Astrophil Press

Admittedly, I am not a genre writer. I don't spend my days studying the latest trends or theories regarding science fiction, romance, or horror; however, I have always had a special place in my heart for horror movies. Perhaps it was because they frightened me so much, haunted me so profoundly as a child, that I was drawn to them later in life. Back when local television channels controlled their own programing on the weekends and late nights, I would sit with my hands clenched watching the old Hammer Studio movies, the old b movies, the old Universal monsters. Monsters, ghosts, vampires, giant spiders (oh god, spiders!) I was addicted. When I saw Halloween, I couldn't sleep for days. The shape was in every dark corner, between every curtain, in every hallway. These movies considered rubbish by many critics, found their way into becoming classics. I began reading Poe, King, and Barker (who fanned my fire for writing).

By the time I was in college, I rarely watched horror films, and I had given up on horror books because I found that most of the authors eventually found a successful formula and stuck with it. The problem with horror these days is that it seems to push the envelope so early, that it has no where to go but over the top. When it gets to the endgame, everything falls apart.

Drag Me to Hell has received some impressive marks for a horror film. Considering it's Sam Raimi's return to the genre, I had very high hopes for the film, and for the first half of the film, my expectations were met. The start of the film was campy, but a type of homage to the early Hammer Studio films. Strong dramatic music, Gothic themes, dark colors. By the time we meet our lead, we are quickly sympathetic for her. A small town girl who was once over weight and is desperately trying to shed her accent and her past. She's dating a smart, good looking, college professor from a rich family. She wants to get ahead in her job and denies a loan to a "Gypsy" woman, who curses her. Despite the racist stereotype, the old Gypsy's character holds up fairly well. The curse sends our lovely country girl into a panic and she does unthinkable things to shed the curse, turning our character into a slightly unlikeable character, but we still pull for her.

Everything goes well. Then, Raimi returns to the Three Stooges tricks he used in the Evil Dead series. Which normally wouldn't bother me so much, had the start of the film not been authentically creepy and delightfully shocking. The cursing goat and floating (yes just like in Evil Dead II) possessed man do not come off as throwbacks to previous films, but as poorly scripted attempt at absurdity. Throw in the horrible CGI and the movie quickly turns to rubbish. Haunted scarves with cartoon demon faces, Rat Fink style eyeballs flying from skulls (yes, like in Evil Dead II only less realistic).

There is no gravity to the CGI. Nothing feels right; it feel light and artificial and thus contains no consequence. At the end of the film we care little for the protagonist, nor what happens to her.

I am convinced that the key to successful horror is in not trying to write horror at all. Take some of the most successfully horror stories/films. I am not talking commercially successful, although many of them were quite lucrative. The Exorcist is not a story about the devil, but a story about doubt. The Orphanage is not a story about a haunted house, but a story about love, loss, mistakes, and mortality. My point this, the horrific will always have a deeper impact that horror. Those who are concerned with the language and the message more than the genre, more than giving a good scare, more than freaking out readers, will always be more successful.

Moreover, the lighter the hand the better. The old adage less is more always seems to ring true. For example, I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. This is not a book about horror, yet it is truly horrific. McCarthy doesn't soak his reader in blood and gore (such as he could have done or as he did in Blood Meridian) he chose to give brief glimpses of the unspeakable acts, a man half eaten on a bed, a baby burned. We understand our protagonists are being hunted but we're not hit over the head with it. Rather, he explores the impossibility of a father giving a son hope in post-apocalyptic life.

The more atmosphere and restraint an author displays, the stronger the fear seems to be. Again, if we take Peter Straub, someone who has found himself in the horror genre, we see an author with an understanding of telling a story with impact without drenching his readers in gore for shock.

Sam Raimi would do well to rethink his approach to horror. He has incredible skills and a good eye. The first half of the film was working and quite funny as well. However, the second half of the film undoes all of the suspense and atmosphere. If you're looking for a good horror movie, you'd be best served skipping this and buying a book