As we get closer to the witching hour of October 31 (and also the Witching Hour festival in Iowa City), my search for scary movies has been ramping up. At first I was satisfied with seeking out unique horror fare that may have delivered in terms of film quality while skimping on the fright factor. Now I am looking for pure terror. What I have found does not necessarily read like a greatest hits of horror films. There is no Exorcist, Halloween, or Rosemary’s Baby.  

These movies and many more have been clearly recognized as some of the scariest movies of all time largely because of their undeniable influence on the horror genre. The films I want to share with you are some slightly grittier gems. A couple are among the most well-renowned recent horror movies, but most should be an enjoyable new find for horror buffs and newbies alike.

Last Shift is a relatively standard horror film. It involves a lone female protagonist stuck in an isolated location. She is a rookie cop working the last shift of a closing police station. There is a sufficiently fleshed-out plot with a few intruiging twists and turns. Most importantly however, once the scares start coming they do not stop. At all. This is the most relentless horror movie I have seen in recent memory, which acts greatly to its benefit.

Other movies try to beat the viewer over the head with jump scares so frequent they act as more of a reflex test. Last Shift earns your attention and drains your stamina with terrifying imagery, suffocating dread, and yes, a few well-executed jump scares. Because Last Shift is so straight forward in its setup, it does not earn a spot in the pantheon of great horror films. It works amazingly however, if all you want to do is make you and your friends terrified to go to sleep after watching it.

There is a well-worn horror rule that no matter how long you keep the monster behind the door, eventually that door has to open. We humans are great at conjuring up the worst things possible in our minds, which is why films like Jaws work so well. Eventually we do have to see the shark though, or the audience loses interest.

There is one movie in recent history, however, that breaks this rule. The Blair Witch Project, the found footage masterpiece that has now spawned two “meh” sequels, was a masterclass in minimalist horror. Its power was in letting the viewer’s mind think up the most spine-tingling things possible. Seriously, the scariest image we get is a guy standing in a corner.

When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 it was accompanied by one of the first viral ad campaigns for a movie. The ads were launched to convince the audience that the events depicted in the film were real. Many audience members went in believing that these film students actually went missing while searching for the infamous Blair Witch. This realism serviced the film greatly and let the audience craft the horror in their mind, a feat many films still try but fail to achieve.

The VHS series has been steadily progressing through three iterations. This helps to explain how the absolute best entry of the series, Safe Haven, which is smack in the middle of VHS 2, was seemingly forgotten. The thirty minute movie follows a film crew that is documenting a modestly creepy cult located in Indonesia. I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never seen a movie featuring a cult where the whole organization didn’t go off the rails by the end. If this sounds like a familiar horror plot trope you may be asking what exactly makes this movie so fantastically frightening. First, the progression the film takes from slight unease to genuine shock to utter despair happens so rapidly that as an audience member, you barely have time to react to one event before the plot turns deeper into darkness.

Also, the segment is filled with what I call “Holy shit moments.” While not necessary to a great horror film, “Holy shit moments” are those brief scenes so gut-wrenching that it causes an almost involuntary utterance of the words “holy shit” by the viewer. Bad movies try to fake these by having characters in the film say “holy shit” to try and convince you that what you are watching is indeed crazy as hell. Great movies just show you the goods and let you react. And when a film can pump in three or more of these moments into thirty short minutes, you have something special.

Finally, my search for the most spine-tingling movies brought me back to my own history with horror, specifically when I worked at a movie theater in high school. During our breaks we were permitted to sit in on any movie we wanted, which was a boon to me as I could think of no better way to pass the time. One lunch break I decided to sit in on a movie I hadn’t heard much about: The Descent. It is safe to say that fifteen-year-old me had not yet built up the proper fright threshold for watching such a film.

The Descent follows a group of women on an expedition into a remote cave system. This setup alone could be, and has been, good enough for many different movies. The constant claustrophobia and lack of vision on the screen torment not only the characters but leave the viewer short of breath as well. If that weren’t enough, there also happens to be a race of nasty humanoid creatures that wander around in the tunnel system. The group soon realizes that the reason the cave is so isolated is because no one who had previously attempted the trek had ever escaped. The final act of the film descends deep into a gory abyss of body parts, blood, and viscera that is sure to make its mark deep in your brain.

I hope you are are as terrified of these movies as I am. If not, go find what scares you. Remember, they are just movies. Happy scary movie month!

Watch and Talk is a column about movies. Movies are not always reviewed, they are simply talked about. Watch and Talk discusses the cultural aspects and impacts that movies can have.

The post Watch and Talk: Scary Movie Month Part 2 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

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.