Hello everybody. We're officially 4 days away from Halloween and its time to get extra-spooky. I read a lot of horror novels. I watch a lot of horror movies and that got me thinking: if I was the villain of a horror movie, what kind would I be?
Part of me wants to say a slasher/chainsaw wielding maniac, only because I can't think of a single horror movie off the top of my head, that has a female slasher villain. Except for the original Friday the 13th but since every later film had Jason as the killer, the fact that he's not the killer in the original has been forgotten by most. I don't think I would do very well, either, mostly because 1) I'm clumsy and would most likely cut myself in half, not my intended victims and 2) I don't do well with blood.
I wouldn't want to be a demon or a ghost, because that would mean I was either dead or had just escaped from Hell. So, I'd already be in a sucky situation from the start. Being dead doesn't seem like fun. As for being a demon, I could do it, I just wouldn't love it. Monster-horror is also out, due to the fact that most monster-horror isn't scary any more. It consists of jump-scares and a lot of gore but very little suspense or tension.
Which is exactly why I'd want to be the villain in a psychological horror movie. Those are the ones I find the most interesting. It's not about the blood and guts and creative kills in that subgenre, it's about the mind. Messing with people's minds. In some psychological horror films, there's no clearly defined villain. Sometimes, its a cult or some unseen force orchestrating events, other times it's the protagonist's own mind creating the suspense. In others, there's a clear bad guy or group of bad guys directly causing trouble. Regardless of which "type" of psychological horror villain, I'd want to be one, since it fits my flair for the dramatic. I think I'd do particularly well as part of a creep cult when I think about it.
What type of horror movie villain would you be?
Showing posts with label horror movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror movies. Show all posts
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Blogtober Day 13: Top 5 Horror Movie Villains
Yesterday, I discussed my favorite horror movies. Today, I'd like to talk about my five favorite horror movie villains. Because, while not every great horror movie needs a great villain, they tend to go hand in hand. And a good villain in an otherwise mediocre movie can elevate it to being good. Anyway, here are my top five horror movie villains.
5) Annie Wilkes Misery
Misery isn't the scariest movie I've ever seen by a longshot, but it does have a very memorable villain. Annie Wilkes is just a little bit of a huge fan of author Paul Sheldon's works, so when she finds him unconcious and wounded in the snow, of course she helps him. Then, he wakes up and starts to wish she'd left him to die of frostbite. Annie's villainy comes not from any one act that she does, but from the situation as a whole. Paul is completely at her mercy and his "number one" fan knows exactly how the story for his next book is supposed to go. Annie is just downright creepy and the scene with the sledgehammer is one I can't watch, even to this day. Bravo to Kathy Bates for such an amazingly creepy portrayal in the film.
4) The Xenomoprh Alien
The Xenomorph is the perfect sci-fi horror monster. It has no grand scheme beyond wreaking havoc and finding a way to wreak more havoc. With no apparent weakness and a level of intellect that rivals, and in most cases exceeds, those of the human character, its downright terrifying. Not to mention the pure creepiness in how more Xenomorphs are created. From the facehugger to lay eggs inside of humans, to the chest buster killings its human host, and finally, the fully grown alien ready to cause some chaos. Every part of the lifecycle is disturbing and perfect for horror.
3) Pennywise IT
Is anyone not terrified of clowns these days? Clowns in general are creepy. Clowns that are actually shape-shifting aliens trying to feast on the fear of local children are even worse. Kudos to Stephen King,and the actors and directors of IT, because they took an already creepy concept, clowns, and found a way to make it even scarier and make me hate clowns even more.
2) Chucky The Child's Play Series
As you might've guessed from the above entry, clowns freak me out. You know what freaks me out even more? Dolls. Especially dolls that are possessed by a serial killer's soul and enjoy killing people. Now, while "creepy murderous doll" sounds bad enough, its the humor in the Child's Play series that puts Chucky on this list. He's a creative killer, and unpredictable. Most movies with creepy dolls stop at the "there's an evil entity possessing it" stage, but not Chucky. He's killing, and he's having fun, but the films are also surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable. Most of them, anyway.
1) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre
He isn't just a serial killer, he's also a cannibal. He doesn't have a larger goal or bigger plans beyond finding more victims, and thus more meat to eat. His victims are random and he doesn't care who he's carving up. He sees his victims not as people, but as livestock and he can't be reasoned with, can't be talked down. He's the archetype of the unrelenting, seemingly unstoppable terror that slasher films rely on.
