Horror Movies: The Good and Not So Good

As Halloween is drawing nearer, I have spent the last few days pursuing one of my favorite guilty pleasures. No, not candy corn and Fun Sized Snickers (although both of those are rather tasty): I'm talking about watching horror movies. I am a huge fan of most things supernatural - ghosts, aliens, crazed and demonic serial killers - and as such I'm almost always up for a good scary movie. The only problem I have is that, well, there just aren't a lot of really good horror movies (which I find especially troubling, given that there seem to be as many, and maybe more, horror movies made as there are movies from any other genre).

As far as I'm concerned, the art of making good horror really reached its peak in the late '70's and early 80's. This was the period that introduced the world to Michael Myers, Jason, and Jaws, and in my mind nothing before or since then has really competed with these. The one possible exception is the body of work being produced in Hollywood's early days - Bella Lugosi-era Dracula, etc. But I while I do appreciate these films and find many of them quite enjoyable, they just don't deliver the "I'm sleeping with the lights on tonight" feeling of their more recent counterparts.

Scary, but not enough to make me turn on the nightlight

So what do I think about the movies made just in the last 20 years or so? Well, not much actually. Not to say that there haven't been some bright spots, but somewhere around 1985, things began to go wrong (Yes, I'm pointing my finger at you, Friday the 13th, Part V - A New Beginning). For some unexplainable reason, filmmakers began substituting believable characters and scare-the-piss-out-of-you villains with grade-A cheesiness. Formerly formidable foes became mere mockeries. All of a sudden, "horror" movies started having "cutesy" factor that makes me sicker than eating entire bags of the aforementioned candy corns or Fun Sized Snickers. Perhaps it was the success of the Nightmare on Elm St franchise - to his credit, Freddy was full of one-liners from the get-go - but the entire genre suffered considerably during this time.

More painful than a machete to the forehead

Fortunately by the mid-90's, the horror genre began to see a bit of a revival. Gone was the hokeyness of the late-80's, but in its place was a new trend that I find only slightly less-annoying: using "bloody" as a substitute for "scary." Yeah, I know, a well-placed knife to the jugular is supposed to cause a spewing of sorts. I have no problem with that. If your villain is a maniacal killer armed with any sort of sharp object, there needs to be a nice display of blood to get the point across that the helpless victim isn't simply unconscious. What bothers me is when filmmakers seem to think that 5 gallons of blood can completely take the place of true suspense and fear. To me, gore enhances the fright-factor but is not enough to create it on its own.

And here in 2005, I feel like horror is still in the blood=scariness phase. As much as this bothers me personally, I've seen no indication that Hollywood plans to change anytime soon. Did anyone else see Saw last year? Admittedly, I haven't seen Saw II yet, but I'm not expecting any big revolution here.

Entertaining, but is a movie really scary because it's bloody?

With that said, I'd like to point out some of my favorite (and least favorite) horror movies, characters, and concepts of all time. For the films that spawned a series of sequels, I've tried to cover as much of the franchise as possible.....but with a few limited exceptions, it's usually all downhill after the original.

Halloween
- HIGH POINTS: Halloween (and for that matter, Halloween II, since it's a direct continuation of the same story) may be the best "slasher" movie ever made. The characters are all believable, the cinematography is great, and Michael Myers achieves that rare balance of being far-fetched enough to be enjoyable while staying realistic enough to be scary as hell. Honorable Mention for H20, which pulls off the equally-rare balance of continuing a twenty year old story and not being horrible.
- LOW POINTS: (tie) Halloween III: Season of the Witch for temporarily abandoning Michael as the villain; and Halloween: Resurrection for having a Busta Rhymes-produced reality show as its plotline
- THE FUTURE: HalloweenMovies.com confirms that there will be at least one more entry to this franchise. I'm interested to see where they go with this.

The best ever?

Friday the 13th
- HIGH POINTS: The first four entries of this series are all pretty good. Jason's short cameo in the original (yeah, that's right - people always seem to forget that the killer in part 1 is not Jason) provides a great scare. The beginning of Part II is also great - the sole survivor from part one is immediately killed off. Part IV, Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter, probably should've been the final chapter.
- LOW POINTS: (tie) Friday the 13th, Part V - A New Beginning and Jason X are just plain terrible. Honorable Mention for Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan, which has a terrible concept (but is saved by the fact that it actually isn't that bad of a movie).
- THE FUTURE: I remember at one point there was talk of making a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason (which was much better than it had any right to be) that would also feature Ash from the Evil Dead series. I would love to see this made, but I haven't been able to find any reliable information on it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
- HIGH POINTS/LOW POINTS: If nothing else, this has probably been the most consistent of the big horror franchises. Given that, if you enjoyed the first one then you've probably been more-or-less satisfied with the sequels.....but if the original didn't do it for you, then there was nothing in the sequels to redeem the series. Freddy is a pretty likeable villain, as far as reincarnated-in-your-dreams-former-child-molestors go. Wes Craven's New Nightmare was a brilliant concept and a very underrated movie.
- THE FUTURE: See Above.

Definitely worth a rental

The Lost Boys
- This movie just screams 80's. A synth-heavy soundtrack, and not one, but two Corey's (Feldman and Haim) make this as much a period piece as anything else, but it's still one of my favorites. Also in the cast are Edward "the voice of the History Channel" Herrman and the future Jack Bower, Keifer Southerland - and both are great here. The Lost Boys is a good mix vampire-horror, tongue-in-cheek humor, and 80's cheese.

