Powerful/Favorite moments on UM

[WishfulDreamer]

I thought this might be an interesting/ different thread. How about listing a moment that you love to watch or that you found really impacting/ thrilling? I was watching the segment with the Casie Nicole just now and I always love and get goosebumps when Nathan Neesmith is rescued from being adrift. The music, coupled with the actors just gets me every time. I was always so glad he was ok, but hope that his comrades could be found safe as well. It's been so long, though.

Any parts that you all just love or are captivated by?

[MegtheEgg86]

Good idea. Totally know what you mean and I have a few:

1. Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

2. The opening scenes of the Keith Reinhard segment--the overhead view of the mountains and that "way out in the lonely country" music really set an appropriate feel for that particular story.

3. The end of the Christy Nichols segment, where we speculate what's become of her, and see only a few frames of empty, lonely prairie with the breeze blowing across them.

4. NH Serial Killer: the scenes meant to represent how John Philpin imagined the unknown killer committing his crimes. That bit where the killer's dragging his victim through the woods while she's pleading with him is absolutely chilling.

5. The end of the Audrey Moate segment. I've never seen Lake Pontchartrain look so gloomy and lonely.

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

I actually JUST wrote about this one in the scariest moment thread a few days ago. Very chilling. The actress looks so similar to her.

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

With the phone off the hook, full bath tub and hose emptying in the pool- that's just plain creepy. She was obviously interrupted in the middle of something.

[brianh333]

Meg named some great ones. A couple that come to my mind (and I reserve the right to add to this, later on) include:

a) The Kansas City Firefighters... the actual radio calls "Pumper 30, Pumper 41, answer...) gives me the creeps every time I watch that segment.

b) Another one is a segment I don't remember from my teenage years, but that I saw recently (I'm sure one of the old pros here remembers the name) - but it's about two guys out with a girl, and one of the guys assaults the girl, and then throws her over a cliff.

Just the way the actress screamed, as in {the victim} knowing exactly what was about to happen to her; and the way the killer says "Bye." as he pushes her over.

Maybe because of the "newness" of the segment to me, but that one jumped up to the top 3 on my list of creepy/powerful moments.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Good idea. Totally know what you mean and I have a few:

1. Aeileen Conway: the part where Conways' empty house is shown, looking as though someone just left--the curtains blowing in the breeze.

2. The opening scenes of the Keith Reinhard segment--the overhead view of the mountains and that "way out in the lonely country" music really set an appropriate feel for that particular story.

3. The end of the Christy Nichols segment, where we speculate what's become of her, and see only a few frames of empty, lonely prairie with the breeze blowing across them.

4. NH Serial Killer: the scenes meant to represent how John Philpin imagined the unknown killer committing his crimes. That bit where the killer's dragging his victim through the woods while she's pleading with him is absolutely chilling.

5. The end of the Audrey Moate segment. I've never seen Lake Pontchartrain look so gloomy and lonely.

6. The recreation of Mikki Jo West walking to work, with that car following after her. It always makes me hold my breath a little.

I agreed with all of yours Meg! I will add there are quite a few moments in the Gail Delano segment that are memorable. Where they show pictures of her and you can hear her words being read from her journal. The dark, sort of depressing filming in her house. I believe you can also hear the tv talk about Starsky and Hutch, lol.

The end of the Wanda Jean Mays segment where her dad talks about continuing to look for her "as long as there's a dollar to do it with".

Very poignant moment at the end of the Elizabeth Campbell case where her dad says "she's our daughter, not what someone's made her out to be".

The scene of the empty apartment in the Robert Week's segment where they're looking for one of the victims in her apartment. You can even hear her voice on the answering machine.

I could go on and on....

[Gelatinous Goo]

As I guess some of you are aware, I love the Howard Drummond segment. Stack's narration coupled with the imagery of a hunchbacked oldtimer hobbling by the YMCA and over a bridge really epitomizes a resigned acceptance of one's own loneliness.

[dynoguy88]

*Orange socks killings: The reenactment of the man on skis (as part of the search party) discovering Bobbie Oberholtzer's body. The camera angle is set so that we see her body far off in the distance. It's chilling and sad at the same time.

*Carol: The Connecticut woman shot by the man in the black pickup truck. The part where we see through her windshield as she approaches the truck. (Another creepy camera angle). As soon as we notice the truck, the background music does a creepy crescendo almost as if to foreshadow the danger that lies ahead.

*The entire opening of the Dennis DePue segment - especially the part where the Thorton's see Dennis holding the bloody blanket at the school yard.

*Agree with Meg on the Mikki Jo West segment. The part where she's walking to work is the most memorable.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I will add there are quite a few moments in the Gail Delano segment that are memorable. Where they show pictures of her and you can hear her words being read from her journal. The dark, sort of depressing filming in her house. I believe you can also hear the tv talk about Starsky and Hutch, lol.

