Over the Halloween weekend, we ran a contest in our Weekly Select e-zine, to find out which scary movies our readers thought best fit the financial market situation. They responded with some great choices for the Best Scary Market Movie, and we chose three winners who received their choice of one of EWI's online trading courses. Here are the winning selections along with Honorable Mentions and other nominations, some of which have been edited for length and clarity. Movies that got multiple mentions were The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, Jaws, Fatal Attraction, American Psycho, Titanic and Jacob's Ladder.
The 3 Winners
Aliens, nominated by Fred L.
A platoon of well-armed, arrogant 'experts' gets wiped out fighting something they know little about. They are survived by a handful of neophytes who ran like hell!
The Shining, nominated by Robert N.
I think this movie perfectly reflects the way in which the markets have inflated themselves in a bout of homicidal lunacy. Jack Torrance sat at his desk, writing a "novel," which outwardly appeared to have substance. Upon closer inspection, and to his wife's horror, she realized that he had been typing, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." … After reading Conquer the Crash, I see a lot of parallels between Jack Torrance and the people who supposedly guide our economy. For our entire lifetimes, we've been spoon-fed the idea that the Federal Reserve and the rest of the banking system created a stable economic environment that has been responsible for the prosperity seen in the latter half of the 20th century. But I've finally read the pages of the novel that they've created, and have realized to my great horror that they might as well have written the same sentence over and over, which would consist of "Stimulate the economy by inflating the credit supply."
Thelma and Louise, nominated by Kathy M.
Why? While this is not what you would typically call a scary movie, it has enough suspense and a few scary scenes to qualify. Thelma and Louise characterize the last few years, because they start out on this fun and frivolous joy ride in their convertible. They party at a bar and Thelma is almost raped in the parking lot, but Louise shoots and kills him. After that, everything changes. As the two ladies try to dodge the consequences and keep the party rolling, things just keep getting worse little by little and you know it will end badly. In the final scene, they drive the car off a cliff. Party over.
Fatal Attraction, nominated by Tyler J.
In the beginning, you love Markets and they love you. Everything is fun and free. But when the situation changes, the Markets will coldly turn and boil your money away.
A Nightmare on Elm Street, nominated by Joe M.
Lehman Brother, AIG, Bear Sterns and others, imploding the world's financial markets, star in "A Nightmare on Wall Street, not a dream!" coming to a brokerage house near you. Remember the haunting rhyme?
One Two, Uncle Sam wants you
Three Four, Lock your door
Five Six, Make better stock picks
Seven Eight, Differentiate
Nine Ten, Never sleep again!
The Panic Room, with Jodie Foster, nominated by Bonnie L.
Thieves trying to steal millions of dollars while mother and daughter think they are safe in a small room called a panic room. Fitting analogy, I think.
Open Water, nominated by Ron G.
You keep waiting and waiting for your boat to come back to pick you up and take you to safety (the bull market), but instead it's the sharks (bear market) which get to you first.
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The Blob, nominated by Tara T.
A strange life form consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows. This description of the movie hits the nail on the head of the current financial situation of most people. You think you can get away and survive because the Blob is deceptively slow. It oozes, it crawls ... then it eats you alive!
Blazing Saddles, nominated by Laura M.
Specifically, the largest conglomerate banks are playing the role of the Sheriff when he rides into town for the first time to an angry mob ... holds his own gun to his own head, and states, "Drop it, or I'll shoot."
Alien, nominated by Adam B.
The initial shock from the [great financial collapse] was like the sudden asphyxiation felt from the "face-hugger" critter. Then, after much anxiety, we believed we were out of the woods. The "face-hugger" had expired, and we were OK, if not a little hungry. The rest of the script is as follows: The economy starts to cough and splutter, a great pain is felt, moments later ... the eruption from within of a very nasty predator -- Global Debt Default.
King Kong, nominated by Myron C.
King Kong took us to the very top ... only to be shot down by unknowing analysts ... which ended in a truly terrible tragedy ... the death of the market ... while those of us who loved her ... managed to escape with a tear in our eye!
Scary Movie, nominated by Sunil G.
That is because the reaction to the Fed's announcement of QE2 is not only frightening, it is a comedy.