Event Horizon
- I don't know if this is more rightly classified horror or sci-fi, but no matter what you call it, this movie is creepy as hell. Basic plot: high-tech space ship tries to open a worm hole to achieve rapid inter-stellar travel, but instead opens a gateway to hell. Simple enough. None of the ghosts/demons have eyeballs either, which makes them look very disturbing overall (I think the movie explains why their eyes are missing, but I was hiding under the covers by that point).

The Evil Dead/Army of Darkness
- HIGH POINTS: The Evil Dead and The Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn are both fun, scary movies. Bruce Campbell as Ash is awesome.
- LOW POINTS: Army of Darkness just didn't do it for me. Although certainly a much better movie than several on this list, I just prefer the two Evil Deads.
- THE FUTURE: Aside from the rumored Ash appearance with Freddy and Jason, there apparently is a remake in the works for the original Evil Dead.

Child's Play
- HIGH POINTS: Hmmm....give me a second....well........
- LOW POINTS: These movies are about a killer doll! Why any sequels were ever made is beyond me. I can almost appreciate the concept of the original - Chucky is supposed to be scary because a doll is something that kids usually find comfort in - but in execution it just comes off as silly.
- THE FUTURE: Let's hope there is none.

What studio exec green-lighted this gem?

Night/Dawn/Day/Land of the Dead
- HIGH POINTS: The first and last scenes of Night of the Living Dead (1968) are fantastic - what's in between is pretty good too, although it gets tedious at times.
- LOW POINTS: This series has never really been one of my favorites. I know we're all supposed to be impressed by the premise of Dawn of the Dead - "Oh, the mindless zombies are attracted to a shopping mall! What a clever take on contemporary American consumerism!" - but social commentary isn't really something I look for in a good horror movie.
- THE FUTURE: I haven't actually seen Land of the Dead yet, but from what I've heard, it's supposed to be pretty good. I'll have to reserve judgment for the future of the franchise at least until I've seen the latest installment.

Shaun of the Dead
- While I'm not a huge fan of George Romero's originals, this spoof of those films is brilliant. OK, so this isn't a horror movie per se - I think I've heard it referred to as a "Zomedy" - but I can appreciate a good parody any day. I have also always been a big fan of dry British, dare I say Python-esque humor, and they lay it on thick in this one. The scene where Shaun is trying to tell his mom that his step-dad is a zombie had me rolling on the floor.

Who ever said death couldn't be hilarious?

Scream
- HIGH POINTS: The flagship franchise of the 90's horror revival, all three of these movies are actually very well made. Especially in the original, the concept of the characters using horror cliches to thwart the villain is surprisingly successful. It's unfortunate that these films sort of fell into the same trap as Hootie and Blowfish - get to trendy too quick and there's an inevitable backlash.
- LOW POINTS: Despite using the old movies as a guide of what not to do, the characters and the movies themselves often fall into and perpetuate these very cliches.
- THE FUTURE: It wouldn't surprise me if this franchise were done, although I wouldn't mind seeing another installment. The first three were entertaining enough to justify more sequels to fill the void of current quality horror movies.

The "Cracked Rear View" of the horror genre?

Scary Movie
- HIGH POINTS: Last parody, I promise. I actually thought the first Scary Movie was very clever, and did a good job making fun outright of the same stuff Scream just sort of danced around. Parts 2 and 3 also had their moments.
- LOW POINTS: Part 2 lost a little of the focus from the original, although the Wayans crew did make sure it was still a fun movie. Part 3, while pretty funny, was all over the place (If you want to see how bad it could've been though, check out the deleted scenes on the DVD - at one point the Incredible Hulk makes an appearance. I'm not kidding).
- THE FUTURE: Apparently Part 4 is in the works, due to hit theatres sometime next year. No plot details yet, but it's sure to be good for a laugh.

Jaws
- HIGH POINTS: Even if Halloween is the best "slasher" movie, Jaws just might be the best outright horror movie ever. This movie has everything you need for a truly terrifying experience. Unlike re-animated corpses, demons, and escaped mental patients, sharks are the real deal (OK, I guess escaped mental patients can be real too). And thanks in no small part to this film, the sight of an exposed dorsal fin is enough to instill total panic in most people. You watch most good horror movies, and you're kind of creeped out that night....you watch Jaws, and you look out for that fin every time you enter the water for the rest of your life. The fact that they don't even show the shark at first is great too - the mystery of it only adds to the already-heightened suspense. Also, the story itself is quite believable. The characters all seem like real people (thanks to great writing, directing, andacting), the setting is ideal, and the gore factor is handled perfectly. (If my memory serves me, only 4 people actually get killed - keeping the body count low only adds to the realism.) Great movie. I really can't say enough good things.
- LOW POINTS: None of the sequels really lived up to the original, but hands down, the absolute low point was Jaws 3. Everyone's favorite gilled assassin manages to get inside Sea World, or Ocean World, or whatever they call it in the film, and havoc ensues. Weak concept, awful execution.
- THE FUTURE: Although Jaws: The Revenge was a respectable entry, I think it's a safe bet that this series is done.

Dear Misters Benchley, Spielberg, Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw: Thank You.

So there you go - my deepest personal thoughts and feelings on the horror genre. What is really scary is the fact that I wrote most of that just off the top of my head. I told you I was a fan. And of course it doesn't stop there - I didn't even touch on anything Stephen King or the Poltergeist series - but it's late, and I've got a full day ahead of me tomorrow. That's right, I've got no job, it's Halloween, and Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Blob, Creepshow, and White Zombie are all saved on the TiVO for my viewing pleasure. Unemployment does certainly have its perks at times.