Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Why we Love Horror Movies?

Jason Voorhees

We enjoy seeing people run for their lives. Unfortunately some people have a real sick predilection to see blood, human blood and seemingly the more the better. As sick and twisted as it is this is one of the realities of our movie going experience. Others enjoy seeing people loose their heads, pun intended. As long as ours remain intact, all is well in the world.

The Bad Guys

Where would the horror movie genre be without one of the craziest guys to ever don a hockey mask such as Jason Voorhees or better still, if John Carpenter hadn't given birth to such a Jacko' (Sorry) I mean wacko like Michael Myers? Or even the masterfully written and intriguing Jig Saw in the Saw series who happens to be one of my favorite "boogie men". Or how about Jack Nicholson's horrifying performance in Steven Kings "The Shining". But if I had to throw a monster in that mix, and grant it this next selection is female, I would have to say that the "highly over protective" alien from the movie Aliens deserves to be in the conversation. The movie and its villainous Alien is certainly one of the chief reasons the movie remains a favorite of most lovers of the genre. It's certainly pretty high and green on my list.

But...Wait don't go in the closet!

Something that most moviegoers will never understand is why so many times the heroine in a horror movie whenever hearing some kind of strange noise coming from maybe her downstairs of her home or from her closet she always has to investigate. In real life, the average person wouldn't hesitate getting out the house if they thought there might be someone in their home. But truthfully, if it weren't for this obvious character flaw we the moviegoer wouldn't enjoy the same level of interaction with the movie's characters. And as long as the characters in the horror movies continue to do really stupid things we the moviegoer will continue to enjoy telling them about it.

So... Would you like some cheese with that sir?

Filmmakers have collaborated for years in making some of the best horror movies you can think of, many of which if I mentioned you would have probably seen and undoubtedly enjoyed. But over the course of that same period many lousy or what some would like to term "cheesy" horror movie have also been made. Movies like Motel Hell, Hellraiser or The Exorcist Part 2 just to name a few. I'm sure if you were to name some of the cheesiest horror movies you've seen I wouldn't be too surprised at some of your selections either.

I personally love horror movies so much and have been watching them since I was a small child that I have more of a tolerance for a bad or "cheesy" horror movie then most. Movies like "The Trilogy of Terror", I think I was about twelve or thirteen when first seeing this "cheesy" movie but many years later it still resonates with me as one of the movies that I would enjoy seeing over and over again.

One of the reasons I think for this tolerance is because I understand that the "horror genre" unlike some others, lends itself more to real bad stories and even worse acting. If you were to take stock of many of the movies you've seen over the years and just briefly thought about what percentage of those movies were bad and of those how many were horror movies, I think you would manage to prove my point perfectly.

I think as a lover of horror movies you understand that going in that there is a huge possibility that despite the movie's title and the appeal of its trailer that after the curtain opens a hour and half to two hours later you could leave out of the theater feeling not so good about how you just spent your time.

True lovers of the genre are just happy they had another chance to take part in the entire experience, such as it is.


Author:
Sidney R. Shannon is the creator of ScaryMovieMania the net's number one stop for all things relating to the horror movie genre. When you dare to "take a walk on the wild side" and subscribe to my blog for more great articles like this I promise to keep you on the "cutting edge". If you like to distribute this article on the internet you may do so as long as you do not alter the contents and the link remains in place. Copyright Sidney R. Shannon

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