About YIKES!

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Our answers are fairly simple ones. Widely accepting the common understanding of the public as our guide, we generally accept that most anything that can be found on the shelves labeled horror is a horror movie. This, however, is obvously not always the case. Many video stores place pure science fiction or fantasy films on the rack labeled horror. We've even seen a particularly gory western there. </B><B>A more conscientious video store would display these where they belong. </B><B>The horror film, however, must confront us with our real fear for our own survival, that is with our fear of death. Additionally, there remains the problematic question of mixed genre, science fiction/horror, or horror/fantasy, or comedy/horror that must be addressed.</B></div> <div> <B>         Horror is a suspended disbelief genre. Suspended disbelief, however, does not mean disconnected brain, as problematic the human ability to ignore the facts may be. This means quite simply, that although a neighbor may be a vampire, although a collection of body parts may be imbued with life through electricity, and although, due to our fear of the dead, any number of possibilities of the undead may mean us harm, there are no fifty foot gorillas or things like Godzilla. </B><B>Regarding the distant past, if there once was a vampire or a psycopathic artificial human, there are likely to be more of them. Since there weren't yet aliens that went on a rampage, one is infinitelty more likely to lose one's life to a vampire or frankenstein monster than to an alien. </B><B>Whereas a brief vampire plague may very likely be put down quickly and then hushed up, the appearance of a Godzilla-like creature would certainly cause more notariety than did the French Revolution. We know there was a French Revolution. We know there hasn't been anything remotely resembling Godzilla for 10 million years. Despite the unlikeliness, we can not say with certainty whether there is a Bigfoot. Suspended disbelief here means specifically the agreement between the recipient and the text that projections of fears can be portrayed in phenomena that present an unknown or unexplained or unexpected, and though unlikely, possible embodiment of our mostly subconscious fears. Fear of the unknown and supernatural, death, and the breaking of tabus provide the thrill in watching horror, the goal of which is to exploit these fears at a comfortable distance, allowing the viewer to experience fear without danger, resulting in a cathartic exorcism, indeed a triumph over fear, for from the monster movies of Universal Studios in the 1930s, in which the monster's demise was the final scene, through the sequal-craze which beagan when Michael Myers, having been stabbed in the neck and eye, shot six times, and having fallen 30 feet, stole off to </B><I><B>Halloween 2</B></I><B>, through the ironie of </B><I><B>Re-Animator</B></I><B>, the temporary safety from the monster is the traditional dramatic goal of the modern horror movie. To quote Dan Aykroyd explaining the ghost storage tank in </B><I><B>Ghostbusters</B></I><B>: "The light is on, the ghost is gone."</B></div> <div> <B>     The categorical difference between, for example, a police thriller or a western and a horror movie, in all of which a bad character is eventually countered or pursued by good characters, is the sense of justice, a shared moral codex, or at least an understanding thereof in the former, that makes the transgressor run and the keepers of justice pursue. The transgressor in the horror movie lacks the agreed upon or apriori sense of right and wrong, and above all the human obsession with survival, that necessitates a social contract and thus gives any conflict sense and order. The antagonist in horror may attempt to evade the protagonists out of a desire to continue his/her project (murder, revenge) but not out of any fear of being imprisoned or killed, nor in the interest of personal material gain. The good characters, i.e., virgin, police, etc. will either get the bad character(s) or not. As our own sense of justice and morality find no resonance with a Jason Vorhees or a Freddy Krueger, they are threatening and frightening to us in a way the apostate criminal never can be. They are not moral transgressors, but monsters, with "no sense of right and wrong, good or evil". (</B><I><B>Halloween</B></I><B>, 1978) This is the reason portrayals of madness often come under the heading of horror. </B></div> <div> <B>       Added to this is the method of killing. The horror movie terrifies through the personal nature of the confrontation. The gun of the outlaw is an impersonal weapon, requiring no personal physical conflict. It is apparent that the killer who shoots his victims