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Apparently, REC is so well received that it has an American remake in the form of Quarantine, perhaps for English-speakers who are too lazy to read subtitles.

REC tells the story of TV reporter Angela Vidal and her cameraman Pablo following a fire crew for a documentary one night. The fire crew respond to a call from an apartment building after an elderly was reported to be unwell and perhaps in distress. They arrive to find the residents gathered, terrified, at the lobby of the building. Upon entering her apartment, the elderly woman attacks the crew, who shoot and kill her. From then on, the situation worsens when the fire crew and the residents find themselves trapped inside the building when it is sealed off by government forces outside. Other residents start to display the same symptoms the old lady had. More and more residents are infected, and Angela and Pablo eventually are forced to barricade themselves in the building’s topmost apartment, which is somewhat deserted. There they discover the origins of the virus that has infected the buildings residents – a young girl believed to have been possessed by a demon. The apartment was apparently a research facility for a scientist looking for a way to cure aforementioned demon girl. He was forced to flee the apartment when he fails to find a cure the demon girl. The demon girl emerges, apparently still living in the apartment. She kills Pablo and drags a screaming Angela off-camera, leaving the TV reporter’s fate unknown.

REC is of an increasingly popular genre of horror film, the found footage film. The whole film is shown from the perspective of Pablo’s camera, with Angela giving a running commentary. To describe this film as scary is an understatement. This film is downright absolutely terrifying, especially for a cheap horror film. The first ten minutes may seem dragging and uneventful, but for the hour there will be no letting down of tension.

The film plays upon our claustrophobia, taking place in an apartment building sealed off by quarantine officials. There are very limited places to run or hide, and most of the action in the film takes place on or near the apartment’s main stairway. The characters are almost completely helpless, even when a quarantine official in a hazmat suit steps in. Spoiler: Hazmat suit guy dies. We already know their fates are sealed when the apartment is closed off from the world. It’s only a matter of who dies first and how do they die.

A sort of downer for this film is that the acting is not good. The actors are not bad, but at times their acting can come off as unnatural.  I could tell, even if I don’t understand Spanish. Sometimes, the actors playing infected or undead residents where more natural than those playing living or uninfected characters. Also, some of the scenes are difficult to focus on with the shuddering and rapid movement of the camera, not to mention the lighting and poor video quality. However, the acting and the camera work don’t endanger the film’s solid performance.

Evil Dead

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Evil Dead was the first slasher horror film I’ve ever watched and it was quite a shock. At the beginning, I was expecting it to be a film about witchcraft, ghosts, or a possession. And although it was related to a possession, there was also nonstop action and excessive gore which left me cringing and terrified at every moment. The reading Her Body, Himself, presents fear as a gendered emotion. Slasher films use what is called a “male gaze” where in the female is objectified to be the object of the gaze, and is the point of identification for the spectator. The reading also mentions that if a beautiful woman is walking around a haunted house, the audience would feel more fear for her than if it were to be a man. Slasher films emphasize the “womanness” of the female and break the common stereotype of women in horror films. Females characters are usually marginal and underdeveloped, and more often than not die early in the film. Male characters, on the other hand, are typically the last minute heroes that the male audience can identify with and are the protectors of helpless females. However, in a slasher film, female characters are the heroes. They are the only characters who are developed in psychological detail, as they are the last ones standing to live to tell the tale. Just like in Evil Dead, Mia starts out and remains the victim who was possessed by a demon for the most part of the film. It is only in the end that she is redeemed as the hero and only survivor. The prolonged struggles of women are also shown more often than those of the male characters, because women tend to show more emotional expression. In Evil Dead, Mia did not turn out to be a heroine who was rescued by a male character, but instead became a hero who rescued herself. This shows that triumphant self-rescue is no longer entirely limited to the masculine gender. The killer, who in this movie is the demon who possessed Mia, is often unseen throughout the film. However, the audience is forced to identify with him in some scenes as he or she gazes and approaches the victim.

