quite present already, so I tend to hear the warning tones and be like "No shit, Sherlock." The thing that gives my stomach that sinking feeling is a network news logo with the statement "We interrupt this broadcast for a special report..." which most of the time means something pretty dire and of national significance is going on.
posted by Daily Alice at 1:28 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Daily Alice at 1:28 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Will someone more in the know please tell me what I'm missing with the "don't look at the moon" video?
Thanks, doctornemo, for mentioning Special Bulletin. I was thinking of that as I read my way down. It was very well done.
A few months ago, I found a video of various tornado warning sirens. I was curious to see how different ones sounded. But I noped out of it pretty quickly and sat and shivered a few times. One of the three TV channels available when I was a little lad used a clanging sound to announce a tornado warning. It sounded like somebody banging on a small pot. Fifty years later, they've brought it back, and it briefly turns my blood to ice just like it did all those years ago.
posted by bryon at 1:38 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thanks, doctornemo, for mentioning Special Bulletin. I was thinking of that as I read my way down. It was very well done.
A few months ago, I found a video of various tornado warning sirens. I was curious to see how different ones sounded. But I noped out of it pretty quickly and sat and shivered a few times. One of the three TV channels available when I was a little lad used a clanging sound to announce a tornado warning. It sounded like somebody banging on a small pot. Fifty years later, they've brought it back, and it briefly turns my blood to ice just like it did all those years ago.
posted by bryon at 1:38 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
May I present the EAS for Japan. For people who lived in Japan at the time of the the big 2011 East Japan earthquake, but probably not well known for everyone else, is the astounding number of aftershocks that occurred afterwards. The day of, there were aftershocks about every thirty minutes to an hour, each one being a huge scale 7 or 8 quake on its own. Day after day, they just kept coming. Gradually they tapered off, now every three or four hours, now every eight or nine...for weeks and then months. Something like 5,000 aftershocks happened in the first year after the quake; now earthquake activity in Japan is remarkably low in comparison (for now, anyway).
So take those numbers and imagine for a healthy portion of those aftershocks, for roughly two or three months afterwards, several times a day and in the middle of the night, everyone's phone and TV would suddenly hear that chime--bling! bling!!, bling! bling!! You never knew when that warning would hit--you were always waiting on the other shoe to drop. And most of the time it was accurate: about five seconds after it chimed, an earthquake would hit. Though there were quite a few false alarms as well.
That along with the Fukushima disaster was a really stressful time for everyone in eastern Japan. Ask anyone and they'll say how that chime really freaks them out.
posted by zardoz at 1:49 PM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
So take those numbers and imagine for a healthy portion of those aftershocks, for roughly two or three months afterwards, several times a day and in the middle of the night, everyone's phone and TV would suddenly hear that chime--bling! bling!!, bling! bling!! You never knew when that warning would hit--you were always waiting on the other shoe to drop. And most of the time it was accurate: about five seconds after it chimed, an earthquake would hit. Though there were quite a few false alarms as well.
That along with the Fukushima disaster was a really stressful time for everyone in eastern Japan. Ask anyone and they'll say how that chime really freaks them out.
posted by zardoz at 1:49 PM on October 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
To add to the Japan alert horror: in the days after the earthquake, there was nothing on TV aside from news about the (developing) disaster. Almost all advertisers pulled their ads from the air, a mix of trying to avoid the jarring transition from disaster news to cheerful commercials (and more importantly) to avoid having their products associated with news of the ongoing reactor crisis. However, the television stations couldn't or wouldn't go without commercial breaks, so we ended up with PSA after PSA, all from the Japanese Ad Council, or AC, and each and every one of them would end with a happy little jingle and people singing the two letters in this happy, sugar sweet kind of oblivious uplift. This went on for a couple days, until the volume of complaints from viewers convinced them to change the bumper on the PSAs to something less obnoxiously chipper. Occasionally, a PSA comes on with the old bumper, and goddamn, it can be triggering.
As far as televised news alerts here go, there's usually a beeping tone, then a text crawl letting viewers know of important events (famous people passing away, heavy rain, earthquakes mild enough to not trigger the HOLY SHIT alarm). There's a morning show Mrs. Ghidorah watches, though, that has an unbelievably similar three note jingle to signal that they're changing topic. Every time I hear that sound, it startles me, and I immediately look to the top of the screen to see what's happened. Lord, I wish they would change that.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:37 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
As far as televised news alerts here go, there's usually a beeping tone, then a text crawl letting viewers know of important events (famous people passing away, heavy rain, earthquakes mild enough to not trigger the HOLY SHIT alarm). There's a morning show Mrs. Ghidorah watches, though, that has an unbelievably similar three note jingle to signal that they're changing topic. Every time I hear that sound, it startles me, and I immediately look to the top of the screen to see what's happened. Lord, I wish they would change that.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:37 PM on October 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
If you follow WWE at all, there was a wrestler, Cesaro (now with AEW, as Claudio Castagnoli) whose first entrance music started with a tornado siren sound. That went away very, very quickly, as it was being played every Monday night on Raw, blaring from any TV tuned in. So, they couldn't use the tornado siren, what next? They switched to an ambulance siren, for a short while, until yep, that's no good. Finally, they went with something sounding like a European police car, which sounded different enough that they could keep using it.
