A strong contender for a genre that has gone down the drain is horror. Today's horror movie doesn't scare; sure, you have the scenes that are dark and quiet, with all of a sudden something happening to make you jump, but nothing really terrifying. And somehow, horror isn't about horror anymore; it's about more blood and gore. Movies like the Saw series, for example, are full of the most disgusting ways to cut up/kill/torture a person, but all that does is make you cringe in your seat. Again, nothing really scary about that, just a little revolting.
On the other hand, I was watching TV last night when on came an old 70's classic horror movie, 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. Now obviously, movie titles have improved since the 70's, but the scare factor in this movie is a good 10/10. The scary parts weren't the moments that made you jump, or the occasional bloody scene. Nope; this whole movie put you into a situation that slowly grew and grew, making you (along with the main characters) feel less helpless as the movie goes along. Humans are being cloned into mirror images of themselves, just ones that have no feelings, while the original person dies away. Slowly, the disease takes over all of the city (country, world?) while our main characters try to figure a way out of the situation. Being scientists, they try to find a solution, and contact the authorities (police, FBI and so on) to support them, but as the movie keeps going they start realizing that even the authorities have been taken over, and they start to run. The more they run, the more they realize the extent to which this disease has taken over, and it starts to get to them slowly, one by one. Just the feeling of helplessness that develops as you watch is enough to warrant this movie an award.
There's one scene where they realize how the transformation actually takes place, and that has got to be one of the freakiest things i've seen on TV for quite a while (I won't spoil it here, go watch the movie). The whole process happens when you sleep, so after the characters figure this out, they try their best to stay awake (but how long can you last before giving in?) The whole aura of a cold San Fransisco, the 70's clothes, the grainy, dull colors of the movie, and the off-beat background music only serves to support the whole freaky atmosphere of the movie.
Seriously, here's a movie that reaches out and puts you in a really scary situation, and gets you wondering what you would do if something similar would happen. Another chilling effect is when groups of the 'transformed' stop and look at anyone who shows any sort of emotion, cold and empty, with eerie, frozen stares. It's almost an apocalypse scenario, somehow, seeing all the people turn into clones with no feelings, no emotion, walking in straight lines obeying orders, their only goal in life being to turn anyone who isn't a clone into one (their shriek is also bloodcurdling and makes you want to cover your ears and hide).
The movie builds feelings of paranoia, the fear of being just a face in the crowd (communism?), and having no control over everything around you. I can't really capture the essence of it here; if you're a horror buff, you need to watch this movie (the one I saw was the 1978 version, I know there's a 1956 older version as well, but I haven't seen that one yet).
The original version of the movie, as I have read, tries to give an optimistic ending. The director for the 1978 version however, places a suprise twist in the last 2 seconds of the movie (again, I won't ruin it here, it's something for you to watch). Great stuff.
8.5/10
If you're interested in watching some clips, here ya go (be careful, there might be a few spoilers)
PS. Also equally scary in the movie is Donald Sutherland's moustache:
Totally agree with you! I don't go to the cinema often but if I do, I try and make sure I don't waste 2 hours in a pathetic film. This is becoming harder to avoid these days - I also agree there is so much overuse of special effects that it just makes the film more unrealistic, esp. when the storyline is fictional rather than fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThe only film I wanted to walk out of was "transformers" - and I've just watched "national treasure" or whatever it's called with nicholas cage, and wanted to fall asleep in that one. It was difficult to fall asleep, however, as I was fortunate enough to sit next to a middle-aged French couple who were blabbering away throught the whole film until I decided to ask the lady to keep their voices down!
Take for example in Germany, talking during films is a strict no-no - I have actually been in a cinema where the film was paused while a man was escorted out of the cinema for talking! When he left, the audience cheered, and the film was unpaused. Loool
They ought to implement the same strategy here. Only that I think the film would be paused from the first minute and 100 times thereafter!
hmmm, ya the scary movies today isn't so scary after all. Grudge I and II were interesting and 1408 is worth mentioning.
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched Invasion of Body Snatchers but will think about it soon!
You have a point here Ammar. I think what horror movies' producers lack is creativity and coming up with some new ideas. And I don't know why on earth it always should be DARK, so it can be more scary? By the way, same is applied for Comedy, as most of them really SUCKS!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I am a big fan of those movies that let you think and think about its ending for days :)
Nice clip! Yeah, I stopped watching horror movies, they're just bleh..
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to horror movies I like psychological horror films, like The Ring and my favorite Silent Hill. Silent Hill takes the award for the best horror film in recent years although I didn't find it terrifying only because I played the games and THAT was a truly terrifying experience!
ReplyDeletei*; the movie-going experience here is definately flawed. people go to make out/use laser pointers/clap/talk/run around/waste time. only few actually watch.
ReplyDeletejoel; 1408 had a few jumpy scenes, but wasn't really scary. i liked the grudge. but thing is, good horror movies are few and far between.
reloaded; its not only horror. its everything. kela crap.
N; watch this movie! might restore your faith :)
KJ; again, the ring was one of the few good ones. silent hill was a copy of the game, which used to FREAK ME OUT (specific conditions apply, ill have to write about that soon)
did you know the 70's version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is actually a remake?? the original dates back to the 50's!
ReplyDelete- Shihaby