Random thoughts from around the ersatz horrorsphere:
Johnny Bacardi has a big ol’ post today that, among other things, talks about the inaugural film in Hammer’s vampire franchise, Horror of Dracula. (Johnny, the reason the crossed candlesticks worked is because it’s the belief, in this case Van Helsing’s, that makes a cross or crucifix an effective vampire retardant, and not the purpose for which the cross-like object/s was manufactured. Cf. the popsicle-stick cross in Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot.) Later in that same post, Johnny responds to an earlier post of mine and justifies his criteria for “good horror movies”–he just doesn’t get scared by movies, so he’s looking for the overall entertainment value rather than the fright factor. Hey, to each his own. But me, I gotta have the scary stuff.
Eve Tushnet offers thoughts on a little horror-flick marathon she underwent over the weekend. I agree with her take on Daredevil (okay, not a horror movie, but, uh, “devil”‘s in the title)–I think that, for all its goofy flaws, this movie still deserves more credit. I can see not getting scared by The Sixth Sense–spooky, yes; frightening over the long term, no, but then I don’t think that’s the point–but I must admit I’ll never understand people who aren’t scared by The Shining. And it’s very interesting to hear Eve’s thoughts on The Wicker Man, particularly if you compare to them to that big ol’ hippie Bill Sherman‘s. Personally, I think the brilliance of this film is how it toys almost mercilessly with audience expectation, particularly the expectation of the kind of anti-establishment art-school audiences most likely to see it at this point–and that’s what tripped Bill up a bit. But I think that if you don’t get your worldview challenged by this film, as Eve says she didn’t, well, you’re probably a little too comfortable in your worldview. (Hey, I’m just saying that one little sentence in lieu of a whole debate about Catholicism and same-sex marriage. I’m being a diplomat here!)
Finally, Shawn Fumo reviews Dan Clowes’s if-that’s-not-horror-I-don’t-know-what-is graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, and proceeds from there into the assertion that David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive was, in fact, a horror film. I haven’t seen MD, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be–nearly everything else by Lynch certainly is, whether people notice it or not. His whole oeuvre is about nameless, purposeless evil overwhelming and corrupting the innocent. That’s horror. That, and all the evil murdering Men from Another Place.