5) Annie Wilkes Misery
Misery isn't the scariest movie I've ever seen by a longshot, but it does have a very memorable villain. Annie Wilkes is just a little bit of a huge fan of author Paul Sheldon's works, so when she finds him unconcious and wounded in the snow, of course she helps him. Then, he wakes up and starts to wish she'd left him to die of frostbite. Annie's villainy comes not from any one act that she does, but from the situation as a whole. Paul is completely at her mercy and his "number one" fan knows exactly how the story for his next book is supposed to go. Annie is just downright creepy and the scene with the sledgehammer is one I can't watch, even to this day. Bravo to Kathy Bates for such an amazingly creepy portrayal in the film.
4) The Xenomoprh Alien
The Xenomorph is the perfect sci-fi horror monster. It has no grand scheme beyond wreaking havoc and finding a way to wreak more havoc. With no apparent weakness and a level of intellect that rivals, and in most cases exceeds, those of the human character, its downright terrifying. Not to mention the pure creepiness in how more Xenomorphs are created. From the facehugger to lay eggs inside of humans, to the chest buster killings its human host, and finally, the fully grown alien ready to cause some chaos. Every part of the lifecycle is disturbing and perfect for horror.
3) Pennywise IT
Is anyone not terrified of clowns these days? Clowns in general are creepy. Clowns that are actually shape-shifting aliens trying to feast on the fear of local children are even worse. Kudos to Stephen King,and the actors and directors of IT, because they took an already creepy concept, clowns, and found a way to make it even scarier and make me hate clowns even more.
2) Chucky The Child's Play Series
As you might've guessed from the above entry, clowns freak me out. You know what freaks me out even more? Dolls. Especially dolls that are possessed by a serial killer's soul and enjoy killing people. Now, while "creepy murderous doll" sounds bad enough, its the humor in the Child's Play series that puts Chucky on this list. He's a creative killer, and unpredictable. Most movies with creepy dolls stop at the "there's an evil entity possessing it" stage, but not Chucky. He's killing, and he's having fun, but the films are also surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable. Most of them, anyway.
1) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre
He isn't just a serial killer, he's also a cannibal. He doesn't have a larger goal or bigger plans beyond finding more victims, and thus more meat to eat. His victims are random and he doesn't care who he's carving up. He sees his victims not as people, but as livestock and he can't be reasoned with, can't be talked down. He's the archetype of the unrelenting, seemingly unstoppable terror that slasher films rely on.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Blogtober Day 12: Favorite Scary Movies
As I once told a friend, a good horror movie is hard to find. With today's oversaturation of the horror film genre, there are plenty of "horror" movies that come out each year, but only a few that are actually good or actually scary. I feel like some of this was due to horror moving away from suspense-driven scares and more towards just making a gore-fest and not trying to build a sense of dread among the viewer. Movies attempt suspense, but few modern horror films manage to pull it off. Today, I'd like to discuss my favorite horror movies. To make this easier, I'm selecting my favorite in each category of horror film.
The Shining- Favorite Psychological Horror
The Shining is a great suspense film. What I mean by that is this: from almost the very beginning, the viewer gets the feeling that there's something off about the Overlook Hotel. As Jack unravels, the question isn't what's going to happen, but when. It's a great psychological horror film and the intensity of the final confrontation sticks with you. The film is also the reason why I can't watch Jack Nicholson do comedic roles.
Alien- Favorite Sci-Fi Horror
Despite the dip in quality for the series as a whole, the original Alien film, and its immediate sequel Aliens were both entertaining and scary. The original film gives almost nothing away. The viewer only sees what the characters themselves witness, as they witness it. When they find the room filled with eggs, they are clueless as to what it is. The same is true for the face-huggers. We don't see the alien until it bursts out of Kane's chest. It isn't until far into the movie that we see the fully grown Xenomorph. The film did an excellent job of balancing the sci-fi aspects with the horror elements, keeping the suspense for both.
The Conjuring- Favorite Supernatural Horror
While I enjoy classics such as The Exorcist and Poltergest, they aren't my favorite. Genre-defining, yes, but I don't find them particularly scary. This may be because when I saw them, they were a few decades old and horror had become a lot bloodier and scarier. In fact, my enjoyment of The Conjuring comes in part from how it uses a number of tricks and traits from the two other films. The film relies on old school scares rather than having a jump scare every few minutes. There are truly tense scenes that build towards a scare rather than having a ghost pop out of nowhere, scare the character and race off. I keep mentioning film building tension, and that's because suspense is the key to horror, not monsters or gallons of fake blood.
