Scariest ghosts in fiction

The heart in Tell Tale Heart

Miss Jessel and Peter Quint from The Turn of the Screw

The Overlook in The Shining

The cat/kid hybrid from The Grudge & Ju-on

The mother from The Grudge & Ju-on
(I can make the sound she does and scare the sh*t out of my hubby - super fun.)

Sadako from The Ring

The little girl from The Sixth Sense

The twin girls from The Shining

The slit mouthed woman from Carved or A Slit Mouthed Woman

The sack wearing child from The Orphanage

Fun fictional bands

Dethklok from Metalocalypse

Spinal Tap from This Is Spinal Tap

The cantina band Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes from Star Wars

Bill & Ted's Wyld Stallyns from the Bill & Ted series

The Be Sharps from The Simpsons: Homer's Barbershop Quartet

Bleeding Gums Murphy from The Simpsons: Moaning Lisa

The Blues Brothers from The Blues Brothers

School Of Rock from The School Of Rock

Marvin Berry and The Starlighters from Back To The Future

Sex Bob-omb from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Creme Brulèe from The League of Gentlemen

Cylon and Garfunkel from Futurama

Smeg And The Heads from Red Dwarf

Unnamed band that sings Tongue Tied from Red Dwarf

Soggy Bottom Boys from O, Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Monkees from The Monkees

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Stillwater from Almost Famous

Sadgasm from The Simpsons

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppet Show

The Archies from The Archie Show

Josie & The Pussycats from Josie & The Pussycats

Disaster Area from Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Best fictional computers

These are distinct from robots but sometimes there is a little in the way of robotic attachments. Some of these machines or computers have described usages far earlier than they were created in reality, but this is not prediction but rather a recognition and notation of needs that computers might just be able to fill in the future. Like us talking about UFOs before we even launched our own (unidentified by any observers out there for the most part) or rather IFOs.

There are heaps of homicidal computers, computers built in pairs with opposing characters, genocidal computers, computers wishing to be human, god computers, guiding or controlling computers, malfunctioning computers and so on. There are also many computers who divide themselves from their first 'bodies' to become 'minds' only, allowing for a look into the mind/body split problem but in this instance computers become programmes rather than people becoming souls or brains in jars. Many are great computers but there are some amongst them that shine for either originality or the love the public has given them.

The Engine

A mechanical information generator from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The first fictional 'computer'.

The Prime Radiant

Hari Seldon's desktop on Trantor from Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Mima

Mima carries the memories of all humanity from Harry Martinson's Sången om Doris och Mima. A forerunner for the Tree of Souls in Avatar. Just a point of interest, Harry Martinson wrote a science fiction epic poem called Aniara.

HAL-9000

An AI computer who'll keep a secret and run a mission even though it has personality enough to make another choice. From Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Deep Thought

A computer made by pan-dimensional beings that look like mice. The aim: to find the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything. The answer: not what was expected. From Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's series.

The Earth

A computer made by pan-dimensional beings that look like mice. Humans are their experimental program for finding out THE question. From Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's series.

Master Control Program

The main villain of the film Tron but really the voice of computers as opposed to the voice/s of humanity. It wants what it doesn't have and fights hard to get it.

Skynet

A malevolent fictional world-AI originally fixed within a single computer which escapes to become global. From The Terminator series. Skynet becomes the 'father' of all the killer robots from the future and is the one who brings about the human doomsday.

The Matrix

Virtual reality simulator used for the pacification of humans as they act as batteries from The Matrix series. While there are plenty of virtual reality programmes and computers out there this is a meld of the two and also serves the vast majority of the human population rather than one or two people at a time.

Red Queen

The AI from the movie Resident Evil that acts to protect humanity as a whole but is seen as the enemy by a few intruders. She is very willing to kill a few humans to protect the species. She shows us that the flip side of a rogue computer intending to destroy humanity can be a rogue computer killing to save humanity. Most people just like her because she kills and is spooky within a bloody action movie but even if she weren't a computer her strategies are that of a general. Sacrifices must be made without hesitation.

