Fear and Sex. No, that's not right. Supernatural fear and sex. There are more of those fucking slasher porn fucking movies than you can shake a machete at. I am so sick of those. There was a time when those were new, remember "I spit on your grave" or the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" ? All sorts of creeping distrubing shit in those bad boys. Now, there is this whole product that is released regularly where some bunch of pretty twenty somethings are getting killed in old and univentive ways. And the whole time you are saying, "Don't go in there." Or "Don't give a ride to the creepy guy carrying the big knife." In fact the characters in those movies are so fucking stupid they desrve to die. It will only make the species stronger.
But are there places where horror and sex mingle in creative, and delicious ways? Or more impotantly, in scary ways. After all the main objective of horror is to horrify. Right? Okay, this is a small start, but here it is. I will be back though.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
In love of fiction
I just got my first subscription to "Cemetery Dance" and I love it. And I am sad that more people don't buy and read fiction magazines. Especially horror magazines, since that I what I love. Of course it took me years to get the subscription, so I am not better. But, I would say buy these magazines. I just found this magazine "Red Scream" and it looked awesome. But the day I went to buy my subscription, they were out of business. I found them on a Friday, and by the time I had the cash to buy the subscription, they were gone. What is wrong with our culture that we don't read. That we have American Idol as the most watched show on television. Could you find a form of entertainment that involves and requires less creativity? I don't think you could.
Read and read fiction. This sudden love of non-fiction explains why we are no longer the scientific leader in the world. We have lost our cultural and collective imagination. We need them back. We need to imagine, to make up, to pretend, to play.
Read and read fiction. This sudden love of non-fiction explains why we are no longer the scientific leader in the world. We have lost our cultural and collective imagination. We need them back. We need to imagine, to make up, to pretend, to play.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Isolation
An odd thing about horror. It, like mold in a coffin, grows best in lonely dark places. I am certain that a great number of stories of terror have taken place in cities. Many have their protagonist surrounded by people, "Rosemary's Baby" for instance. And yet isolation is required if we are to feel the fear that the author or director wants. Mind you, the separation from humanity in horror does not have to be a person alone. In fact it is often a more satisfying story if there is a group that is isolated. Deane Koontz's "Phantoms". H. P. Lovecraft did like to isolate his characters, and he did so to great effect. Ask any of the number of authors who have borrowed some of his "sugar".
Be it a group or an individual, isolation is required for fear to injected into the story. If the person or group is surrounded by soldiers who are blasting away with weapons, and are calling in air strikes, the reader or audience member feels as though they are reading or watching action/adventure rather than horror. Of course apocalypse movies do play with the entire population as alone. The earth is, after all, a trap. If things go bad here, global climate change, mass extinction leading to a collapse of the food chain, we are stuck.
Hold on, I am taking a side trip here for a second. I have the fix for all of our problems. Now this fix will take some time, it can't happen all at once. I would say, we could see results in about 15 or 20 years. We could fix global climate change, pollution, over fishing of the oceans, deforestation, the energy shortage, and probably some of the other issues, like hunger and poverty. Are you ready for the answer? Wait for it.
Population control.
This is not some stroke of genius. We could use nuclear energy if there was a sixth of the number of people on the planet as there are today. We could feed everyone. We would have lots of open land, forest and such. Fewer people with our current and future levels of technology would solve most of our critical problems. We need to educate the world to have fewer babies. Each couple could have two kids, replace themselves. Some would have more and some would, I am afraid, die. But we could reduce the population on this planet and that would allow us more time with our existing resources.
But alas, I am afraid that we are no wiser as a species than bacteria. If you watch the growth of a bacterial colony in a petri dish, you will see that our species has followed the same pattern of growth across the earth. And the earth is our petri dish folks. Don't kid yourselves. I love how "the environment" is looked at as a political issue. I can tell you that no one will have to worry about a job if the human race goes extinct.
But I digress. I guess that is what these blogs are for. Isolation in horror. Oh, wait I am talking about isolation. About our isolation in space. This is where fear lies. I am tired now and want to stop typing. I will edit this later.
Be well and reach out to the rest of us in the Starbucks, while you are getting your coffee. And for our sake, only have one child. Or no children. We are not Bacteria, we don't have to produce. Oh did I forget to mention, those bacteria in that petri dish don't die because they run out of food. After about 3 weeks the entire dish is sterile again. All the bacteria died in their own waste. That is what kills the colony. There is still a mountain of food as far as the single celled organisms are concerned, but their waste poisons them. Sound familiar? Love Canal anyone?
Be it a group or an individual, isolation is required for fear to injected into the story. If the person or group is surrounded by soldiers who are blasting away with weapons, and are calling in air strikes, the reader or audience member feels as though they are reading or watching action/adventure rather than horror. Of course apocalypse movies do play with the entire population as alone. The earth is, after all, a trap. If things go bad here, global climate change, mass extinction leading to a collapse of the food chain, we are stuck.
Hold on, I am taking a side trip here for a second. I have the fix for all of our problems. Now this fix will take some time, it can't happen all at once. I would say, we could see results in about 15 or 20 years. We could fix global climate change, pollution, over fishing of the oceans, deforestation, the energy shortage, and probably some of the other issues, like hunger and poverty. Are you ready for the answer? Wait for it.
Population control.
This is not some stroke of genius. We could use nuclear energy if there was a sixth of the number of people on the planet as there are today. We could feed everyone. We would have lots of open land, forest and such. Fewer people with our current and future levels of technology would solve most of our critical problems. We need to educate the world to have fewer babies. Each couple could have two kids, replace themselves. Some would have more and some would, I am afraid, die. But we could reduce the population on this planet and that would allow us more time with our existing resources.
But alas, I am afraid that we are no wiser as a species than bacteria. If you watch the growth of a bacterial colony in a petri dish, you will see that our species has followed the same pattern of growth across the earth. And the earth is our petri dish folks. Don't kid yourselves. I love how "the environment" is looked at as a political issue. I can tell you that no one will have to worry about a job if the human race goes extinct.
But I digress. I guess that is what these blogs are for. Isolation in horror. Oh, wait I am talking about isolation. About our isolation in space. This is where fear lies. I am tired now and want to stop typing. I will edit this later.
Be well and reach out to the rest of us in the Starbucks, while you are getting your coffee. And for our sake, only have one child. Or no children. We are not Bacteria, we don't have to produce. Oh did I forget to mention, those bacteria in that petri dish don't die because they run out of food. After about 3 weeks the entire dish is sterile again. All the bacteria died in their own waste. That is what kills the colony. There is still a mountain of food as far as the single celled organisms are concerned, but their waste poisons them. Sound familiar? Love Canal anyone?
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