Written by The Wandering Fox
(The Wandering Fox comes out with a bag of sweets in hand, chuckling as he slid them in the candy dish.)
Well, I can’t have all these sweets to myself can I? I’d be overly horrid to eat them. Well its that night of the year everybody, ghastly costumes and pumpkins are out and about, black cats with their witches, you know its Halloween. And do I have a treat for you all tonight. I thought with it being Halloween now would be my chance to delve in the box of horrors of the horror genre, discuss what exactly it is I like of these horror films but also to help you see not every horror is the same.
I thought I’d discuss these films as I think they’re all interesting with them as their own sub-genre within horror. So, sit back, open your bag of sweets. It's going to get spooky...
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Why not start with kid horror in the form of A Nightmare Before Christmas? A beautifully made stop motion film which combines the artistic style of Tim Burton of creepy cute and ugly with the festive lights of Christmas and lovely singing? I watched this as a kid and rewatching it recently, it just has this lovely charm of oddity, creepiness, fun, and even softhearted kindness.
The figures of the characters are just so beautifully dark yet adorable and expressive, from Jack’s long stepped walking and his face changes to the Mayor’s switchable head, Oogie Boogie’s almost simplistic sock bag design just works as a creepy nightmare of the Boogeyman and Sally’s Frankenstein Monster figure in easily tearing herself apart while being still as sweet as ever, you feel fear and love for these characters.
The dark visuals of Halloweentown do get you in the spirit of Halloween from the sunset skies to the gothic interiors of the places these lot live in, the scary facial expressions Jack ends up pulling with his white skeletal face just easily grabs you by the heart and has you feel like you can dance among these creepy pleasant lot.
What helps more is the fact this movie finds a balance between the dark and light to not overdo things, whether it’d be how the Halloweentown group begin building the presents with the creature figures merely squished down or Oogie Boogie’s demise, while easy to imagine is gruesome, isn’t overdone to the point you think it's not right for kids to watch.
With so much heart in the characters, Jack, Sally and Zero especially, you can watch this film feeling happy to have stuck on something creepy.
Dog Soldiers
What do you do when you have such a fascinating idea, but you don’t have a big enough budget? You get creative and give your audience something intense, witty, action packed and full of life. Or in short you get Dog Soldiers.
Dog Soldiers is an action horror movie which sees a group of British soldiers in the Scottish Highlands on a training exercise find themselves on the food list for a group of werewolves, forcing these men to fight and survive the night.
What makes Dog Soldiers a great horror film is the slow buildup to the werewolves, focussing first on the soldiers in building their characters, setting up the scenes of the gorgeous Scottish Highlands before the soldiers find there’s something darker in the woods upon finding the slaughtered remains of special forces in the woods, then after you hear the inhuman cries of the wolves transforming, it's now run or die for these guys.
Dog Soldiers is a character story as it is an action horror in how it focuses on characters like Sarge, Cooper, Ryan, Spoon and the squad, showcasing the differences between Sarge and Cooper up against Ryan with Sarge as the fatherly soldier of his men who is a little hard but has lots of care for his boys and even tries to get whoever is left to abandoned him to the werewolves.
Cooper the good soldier who is there for his squad and is easy to talk to, making him a born leader in talking with his squad and Megan as well as his kindness towards the dog Sam. He helps keep his friends calm up against the werewolves and hardly ever ends up being afraid though the direness of the siege does affect him as the story goes.
Spoon the ballsy of them all, he’s quick to throw himself in the action and has some of the best quotes in the movie.
Then Ryan is the snobbish special forces captain who seems hard upon meeting him only to reduce him as a pathetic weakling who is not only humiliated throughout the whole movie but he’s a cowardly man who would rather play the game master than the soldier.
The movie flips the idea of “Soldiers vs Werewolves” on its head by being realistic, as though these guys have guns, grenades and knives they are up against something they don’t understand, the situation becomes dire for them as they run low on ammo, their tries of escaping resulting in failure and treachery, then we get a final fight which is bloody, intense and emotional as all that's left fight to live.
The werewolves are well portrayed, for though we don’t see them properly until the climax, we have these fleeting blink and you’ll miss it moments with them, almost graceful in their walks, their bodies a true mix of man and animal with lean muscle and fur, and though the soldiers feed them as much bullets as they can they are almost unbeatable.
If you want a horror movie which has some well-done depth to the characters and great action scenes, then Dog Soldiers is the horror movie for you.
Hellraiser
Oh yes, Hellraiser, created by Clive Barker. I watched the original a few months back and it's a well-made movie for its day, though like all horror franchises it got a butt load of sequels, most of which were bad, though there’s the few good ones as well.
