Horror movie October 31, 2006
I DON'T know about you, but I haven't seen a good horror movie in a long time. My generation was one that was exposed to Western, sci-fi, war and horror movies (I'm not entirely sure if it's in that order of chronology or importance). The war and sci-fi stuff was largely before my time, or I was still a small child then when they were the rage, but the Western and horror movies were not.
I recall spending many a sleepless night with the horror movies that came our way, but for some reason, not the least being the greater dread of being the only one in the neighborhood or class that hadn't see the movie, a sure sign of being a sissy, I trooped to them with morbid fascination. To this day, I recall the fear and trembling I felt while I lay under the mosquito net with only the flickering flame of a votive lamp at the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the distant baying of a dog to keep me company, everybody else snoring the night away in deep and peaceful sleep. What can I say? Young minds are truly impressionable -- some young minds more than others.
When I got to high school and college, I watched the Hammer movies in particular with far less fear and trembling and with far more fun and relish. And no small amount of titillation, Hammer being among, if not the first, to inject strong sexuality, or sensuality, into horror. I would read later on that they were original in turning Christopher Lee's Dracula's vampire kiss into a true love bite -- or for the politically correct, into sexual harassment, Dracula's invasion of his female victimtaking on the aspect of a defilement or violation. And the women were gorgeous, as seen through concupiscent eyes. What can I say again? Young bodies are assailed by raging hormones -- some young bodies more than others.
But as I was saying, it's been a long time since I've seen a good horror movie. Quite probably, the last one I saw that brought a chill to my heart was "The Exorcist," though that was not a little spoiled by the hype that went into it, which for me gave the head-turning and levitation scenes in the exorcism part some comic overtones. But it was still enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone, no small thanks to William Friedkin's restrained tone in much of the movie.
The more recent ones I saw were "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," "Skeleton Key" and "Saw." The first sucked for the most part: it was a rip-off of the original "Exorcist" without any self-mocking tone to redeem it. "Skeleton Key" was OK, if only for the presence of one of my favorite actors, who can't seem to land roles that do justice to his massive talent, John Hurt. He doesn't say or do anything here -- he's completely paralyzed -- he speaks only with his eyes. I don't know that "Saw" qualifies as a horror movie. I liked its premise, but not enough to go on to watch the second and third. I started "Hostel" and "Silent Hill," but never got past the first half. It had little to do with being sick in the stomach with all that blood and gore, though I know some people who got assailed by that. I got bored. I find that most slasher movies just add new dimensions to the "mindless" in "mindless violence."
I don't know why I haven't really seen a good horror movie in a long time. Maybe it's because they truly don't make great horror movies anymore. Maybe the movies grew up and went to other things, though I don't know that other has always meant better or more mature. Certainly, there's not much to be said for gross comedies and teenage movies.
Or maybe the world got a bit more secular, and the producers decided there wasn't a lot of money to be made off movies that demanded a reasonable belief in God and the devil to be able to buy their proxy wars in the human soul. Or still maybe the world got a little more politically correct or religiously plural the producers decided that some audiences might be offended or sent to fits of hilarity by the sight of creatures of the night crumbling to dust at the sight of the crucifix. Why not the Jewish cross or the Koran? George Hamilton actually cracked a joke about that in "Love at First Bite" while playing the role of Dracula who had immigrated to America after his castle in Transylvania had been expropriated by the socialist government to be turned into a training gym for Nadia Comaneci. Shown the Cross of David by a potential victim, he laughed and said, "Wrong religion."
Or maybe I have grown a lot older and look at the world with wearier eyes. Maybe I've found that it's not always easy to tingle with horror at the spectacle of monstrous creatures from other or nether worlds invading the peace of the just when there are far more monstrous creatures in this world producing horrors that boggle the mind and promise only the peace of the dead. I do know it hasn't been easy enjoying a horror movie over the last six years in this country in light of a far more terrifying spectacle that has been reeling off right before our eyes. How can the fleeting vampires and other creatures of the night complete with the solid and ubiquitous creatures of the day that suck the blood off our necks far more ferociously and murder us without pity? At least Dracula has class, Pidal has only crass.
Indeed, I don't know how anyone can be so terrified at watching movies about zombies. Zombies after all are creatures that do not quite yet know they are dead, who look at the world with unseeing eyes, who stumble about feeling neither joy nor pain, not knowing where they came from or where they are going. You don't have to go to the movies to see that, you just have to look around you. That is what we've become, a nation of zombies.