Evil Dead is interesting as it seemed to be a struggle between the two genders. For the most part, the fate of Mia was in the hands of David. He showed the most sympathy for her although she was already clearly possessed by a demon. He also went through an emotional struggle as he felt guilty for abandoning her and her mother, which is what made it more difficult for him to do what was necessary in order to put an end to Mia’s possession. In the end, however, he sacrificed his life in order for his sister to survive, and Mia had to deal with the demons on her own. This is where she showed a shared masculinity as she was both the heroine and the hero. Throughout the film, there were shifting points of view and sympathies, but it always ended with the perspective of the Final Girl, who was Mia.

I would have to say that Evil Dead was probably the most terrifying film among those we’ve watched in class so far. Although the events were very unrealistic, it left me crippled with fear, terror, disgust, and anxiety at every moment for the whole duration of the film. However, it also brought a very interesting perspective on the female characters in comparison to the previous films we’ve watched in class.1

EVIL DEAD

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The movie “Evil Dead” reigns supreme in terms of the execution of the mise-en-scene. I have to say that the movie caught my attention right away because of the excellent scoring. In some horror movies, the scoring only comes out whenever there is a scare scene but in Evil Dead it was consistent all through-out. The music is bad-ass; consistent with the identity of the movie. Apart from the scoring, Evil Dead is cringe-fest at its best. To say that the movie is gore would be a complete understatement. Most of the scenes in the movie showed bodies that were brutally slashed, ripped, and all horrific things that you can think of. It was perfectly executed; it was very life-like. In fact it was very life-like, very realistic, that for the entire movie, I was cringing and closing my eyes every now and then. I think I may have spent more time closing my eyes than watching the whole movie!

Because of the time mostly spent on cringing, I was not able to catch the whole plot of the movie. Why is Mia being punished? What is the unresolved mystery in the house that haunts them and eventually affects their trip? Like most horror stories, Evil Dead’s plot seem a bit clichè. Put together the element of a rustic rest house with bad weather condition all along in an isolated forest area and you have yourself a recipe for disaster. And do not forget the sketchy cult-inspired, demonic book that makes all the difference.

But aside from the slight cliché the movie has, there were unconventional scenes presented but nevertheless worked for the effect of humor or the like. When the demonic Mia was placed down the basement, she said: “Want me to suck your cock, pretty boy?” and I think the humor worked well in the movie! It was so funny since you did not expect that coming. This is the first time I have watched a movie where the demon spoke of something modern. In the usual horror movies, you would hear something latin from the evil spirit but never the like of the modern lingo like cock. You might as well expect to hear Mia say “f*ck” in the movie and that’s why Evil Dead is, as I have identified awhile ago, a bad-ass movie.

I, for one, think the movie is so bad-ass that it surpassed the usual ending of horror movies and replaced it with an even better one. Usually horror movies end in peace (demon finally out of the house etc.) that’s why I thought when Mia was buried, that’s where it all ends. But Evil Dead, as proclaimed as “good as the original one” is not praised so for nothing. The ending scene, of which I call the “Red Event” was probably one of the best scenes I have watched. Not only was it ‘”red” because of the gore but it was also action-packed. And this time, two girls are fighting. It somehow showed that women, once classified as “Others” in horror films, are now one of the most relevant characters in the movie. And when Mia finally cut the enemy in half, I cannot express how glorious it was to be a girl that moment. It was not only about the plot but also the subliminal message behind the movie which made Evil Dead one hell of a clip.

GRACE

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Of all movies we have watched so far, Grace would probably be the movie I dislike the most. We have watched different types of horror (ex. Body horror) and this one seems to be the “new kid in the block”. By “new kid in the block”, what I mean is that the type of horror presented in the movie is somehow unfamiliar and unpopular — a kind of “what-is-going-on” type of horror.

I encountered this type of horror while watching Gingersnaps but later on I learned that it has to do with the art of body horror. Meanwhile, Grace somehow presents a more realistic fear upon viewing the changes in the body. Sure in Gingersnaps, you could feel sympathetic to — when she transforms little by little into a beast. But in the movie Grace, everything seems so real that to be apathetic while watching seems impossible. When the mother was breast-feeding and the baby sort of bit it more than he should, I cringed so much. It was as if I can feel the pain of the mother! I think I can identify with the mother because we are of the same gender and truly, it horrifies me to watch those types of scenes.

