Horror - Cooler than they think!
Horror - Cooler than they think!
In the world of film, Horror movies and a couple of other kinds of movies are called ‘genre’ movies. I have never understood exactly why this is the case. After all drama is also a genre of movie, but dramas are always referred to as ‘movies’ where as horror films are ‘genre’. Now of course horror movies are a totally cool, totally unique thing. But there is one bad effect of shuffling horror movies off to the side in this kind of way. Watching horror movies as something ‘separate’ – I think – has made the general public totally not appreciate some of the real artistry and great filmmaking that happens in horror.
If you think about it, there is a lot of very artful and unconventional colors, shooting, lighting and all sorts of artistic elements in horror movies. We are used to seeing them in horror, but the truth is that they are amazingly artistic and creative. If we saw off center angles, blurred movements and strong colors in a dramatic film, we might call that an ‘art film’ and there might be a lot of gushing from film ‘artistes’ about its artistry, but when they occur in horror, they are brushed aside, or maybe even unseen.
Remember that great film Jacob’s Ladder, with Tim Robbins, directed by Adrian Lyne? The movie was an amazing story about strange people, maybe creatures, real or imagined (I won’t spoil it for you) that are torturing and stalking a Vietnam vet. The creatures had a cool effect where their heads would rapidly shake back and forth. This effect was very original and very scary and reverberated through movies such as House on Haunted Hill, Fear.com, The Cell, Halloween and more.
Or what about shot of the house at night with the light casting on the priest who is in silhouette? If that silhouette shot was in a drama film, there would be fancy cinema critics discussing how the shot echoed film-noir or German Impressionism or things like that, but instead, because it is horror it doesn’t tend to fall on peoples lists of artistic films. Yes, the film was nominated for awards, but this is very rare for horror, and in this case, how often is it really appreciated as artful?
In any given horror movie, you can find all kinds of unusual, experimental and daring ideas that horror heads have loved for years, but that the general public hasn’t really caught on to. Although, I also suppose that the cloud does have a silver lining. Actually, 2 silver linings I think:
Firstly, the fact that the general public and movie industry has sort of segregated horror to the side means that to a large degree, horror hasn’t been totally messed with, and left to horror lovers to make and enjoy. Secondly, because there is an allowance in taste for horror to go further cinematically without ‘breaking the rules’, it means that creativity has a place to flourish. This can be great not just for horror, but for film in general. Just the way that in racing cars there is all kinds of innovation that eventually trickles down to ‘real’ cars, or when crazy runway fashion experiments eventually seep into the actual clothes that people wear, the cool artistry that is ‘allowed’ in horror might feed the innovation and tastes for all movies and all movie lovers.
So, how can I sum up this entry in 2 words – horror rocks.
Lorne
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