Yeah, haha re: the tv I always wondered if I was hearing things, but I guess you caught that too.

The journal passage being read at the end was always very memorable for me, too. That camera pan to that lone silhouette reflection in the water was outstanding.

The scene of the empty apartment in the Robert Week's segment where they're looking for one of the victims in her apartment. You can even hear her voice on the answering machine.

That's a good one, too.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

*Orange socks killings: The reenactment of the man on skis (as part of the search party) discovering Bobbie Oberholtzer's body. The camera angle is set so that we see her body far off in the distance. It's chilling and sad at the same time.

Definitely.

*Carol: The Connecticut woman shot by the man in the black pickup truck. The part where we see through her windshield as she approaches the truck. (Another creepy camera angle). As soon as we notice the truck, the background music does a creepy crescendo almost as if to foreshadow the danger that lies ahead.

What a nightmarish sound. The part where the assailant steps out of his truck and aims his handgun--everything goes silent for a few seconds--always stood out for me, too.

[MegtheEgg86]

A few more:

- The end of the Kurt McFall segment--the cemetery on the hill, with the evening sunlight, Kurt's picture at the end, and the music. UM's used that musical score before at the end of many segments, but I think it was definitely most effective in that one.

- Dexter Stefonek: the frames of Dexter's Horizon driving through the icy night with these eerie "owl hooting" sounds--then this big piano THUD and a scene of his car burning against the stark snow.

- The scene where the actress portraying Kathy Hobbs is applying makeup and brushing her hair. I have no idea why it's always stood out to me.

- The thug in the CW Roddy segment: "What's up, old bag? We gonna blow your DAMN house up." The actor was so convincing it sent a chill down my spine.


And for all the case's sadness, the film of all the Southwestern scenery in the David Stone segment was amazing. When I was in Arizona months ago (one county over from where David Stone was eventually found in New Mexico, actually--I didn't know this until I'd returned home), I was lucky enough to finally see it for myself. I also got to see firsthand how easy it could've been for him to become completely disoriented and exposed. The desert is very much unforgiving.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Goo

As I guess some of you are aware, I love the Howard Drummond segment. Stack's narration coupled with the imagery of a hunchbacked oldtimer hobbling by the YMCA and over a bridge really epitomizes a resigned acceptance of one's own loneliness.

Oh yeah. What a fascinating man. I love when the magazines he subscribed to were described--I read Psychology Today and Foreign Affairs, and have probably read every Soviet Life from 1979 to 1989 courtesy of my college library.

[Hambone2421]

How about the Frederick Valentich episode. When he says "It's hovering and it's not an aircraft!", it gave me goosebumps and scared me at the same time!

[justins5256]

For some inexplicable reason, I get goosebumps during the Casie Nicole segment when the family members are discussing the mysterious phone calls, specifically the one where the caller said "I'm bringing them home". I guess the implications just blow me away - as if these men were actually abducted and someone likely involved in some way with their captivity was risking life and limb to call the family, but to also (presumably) attempt to release the men and get them home safely.

Another emotional "moment" for me is during the John Wilkes Booth segment. It occurs while we're listening to the narrative about how Booth supposedly escaped and this other man "Boyd" was shot and mis-identified as Booth. There is a scene where a Union soldier is reviewing Booth's diary - that was found on the dead man. The combination of the narrative, the scene, and the music just gives me the sense that "everything falls into place" and that this alternate explanation for Booth's "death" is, in fact, the correct one.

Yet another "moment" occurs during the end of that segment about the WWII ghost blimp and the two crew members who vanished. The segment closes on photos of the two airmen while Stack explains that the case is officially considered closed and the men declared dead. There is this haunting melody playing also. The whole presentation just gives me a sense of "this is the best explanation we're ever going to get for what happened to these men, and it's sad and pathetic we'll never know the truth".

Wow, I somehow feel that a tiny shred of my manhood is gone now that I have shared all this, lol.

[MissFit29]

The Norman Ladner segment, where every time they reenact the scenario of the "shooting", the camera pans to the sky with the trees at the moment of the shot. That is such a haunting moment.

Also, the scene of Jim Burnside chasing down Annette and her screams are chilling.

And, of course, the Colleen Ritter/Richard Church stabbing reenactment. The music, the dark house, the screams....everything! UM at its best.

[Gelatinous Goo]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Oh yeah. What a fascinating man. I love when the magazines he subscribed to were described--I read Psychology Today and Foreign Affairs, and have probably read every Soviet Life from 1979 to 1989 courtesy of my college library.

I also loved the camera angle used when Howard went to pick up his mail. They filmed it from the other side of the P.O. Box, again depicting loneliness and claustrophobia. Whoever directed that segment has a real gift for cinematic artistry.