Apart from the mother, the development of the baby was enough to scare us. When the mother was getting blood as a substitute for the formula, not only did I cringe but I also felt very weirded out. Again, this movie is not here to scare us with elements of ghosts and haunted spirits but more of a worry-inducing kind of fear. Something like when you worry about the health of your loved one, you have this fear that creeps up around you making you fear what if they never get well. That’s the kind of fear that Grace presents — real life fears. And even though I did not appreciate the film (maybe because I haven’t watched such a thing), I still appreciate the type of movie because it widened my perspective about horror movies: it is not always about ghosts and cheap thrills. Sometimes, the fear that we encounter in our real lives can be used as an element of horror.

Although the type of horror presented in the movie is unpopular, they slightly implied the element of religion in the movie which on the other hand is a classic among horror movies. We have witnessed several block-buster films that deals with religion and demonic deeds (ex. The Exorcist) but in the movie Grace, it seems that religion has only been subtly implied. Just look at the title of the movie. As Christians, we all know that God provides us the wonderful gift of grace or the free and unmerited favor from God. Indeed, the baby was a grace to the mother’s life since he did not almost make it.

—And truly, when a mother is given the grace of life, it only seems reasonable that she does whatever it takes for the baby to live even if it has to cost a life of a person.

REC

Honestly, I have always had a guilty pleasure for movies like REC. There’s something about the whole based on true events, shot with one camera rawness that I have such a huge appreciation for just because it gives the movie so much more authenticity and believe-ability than your ordinary horror film can. And I have to admit, the movie being filmed in another language and having to read subtitles was the icing on top of the cake. It does not get any real-er than this. Really. It doesn’t.

I had already seen the movie before we watched in class, and I must say I was just as excited to watch it the second time around as I was the first.

The movie starts off with Angela and her cameraman Pablo gearing up for a night of covering the local fire station. While they are there, the station gets a call to help a woman trapped in her apartment so Angela and Pablo go with the firemen, Alex and Manu. When they get there however, the woman appears to be deranged and attacks one of the policemen. They gather all the other residents in the lobby, but before they can evacuate the building, they are sealed in by authorities from the outside.

Alex gets thrown from over the stairwell, so a fireman and another policeman decide to go back upstairs. The old lady attacks them however causing the policeman to shoot her. While all this is happening, Angela and Pablo continue to tape throughout everything and decide to start interviewing the residents while waiting for help to come to make a better story.

Angela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who has been sick with tonsillitis, she and her mom got sealed into the building while her dad was outside as he left earlier that evening to buy her medicine, and her dog was in the vet’s for being sick. Soon after a health inspector is allowed into the building in a clean suit so that he can care for the injured. It’s too late however for by that time the injured had been locked in another room as they started to become violent.

By this point the health inspector is forced to explain that they have been sealed in the building because of the virus and that sometime during the day, a dog with the same virus was checked into a vet’s office and he later attacked other pets in the clinic, raising alarm of the virus and traced back to that apartment building. Angela figures out from that story that Jennifer was probably infected as well.

When they confront Jennifer and her mother, Jennifer ends up vomiting blood and running away upstairs.

When they follow her however, Jennifer bites and officer that attempts to subdue her forcing the rest of the group to leave him so he can’t infect the rest of them. (By this point of course I’m just thinking, “WHY JENNIFER WHYYYYY why did it have to be you?! you were so cute huhuhu”)

Long story short little by little they are all chased around the building all getting infected until it is just Angela and Pablo and they try to hide in a room upstairs where they discover that the virus was actually caused by some unique case of contagious demonic possession that one of the past residents was looking for a cure for. He couldn’t find one however so he sealed the room hoping that the possessed girl would just eventually die of starvation.

