The R-Rating: A Manifesto

It’s been awhile since I’ve been really excited about a movie. You know, what I mean. The kind of movie that you count down the days until opening day. The kind of movie that you will happily pay the nearly ten bucks it takes to see a first-run movie instead of waiting for Netflix to make it available. The kind of movie that is a pure fun, popcorn and candy movie. When I first saw the trailer for the new film Insidious, I was excited. I immediately told my husband to pencil April 1 into his calendar because we would be going to see that movie opening night.

            Then, I noticed the film was rated PG-13, and I know I shouldn’t let something that small affect how I rate my movie-going experience, but it did. That kid on Christmas morning excitement that I had felt just moments before had completely dissipated.

            Here’s the thing.

            I don’t believe in the PG-13 horror movie.

            I want to, I really do. It’s not that all PG-13 horror flicks are inherently bad. In fact, there have been a few notable exceptions within the past year. Both Devil and The Last Exorcism were rated PG-13, and both were incredible films. Both films also were attached to master filmmakers, M. Night Shyamalan and Eli Roth, respectively. Here’s the thing, though. Both films had great scripts and great actors, too often a rarity when it comes to the horror film. Some might even argue that these two films don’t even belong in the horror genre—that they are more of character analysis—even a social commentary—with a strong horror element.

            For a PG-13 horror movie to really be excellent, it has to rely on spot-on storytelling because it can’t rely on the gore factor. It has to play with your mind and really pull you into the world it’s created. And, even more difficult, the PG-13 horror movie has to make you jump in your seat without actually showing you what is behind the curtain. Not an easy task.

            More often than not, when I see a film that is billed as being “horror” yet is rated PG-13, I assume two things: 1) I won’t get to see any of the blood, and 2) the characters are going to be talking in a squeaky clean vernacular. In other words, no guts, no glory.

            I’ve heard people argue for the other side, spouting the praises of the PG-13 horror movie, saying that it forces the filmmaker to rely on more sophisticated scares rather than buckets of fake blood and goo. It’s a good theory. After all, I’m all for sophisticated scares. I love it when the filmmakers take the genre seriously, but I also love it when they have fun with the genre. I can see the merits of both Audition and Pirahna 3D (both rated R, by the way), but I don’t think that an R rating equals lazy storytelling. Don’t believe me? Paranormal Activity, a movie that showed nothing in terms of graphic violence, was rated R for language. It managed sophisticated scares and a realistic setting (because what other twenty-something wouldn’t pepper a little R-rated language into his or her day-to day existence? Don’t even get me started about the characters in most PG-13 horror films, who all talk like they grew up watching too many Dawson’s Creek reruns).

            What does bother me is the way most PG-13 movies handle their storytelling. Too often, it feels as if these films want to be proper horror movies but are too afraid to cross the border into the dark. Case in point: this year’s Twilight, er, I mean Red Riding Hood. Believe it or not, this film is listed as in the horror genre by IMDB. I, too, was under the assumption, after watching the trailers, that this would be a horror film that went back to the roots of the familiar fairy tale. I was wrong. What I wanted was the original fairy tale in all its Grimm Brother’s glory. What I got was pretty people in a pretty place with a drop or two of bright red blood. (By the way, isn’t blood supposed to be dark red, almost black? Only Argento can get away with the day-glo stuff.)

            Maybe it’s just me. But I want an R rating with my horror. I’ll even say I wish they’d bring back the X rating (or is it NC-17 now?), but just give me a film I can sink my teeth into. Is that so much to ask?

Devil (2010)

SPOILERS!!