That is the most horrifying horror movie of all.
http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=29628
I recall spending many a sleepless night with the horror movies that came our way, but for some reason, not the least being the greater dread of being the only one in the neighborhood or class that hadn't see the movie, a sure sign of being a sissy, I trooped to them with morbid fascination. To this day, I recall the fear and trembling I felt while I lay under the mosquito net with only the flickering flame of a votive lamp at the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the distant baying of a dog to keep me company, everybody else snoring the night away in deep and peaceful sleep. What can I say? Young minds are truly impressionable -- some young minds more than others.
When I got to high school and college, I watched the Hammer movies in particular with far less fear and trembling and with far more fun and relish. And no small amount of titillation, Hammer being among, if not the first, to inject strong sexuality, or sensuality, into horror. I would read later on that they were original in turning Christopher Lee's Dracula's vampire kiss into a true love bite -- or for the politically correct, into sexual harassment, Dracula's invasion of his female victimtaking on the aspect of a defilement or violation. And the women were gorgeous, as seen through concupiscent eyes. What can I say again? Young bodies are assailed by raging hormones -- some young bodies more than others.
But as I was saying, it's been a long time since I've seen a good horror movie. Quite probably, the last one I saw that brought a chill to my heart was "The Exorcist," though that was not a little spoiled by the hype that went into it, which for me gave the head-turning and levitation scenes in the exorcism part some comic overtones. But it was still enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone, no small thanks to William Friedkin's restrained tone in much of the movie.
The more recent ones I saw were "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," "Skeleton Key" and "Saw." The first sucked for the most part: it was a rip-off of the original "Exorcist" without any self-mocking tone to redeem it. "Skeleton Key" was OK, if only for the presence of one of my favorite actors, who can't seem to land roles that do justice to his massive talent, John Hurt. He doesn't say or do anything here -- he's completely paralyzed -- he speaks only with his eyes. I don't know that "Saw" qualifies as a horror movie. I liked its premise, but not enough to go on to watch the second and third. I started "Hostel" and "Silent Hill," but never got past the first half. It had little to do with being sick in the stomach with all that blood and gore, though I know some people who got assailed by that. I got bored. I find that most slasher movies just add new dimensions to the "mindless" in "mindless violence."
I don't know why I haven't really seen a good horror movie in a long time. Maybe it's because they truly don't make great horror movies anymore. Maybe the movies grew up and went to other things, though I don't know that other has always meant better or more mature. Certainly, there's not much to be said for gross comedies and teenage movies.
Or maybe the world got a bit more secular, and the producers decided there wasn't a lot of money to be made off movies that demanded a reasonable belief in God and the devil to be able to buy their proxy wars in the human soul. Or still maybe the world got a little more politically correct or religiously plural the producers decided that some audiences might be offended or sent to fits of hilarity by the sight of creatures of the night crumbling to dust at the sight of the crucifix. Why not the Jewish cross or the Koran? George Hamilton actually cracked a joke about that in "Love at First Bite" while playing the role of Dracula who had immigrated to America after his castle in Transylvania had been expropriated by the socialist government to be turned into a training gym for Nadia Comaneci. Shown the Cross of David by a potential victim, he laughed and said, "Wrong religion."
Or maybe I have grown a lot older and look at the world with wearier eyes. Maybe I've found that it's not always easy to tingle with horror at the spectacle of monstrous creatures from other or nether worlds invading the peace of the just when there are far more monstrous creatures in this world producing horrors that boggle the mind and promise only the peace of the dead. I do know it hasn't been easy enjoying a horror movie over the last six years in this country in light of a far more terrifying spectacle that has been reeling off right before our eyes. How can the fleeting vampires and other creatures of the night complete with the solid and ubiquitous creatures of the day that suck the blood off our necks far more ferociously and murder us without pity? At least Dracula has class, Pidal has only crass.
Indeed, I don't know how anyone can be so terrified at watching movies about zombies. Zombies after all are creatures that do not quite yet know they are dead, who look at the world with unseeing eyes, who stumble about feeling neither joy nor pain, not knowing where they came from or where they are going. You don't have to go to the movies to see that, you just have to look around you. That is what we've become, a nation of zombies.
That is the most horrifying horror movie of all.
http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=29628
posted by dqfan06 @ 4:30 AM
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