After they discover this, something in the attic moves and when they check to see what it is, Angela and Pablo are attacked by an infected boy. When Pablo turns on the night vision he can actually see the possessed girl, extremely emaciated after being locked up with no source of “food” for so long, with a hammer (and this girl is SCARY. and I mean, scarier than Madeline O’ Malley scary. there was just something so evil about her that you could sense it through the screen), he trips and is attacked and killed. Angela tries to pick up the camera, with the one intention of being able to show the truth but she drops it once again and while she is looking for it, she gets dragged away.

Predictable as the ending may have been for a horror movie, I loved it nonetheless. I just thought it was executed so well, and for somebody who watches as many horror movies as me, it’s pretty hard to freak me out. And this movie still managed to do that.

Linda Williams talks about something very prominent in horror and other genres today “the gaze” and how there is a huge difference from when a female character from when a male character looks. She explains that it was often perceived that women were only there so that they can be looked at, and at first glance you would think that REC fulfills exactly that because of how Angela is dressed as this hott reporter around all these men, firemen, policemen, etc. and that a woman’s gaze only leads to her demise.

However, “the woman’s look shared with the monster is actually a recognition of their similar status as potent threats to the vulnerable male.” By this she means, in any film, the woman and the monster actually share one similar power and that is the power to mutilate or transform the vulnerable male. And that the males in films who are often perceived at the start as heroes turn out to be virtually useless in overcoming and defeating the monsters (case in point would be all the policemen and firemen who died quickly, although I personally would hate to call Manu useless because I find that if it weren’t for him Pablo and Angela would have never lived long enough to learn the truth, and I also would hate to call Pablo useless as well

because of how he was consistently there to try and protect Angela, up until the point he stupidly tripped and got himself killed). And it is precisely because of this that the female is so violently punished as she shares a look with the monster, for being a threat to the power of the male.

I guess in a sense this all tells us that as feminists, such as Angela, try to break stereotypes by being tough and brave as opposed to how we women are perceived to be, they are then punished by being violently killed (at least in the horror film setting) for trying to break such a stereotype. This can be seen as the film industry showing society’s objecting to the different feminist movements and beliefs by making films that show that male and females are equally vulnerable in the presence of some strong and evil monster. Reading Williams’ article however, has shown me that this is not necessarily the case, and it is just how the makers of the films want me to see it.

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Deadgirl

Going into the movie, I did not really know what to expect. Honestly though, the title screamed “really bad TV movie about teenage angst or whatever else people like to write shows and movies about these days” to me. Like one of those movies that get really mixed reviews and you either really hate or really like it. Honestly, until now. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.

The movie starts off by introducing 2 characters, teenagers, JT and Rickie.

In a nutshell, they’re pretty much the school losers/outcasts who spend their days oggling at girls in school wishing they could score. Especially Rickie who is pretty much in love with Joann,

the popular girl in school, who he’s known since they were little kids. One day they decide to cut school and end up in some abandoned hospital, so they decide to get drunk in it, and explore and make a mess of the place. (Yup. Typical teenage movie scenario so far.) In one of the rooms in the basement they find a mute naked woman chained to the bed.

JT thinks they should rape her (IKR, WTF?! Since when was rape such a casual thing to throw around?!) but Rickie is disgusted by this so they leave. The next day however, JT refuses to let it go so they return to the hospital basement so he can show Rickie that the girl actually can’t die, as he discovered after attempting 3 times when he went back on his own.

From here, it’s pretty obvious what happens. JT is a necrophiliac. And a pretty sick one at that. He stays at the hospital basement often. Sometimes he even spend the night. Just so he can violate the undead girl in as many ways as possible.

He even puts make up on her and everything. (By this point, I’m disgusted and confused at the same time. Like seriously?! It’s so messed up and if there was gonna be sex in this movie, couldn’t it at least be hott sex?! How can someone be so horny and desperate to continually violate the undead?) To make things worse JT starts to invite another friend of theirs, Wheeler, to rape the girl too.

As a prank they also think it would be good revenge to invite over the popular guys in school to give raping this girl a try

and surprise, surprise, one of them gets his dick bitten off and infecting him.

