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Thursday
March 18, 2010 Since 1922 |
What ever happened to scary movies?
By Jane Howard Lee
Contributor Published July 9, 2009 As a horror film aficionado (should that be aficionada?) I have to say that I have been terribly disappointed by a trend I am noticing in scary movies.
I have loved movies that horrify me, scare me and make those arm hairs stand on end since I was very young. I even like the nightmares that a really good horror movie can give me because those wild, scary dreams are like getting another movie for free. What could be better than that?
I like the ones with scary monsters that the hero vanquishes in the end.
I like the slice and dice psychopaths that die but don’t really die but instead get up again and surprise the hero who has to kill him again.
I like the psychological thrillers and the outer space thrillers. I like the creatures from the black lagoon, from outer space, from the bowels of an old nuclear power plant and the ones spawned by some celluloid demon or vampire, werewolf or even a cheap sludge monster.
So I sit up with interest whenever a TV ad touts some new horror flick. I wait eagerly for it to get into the theaters if it looks really, really good or to get released to the video stores.
I get my popcorn and my soda and get ready to be frightened out of my seat.
That’s what I want from a good scary movie, after all. I want it to be nerve-wracking throughout most of it and to have those moments when something on the screen makes me jump. The more jumps, the better.
“Ooh, they got me,” I’ll holler to my husband or whoever else is watching that movie with me.
For a few years now I have noticed that more and more of these movies have ended with what I consider to be a big cop out. More and more, these films wind up to the big ending, the big reveal, the big moment when the film makers finally let us know what is going on only to let us know that the protagonist in the film is just flat crazy. All that scary stuff was all in his head.
How am I going to get a good nightmare out of that?
Another cop out is when the film’s star has been terrified all through the movie. Strange things keep happening and it seems that somebody or something is trying to kill him or her, only to finally figure out that he or she is already dead.
I hate that.
I blame M. Night Shyamalan for that.
His films are great but it was one of those, “The Sixth Sense” starring Bruce Willis, that used that little twist to explain everything that was going on and probably set off the trend. In that movie, Bruce Willis thought he was a shrink treating a boy who saw dead people, but in the end, Willis finally figures out that he is one of the ghosts.
I suppose this technique was used before, but when Shyamalan used it, his popularity and huge success must have sparked a lot of copy cats, because it seems more and more of my horror movies have cheap, easy-out endings.
Boo.
I’ve seen four or five films that were released just in the past year where the main character is puzzled, then terrified by strange things only to have the film makers finally let us know in the end that the character is just crazy or already dead.
I’m over it. Why aren’t they?
Give us a good ending. A terrifying surprise. Something to make us quiver and shake and check under our beds before we climb into them at night.
That’s not too much to ask for, is it?
Jane Howard Lee is a reporter for The Baytown Sun.
Contributor Published July 9, 2009 As a horror film aficionado (should that be aficionada?) I have to say that I have been terribly disappointed by a trend I am noticing in scary movies.
I have loved movies that horrify me, scare me and make those arm hairs stand on end since I was very young. I even like the nightmares that a really good horror movie can give me because those wild, scary dreams are like getting another movie for free. What could be better than that?
I like the ones with scary monsters that the hero vanquishes in the end.
I like the slice and dice psychopaths that die but don’t really die but instead get up again and surprise the hero who has to kill him again.
I like the psychological thrillers and the outer space thrillers. I like the creatures from the black lagoon, from outer space, from the bowels of an old nuclear power plant and the ones spawned by some celluloid demon or vampire, werewolf or even a cheap sludge monster.
So I sit up with interest whenever a TV ad touts some new horror flick. I wait eagerly for it to get into the theaters if it looks really, really good or to get released to the video stores.
I get my popcorn and my soda and get ready to be frightened out of my seat.
That’s what I want from a good scary movie, after all. I want it to be nerve-wracking throughout most of it and to have those moments when something on the screen makes me jump. The more jumps, the better.
“Ooh, they got me,” I’ll holler to my husband or whoever else is watching that movie with me.
For a few years now I have noticed that more and more of these movies have ended with what I consider to be a big cop out. More and more, these films wind up to the big ending, the big reveal, the big moment when the film makers finally let us know what is going on only to let us know that the protagonist in the film is just flat crazy. All that scary stuff was all in his head.
How am I going to get a good nightmare out of that?
Another cop out is when the film’s star has been terrified all through the movie. Strange things keep happening and it seems that somebody or something is trying to kill him or her, only to finally figure out that he or she is already dead.
I hate that.
I blame M. Night Shyamalan for that.
His films are great but it was one of those, “The Sixth Sense” starring Bruce Willis, that used that little twist to explain everything that was going on and probably set off the trend. In that movie, Bruce Willis thought he was a shrink treating a boy who saw dead people, but in the end, Willis finally figures out that he is one of the ghosts.
I suppose this technique was used before, but when Shyamalan used it, his popularity and huge success must have sparked a lot of copy cats, because it seems more and more of my horror movies have cheap, easy-out endings.
Boo.
I’ve seen four or five films that were released just in the past year where the main character is puzzled, then terrified by strange things only to have the film makers finally let us know in the end that the character is just crazy or already dead.
I’m over it. Why aren’t they?
Give us a good ending. A terrifying surprise. Something to make us quiver and shake and check under our beds before we climb into them at night.
That’s not too much to ask for, is it?
Jane Howard Lee is a reporter for The Baytown Sun.