The Horror

I imagine that disrespecting 50 Shades of Grey on Monday, then praising Monsters University on Tuesday casts me in a certain light. I will not be helping my case at all today by saying that I don't really care for horror.

It's not a hard and fast aversion. I have liked a lot of movies that could probably be classified as horror. I don't make it to nearly as many movies as I would like to, though, so I have to prioritize, and that's pretty much never what I end up choosing. I am most likely to make the effort on my own for documentaries or foreign films that I think might be hard to see later. I also end up at things my sisters want to see, but which are usually comedies, kids films, or art films, because they have someone else they go see action and espionage movies with.

I mention this because what I am going to write about horror is largely second-hand. It's not my thing, but I know a lot of people who love it, and the complaint I keep hearing, over and over again, is that the movies are not scary.

Talking about it with one friend, my theory was that it was because of the lack of novelty. Every thing that comes out is a sequel or remake or a reboot, which is essentially a remake with the promise of sequels. The familiar tends not to be that scary. Even when you have a new film that breaks the mold, it quickly gets sequels and imitators, diluting its effect. The Blair Witch Project did scare some people. So did the first Paranormal Activity. It sounds like its been downhill from there.

I read a piece I really like on Unwinnable, for their Fear Week:

http://www.unwinnable.com/2013/10/29/power-of-fear/

One thing author Brian Bannen points out is that the older horror films often had some subtlety to them. You didn't always see the creature, but also, he points out some distortion and visual tricks used by John Carpenter for The Thing. That's going in a completely different direction. Not only is the danger something unfamiliar, but even the things around you that should be familiar aren't quite; something is off about them.

That works because you are unsettled. Studios don't seem to trust that anymore. Everything is big and in your face, but that doesn't automatically translate to more frightening. Instead it ends up being more gross, or more sadistic. That desensitizes the audience, which again, is not a way to frighten them more.

It also tends not to be a way to get the audience more invested in your characters, which could be a source of anxiety. If I am fearful during a film, it is because I have become invested in the characters. Making the characters toys for your twisted manipulations may devalue them to the audience, and making them horrible people who deserve it still doesn't help.

Bannen ends on an optimistic note, believing things will come around again. My optimism varies, depending on the day. I mean, my own potential success as a filmmaker pretty much depends on someone gambling on doing something original, focusing more on making a good movie than on building a blockbuster.

But you know, there are no guaranteed blockbusters. Sometimes good movies languish in obscurity, but sometimes they find their audience and they are hits. Sometimes movies with huge budgets and all the key formula ingredients tank.

I want to make movies, but I also want there to be good movies. There's nothing quite like one.

And if my friends want those good movies to include scary ones, then I want that to happen too.