Horror Aint What it Used to Be

I am admittedly a horror FAN. I love a good scary movie. Blood and gore does it for me. If given the option between a gruesome death scene or a movie where the guy gets the girl... I'll choose death and dismemberment every time. I appreciate scary movies for what they are; an adrenaline rush of pure entertainment. Halloween, Friday the 13th, Scream, Killer Klowns from Outerspace, are examples of the kind of movies that hold a place near and dear to my heart.

I remember my very first scary movie. I was in elementary school and my mom brought home this really amazing movie called, The Monster Squad. I know what you're thinking. It's not scary. To a little kid, it was! It had a scary German guy, an overweight kid with a shot gun, a werewolf with a conscience, a Frankenstein's monster with the heart of a child, and a bunch of prepubescent kids determined to fight evil. I still use one liners like, "Wolf-man's got gnards," "Eat up, then we'll call it a day," "That's 'discrimination' jerkoid! Prescription's drugs which you're on if you think you're getting up here." I could go on forever. I remember seeing wolfman transform and thinking, "Oh my GOD! That is awesome!"

Fast forward a few years. A scary book came out, was made into a movie, and my mother took me to see it. Interview with a Vampire solidified my love for the beauty that was... vampire. I mean, Tom Cruise doesn't do it for me, and I find Brad Pitt a little on the annoying side (he was awesome in the movie Se7en). I remember, heading over to the card catalog (Yeah, remember those?).  Realizing I was too young to check out the book but having my local librarian wink at me and hand it over anyway. I read it in less than a day and was HOOKED!

I fell in LOVE with the writing of Steven King and Anne Rice (Before she became a fanatic and stopped writing horror) Dean Koontz, Robert Bloch, Edgar Allan Poe etc. I wish our culture wasn't turning towards the popishness that it is. It's about what comes on the CW or can make teen girls screech like banshees.  I have found that as time goes on... horror is becoming a lost art.

Why can't we make horror like we used to? Paranormal romance has taken over.  Kids are beginning to confuse the awesome genre that I LOVE with the drivel found in a Twilight or House of Night novel.  I vomited over the writing of Stephanie Meyer--strike that-- I enjoyed her first couple of books and wanted to slit my wrist over the final one (let's hope The Host gets better sequels). Do I think the books are cute? Sure. Have I read everyone of them. Yes. How can I bash something I've never read?

I wish we would get back to what made horror great. A guy, a girl, a monster, some blood, and maybe a little bit of dying. Who am I kidding? A LOT of dying! The horror genre is about putting fear into you.  I wish everyone could write like Stephen King (Except for It. The freaking spider made me throw my book across the room... I mean I read all of that for some bright lights and a massive arachnid? I get it was a throw back to the monster genre of the 1950s but it would have been cooler to leave it as the freaky kid-eating clown).

I think we need to go back to what made horror great. Making you imagine some terribleness that you would never normally know. Showing you what could be, but secretly pray will never happen. THAT is what horror is about.

By the way. Here are a few books/stories by Mr. King that I think EVERYONE should read:
Here there Be Tygers (Found in Skeleton Crew)
The Raft (favorite short story and also found in Skeleton Crew)
HECK! The ENTIRE Skeleton Crew book
The Dome (writing from the woodpeckers p.o.v was BRILLIANT)
The Mist (yes, I enjoyed it)
The Stand

There are bunch more... but my blog is becoming a novel.