I mean, I get that they were trying to focus on how awesome he was, but man, bad decision after bad decision.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:42 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I mean, I get that they were trying to focus on how awesome he was, but man, bad decision after bad decision.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:42 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
The zombie ones hit different after Covid. Admittedly I don't watch network TV, but I don't recall there being "we interrupt this broadcast" about the pandemic.
posted by creatrixtiara at 4:45 PM on October 23, 2023
posted by creatrixtiara at 4:45 PM on October 23, 2023
The concept presumed that there would be a last broadcast, that there would be a sharp end to things instead of a continuous spiral into bullshit.
“NBC’s live coverage of the end of the world will continue after these important messages...”
posted by Thorzdad at 5:48 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
“NBC’s live coverage of the end of the world will continue after these important messages...”
posted by Thorzdad at 5:48 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
I remember stumbling on one of these several years ago. It was an emergency broadcast set in Australia against a nuclear attack, with occasional updates about which other cities had been hit. It was surreal and horrifying and I hated it.
AlSweigart, was it possibly the sixth link in this post from 2015? Every once in awhile I find myself seeking it out; it leaves me (Gen Xer here) feeling so uneasy (and wondering what I was thinking).
posted by vespertine at 9:48 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
AlSweigart, was it possibly the sixth link in this post from 2015? Every once in awhile I find myself seeking it out; it leaves me (Gen Xer here) feeling so uneasy (and wondering what I was thinking).
posted by vespertine at 9:48 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I went back to the 2015 post you linked, vespertine, and saw some of my comments from my previous username.
Metafilter must have been what got me into this genre of horror!!!
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:43 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Metafilter must have been what got me into this genre of horror!!!
posted by creatrixtiara at 6:43 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
You don't see it anymore, but nothing, and I mean nothing* would terrify me more as a kid in 1985 than the static WOTV logo accompanied by a repeating, disembodied voiceover saying "We are having technical difficulties. Please stand by. Please stand by. Please stand by." It's honestly freaking me out just to type it.
*see also the video broadcasts from the future in John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS, which is pretty much the same thing. Good lord is that kind of thing an absolutely elemental horror for me.
posted by Dokterrock at 10:44 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
*see also the video broadcasts from the future in John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS, which is pretty much the same thing. Good lord is that kind of thing an absolutely elemental horror for me.
posted by Dokterrock at 10:44 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
oh man, Dokterrock, I hear you!
Thanks for finding that video, Ampersand -- no wonder I didn't get it. "Nearer My God to Thee" is so sad that in these times I couldn't finish watching it without threatening to choke up.
You don't hear it anymore, or at least I don't watch broadcast TV enough to hear it, but there was something I used to call "dots" -- an odd sequence of tones that occasionally played over a blank screen between commercials. It wasn't emergency-related; I'm sure it was some kind of a sound test, and it was usually very quick. But it did startle me.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:30 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Thanks for finding that video, Ampersand -- no wonder I didn't get it. "Nearer My God to Thee" is so sad that in these times I couldn't finish watching it without threatening to choke up.
You don't hear it anymore, or at least I don't watch broadcast TV enough to hear it, but there was something I used to call "dots" -- an odd sequence of tones that occasionally played over a blank screen between commercials. It wasn't emergency-related; I'm sure it was some kind of a sound test, and it was usually very quick. But it did startle me.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:30 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
the video broadcasts from the future in John Carpenter's PRINCE OF DARKNESS
YES. The whole film is unsettling, but specifically "This is not a dream" creeped me out for weeks and still does RIGHT NOW if I let it.
My first experience of this nature was sometime in the early seventies when barely-teen me stayed up extremely late to watch a rare broadcast of a film I'd only heard about: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. There I was, alone in the dark, and there's a sequence where the survivors get a television working and for an extended period we see the screen as harried news announcers describe the horrific events that are occurring, with a crawl listing emergency numbers for local towns.
That ought to have been bad enough, but Channel 9 felt the need to add their own super reading something like "THIS IS NOT A REAL NEWS BROADCAST." And I can't explain why, but that totally freaked me out. Maybe because it suddenly allowed for the possibility that, yes, this COULD actually be happening... it's just not happening right now.
posted by Devoidoid at 7:52 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
YES. The whole film is unsettling, but specifically "This is not a dream" creeped me out for weeks and still does RIGHT NOW if I let it.
My first experience of this nature was sometime in the early seventies when barely-teen me stayed up extremely late to watch a rare broadcast of a film I'd only heard about: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. There I was, alone in the dark, and there's a sequence where the survivors get a television working and for an extended period we see the screen as harried news announcers describe the horrific events that are occurring, with a crawl listing emergency numbers for local towns.
That ought to have been bad enough, but Channel 9 felt the need to add their own super reading something like "THIS IS NOT A REAL NEWS BROADCAST." And I can't explain why, but that totally freaked me out. Maybe because it suddenly allowed for the possibility that, yes, this COULD actually be happening... it's just not happening right now.
posted by Devoidoid at 7:52 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by june_dodecahedron at 12:07 AM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]