What makes a good horror movie?
The Concept of a horror movie….my world view….
Human fear is an inherited, evolutionary trait. Believe it or not, it’s a form of defense. We are repelled by it yet we continue to be drawn to it. To be drawn to the concept of fear is a mystery, yet one that we go after because of the adrenaline it creates in the human condition…the beating heart…the sweaty palms, the frozen face…the wide eyes….It protected our families in the wilderness at night during the early times of humanity. It helped us fight for survival. We braved the dark night and fought against the unknown.
This is the essence of the horror story. People have gone on to rate a horror film by how much blood or how crazy the form of death by our ill fated characters in the plot may be. That’s all well and good but horror films do not require complete extreme showmanship to make it a horror movie.
Consider John Carpenter’s Halloween, which was released in 1978. It was a low budget film directed and written by then unknown Carpenter and Hill. One of the amazing things I’ve noted about this movie was that there is barely if no blood and gore at all, yet it’s a story about one if not the most famous masked maniacs in cinematic history. As a fan of the film I for one needed some coaxing initially to be introduced to it. It was during my middle school years. Victor and I were drawing our own comic books which drew attention to our classmates. Victor decided to include in some of these comics the Michael Myers character…aka The Shape as he is mentioned in the film credits. This was my first true exposure to Michael Myers. Victor finally showed me the movie and I was drawn in. This was the film that not only got me into the horror film genre, but actually was the first seed to be planted within me to want to make my own films. It wasn’t until my years at Long Island University that I gave filming and editing a good try.
My point is that it wasn’t pools of blood or guts hanging out all over the place that made this a classic horror film. It wasn’t whether or not I could sleep at night after I saw this film. It was simple….It was just plain scary! Visually capturing the William Shatner mask in the distance as Michael stalked Laure, Annie and Linda was enough to give you the heebie jeebies. His silence….his slow movements….the mystery of who he was and why he was doing this only made his character more terrifying. This is the essence of fear…of horror….not knowing exactly what you’re dealing with. As long as that stays true, and solid, we will always be following that primal instinct we sensed even several millennia ago as hunter folk in the woods at night under the stars….”What is that sound? Who goes there?”
Human fear is an inherited, evolutionary trait. Believe it or not, it’s a form of defense. We are repelled by it yet we continue to be drawn to it. To be drawn to the concept of fear is a mystery, yet one that we go after because of the adrenaline it creates in the human condition…the beating heart…the sweaty palms, the frozen face…the wide eyes….It protected our families in the wilderness at night during the early times of humanity. It helped us fight for survival. We braved the dark night and fought against the unknown.
This is the essence of the horror story. People have gone on to rate a horror film by how much blood or how crazy the form of death by our ill fated characters in the plot may be. That’s all well and good but horror films do not require complete extreme showmanship to make it a horror movie.
Consider John Carpenter’s Halloween, which was released in 1978. It was a low budget film directed and written by then unknown Carpenter and Hill. One of the amazing things I’ve noted about this movie was that there is barely if no blood and gore at all, yet it’s a story about one if not the most famous masked maniacs in cinematic history. As a fan of the film I for one needed some coaxing initially to be introduced to it. It was during my middle school years. Victor and I were drawing our own comic books which drew attention to our classmates. Victor decided to include in some of these comics the Michael Myers character…aka The Shape as he is mentioned in the film credits. This was my first true exposure to Michael Myers. Victor finally showed me the movie and I was drawn in. This was the film that not only got me into the horror film genre, but actually was the first seed to be planted within me to want to make my own films. It wasn’t until my years at Long Island University that I gave filming and editing a good try.
My point is that it wasn’t pools of blood or guts hanging out all over the place that made this a classic horror film. It wasn’t whether or not I could sleep at night after I saw this film. It was simple….It was just plain scary! Visually capturing the William Shatner mask in the distance as Michael stalked Laure, Annie and Linda was enough to give you the heebie jeebies. His silence….his slow movements….the mystery of who he was and why he was doing this only made his character more terrifying. This is the essence of fear…of horror….not knowing exactly what you’re dealing with. As long as that stays true, and solid, we will always be following that primal instinct we sensed even several millennia ago as hunter folk in the woods at night under the stars….”What is that sound? Who goes there?”
Comments