Jarvis

An A.I. in the 2008 film Iron Man, Jarvis is pure cynical butler wrapped in gadgetry and analysis. Interestingly, in the comic Tony Stark's sentient AI computer is HOMER (Heuristically Operative Matrix Emulation Rostrum), from Iron Man.

Holly (both of the above)

The on-board computer of the space ship Red Dwarf from Red Dwarf. Alternatively male and female, extremely dim, beyond genius, mobile and fixed. Red Dwarf, show and ship, would not function without Holly.

The Intersect 

A computer upgrade to the mind, the Intersect is further along the computer/human hybridisation model than most. The Intersect only truly functions properly when downloaded into a brain as the brain acts intricate as a referencing system. Otherwise, the Intersect is a giant program for storing vast amounts of spy related intel, from martial arts through to bad guys and installations. From the TV show Chuck.

Tree of Souls/Pandora

This computer is a blend of Mima and The Earth from the Hitchhikers series. It does take on a somewhat new form through the addition of mainly benevolent godlike qualities. Appears in Avatar.


Special vote:

Colossus from Colossus: The Forbin Project
Takes over the world and micromanages human interactions.

Best fictional serial killers

This gruesome subject is brought to you as I'm making an all too kiddie pie, the sweetness of which needs balancing.

So, there being so many fictional serial killers about, lets cull the list to the best. Brutality isn't going to be the deciding factor. No, believability is, although there is some definite overlap. And considering we've had chess board killers, killer clowns, husband and wife teams, killer hotel owners, killer doctors and nurses and even skin wearers in reality believability is going to be a bit stretched for those amongst us without such urges.

Patrick Bateman from American Psycho by by Bret Easton Ellis

Over the top on the gruesome scale just for the impact but showing many believable traits for a serial killer.

The Trinity Killer from Dexter

Trauma breeds issues. If you aren't born with a mind wired for serial killing then trauma might just make you into one and leave you spinning in bloody circles for the rest of your life, intelligence and social capabilities aside. Also, it is entirely possible for serial killers to maintain families.

Dexter from Dexter

A mind twisted by trauma and trained through the application of logic. Although the fact that he's never caught despite such a huge tally is quite unbelievable he does have that meticulous plan in his head, one he carries out most of the time. His values and emotional responses are skewed just right.

Dr Hannibal Lecter from Silence Of The Lambs by Thomas Harris

It is quite true that serial killers can show extremely high intelligence, even if it is twisted. Smart doesn't always mean nice or gentle or understanding.

Norman Bates from Psycho (always the original)

Mothers really can have a bad impact upon a person's mind. Also, that friendly or shy guy who looks perfectly acceptable might not be quite what you think. Nice packages don't always hold nice surprises.

Sweeney Todd from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Look past the showmanship and you get a rather believable cannibalistic serial killer. There's been many a desperate person turning to human flesh in times of food rations and starvation. He just took it to another level.

The Delicatessen from The Delicatessen

Another believable cannibalistic serial killer who gets a bit more glamour than he deserves. Luckily, although the art and colour of this movie are beautiful, the delicatessen is not only ugly but utterly repellant. He isn't the main character or focus of the film but he is the one who drives the plot.

Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Masacre

As he's loosely based on Ed Gein I can't argue that he's far from believable. This movie should give you the creeps for its reflection of reality more than anything else. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Gein's making furniture out of people is part of a rather a long tradition in human history.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille from Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Süskind

Take out the beautiful writing and you're left with a killer seeking what he doesn't have. Basic and believable in his twisted desires, although the ending is quite out there and unrealistic even in terms of serial killers.

Catherine Tramell from Basic Instinct

Although there are few female serial killers to judge her against she does match up well with the overall criteria of sex and relationship based kills as well as the use of her physical appeal. In the cases of real female serial killers intelligence or stupidity hasn't been an obvious factor, as yet, while sex, trauma, relationships and survivalism have been. I have to point out that Catherine Tramell is far more in control than the real female serial killers so far.

Francis Dolarhyde from Red Dragon by Tom Harris

Shows the very distinct patterns of textbook serial killers.

Runner up due to this killer being more than one:

The Gorgomon ancient serial killer collective from Bones

People do get sucked into the most extreme situations simply through the application or misapplication of logic.