Do I Need a Defense?

It feels good to finally be back on here again. I am appalled to see how long it's been since I last wrote a post. I blame a lot of things: a trip to Prague, a new job (full-time writing and editing!), and a baby that has decided to become a parasite in my body. Mostly, though, I think I have just been procrastinating, which isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes writing can benefit from a little break. I've finally been able to work out the sticky parts in my second novel. (My first novel is going well, by the way. I'm getting favorable responses from literary agents. Fingers crossed!)

But this is not my main point in this post.

I've noticed a trend in conversations lately. When I meet someone new, he or she always is curious to know a little about me (which is natural, I guess, in the "getting to know you" of new friendships). Talk will inevitably turn to my writing or what I like to do in my spare time, which then leads to my love of the horror genre.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like to talk horror with people. And I love to discuss the genre in a rather nerdy way (I blame too many years in grad school for that one). As a side note, for anyone looking for a good book on the subject, I highly recommend Jason Zinoman's Shock Value. I just finished it and can't say enough good things on the book. It deals with the rise of the horror movie in the 1970's. Great Stuff. I am also in the middle of reading (finally) Stephen King's Danse Macabre.

But this isn't the kind of thing most people want to talk about when they talk "horror" with me. No, they want to know why I like horror. I guess people don't expect a petite (and currently pregnant) blonde to like horror. What I should like...I don't know. Or what a "horror fan" should look like...that confuses me too. Whatever it is, I'm not it.

So, they want to know why I like it.

I used to give all sorts of reasons why I watched, ranging from the more academic ("horror tells us about our society" and "it allows us a safe place to experience our fears and anxieties") to the less so ("I enjoy movies with buckets of fake blood"). Now, though, I'm wondering if that is even needed.

After all, no one ever asks for a defense when someone professes a love for romantic comedies or comic-book movies ("Really? You watch romantic comedies? You don't look like that kind of person? Why? Have you liked them since you were a child?" It's a ridiculous thought). No one who likes comedic films ever has to defend his or her tastes (although I would point out that many comedies have more violence than a lot of horror movies I've watched--and horror movies generally have a good dose of funny to them too--but that's another post for another day).

Why, then, do I have to offer a reasoning behind my obsession?

I don't think I owe that to anyone. Next time someone asks me why I like horror, I'll just shrug and say, "Because I do."

And that's all the defense I need.

Insidious; Or, R-Rating Manifesto, Part 2

This entry almost wasn't. For one thing, it is a bit contrary to my last entry, in which I expressed my reservations in watching Insidious, a PG-13 horror movie. Also, I just couldn't find the words. However, after talking to a friend of mine today (love you, Jordan, but we have to disagree here), I felt I had to defend this film.

The film in question is Insidious, James Wan's latest stab at the horror flick.



I railed against PG-13 horror movies, yet I still was first in line to see this movie on opening night. And, no, I still haven't changed my stance on the rating system. I even have one more point to make: There are no giggly thirteen year old boys and girls taking up the theater! I was easily the oldest person in the room, next to my father, who was kind enough to take me out for the evening. Everyone else was clearly in middle school, probably have been dropped off by his or her parents to meet friends for a night out. Needless to say, the evening was filled with talking and laughing and screams at odd places, all punctuated by the glow of several tens of cell phones being flipped open during the show. Thanks, by the way, to Memphis Malco for sending ushers in to quiet everyone down; otherwise, the movie would have been miserable. After the ushers coming in a few times with stern warnings, the movie theater was nice and quiet.

But, I was going to say, before Truth broke in with all her loud children (can you tell I've been teaching Frost this week?)

Wan hit it out of the park with Insidious. From the previews, I was expecting the run-of-the-mill paranormal movie, which would have been great for me, but what I got was so much better. From the opening credits, with the oversized lettering and screeching, dissonant music, I knew I was in for a much different experience. Insidious is made by people who love horror movies, who both take the genre seriously and have fun with it. It reminded me at times those in-your-face horror movies of the late 60's and early 70's, films like The Legend of Hell House, which involved another group of people battling the supernatural (seances and nerdy scientists included), or even the earlier films of someone like William Castle, who took out life insurance policies through Lloyd's of London for audience members concerned about seeing his movie Macabre. Those are the kind of films that enjoy the genre, even exploit it. Those are the kinds of films that have fun with genre, and as a result, the audience have fun too.

More than that, though, Wan manages to take the horror genre seriously at the same time. I loved the concept of "The Further," and while many critics might say that the last act of the film seems to be a poor fit for the rest of the plot, I disagree. Any writer or director who takes on horror needs to address the Other, the idea that there is something beyond our physical realm. After all, how can you accept ghosts, or vampires, or even things that go bump in the dark without exploring their realm? H. P. Lovecraft did this. Stephen King had done this. All masters of horror have achieved that "master" status because they were willing to explore their own version of "The Further."

Is this movie perfect? No. It has its rough spots, but it was also everything I wanted in a good, enjoyable horror movie. I'll be watching Wan to see what he comes up with next.

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?

New Year, New Obsessions

So far, 2011 is going great! I have a draft of my first novel finished. I am almost done with revisions, so I should be sending it out for the publication circus by the end of the month. I just started the second novel, along with a few short stories that I am excited about. Life is good!

Life is also busy.

Of course, does a busy life equal all hard work? NO! It means more time wasted on the internet!

A good friend of mine sent me a link to a website that I am currently obsessed with. If you've ever read this blog with any regularity, you know that I love horror movies of all kinds (the good ones, the really good ones, the bad ones, the so-bad-they're-good ones), and I spend a good posting some of my favorites on here.

Then, I saw this blog:


http://horror-movie-a-day.blogspot.com/

It's everything I wish my blog was! A new horror movie every day? Be still my heart...I'm in love. **Sigh**

Enjoy!