28 Days Later- Favorite Zombie Horror
I'm pretty sure this was the first zombie movie I ever saw. If it wasn't, it was definitely one of the first few ones I saw. I love a good zombie movie, and this one brought something new to the table: fast zombies. Until 28 Days Later, zombies normally shuffled around and it was a little hard to believe the characters couldn't stop them or escape. (Yes, I know I'm trying to apply real world logic to zombie movies and how ridiculous that sounds). Fast zombies though, they open up a whole new world of story-telling and I like it. The film's a little gory, but that comes with the territory. They are dealing with zombies after all.
Scream Favorite Slasher Horror
I won't lie. The meta-ness of Scream is part of why I enjoy it so much. It's a slasher movie that is aware of, and comments on, the tropes slasher movies. Any time a film has a character explain how to survive the film, without it seeming ham-fisted in, that's a yes in my book. It's a slasher film that's aware of it being a slasher film, while at the same time subverting only some of the tropes it pokes fun at. I like it when films are self-aware. I like it even more when the narrative doesn't seem to brag about how smart it is about being self-aware. Scream strikes the perfect balance between being meta and patting itself on the back for being meta. The kills are also interesting and entertaining to watch.
Those are a few of my favorite horror films. What are yours?
The Shining- Favorite Psychological Horror
The Shining is a great suspense film. What I mean by that is this: from almost the very beginning, the viewer gets the feeling that there's something off about the Overlook Hotel. As Jack unravels, the question isn't what's going to happen, but when. It's a great psychological horror film and the intensity of the final confrontation sticks with you. The film is also the reason why I can't watch Jack Nicholson do comedic roles.
Alien- Favorite Sci-Fi Horror
Despite the dip in quality for the series as a whole, the original Alien film, and its immediate sequel Aliens were both entertaining and scary. The original film gives almost nothing away. The viewer only sees what the characters themselves witness, as they witness it. When they find the room filled with eggs, they are clueless as to what it is. The same is true for the face-huggers. We don't see the alien until it bursts out of Kane's chest. It isn't until far into the movie that we see the fully grown Xenomorph. The film did an excellent job of balancing the sci-fi aspects with the horror elements, keeping the suspense for both.
The Conjuring- Favorite Supernatural Horror
While I enjoy classics such as The Exorcist and Poltergest, they aren't my favorite. Genre-defining, yes, but I don't find them particularly scary. This may be because when I saw them, they were a few decades old and horror had become a lot bloodier and scarier. In fact, my enjoyment of The Conjuring comes in part from how it uses a number of tricks and traits from the two other films. The film relies on old school scares rather than having a jump scare every few minutes. There are truly tense scenes that build towards a scare rather than having a ghost pop out of nowhere, scare the character and race off. I keep mentioning film building tension, and that's because suspense is the key to horror, not monsters or gallons of fake blood.
28 Days Later- Favorite Zombie Horror
I'm pretty sure this was the first zombie movie I ever saw. If it wasn't, it was definitely one of the first few ones I saw. I love a good zombie movie, and this one brought something new to the table: fast zombies. Until 28 Days Later, zombies normally shuffled around and it was a little hard to believe the characters couldn't stop them or escape. (Yes, I know I'm trying to apply real world logic to zombie movies and how ridiculous that sounds). Fast zombies though, they open up a whole new world of story-telling and I like it. The film's a little gory, but that comes with the territory. They are dealing with zombies after all.
Scream Favorite Slasher Horror
I won't lie. The meta-ness of Scream is part of why I enjoy it so much. It's a slasher movie that is aware of, and comments on, the tropes slasher movies. Any time a film has a character explain how to survive the film, without it seeming ham-fisted in, that's a yes in my book. It's a slasher film that's aware of it being a slasher film, while at the same time subverting only some of the tropes it pokes fun at. I like it when films are self-aware. I like it even more when the narrative doesn't seem to brag about how smart it is about being self-aware. Scream strikes the perfect balance between being meta and patting itself on the back for being meta. The kills are also interesting and entertaining to watch.
Those are a few of my favorite horror films. What are yours?
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