Midnight Top Five - Horror Connections in Lost

I know, I know. I'm about 47 pop culture years late to the party, but I just started watching that one TV show called Lost. I don't watch shows while they're on TV because I don't have the patience to wait a week for more of something I want - though I often use the excuse that, by not watching, I'm somehow rebelling against The Man. It's like everyone who's assembled and waiting is trapped in 1984, and I'm a much cooler Winston Smith who's smiting Big Brother by waiting 'til later to become a sheep.

I'm sure that my first reaction to Lost - which I'm now five episodes into - is the same one you had: "Wow, that Kate chick is reallllllllyyyy hot!" But after I got past that (OK, I'm so not past that yet. It's the freckles. So cute. OK, now I'm past it.) I started to notice some things that reminded me of horror movies. Based on those five episodes and 47 pop culture years worth of overheard conversations, TV promos, and out-of-context posts on the internet - these five connections to the realm of horror stick out to me.

(WARNING! This post may contain several "flash-sideways" moments.)
The Monster - Well, I doubt that The Host's genetically mutated tadpole is what's on this random island somewhere off of Australia, but I can dream. (By the way, it still bugs me that there are apparently "desert" islands out there. We got a lot of people up on this planet, we might be able to use that land! Didn't you all watch Superman Returns?) The point is, there's a monster on the island, and a lot of horror and sci-fi cinema is based on the idea of an uncharted place with a deadly force, both earthbound (see King Kong) and non (Alien). And the kind of monsters that can knock down trees always make The Mike happy.The Ladies - Both before the show started and after its reign of terror began, the ladies of Lost have had a spot in horror films. Maggie Grace graduated from the show to take the lead in the awful remake of John Carpenter's The Fog, while Emilie De Ravin starred in both the fantastic(ally bad) Santa's Slay and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. Evangeline Lilly, who plays the oh-so-cuteness that is Kate (OK, I'm still not over that) appeared briefly in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason, as pictured above. None of these have been star-making roles for these ladies, but they all at least showed up in the horror scene.The Shape - There seem to be a lot of visions and flashbacks going on in Lostland. (Do they eventually name the island Lostopia? Is there a pig head and conch shell involved in this show?) But the most intriguing images so far have been of a man standing in the distance. A man who then disappears. Which immediately takes my mind to the dude pictured above, who's my personal boogeyman. Anything that makes me think of Michael Myers (the REAL Halloween Michael Myers, not the Rob Zombie crime against humanity), is immediately on The Mike's watch list.The Stepfather - Even before I watched the show, the TV ads and conversations I'd overheard quickly established Terry O'Quinn's John Locke as the most interesting character the show offers. In fact, I often found myself calling O'Quinn "Locke" despite having no knowledge of the show. O'Quinn's best cinematic work? 1987's chiller The Stepfather, recently remade, in which he is the titular enigma. It's one of the best horror films to come out of the 1980s; but I've got a feeling his work here will overshadow it, even in my horror obsessed head.The Limbo - OK, so I mean to discuss the more theoretical definition of limbo, but that picture wouldn't have been as entertaining as this one. In regard to Lost, I've seen enough horror films in which the characters have been trapped in a place where strange visions and flashbacks occur to doubt that there's a supernatural force ruling Lostopia, even after only five episodes. Will the show be along the lines of an In the Mouth of Madness, with a force keeping them trapped in this controlled place? Or maybe it'll more like a Hellraiser scenario, where a force has brought them to the island to pay for their pasts? Maybe it's just gonna be a really vague Cube type thing? Or maybe I'm completely wrong. But in the meantime, I'm gonna ponder whether there's a more spiritual reason these characters are together in this predicament. (If I can get past the fact that Kate is so darn hot, that is.)