may not be capable of strangling or stabbing them, as this more concrete act of personal violence is a more egregious assault on the moral codex. No one was ever strangled to death by mistake. Sci-fi monsters can not behave outside expected norms, since we learn their norms as we see what they do. The Alien in </B><I><B>Alien</B></I><B> is a kind of land-shark on cocaine. The alien in </B><I>Predator</I><B> hunts humans for fun. Since they share no common moral codex with humans, there is no heresy. </B></div> <div> <B>       There are two further, less subtle, more clear differences between the genres of horror and science fiction, namely space and time, and myriad cases where they overlap in the nature of the conflict and the immoral agent. The future and outer space clearly belong preeminently to the science fiction genre and often also to fantasy. Problematic in the genre of horror is the alien, from another planet or dimension, who visits earth and brings about a situation through contamination or perversion of the social fabric/moral codex. This situation, when combined with other elements of the horror movie, such as gore, or the struggle of one individual or a small characterized group of protagonists as opposed to the science fiction problem of world annihilatio</B><B>n/domination, can be considered a mix genre sci-fi/horror film (</B><I><B>The Brain</B></I><B> (1988) or </B><I><B>Alien Dead</B></I><B> (1980)).</B></div> <div> <B>     Likewise problematic is the pure horror movie that takes place either in outer space or the future or both, as in the case of </B><I><B>Alien</B></I><B>. For our purposes, </B><I><B>Alien</B></I><B> is a science Fiction film, not least due to the fact that its monster is neither supernatural nor earthly, nor on earth, nor in the present, thus it presents no believable threat. </B><I><B>Orca</B></I><B> and </B><I><B>Jaws</B></I><B> are examples of the </B><I><B>Alien</B></I><B> story in the present and on earth. </B><I><B>The Borrower</B></I><B>, the tale of an alien on earth in the present perpetrating a gory string of decapitations, whom we know  was considered an apostate by his own alien cibvilisation, exemplifies the apparently senseless contamination of the earth by a violent alien without the goal of world domination and is thus as much a horror movie as science fiction, as are the similar alien horror movies </B><I><B>Phantasm</B></I><B> and </B><I><B>Bad Taste</B></I><B>.</B></div> <div> <B>     Faustian scientists ala Victor Frankenstein and the Promethean army they inspired, pose the ethical monster question, a different although similar question. Since Prometheus, Pandora, and Eve, myth and religion are in agreement that the quest for more knowledge than mortals "should" possess, constitutes a threat to society at large, is therefore immoral and an affront to God or the gods. Note here once again the iron difference between the mad scientist's threat to a small community or a group of characterized individuals of the horror movie (</B><I><B>Frankenstein</B></I><B>) and the threat of dangerous science to the world of Fantasy, or the futuristic world of Science Fiction (</B><I><B>They Live</B></I><B>). Here too, however, mixed genre is common. Thus, wherever a mad scientist attempts world domination or where an alien plays a role, a combination of horror movie elements would also be required to make the film a mixed genre of interest here (gore, physical violence, special threat to individual) as is the case in </B><I><B>The Brain</B></I><B> (1988) and </B><I><B>Halloween III: Season of the Witch</B></I><B> (1983), which also includes supernatural elements (paganism/sorcery). Note that both films take place on earth, and in the present. The "monster," too, is a consideration here. Since a shark or a mutant alligator could conceivably be 30 feet long (</B><I><B>Jaws</B></I><B>), a Tyrannosaurus Rex about 35 feet tall (</B><I><B>Jurassic Park</B></I><B>, </B><I><B>Carnosaur</B></I><B>), whatever such a thing does could belong to the realm of horror, whereas a 50 foot tall gorilla or a 100 foot tall dinosaur? or whatever Godzilla is, are the stuff of fantasy or the work of one of science fiction's bad guys. In the case of mutants, again, other horror elements are necessary, in particular, a believable size. People may have feared gigantically disproportionate mutants in the fifties and sixties, but having bombarded the planet with everything possible, there appears no grounds to fear that this will be one of the consequences, nor that humanity will survive long enough to be crushed by such a monster. Thus, </B><I><B>Godzilla</B></I><B>, </B><I><B>The Deadly Mantis</B></I><B>, etc. are not horror movies, and </B><I><B>Blue Monkey</B></I><B>, where a small group of characterized individuals are quarantined in a building with mutant bugs, is.