Horrors!

My mind got rolling around last night, thanks to a great conversation with several good folks after a delightful Factory Theater show (go see it; lots of fun). Not only was the Factory Show a welcome break from the job stress and general Anxiety Monday dynamic, but I also got to talk about one of my favorite subjects: horror movies. Many topics within the subject were bandied about in the bar (Wes Craven, High Tension, really good movie scares, and lots more), but one of my favorite topics was the course of horror movies today. I saw Hostel, which was crazy over-the-top gore, but I have not seen the re-make of The Hills Have Eyes, originally done by Wes Craven. Apparently, The Hills Have Eyes goes much farther than Hostel in certain scenes in terms of realism. When I see the The Hills Have Eyes remake, I suspect I'll take issue with it if the gore and sadism is focused on being as real and graphic as possible. Horror movies are swinging back towards a trend they reached in the late 1980s when gore and special effects took precedence over scares and stories. Here's the thing: I love my gore and I love my sadism in horror movies. They're integral. I also love to have the shit scared out of me; gore is usually not as applicable to fright as is good composition. I want one or the other from my horror movies. I want straight-up shallow characters getting hacked to glorious bit with lots of bloody squibs, naked boobs, nubile-young-and-dumb victims from frat boys to coeds, comical torture, cheesy dialogue, and predictable settings. Or, I want a well-constructed scare along the lines of The Ring or the first Nightmare on Elm Street. I don't need ultra-realism from my horror. My own mind is sadistic and gore-filled enough; I don't need my horror fed to me. Intensely effective horror/torture scenes don't show all the details. A Clockwork Orange, Bill Pullman's nuts getting hammered in The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Janet Leigh's run-in with androgynous biker thugs in Touch of Evil all spring to mind, and there are many others. These movies left the money shot up to your mind, where it's far more depraved and horrible than any special effect could conjure, certainly if you have my mind. I'll still watch the Hills remade, just because of curiosity, but I wish for the swing back to a well-balanced horror genre of scare with story and effective gore. Otherwise, some outraged, uptight social group is going slow the genre down because of whatever spiritual virtue of theirs is getting too molested. I fear for our society if we don't get ourselves a good dose of movie horror.

The Second Horror Movie Soapbox Moment
A Truly Good Horror Movie