Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Horror Stories and Other Creepy Shows

I was fascinated with horror stories. When I was a child, after dinner, we’ll gather around the radio (we don’t have TV then) to catch our favorite program “Gabi Ng Lagim”. I’m hooked to it that I’d even set aside a portion of my allowance just to spend on renting “Lagim” and “Lamor” komiks. As my taste became “sophisticated”, I’m no longer easily frightened that I switched on to watching shows that tweak my mind like “The Twilight Zone”, “X-Files” and later on “Fringe”.

But what makes a successful scary movie? I use to cower at Christopher Lee’s Dracula series. I was scared stiff with “The Exorcist” and “Alien” made me jumped from my seat. I think these films got its desired effect (to me at least) because they pioneered the “technique” on how to scare viewers. Back then, werewolves and vampires are the “scary stuff”. Today they are the main characters of a love story. Linda Blair’s character spewing green stuff and turning her head 360 degrees was awesomely frightening then but would look funny now. The “Alien” monster might not be new but the psychological effect of being alone in outer space with a drooling metallic monster as a bunk mate really scattered my wits.

Newer horror films became popular but failed to impress me. I was amused with “The Grudge” and “The Ring” and sneered while watching “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Final Destination”. The first one looks like a “kabuki” actor whose face was dip in a bowl of flour. The other looks like an escape contortionist from an asylum. The third was a family of psychotic retards while the last one was an exercise in physics on how to kill a guy in a sophisticated but cumbersome way (the writer was probable a McGyver fan).

Viewer’s taste today leans more on “realism”. “The Blair Witch Project” was a success because it was done like a “documentary”. Its predecessors like “The Paranormal Activity” did it differently but with the same technique. Subtlety suggesting that what they are viewing is real.

It all depends on the viewer really. I enjoyed watching “Poltergeist” and Freddy’s antics but was terrified of Jason. But here is my list of what makes a horror film funny:

1. The killer is waiting for you in the next corner even though his walking with a limp and you are running away from him.
2. Something nasty is going to happen every time a cello solo starts to play.
3. The victim trips on nothing while being pursued by the killer.
4. The room or house has all the indication of unpleasantness yet the victim insists on entering it.
5. All the characters are dumb in a horror movie. Only luck saves them, if any survives.
6. The window, stay away from the window, dummy!
7. The door key or car key won’t fit if the guy is in a hurry to escape.
8. The car won’t start (this never fail).
9. The girl in a flimsy negligee goes out of the patio to look up the moon in a cold windy night (a sure way to attract rapists, serial killers and vampires).

I hope you enjoyed you Halloween!

22 comments:

  1. classic ang list pero totoo yan haha.

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  2. hahahahaha this is sooo true.. hehehehe i seldom watch horror films.. pero mukhang everytime i do watch.. nakikita ko nga yung nasa list mo kuya..
    and also if its a group of characters.. asahan na dalawa lang ang makasurvive.. a guy and a girl..

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  3. Lawstude, yep, classic pero ang dami pa ring naguguyo. : )

    YahnaH, yung dalawang survivor, sigurado akong tanga rin. masuwerte lang. :D

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  4. how about the 13th Ghost, did it scare you? that was the last horror film I watched. Everytime I enter the bathroom, I would picture the lady slayed in the bath tub!

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  5. YellowBells. nope. It was facinating but didn't scare me. It just didn't make sense collecting ghosts. Not to mention catching and imprisoning 12 of them. Unless you're the Ghost Busters.

    Bathtubs reminds me more of "Psycho".

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  6. i hate scary movies, and my son got my scared attitude towards them scary movies.

