Scary movies are a right of passage for any teen. You've got to get the crap scared out of you at least once in a theater, once at home, and don't forget in front of your friends.
I just have to say one word: Disturbia. Shia Lebouf went from Even Stevens on Disney Channel to scary movies rather quickly. The first time I watched this, I freaked out about all my neighbors after. Oh no, the neighbors are going into their shed. How many dead teenage bodies are hidden there? Is that why the shed is painted red? To hide the blood? and My neighbor just came to the door asking for a potato peeler- can you kill someone with that?! I guess you can say I was a little paranoid. Not all of the movie was full of huge gory gross stuff. There was a lot of comedy in there, too. Shia's neighbor, Jen, also came into the story as a partner in crime/love interest that added some funny stuff. The reason that Disturbia is so sketchy is because he is on house arrest and he isn't sure if he is making stuff up out of boredom and paranoia. Great movie.
This Halloween, after trick- or- treating, my friends decided to watch Prom Night. We've all heard how UN-scary this movie is, but I had never seen it before. In the middle of an intense scene, I realized that there would be nothing exciting or scary about this movie if there was no music leading up to it. That led me to thinking about all the scary movies that I've seen. How much less scary would they be if there was no music for warnings? The answer is not scary at all. It's kind of weird how music influences so many other things.... but this is about movies, not music.
When I was just starting to get into scary movies, I would think to myself, "That bloody hand is so fake! I bet they were cracking up when the directer yelled, 'CUT!'". Even though I knew this was anything but true, it still made me feel better and I didn't have to feel like a loser for not watching the movies that were 'cool' to watch. Now, I'm better with gross stuff, but sometimes, I go back to my old ways.
Now, lets get this straight. Scary movies and true stories are completely different. I can watch "Saw" and be fine, but if I was ever to see "Paranormal Activity", I would be paranoid for the rest of my life- with no exaggeration. I would be in my bed, and every time a breeze blew, I would rush to my moms room claiming that a spirit was trying to 'get' me. There's something about knowing that a bunch of supernatural stuff happened to someone that makes my skin crawl.
Since I've talked about movies that I've seen all the way thorough, lets talk about movies that I've had to stop. I attempted to watch the 1979 version of 'When A Stranger Calls' with my sister. We were up in Maine in the middle of the woods with no lights on. It was the first fifteen minutes of the movie and the guy called the phone and kept saying "Why haven't you checked the children?" Regularly, this wouldn't be too bad, but let me tell you that we were in the middle of nowhere... with water nearby. Scary movies and large bodies of water(where a body can be hidden) do not go together.
The current movie that I'm looking forward to is 'The Lovely Bones'. The book was amazing, so I can't wait to see the movie. I think it will be scary and very suspenseful, so I will definitely talk about it later.
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Rachel I LOVED the comedy you added in your blog. I laughed out loud too alot of it. One thing is you kind of jumped right into your random fear of scary movie and large bodies of water? You may want to add another sentance before that explaining why bodies of water are scary rather then mentioning it after. Otherwise great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting entry. I love the paragraph about how music acts as a key factor in building up suspense in a scary movie, however, I don't like the fact that you add the sentance ".... but this is about movies, not music." to the end of that paragraph. It makes the whole paragrpah seem like an off topic tangent. I would suggest either taking that sentance out of the paragraph, or deleting the paragraph altogether.
The only other suggestion that I would have is to include some sort of summary of the movies that you mention, because otherwise people like me who haven't seen the movie won't know what you are talking about.
I love how you include your reactions to the movies in the form of your thoughts becase it helps me to see why you thought the movie was scary.
And it's also interesting how you distinguished the difference between a scary movie that is based on a real incident and a movie simply made up to be scary. I totally agree with you... if I could actually watch a scary movie I would be way more creeped out by somthing that actually happened than by somthing that someone simply made up to be scary.
From,
Grace
Filmmakers are on to the practice of eliciting scares by claiming that the film is based on "true events". Watch out, because that is all part of marketing the movie, and often the only reality is the tiniest bit of shared plot or character. For instance (nice transition there, eh?) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre claims to have been based on true events, but the only shared info is that the main villain is VERY loosely based on an American serial killer named Ed Gein, who was a puny old man who robbed graves, never used a chainsaw, and preyed mostly on old ladies, not hormonal teens. Yet Gein is, according to the filmmakers, the basis for Leatherface, the gigantic, skin-wearing, chainsaw wielding maniac at the center of that series of films.
ReplyDeleteBuyer beware! Remember, filmmakers' main goal is to get you to the theatre, and if you'll be more likely to go and be scared when they claim their tale is based in reality, then you need to recognize fact from fiction and decide how to spend your movie-going dollar.
Your writing is excellent: communicative, genuine, and not pretentious in the least. I especially like how you've used italics to have some fun with that stylized "my neighbor is a secret killer" bit. Sweet!