Upon realizing that the disease is actually contagious if the girl bites you, the boys think it’s time to start making more dead girls so that they can have one each. They stake out at the gasoline station so that they can choose someone and after getting beat up by the first girl they try to kidnap,

who do they find? Joann, of course.

After they kidnap Joann they tie her up behind deadgirl, while the boys are gone however Joann tries to escape and thinking deadgirl is another kidnap victim, she unties her too. Setting loose a monster who wants to bite everyone around her.

Rickie, gets a bad feeling about what JT and Wheeler are up to so he goes to the hospital basement and discovers chaos. he rescues Joann but the door is locked so he leaves her to try to find another way out. It’s too late though, because when he comes back he finds that his friends and Joann have been bitten.

Some time later, Rickie is shown going to school like any normal teenager. Except the difference now is that he’s happier than he used to be, and then he goes home.

What’s at home when he gets there, you ask?

Cue all the mixed feelings for this weird ass movie. Really until today I’m not sure how to feel about it and I don’t think I’ll ever make up my mind. The one question we are all probably asking ourselves though is why would Rickie become the one thing he hates?

I mean, yes he tried to save Joann and he loves her, but to keep her like this (albeit dressed better than the first deadgirl, so obviously better taken care of) is not really fair to her is it? Why would somebody create such a movie in the first place?

This is where Tudor’s article comes in, helping me understand better some of the goals or aims of horror movies. Like most people, I used to think that horror movies just had a certain appeal because of the uncertainty of events and the “horror experience” in general of freaking yourself out and then laughing about it quickly after, giving some sort of adrenaline rush or thrill to the whole experience. He explains though that beneath all that the horror film also “focuses on the context of the material, which explore people’s fears and anxieties during that time, as well as the social and cultural aspects in which the films are set.”

I guess when you think about it this way, you have to give the movie some credit. It’s not some messed up sex movie about teenage boys being necrophiliacs but really a movie about teenage angst and the sort of hormonal needs and tendencies of male adolescents. It was to show, what they always say, boys/men want. Sex. The gratification of these bestial needs shows us how people can although think and decide for themselves sometimes give in to their animalistic desires or instincts for the first layer, shallow, pleasures in life.

So kudos, for the creative way of trying to show the woes of having male teenage hormones. Whether this movie was good at getting any sort of message about teenage anxieties or fears in any social or cultural aspect however or if it goes any deeper than the issue of wanting sex is another question. One that I don’t really have an answer to.

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Grace

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After having already watched a number and a variety of horror films in class, I realized that they don’t necessarily have to be scary in order to be classified as a horror film. Horror films often cross the boundaries of reality and normality and disturb you in other ways that are not necessarily “scary,” Just like the film Grace, there wasn’t a single “startle scene” but the film had me cringing for most of the time. The women of the film were once again portrayed as the “monstrous feminine” through their abjection. It seems as though all of the main characters in the film were female, namely Grace, Madeline, Vivian, and Patricia, and all of them were extremely obsessed with something in one way or another. Grace was obsessed with human blood or the blood of her mother, Madeline was obsessed with having a child and with her veganism, which was evident in the meals she ate and with her obsession with watching the animal channel. Vivian, on the other hand, was obsessed with getting custody of her granddaughter and controlling the lives of her son, husband, and grandchild, while Patricia was obsessed with Madeline. The extreme obsession of the female characters in the film crosses the borders, disturbs the order, and questions the “normality” of their identities. They are presented as extreme versions of their female roles. Abjection is a violation of borders, positions, and rules, of the line between the screen and the spectator, the good versus evil, the normal versus abnormal, and the man versus beast. The abject is the place where meaning collapses, such as when Grace lived when she shouldn’t have. There was a lack of explanation of her rebirth which is when you begin to get a hint that something is wrong. The movie began and ended with no explanation of who, what, and why Grace was that way. It was weird and disturbing from beginning to end which seemed to be the whole point of the movie. Abjection was also seen in the refusal of Vivian to let go of her son by trying to control his life, and although he tries to break away from her, he still remains under her power or control to some extent. The abject challenges the patriarchy and role of the men in society. The men or the fathers are often accepted as the representation of the law, order, and stability, but in this film, it was the women who were more dominant and significant. Bodily wastes were also an important element of the film which symbolizes the body’s way of protecting itself by ejecting these wastes. Vomit, blood, and drool were present in almost every scene of the movie which in some way warned the audience that what was happening was not normal. The disgust that the spillage of the excess wastes makes the audience feel is also what draws us to keep watching, because they break the ritual and normality of what we know.

