Scary Movies
I love Halloween. Love the fact that nearly every channel between now and then will be running scary movies all hours of the day. I LOVE horror movies. I tried to explain it to a few of my I-hate-horror-movie-and-you're-a-freak-if-you-do friends why it's my favorite genre. So here's my reasons for enjoying these nighmare-inducing flicks:
- Total rush. A good horror movie will get your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping, and send a rush of endorphins to your brain. Instead of doing drugs, watch a scary movie!
- Tough chicks. Maybe back in the old days, you had female leads fainting every time a shadow moved across the room and screaming a high-pitch, banshee-like squeal anytime a bug touched them. But horror was one of the first movie genres that gave us Ripley (one of the toughest, kick-ass female movie characters, who survived the aliens many times) and then there's Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, The Ring, Scream—all had strong female leads who survived and, most importantly, defeated (well, for that chapter) the monster/psycho. Rock on!!!!
- Good vs. evil. It's the primal battle. It's boiled down to the basic battle of white hat wearing guy to black hat wearing creature. In a reality that blurs the line so many times, where many things seem neither right nor wrong but in some gray area, horror movies give it to you in black and white. Ripley is good and aliens are evil. Teenagers are good and Freddy is evil. Though a truly good horror movie will have a believable motivation for the villain (and may even have you feeling a bit of sympathy for what they've become).
- Return of order. Continuing from above, generally good will win out in most horror movies. In real life, not all criminals are jailed or victims vindicated. But in horror movies, you most likely will get the satisfaction of seeing the blood-thirsty psychopath die a horrible death and possibly at the hands of one of their intended victims. Somehow it just feels right when order is restored and proper punishment is delivered. I don't know, maybe I'm a little twisted in that way. :P
posted by J.T. Bock at 10:30 PM
6 Comments:
Count me in as one of those who screams like a little girl every time I watch a scary movie. I saw Dracula on a rainy movie day at summer camp. For the next month, I was absolutely convinced that the shadow at my window was Dracula, standing there just waiting for me to fall asleep. Yeah, like I was going to be dumb enough to close my eyes!
Of course, you are right that it is worth the screaming to watch the villain get his ass kicked. But think of the movies where the villain has the best ass. Those are even better! And why shouldn't the bad guy be drop dead gorgeous (pun intended.) He's the reason for the story.
I LOVE the variety of scares. From haunted houses to vampire bordellos to alien monsters hundreds of thousands of miles in space. There's always a sense of action or who done it involved and the ending is always up for grabs in terms of who lives and who dies.
On a personal note, they bring up the good old days of when my mom didn't do anything to safeguard my brother's and my television watching. We would sit trembling in front of the TV with a blanket pulled over our heads. Every shadow was a monster in our eyes. It was fantastic and perhaps the only time we really bonded over something...until I went away to college. :-)
There are very few horror movies (only one I can think of right now and I rated it an A- on my blog) that's worthwhile to see. Hollywood has really sunk to stupidity levels with horror movies these days. :(
Karen,
OMG! You're so funny. I just about fell out of my chair when I read your comment. I will definitely have to blog about the best looking villains with the tight butts. That'll be very interesting. If you can think of any, let me know. :P
Marcia,
Vampire bordellos ... hmmm ... I think I know what movie you're talking about. :P
It's funny because my mom was the one who got me into scary movies, because she loved to watch them herself. Of course, I ALWAYS had nightmares afterwards (which was fun). But I can still remember being in middle school and every Saturday night watching "Ghost Host" with my mom. Mostly they were old horror movies, even though they weren't as gory as today's movies, they could be just as creepy. And some were totally cheesy, which can be the best kind.
Oh, and I just watch an indie horror film at a friend's party called "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon." It was actually pretty funny and surreal and it went behind the scenes with a psycho-killer (Qu'est-ce que c'est?) as he plans his attack. Really cool!
And don't get me started on what Hollywood considers good horror. Blah!
Yeah, we're twins. I'm almost inclined to fork up some cash for one of those geneology DNA tests to prove it. LOL!
My mom got me and my brother into horror movies, too. Every Friday or Saturday night we'd all sit and watch something like The Elvira Hour on TV. If not that, then it was Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside. Go figure.
I like the ones that really screw with your brain, like Session 9, or the Blair Witch Project. Give me a good theater of the mind flick and I'm set for a week.
Why? Maybe it's the reminder of our frailty, or a fascination with the unknown. Either way, it's good to get the crap scared out of you every once in a while.
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