I love horror movies. I love horror fiction as well, but I'll talk about that later (I've been putting together a list of some of my favorite authors and it's an extensive list; my 'to read' list is equally extensive however). The unfotunate thing about the horror genre is that there is a lot of crap out there; most of it's crap. You have to watch a lot of really bad horror movies to get through to the good ones. Or you can hear about the good ones from some poor sap who wastes his time sorting through them... :-) But I'm only going to talk about 5 here. That's right: 5. Now, I'm not going to say these are the 5 greatest horror movies of the past 50 years; all I'm going to say about these movies is that they are interesting and, in my humble opinion, pretty damn scary. Here we go... The Tenant - This is classic Roman Polanski (1976); you know, the guy who did the movie version of Rosemary's Baby? This movie is very psychological and very scary in a way few horror movies or directors have been able to immitate. More people should know about this movie and if you haven't seen it, put it on your Netflix queue right away. It revolves around a shy file clerk who moves into an old apartment while the previous tenant lies in a coma in the hospital. The apartment building is filled with an assortment of strange characters and creepy details. The way this movie slowly builds into creepier and creepier moments really pulls you along for a ride on its disturbing spiral. I know that some people don't like this kind of horror movie; they'd rather have the guts, gore, and jump-in-your-seat moments. The Tenant, however, is scary on another level entirely. This one leaves ants under the skin, crawling and jittering long after you walk away from it. Jacob's Ladder - (1990) This one you might have missed. It was directed by Adrian Lyne, the guy who is best know for Fatal Attraction. It may not have the most original story and the big "plot twist" at the end is nothing you can't see coming a mile away, but there are some redeeming qualities to this movie that make it worth your time. This movie is relentlessly disturbing and intense. There is scene after scene where things go from basically normal to downright weird and disgusting. The best scene in the movie, put together masterfully by Lyne, is one in which the main character (Jacob, who would have thought?) is wheeled into the hospital on a gurney, going deeper and deeper underground, things getting more and more disturbing as he goes. All in all, it's worth a watch. The Stepford Wives - What? That horrible movie with Nicole Kidman? This guy's clearly been smokin' too much... Actually, I'm talking about the original movie, the one from 1975, the one based off of Ira Levin's novel or the same title. Sure, it has its humorous moments, but by the end of the movie Joanna (our protagonist) has lost all of her friends to their robot replacements, her children are kidnapped, and she is in big trouble. The final moments of the movie are disturbing on several levels and are nothing like the horrible remake from 2004. See this movie for its social commentary, but don't be fooled; this movie belongs in the horror genre. Wait Unitl Dark - Of these movies, this is the oldest (1967), but I have to say Aubrey Hepburn's performance in this movie is amazing. She play a blind woman living alone in her apartment. She ends up with a doll stuffed with heroin and when the guys who lost it come looking for it, she ends up having to defend herself on her own. What makes this movie great is the tension that builds and builds. The final moments are perfectly constructed and, I'm happy to say, include their own jump-out-of-your-seat moment. Cape Fear - I have to admit right off the bat, I have never seen the original. The movie I'm talking about is the Scorcesse flick from 1991. In my opinion, this is Robert DeNiro's best work, who plays a disturbed convict who takes revenge on the family of the public defender who failed to defend him in court properly. The characters in this movie are complex and dynamic. If you haven't seen this movie in a while, it might be time to watch it again. Either way, Netflix, here I come. What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? I love to talk about this stuff so...
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Anyway, to get this thing started, I thought I'd discuss the writing process a little bit. Writing is tough; it's a lonely job. Writing is done with oneself and his/her thoughts. It is a craft balanced on the edge of concious and subconcios creativity and direction. It can't be taught, not really; it can only be learned through personal dilligence and practice. Now, don't get me wrong, I have taken plenty of creative writing classes in my time - I do have my Bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico, after all - and I did learn some things, some important lessons, but I didn't learn much, not really.
I've been writing since I was very young. I remember writing a story in 3rd grade about a boy who wakes up one day to fine everyone in his neighborhood has disappeared. He runs about in a panic trying to find someone and ends up discovering the body of his dead father in the basement of his house. Yeah, I know, a bad Twilight Zone episode if ever there was one, but I remember being very proud of it. My teacher (I wish I could remember her name) used to keep a board on the wall of quotes and she put a quote I wrote from the story that I can still remember, from when the boy in the story discovers his dead dad: "He was there alright, but dead." My teacher was in an uproar about this quote and I remember I just couldn't understand why. I don't think any of the other kids got it either. Now, maybe I do understand; it's a horribly cheesy line, but it's also story telling; it came from a need to tell a story with feeling and resonance; it also came from a part of me my little 3rd grade sell did not fully understand. I wish I could pinpoint that moment in 3rd grade as the moment I decided I wanted to be a writer, but it doesn't usually work out that way. I wrote stories and created worlds (I liked to design video games and later became obsesed with Dungeons and Dragons) growing up, but "the Arts" were one of those things I was taught were not practical pursuits for one day "getting a job" and "makng money." Okay, to be fair, I still don't have a job writing (knock on wood) and the amount of money I've made with my writing is, well, none too great, but I still do it. Why? I'm not sure, honestly. I think it comes from the need in me to create, to use my imagination in one of the only mediums still availble to us adults (we really get screwed over when we grow up in this department). I've never been content to express myself in the conventional fashions and refuse to go through the traditional supression and mind-numbing process of "becoming adult." I'd rather die, honestly. If you want to be a writer, you'll hear a lot of different advice; this is mine: don't lose your imagination! Don't let it slip away from you. You're better than that. There are many oppessive forces in the world; don't give in to them! Now, you might be wondering, what gives this guy the right to dish out advice on writing? And, I'll admit, I'm still very much a fledgling author in the big-wide-world of commercial publishing, but I've also been writing my whole life and am confident about this one thing above all others: imagination is the key. Without my imagination, I'd not still be writing. When you train and embrace your imagination to run in the background of your everyday - and oft mundane - life, you'll experience everything on a deeper level and, if you're like me, you'll want to express yourself by whatever means are available to you. For me, this is writing. Writing, I've said already, is a personal process; it is the culmination of your experiences and imaginings; it is learned by practicing the art of putting words to paper (or screen or print or whatever). By the time I came to college and decided I wanted to be a writer, I'd become lost. I became so caught up in what I was "supposed to be" writing, that I lost sight of what I enjoyed writing, of what came out of me naturally when I sat down to write. I'll discuss the legistics of craft as I see them in a later blog, but what's important here is that I became so caught up in trying to write "literary" fiction, and follow the assigned story arcs, and writing detailed character studies, and overanalyzing work that is not even finished, that I almost gave up. I lost the joy of writing. What comes out of me when I'm writing and enjoying myself are stories about waking up in scary places where all the people are missing, stories about finding your dead father's body in the basement, stories like that. When I graduated college I could have jumped right into a Master's program, but I'm glad I didn't and I'm glad I kept writing. I've learned the most about my craft from reading like an obsessed maniac and writing consistently what I like to write. I hope others of you are doing the same. I'd love to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience or other frustrations when it comes to writing, or even getting along in the world in other creative pursuits. It is important to express ourselves. It is important not to let things fade. Just some thought, from Out of the Jar. |
"Unrelenting Horror"- FREE!An award-winning author known for blending elements of fantasy with horror in his surreal, literary style. Author of WITHIN, A GAME FOR GODS and VIOLENT HEARTS.
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