“Boo.”
Why I Love Horror Movies, and The Unexpected Things That Came With.
I always loved horror movies. Several lifetimes ago my babysitter, against my mother’s wishes would selectively “forget” to adjust her TV watching habits while my single digited self was around. I was subjected to the canonical cast of characters, your Freddie Kruegers, Friday the 13th, and Exorcist flavored fare very early on. I don’t think I was particularly damaged by it (Not really, anyway) but to say that I wasn’t affected by it would be disingenuous.
Early on this would manifest as a darker sense of humor, a greater tolerance for distress, and likely, oddly, contributed to a higher threshold for delayed gratification. Who can say, truly? But later I think, regular desensitization regimen began to bear fruit. At the scholastic book fairs I purchased those “Scary Stories” books, culminating in discovering H.P. Lovecraft, and delving deep into that particular love affair with obviously dubious results.
I began to not just consume horror content for the “Screaming meemies” but also for a bit of insight into the nature of the mind that created the story in the first place. Wondering what thought patterns led to the twisted scares of Event Horizon, or what cultural differences led to Japanese/Korean horror to be so comfortable with leaving things not only unresolved, but even allowing the creeping doom to win? Djinn, Raksasha, Wendigo, Oni, Efreet, all arrive on the screen carrying thousands of years of history and folklore, and through a simple horror movie, we get a companion class in anthropology for free.
My current taste veers pretty far away from what I and many others refer to as “torture porn.” Saw, Hostel, Human Centipede and the like, never really appealed to me. Likely because I saw them as actually possible. In a world with grotesque levels of inequality, not just of wealth and opportunity, but also the metrics that we value human life itself that we currently have, I find some of those darker stories not fantastical at all, but actually plausible. Maybe that’s a subtle component of where the true horror of them reside.
For me, I lean heavily into the paranormal/metaphysical and religious horrors. The Conjuring, The Ring, The Grudge, as prime examples. The belief of the aspects of the reality that exist based on faith and esoteric belief systems that attempt to make sense of the improbability of creation as a whole. That ascribe weight to emotions and intent that persist beyond death, taking the form of an insatiable curse or malignancy that refuses remedy.
There’s something... something that just hits different when you zoom out and look at the nature of horror genres. The slashers/torture porn/adjacent (Final Destination I’m looking at you and your log trucks!) ones, even if you can’t summarize the exact plot, you already know that it’ll involve gore. Often spectacularly, and depending on how eager the director wants to hook the young male audience, gratuitous nudity.
With the movies that dig into the paranormal spectrum, such calculations go right out the window. Any story that involves the demonic or supernatural, you can’t always assume such things. Reality warping, perception manipulation, hell(is this a pun in this context?) the psychological wounding that takes place is truly disturbing when done well. Yes, they have their usual tropes as well, the whole “The power of Christ compels you!” and all that, but in their highest form, having supreme faith doesn’t always work. Just ask Father Merrin. This aside though, it does make for very thought provoking fare. Especially when watching this style from other cultures.
The more action oriented ones, or dystopian future/dreamscape ones like Silent Hill or any film involving zombies(Night of the Living Dead, or Resident Evil ((Yea, I’m grouping the T Virus in with this one)) hit a different nerve. Gore, action, oddly enough romance sometimes, but also the social aspect that societal collapse has on groups of people put in desperate situations. One need visit any comic con to see someone playing Pyramid Head, or explore the lore of Negan and Rick to see how such things ripple through the meta of the time.
Sometimes I enjoy the B movie stories, the ones that don’t attempt to portray themselves as anything more than what they are: A couple hours of entertainment, an opportunity to have a couple of beers or sugary drinks, with popcorn or appetizers in the company of friends. Laughing when Ash resurrects “Groovy” or A deranged llama from space decides to extract justice from a motley group of co-eds.
I totally understand why some people dislike horror movies though. After all, how can you blame someone for not wanting their entertainment to trip their nervous system into fight or flight while sitting on their living room couch? Or wanting to ruminate on whether the TV in their bedroom still has their best interests at heart? (Looking at you Ring/Ringu!) But for me? It’s worth it.
While I may not always be in the mood for a good horror movie, its often not long until I find myself watching one. It’s hard to resist an opportunity to enjoy the multifaceted education buried amidst a warped thought experiment on screen. The variety of thought triggers, and mental errands they send my mind on are wonderful, a multi sensory cerebral roller coaster from the comfort of the couch. Sometimes alone. Sometimes with friends.
Always with snacks.
- KC
What a great article! I loved reading this. I always stayed away from horror because I thought it was all gore stuff, which I really dislike because it's entirely too plausible and too obvious. But I love psychological creepy things. H.P Lovecraft and similar, even aliens if done well. The questions always there for me, could it be real, or imagination, or hallucination. Could it be external manipulation or internal brokenness. And I loved those questions. Thank you for writing this!