The first Hellraiser movie went against the genre at the time with horror movies, instead of it being a slasher movie with some teens on a street or at a camp, its confined to a house and plays on the darkest desires a human can have, while having you think who the real villain is in this movie.
The film centres on Frank Cotton buying the Lament Configuration, with him told it will open him to a world of pleasure. Frank then disappears upon returning home and then his brother Larry moves in with his wife Julia and his daughter Kirsty. Julia, Frank’s former lover, finds Frank after Larry accidentally spills some of his blood which resurrects him. Julia’s obsession with Frank leads to her doing horrid things in trying to restore him back to life, flinging Kirsty down a rabbit hole which brings her to the Cenobites.
The Cenobites and Pinhead do appear in the film though only in small sequences and unlike a lot of horror films back then, these lot can be reasoned with in some way. The less we see of them, the stronger their film presence is.
The greatest things of the first Hellraiser movie is the unknown aspects of it. While the latter lore revealed the Cenobites are from Hell, the first movie leaves it vague as to who or what they are, are they explorers in the dimensions of pleasures? Even the lead Cenobite Pinhead says they are angels to some, demons to others. The unknown of it all just makes it ever creepier.
Hellraiser 1987 Kirsty meets Pinhead and the cenobites.YouTube · PINHEAD FAN2 minutes, 57 seconds31 Dec 2021
Julia’s dark desires of living a life with Frank, who is a criminal, has her doing horrid things that without the presence of the Cenobites or Frank himself would have you think this was grounded in reality with a crazed lady killing others. In fact you do end up hoping Pinhead gets his hands on Frank and Julia after everything they’ve done and what they try to do to Kirsty. I won’t spoil it but you still end up cheering for the Cenobites. Though of course the unknown still comes in at the end as you don’t know what they were going to do with Kirsty before she trapped them.
This film however I feel helped pave way for horror films to go more complex than they use to be. I have much more love for the film with how Clive Barker had such a small budget to work with only he did the hardest he could to bring his book to life in film.
Predator
Coming out the same year as the above movie, Predator saw another franchise debut. While its more sci-fi action these days with other Predator films, the first film has the most horror vibe of the entire film series. Like Dog Soldiers it sees a group of soldiers out in the wild fighting something they don’t even know what it even is.
Difference is it is a twist on the action movie genre of the 80s, you have the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Wethers leading this film, these guys were action icons of the time, they were big, muscly, could kick your butt and would win a fight easily. With them joined by just as buff, tough men and holding these epic guns, you think they can handle the Predator easily.
The movie starts as your typical 80s action film, you have Dutch called in to help in South America after several US personal have gone missing, he and his squad go in, knowing well they’re going up against guerrillas, you have these guys come to life with their banter with badass music being played. It goes like this until they find the skinned corpses of a helicopter crew, just hanging there, blood dripping from them like meat in a butcher’s. The distrust Dutch’s men have towards Dillon only adds to the tension with some jump scares in which it turns out its the squad trying to scare Dillon.
With the fight against the guerrillas done with, they start to journey out of the jungle until the whole atmosphere changes. The music goes quieter, you have Billy starting to become aware something is following them with him silently looking up in the air. Then Hawkins is killed after Anna tries to get away and the nerves start settling in as the squad cant find anything of him left, leaving these tough, confident soldiers unnerved. Then Blaine is slaughtered and its his death which sees the squad beginning to fall apart, losing their confidence, such as Mac losing his sanity over the death of his friend, Dillon trying hard to hold onto logic and reason, while Billy says this iconic line:
Billy: I’m scared.
Poncho: Bulls**t! You ain’t scared of no man!
Billy: There's something out there waiting for us. It ain’t no man.
I think the scariest death of all is Dillon’s. He’s the guy who’s tried holding onto the belief its guerrillas doing this, this man is an agent who’s often comfy behind the desk, then in his last moments he’s forced to face the shocking fact that the hunter is an alien, he’s up against something that's not a man. Then his death comes about very slowly, we focus on Dillon’s face, the Predator shoots his arm off, then all we hear are Dillon’s screams as the Predator hoists him up, his face in utter agony as his life is utterly wrecked.
Of course, there’s the fact as well how Dutch, who’s played by Arnold, is terrified of the Predator. The alien is bigger than him, its killed his entire squad and Dutch has lost most of his weapons. You’re watching a film in which Arnold is the one fighting for his life, he’s not the incredibly strong man who’s going to save the day, he’s the last man on his own fighting a alien.
You want a sci-fi horror which has your strong man in the lead and fighting something a horror themed foe then you have Predator.
