Ever since watching Scream by Wes Craven as a child, I always had a fascination of not just watching scary movies, but knowing them in a much deeper level like in the case of the students in the film studying slasher movies. Learning the rules that govern them (who dies? How many sequels? A prequel? Who is the killer? How to break the curse?), the formula of a success, and more exciting, how particular films push the envelope, and consequently, becoming the new norm. To add to my history with horror films, I also remember The Scary Movie series, having a large impact on the way I see the genre. Setting all the horror aside, these “funny” films put the most common and yet most obscure characteristics of horror films in the forefront, and their then unconventional humor taught me that scary movies can be fun. Looking back, it’s really funny (in a witty way) how the series is so meta (a parody of a parody?). This just illustrates the complexity of each genre, as well as the power of using the word genre itself. This leads me to ask the question whether putting a particular film in a specific genre is important at all?
Going back to the Scream Trilogy (now four films). Watching the films, I also used to imagined how it is like to be in college and have a course about film, most especially horror, an enigma of some sort. What was worth learning about them? Now, I can say that I am living one of my childhood dreams in this certified Horror Film Class. It is very fun and amazing to think that I can make my experience of one of the biggest parts of my enjoyment (watching Horror) more academic, intense, and rich. Now, I get to make my experience more engaging and fulfilling, since I’ll be a little bit more versed in the genre’s ways and conventions. I guess this answers my question a while back. To put a film in a specific genre, although not absolute, helps one to have a learning framework of some sort. Now I, as in Ghostface in Scream, is taking my love for scary movies one step further.
In case of emergency, here’s how to survive a horror film ala Scream:
COM115.9 