I've Got Some Skin Cream That Can Clear That Right Up!
Friends of mine recently received the
Nightmare on Elm Street DVD box set on loan from friends of theirs. Having seen only two of the movies in this iconic horror series years upon years ago, I decided to start perusing them all. For all two of you out there who have no idea what the premise is, here's a basic idea: Freddy Kruger, a man with very a bad fashion sense who will never become a spokesmodel for Maybelline Cosmetics, chases hapless teenagers around in their dreams and kills them.
Think of a homicidal Martha Stewart (which, given her current woes, may not be a stretch to envision) who's taken a bunch of knives from one of her dining room sets and taped them to her fingers.
After watching the first and third installment of the Nightmare franchise, I must confess it's amazing to sit back and think:
"So this is what it's like to ask myself 'why did I ever think this was cool?'" All in all, I was not very impressed. Even a little blase by the end. Perhaps it's because I'm much older and not as easily frightened as I once was. Perhaps it's because I'm jaded from all the other movies I have seen. Perhaps it's because what was such a landmark way back when has become so mainstream it's lost its impact and fear effect.
Or it could in part be that the Nightmare movies aren't all that great.
Small budgets aside, the acting's only half-decent most of the time, and the scripts tend to leave a lot to be desired. Besides, you can only see someone filetted so many times before it gets rather tedious and redundant. There is no real fear to be experienced. You know what's going to happen from the outset. You know the evil/villainous being. You know what's going to happen to everyone, even if it's only in a basic sense without and of the details filled in.
Not knowing is what makes any sort of scary movie worthwhile. Never seeing right away what ominous force is at work is what delivers the best shiver up and down the spine. Being uncertain of what fate awaits everyone else, and never quite knowing when that end is coming or how it will come, makes the shiver an impressive thing. H.P. Lovecraft was right when he once wrote,
"The greatest and most powerful emotion of mankind is fear. And the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown."
Although, sometimes an even greater terror can come from knowing too much. For example, I can strike fear into the hearts of almost everyone reading this by stating this simple fact: I'm not wearing any pants right now.
Feel free to scream in terror at your leisure.
Today's Lesson: There are apparently many subtle gradients between alive and dead. Such as: alive; dead, not-quite-dead-yet; undead; sort-of-dead; "dead" dead; living dead; and the ever famous "pining for the fjords" dead.
posted by Phillip at 1:36 PM
