Why do we like horror movies so much? What is it that we love so much? Sure, there is a pleasant thrill from a surviving a heart stopping "BOO!" but I was wondering what else is it that brings us here?
This question has been kicking around in my head the last few weeks as I have seen a large number of movies (and discussions) posted in other places that all seem to revolve around sex. Is part of the attraction of these movies about getting off? Like that whole 70's era Lesbian Vampire genre. When I was a teen ager I really thought that was stuff (even though this was the time before affordable VCRs and I had to rely on magazines and expensive books to see the bloody, naked vampires.).
Some people really love Italian Giallo Jess Franco's films. The ones I have seen are real buffets of nastiness-castrations, raining maggots,wierd slimy zombies, etc. That can be cool or it can be stomache turning to me, depending more on my state of mind. Some people revere film makers like Dario Argento and H. G. Lewis almost as deities. One time a young man struck up a conversation with me when he saw my Faster Pussy Cat Kill Kill shirt. He had just finsihed completeing his Master's degree on Lewis.
But yet I do like John Waters's movies, although not scary they definately are not for the squeamish (I guess everyone knows that was real dog shit that got eaten in Pink Flamingos).
And violence is pretty cool too. Horror movies have given some really ghastly moments to cherish-such as the scene in Dementia 13 (I think, ought to check) when the machete hits the woman in the head and her eyes look up at the blade stuck in her cranium. Yowie, I was like 12 when I saw that. I am anxiously awaiting the release of a French film called I Am the Ripper that promises lots of all these things (from the trailer anyway)
I'd like to hear what others have to say about their own likes and loves.
Thanks
M
BTW, I just got Juon 2 The Grudge, probably my new favorite for scariest movie of all time.
This question has been kicking around in my head the last few weeks as I have seen a large number of movies (and discussions) posted in other places that all seem to revolve around sex. Is part of the attraction of these movies about getting off? Like that whole 70's era Lesbian Vampire genre. When I was a teen ager I really thought that was stuff (even though this was the time before affordable VCRs and I had to rely on magazines and expensive books to see the bloody, naked vampires.).
Some people really love Italian Giallo Jess Franco's films. The ones I have seen are real buffets of nastiness-castrations, raining maggots,wierd slimy zombies, etc. That can be cool or it can be stomache turning to me, depending more on my state of mind. Some people revere film makers like Dario Argento and H. G. Lewis almost as deities. One time a young man struck up a conversation with me when he saw my Faster Pussy Cat Kill Kill shirt. He had just finsihed completeing his Master's degree on Lewis.
But yet I do like John Waters's movies, although not scary they definately are not for the squeamish (I guess everyone knows that was real dog shit that got eaten in Pink Flamingos).
And violence is pretty cool too. Horror movies have given some really ghastly moments to cherish-such as the scene in Dementia 13 (I think, ought to check) when the machete hits the woman in the head and her eyes look up at the blade stuck in her cranium. Yowie, I was like 12 when I saw that. I am anxiously awaiting the release of a French film called I Am the Ripper that promises lots of all these things (from the trailer anyway)
I'd like to hear what others have to say about their own likes and loves.
Thanks
M
BTW, I just got Juon 2 The Grudge, probably my new favorite for scariest movie of all time.
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Unsu...
Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Mon, May 17, 2004 - 9:17 PMThis is actually a very good question...one I can't even answer. I was just - personally - drawn to them. I loved how my Dad would tell stories about how as a kid he would sneak into see the horror movies of the time -- and with "The Thing," how he and his friends practically ran the three miles home because it scared them so bad. I also LOVED when he would take my younger brother and me downstairs to watch scary movies (cause Mom told him not to let us watch them...so we snuck downstairs to) and then proceed to scare the living shit out of us. By then, of course, I was hooked. I liked the uniqueness of the horror movies - back then - and then I liked telling the characters how stupid they were. And....I just love being scared and being able to shut it OFF when it gets to be too much. Perhaps it is an escape - for me anyway - from the horrors of the real world. I don't know. I just love a movie that can scare me...and I mean SCARE me. I love that my fears are brought to life on the screen and yet, I have the control to turn them off when I want. In the real world...I can't turn off spiders crawling across my lawn, or serial killers roaming the United States, or clowns dancing their evil dances at circuses but I can with a movie.
