~David Drayton, The Mist
I'm not sure there's an official name for the character that every slasher film seems to require at some point. You know, the Creepy Old Guy at the side of the road, warning the city folk not to go messing around back in them woods? It's almost always a guy: a homeless drifter, a drunk, a religious nut, etc. There's a lot of words that could be used to describe them: prophets, harbingers, doomsayers, catalysts, but I've never seen one 100% agreed upon group name for these characters.
So I made up my own.
The Cassandras
What the Cassandra woman sees is something dark and painful that may not be apparent on the surface of things or that objective facts do not corroborate. She may envision a negative or unexpected outcome; or something which would be difficult to deal with; or a truth which others, especially authority figures, would not accept. In her frightened, ego-less state, the Cassandra woman may blurt out what she sees, perhaps with the unconscious hope that others might be able to make some sense of it. But to them her words sound meaningless, disconnected and blown out of all proportion. ~Layton Schapira
I was originally going to do this as part of a longer Christmas related article in which I profaned the Twelve Days Of Christmas. I came up with Twelve Rummies Bumming or maybe Twelve Dummies Rambling, and then realized, Christmas is over, there's not even 12 days left to the year and I'm not sure I could have seen the whole thing through to the end because I'm always tired and pressed for time. So fuck it. Here's a list of the 12 Most Famous Cassandras ever to foreshadow film plots.
At sea one day, you'll smell land where there'll be no land, and on that day Ahab will go to his grave, but he'll rise again within the hour. He will rise and beckon. Then all - all save one shall follow.
Crazy Ralph: You're going to Camp Blood, ain't ya?
Enos, the truck driver: Goddammit, Ralph, get outta here! Go on, get! Leave people alone!
Crazy Ralph: You'll never come back again.
Enos, the truck driver: Oh, shut up, Ralph.
Crazy Ralph: It's got a death curse!
Ezequiel: No one leave Imboca. People come, but no one leave.
Paul Marsh: What's happening with all the people in this town?
Ezequiel: They're changing. Changing to go into the sea.
I met him, fifteen years ago; I was told there was nothing left; no reason, no conscience, no understanding; and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil.
Bum: [referring to the Pillar of Souls] You want it?
J.P. Monroe: [laughs] Is it yours?
Bum: No. Not mine. Yours.
J.P. Monroe: How much you want for it?
Bum: Whatever you think it's worth.
[receives money]
Bum: Exactly the figure I had in mind. Take pleasure in it.
Sykes: There's a killer loose, a killer loose!
Mordecai: Cleanse them. Cleanse the world of their ignorance and sin. Bathe them in the crimson of...
[pauses]
Mordecai: Am I on speakerphone?
Hadley: No, absolutely not. Speakerphone, no, no, I wouldn't do that.
Mordecai: Yes I am. I can hear the echo.
Hadley: Oh, my God, you're right. Hang on one second, I'll take you off.
Mordecai: That's rude. I don't know who's in the room.
Hadley: Fine, there. You're off.
Mordecai: Thank you. Don't take this lightly, boy. It wasn't all by your 'numbers'; the Fool nearly derailed the invocation with his insolence. The Ancient Ones see everything, and they will not - I'm still on speakerphone, aren't I?
Chris: [consults a map on the wall] Say, why's this Bear Mountain Road a dotted line?
Old Man: Dirt.
Chris: Dirt road?
Old Man: Bet they ain't even got around to paving it yet.
Chris: Looks like it runs into the highway about fifteen, twenty miles. Is that right?
Old Man: If you say so.
Chris: Thank you very much sir, you take care.
[Chris gets in his car, and drives off]
Old Man: You're the one who's gonna need to take care.
Chris: You believe in this?
Walter: What am I, an idiot? I'm makin' a buck here. You want books, I got books. I got chicken blood, I got dog embryos, I got black candles, I got wolf-bane. Look at this: Silver bullets. Some joker ordered them. Thirty-ought-six. Never picked 'em up. I take Bank AmeriCard, American Express, Visa. You gonna buy that or what?
Chef: Uh... yeah, maybe I've seen something like that up that way. Well now look, you boys don't want to go messin' around some old house. Those things is dangerous. You're liable to get hurt. You don't want to go fooling around other folks' property. If some folks don't like it... they don't mind showing you.
Torgo: There is no way out of here. It will be dark soon. There is no way out of here.
Mrs. Carmody: If we all prepare... to meet our maker...
Jim Grondin: [interrupting her] Oh, prepare to meet shit! Lady, your tongue must be hung in the middle so that it can waggle at both ends.
Mrs. Carmody: The end of times has come. Not in flames, but in mist.
Jim Grondin: Come here. How about if your ass prepares to meet my size ten work boot! How about that?
They would call that character “The Harbinger”.
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