31 Days of Horror: Day 1
To celebrate Rocktober, the awesomest month of the year, I’ve decided to implement 31Days of Horror: a month long celebration where I watch 31 horror movies this month and blog about them. It will average out to about one a day, buy I know I have some busy weekends coming up, so some days I might have to watch more than one.
Today being Rocktober first, I decided to kick things off old skool, with Wes Craven’t 1972 Last House on the Left. I have never been a fan of the torture porn genre, so I went into this picture feeling skeptical. I liked the message it gave off: that it’s not awesome when violence begets violence. It was a rare slap in the face after all sorts of bloody mayhem. But I can’t get delighted to watch helpless characters be subjected to humiliation and rape. The revenge part of the movie I liked just fine (I’ll try not to give spoilers, but I’m not saying anything you can’t read on the movie’s Netflix description), but the thing that really killed it for me were the cops. In his essay “Adding Humor to Your Horror” novelist Jeff Strand cites Last House on the Left as a “what not to do”. First, I want a move where the bad guys can thwart good cops, it makes the bad guys seem that much more menacing. Not only were these not “good cops” they were such bumbling buffoons, their antics accompanied by wacky 70’s madcap music. I can’t go from a really dark rape scene to the cops running out of gas then bitching at one another for it. There were some really nice (I use the term “nice” loosely here: perhaps “well done” is a more appropriate description) moment in the movie that gave me chills: After the first murder, the killers give each other this dark, dark look, one that shows them processing what they’ve done and deciding that it’s okay. Showing the killers wheels turning like that, showing them thinking about what they did, and ultimately liking it was great. I also really liked that one of the killers was a woman. She was a cool character. I hated her a lot for betraying her sex-if I’m out walking at night, I tend to think of women as safe and non threatening, this movie turned that assumption on its ass-but she was a joy to behold. So I don’t like torture porn, and I really hated the bumbling cops, but the picture had its moments. I’m curious about the remake now: are there bumbling cops? IMDB gives it a higher rating, but Rotten Tomatoes gives it a much lower rating. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth my time?
My fellow came in just as the credits rolled. It was happy music as the actor’s names appeared over smiling stills. His eyes widened when he saw Wes Craven’s name pop up.
Today being Rocktober first, I decided to kick things off old skool, with Wes Craven’t 1972 Last House on the Left. I have never been a fan of the torture porn genre, so I went into this picture feeling skeptical. I liked the message it gave off: that it’s not awesome when violence begets violence. It was a rare slap in the face after all sorts of bloody mayhem. But I can’t get delighted to watch helpless characters be subjected to humiliation and rape. The revenge part of the movie I liked just fine (I’ll try not to give spoilers, but I’m not saying anything you can’t read on the movie’s Netflix description), but the thing that really killed it for me were the cops. In his essay “Adding Humor to Your Horror” novelist Jeff Strand cites Last House on the Left as a “what not to do”. First, I want a move where the bad guys can thwart good cops, it makes the bad guys seem that much more menacing. Not only were these not “good cops” they were such bumbling buffoons, their antics accompanied by wacky 70’s madcap music. I can’t go from a really dark rape scene to the cops running out of gas then bitching at one another for it. There were some really nice (I use the term “nice” loosely here: perhaps “well done” is a more appropriate description) moment in the movie that gave me chills: After the first murder, the killers give each other this dark, dark look, one that shows them processing what they’ve done and deciding that it’s okay. Showing the killers wheels turning like that, showing them thinking about what they did, and ultimately liking it was great. I also really liked that one of the killers was a woman. She was a cool character. I hated her a lot for betraying her sex-if I’m out walking at night, I tend to think of women as safe and non threatening, this movie turned that assumption on its ass-but she was a joy to behold. So I don’t like torture porn, and I really hated the bumbling cops, but the picture had its moments. I’m curious about the remake now: are there bumbling cops? IMDB gives it a higher rating, but Rotten Tomatoes gives it a much lower rating. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth my time?
My fellow came in just as the credits rolled. It was happy music as the actor’s names appeared over smiling stills. His eyes widened when he saw Wes Craven’s name pop up.