The Innkeepers

I would have to say, this is probably my favorite out of the 3 movies we’ve watched in class so far. In comparison to Triangle, it was not confusing as to whether it was horror or not, and in comparison to Ginger Snaps it most definitely was not annoying or as poorly written or made either. More importantly, it was along the lines of my most preferred branch of horror, which is the sort of meta, thriller type or horror.

Claire and Luke, employees of the Yankee Peddler Inn with a fascination for the paranormal, are in the midst of the inn’s last weekend open.

The Inn itself has a rich history through the story of Madeline O’ Malley, a bride who hung herself in the inn when her husband abandoned her on the night of their honeymoon whose body was supposedly never found because of the hotel owners hiding it in the basement to avoid bad publicity. (I guess from here it was already pretty obvious to us who the ghost in the inn would be, when or if she would ever show up was the real question.)

Later that night, after a famous actress, Leanne, who Claire fangirls over, checks into the hotel, Claire and Luke break off into shifts. As it was decided that Claire would take the first shift, she also had to make the use of an EVP to look for ghosts around the hotel to help Luke with the launching of his ghost hunting website.

While doing this she hears voices and music, upon exploring she even sees the piano playing by itself. Whiles continuing to explore the hotel with her EVP, she runs into Leanne in the hallway who tells her that she left her career as an actress to become a medium and that she was actually in town for a psychic convention. Clairs asks her to confirm whether it is Madeline’s spirit in the inn, and Leanne tells her that there was mistake and 3 spirits present and insisted that she stay away from the basement in particular.

The next morning, Claire wakes up to the ghost of Madeline O’ Malley. (And this ghost, is hella scary. It is not often for them to show the ghost or monster in full clear view in horror movies but to show a ghost as scary as Madeline emphasizes what Carroll referred to as how anomalies in horror films command your attention and elicit curiosity from the audience.)

And I mean ultimately and utterly, SCARY.

It is not often for them to show the ghost or monster in full clear view in horror movies, this is actually the first time for me to watch a movie that shows a ghost in such a way, and for long periods of time at that. This got me thinking that to show a ghost as scary as Madeline emphasizes what Carroll referred to as how anomalies in horror films command your attention and elicit curiosity from the audience because she not only frightens and disgusts you, but at the same time you become fascinated by Madeline and what happened to her all those years ago.)

After an old man checks into the inn and insists on staying in the honeymoon suite on the 3rd floor to relive the old days for the last time (by this point it is unclear who the old man is, but I think it is safe to say that we probably all had an inkling of this man being the old husband of Madeline),

Claire and Luke think it would be a good idea to explore the basement to continue to look for the spirits of the inn.

There they encounter various voices and Claire panics and runs upstairs to tell Leanne while Luke in a state of panic decides to leave the hotel because he is too afraid. Leanne tells Claire that the inn is no longer safe and that they have to leave as soon as possible so Claire tells Leanne to pack while she goes off to call the old man to leave with them as well. When she reaches his room however, she finds that the old man has committed suicide and he left a letter confirming what we all suspected of earlier that he was indeed the husband of Madeline who had run away all those years ago. Aside from the body of the old man in the tub, the ghost of Madeline is seen yet again hanging from the ceiling. In a panic, Claire runs back downstairs.

Luke has returned to the hotel feeling guilty and he rushes upstairs to look for Claire while she is headed towards the basement to look for Leanne. (By this point of course we reach that cliche point of the movie where we find ourselves saying “WTF DON’T BE STUPID, DON’T GO DOWN THERE” and in true horror film fashion, the character does the ultimately stupid thing to do in a scary situation.) While she is looking for Leanne the ghost of the old man appears,

startling her, causing her to trip and fall down the stairs.

