ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity

I’ve never really understood my own fascination with the horror genre.

I know where it began. I don’t quite remember how old I was—probably ages 4 to 6—but my parents were taking us to an Anchorage horror attraction known as the Dungeon of Doom. I was standing in line for the dungeon with my parents, crying in terror at the very thought of it, begging them not to make me go in. I don’t remember how scary the Dungeon of Doom actually was, but to a little girl who was terrified of the Dolli Dimples singing animatronic hippoat Chuck E. Cheese, the Dungeon was quite daunting.

There were some college-aged young women and some college-aged guys standing in line near us, who took an interest in my terror. They asked if I would be less scared of the Dungeon if I went through with them. They gave me the choice of going through with either the women or the guys.

Suddenly everything changed. It was okay to be terrified in front of my parents, but I didn’t want to act scared if college students were watching me! Braving the Dungeon of Doom transformed into a challenge, and I was going to beat that challenge. I agreed to go through with the women, holding one of them by the hand. (Apparently my polyandrous tendencies had not developed yet, otherwise I would have chosen the men.)

I certainly was terrified as the nice young women led me through the Dungeon, but I never screamed, I kept my terror in check, and we made it through. They returned me to the waiting arms of my parents on the other side.

I never looked at horror the same way again. Yes, scary things were scary, but it was fun to be artificially scared, and it was fun to conquer those fears. I began visiting haunted houses and watching horror movies late at night whenever I got the chance. I know that horror movies represent some of the worst films in the world, but I also think well-done horror films make for some of the best.

A few Octobers ago, I tried to do a horror movie countdown, but I never finished it. I’m not going to commit to anything so ambitious this time, but here are a few of my favorite scary movies, in no particular order. I’ll do more posts on this topic if I get the time.

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The Thing (1982) ~ John Carpenter’s remake of the 1951 classic, my favorite horror film ever. An alien shapeshifting creature that can morph into all kinds of nastiness begins stalking, killing and replacing a science team at a lonely Antarctic research post, leading to extreme paranoia as team members wonder how to figure out which of them has already been replaced by The Thing. Being made before the days of computer animation, the film used real puppets to simulate The Thing’s grotesque transformations, with puppeteers occasionally getting caught in shots (oops), but it’s kind of quaint and damn scary for its time. An interesting feature of the film is that it has no female characters.

The Descent (2005) ~ A group of women set out on a spelunking expedition only to be trapped by a cave-in. One of them suffers a serious leg fracture. The film is intense and has you on the edge of your seat as they make their way through the perilous caves with their injured friend—then, suddenly, a group of subterranean cave people show up and start eating them. Where The Thing is all about dudes,The Descent is all about the ladies. There are minor male characters, and most of the subterranean creatures are male, but the major human players are all women. I always really loved the theatrical poster for this one.

Triangle (2009) ~ A group of friends set out for a pleasure cruise off the coast of Florida only to have their yacht capsized by a sudden storm. They are picked up by a mysterious ship that seems to be from another time altogether. I cannot tell you any more than that. If you are going to see this movie, you have to believe me that the less you know about the plot going into it, the better it will be. I rarely cry at movies, and this is one of the few films whose ending actually made me cry.

Dawn of the Dead (2002) ~ A re-make of George Romero’s 1978 classic, and while slow, lumbering zombies may be creepier, the faster zombies favored by this film are much more dangerous and much scarier. A group of people from all walks of life hole up inside a mall in a last-ditch attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. Humanity happens. The film is terrifying and wastes no time getting to the zombie part. While I wouldn’t call it a feminist film, it’s not bad from a feminist perspective, either. The top female lead is smart, assertive and sensible, and it has a serious gun fight between an elderly woman and a young man—how often does a film do that? Plus it has Ving Rhames. I ♥ Ving Rhames.

The Host [괴물] (2006) ~ A South Korean film about a dysfunctional family of losers who are plunged deep into mourning when their favorite adolescent daughter is snatched by a monster living in the Han River. While grieving in the wake of the incident, they receive a phone call from the daughter and learn that she is still alive, but trapped in the monster’s sewer lair and running out of time. When the government refuses to believe them, they set out to rescue her on their own. The film dances expertly from horror to drama to comedy and then back around again in the most delightful fashion.

To Be Continued (I hope) . . .