I've been experimenting in a lot of genres and media that I haven't ever really tried before. I've been listening to dance music. I've gone to a bunch of art exhibits. I've even read manga for the first time in my life. In the spirit of exploration, I just watched my first real horror movie - and, despite all the opinions I've heard to the contrary, Kazaam doesn't count.
Last night I watched Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell... and I'm not sure how I feel about it
See, a lot of what I love about the horror genre (or, at least, the IDEA of the genre) is the atmosphere - the feeling that, at any moment, something terrible will happen. The only real experience I have in the horror genre AT ALL is in video games (like Silent Hill 2), where immersion is the game's primary objective. Movies don't have the time to cultivate the environment of fear quite like a video game does, so I think my expectations might have been off
Also, a lot of the creep factor (at least in this movie) comes more from the gross-out moments than anything else - and there were a LOT of gross out moments. I saw more old-lady spittle than I ever thought possible, and it's not as much of a turn-on as I thought it would
Wow, I have GOT to stop typing
Anyway, Drag Me to Hell - pretty good movie. Extremely goofy (but, considering what little I know of Sam Raimi and his usual accomplices, seems fitting), not as scary as I was hoping, but enjoyable.
Last night I watched Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell... and I'm not sure how I feel about it
See, a lot of what I love about the horror genre (or, at least, the IDEA of the genre) is the atmosphere - the feeling that, at any moment, something terrible will happen. The only real experience I have in the horror genre AT ALL is in video games (like Silent Hill 2), where immersion is the game's primary objective. Movies don't have the time to cultivate the environment of fear quite like a video game does, so I think my expectations might have been off
Also, a lot of the creep factor (at least in this movie) comes more from the gross-out moments than anything else - and there were a LOT of gross out moments. I saw more old-lady spittle than I ever thought possible, and it's not as much of a turn-on as I thought it would
Wow, I have GOT to stop typing
Anyway, Drag Me to Hell - pretty good movie. Extremely goofy (but, considering what little I know of Sam Raimi and his usual accomplices, seems fitting), not as scary as I was hoping, but enjoyable.
3 comments:
Best line: "How's the coin collection coming, son?"
Best text of the week - Stephen Bradford 9:16pm - "Just watched an old woman get her eye stapled shut in Drag Me to Hell...hmmm..."
"Horror" implies some sort of graphic violence above and beyond a normal suspense flick, which is why I recommended this one.
I l-o-v-e scary movies. Shark movies too. What's wrong with me? Don't answer that.
Problem is, you are right - suspense is lacking, so what we lack in suspense we make up for in grossness. AND, in movies, if you use the shock factor too often, it numbs the audience - or so says the documentary on Jaws when they were explaining how to use which "shock" moments they did. So really they can't even begin to scare us as much as we would like.
Some of the better suspenseful (not horror) movies I've seen all also have a cheese factor. And all are better on the big screen.
Now that I have ClearPlay, I am looking forward to trying a few more.
Raimi is cool, but you have to expect his normal Horror movies to be silly, with Army stuff like Evil Dead and Army of Darkness under his belt. That's Why Drag Me To Hell was awesome.
I'm more partial to Horror movies with psychological thriller aspects, particularly the ones that dwell on the minds of the messed up people. The Shining, American Psycho, etc.
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