That’s right, boys and ghouls-
Good for you.
That’s not something you’d expect someone to say about the genre, is it?
Sure, you might hear about horror “classics”. There are plenty of fans out there who’ll talk about their personal favorites. You might even hear critics fondly contemplate how certain horror flicks were telling of their times. But morally edifying?
Well that’s the argument I’m going to be presenting to you today.
Be warned- spoilers may follow.
Now this isn’t the first time I’ve tried to champion the macabre. I don’t expect it to be the last either- not considering the reaction folks give me when I say I enjoy the stuff.
And before we really dig in here- let me get the obvious out of the way.
Yes, a lot of horror movies are garbage. The slasher/”teen-scream” subgenres use cheap gore and excessive nudity as a crutch for plot. More serious attempts still rely on the same cliches that have been around for decades. Plenty are poorly acted and have production values that could be outstripped by a middle school enactment of Romeo & Juliet.
But that’s hardly unique to horror. Continue reading
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