If you consider yourself a fan of horror films, you have probably seen some pretty messed up stuff. You have seen so many limbs cut off, eyes gouged out, and demonic possession-enhanced projectile vomit that these things don’t even affect you anymore.

Whenever I’m talking to my friends, coworkers, or even my wife, I feel like I have to avoid divulging the most juicy details for fear of people thinking I am a serial killer. There is a reason why no one liked Gabe from The Office.

“Why do you watch so much fucked up shit?” This is a question I have heard and asked myself the many times. I honestly don’t know. I just find it entertaining. No other genre of movie requires such defending. No one asks me why I watch comedies or action movies. The answers are obvious: I like laughing and watching shit blow up. So allow me to get a little meta-cognitive on you and figure out just why people enjoy watching horror movies.

Like comedies and action movies, there seems to be an obvious answer: people like scary movies because they like to be scared. Not necessarily scared all the time, but in a controlled setting. While that may be the case for some people, it’s not always the case for me. I will visit a haunted house around Halloween or have a prolonged stay with my in-laws to get that feeling of primal fear, but I don’t usually get it in movies. That primordial rush of terror some get when viewing spooky stuff may be reason enough to enjoy horror movies, but I think there is more there. Perhaps there is a more personal link.

When I ask what types of movies scare people the most, I generally get a similar answer: films that portray our real life fears. Home invasion movies (The Strangers), films involving personal paranoia (Enemy), or movies that center around our more modern insecurities (Unfriended). Hush, a 2016 Netflix offering is a great new example of this very real type of fear people get when watching scary movies. In the film, a deaf-mute author retreats to the woods to finish her next book, where she is stalked and attacked by an unknown assailant. The film plays on our fears of the unknown with both the killer and the isolated setting, as well as the extremely uncomfortable feeling we get when our personal space is violated. The fact that our protagonist cannot speak or hear makes the danger even more threatening. The film was a triumph, and many people would likely agree with the fact that is was, indeed, scary. I found the film to be taut with tension, creepiness, and even riveting at times, but never truly scary.

Maybe I’m just broken. After being exposed to The Evil Dead around the age of five by my mom (what the fuck was she thinking), perhaps I just don’t scare easy when it comes to movies. Or maybe I’m not looking to be frightened. I like to think I’m looking for new experiences or gut reactions that I have never found in other types of films. When you watch a Cristopher Nolan movie, you want to come away with this intangible sense of awe along with the feeling that you are not 100% sure what just happened in the past two hours. When you watch a Guy Ritchie film, you want to be lost in a slick and darkly comic world where, yeah, people die left and right, but it’s all in good fun.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PNLVp66leng

It’s the same with horror movies. Some aim for pure terror, a feeling you are not going to get nearly anywhere else, unless you are a professional skydiver with short-term memory loss. Think Hellraiser, The Conjuring, or Dead  Silence. Other horror movies aim for something similar, but not necessarily for mile-a-minute scares. It Follows doesn’t attempt to shock you with gory visuals, jump scares, or the other common horror tropes. The film aims for a more perilous sense of dread. In doing so the film relies on more open shots compared to the claustrophobic nature of most horror films. Rosemary’s Baby is another movie that is not trying to terrify its audience. It’s a slow burn picture focused on the paranoia of its lead actor, and as such, functions not only as a horror film but also as a character-driven drama.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are horror comedies. Movies that are meant to make you laugh while simultaneouly questioning your moral fiber for thinking that a guy being fed to a wood chipper was funny in the first place. That simultaneous feeling of unease and amusement is a good thing! We all saw Inside Out, so we know our most memorable experiences are not comprised of one emotion. If a movie makes you sense something new, I think you should embrace it, no matter how weird, horrific, or unnatural it may be. We grow primarily through new experiences, and I think that horror films are a quick and effective, if not always easy, method for getting these new experiences. So go ahead and queue up a scary movie. And if you think all my talk on “feelings” and “new experiences” is bullshit, at least you’ll be scared (maybe)!

Watch and Talk is an alternative look at film. It is a column that discusses movies from all different genres. Movies are not necessarily reviewed, they are simply talked about. Watch and Talk looks at not only the entertainment value of various films, but also the cultural aspects and impacts that films can have.

The post Watch and Talk: Why Do We Like Horror? appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I have to start out by saying that this film seems tailor-made for me. It checks off so many boxes on my list of favorite elements of horror films; paranoia, suspense, religious iconography, isolation, family dynamics, and uncontrolled female sexuality. The Witch reminded me quite a lot of another personal favorite of mine, Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England. I was truly shaken seeing this film, and for that reason it has quickly become one of my personal favorites.

The Witch follows a Puritan family that is excommunicated from their township for accusing the local church of heresy and corruption. They are then forced to make their own settlement in the harsh forests of New England. One day, when eldest daughter Thomasine is playing with her infant brother, the baby goes missing. A wolf is blamed, but the viewers and the family know that something much more disturbing is at work in the woods. Paranoia and religious fanaticism drive the family apart, and they descend into madness as the witch of the woods begins to tear them apart.

The film is absolutely stunning to watch, and Eggers really wrenches every amount of emotion and terror out of every shot in the film. Wide angle shots show the dense and terrifying forests of New England in all of their glory, and claustrophobic scenes set in the family’s cabin are beautifully lit by natural candlelight. I’m no art expert, but it seems clear to me that the visual style of the film was heavily influenced by 18th-century Spanish painter Francisco Goya. In particular, his darker works seem to haunt the visuals throughout The Witch.

The soundtrack also plays a key role the tone of the film. The non-traditional soundtrack builds tension and terror that perfectly compliments the slow-burning pace of the film. For those expecting a standard genre film, know that The Witch is not your typical horror film. Along with other recent critical darlings like It Follows, The Babadook, and Goodnight Mommy, The Witch takes a more high brow and patient approach to the horror game. I think we’re in the middle of a new era of smarter and more technically-impressive horror films, and films like The Witch truly feel disturbing and refreshing in an otherwise tired genre.

Unfortunately, The Witch has finished its nationwide theatrical run, but be on the lookout for news of a Blu-ray or Digital release!

The post Cinema Spotlight: The Witch appeared first on KRUI Radio.