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock, nominated by Martin B.
Just as ornithologists "thought" that they fully understood everything possible about the nature and habits of birds, in the movie, the birds decide to turn very nasty and instead of giving pleasure and adding to the value of life, they collectively become a danger to life as we know it. Bankers and financial institutions felt -- and now feel -- just the same way about many of the financial instruments that they incubated. SCARY!
American Psycho with Christian Bale, nominated by Zachary D.
At first the movie portrays his rich and lavish life style, expensive dinners, etc. (The market is rallying in a wave 5.) Slowly we begin to see a dark side to the character and begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems with the character. (The market is based on a massive debt bubble.) Then, he shocks the audience and murders a man and his dog in the back alley. (Flash crash) It is not soon after that his entire life falls apart due to his lust for murder, and he begins to unravel. (Market correction that Elliott followers anticipate) However, we then find out that he didn't kill anybody and it was all in his mind, as he is schizophrenic. (End of bear market, debt has cleared the system, inflated assets have re-priced, and we can now rally into the future on solid fundamentals.)
The Shining, nominated by Jason B.
I pick the Shining because of the scene when Danny is running through the hedge maze being chased by Jack. Danny represents the young people just getting started in life trying to navigate the confusion of modern American life. Jack represents the sins of the father chasing Danny through the maze: the over-consumption, the credit-binging, wanton speculation, bailouts, intrusive government programs, budget deficits, etc. Some of us have the "Shine," the Elliott Wave Principle, and see terrifying visions of what's to come.
Jacob's Ladder, nominated by Lowell G.
A Vietnam vet who comes back home is haunted by his memory and experience which turns his real world upside down. Fear has made his ability to judge what is real and what is only imagination ... or is it real? The ending of the movie reveals that he really never made it out of Vietnam and all of his memories of returning home, the struggles, the fear, the good, the bad were all in his imagination while he was really dying. His happy ending was all a dream. Investors have had their own war with reality and imagination concerning the markets and many investors have been wounded in battle, some killed or MIA. There are many who have imagined that their losses will "come back on the next bounce, and they imagine all the good things to come with that bounce, but the end of the movie finds their investment lying in the battlefield of the markets -- dead. Shocked and in disbelief, they finally realize they were in a market they didn't understand and should not have been in, but now it's much too late.
Titanic, nominated by Bill K.
Not designed as a scary movie, but that's why it fits with today's investment crowd and the public. Though they'd agree we struck something below the surface a while back, they trust the authorities in that, "it could've been serious but the (bailouts) are working." Wave 1 down (first iceberg) shook them up to the tune of 50% losses, but they have become somewhat relieved in wave 2 up. Despite clear warning from wave 1 down, [people] have continued in their ongoing pursuit of perceived security and happiness by purchasing income and vacation property. Most people won't try putting on a life jacket until they are under water. It can't be done. Sad.
More Best Scary Market Movie Suggestions…
Dawn of the Dead, nominated by David C.
Reason: People don't know what's happening (data is spotty, insufficient). It's all "us vs. them," but bickering and back-stabbing among the factions occurs as people identify with smaller and smaller units. The onslaught is relentless, with surprises always to the downside. There's a battle-within-a-battle over dwindling resources. Near the end it has an 'every man for himself' ethic, and at the last even the guys that do things right still can't always benefit. The final scene has survivors picking up and going on once the worst is over. Today's analogy is that many market players (like the big banks) are already dead, being kept alive on government life-support, under siege from State Attorneys General over Foreclosuregate; in short, the U.S. financial system is a zombie.
Casablanca, nominated by Leo R.
In the movie, the chief of police is entertaining two Gestapo agents, when he carelessly implies that the Nazi empire is temporary and will soon be gone. The Gestapo agents glare at him, and he realizes in horror, what he has said. So he immediately explains that his remark was not intended to be taken seriously since "everyone knows that the 3rd Reich is going to last a thousand years." He thus restores calm at the table, and the meal resumes.
Wall Street 2-Money Never Sleeps, nominated by Dave A.