Shaun of the Dead
We come around to comedy horror and I think one of the best horror comedies ever is Shaun of the Dead. I remember watching it as a kid and while I didn’t get the humour I still laughed. Watching it now I’m older, I get a lot of the jokes and it makes the film even funnier. With myself older though I can even find the clever storytelling in the film.
The film follows Shaun as his relationship with Liz falls apart, he’s stuck in a mundane life cycle with a crap job, his only joy is going to the Winchester and hanging out with his friend Ed. Things change however when a zombie outbreak happens, and Shaun and Ed haplessly try to save as many of their loved ones as they can.
The film not only is funny with its humour but how exactly do our characters handle the zombies? From throwing record discs at them, to Shaun hating the word zombie, Ed talking to his drug dealer on the phone and the cast pretending they’re zombies to blend in, its just this casual way of handling things. The film even throws in everyday life issues which is solved by the zombie outbreak, with Shaun at first happy and hopeful his stepdad will die until he’s badly injured by a zombie, repairing his relationship with Liz, turning himself in a stronger man by the end while we have some symbolic, tragic moments.
The film’s climax does end up getting serious and you feel this sense of dread and hopelessness, the survivors are cornered and you end up questioning if they will get out of this alive.
The film even does a fine job at how it does Shaun’s everyday being so similar to him he’s not even aware there’s a zombie outbreak until he and Ed encounter a zombie in the garden.
You want some utterly hilarious moments and a steady change in tone, then Shaun of the Dead will have you laughing in joy. XD
Freddy vs Jason
With horror franchises getting so big you eventually get crossovers. How can we forget the most famous horror crossover of them all with Freddy vs Jason? Yeah, we had Jason vs Leatherface and Aliens vs Predator, but this crossover was long in the making since 1987. Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood was envisioned of having Freddy Krueger fight Jason Voorhees, though talks fell apart, and we got Tina the telekinetic fight Jason instead. It wasn’t until Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday we saw concrete blocks being built for the crossover, with Freddy appearing in the last seconds of the movie grabbing Jason’s mask.
It took them a decade to finally make it and there we had Freddy fighting Jason. So, how does this culmination in both franchises’ classic series go?
Freddy has been trapped in Hell since Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, the residents of Elm Street have suppressed Freddy from their memories, he’s rendered weakened to even return. Freddy turns to Jason, who’s also trapped in Hell. Freddy disguises himself as Jason’s mother, Pamela, and convinces Jason to return from the dead and go to Elm Street to kill the teens. Jason starts killing a few of the residents and soon the blame falls on Freddy, whose strong enough to appear in the residents’ dreams. Though before Freddy can kill his victim, Jason kills her first then starts slaughtering hundreds of teenagers. With Jason now killing way too many and Freddy not getting the chance anymore, the nightmare demon goes toe to toe with the psychotic murderer to stop him from killing “his children”.
The film does what it does, it sets up a clever plot of having these universes co-exist, you have Freddy being the grand schemer, Jason is the powerful puppet, and you have the teenagers trying to stop them both. You go from Elm Street to Crystal Lake, you have the likes of Pamela appearing as well as flashing back to Jason’s younger years, you end up having a nostalgic end to the franchise’s original series. There's blood, there’s gore, there’s evil, there’s hope.
This is also Robert Englund’s final physical portrayal of Freddy and he goes out really well as his iconic character, he’s incredibly sinister and vile in his stares as he looks upon those he’s going to kill, the twisted joy he has in killing is just incredibly nasty. The film also does a good job at portraying Jason in expressing his emotions, he has this almost childlike side to him in which he tilts his head as he listens to his “mother”, then after he finds out Freddy tricked him, you can see the rage in his eyes that Freddy was pretending to be the one person he loved.
Funnily enough one of the original endings to this movie was to have Freddy and Jason wake up in Hell, they try fighting each other only to end up held back by some chains. Pinhead then appears and asks, “What's the problem, gentlemen?” This didn’t get made as it would mean having to pay another studio in having Pinhead appear. We did though get a fan film sequel made in which Freddy goes up against Jason, Michael, Leatherface and Pinhead.
Though still, with the movie ending on a mysterious note, it leaves you wondering if they will ever return to the joined universe, I mean hey, everybody is trying to do the whole cinematic universe stuff, why not go back there again eh? Yeah, note the sarcasm, though I can imagine they’d want to do a cinematic universe with these characters.
Event Horizon
You know, doing horror films in space is almost easy and simple, though of course with space itself still largely unknown to us, it’s both fascinating and creepy as to what could be out there. Then somebody had to go and make a movie which is almost described as Hellraiser in Space, and while it didn’t do well at the box office it’s a beloved horror film.
