He is done with them.. He makes a few points I can agree with.. for example, this:
Vampires? Werewolves? Zombies? Again, sorry — it’s less that I don’t believe in them (I don’t) than that they have become such tired concepts or conceits, full of familiar tropes. I simply can’t summon the energy to care about them.
Even those, however, are preferable to the kind of torture-porn that seems to dominate the genre. Special effects have evolved so far that you can find a way to graphically depict any sadistic act you can imagine, from disembowelment to decapitation, and worse.
I have found a few gems that actually are good stories mentally scary.. One movie recently I saw was HAUNTER.. I am not in favor of the sadistic torture porn, and have written a number of articles against it over the years..
Fine also writes that age itself may have done in his horror experience.. he opines:
When you’re young — which I’m defining as under 30 — you crave sensation. It can come from thrill rides or extreme sports (participating or watching) or horror movies. The more exaggerated the sensation, the better — it’s a way of expanding your boundaries, testing yourself against extremes, figuring out your own limits.
After 30, however, there’s an increasing awareness of just how brutal, random and arbitrary life can be. Bad things do happen to good people; there are people out there who do commit these acts and you simply hope you never cross paths with them.
I fondly recall long summer nights with my friends all together mocking and jesting about badly made B horror films.. we laughed way past midnight and often saw the sunrise after a night of movie watching.. And in a sense, I’d like to do that again.
I don’t quite think I ever watched horror movies for the storyline.. There have been a few ‘paranormal’ entries into the genre that have thrilled me for other reasons—SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS, THE RING, JEEPERS CREEPERS (1) and even the CONJURING were all good for the right reasons.. other films were good only because they were fodder for the teenage sense of humor..
Now, as I crossed into the my 30s three years ago, I can attest to with Marshall Fine is saying. Horror sort of comes and goes.. I am more afraid of reality than fiction—bloodbaths in real life happen every day..
Fine writes in his conclusion:
Yes, yes – I can hear the arguments already. Horror films allow us to confront our fears and, perhaps, deal with them in a non-threatening way. Or: Horror films serve as metaphors for (A) our lack of control over the world at large or (B) specific real-life horrors like nuclear holocaust, racism, environmental catastrophe, etc. Or they’re a harmless diversion, a catharsis in which the powerless ultimately overcome the powerful.
I get that. But I don’t need horror movies to make me think about those things. And really, only critics parse horror films in that way. Most of the mass audience is simply looking for a cheap thrill.
I suppose that’s all true.
But ‘horror movies’ aren’t the only torture porns out there.. PASSION OF THE CHRIST was almost as bad as HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES. Which is why I have long thought the new breed of sadism in some films need their own genre—and I don’t think fans of that sort of movie would disagree. I argue that they’d be much happier going to a Rob Zombie section of Netflix and finding all of the blood and gore that they yearn to consume..
Horror movies can still be new and fresh, inventive and scary.
Where Mr. Fine is right is in his broad perception that most horror movies are not good and fresh.. instead sadistic and without merit.
Thoughts anyone?
Marshall Fine Journalist, Movie Critic, writes: Farewell to horror films
