Screen of Scares

Hey everyone!

Happy Tuesday and I hope you have a great beginning to the week! How was everyone’s New Year’s Eve? Since we’re three days deep into the new year, I hope it’s been going well so far. I wish all of you the best of luck in achieving your goals! I had the pleasure of playing around on an Oculus over the weekend. VR games are fun, but I did have a few bouts of dizziness from the motion of the game not syncing with my body. The game of choice was a Walking Dead game which judging by the look of the location was supposed to be set in New Orleans or someplace similar. I enjoyed taunting zombies with terrible dance moves and whistling at them like they were pets to be played with as they approached me trying to have a snack before I jammed a pointy object into their pixelated heads. Not having much experience with VR games, I had some challenges facing the undead whether it be from the controls or simply how the system handles certain actions like reloading a firearm. The experience ended with more than a dozen zombies surrounding me in an abandoned street and turning me into lunch. Pretty fun time honestly even with my grand, doomed last stand against a bunch of hungry meat bags. If you get the chance to play it, I recommend that you do. Just be aware of the motion sickness and strain on your eyes that can and does occur. I know it has died down quite a bit but what do you all think about the zombie craze? To me it looks like it comes in waves when it comes to films. However, it looks like video games are still going strong but that’s a different talk. I think The Walking Dead series is still going on TV, but I haven’t heard anyone talking about it. Before that there was a good run of movies like 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead and several others but before that you’d have to go back to the 1978 Dawn of the Dead and further back to the original Night of the Living Dead. I will say that I won’t look down on the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, however I much prefer the original as being shot in black and white makes it even more eerie to watch. Speaking of eerie movies to watch let’s talk horror films!

I believe the first horror film I was exposed to was Poltergeist. I must have only been around four years old I can’t say for sure, but I remember walking into the living room where my parents were and the scene where the toy clown gets possessed just happened to be playing. The sight of a demented clown doll dragging a kid under his bed was enough to make me hate clowns for many years after that. It’s interesting how an experience like that can stick with you for so long. I would see snippets of other horror films as I grew up like Chucky and Scream. I think the first horror movie that I watched was Halloween at a family party. Suffice to say it scared the hell out of me. Michael Myers became my boogeyman for a while but eventually that fear would wear off, and Halloween became a personal favorite. As I was a fan of Rob Zombie’s music, I was excited and intrigued to hear that he was making a Halloween movie. The first of the two movies he made was alright, but I chose to avoid the second after everything that I heard about it. Then when the 2018 Halloween came out, I was ecstatic. I think of all the sequels it was the best, yes even better than Halloween II.

When I was around fourteen, I decided to watch something that I never thought I would the old black and white, silent film Nosferatu. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. While not scary by today’s standards it’s still an enjoyable watch. The character Count Orlock is an unsettling creature, I certainly wouldn’t want to be near him. He lacks the stereotypical good looks and charm that we’ve come to familiarize vampires with and appears more like an upright clawed version of Gollum. Even the way he moved and gestured was creepy. I would love more vampires like this. I will take the position that the movie is better paced, and the actual horror present as opposed to most modern horror films. There are a few notable stand outs though.

The most recent film that has shaken me in recent years is Hereditary by Ari Aster. If you guys haven’t seen it yet go watch it! It is a bit of a slow burner, but it builds towards one hell of a crescendo at the end that sticks with you for. My advice is to pay attention to every scene, I won’t tell you why or what for because it will ruin the payoff. Another film that I don’t think was as haunting as Hereditary but if you want something that messes with your mind is The Lighthouse by Robert Eggers. You can never go wrong with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson really break free of his bad rep from Twilight. I think what really got me immersed was watching this during the height of the pandemic. I streamed it so my friends and I could watch it over the same voice chat but there was still that element of isolation that really connects you with the film. I can’t wait to see the next film from Robert Eggers, The Northman. Vikings? Check. Supernatural elements? Check. Willem Dafoe playing some crazy guy. Check. Looks like it’ll be a wild ride.

I’ll wrap this one up. So, what’s your horror movie of choice? Have you seen any good horror movies recently? Let me know in a comment! Finally, on a slightly off note I finished the second season of The Witcher and wow what a finale. I’m really liking what they’ve been able to do so far with the series and I’m excited to see where it goes next. Thanks for reading and have a good one!

Best,

Aaron Kirby