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  7. pag gusto kong matawa, nanunuod ako ng pinoy drama naman. ganun din sa pelikulang nakakatakot.. madalas tinatakot ko naman ang kasama ko sa panunuod. he he he.

    pero mas nainganyo ako panuorin ang mga suspense at mga psycho rin.
    dito sa mga ito kasama rin sa list mo pards, ang nakita ko...:)

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  8. I like this post, ang dami kong naalala. Lalo na yung Gabi ng Lagim ng DZRH. Laging nakikinig dyan ang (deceased) lola ko, kaya oriented din ako. In general, I don't like bloody scary films. I was in college yata nung napanood ko yung Blairwitch Project, sobrang nagustuhan ko yun. I regret that until now hindi ko pa napanood ang Paranormal Activity. Siguro kase (mas) duwag na ako ngayon? Hahaha. But I will watch it before 2010 ends. I also liked the old version of Poltergeist, Japanese Version of Ring and Grudge. Pinakapaborito ko naman sa Tagalog scary films eh Shake, Rattle and Roll 1. Hindi nakakasawang panoorin sa Cinema One.

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  9. Gabi ng Lagim scared the shit out of me when I was a little kid hehe. Yung Dracula din - hindi ako nakatulog kung wala akong katabi. :)

    But as I grew older, medyo nagbago na ang taste ko. Hindi ko na type ang horror movies kasi alam ko na fake at fiction so no more scare effect. I watch purely for its entertainment value ;)

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  10. sheng, once in a while its good to be scared. It exercise the heart which pumps faster when you're exited. : )

    ever, gawain ko rin yan. pag nasa climax bigla kong gugulatin ang katabi ko. : D

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  11. Ms.Jo, sus, dinahilan mo pa ang lola mo. Sa tingin ko ikaw yung batang nakatutok ang tenga malapit sa speaker ng radio. :)

    bw, haha! akala ko ako lang ang fan ng Gabi Ng Lagim. Marami pala dito.

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  12. Ako rin po, nakikinig dati ng Gabi ng Lagim pagkatapos kong makinig ng Simatar haha! Thanks for this post, naalala ko yung mga araw na yun bigla. Those were happy days talaga, simpleng buhay lang.

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  13. gabi ng lagim! ngayon ko lang ulit naalala ang radio program na iyan. pag iyan na ang nasa ere, nakakumot na kaming magkakapatid, pero nakikinig pa rin.

    for me, the latest horror show is the new administration. que horror these juveniles complaining the wine sucks. weh

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  14. di ako nanonood ng horror movies, first time kong mapanood yun exorcist at poltergeist then ayoko na, binabangungot kasi ako hehehe, so I haven't watched The Ring nor the grudge hay naku ayoko talagang i-try hehehe bakit pa kasi nauso ang horror movies lol, by the way takot din ako sa gabi ng lagim no kaya di ako nakikinig nun sa radio hahaha

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  15. Nortehanon, hahaha, simatar ang batang hindi lumalaki! : D

    atticus, sabi nga nila, "you may be well educated and at the same time, culturally ignorant".

    Sardz, ay pareho pala kayo ng mrs ko. napapaginipan ang napapanood sa sine.

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  16. I don't like horror movies. If I want to be scared, I just read the morning papers.

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  17. bertN, LOL! you just made my day!! : D

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  18. horror movies never frightened me... that is until I saw "the exorcist". I couldn't sleep for days after that. I'm sure the thrill is lost to young people today but back then, it was a first for many things.

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  19. Ka Rolly, "the exorcist" was really the horror movie then. It was also in my mind for several days.

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  20. Talagang follower po pala kayo ng mga horror stories, ako hindi masyado.

    The first horror film I've seen in the cinema was one of the Shake, Rattle and Roll movies; not sure which of them but the one with the 'refrigerator' episode. Yes, I was frightened.

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  21. You forgot bente-cuatro oras.

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  22. RJ, first and foremost, I'm a sci-fi fan. Suspense and horror e pang himagas ko na lang. : )

    Anonymous, Lee ikaw ba yan? Oo 24 oras pa nga pala! "At ito ay naganap sa loob lamang ng bente-cuatro oraaasssss". >: D

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