On Horror

So my essay this week is about horror movies. I just watched this really shitty horror movie called Session 9. The way I ended up watching it was they had a guy that looked like a young Mark Ruffalo, and so when I was flipping channels I was like "Is that Mark Ruffalo?", and then I figured out that it wasn't, that the guy just looked like Mark Ruffalo, but by then I'd watched like 10 minutes and I had to see how it turned out. It did have David Caruso, however.

So, this movie totally sucked (it's about some dudes that are trying to remove asbestos from a haunted insane asylum?), which was great because I just sat there for an hour and a half thinking about horror in a kind of meta way. I asked myself questions like "Why, exactly, is this funny and dumb instead of scary as opposed to some other movie? Why does horror exist as a genre at all? What purpose does it serve?" and so on. Intersested? Read on...

 Genres in movies tend to be tied to one certain human emotion or condition. Comedy = Humor, Action = Excitement/Danger, Drama = Sadness/Love, Romantic Comedy = Having One's Anus Packed With Broken Glass, etc. Horror's counterpart is Fear, our most base feeling, coiled down at the bottom of everything else. It's at the core of modern psychology. Mad at somebody? You're afraid. In love with somebody? You're afraid. Sad about something? You're afraid. I like the distinction that psychologists make between 'feelings' and 'emotions'. Emotions are cognitive and can be controlled, while feelings are not cognitive and simply emerge on their own. This distinction helps to explain how Fear always manages to worm it's way into the higher emotions.

Fear breaks down into two basic elements. There is the biochemical fear, which is the body telling you to be afraid. This is what you access when you skydive or bungee jump or whatever. It's just the fight/flight response. Psychological fear, the one that we engage during horror movies, is a lot more interesting. Take phobics, for instance. All phobics technically have the same fear, i.e. a fear of fear itself. Something that we are mildly frightened or bothered by (darkness, spiders, clowns, the fact that the kid who plays Harry Potter looks like he's 40 and there's still 2 movies to go) completely unmans them. The experience of Fear is simply too much for them to handle at all. But, for most of us, psychologists generally agree, a little bit of fear experienced in a safe setting (think Halloween) is beneficial. Why do we have a psychological need to experience small tastes of superficially negative emotions? Some bullet points...

• Fear feels bad, but is actually very good. Scared to touch a hot stove? Good! Stick your hand in a rattlesnake nest? Super! Fear is so pervasive, and the human imagination so tied to it, that I bet you wouldn't touch a stove that even might be hot, or stick your hand in a hole in the ground because there might be fuckin' snakes in there. Fear is therefore instructive in a survival sense.
• So why horror movies? Aristotle said that human beings enjoy tragedy because they enjoy 'gathering the meaning of things', even if the story has an unsatisfactory climax. So, the cognitive payoff makes up for the negative stuff. Let's see if we can come up with some examples of this. The Exorcist? Don't play with Ouija Boards (or, by inference, anything potentially powerful that you don't fully understand). Friday the 13th? Don't get loaded and have premarital sex (the mundane consequences of which are pretty terrifying, actually). Blair Witch Project? Carry a fucking GPS! It's the 21st Century! Or die alone in terror. It's just that simple.
• But somehow, the pleasurable part, the part that makes us seek this genre out as entertainment,is satisfying in other ways that just the cognitive. Take Roman Polanski's Repulsion, argued by many to be the scariest movie ever made. It's fuckin' creepy. It's about this lady who is slowly going schizophrenic. Had we been this lady's neighbor or kid or something in RL, rather than just vicariously enjoying her downward spiral on a movie screen, we would have been obligated to do something, like call 911 or the Ghostbusters or something. It's the difference between fictionality (not acting on an emotional stimulus because you know it's fake) and actuality (being forced to decide how to act in the face of emotional stimulus that you know is real). The experience of witnessing bogus distress is actually psychologically relaxing, as we know we will not have to do anything to help these characters.
• So why all the supernatural shit? Why are vampires and werewolves and serial killers scarier than having your home repossesed or getting hit by a Transfort bus? The Jungian answer is that a vampire is just an archetype for having your home repossesed or anything else you might actually be afraid of in RL. Freud is closer to the truth, saying that fascination with the 'uncanny' comes from ego-repression of things that feel true, on some level. They're both wrong, though, in my opinion. My theory has to do with evolution. For about 95 percent of the 200,000 or so years we have been biologically 'modern' humans, there were real monsters. And they would definitely eat you, or step on you, or fuck up your day somehow.

 

All of these critters were runnin' around until just a few thousand years ago. I would argue that 'pretend' monsters aren't metaphors for your mortgage, they are replacing the real monsters that we wiped out in the Quaternary Extinction (some paleontologists want to argue that it was disease or climactic change, I find it pretty coincidental that humans showed up and then the Megafauna were gone, almost overnight.) So you have a hard-wired, evolutionary fear of monsters because for most of human history, being caught and devoured by one was a very real possibility. Now that these creatures are no longer around, we have to invent monsters to supply that mechanism that exists in all of us. The most basic tenets of horror movies (stay out of dark places, don't go anywhere alone) can be linked back to perfectly sound survival advice from the age when monsters actually existed.

