Re: The cabin in the woods
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 7:26 pm
I'm not a fan of the "splatterific" bloody movies either. I'm very much a fan of the Hitchcock genre of horror where a little blood goes a long way and the human imagination is far scarier than anything you can put on the screen. The creaky door, the cold draft, the voices form an empty room, the things that move when no one is around, or that tree that reached for the kid in POLTERGEIST. That's the stuff that truly scares.
However, this movie makes fun of itself and the entire genre of horror movies. It's the inside jokes mocking the plot of "Four college kids meet monster" that make it so different. It's like the jokes about the controller's wife who baby-proofs the drawers in the house before the baby is conceived. Or putting the Harbinger on speakerphone and then laughing at the poor guy. The writer is playing with the audience, seeing how bright they are and if they "get" it.
Then something absolutely horrific really happens and that really scares because it's no longer a joke.
Think about DR PHIBES when he's finally cornered Dr Visallius and has Visallius' son on an operating table. Phibes has killed six or seven by this time but now Phibes reveals that he has another fate for the son and pulls the makeup off his face. Nothing is a joke now - although most of DR PHIBES is comedic but not from now on. Now there is someone we've met and we know is innocent and bad stuff is going to happen. Here is the "face" of ultimate horror - - a life like Phibes had.
I analyze these things for my writing. That's another reason for my liking CABIN. The writing.
But don't worry. I have read most of Stephen King.
BTW - - Did you ever read "THE PASSAGE" by Justin Cronin. That's a scary book.
However, this movie makes fun of itself and the entire genre of horror movies. It's the inside jokes mocking the plot of "Four college kids meet monster" that make it so different. It's like the jokes about the controller's wife who baby-proofs the drawers in the house before the baby is conceived. Or putting the Harbinger on speakerphone and then laughing at the poor guy. The writer is playing with the audience, seeing how bright they are and if they "get" it.
Then something absolutely horrific really happens and that really scares because it's no longer a joke.
Think about DR PHIBES when he's finally cornered Dr Visallius and has Visallius' son on an operating table. Phibes has killed six or seven by this time but now Phibes reveals that he has another fate for the son and pulls the makeup off his face. Nothing is a joke now - although most of DR PHIBES is comedic but not from now on. Now there is someone we've met and we know is innocent and bad stuff is going to happen. Here is the "face" of ultimate horror - - a life like Phibes had.
I analyze these things for my writing. That's another reason for my liking CABIN. The writing.
But don't worry. I have read most of Stephen King.
BTW - - Did you ever read "THE PASSAGE" by Justin Cronin. That's a scary book.