Skip to main content

What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

Image result for the babadook posterWhat is it about horror movies that draw audiences in to see them?  There is the thrill of being scared, sure, but is that really as far as it goes? I think not. You see, more than any other genre, horror films are a product of their generation and they typically speak to or highlight the societal issues that are going on around the time that a given horror film is made.  In many ways, horror films help us understand or comment on important issues such as race (Get Out), sexuality (It Follows), and mental/physical/emotional issues (The Babadook). Horror is a genre with many faces but for this particular article, I will touch on what I believe to be the best horror subgenres, the slasher film, and discuss why they are important.
Image result for psycho movie poster            I can understand why people may be a bit turned off by slasher films. In many ways they are a lot closer to reality than a monster or demonic horror movie. Many slasher films involve real human beings just being evil and simply butcher people for their own satisfaction. These things happen in real life and sometimes as audience members we can see that and have it hit too close to home. If we can look past the gore and violence that often comes with these films, however, we can then see how smart these movies can be.
Let’s take a look at Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. This is often referred to as the first slasher, though the argument could be made that the movie Peeping Tom deserves that recognition. Psycho represents voyeurism and how our repressed sexual desires can manifest themselves in murderous ways. Unlike most of the slashers that would follow in its path, Psycho is pretty tame when it comes to violence. You only really see blood once, in the now-iconic shower scene, and it is because of this scene that Hitchcock decided to shoot the film in black-and-white. What is truly horrifying here is the way in which Norman Bates spies on Marion as she undresses herself. Before that we thought him to be a quiet but friendly guy who was burdened with caring for the family-owned motel. When we realize that this seemingly average man is actually not what he seems, that’s when things really get scary. This is the type of person we all encounter on a daily basis and the thought that we never really know who people really are is what makes Psycho so special. When we find out what happens when Norman’s sexual urges surface that the film really becomes a horror movie.
Image result for halloween 1978 poster            Skip forward 18 years. The film’s setting is a small town by the name of Haddonfield, Illinois. The killer is a cold-blooded, seemingly immortal force of nature by the name of Michael Myers. The movie? Halloween. Even people who haven’t seen any of these movies know who Michael Myers is, that’s how iconic this movie is. But why is this movie such a landmark in horror cinema? For one, John Carpenter’s film gave us the “final girl” trope that would be used endlessly after Halloween’s release. However, this idea was new at the time and it let audiences know that women could be their own heroes. Like most horror films, sex plays a huge part in this movie. Here, it is those who are sexually active who are most likely to die and it is only someone pure and innocent like Laurie that is able to fight back and defeat the villain. Carpenter scares us by making Michael a lurking presence who never speaks, he simply stalks and awaits his next victim. Mixed with Carpenters incredibly chilling score, it makes for a terrifying and thrilling ride.
            Now, another 18 years go by and the horror genre, and slashers in particular, has been run to the ground. By this point, in 1996, horror classics such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street had had an extensive line of sequels that got seemingly worse with each addition to their respective franchises. It seemed as if nobody cared about slashers anymore. And then Wes Craven came along and with one movie redefined and revitalized the horror genre. Scream was a movie so aware of itself that it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.  It paid homage to those that came before it but did so in a way that added to the story. It deconstructed the genre and explained to its audience the “rules” one must obey when in a horror movie. Its characters knew these tropes so it made them smarter than your typical horror movie victims, oftentimes doing the opposite of what you would expect them to. It is a film that provides laughs almost as much as it provides scares. It is grounded in reality and has a villain that can very easily be hurt and defended against. Scream is a marvel and keeps you guessing right up to the end reveal. So, in the words of Ghostface, “What’s your favorite scary movie?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

7 Movies That Define Who I Am as a Film Fan

Movies have been a part of my life for as long as I remember. As I have gotten older, I have realized that I love cinema and I wish to be involved with it in any way possible. I see cinema as a way to escape reality and be in a world outside of our own. I love analyzing film and trying to figure what any particular shot in a movie meant or what it was supposed to show. Movies have a way of affecting certain people in certain ways and that's what this list is about. The following list is NOT what I consider to be the greatest films of all time. They are simply the films that have impacted my life significantly. This list might contain minor spoilers/plot points but I will do my best to keep that to a minimum. I hope you guys enjoy this list and I encourage you to watch any of the films on here that you may not have already seen before. This list is not in any particular order. 1.  Hercules  (1997) Disney's Hercules  is one of those movies that I wish people would ...

Classic Movie Monday: John Carpenter's "Halloween" vs Rob Zombie's "Halloween"

            We live in an era where remakes and sequels of beloved films are constantly coming out. Every once in a while, a classic or a highly popular film gets remade and it turns out so bad that people claim it “ruined the original”. One such case is Rob Zombie’s remake of John Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic, Halloween. The purpose of this article is twofold. As always, I want to encourage readers to watch a classic film. With this article, however, I also want to try and dispel this notion that bad remakes/sequels ruin the original film.              John Carpenter’s original is widely considered to be a masterpiece and one of the founders of the slasher sub-genre. The story is a relatively simple one. It starts off in Haddonfield, Illinois in 1963 on Halloween night where a 6-year-old Michael Myers kills his older sister shortly after she has finished having ...

Film Review: "Black Panther"

After directing Fruitvale Station , Creed and now, Black Panther , Ryan Coogler has established himself as one of the very best directors of our era. In Black Panther , he created a breathtakingly beautiful world that was as vibrant as it was authentic. I am by no means an expert in African culture, however, it appears as though the filmmakers took great care to make this entire world look and feel as genuine as possible. This is a very stylish film, which is great, but what makes it even better is the fact that underneath all of that there is a huge amount of heart.               The film opens up with a very cool introduction of Wakanda that explains how they came to be. It’s a brief scene but an important one since it helps set up a very different world that the audience has not yet seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After this introduction, however, we are taken to Oakland where we meet a young King T’Chaka (Atand...