First of all, I have to express my extreme fangirl joy (squeal) at all the good horror movies that have been released in the past year or two. While many people have lamented Hollywood’s latest penchant for recreating and recycling old movie plots in the forms of remakes and sequels/prequels (though I must insert here that not all remakes are inherently bad—last year’s My Bloody Valentine 3D was a lot of fun to see in the theater), the horror movie has seemed to be a breath of fresh air in stale movie scripts and familiar direction. Paranormal Activity was a good, scary movie that reminded readers that not a lot is needed for something to be frightening. All most people really need is something to go bump in the night and we will wet our pants. (I am the perfect example of this. Last night, I dropped something under the bed and I hesitated for just a moment before reaching my hand under the bed into the dark space. Why? I don’t know. I guess somewhere deep inside my inner five year old still believes there might be a monster under there just waiting to grab me by the hand and pull me under.)

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest story Devil preys upon these exact fears. The movie follows all the classic rules of a good scary tale. 

·         Number One: Less is always more. So many films have been ruined by showing the monster. Imagination is always worse than whatever a special effects team can create. Devil director John Erick Dowdle is a master of this. His movie Quarantine (2008) builds suspense by timing moments of darkness just at the time the monsters are hunting. The audience only gets glimpses of what is actually there, instead having to rely on sound to try and piece together what is happening on screen. Dowdle brought this same technique to his newest movie, and the result was some truly terrifying moments. 

·         Number Two: Claustrophobia is essential to a good setting. The Shining is a great example. Isolated in an old hotel with no one around but your creepy son and psychotic husband plus a snowstorm that has wiped out any connection to the outside world equals true terror. In our world of ever increasing technology, we have the world (literally) at our fingertips. We can reach anyone anywhere through telephones, email, text messages, Skype. With that connectivity, we have a false sense of security. If something bad might happen, we can always call for help. Isn’t that the main reason we all use for giving children cell phones? Little Jimmy might need to call me when he is away from home. A movie set in an elevator where no one can get in or out AND the cellular signal is jammed? Claustrophobia at its best.

·         Number Three: Don’t try and reinvent the wheel with your horror villain. Fans of M. Night Shyamalan’s previous films may be disappointed that there is no “twist” to this movie. The audience knows from the beginning that the culprit is the Devil (though the Devil’s identity is secret, that twist seems secondary to the plot). Here’s the thing I wish I could tell every horror filmmaker out there: the classic monsters are scary for a reason. The Devil is a frightening idea; there’s no need to pump him up for contemporary audiences. We don’t need an overly complicated villain, just one that will scare the wits out of us. 

·         Number Four: Don’t neglect your characters. Just because a movie is classified as horror doesn’t mean that blood and gore are all that are needed. The good horror movies will all have characters that the audience cares about, usually because they are flawed humans who are just trying to make sense of life and the world around them. Devil gave the audience two characters whose lives are intertwined in ways even they couldn’t understand until the end of the movie: the cop with the hardened heart due to a past tragedy and the man who caused the cop to lose everything. By the end of the movie, both men find peace through faith and forgiveness. (Interestingly enough, Devil fits perfectly with my last blog entry. The film opens with a Bible verse and deals with spiritual warfare.) 

·         Number Five: Add humor for a perfect recipe. When my mother was trying to teach me to cook, she told me to always add a bit of salt whenever I add sugar. I didn’t get it then, but I do now. The salt is there to balance out the sugar. It is the same with horror. Yes, fear and suspense should be the number one ingredient, but humor has its place. It serves to lighten the mood and give the audience a chance to catch their breath, but it also makes the viewers a bit uncomfortable. Much of the humor is dark, at the expense of the people on (and sometimes off) screen. When we as an audience laugh, we do so thinking that we maybe shouldn’t be laughing. This throws off our balance and heightens the emotions we are already feeling, thereby making that next scare just a bit scarier by comparison and we jump just a little higher. There wasn’t a lot of humor in Devil, though I did find myself laughing at times, especially early on the film when the characters themselves were making awkward jokes to lighten the mood in the elevator.

When I started this list, I intended to outline the rules of good horror, but now I see that I could probably fill a book on that subject. I’ll settle with five good things that Devil did. Perhaps I’ll see another movie that will inspire me to add to this list. I hope so.