Books however...different story altogether. I can stop reading a novel if it gets too scary but...damn it...sometimes I end up having to put it in my car so I can get it out of my mind...is that not sad???? Like the story is actually going to come alive! Yes...I am an idiot at times!
Melissa -
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Unsu...
Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Tue, May 18, 2004 - 12:40 AMThought I'd post my answer to your question here as well Mcubed:
I have a book about this topic aptly named: The Thrill of Fear by Walter Kendrick. It argues that we (westerners especially) have been trying to sanitize death for ages. We try to sweep it under the rug, but our subcincious manifests it in our entertainment the more we try to hide our fear of the "aftereffects" of death.
When you mention Franco, Argento, Fulci and the like, you have to examine the psycho-sexual implications of their work, but I certainly don't think of the basis for horror as Fruedian. I think these directors, whom I personally think are great, as men who combine their own fear of women with the other primal fear of death. The combination is fascinating, but sometimes, (for the less than mentally stable), it can fuel some unhealthy neuroses.
Personally, I think that mankind has the inante need to understand what he fears, and in horror's case, that fear is pain and death. My love and collecting of horror films has been part of my whole life. My first vivd memory is of me watching Godzilla when I was three. It was all over for me after that. That love of the thrill of horror and the unknown at such a young age helped me to realize that this is a very healthy and natural fascination.
One of the most healthy cultural phenominon I can equate this to would be "Dio De Los Muertos" in Mexico. People are encouraged to celebrate the cycle of life and acknowlege and embrace their ancestors as well as their own mortality.
Horror does this in a much more crude and less self-concious way. It is created by poeple usually for the sole purpose to get that "thrill" and put butts in seats. That doesn't make it any less of a need for us. If we can face our fears in the theaters, we can sometimes cope better with them in life.
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Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Tue, May 18, 2004 - 12:10 PMI would have to agree with Wyked Angel. I was drawn to Horror as a kid. My first comics were Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by night and Tales of Suspense. My Mom loved Horror movies and we would stay up to the early morning watching scary movies. We would never start watching them until after 11:00 PM and it is still a habit of mine; waiting until night with the lights off to watch a horror movie. I love to be scared. I remember the first time I saw "A Nightmare on Elm Street". It was 3am when it was over and I could not go to sleep for 3 days.
We also use to go to the Drive-in to watch Horror movies. I remember seeing Jaws with my Mom and my Baby sitter. The scene where the head floats out from the sunken boat made my Baby sitter scream and I jump so hard I hit my head on the roof of the car. Good times.
Dave -
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Unsu...
Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Tue, May 18, 2004 - 2:13 PMMan...the Drive In...oh yeah...watched "Alien," "Jaws," "Jaws 2," "Nightmare on Elm Street," etc. etc. at the drive in movie theater with my Dad...and my Mom. My brother would always fall asleep early but I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. So great. I am trying to purchase the old drive in here because the previous owner bought too many things in this town and ended up bankrupt...stupid idiot...and I just can't allow the drive in to close. It is...classic...a treasure. But yes, I had my share of head banging moments at that drive in. And come to think of it..."Jaws" did it for me the most too...hmmm...strange.
Melissa
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Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Tue, May 18, 2004 - 6:00 PMGreat posts from everyone! Thanks to all who responded. I especially apreciate the ones who mentioned books I might like to read.
I realized this morning that the three criteria I wrote about are the same three I always use to evaluate a movie and the very same three I learned from favorite movie guru -Joe Bob Briggs.
Boobs,blood, and what ever kind of -fu imaginable.
M
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Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Thu, May 20, 2004 - 4:11 PMWhen I was a little girl, whenever I'd go to the video store, if the boxes were on the shelf with the covers facing out, I was petrified. I couldn't go near the horror section without getting weak in the knees. But if the video store only had the spines of the video boxes facing out, I'd obsessively read all the titles and slowly pull out the boxes of the titles that made me most curious. I would purposely try to scare myself shitless by looking at the disturbing images on the video boxes. "Pieces" was a big scare for me (Oh, to discover ten years later just how CHEESY that movie was made me have a good laugh at my own expense!)
Nowadays, I'm looking to recapture that fear mingled with excitement. It never seems to happen, but it's been an entertaining ride all the same. Horror movies are just more entertaining to me than dramatic films.
I wanted to write more, but I'm being struck down with a nic-fit.
:michelle: -
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Re: Why do we like horror movies so much?
Sat, May 29, 2004 - 11:45 PMadrenaline
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