I love horror movies. Not all of them and not all types of them, but I am in love with some very specific types of them.
In my mind there are several kinds of horror movies that exist:
- shocking – the most boring type – usually tries to scare you by showing some nasty SFX gore and guts, e.g. movies like “Hostel” or the movies by Rob Zombie – basically somewhat like a slasher, but with the vomit-inducing factor cranked up to 11 – I generally dislike those. Btw, I don’t think slashers belong under the “horror” umbrella-genre, because they generally resemble action movies and thrillers, not horrors, with some very rare exceptions.
- comedy horror – there are not that many movies that fall exactly in this category, usually it’s more of a trope used along with others. “Evil Dead 2” and “Evil Dead: Army of Darkness” come to mind – those are basically comedies with elements from the horror genre (although this is still comedy and not parody like “Scary Movie”).
- body horror – basically any film by David Cronenberg. “Videodrome” is my favorite, and I feel like it’s more relevant today than ever — you just have to swap TV for Social Media. Funnily enough, it seems more relevant than “eXistenZ”, which is supposed to be its spiritual successor. There are also weird Japanese movies like “Tetsuo” that fit this genre perfectly.
- satire — films like “Weapons” or “Substance” (which is also a body horror movie).
- screamer-fests – the only horrifying thing in these movies are the screamers strategically placed in different parts. Not really horrifying though, more like startling. Unfortunately, most of the time they fail even at startling you, because when you watch enough of this, you mostly know where the screamers will be. Some experimental movies do play with it, subverting the trope (e.g. a lot of build-up leading to a character closing a mirror cabinet door, only to find that there was actually nothing there). The “Omen” remake from 2006 comes to mind as a great example — not scary at all, just some predictably placed screamers. When I was watching it in a theatre with my friends, I screamed as if I’d been startled just a second before the actual screamer kicked in – most of the audience screamed too, set off by me, and when the actual screamer hit the screen – everyone just laughed.
- suspense – these ones are kinda like thrillers but usually involve something paranormal or weird enough to be classified as horror. “Drag me to Hell” is a good example, very naïve though.
- the ones that do not work at all – the movies that you watch and genuinely do not understand why they exist, because they don’t provide any value, not even entertainment. “Insidious” is one of these movies — I still do not understand who the audience for it is. The only horrifying thing in this film is how bad the makeup is. Looks like a bunch of guys interacting with children’s entertainers painted red and black (Darth Maul shakes his head disapprovingly).
- experimental – the rarest of the bunch. Not necessarily scary and not a parody. The whole idea is to subvert as many genre tropes as possible. I know only one movie that falls into this category – “Cabin in the Woods”. It’s a great homage to lots of horror movies, but with a twist. The only thing that lets it down is the ending — the writers kind of copped out on this one.
I don’t like shocking movies because they are usually kinda cheap, and if the shock value comes from gore SFX, they can be just disgusting, not horrifying at all.
When I saw the trailer for “Obsession” this morning, I immediately added it to my watchlist just because I love the Yandere trope. The problem is that no one usually implements it well enough. The only piece of media that does it somewhat well is a game that I cannot mention here, because if I do, it will spoil the twist and ruin the experience. What hooked me in the trailer aside from the Yandere theme were three things:
- Actors that are not famous
- Picture (color-grading and feel)
- The reason the girl becomes Yandere (she is not just mentally ill, the guy basically wishes for her to love him more than anything in the world using a magical artifact) which makes for a hell of a Twilight Zone episode.
That same evening I bought a ticket for the movie and got some nachos (which I ran out of during the trailers, before the movie even started).
And the film is very much like a long and tastefully made Twilight Zone episode, which is a good thing (at least from my perspective).
The story is very personal and compact. The 4:3 aspect ratio is a great artistic choice that adds to this. The work with light is awesome, and the lens is somewhat “greasy”. Not as greasy as in “Se7en” or “The Batman”, but with a similar toned-down effect which I miss a lot in modern movies. The sound design is so good — although I cannot tell you about it, otherwise it would spoil things. Genre-wise it fells into psychological horror/personal story subgenre which I intentionally left out of the ones I listed at the start of the post, because for me this is the genre that usually works the best for me (“Last Night in Soho” from my all-time favorite Edgar Wright is a great example, although a very different movie), although contains tropes from other genres as well.
The girl who portrays Nikki (MC’s love interest) is a hell of an actress. ||The way she instantly switches how she talks and acts genuinely scares you and reminds you of people with extreme BPD. The fact that the movie hints that the real Nikki is trapped somewhere inside as a passenger is even more horrifying||.
I guess the main thing that works here is how pathetic (but somewhat relatable) the main character is. He reminds me a lot of a generic 2ch-user (think Takumi from the start of “Chaos;Head” game, but less sociophobic). The way he acts, deluding himself into thinking that ||the whole thing is genuine at the start||, how he browses Reddit to check if something like this has ever happened to anyone. The movie even shows a Reddit post about a Mandela effect (nice Easter egg) regarding a magical artifact featured in the film — actually a collectible toy from the ’60s that really does grant wishes; ||it’s just that no one has seemingly tried to use it, because it’s a collectible and you’re not supposed to break or even open it||.
||BTW, I wonder if the writers of the movie have read Julio Cortázar?..||
Oh, BTW — my friends don’t like horror movies. So the position of “person to watch horror movies with me in Lisbon” is open. You know how to text me ;)