(no subject)
Jun. 8th, 2019 02:20 pm Thought Provoking Review of the Netflix horror flick The Perfection
It does spoil the movie, although I'd more or less chosen to pass anyhow -- since gross-out body horror/torture flicks are decidedly not my cup of tea. Also, I can do without watching people vomit bugs and think bugs are crawling out of their arms.
That and there are apparently graphic and brutal depictions of rape. So, hard pass.
But...I have seen a lot of films like it. And it is a popular story trope -- ( spoilers )
Anyhow, what she says here is interesting:
( spoilers on the Perfection )
Horror is a fascinating genre, it seems to be the opposite of romance. If we had a diagram, horror would be facing romance, with mystery and sci-fi and fantasy floating somewhere around them.
It's meant to be offensive. You are supposed to be horrified, often by your own reactions to it. That's what I find interesting. Horror will often put the viewer in the uncomfortable position of taking a hard look at their own nasty sensibilities.
After all, what is scarier than the monster looking back at us in the mirror in the morning? Or the monster inside our own head? It's why I love psychological horror -- because that's basically the point of it.
Most good horror films show the protagonists struggling with each other, pointing the finger at each other, and not trusting anyone including themselves. A really good horror film makes it difficult for the protagonist by extension the viewer to trust themselves, or their own actions. (See "Haunting of Hill House", "Get Out", "US", for examples.)
Horror is also a means of reassurring the viewer that they will react well in a crisis and it will be averted. But the horror that sticks with you, often won't end on that clean a note. And demonstrates that we most likely will screw things up.
It does spoil the movie, although I'd more or less chosen to pass anyhow -- since gross-out body horror/torture flicks are decidedly not my cup of tea. Also, I can do without watching people vomit bugs and think bugs are crawling out of their arms.
That and there are apparently graphic and brutal depictions of rape. So, hard pass.
But...I have seen a lot of films like it. And it is a popular story trope -- ( spoilers )
Anyhow, what she says here is interesting:
( spoilers on the Perfection )
Horror is a fascinating genre, it seems to be the opposite of romance. If we had a diagram, horror would be facing romance, with mystery and sci-fi and fantasy floating somewhere around them.
It's meant to be offensive. You are supposed to be horrified, often by your own reactions to it. That's what I find interesting. Horror will often put the viewer in the uncomfortable position of taking a hard look at their own nasty sensibilities.
After all, what is scarier than the monster looking back at us in the mirror in the morning? Or the monster inside our own head? It's why I love psychological horror -- because that's basically the point of it.
Most good horror films show the protagonists struggling with each other, pointing the finger at each other, and not trusting anyone including themselves. A really good horror film makes it difficult for the protagonist by extension the viewer to trust themselves, or their own actions. (See "Haunting of Hill House", "Get Out", "US", for examples.)
Horror is also a means of reassurring the viewer that they will react well in a crisis and it will be averted. But the horror that sticks with you, often won't end on that clean a note. And demonstrates that we most likely will screw things up.