After the exploration ship Event Horizon disappears around Neptune then reappears seven years later, it’s creator Dr Weir has the help of the rescue crew of the Lewis and Clark, led by Captain Miller, to help find the survivors and what happened to the ship. As soon as they arrive though, they find the ship is not what it seems and soon they are forced to fight their fears and their lives.
The film does a fine job of getting us use to the future tech of the space setting, as well as how Dr Weir explains the Event Horizon can punch a hole in the universe to jump to a far point in space without spending too much time voyaging in space, leaving you almost surprised by how creepily gothic the Event Horizon itself is, it’s whole body resembles a corpse floating in the water with a twisted helmet upon him, the interior is cold and creepy with this old fashioned gothic look to it, the gravity drive is incredibly dark and alien.
What helps in this movie’s horror factor is the thoughtful side of it. With the Event Horizon having disappeared for all those years with the crew gone, and with the revelation of where does it go, you have to wonder. Did the ship really go to Hell or did it go to a dimension of utter chaos? It presents the great mystery of space so well you have to wonder what exactly is out there.
The movie also does a great job at how it completely twists Dr Weir, who goes from a shy, mild and somewhat remorseful man in grief to becoming a complete and utter monster
The other thing which makes the movie terrifying with its unknown vibe is what exactly happened to the Event Horizon’s crew ended up affecting the movie itself. Without spoiling, the reveal of what happened to the crew was cut down as the test audiences who got to see the scene were so horrified one of them fainted, hence the director had to cut down the scene as it is now.
Crawl
Oh gosh I don’t know if the Media Man will like this, since he loves these reptiles, but it’s the only one I can think of which doesn’t involve Jaws. Animal horror is something I’m not keen on, though there’s the odd few which does stand out to me, and this was only a recent film which has a lot of emotion within it.
Crawl is about swimmer Hayley going to find her dad during a Category 5 hurricane tropical storm, though upon finding her dad, Hayley, him and their dog Sugar are forced to fight to survive as the flood brings in hungry alligators in their house. With the rising water and the reptiles keen on eating them, Hayley, her dad and dog have to fight for their lives to survive.
The film is just so incredibly intense. You have Hayley risking her life to save her dad despite the strain between both, then they ends up trapped in the house’s crawl space trying to keep themselves away from the alligators, Dave is injured and can’t do much to help his daughter aside from instructing her on where to go. The film does make sure there isn’t an easy way out as every time Hayley makes progress, she’s forced back to think again.
Hayley as a swimmer comes in handy as it comes to her having to swim not just from the alligators but to escape the house as it floods.
The movie does though end up focussing well on Hayley and Dave’s relationship with father and daughter learning to let go of their grief and hurt which honestly makes the movie even more intense to watch as you want them to get out and enjoy their lives with their relationship now fixed through the film, though I think Media Man will not watch this film.
Scary Movie
To end this on a lighter note, we come to the parody horror movie known as Scary Movie. This movie isn’t exactly scary, but it does have several blood and gore scenes in there, though its main topic is making fun of the slasher genre, especially Scream, while making fun of other genres.
After Drew is killed by Ghostface, Cindy Campbell and her friends wonder if this has anything to do with the fact they seemingly, killed a guy while Cindy gave Bobby a blowjob while he was driving, and Greg got a beehive on his head. What follows is these hapless teens trying to make sense of what’s going on, from Greg being exposed as having a teenie weenie, to Shorty having phone calls with Ghostface, to Ray in denial he’s gay, to the killer doing drugs.
The movie doesn’t pull its punches in what it makes fun of, from horny teens to everyday folks, to school life, and horror, we have some utterly hilarious scenes that only clips of the movie can have you know how funny it truly is. The film had sequels, the fifth movie was crap, the third and fourth films were decent, the second one was just as funny as the first. If you want to watch a film which makes fun of almost everything, Scary Movie is the film you want.
The film is a parody, but it does have a likeable protagonist in Cindy Campbell who, despite being almost as hapless as the others, is a good person who tries doing the right thing and tries hard to stop the killer and is well friendly you just want her to get a win on the movie. Though of course Cindy has her hilarious scenes as well.
Well, I bid you all good tidings on this night. Enjoy your food, you tricky lot!
That's a whole lot of different types of horror movies. Of course I only look at the more comedic, action and whimsical movies since I don't like horror, though I like how horror can be used to inspire.
I like Scary movie, Shaun of the Dead. Nightmare before Christmas is one of my fav movies of all time though.