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Phantasmagoria

Our Word of the Year justice , plus 10 more. How we chose 'justice'. And is one way more correct than the others? How to use a word that literally drives some people nuts. The awkward case of 'his or her'. Identify the word pairs with a common ancestor. Test your visual vocabulary with our question challenge! Examples of phantasmagoria in a Sentence He saw a phantasmagoria of shadowy creatures through the fog.

Recent Examples on the Web The old man braves a nocturnal phantasmagoria of three-hooved horses, zombies with leafy heads, a demoness toting souls in an oxcart. Anthony and her slightly transgressive world.

First Known Use of phantasmagoria circa , in the meaning defined at sense 1. Learn More about phantasmagoria. Resources for phantasmagoria Time Traveler!


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Explore the year a word first appeared. A young married couple, Adrienne Delaney and Don Gordon, buy an old mansion located outside of what appears to be a coastal town in either New England or the Pacific Northwest. As her photographer husband begins converting a second-story bathroom into his personal darkroom, Adrienne decides to explore the house. Players take on the role of Adrienne, controlling an FMV sprite of the actress who portrays her tastefully dressed in another 90s phenomenon: Once belonging to an eccentric 19th century magician named Carno, the house and surrounding grounds are strange to say the least, replete with bizarre torture devices, outlandish architecture, austere portraits, lots of secret rooms and one grab-happy haunted bed.

Before too long, Adrienne goes poking around where she shouldn't, uncovering a hidden chapel and releasing an ancient evil that promptly possesses her husband. Adrienne spends the rest of the game coming to grips with Don's ever-worsening condition, delving deeper into the mansion and discovering Carno's past. Along the way, she meets a few colorful characters, gathers numerous household items and formulates complicated solutions for seemingly simple puzzles. But all of that is standard adventure game fare, and you might be wondering what was so controversial.

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It all boils down to subject matter. As it turns out, Carno developed something of a penchant for murdering his wives, a fact Adrienne discovers through a series of surprisingly graphic cutscenes. Thanks to the demonic presence in the house, Adrienne bears witness to grisly murders from the past, watching as the ghostly apparition of Carno dispatches his wives one by one. One scene features Carno ramming a dirt-filled spade into his wife's mouth.

Phantasmagoria | Definition of Phantasmagoria by Merriam-Webster

Another is force fed animal viscera until she chokes to death. Another's neck is twisted completely around by a horrific machine. Even Adrienne herself falls victim early in the story, as she is raped by her husband. Later on, death scenes depict her head split apart by a torture device or literally ripped in half by a demon. Remember, all of these scenes are played out by real actors. No effort is made to hide or obfuscate the ghastliest moments, either. Everything is shown in gruesome detail. While some are campy by today's standards, many of the death scenes — Adrienne's in particular — remain absurdly graphic.

In the s, when the likes of Mortal Kombat and the super cheesy Night Trap were terrifying parents everywhere, the violence of Phantasmagoria seemed positively stratospheric. Adolescents would gloat about how Phantasmagoria had been banned in Australia. CompUSA refused to carry it.


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