</B></div> <div> <B>     The horror movie portrays events that happen in real or possible settings we can relate to and thus fear. Most frequently, these are places to which we already have a shaky relationship, such as the cellar, the attic, the laboratory, the graveyard, a motel, the dark; places of isolation; the woods, an island, an abandoned house, the mystery of water; lakes, wells, swamps: and ultimately the places we count on most not to provide any horror; our home towns, our houses, or among friends. The failure of familiar settings and objects includes the most reliable: cars never start, phones develop sudden idiosyncratic behavior, or objects we don't completely trust or never understood, show us why, thus the popularity of mirrors as demon vehicle, more recently lamps, and inevitably, televisions. Likewise, the best runners </B></div> <div> <B>stumble repeatedly, the trusted friend belongs to the diabolical sect, in short the stuff of nightmares becomes real. </B></div> <div> <B>For related reasons of possibility and familiarity, it is logical that the Slasher or Psycho/Slasher is the quintessential viehicle of the modern horror movie. The Slasher, possessing no special weapons or powers, with the possible exception of adrenaline and singularity of purpose, carries perpetual association with one town (</B><I><B>Halloween</B></I><B>) or even one house (</B><I><B>Psycho</B></I><B>) or campground (</B><I><B>Friday the 13th</B></I><B>), and for dramatic effect, can handle only one protagonist at a time. The personal, indeed usually sexual relationship of the slasher to the protagonist, as well as the personal nature of stabbing or strangling as opposed to the mechanical, impersonal nature of shooting, provide the viewer with the thrill of fear, which can only stem from that combination of impending doom and reasonable hope kept alive by the relative size and weapon of the antagonist. </B></div> <div> <B></B></div> <div> <B>     As timeless as these tales of religious conflict and the dead may be, the most important and popular innovation in the realm of the scary dead is a result of the very modern fear of irresponsible technology and, the chemical destruction of the environment embodied in a package so real and dangerous, it could walk right up and bite you on the butt if you chose to ignore it, to paraphrase a line from </B><I><B>Jaws</B></I><B>, (1975). Since George A. Romero's </B><I><B>Night of the living Dead</B></I><B> (1968) and particularly since </B><I><B>Dawn of the Dead</B></I><B> (1979), the modern Toxic Zombie has practically put the religious zombie out of business and taken its place with the Slasher alongside the Ghost and the Vampire as the monster of choice. The evolution of the Zombie from religious to secular comes full circle with the combination of original fear of the dead, environmental destruction, and lack of social contract, with the appearance of the Homeless Dead in C.H.U.D. (1984). For giving birth to the modern secular Zombie, the horror movie as social criticism, and starring an African American and a woman, </B><I><B>Night of the Living Dead</B></I><B> ushers in the modern horror era for our purposes. Two earlier ground breaking works, the first Psycho-Slasher, </B><I><B>Psycho</B></I><B> (1960), and the first Gore-fest, </B><I><B>Blood Feast</B></I><B> (1963), so far ahead of their time that, given the short history of motion pictures, modern is a misnomer, are also reviewed here.</B></div> <div> <B>     Since 1968, social commentary, criticism of politics and business, and pointed irony have become the hallmarks of the modern horror movie, centered in the U.S. and Italy. With the rise in crime and alienation from the Church and society has come the terror of the moral apostate, the sociopath and the psychopath. Michael Myers, Jason, and the army of glassy-eyed, soulless murderers that followed in their size 15 workshoe footsteps are the end of the line, devoid of basic humanity and hopelessly indestructible were it not for the undying belief that the one morally educated character in the film, usually a young woman, will prevail over the psychopath. </B></div> <div> <B>     The need for a text that rates only horror movies is clear. They are quite simply different from other films in that the necessary components are so simple, few, and easy to create. Often, great direction or professional acting are not necessary to entertain, although they are not uncommon in the genre. Indeed, lack of sophistication, low production values, and asence of subtlety can bump a film from the other racks in the store onto the horror rack (</B><I><B>Cardiac Arrest</B></I><B>, </B><I><B>Slashed Dreams</B></I><B>), just as the opposite can bump