Oh, the Horror!

The New York Times featured an article recently called The Critique of Pure Horror, which asks the question: "why do so many of us enjoy being disgusted and terrified?"

For me, it's the delicious chill up the spine that an effective horror novel or movie offers. I'm talking about unsettling dread, not the quick 'made you jump' or the whole 'hey, let's see how much we can gross you out' techniques. I'm not squeamish, but one bloody, gory scene after another might make me wince, but it doesn't make me afraid to go down in my basement or jump when there's a noise in my kitchen.

I was disappointed when I saw Hostel. The concept was awesome and the movie could have been so cool. Imagine dimly lit corridors, muffled screams and the whir of instruments behind closed doors. A trail of blood running out from under a door. A spatter of red against a wall. Imagine never seeing what's really happening, but allowing your own mind to wander... Instead, it offered boobs! and guts! and gore! Sigh. After I watched it, I ate dinner. Pasta, I think, with lots of chunky red sauce. And maybe some grapes for dessert. ;)

The Exorcist is one movie that still scares the crap out of me. I have to watch it with all the lights out, of course, and when the credits roll, I run around flipping every light on and checking over my shoulders. Sure, there's a bit of gore here and there, but it's very tame by modern standards. The creepiest scene to me is when Regan is sitting up in bed and the shadow on the wall behind her is that of the demon. Even thinking about that scene while sitting in my kitchen with the bright light of day flooding in gives me goosebumps.

And The Shining? That book made me afraid of what might be behind the shower curtain for a long, long time. And if truth be told, I might still peek behind it from time to time.

That's pure horror to me. And it's a beautiful thing.