In Jerry Zucker’s Ghost (1990), when artist Molly (Demi Moore) declares her love for boyfriend Sam (Patrick Swayze), all the undemonstrative beau can say in return is an unromantic “Ditto” – and before he can make amends, he is murdered, so that he must prove his true love to her from beyond the grave. This…
In Edgar Allen Poe’s 1846 short story The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator Montresor uses the promise of a rare, vintage wine to lure Fortunato into the catacombs beneath his palatial residence, and vindictively immures him there, with the precise nature of Fortunato’s perceived offence against his host remaining a matter for obscure hints and…