horror films onto the drama shelf (</B><I><B>Silence of the Lambs</B></I><B>, </B><I><B>Misery</B></I><B>). Nowhere is this tendency more clear than with the rape/redneck movie in the case of the </B><I><B>Hunters Blood</B></I><B> (Horror) vs </B><I><B>Deliverance</B></I><B> (Action/Drama) split. The problem we have found with general texts that rate all movies is their tendency to leave out about half the movies in the video store, and to award every poorly made film one half star or to call it a "turkey" without pointing to what the film has to offer relative to the the diverse merits of the genre, on the other hand, giving boring mainstream movies or boring "art" movies stars without justification, we suspect, because the reviewers failed to understand them or believed they were meant well. Claudio Simonetti, keyboard player for the legendary horror score band "Goblin", summed up this grave situation eloquently in dismissing critics of Goblin's music: "these are the same critics who prefer a bad Fellini movie over a good horror film." (Fangoria, 127, 33) His observation is such an emirical truth, that he hardly needs our endorsement.</B></div> <div> <B>     The thrill of fear in horror movies very often appears to transfer universally whether the victim or viewer be female or male. That the discussion over why this is so only just began in the 1980s stems in large part from academia's feigned squeamishness regarding horror. Indeed, insisting on one's ignorance regarding the genre is a sort of badge of honor in some educated circles. To dismiss horror of all genre as the place to view the intricate interplay of violence, sex, perversion, fear, death and the very underpinnings of modern psychology is a case of rather criminal negligence. Due to the fact that males are the main perpetrators of violence in our society, it is neither surprising nor sexist that they fulfill the same role in horror films. Still, it is understandable that many horror films for any number of reasons will offend the broadest spectrum of viewers, while for similar reasons fascinating an equally wide group. It is the opinion of the authors that remaining ignorant of such a constant source of critical confusion is a rather medievel state of affairs. Nonetheless, by reading the review before seeing the film, viewers can choose the films they would like to see (or ignore) for enjoyment, out of curiosity, or for research purposes. They can also better monitor what it is their children want to take home. The authors suggest that children should never be allowed to select their own films unsupervised, certainly not horror films.  </B></div> <div> <B>     In the process of reviewing these films, some assumptions about "the" modern horror film have proven false. The horror movie is evolving into a genre of equal opportunity victimization as befits the behavior of the modern monsters of choice, the psycho, the vampire, or the myriad manifestations of the zombie. More often than not, the star survivor and monster stopper is a strong female character (the Final Girl), and sexual violence is less common than on television drama, if at times clearly beyond what television is allowed to show, perhaps less than in any other adult made for screen movie genre, precisely because, for the violence to be entertaining, it can't be too frightening, read realistic. Modern horror, particularly after 1980, is largely a suspended disbelief genre and consistent with this, explicit sexual violence is too real, and therefore less common than in the mainstream drama, which depicts things that do happen, as opposed to those that could. The politically correct sex split is more even than prevalent than in other genres; more heroines, more female professionals, and a preponderance of female monster killers or survivors compared to the hapless and offensive males, who are often simply monster fodder. On the other hand, as is to be expected, most films contain plenty of the elements which make people suspicious of horror films as the least politically correct of motion picture genres and ironically perhaps precisely therefore, the most progressive. Contrary to popular belief, the rape/revenge horror movie (</B><I><B>I Spit on Your Grave</B></I><B>) was a brief if ground-breaking and, for its time anyway, a liberal and feminist product which quickly became the realm of the safer main stream movie (</B><I><B>The Accused</B></I><B>). As for the "exploitation" of nude bodies, horror films tend to mirror drama, fantasy, and science fiction, which translates to liberal use of brief female nudity and simulated sex, as well as gratuitous violence leading up to the usual moralistic showdown. As avowed enemies of censorship, and given the puritanical mood violating every area of personal freedom in recent decades, we hope this little book can help viewers choose what they want to see, and avoid renting anything they might then be tempted to burn.