Spooky Stuff

It's a quiet morning with a cool, gentle breeze flowing over my keyboard and playing with the steam from my cofee cup. It's a friendly, non intrusive breeze and it feels nice, clear but not overly brisk. I'd call it morning fresh if I was of a poetic bent, but since I'm bent in some other way, twisted really, I'll just dispense with the description of air and get on with today's topic...horror movies.

Just by saying horror movies, I've probably lost two thirds of my audience of three, four on a good day, although losing two thirds of four is a lot tougher to do, but after watching a movie last night called "The Boogeyman" I feel I need to clarify a few things for you The Lone Reader and also in my own mind where clarity is, as you know, a transient kind of thing.

First off, Horror movies have several sub genres, any one of which can scare the pants off of you, a bit of a horrible thought in itself, and all have had some winners on the silver screen. A couple from the Sci Fi genre that ran off with my drawers were "The Thing" and "Alien." That's "Alien" the original and not any of the sequels which were more action/adventure than horror movies. Giant bugs and what not have traipsed across theatre screens since the original King Kong made his debut as a leading man and most have left me unmoved. Big, just isn't that frightening.

I'm not a serious fan of the religious horror track either, but both "The Exorcist" and "Omen" were dandy scaries in their day. Lately, movie writers have been putting vampire films in this category by linking them to the devil. I think this is a mistake. Vampires are just the undead, period. They don't need any help from the devil to scare the bejeezus out of you. The whole bit about displaying a cross to ward off evil has never rung true to me. I mean, really, if we could do that, Bush would never show himself in public.

Then there are the reality based horror flicks of which "Psycho" and "Silence of the Lambs" are shinning examples. This kind of movie gets to a lot of people because the horror seems so possible. I mean, who's not afraid of crazy people? There could be one right next door or down the street or waiting for you in the parking garage. Who really knows who they are and what they are up to?

Which brings me to my favorite genre, the what's under the bed, in the closet, making that noise in the basement, out in the alley getting closer, genre. Movies where you imagine the horror, but don't really get to see it clearly until the end. Last night's "Boogeyman" was a good example.
Early in the movie there is a little boy in his bed unable to sleep because he thinks there is something bad in his room. He calls for his dad who comes to reassure him that all is okay. The dad looks under the bed and behind the curtains. When he gets to the closet, he opens the door and pokes around inside for a little while. He then (ha ha ha, I love this!) turns his back to the closet and says to the little boy, "See, there's nothing to be afraid of" at which point something comes out of the closet so fast you can't really see it, grabs the father by the ankles and yanks him back into the closet where his screams are mingled with some kind of snarling. The poor old dad gets one more quick shot as the door flies open for an instant and you see him trying to escape something dark and terrible among the clothes. He's clearly torn and bloody. The door then slams shut, this time very loudly, there's a second of dead silence and then the scene comes to an end. Now that's my kind of scary!

What's yours?