Horror-esque
I complain a lot about horror movies lately.
No longer are they scary types making kids hide behind their sofas. These horror movies turn out to be a different breed. More sick than scary. So disgusting that I wonder what sort of value they’re playing at in these dead-end flicks.
I won’t go see “Saw.” I have a problem with “House of 1000 Corpses.” Somehow they seem to focus so much on the torture. It seems to fall back to the teenager mentality of shock effect: going for the jugular doesn’t always work. These movies don’t really appeal to me much.
It doesn’t help that slasher films seeped into the big screen like a raiding stampede during the 1980s: from Friday the 13th to Nightmare on Elm Street. You know the story. Dumb kids go to Crystal Lake. They know about prior deaths related to the lake. Jason comes out and gets all (or most) of dumb kids. End of movie.
We’re constantly fed with recycled crap. Gives horror a bad rep. They’ll keep cranking ‘em out more often than stuffed Chucky dolls at the nearest specialty shops.
There’s definitely something about seeing horror movies that make goosebumps. How they make you turn to look around the corners. Maybe find a shadow moving.
Far and between, there’s some good stuff. You can check out the granddaddy of slashers. “Psycho” remains effective to this very day. It starts with the lead stealing money from a bank and goes to the Bates Motel just off a beaten track. She gets second thoughts about taking that money. We feel sympathetic to her. Maybe she’s feeling a little guilty. We begin to know this character after it builds up for a half-hour. Then bam. She gets knifed in the shower. It’s a scream.
A lot of older movies go for atmosphere. You need an air of dread to make a scary film work. Especially when dealing with 18th century London. Hammer Horror Films, a studio in England, made great atmospheric horror from the 50s to 70s. Two stalwarts in the Hammer genre: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
These films were flooded with pent-up mood, slowly building up with a momentum. Lee plays Dracula in many Hammer Horror films, a towering figure, his eyes always hypnotic. Cushing plays the best Van Helsing with an easy calmness, always in eternal struggle with the lord of darkness. Both actors shared onscreen time in other horror flicks such as “Horror Express” and “The Creeping Flesh.”
No introduction is needed for Vincent Price. I have great respect for this actor. He’s always memorable. Sometimes he hams it up. But he has fun with his work. You can see it easy in his films. Good ol’ Vincent. His best work would be a cycle of movies based on Edgar Allen Poe. “Masque of Red Death” continues to be a winner for Price. He seems to enjoy torturing people in his films. He does it with a cruel warmth and humor.
I don’t mind gore once in a while. Case in point with the 1985 “Re-Animator.” Makes you want to puke and laugh at the same time. The 1980 version of “The Thing” is much truer to the original story written by Joseph Campbell than the 1950s version. There’re some exceptions to the rule.
But we’re still a long way from constantly turning bad horror flicks. Perhaps finding a little nostalgia may teach restraint for the horror genre.
I’m not getting my hopes up.
If that doesn’t work? Maybe read a horror book.
No longer are they scary types making kids hide behind their sofas. These horror movies turn out to be a different breed. More sick than scary. So disgusting that I wonder what sort of value they’re playing at in these dead-end flicks.
I won’t go see “Saw.” I have a problem with “House of 1000 Corpses.” Somehow they seem to focus so much on the torture. It seems to fall back to the teenager mentality of shock effect: going for the jugular doesn’t always work. These movies don’t really appeal to me much.
It doesn’t help that slasher films seeped into the big screen like a raiding stampede during the 1980s: from Friday the 13th to Nightmare on Elm Street. You know the story. Dumb kids go to Crystal Lake. They know about prior deaths related to the lake. Jason comes out and gets all (or most) of dumb kids. End of movie.
We’re constantly fed with recycled crap. Gives horror a bad rep. They’ll keep cranking ‘em out more often than stuffed Chucky dolls at the nearest specialty shops.
There’s definitely something about seeing horror movies that make goosebumps. How they make you turn to look around the corners. Maybe find a shadow moving.
Far and between, there’s some good stuff. You can check out the granddaddy of slashers. “Psycho” remains effective to this very day. It starts with the lead stealing money from a bank and goes to the Bates Motel just off a beaten track. She gets second thoughts about taking that money. We feel sympathetic to her. Maybe she’s feeling a little guilty. We begin to know this character after it builds up for a half-hour. Then bam. She gets knifed in the shower. It’s a scream.
A lot of older movies go for atmosphere. You need an air of dread to make a scary film work. Especially when dealing with 18th century London. Hammer Horror Films, a studio in England, made great atmospheric horror from the 50s to 70s. Two stalwarts in the Hammer genre: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
These films were flooded with pent-up mood, slowly building up with a momentum. Lee plays Dracula in many Hammer Horror films, a towering figure, his eyes always hypnotic. Cushing plays the best Van Helsing with an easy calmness, always in eternal struggle with the lord of darkness. Both actors shared onscreen time in other horror flicks such as “Horror Express” and “The Creeping Flesh.”
No introduction is needed for Vincent Price. I have great respect for this actor. He’s always memorable. Sometimes he hams it up. But he has fun with his work. You can see it easy in his films. Good ol’ Vincent. His best work would be a cycle of movies based on Edgar Allen Poe. “Masque of Red Death” continues to be a winner for Price. He seems to enjoy torturing people in his films. He does it with a cruel warmth and humor.
I don’t mind gore once in a while. Case in point with the 1985 “Re-Animator.” Makes you want to puke and laugh at the same time. The 1980 version of “The Thing” is much truer to the original story written by Joseph Campbell than the 1950s version. There’re some exceptions to the rule.
But we’re still a long way from constantly turning bad horror flicks. Perhaps finding a little nostalgia may teach restraint for the horror genre.
I’m not getting my hopes up.
If that doesn’t work? Maybe read a horror book.
posted by K.M. Paters at 2:58 PM
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