</B></div> <div> <B>     With one exception, namely that of the very prominent "final girl", all of the terminology used in this book is a result of our heads, these movies, and the history of the world to date. The final girl is a term coined by Dr. Carol J. Clover in her book, "Men, Women and Chain Saws", a fascinating look at the psychosexual relationship between the horror movie and its viewer. If you are a heavy user of horror, you probably ought to have a look at it.</B></div> <div> <B>     As friends of rational argument, although by no means fans of most horror movies, it depresses us to read daily how voices in the media and politics have come to the facile and silly conclusion that sex and violence in film play a large role in the ills of Western civilization, brainlessly skipping over more obvious problems like poverty, unemployment, racism, homelessness, agressive ideology, treatment of the mentally ill, etc.  Bashing art in light of such a very real crisis is a case of deceptive neglect and manipulation, and a rather trivial pursuit in addition. To critics, social psychologists, and home viewers who do not understand the nature of the morality play in film, the cowboys in black hats, the Nazis, the gangsters, and the slashers, </B><B>et. al., </B><B>are the bad characters and are not meant to be emulated, according to the formula: (Red Riding Hood = good) + (fictional wolf = bad) = fictional wolf gets killed.). Likewise, Drano is to unclog drains, and not meant for human consumption, and instant coffee is best consumed after boiling water is added (Don't drink it until it has cooled to a temperature tou can handle). Viewers who were not raised by fictional wolves and know not to eat Drano or spoons of coffee will tend, by the end of a horror movie, to identify with the "good" characters, which does not include all of the victims. Real wolfpersons, outlaws, Nazis, gangsters, fictional wolves, and glassy-eyed psychopaths may tend to identify with the bad guys, but that's never a movie's fault, as the identification and it's results are the responsibility of the individual. Sadly, the fascistic idea that the individual can or should be relieved of this burden of responsibility through censorship has reared its monstrous head again, and this fifty years after the defeat of Hitler and Mussolini, soon decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, and is becoming an alibi. If those who push this belief get their way, no one will ever again be responsible for an action. We solemly remind the readers of the intellectual preparation of the European witch persecutions. If we groundlessly propagandize that x implies y, to achieve some or other selfish and short-sighted end, some confused people will act out the formula for you. As always, depriving people of choice is the real danger here. In this society of increasingly pathetic excuses, we should be very careful not to insideously invent yet another. People who experience horror movies, like those who experience religion, pornography, militia leaders, academia, psychoanalysis, or football, co-dependence, boxing, political correctness, video-games, left and right wing ideology, advertising, music, sculpture, and literature are just as free to respect the rights of others as are those who do not have these experiences. If you are just out to ban something, ban poverty, or unemployment, or homelessness or aggressive ideology or insanity. Ban something you know from experience everyday causes violence. Art is free, as are its observers. Not that all of these films are art: indeed, many of them are too honest to be art.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Disclaimer: The actors portraying antagonists and protagonists in these movies are trained professionals. Do not try this at home.    </B></div> <div> <B>- The Authors, 2005</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>We decided near completion of the volume that we had spent too much time and energy dancing around a very few issues that we are now inclined to dismiss as politically correct silliness. Therefore, we have decided to call Catholic movies Catholic movies, Voodoo Movies Voodoo movies, and witch movies witch movies, and alligator movies alligator movies. We are probably more aware than our critics that the horror movie does as accurate a job of portraying these groups as the western does with native Americans or cowboys or the soaps do with human beings. Any confusion between real representatives of these groups and their portrayals in the films discussed here is purely the responsibility of the viewer. We personally have