We Can Talk Horror

We can talk about horror movies. We can talk about their effects on audiences and individuals. We can discuss the relationships created with these characters from all sides of their existence; from the creators, to the actors, to the viewers.

There is a primeval wonderment that is associated with fear. Existence is partially based on survival. Alligators and sharks have no natural known predator, only mankind kills those species by the thousands every year. What is mankind’s only known natural predator? It’s the same thing that kills alligators and sharks by the thousands every year. And, occasionally some of our brethren get eaten by a bear, an alligator, or a shark; however, we can experience a tiny fraction of that fear within a controlled environment like the movie theater or the living room.  

Fear causes the human body to instinctively increase the flow of adrenaline throughout the body as the brain shifts its flesh and blood host into the fight-or-flight persona. Knowing that we are secure in our own personal space, we lightly tread into danger because the taste of fear is far too compelling, nearly addictive, but in a real life situation common sense says run, but thanks to movies we have people with a subconscious death wish or a guilty conscience willing to tackle these reprehensible murderers. Their sacrifices are sometimes heroic, comical, or well deserved for just like any other movie that is vastly respected or deemed watchable by consensus, a good horror movie is driven by a basic, plain ideal: likeable characters.  The audience needs a person that is relatable, someone they can connect with on some sort of level; aesthetic or psychological. These character are meant to remind you of someone you know, even remind you of yourself while telling what is hopefully an interesting tale; whatever it takes for you as a viewer to identify with them.

Of course, within every cavalcade of future corpses there needs to be those scoundrels that deserve seeing their intestines tugged through a hole in their throat. They reflect the pieces of society that the masses find unbearable; the snobby rich kid, the loud mouthed thug, in-laws, and the crabby old maid that keeps all of the sports balls that land in her backyard. However, these are the fun kills, we look forward to these. The kills that we still expect but feel sympathy are a horror films true test, and it always doesn’t come down to wanting the character to be a good person, the actor needs to win the audience’s support which is difficult because most horror films are plagued with terrible acting, but it is terrible acting by people who work cheaply which is the main reason most of them are retained.  

In horror films we have seen people devoured by animals of both realistic species and completely imagined species mechanically engineered into existence. We have seen mothers, children, pets, trolls, and demons enact gory fury upon beloveds and complete stranger, but being able to cling to someone in a movie viewing environment excites the mood instead of manipulating it because there will be no axe-wielding maniac coming for us, but we are lucky enough to catch hint of what that might just be like. Embracing fear is an acquired taste, but we all feel it and at some point we all give in to it.