So, now that we understand a little bit about fear and it's psychological underpinnings, I will get to my final question: Why do some horror movies totally suck, and others make you piss your pants?

• Repetition is the most obvious answer. Any behaviorist can tell you that with each repetition of a stimulus, the resulting effect will lessen. You get used to it. The first time you see somebody going down a staircase into a darkened cellar you get the screaming meemies, the thousandth time all you can think to youself is 'Again?'
• Opinion also carries some weight here. People tend to disagree about what is actually 'scary'. For some (read: dumb) people, simple gore or physical torture is 'scary'. For others (read: sophisticated), it is more about the intense psychological pressure that builds and releases throughout a film.
•  Being a kid helps. You don't have the repetition issue to deal with, and kids can blur the line between fictional and actual much more easily than can most adults.
• Acting, direction, location, lighting, sound, story. All the same elements that you would have in any other movie matter here, and are maybe even more critical than normal, because of the importance of mood in horror films.
• And finally, Attitude.Your state of mind at the beginning of the piece. Studies have shown that a person's emotional preparedness is the single most important factor in determining an emotional outcome. Ready to be scared? It's more likely that you will be. This point also goes back to the previous one, as the mood of the film helps to get you into the proper psychological state to enjoy it.

So, to finish up, I will leave you with a listing of my 25 favorite horror movies (or thrillers with a horror element, or dramas with a horror element). Basically anything that ever gave me the creeps. I will omit any comedy/horrors, although there are some truly great ones, because that is a different psychological exercise altogether. I would recommend any one of these movies to anyone who hasn't already seen them and wishes to become more familiar with what I consider to be the best in the genre. In no particular order:

1. 30 Days of Night  (2007)

 This film is a great example of psychological tension, survivalism, and violent comic book gore all mixed into one movie. These aren't your pussy Interview With a Vampire or Twilight vampires. These guys will fuck you up proper. Awesome.

 2. Alien  (1979)

A classic sci-fi crossover. Has the same elements as 30 days, but better acting, direction, and a huge ass budget. The great part is that somebody added up the total time in the movie that you actually see the alien (the big guy, not the little worm looking bastard that they make fun of in Spaceballs).

Wanna guess? It's two minutes twelve seconds, out of a two hour movie. So, a tip of the old hat to Ridley Scott and company for this one. You couldn't cut the tension in this movie with a claymore.

 3. The Shining (1980)

Another masterpiece of suspense, with little actual violence. Includes the entire horror genre's greatest single performance of all time, brought to you by Jack Nicholson, who probably acts just like that in real life. Also notable for being (almost) the only time a Stephen King book became a decent movie.

4.  Se7en (1995)

Not actually a horror movie, more of a murder mystery/thriller kind of thing. Nonetheless, it is viscerally terrifying. If you want an example of my point about the importance of mood, particularly in horror films, watch this movie to find out why.

 5.  April Fool's Day (1986)

It's a slasher flick, probably my personal favorite of that particular horror subgenre. It has a genuine sense of humor, gets pretty scary sometimes, and has a great twist ending that you don't see coming a mile away.

6. 28 Days/Weeks Later (2002/2007)

Both of these rather low budget horror movies have set an entirely new standard in the zombie subgenre with it's addition of fast zombies, instead of the 'walking dead' variety. It is terrifying, if you've only seen the slow kind. These 'fast zombies' will do anything to get at you, and it's not pretty when they do. Watch them both, as they are meant to go together and each is a terrific movie in it's own right.

7. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

While this most famous of films doesn't fall into the horror genre, really (although I would challenge you to place this one into any one genre), it has quite a few horror elements and is just so iconic I felt it deserved mention. As far as I am concerned, Dorothy's entire experience is weird, creepy, and disturbing, reminiscent of the feeling you would get if you took too much acid. And it isn't just that it scared me as a kid, I watched it last year and still found it genuinely bizarre and creepy. Besides, name another movie that actually has a scary witch.


8. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Before 28 days/weeks came out, this was my favorite all time zombie movie. In it, some people trying to survive the Zombie Apocalypse take shelter inside a mall, which is groovy until these evil bikers come a-lootin' and then all hell breaks loose. A great zombie/survivalist flick.  More funny and awesome than actually scary, with very creative gore stuff. Don't bother with the piece of shit remake from 2004.

9. The Exorcist (1973)

The granddaddy of them all. An entire mythos has grown up around this film, which still stands today as the only movie from the horror genre to win a major Oscar (Best Director-William Friedkin). What more can you say about it? Probably the most effective horror movie of all time, combining superlative acting, direction, mood, pacing, and plot into a movie that manages to tap into 2000 years of religious terror with astonishing success. Even more stupendous when you recognize it as the very first mass marketed, big budget horror movie. Without peer.






