Happy Halloween everyone! I must not have gotten the memo but Halloween is coming early this year. I know this has to be true because Final Destination 5, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and Fright Night were all released in August. What's with all the scary movies coming out in August? I'd think that a release in October would be better financially. Just a thought.
Anyway, since I am now a "professional" amateur film critic and I'm inclined to go see some of these movies, I think I should give my own definition of what I think a "horror" movie really is.
Most people would think horror just means scary. For me, there's a big difference. Lots of things can be scary. Jason Vorhees is scary. But so is trying to tell my Dad you got into an accident while driving his Mustang. Horror is something much different than just scary. Scary is a very base feeling. It goes deep into the lower brain, fight of flight feelings we all face at some time. We get scared by the big, bad bully on the playground, we get scared by noises at night, I've been scared by a test I forgot about until the day before and never studied.
Horror is more of an atmospheric feeling. It's chilling. It's a feeling that goes deep into your soul and won't let go. It's a feeling not easily described. Perhaps an example: Jaws. Jaws is what I would call a "horror" movie. It got people so freaked out by sharks that there are people today that won't go to the beach because they are freaked out that a shark will come after them. The music, the POV cameras all give that feeling of being stalked. Like a predator is coming for you and won't leave until you are dead. It's a feeling that even though you tell yourself that rationally there's nothing to be afraid of, you still feel it.
I'm not talking about being startled, I'm talking about deep psychological phobias.
Most of what we think of in terms of "horror" movies I would call a dark comedy. I know. It's a very perverse thought and I'd better make my case on this. Let's take for example some of the Friday the 13th sequels because those are some of the better examples of what I'm talking about. We all kinda know the story: Jason Vorhees is an undead zombie who likes to kill people with a machete. He wears a hockey mask and just won't die. Have you seen some of the kills he does? Not all of them mind you. Some of them are really great! I remember seeing Kevin Bacon get an arrow through his neck and thought that was an awesome effect! But that's my point. I'm not afraid a zombie is under my bed with an arrow. (Yes I know about the real killer in Friday the 13th part 1 but my point is still valid) And some of the kills he makes are just out loud laughably funny. Remember the time Jason killed that guy in his sleeping bag? He grabbed the sleeping bag and bashed the poor guy against a tree! He did it in number 7 and Jason X. It's hilarious.
If you are laughing, chances are you are not scared.
Another thing: If you are cheering for Jason to kill some of these people, you are definately not scared. Watch Friday the 13th part 5 sometime. In one scene you have two people who are just cartoons. One guy with an axe chopping wood and a fat guy in a blue jogging suit with chocolate. Both of them... the guy with the axe is such a freak you want him to die and the fat slob is so annoying when he gets axed you don't feel scared. You're thinking, thank God. He's not in the rest of the movie.
There's no better example than the Final Destination movies. As of me writing this, I haven't seen Final Destination 5, but truth be told, I don't need to. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. These are movies for gore hounds. They are Itchy and Scratchy cartoons. You are meant to be repulsed by all the blood and gore, but also amused by the rediculous ways they die.
This is not horror!
If you want horror, give Paranormal Activity a try. It's craftmanship to see a spinning baby mobile and get a little weirded out by it. You don't need raging monsters or psycho killers to create horror. All you need is a feeling that things are just not right. And then you build on that. Every Halloween without fail I read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" because it is exactly what I'm talking about. How a mourning man's mind can quickly turn from being amused at hearing a talking bird repeat the same word and then twist it in his own head to have it mean something so sinister that he gives up all hope of an afterlife.
Being so scared that it forever colors how you see the world. That is horror.
No comments:
Post a Comment