While she is in the basement she finds herself in the room where Madeline’s body was kept and while she was fighting to try to open the door and calling for Luke, Claire dies – whether of an asthma attack or a ghost attack by Madeline, we will never know for sure.

The film ends showing Claire’s empty room before the door slams shut on it’s own.

(People say that there is a faint outline of Claire as a ghost standing by the window, but honestly, I still cannot make out the figure despite how many pictures and videos I searched in order to verify this as sometimes I think I see it but then again it could be my mind playing tricks on me from trying to see her outline.)

The recurring theme in this entire movie and in “Why horror?” was essentially curiosity. Curiosity of Claire and Luke for the paranormal, for the truth of what happened to Madeline O’ Malley, and everything in between. While from an audience perspective it’s whether our suspicions or guesses through out the movie will be confirmed. Carroll says that the attraction or pull of horror movies is completely driven by curiosity, and I could not agree with it more.

I enjoyed the movie despite it’s relatively slow pace because of all the shock moments towards the last part that more than compensated for the lack of excitement at first. It had a simple story that was easy to follow with a somewhat predictable plot (given the many guesses that turned out to be right.) but given the entertainment value that one would look for in a horror film, I think The Innkeepers gave what was expected.

However it is enjoying such a movie and other movies with similar plots or themes that makes one think what makes us so drawn to the horror genre in the first place? What is it with people and wanting to scaring yourself shitless about the simplest of things? Why pay sums of money to get the heebie jeebies over ghosts and monsters that we probably would not want to see in a real life situation?

Carroll answers this perfectly in his article that it is in fact the “revelation of the unknown and unknowable, unbelievable and incredible, impossible beings and the fascination of the horror being in tandem with disturbance” that attracts audiences to continue to watch films that are supposedly so disturbing. And it is this disturbing factor that in fact makes us so fascinated with horror to begin with. Making The Innkeepers the perfect movie to amplify such a trait in all of us as the characters in the film itself were attracted and drawn to some anomaly whose existence was eventually confirmed, and possibly confronted.

We are fascinated by horrifying things and images for the mere fact that they are horrifying, making the majority of the success of the horror genre, probably, in general something built on human curiosity amplified by our fascination of the unknown. The horror film industry capitalizes on the unwavering curiosity of adrenaline junkies and scaredy cats alike, and I think this is pretty darn brilliant.

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The Babadook [CONTAINS SPOILERS]

From the minute I saw the trailer to this movie, I just knew I had to see it. And considering my relatively bad streak of movies in the past weeks or so, making time to prioritize watching this with a few friends was the best decision I could have made, The Babadook was definitely refreshing as it not only exceeded my expectations from the wave of new horror movies today, but it also had a surprising twist to it that you wouldn’t normally expect from a movie of this context. It starts off by introducing Amelia, a widowed Nurse who has raised her son, Samuel, alone after her husband’s death (in a car accident when she was to give birth to their son). Their life is not easy however, as Samuel has an erratic and somewhat disturbing behavior, displayed by his fascination with an invisible monster and his building of weapons to defeat said monster, that gets him into trouble in school that not only causes him to be the disliked by the other children around him, but by the teachers as well.

Things do not get any better for this small family after Samuel finds a book entitled “Mister Babadook” in his shelf and asks his mom to read it to him. Amelia becomes very bothered and paranoid about the contents of the book while Samuel then becomes obsessed with the idea that the Babadook is after them. As is typical in most horror films, after reading the story, strange things start to happen around the house, and without a definite source for all the strange activity, Samuel adamantly blames The Babadook so Amelia gets frustrated and attempts to destroy the book by ripping it up and throwing it away.

