What sort of scare do you like? I've been thinking about horror movies lately, what with Halloween approaching, and come to the conclusion that there are three distinct types of horror movies. I'm not talking about genres of horror movies, but rather a classification of the different ways they try to "scare" us.
I've broken them down into the following groups; "Shock-Stalk" movies, the "Gross Out", and "Spine Tinglers". Each one attempts to scare us in a different way and while each has its merits, I think only the "Spine Tinglers" actually accomplish their mission.
I came up with these categories while watching the recently released special edition DVD of the 80's vampire movie Near Dark. The first time I saw this movie was in highschool about ten years ago. It never really scared me much, but I guess I remembered it being better than it seems now. Ahh, but I digress.
While watching, I wondered about how it made me feel, and why anyone might choose it as a movie to watch at Halloween. Let's face it, vampires have been done to death (pardon the pun), and they're just not that scary anymore. I mean, really, we live in a society that watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and eats "Count Chocula" cereal!
The only part of Near Dark that disturbed me was the scene where Caleb (a new vampire) feeds from the wrist of Mae (a slightly older vampire). It didn't scare me, but I imagined the sensation of tearing my own wrist open with my teeth and letting someone suck on it. That disturbed me. It was the physical sensation, or the thought of it. It didn't scare me though, just made me uncomfortable. (I guess it's safe to say I wouldn't be in to S&M).
Is that the point of a horror movie? Is a good horror movie supposed to scare us, or make us squeemish? Many might argue that it is both, but I suppose it depends upon why you're watching a particular movie. I watched an awful lot of them as a teenager, and to a ceratin extent I've become immune to their effects. Brain-eatin' zombies? Seen that. Mutilated corpses are nothing new and don't scare me, and they don't gross me out. At least not in the movies. I've seen some of those web sites with pictures of real dead people, and some of those are disturbing. Maybe it's because I know they're real people. I guess it's about empathy. In a movie, however, I know it's fake so it doesn't do anything to "scare" me. So a "gorefest" isn't my idea of a Halloween movie.
So what is scary?
One movie I always watch at Halloween is... well, Halloween. For those of you unfamiliar with the movie (what, do you live in a cave?) it is about a young boy named Michael Myers who kills his older sister on Halloween and is locked away in an asylum. 20 years later he escapes and goes back to his home town for a little slicing and dicing.
So we have the psychopathic killer, so what. We have lots of those in real life. Halloween falls into the "shock-stalk" category. The main characteristic of a shock-stalk movie is a killer who murders a group of victims one at a time, each in a new and interesting way while "scaring" us by jumping out at inopportune moments. It's become a clichι!
But this isn't really scary, is it? After the killer jumps, and after you jump, what happens. Do you fear for your mortal soul? Do you run screaming in terror? No. You calm down from the adrenaline rush (which is a pleasurable sensation and the real reason we watch these movies) and you have a good laugh at yourself for being such an idiot.
You weren't scared, you were "startled". There's a difference.
Horror movie veterens don't leave the theatre after a shock-stalk movie watching over our shoulders, and we're not afraid to turn out the light at night.
I'm sure people will disagree with me on this last point. I can hear them saying, "but when the killer jumps out and the music crescendos it makes me jump, and it scares me." Well, you're not scared, you're startled. You had a rush of adrenaline, it felt good, and as much as you dread (with anticipation) the next "scare" you can't wait for it to get there `cause ya' want that adrenaline rush again. Admit it... it felt good.
A lot of people associate the word 'scared' with being startled. When someone jumps out at you you might say "Damn you, you gave me a fright!". But did they really frighten you? Did you fear for your mortal soul? Do you truly dread the possibility of it happening again so that you become paranoid? I didn't think so.
"Fear" is the key. Not fear in the moment, but a sustained fear. If you're afraid not only of the thing as it happens, but also that it may happen again outside of the movie, regardless of how illogical it is... that is being scared. If you want that kind of feeling, you need a film from the third category, "spine-tinglers".
These are the films that keep us in suspence and creep us out. They might include aspects of the first two, but they must have an atmosphere or characteristic that promotes real fear. I find, for me at least, that it is the supernatural horror movies that do this. For me pschopathic killers and gory death is a reality because, let's face it, we live in that kind of world. The supernatural, however, is something we don't see or experience every day. We don't really have any proof of it.
How can something that, for all intents and purposes, does not exist be so scary? Simply because we have to ask the question "what if?". You may not believe in ghosts, but when the lights are off and the wind howls outside on a crisp autumn night, you can't help but wonder, just a little bit, what if they're real? What if there is one in this room right now?
This extends to demons, poltergeists, strange monsters... those things that lurk in our subconscious. I don't believe in God, or the Devil, or any other religious ideology, so for me the possiblility that these things could be real has major ramifications. What scares me? The Exorcist, Blair Witch Project:2, The Sixth Sense, The Others... the list goes on, but they all have in common the fact that they are creepy "what if" stories instead of being ripped from the headlines of the today's news.
If you want a good horror movie for Halloween, rent a "spine-tingler". Watch it with the lights off and see how you feel when you go to bed. Sure, ghosts don't exist, demons don't really possess little girls, and there is no killer-clown doll under your son's bed... Is there?
