Caws Radio

The Trouble with Horror Movies

Last night I viewed "The Ring"(the American version), and afterwards I reviewed my experience while watching it and decided that it is, indeed, scary. I admit; the girl in the closet, the NIN video, Patti Smith coming out of the TV...It all did a pretty good job at creeping my ass out. Do I think it is a good movie? Not really, no. And that's the problem I've come across.

Horror movies don't have to be good to be scary, and that just doesn't seem right to me. Many of these movies have poorly developed characters, nonsensical storylines and shitty endings, BUT they have plenty of scary makeup, loud music bursts and special effects to compensate. Movies like "The Ring" and "The Mothman Prophecies" seem to have started out with good ideas, but after reviewing the scripts and deciding they made no sense at all the producers just said "hell with it. We'll throw in some disturbing imagery, quick cuts and color effects and release it anyway."

What also makes me whine is that horror movies don't have to be scary to be good. Did I think "The Sixth Sense" was good? Yeah. Did it scare me? Hell no, except for those couple parts with quick cuts, scary makeup, and music bursts.

This scary-but-bad thing also applies to video games. I remember when I first played "Silent Hill" for the Sony Playstation. It was one of the craziest, creepiest things I'd ever experienced, but the game itself sucked.

Anyway, I have to go now. I will leave you with a couple personal exceptions: "The Blair Witch Project" and "Signs" (I love these movies, and they scared me). Also, if you viewers at home have any examples of crappy movies that still scared you, feel free to comment on them.