viewed these films with Catholics, witches, and one practitioner of Voodoo, although not yet with alligators, nothing personal, and have come to the conclusion that due to our education and basic social convictions, basically passed on from parents and environment, it did not make us more likely to lash out against them. The portrayals in the horror films are of what would happen, if a certain fictional situation were to occur. If some Catholics got rid of a demon that killed people, we would praise them. If a mutant alligator ate and thus killed people, we could live with its destruction in the absence of a safer solution. If there ever were covens of black magic practitioners who killed people, and because of their powers could not be arrested, we respectfully submit that their demise would not be a bad thing. However, none of these things has ever happened with enough redundance to inspire a position. Similarly, we condemn the early modern witch hunts, which were real, but didn't destroy any covens of black magic practitioners, we condemn the behavior of demons, which are not real, and are ready to praise those Catholics who dispose of one should it come about, and condemn those who kill non-mutant alligators, which could be left alone or moved to a swamp. We remain the sworn enemies of Werewolves, Vampires, Slashers, and Zombies, as well as any other real or fictional characters who kill people.</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>                                        The Authors</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>YIKES! Horror Movie Terminology</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Telephone</U></B><B>: </B><B>same as the one in your home only 1) it doesn't work at all (</B><I><B>Halloween</B></I><B>) or 2. only ideosyncratically (in </B><I><B>Texas Chainsaw Massacre II </B></I><B>you can't hang up on callers, In Martin you can dial the phone while another is off the hook. In </B><I><B>Texas Chainsaw Massacre II</B></I><B>, you can't hang up on a caller. In </B><I><B>LSPM</B></I><B>, there are two Jacks in the bathroom, etc.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Final Girl</U></B><B>:</B><B> ['finl go:l] n 1. virginal woman with boy's name who screams and kills monster; 2. any female who survives showdown with monster. See Carol J. Clover, "Men, Women, and Chainsaws".</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Mr. Showdown Man</U></B><B>:</B><B> ['misto fou-daun m`n] n 1. only male so utterly beyond reproach (read: only one who doesn't deserve to be killed) he has survived only to be killed by monster in penultimate scene; loves or loved Final Girl; 2. same as 1 but survives injured when saved by Final Girl; 3. same as 2 but kills monster and saves Final Girl.</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>monster fodder</U></B><B>:</B><B> ['monsto 'fodo] n 1. any men or women other than Final Girl with rare exception of certain Mr. Showdown Men; 2. engages monster in any scene preceding final scene; 3. young person who drinks, swears, smokes, or engages in sexual activities with unworthy partner, punks, hoodlums, scum, irresponsible person or overconfident person; 4. any less well-developed but obviously disagreeable person; 5. person other than final girl or Mr. Showdown man viewed from monster's eye camera before final scene; also: demon fodder, zombie fodder, etc.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>monster motif</U></B><B>:</B><B> ['monsto mou'ti:f] n 1. music that plays when monster is active and present; 2. music that doesn't play when monster is not active and not present.</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>chambre des morts</U></B><B>:</B><B> [fƒbR(o) dî moR] n that room full of dead bodies, coincidentally organized by the monster, who is close by, such that the Final Girl or Mr. Showdown Man will stumble into a) all her/his dead friends b) an even more hideous collection of nameless victims, immediately prior to and thus signaling the showdown.</B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>monster intermezzo</U></B><B>: </B><B>['monsto into(:)'mezo] n 1. all too brief period in which the Final Girl, Mr. Showdown Man, or any other yet living accomplices will foolishly assume a prone monster is actually dead and which can happen way more than once; 2. the quiet moment before the survivors realize that the monster has stolen away to the sequel.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>prop person's cat</U></B><B>: When the monster is not really present or still a few seconds away, the Prop Person's Cat (or other prop) distracts, makes a sound, or is flung through a frame, to dishonestly shock viewer and protagonist.</B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>