Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films

» leemcbride - Horror Films - An unnecessary evil

I've been thinking about horror movies - modern ones, mind you, I'm not including Hitch and other old school masters in this discussion. I am also NOT including films that could be considered 'horror' in that they portray something terrifically bad happening, like Deep End Of The Ocean (is not the idea of your child being abducted horrifying?) or a dystopia like in Children Of Men.

Nuff said? I'm talking about Freddy and Jason, I'm talking about Scream and Saw and The Ring, I'm talking about Hostel and so on and so on. You are intelligent - you get what I mean.

Back when I was 14, I was the only one in my crowd that absolutely detested horror movies. However, because of the peer pressure at that age, every once in a while I would be subjected to watching one and would feign falling asleep, which accomplished two things: 1) I didn't look scared, and 2) I didn't have to watch the dang thing.

Why does this world need these movies? Dystopic scenarios at least act as a warning. Hitchcock gave you the chills. But this stuff - amputations, slicing and other assorted but no less grisly deaths - what need to we have of them? We fill up our heads with these images and they stay there. Why does our society need to watch made up violence when the newspaper and television will provide all the horror you need? Is it because the movies aren't real? Well, that's a bit thin, as with the exception of supernatural killers, all the ways of killing someone are yesterday's news in real life.

Seeing as how in horror movies at least one 'good guy' usually survives (if they don't have sex or smoke pot, usually), perhaps we watch to feel like triumph over evil is possible? Well, if that's the only way we can manage that satisfaction, it is a pathetic world indeed. We spend all this time fighting imaginary demons simply to avoid the real ones. No true bravery remains.

Consider sending your $25 you'd spend on your ticket, popcorn and milk duds to Amnesty International or the Stephen Lewis Foundation next time, and triumph over horror for real. You don't need the other garbage.

It's not entertainment. Please don't try to argue that watching people die is entertainment - that's a little too Coliseum for me, and I don't believe it for a minute. The Western world is failing. We concentrate more and more on obtaining instant gratification and less and less on making changes that help people.

Please also avoid arguing by comparison - I don't think the world needs Adam Sandler or Cameron Diaz or Will Smith either, or movies titled "Must Like Dogs." But that isn't the issue being discussed here - that can come at another time.

Let's name the next horror
"Hell In A Handbasket."

Thanks for reading.

-- posted by leemcbride