Horror Week

So for the past few days, I’ve been watching some horror films.  I’ve always kind of hated horror movies, never really appreciated them.  They weren’t my thing. Looking back, I always say that I watch everything, but when it comes right down to it, I have missed a lot on Horror films.  I guess that’s because normally I don’t see horror films as scary. If they aren’t, then obviously they aren’t doing a very good job then right?

Well I just got done watching quite a bit of horror films, and I think I have a better overall understanding of what they are trying to go for.  I saw all the three Final Destination films after seeing a trailer for the fourth.  I saw the new Halloween film, which also has a sequel coming out soon.  I saw Blair Witch Project. And finally, I saw Quarantine, which came out last year.

A reoccurring theme I see with good horror films, which contribute to your fright, is trying to make the audience feel unsafe.  Make it seem as realistic as possible.  With Final Destination, sure it’s really not realistic when you think about it, but after I saw all three films, it really made me think.  You know, like one small mistake could lead to my death.  The freak accidents in the film were caused by death itself, but humans are equally capable of making the same kind of mistakes.  It did a great job at teasing you on how the person was going to die, and at the last second, when you’re thinking they are going to be alright, bam! They’re dead.

With the movies like The Blair Witch Project and Quarantine, the part that pulls the audience in is the first person camera angle. Especially with The Blair Witch.  To make it seem more real and amateurish, it was full screen, and terrible quality. I could almost believe all of their reactions and what was happening in the woods. And the lack of a music score helped a lot with the realism, that goes along with Quarantine as well.  What I liked about Quarantine is you actually got to see everything that was going down.  Unlike The Blair Witch where you only heard noises, and caught a few eerie images towards the end.

Now Halloween on the other hand.  The only part of that film I enjoyed was the beginning half.  I really liked Michael Myers history of growing up and his deep emotional problems as an adolescent.  Everything made sense, which was great.  Then the second half, it just seemed he was out killing people, for apparently no reason. That really doesn’t appeal to me.

I’ve also seen all the Saw movies as well.  Now I’m not really sure why I watch those.  I think it is because they are clever, and you’re always waiting till the very last seconds of the movie to see the twist, which is always great.  I don’t know who comes up with the different ways to kill people, but those are all clever and twisted minded as well.

I know I’m just a couple months off the time of Halloween and scary movies and scary stories, but while I got time waiting for TV shows to return this fall, I might as well watch these. Also I didn’t ONLY watch horror films I also watched a chick flick.