Things That Go Bump in the Night

Sometimes, I get a little too caught up in things. Let me preface this story by pointing out that I am terrified of the dark & ghost stories. I've always had a good imagination & therefore the dark was my biggest fear, because I could imagine anything into a dark corner. I once read a guidebook (a guidebook!) of Edinburgh that told a number of ghost stories. I passed the rest of the night with the light on, covers tucked under my chin, staring wildly around the room (despite the fact that my dorm in Edinburgh was built in the 1970s & therefore an unlikely candidate for ghosts - unlike much of the rest of the city).

So, last night, I was flipping through the channels & happened upon a movie that seemed to involve ghosts, the Scottish coast, Demi Moore & a lighthouse. Due to the afore-mentioned fear of ghosts & the dark (& no particular affection for Demi), I wisely decided to move on. However, my curiosity had been piqued. I love the sea, lighthouses & Scotland. This movie seemed to have all of these things in abundance. I checked back in around 11:45 to see how it ended. Scary, but not terrifying. Consequently, when TNT offered an "encore presentation" of the movie at midnight, I resigned myself to a sleepless night & tuned in.

The movie, called 'Half Light', wasn't that bad. Not Oscar material, but as I said, I'm a sucker for lighthouses, woolly sweaters, ocean scenes & people speaking with Scottish accents. Besides, the actor playing Demi's love interest (who is the ghost of a lighthouse keeper) wasn't too hard on the eyes, or ears:

The movie ended at 2 a.m. and I, of course, stayed awake with the light on until 3:45. Around 4, I screwed up my courage & turned the light off in an attempt to ignore the ghosts in my head & get some sleep. It took about 30 minutes for my fatigue to conquer my fear, but I finally got to sleep. Now, in the full, fluorescent light of my office, my fears seem a wee bit silly. Plus, my head is dreamily full of ocean scenes & Scottish lighthouse keepers. I suppose it was the right decision to watch the movie, then.

UPDATE: Turns out I caught the U.S. television premiere of the movie, which debuted straight to DVD in the U.S. in January '06. I can see why it wasn't a theater release in the U.S., but it's worth the DVD rental, I think. Also, check out this website for movie stills & lovely photos of the locations in Wales where it was shot. Beautiful, even though it turned out not to be Scotland after all. (The photos in this post courtesy of 'Half Light Locations' website linked above.)