Pixels Comforting the Squeamish

In this current age of technology, I have spoken to a number of people who grew up watching the late horror movies of the 70's and 80's and their speculation of today's idea of what is

scary...their conclusion is silliness. The true meaning of watching a movie that is full of
monsters and terror is to be terrified! If you want to be terrified, take a look at the following video:


Evil Dead- 1981



And now look at this video...





Twilight: New Moon- 2009


We can obviously see the differences. Not only are props completely replaced by digital graphics in the entire scene, the perspective is not in the least captivating.

Twilight seems to harvest it's popularity from fan-fiction obsessed young girls who would like to see a monster truly feel and fall in love. This concept is trully fictitious, even more so than the possibility of a living Frankenstein today. I will give you an example of a true and heart-felt scene of beauty turning away a hideous monster, which is symbolic for the cruelty that those who are misunderstood truly feel.






Bride of Frankenstein- 1935

The bride of Frankenstein has herself become like a corpse, but once was alive and beautiful. She still doesn't understand what she has become after she was brought back to life, and is terrified of Frankenstein. We can all deny it but this is our perception on what we consider bizarre and abnormal. We are disgusted by what we do not understand and rebuke what we consider lowlier than ourselves.

This is another observation I have made which is another cause of the decline of Horror: The lack of substance in the literature and less plot-twists that are witty and unpredictable.


Back to the topic...


An American author and screenwiter/filmmaker named Sara Caldwell who is very intelligent on the factor in captivating an audience. She was asked her opinion on the use of CGI versus the use of props in the horror genre. Here is what she has to say...

Hey, isn't she talking about the fact that LOW-BUDGET movies are the most successful? Isn't this the biggest issue by the producers? CGI is equally expensive because it requires state of the art technology and programs that are not cheap.

Closer To Death is an amazing website I've located that gives examples of fan and professional based opinions concerning the dire need of props and physical realism in horror films. There is also a video about Tom Savini's Special make-Up Effects Program that is a prestigious course in the art of cosmetics, prosthetic, and media art, which not necessarily have to do with film-making.

Tom Savini is a world-renowned make-up artist who has created the most jaw-dropping faces in the macabre. Such as:

And finally the Deleted Scene also has some things to say about the preference between CGI and the old school trick of the trade.

I think those who are not passionate about really letting themselves go to terror like to smile when they scream. Which is far from the raw thrill of fear. They're not going to the theater to be scared! They're going for a thrill and because they are misunderstanding the true meaning of the genre, they are making mainstream filmmakers target the wrong people to make movies for. Remakes...this is another topic for a different post.

Another individual who shares the same ideas and passion for fear is Eric Ford-Holevinski whose site he created is all about the true meaning of the macabre and why we enjoyed the late horror films of the 70's and 80's...maybe the early 90's.