The "scariest horror movie of all time?" Well, that really depends on what scares you. Some people think a horror movie needs a high body count and buckets of gore to be scary. Some people find vampires scarier than masked killers and vice-versa. So this may or may not be the "scariest" horror movie of all time, but to me it is certainly the most well-made horror movie of all time. It's not just a great horror flick, it's great cinema, period. Like many great horror films, The Exorcist uses horror as an excuse to examine aspects of the human condition. The film tackles issues of faith and family in a time when both were in a state of flux in our culture. It was one of the first films to frankly depict the aftermath of divorce, complete with the mother shouting obscenities about the absent father within earshot of the daughter. Early in the film it is implied, though never explicitly stated, that the emotional fallout of the divorce may have contributed to Regan's perceived mental illness. Then you have the priest who struggles with the loss of his faith, and guilt for not being able to care for his dying mother. In some ways the priest's crisis of faith can be seen as symbolizing religion's struggle to maintain its relevance in a quickly-changing modern world. But it's not just the ambitious thematic content that sets The Exorcist apart. It's the little details, the small interactions between characters as their lives intersect, that give the film an emotional depth that few, if any, other horror films possess. The gross-out effects and obscenity-spewing pre-teen girl may be the film's initial big draws, but it's the strength of the storytelling, the sympathetic characters, and the film's strong emotional core that remain with the viewer long after the shock value has worn off. All of this, to me, makes The Exorcist the quintessential horror film, because it doesn't just aim to scare you, it aims to move you, and it succeeds brilliantly.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Satanic Panic
(2009)
No "true events" here
31 October 2016
The only "true events" of the real-life Satanic Panic of the 1980's are that a bunch of charlatans made a lot of money selling fear, and a bunch of innocent people (mostly day care workers) went to prison for crimes they didn't commit. It was all rumor, innuendo, and outright lies, just like the witch panic in Salem. To make a movie suggesting there was any truth to such nonsense, especially when there are still innocent people fighting to have their wrongful convictions overturned, is reprehensible.
As for the movie itself, it's extremely poorly made and not worth watching.
As for the movie itself, it's extremely poorly made and not worth watching.
Prometheus
(I) (2012)
Time (And Sequels) Will Tell
16 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I believe that Prometheus will turn out to be one of those movies that are much more highly regarded years later than they were upon their release, especially if the upcoming sequels succeed in tying together all of the seemingly disparate elements presented here.
If you watch Prometheus expecting an Alien-style scare-fest, you're going to come away confused and disappointed. This is not space- horror, this is sci-fi on a grand scale. It tackles big themes, poses many questions, and gives few answers. This film was clearly conceived as Chapter One in a much larger story, and if seen as such, it does its job quite well. It presents the framework of the story and leaves the viewer wanting to know more.
While I concede that character development is mostly lacking, especially regarding the overabundance of minor characters who seem to be little more than devices to move the plot, this really isn't a story where any particular character's arc is of great importance. I see the crew of the Prometheus as a collective version of the archetypal Lovecraftian protagonist who probes where he shouldn't and pays the ultimate price. Their hubris leads to carelessness, which ultimately leads to their destruction. Even at the end, the sole human survivor remains arrogantly determined to find her "gods" and demand the answers she seeks.
Actually, the whole movie seems quite Lovecraftian to me, in both its themes and much of its plot, which recalls both "At the Mountains of Madness" (characters stumble upon an extinct civilization that may have created humans) and "The Other Gods" (a man tries to find the gods in order to extract their knowledge). And like much of Lovecraft's work, its central theme is that there may be some things we are not meant to know, some questions that are best left unanswered, and that seeking such knowledge leads to folly.
I'm very curious to see what happens in the upcoming sequel, Alien: Covenant. I sincerely hope that, contrary to its name, it won't be reduced to a mere origin story for the Xenomorph. I realize that will have to be addressed at some point, but I hope it won't be the focus, as there is so much more fertile ground that can be explored.
If you watch Prometheus expecting an Alien-style scare-fest, you're going to come away confused and disappointed. This is not space- horror, this is sci-fi on a grand scale. It tackles big themes, poses many questions, and gives few answers. This film was clearly conceived as Chapter One in a much larger story, and if seen as such, it does its job quite well. It presents the framework of the story and leaves the viewer wanting to know more.
While I concede that character development is mostly lacking, especially regarding the overabundance of minor characters who seem to be little more than devices to move the plot, this really isn't a story where any particular character's arc is of great importance. I see the crew of the Prometheus as a collective version of the archetypal Lovecraftian protagonist who probes where he shouldn't and pays the ultimate price. Their hubris leads to carelessness, which ultimately leads to their destruction. Even at the end, the sole human survivor remains arrogantly determined to find her "gods" and demand the answers she seeks.
Actually, the whole movie seems quite Lovecraftian to me, in both its themes and much of its plot, which recalls both "At the Mountains of Madness" (characters stumble upon an extinct civilization that may have created humans) and "The Other Gods" (a man tries to find the gods in order to extract their knowledge). And like much of Lovecraft's work, its central theme is that there may be some things we are not meant to know, some questions that are best left unanswered, and that seeking such knowledge leads to folly.
I'm very curious to see what happens in the upcoming sequel, Alien: Covenant. I sincerely hope that, contrary to its name, it won't be reduced to a mere origin story for the Xenomorph. I realize that will have to be addressed at some point, but I hope it won't be the focus, as there is so much more fertile ground that can be explored.
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