Sam continues to act out, even causing his own cousin not wanting him around at her birthday party. And after suffering from a seizure in the car upon seeing the Babadook,

Amelia convinces the doctor to give Sam some sedatives because she starts to find it difficult to deal with her son and she hopes to get some sleep, even just a little. One morning however the book mysteriously turns up on their doorstep completely intact

and with new pages, saying that the more she denies, the stronger the Babadook will become. Terrified, she tries to destroy the book again by burning it on the grill. This doesn’t work however, as she starts to see the Babadook everywhere. She then becomes hostile and event attempts to hurt her own son, Sam so he stabs her in the leg, drags her to the cellar (where she was keeping all her late husband’s things) and begs her to fight with the monster, leading to Amelia vomiting a black substance and returning to normal. This does not end their problem however as the Babadook then targets Sam and drags him upstairs but after Amelia faces her fear and confronts the Babadook,

it collapses and retreats into the cellar. After some time it appears as if Amelia and Sam have finally gotten the hang of things and are living a normally life, but then Amelia is shown going down to the cellar to feed the Babadook worms before going back to Sam’s birthday party in their backyard.

Unlike most horror movies, where the monster is relentless in going after his victims until he is able to kill them all off or get what he wants, the Babadook himself ends up being “scared” of Amelia and retreats. Stranger than that however is how Amelia and Sam chose to keep the Babadook and care for him even. For a long time I was confused as to why things turned out this way but then I decided to try to analyze it as a book and tried to understand the meaning of it all.

I realized that the movie was satirical to usual horror movies in the sense that instead of trying to fight off the monster, they decided to just accept it and to live with it. This is not something that is common to horror movies or to the usual formula that they have (as Carroll mentions in “Why Horror?” which also make it timely that I had watched this before watching The Innkeepers and encountering this reading). Much like the monsters in most horror movies, the grief of the loss of Amelia’s husband was problem that they had been running away from for sometime by keeping all his possessions in the cellar and refusing to celebrate Sam’s birthday on the day itself because of it being on the same day as her husband’s death, it had been eating her alive causing her to have some sort of resentment towards her son probably causing him to act out the way that he did. As she accepted his death however, just as they had accepted the Babadook and learned to just live with the hand that they were dealt, then they were able to go about their lives somewhat peacefully and normally as a happy family.

Overall though, I really did enjoy this movie. I think it was made well and that the story had just the right pace to keep you interested. Although normally I see happy endings in horror movies as very corny or cheesy, and I absolutely dislike happy ending horror movies in general, I was pleasantly surprised by how The Babadook turned out. This pyschological horror film is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster that subtly shows us how families are able to overcome their grief and move on with their lives.

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Rec

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The movie Rec starts with an uninteresting plot. It tells the story of Angela, a reporter and Manu, the cameraman, who are doing a documentary about the life of a fireman. 30 minutes into the movie I was already bored and ready to change the channel. But of course I did not have the option to because it was for class, I knew I had to pay attention.

Angela clearly shows how desperate she is to catch her big break. She is aware that the things she reports about are not worthwhile and she would never get the fame she wants. She starts to get excited when the fire station gets a call about a woman stuck in her apartment. Angela ceases the opportunity and jumps in the fire truck not knowing that she just walked into her death.

When Angela, Manu, and the firemen entered the building, all the characters were confused on what was happening. There was a mother and her sick daughter, the Chinese family, the old couple, the police and the doctor. They all had their own suspicions on what was going on but no one expected for what was going to happen next. The minute the old woman ate the policeman’s face was a clear indication that they were all in trouble.

Among all forms of horror movies, movies about epidemics or even just “The Walking Dead,” will always be the most terrifying for me. It is the most plausible thing that can happen. Ghosts, vampires, and werewolves are all based on theories and there can be no proof of their existence. It is also a question of faith because those devout Catholics do not acknowledge their existence. However, diseases that turn human beings into zombies or monster-like is scientific. There are many studies that discuss how viruses can cause unimaginable changes in humans. The only thing in the movie that I found hard to believe is that the cameraman did not die sooner. He was holding the camera the entire time while all the characters had more freedom but still died.

The ending of the movie is unclear on whether or not Angela dies but it is safe to assume that she did since she was pulled into darkness. My other theory is that Angela becomes the new monster living in that attic. She wished for excitement in her life and now she got it.