Horror is one of my all time favorite genres to read, write, watch, and talk about. The main question I always find myself asking is what makes horror so scary to people. In my personal experience I have never found horror to scare me, killer in the woods; I wouldn't be in the woods. Supernatural entities; they don't exist. So I always wondered why people were so afraid of an either easily avoidable situation or an impossible scenario. Then it occurred to me that people's fears lie within the unknown. What we cannot explain nor understand scares us. We fear things like the dark because we cannot see what lies in the shadows.
Movies like It, Us, Truth or Dare, Clown, Paranormal Activity, and Before I Wake are all classified as horror movies. I have seen them all and the main thing I think that the writers and directors capitalized on is people's fear of the unknown. Clown is the perfect example of a movie that leaves your skin crawling solely because of the lack of knowing. Clown is a movie about a supernatural killer clown suit that possesses its host's body and eventually completely merges and takes over the human host. The movie ends with the host's wife killing the clown and the suit ends up in police custody for someone else to eventually fall victim to the spirit it possesses. A quite unsettling ending if you ask me, never knowing if or when the clown will strike again. Out of all the horror movies I have watched over the years I personally believe this has been the only one that has actually scared me. The idea that there is always something waiting and plotting to destroy you was very unsettling. Another thing about this movie is that the clown suit is indestructible, it cannot be ripped, burned, or anything else; and once you put it on it never comes off. So basically the host is slowly fading away while still being conscious and killing the people around them i.e. friends and family.
It is another movie that left a lot of people unsettled but for me personally I didn't find the movie very fear inducing. Not because this movie didn't introduce the fear of something unknown and misunderstood but mostly because Pennywise's only connection to reality is the fear of his victims and without that he quite literally fades away. One thing that makes a horror movie so scary is the idea that the walls are closing in and there is nothing you can do about it knowing the characters did everything they could to stay safe yet in the end they failed. Yet in It the characters did some really dumb stuff that lead to a short-lived demise. For example, when Georgie loses his boat in a sewer and comes into contact with Pennywise. Now it's completely understandable for Georgie to take a quick peek to see if he can save his boat BUT the second he sees some weirdo in a sewer he should have left. Now all supernatural things aside, if I saw a grown man dressed as a clown trying to talk to me as he is standing in a sewer I would have ran home and called the police. But Georgie stayed and talked to him. For me I could not fathom why he decided to have a conversation with a clown in a sewer. The lack of common sense in this scene completely irradiated any ounce of fear I had because I could see his death coming from a mile away. From there I just couldn't take the movie seriously although it had lots of aspects that were well directed and fear inducing. I couldn't see Pennywise as this creepy killer clown because throughout the movie it seemed like he relied on his victims' fear in order to feel dominant. You can even see in one of the last fight scenes of It Pennywise says, "I'll feed on your fear." it seems as if he needs fear to survive. In that last scene it is actually revealed that Pennywise can only kill people who fear him. After that right before Pennywise falls down the well he says, " fear" this was Pennywise's realization that without fear he is nothing. This was also the first time Pennywise felt fearful. Although this movie isn't scary I will say that it is very well written. Throughout the movie I felt as if the viewer really got to understand Pennywise, people's fear of him is the only thing that connects reality to Pennywise and without that he's nothing, he becomes nothing more than a scary bedtime story.
Overall what makes anything within the horror genre truly horrifying is a cliffhanger ending. What I mean by this is an ending that doesn't stop in the middle of a fight scene but an ending that leaves the viewer questioning if who or what ever was out there is truly gone or if they're just waiting to strike again.
- Nyla Kyles
Wow! This is so true. While I am not one to read many horror books, this really matches with what I've read. Nice job putting this into words and nice post!
ReplyDeleteI usually love horror books, and this sounds like the exact definition of one. This is a great post, and now I might have to check this book out!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this 100 percent. A good horror is always realistic ones, something that can make the viewers believe the story is happening somewhere in real life. This is also why I prefer horror books over movies as the books gives more attention to the sceneries than the movies.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this represents horror pretty well. I personally don't enjoy most horror films, especially those with jumpscares, but I do love psychological horrors, like the Shining, and one I recently watched called Sixth Sense. The way that these movies draw out your fear throughout the whole movie is cool, and I would recommend watching them.
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly like horrors, but your post was still really interesting. I think you're right about people being afraid of the unknown. I never really thought about it, but talking to a clown in a sewer is a pretty unintelligent thing to do. It (the movie) didn't scare me, either, but I think it was because I tried to not relate to the characters. Although I can see how it being unrealistic makes it less scary, that's the "real world" for the characters, and I think that when people relate to the characters, intentionally or unintentionally, it creates a sense of fear because that is what is considered realistic for the character.
ReplyDeleteNice analysis of how the horror genre plays on the human fear of the unknown. I agree that some writers use characters making unrealistic decisions in order to advance the plot, which ends up breaking the reader's suspension of disbelief at times.
ReplyDeleteI like psychological horror movies over other types because it tests the limits of humans. Also, a lot of characters in horror movies make pretty dumb decisions, and I think you do a good job highlighting Georgie's actions.. I haven't read a horror book ever, so I'll probably check one out in the future.
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