The Yahoo article that is linked to this piece is about horror movies returning to their 1970’s roots and becoming more and more “real.” It seems the Scream type of horror movie is going the way of the dodo. Horror movies are not interested in making fun of themselves anymore. They seem to not be interested in having any fun at all anymore. They all want to be gritty, raw, and grisly. Sometimes that is not bad. I enjoy a good scare flick every now and again. I also enjoy believing that the “heroes” have a chance of surviving, that there is some shadow of hope that things just may work out. I am not looking for the big happy ending, but it seems like the horror movies being produced now are not interested in leaving some hope alive. Things are so bleak that there is no one to root for. It just seems as though you are watching a straight snuff film. It appears that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the model for horror and every movie is trying to be more, well, everything.
I thought TxCM was creepy and very uncomfortable to watch and it was a cool experience, but it is not a movie I would want to watch over and over again. Halloween, on the other hand, is a movie I watch over and over again. There is a difference between the two that is hard to explain. If you watch many horror movies you know what I am talking about. Rob Zombie was on this bandwagon very early with House of a 1000 Corpses. I saw this movie on Cinemax late one night and it seemed to be horror for horror’s sake. I had no idea why the things that were happening were happening. I believe that all you need is a script with all kinds of grisly gory ways someone is tortured with no story or no reason why these things are happening and you could sell it to Hollywood. Especially now, when these type of movies are big. In a few years this type of film will fall out of style and a new “old” style will come back. Perhaps a campy late Friday the 13th style will come back. I am not sure I like that either, but at least I might have something to root for.
Friday, January 06, 2006
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2 comments:
As is commonly known, I am a huge horror movie fan. Like all genres I take them in spurts. I like a variety of scary movies and although I still think Scream revived the teeny bopper horror that came on with earlier movies like The Lost Boys, it is not the "scariest". For horror movies to be truly scary, they have to be not disturbing; however, there can be a very fine line. TxCM lived on that line. There needs to be an element of "jumping out at you" scares and this impending feeling that my hero may not make it out of this. And then with every great movie they need to do it in a way that catches you off guard and remains within your willingness to suspend disbelief. I think when you get beyond that different movies have different "feels" that are related to certain eras. Teeny boppers have the 90's feel. There is another 80's feel and 70's. The new 00's feel seems to be following the Ring, The Grudge and a few others. I think this is highly effective in theater format but is lost to a horrible movie on DVD. Piccu, you are right. Now, they are bringing back some of those "feels" from earlier days. I think you should check out both the orginal When A Stranger Calls and the preview on Yahoo movies for the remake. It has potential. What about Hostil? I haven't looked at the reviews yet.
I have seen a few surprising good reviews for Hostel, but it seems as though it seems to be the kind of movie I was talking about in my post. It seems to be just a plain torture movie. The thing about it is that apparently the characters being tortured are so unlikable that you don't mind them being tortured. Our you begin to sympathize with them.
I agree with your fine line statement. You don't have to have blood and gore to creep someone out. I need a story and it doesn't need to be the greatest of stories. I can suspend belief if it is entertaining.
As for When a Stranger Calls, I have never seen it although I have heard good things about it. My only problem is that the actress that is the main character gets on my nerves so bad I have just never tried to check it out. The preview for the new one completely gives away what I imagine was the big surprise in the original. I find that incredibly stupid considering that no one under the age of 25 has seen the original.
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