One final word……

The most profound idea I gained from this class is horror is not easily defined or catergorized. With so many styles/types of horror, such as:

horror drama – Dracula, Bedlam

horror comedy – Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein

horror thriller – Don’t Look Now

horror noir – The 7^th Victim

horror action – King Kong

And so many sub-genres, like supernatural horror, explotation horror, science fiction horror, psychological horror, monster horror… It crosses so many genres, sub-genres, its easy to see why horror is so hard to define.  I also learned why horror can sometimes differ from culture to culture, there are some types of horror which are universal to just being a empathic human being, such as no one likes to be strapped to a gurney and violence against children is always met with extreme prejudice. The international horror films were the most interesting to me and I found myself drawn to them in my after-class viewing. It provided context and an alternative view from the “hollywood-style” production movies.

Also, going though the 100 or so years of the evolution of horror it became somewhat apparent, especially after the 1940s, horror films were emblematic of the issues of the time. In the 50s it was the aliens (read: russians). In the 60s it was psychotic killers/thrillers (read: sexual revolution). In the 21st century, its become the era of the anti-hero. There are no black hats and white hats, just lots and lots of shades of gray. Think of Dexter, Jigsaw....even some mainstream "heroes" like James Bond have strayed into the horror realm at times in thier films, being both victim and unfeeling killer.

Horror films are truly an art form. It evokes, hopefully if its good, a strong response in its viewers. The horror stories have been around as long as humans have been around. We are an interesting species…capable of the most beautiful dreams and the most terrible nightmares. The yin and the yang, the light and the dark. It is possible to have light without dark? Is art possible without knowing the dark side? Is it possible to understand the human condition, in mind, body and spirt, without knowing our dark side?

The piercing the veil… the pulling back the curtain to look into the back room of our souls…what will we find back there? Horror films provide a window into a side of ourselves, the Id, Freud hopes our Superego never loses to.