Horror movies scare us. We can't watch them. But, we do. I started my collection because I saw horror movies as a way my family and I to connect. I remember being a kid in the 80s and going to rent movies or go watch them at a movie theater; this was before Netflix and the internet. My favorite thing is to eat microwaved popcorn and use a VCR to watch whatever movie my family rents. During that time, I was too young to appreciate what I was watching in the movies. I watched Jaws when I was seven years old. That movie left a huge impression on me. What we don't see on screen is what terrifies us, it is subtle. A scene that impacted me was the opening of the movie Jaws. A group of young people is gathered around a bonfire drinking beer on a sandy beach at night and a girl and boy lock eyes. The girl Chrissy gets the bad idea of having the boy chase her into the water to skinny dip. The boy, being too drunk, falls asleep on the beach, Chrissy swims in the dark and gets thrashed in the ocean before being pulled underwater. This scene has a lot of elements sex mystery suspense. It follows a simple formula for successful horror movies because we are hooked and forced to stay and find out what is going on.
Classic Monster movies in black and white also appeal to me even though I was not born yet. I love these movies because they seem so exciting before color tv. The monsters confused me as a child I felt sympathy for Dracula, having to drink other people’s blood to live, what a truly horrible existence and fate this must be. Watching friends, family members, and all those close to you that you love deeply to die because you got the blood sucked out of you by a vampire. The wolfman who is aware of his condition yet can live like a normal man but must be aware of the full moon because he literally turns into a creature that can rip apart anything or anyone who gets in his way.
The agony and torment that must be going through the mind of the individual has to be horrible. Never forming deep connections for anyone because of the harm that can come to their loved ones. Then there’s Frankenstein, he holds a special place in my heart. Can we blame this creature for his horrific actions when he realizes that he is not just an ordinary man that he was made from several parts of different men. His creator Victor Frankenstein, a scientist was messing around, and he is a product. All these movies bring moral dilemmas to the front and center. What makes a man good or evil? What I learned is that everyone is a product of their environment and that human beings always fear and attack what is unknown. I love these movies so much because the importance was the emotions that the actors make you feel and the makeup, not a lot of special effects like there are by today’s standards. The acting made you feel all the emotions when Dracula was being Introduced, the transformation from man to wolf is exciting and painful to see humanity leave the wolf mans face. Victor Frankenstein’s cry “it’s alive” “it’s alive” as the creature moves uneasily over the lightning strike bringing him to life. One-word slashers. What is a slasher? A person who stalks and kills people in a horror film. The bloodier the better, the higher the body count. even better.
Slashers are the best because they can't be reasoned with. Freddy Krueger was written as a pedophile. This fact makes him a vile and grotesque human being. He gets burned to death by angry parents because of what was done to their children. Society doesn’t care if its morally right that a group of parents take justice in their own hands. The movie Halloween is about a young boy named Michael Myers that on Halloween decides to kill his sister Judith on Halloween night. Friday the 13th is about Jason a poor disabled boy that drowns while he is supposed to be watched by camp counselors, then his mother goes around killing counselors when Camp Crystal Lake opens. This genre of movies has given me mixed feelings. The Slashers are always bullied and tormented when they were young. Then they grow up and become something that society fears. I ask myself if Jason was looked after he never would have drowned. His mother would never have killed a lot of counselors, and he still would have been bullied by society. His appearance made him a target. Michael Myers hears voices and kills his sister Judith on Halloween night. Modern medicine would say he suffered from a chemical imbalance or trauma and lock him away just like in the movie, but should he be allowed to return to society after so many years. Freddy Krueger from nightmare on elm street is born after his mother who is a nun is raped by 1000 maniacs in an insane asylum.
Freddy Krueger in the movie Halloween is unloved and unwanted because he likes to inflict pain and horror to terrify his victims, this pleases him. These movies warn you that the world is not friendly. I learned that everything is disturbing about all these movies because they deal with trauma, so they don't make for sympathetic protagonists. Slasher films are just blood guts and gore, So the audience should just take it as that. My third category is about aliens, also known as science fiction horror films. I love movies about creatures from outer space. The reason that these movies are great is because outer space is a mystery to most humans. We don’t know what type of alien species there are in space. If they are friendly or not. The unexpected and unexplained Is what draws us to filmmakers’ interpretation of what is a creature from outer space. It’s good fun to watch because of the creature itself. My top mentions in this category are of course alien movies. The tag line in the movie poster in space no one can hear you scream. This is good stuff. This image is chilling even before you see the movie. The whole franchise is pretty good. I like the way that the alien is presented in space of course with a crew of humans checking out a colony and the encounter with the egg like pods. It's the stuff nightmares. The alien attaches itself to a host's face and proceeds to implant it eggs and then the new aliens eat the host and burst out of their chest.
These movies talk about the human fear of the unknown. What does life on other planets look like? In these movies we see that the creatures want to take over humanity and to do this the creature tries to assimilate itself into our life. I think these movies are fun because we don't know what an actual alien does. We just get to several interpretations thanks to Hollywood. All the Movies that I wrote about evoke an emotion out of me or they helped me in a weird way along my life. They remind me life can have twists and turns, but we have fun along the way too.
Works Cited Page
Jaws Directed by Stephen Spielberg Universal Pictures 1975
Nightmare on Elm Street Directed by Wes Craven New Line Cinema 1984
Dracula directed by Tod Browning Universal Pictures 1931