Something about horror movies
May 29th 2009 12:01
The good ones have the ability to scare you for a long time. The bad ones may give you a momentary thrill, cause you to grab your date in the dark theater a few times but they really don't stay with you. Good scares, like the ones you get from really great horror movies stay with you. An example is the original "Halloween". I saw that movie in the theater with two friends when it originally came out in 1978. Thirty one years later, I can still close my eyes and see the face of Michael Meyers (Will Sandlin), covered by a mask that Tommy Lee Wallace modified from a $1.98 James Kirk "Star Trek" mask, as he stalks Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Pure terror.
Throughout the film, Meyers seems to appear out of thin air several times, watching Laurie as she makes her way home from school. Standing behind a bush one minute, gone in the next second. There is an inhuman quality about him, making it doubly terrifying when, after seeing him shot six times, he falls out of a second story window, only to be gone when Donald Pleasance's character looks out the window. In that instant, you know Meyers really IS the Boogeyman. Unstoppable, inhuman and horrible.
There have been several sequels to "Halloween". After the second, I have to say they really didn't seem as appealing to me. I was older, and they just didn't have the same impact as the original. Which still scares me. The series has become a series of blood baths, gore for the sake of gore. The original has relatively little. There is killing. But the horror doesn't come from the sight of blood. It comes from the idea that even when the characters should be safest, when they are locked inside snug little suburban houses, Michael is able to get to them.
Part of the impact is that theme music, simple piano music with a very fast tempo, manic almost. It makes you tense even if you hear it out of context.
"Halloween" really is classic horror. A group of my daughter's friends watched it recently and gave it great reviews. It's great teenager slumber party viewing. And even though I know it's only a movie. It still scares me.
There have been several sequels to "Halloween". After the second, I have to say they really didn't seem as appealing to me. I was older, and they just didn't have the same impact as the original. Which still scares me. The series has become a series of blood baths, gore for the sake of gore. The original has relatively little. There is killing. But the horror doesn't come from the sight of blood. It comes from the idea that even when the characters should be safest, when they are locked inside snug little suburban houses, Michael is able to get to them.
Part of the impact is that theme music, simple piano music with a very fast tempo, manic almost. It makes you tense even if you hear it out of context.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I'm nitpicking, but Will Sandin played Michael aged 6 and wore a clown mask, it was actually Tony Moran who played Michael aged 23 and wore the classic Captain Kirk-altered mask.
Carpenter's score is brilliant. Arguably the creepiest horror music ever composed. Although Goblin's soundtrack to Suspiria comes a close second.