At the time of the first movie, Oliver Stone, director and writer was blessed around the release date with the 1987 market crash. I think it would be rather amazing if lightning were able to strike twice for this director in one career, but in the macabre world of film production, stranger things have happened.
The Tingler, featuring Vincent Price, nominated by Dana X.
Because our markets are just as illusive and just as mysterious.
The Strangers, nominated by Mark L.
The victims are bound by linear thinking and therefore easily toyed with by their masked tormentors who have the same cavalier attitude as modern market advisors who calmly walk away from their deeds.
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Saw, nominated by Daniel C.
My financial scenario was like the movie Saw. I woke up one day and realized I was trapped. I needed to figure out quickly where I was, how I had got into this place, and how I was going to get out. Once I found Elliot wave, I was able to solve the Jigsaw Puzzle and save myself.
Cape Fear, the newer release with Robert Deniro, nominated by Mario B.
This movie exemplifies how we feel about the markets AND the economy. They may play out like the out-of-control boat ride at the end of the movie, crashing into the rocks. Yikes!
Doomsday, nominated by Dave S.
Everyone thought if we quarantined the toxic assets, the rest of us would be safe. But actually, it's the significant reduction in the toxic assets, and the few that survive, that will ultimately inoculate market participants.
Psycho, nominated by Dottie S.
The shower scene equals what "long" participants will experience when the markets go down big time.
Day of the Dead, nominated by Joseph C.
The correlation between herd behaviors in financial markets and zombies is uncanny. One of the main characters in this film scientifically examines the physiology and psychology of zombies in an effort to determine what makes them tick... Sound familiar?
Triumph of The Will by Leni Riefenstahl, nominated by Buck N.
This is perfect because it is inspirational at a time of extreme negative social mood. It is probably the greatest propaganda film ever made.
And, Finally, One Extremely Detailed Choice
Bride of Chucky (1998), nominated by Tom N.
Chucky's remains (the market's during wave I down, signaling our failed economy caused by Greenspan's machinations) are recovered by his old girlfriend Tiffany (Ben Bernanke), who stitches them back together (during the abjectly hopeful QE and QE2 of the current wave II).
However, when Tiffany learns that what she thought was an engagement ring Chucky had left her was really just a piece of stolen jewelry, she refuses to perform the voodoo ritual and locks Chucky in a baby crib. (When Ben finally accepts the inescapable reality that his quantitative easing is a mere sham which cannot and will not work, as in Japan and Mexico, wave III starts, and the market will become sealed in a wave III crib-like coffin.)
Chucky escapes and, in retaliation, kills Tiffany. (Ben's reputation will be shredded by the time wave III completes, as the market attempts a rebound-escape in wave IV.) Chucky transfers Tiffany's soul into a bride doll. (Maybe a new "Franken-son of Ben" will be appointed during wave a of a triangularly correcting wave IV.) The two then decide to follow a young teen couple, intending to transfer their souls into them. (More legislative interventionism, perhaps a quasi-QE3 from "Franken-son", will possibly follow in wave c of IV.) On the way, Chucky witnesses Tiffany killing two people who stole from the teens. He then proposes to Tiffany. (In a final stab at hope, perhaps legislatively during wave e of IV, "Franken-son" and the Fed will partially, feebly regain their stature.) Chucky and Tiffany consummate their relationship, reveal themselves to the teens, and force the teens to take them to Chucky's human body, which possesses a voodoo charm essential to the ritual "The Heart of Dambella". (Wave IV's fatally corrective hopefulness finally completes.)
However, Tiffany ("Franken-son") turns on Chucky (the market). ("Franken-son" finally throws in the QE towel altogether, at the start of wave i of V.). Tiffany kills Chucky, before dying herself. (The dramatic third-act crescendo, wave iii of V, finally arrives.) Chucky confidently declares that he will return, but he adds that "Dying is such a bitch." (The final denouement, wave v of V, finally comes: The market gasps its dying gasp; society rues Keynesianism and the day (1913) the Fed experiment was created; so now the Fed's lab apparatus may finally be resoundingly dismantled.) At the end of the movie, Tiffany gives birth to Chucky's son, Glen. (A baby bull, wave i of I up, is born from the phoenix ashes; perhaps a new gold-standard dawn will be re-established.)
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