10. Final Destination (1999)

Another movie that is more thriller than horror, but retains horror elements. In it, Devon Sawa's character has a super realistic dream that the plane he has just boarded is going to explode midair, so he and a few other people get off. Then, just like he dreamed it, the plane explodes. The rest of the movie is spent by him and the other 6 survivors trying to avoid death itself, as it attempts to rectify the anomaly of them getting off of the plane they were fated to be on. Pretty damn good.








11. I am Legend (2007)

Ok, I know this movie wasn't exactly flawless, especially the way crappy ending. What I love about it, though, is the psychological tension of solitude. 'Fear of being alone' is an endemic fear that nearly everybody experiences to some degree or another, and the emotional damage that 'aloneness' begins to wreak is apparent as the movie progresses.Will Smith's acting is superb throughout, which is lucky because otherwise the entire movie would've had to have been carried by the German Shepard.







12. Jaws (1975)

The top grossing horror movie of all time, still, and by a fucking long shot, too, when you figure in for inflation. Also a cultural milestone, as evidenced by the "We're gonna need a bigger boat..." meme which is recent. Simply terrifying, and once again you only see the 'monster' for about a minute and a half of the whole movie, mainly because their robot shark looked fake as hell and hardly ever worked properly. At any rate, it totally worked the way they ended up doing it.

13. The Others (2001)

A really cool, creepy haunted house movie with Nicole Kidman. Be forewarned, it has the 'twist ending', now ubiquitous, but back when this was made it was a little more fresh. A good WWII period piece that is much more eerie than scary, but excellent nonetheless.

14. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

A fairytale nightmare. Visually incredible, well acted, well written, and is actually as much a political drama about Spain circa 1944 as it is anything else. Definitely worth seeing.







15. The Ring (2002)

I'll tell ya what, for a remake of a Japanese horror movie, this was pretty damn good (just see The Grudge, if you want to watch it done poorly). This movie is creepy as hell, with a countdown involved to add tension. Zero gore, almost. Chilling.

16. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Iconic for it's 'twist ending' and cultural impact (I see dead people...), what gets overlooked about this movie is that it's really a wonderful story about overcoming alienation. Haley Joel Osment shoulda got the Oscar, man. Bruce Willis is good too.

17. Fire in the Sky (1993)

You gotta love the 'based on a true story' ones. This is about some Arizona loggers who come back from town one day without one of their coworkers, who it turns out was kidnapped by aliens. So while this guy is up in orbit getting probed and having the time of his life, his hapless buddies have to try and explain what happened to the FBI and the police. All this happened in real life, so it's worth watching just for that.

18. Pet Sematary (1989)

The only other example than The Shining I can think of where a Stephen King book turned into a good movie. Despite some pretty weak cliches (Indian Burial Ground, are you fucking serious?), and the fact that the entire premise for the movie could have been avoided if the main guy had remembered to fence his yard in, this is still a great horror flick for it's time, with gotcha scares and tension in equal measure.

19. Poltergeist (1982)

If you can get past the dated 1982 graphics, this is still a really great scary movie. It's Spielberg, so it has that childlike wonderment that he is so good at including in his films, and in this one, he turns that around, so that the affectations of childhood seem menacing and threatening. Love it, despite it having yet another Indian Fucking Burial Ground.

20. Scream (1996)

I promised no horror/comedies, but I'll include this one on the basis that it is really more horror than comedy. The one and only meta-horror flick, where the participants actually know that they are in a horror movie, Scream deserves props just for being the only one of it's ilk, unless you count the four sequels. Plus, it's sometimes scary, dude. Just think of that first scene with Drew Barrymore. Yikes.

21. Event Horizon (1997)

Fucking terrific. It's about some space dudes who are practicing with FTL travel, only to find out that hyperspace is actually like this Hell dimension filled with demons and Cenobytes and shit. If you haven't seen it, make a point of it. I would watch it right now if I had it. Awesome.

22. Repulsion  (1965)

Ever wonder how Roman Polanski got famous, I mean before he molested that thirteen year old and before his wife got killed by the Manson Family? It was this movie. It is compelling psychodrama in the manner that Psycho tried to pull off a couple of years before (no offense to Hitchcock fans, but this movie is better because you actually get to see the unraveling process). You get to witness this young woman (Catherine Deneuve) experience a total psychological breakdown first hand. It's mesmerising.

23. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

No supernatural stuff, and with two serial killers that you never actually get to see kill anybody, and yet remains one of the most tense and thrilling horror-type movies around. Iconic as well, and yet still, the book was better.

24. An American Werewolf in London (1981)

This is a still an immensely watchable and fun yet scary movie, despite the effects in some spots looking pretty fake. The part where the businessman is running away from the werewolf through the subways is still one of the scariest scenes ever filmed, IMHO.





25. Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895)



This is the first movie ever made, created by the Lumiere brothers in 1895. The reason it gets honorable mention as also the first horror movie is that when the Lumieres first showed it at the World's Fair in 1896, people ran from the theater screaming because they thought that the train was actually going to come out of the screen and crush them. True story.